Until recently, the eight ministries that make up Atlanta-based Action Ministries couldn't easily track donations that came into the corporate office because their donor databases weren't linked. Some of the ministries-located throughout north Georgia-used software programs to track donors, while others tracked their donations by hand.

The faith-based ministries, located throughout northern Georgia, offer transitional housing, soup kitchens and food pantries, enrichment programs, a residential drug treatment center and emergency assistance with rent and utilities

The ministries have close ties to their communities and many donations made through the corporate office are earmarked for a specific ministry, said Nancy Hruschka, Action Ministries director of development.

"For donors, the affiliation with the local ministry is extremely important," Hruschka said. "We want to continue that tradition but provide technical and software support so we can do a better job communicating with our donors."

Hruschka is in the process of making eTapestry, a donor-database software system accessible through the Internet, available to all the ministries so they can easily track donors. Hruschka set up her database so each ministry has its own database of donors.

"This is one of the beauties of the system-the ability to have one database that can function as support for multiple ministries," Hruschka said. "Through eTapestry, we could discover that many of our donors give to more than one ministry. It also allows us to communicate to all of our donors and volunteers when we want to send out agency-wide material, such as newsletters and invitations to events."

eTapestry's remote access allows Hruschka and her volunteers to work from home and avoid the time-consuming commute to downtown Atlanta.

One of eTapestry's other selling points was that it didn't need an IT staff to put it together or make changes to it later, said Hruschka.

"Some programs, once you set them up, you need to keep purchasing the upgrades and installing the software," Hruscka said. "From what I experienced with eTapestry, if you have a suggestion on how to make the system better, the staff listens. When improvements are made to the system, I don't have to do anything. eTapestry does it."

Founded in September 1999, eTapestry is the first fundraising application service provider (ASP), a company that rents its software to customers and delivers it on the Internet. eTapestry is less expensive and more versatile than traditional fundraising software applications. It is used by nonprofit organizations of all types and sizes.

For more information about eTapestry software, visit www.etapestry.com.