Thousands of nonprofit staff members worldwide are accessing the most up-to-date version of their fundraising databases in eTapestry with the help of a Web browser and Internet connection. They are coordinating e-mail campaigns, creating specific giving reports and monitoring an integrated online giving system while traveling or working from home. Some even use eTapestry, the first application service provider in the nonprofit sector, for grant prospecting, donor prospecting and to quickly track the history of current and potential donors before face-to-face meetings.

Founded in 1999, Indianapolis-based eTapestry was the first Web-based fundraising software leased and accessed remotely via the Internet, avoiding the large upfront costs and ongoing maintenance and support fees typically paid in the use of more traditional software. Through a number of strategic partners, eTapestry also offers a wide range of other services such as online giving and donor prospecting.

eTapestry's versatility has attracted nonprofits of all sizes, including the smallest of nonprofits that only have one user to large nonprofits such as Goodwill Industries International Inc. The software is upgraded every few weeks, eliminating the need for nonprofit staff members to perform the upgrades themselves. eTapestry stores nonprofit data on secure servers that only allow authorized users to access their data, which they can download in popular database formats anytime they want.

"eTapestry has been so popular because it offers full functionality while reducing hardware and software costs and saving staff time," says eTapestry CEO Jay Love. Over a five-year period, he addes, eTapestry can save nonprofits as much as 40 percent to 50 percent of their costs on traditional software and its accompanying hardware.