eTapestry provides more time for strategy

After converting her nonprofit to a Web-based donor management system, Tina Burdett is spending more time than ever on her donor database.

"I spend less than half the time I used to on mundane tasks," said Burdett, development director for the Center for Children & Families, Inc., based in Norman, Oklahoma. "But, now, there's so much more I can do."

In January 2003, Burdett switched her nonprofit, which specializes in providing support and counseling to children and their families, to eTapestry, a Web-based donor management system.

"I spend my time now on the more strategic analysis elements," Burdett said. "Having a database that allows me to do that is like a treat or a prize. It's more fun and it's much more productive in the long run."

Because eTapestry is so easy to use, Burdett can get help from volunteers and other staff members in dealing with basic mailing list information and setup. This gives her more time to forecast and analyze historical giving information.

"I like to analyze the rates of retention, percent of donors who gave, and how many donors have given in the last three of five years," Burdett said. "We couldn't even ask that information before. This new information affects us in how we communicate with our donors and cultivate them, and who we ask to do what."

Cultivation is of growing importance to the Center for Children & Families, which has recently adopted the Raising More Money model. The Center for Children and Families has taken advantage of Next Step,™ a customized version of eTapestry based on the Raising More Money process.

"It's been really useful to manipulate and capture the data the Raising More Money model requires. It has streamlined our efforts tremendously," Burdett said.

eTapestry's ease of use and its strong tech support are essential fundraising elements for Burdett's organization of 54 employees.

"We have a fairly typical social service agency staff," Burdett said. "Database management is not why we were hired."

Recently, Burdett said she spent literally less than one minute to train a computer-savvy board member how to enter contacts into eTapestry. He came back a week later and wanted to learn more. His next mission: queries.

Burdett said she feels secure that the board member can execute the queries necessary to identify the nonprofit's major donors so he can take them to lunch. Just to be safe, she has set parameters on his use so he can’t delete or access the mass update function.

The Center for Children & Families has made repeated use of eTapestry's tech support members.

"They are friendly and never condescending," Burdett said. "They respond promptly and as many times as it takes for you to understand the answer."

It's support like this that makes eTapestry an essential tool to achieve success in a social services nonprofit environment that increasingly relies on individual donors for support, Burdett said.

"To have a competitive edge in this environment, you need to take advantage of every tool that is available," Burdette said. "eTapestry is the best data management tool for us."

About the Center for Children & Families, Inc.
The Center for Children & Families, Inc., based in Norman, Okla., improves the lives of children through partnerships with families and communities. The organization provides education, support, advocacy, intervention and prevention programs for area children and families. For more information, go to:
http://www.csbi.org/ccfi/About/History.htm

About eTapestry
Founded in 1999, Indianapolis-based eTapestry is the first Web-based donor database and communications management system that rents its software to customers who access it over the Internet. Nonprofit organizations of all types and sizes using eTapestry.com do not pay the large upfront purchasing costs or the ongoing maintenance and support contracts typically paid in the purchase of more traditional software. For more information, go to www.eTapestry.com.