A tool nonprofits REALLY need
01:59, 5 March 2009
.. Posted in Volunteerism and Volunteer Management.. Link
One of the most popular pages on my web site is a listing of Volunteer Management Software. I think it's the most comprehensive list of such software anywhere. By volunteer management software, I mean software that is geared towards nonprofit organizations (as opposed to corporate volunteering programs), or nonprofit-related software/community relationship management software that has substantial volunteer management functions. For a package to be listed on my page, it needs to actually use the word volunteer somewhere on its web site in describing the product, not just "constituents" or "supporters."
But a list of more than 40 volunteer management software packages isn't enough to meet the needs of nonprofit organizations. Who has time to go through more than 40 web sites to find the software package right for them?
In my opinion, there is a HUGE need by nonprofits for a free web-based database that lists each of these software packages and shows for each:
- the cost to purchase the software
- yearly costs associated with use and support
- number of organizations using the software
- age of the company producing the software (when was the company founded?)
- age of the software (when was the software launched?)
- what operating systems on which the software will function (Windows-only? Linux-based OS and Mac too?)
- whether or not there is a free demo available to download
- whether or not there are screen shots of the software available on the web site
- is there online access for volunteers to use the software themselves/input their own data, and, if yes, is the platform accessible by any browser, not just the latest browser versions?
- accessibility: is this software something that volunteers or staff using assistive technology can access?
- information on whether or not the user/organization can add and customize fields, input screens and reports (yes or no for each feature)
- how often the software is updated, the average cost of upgrades for users, and whether or not the company will continue to support software that is not updated
- if the producing company provides an online users forum, so users can help each other use the software, discuss features they have developed themselves (yes or no?)
- if the software has the ability to track volunteer hours/contribution by week, month, quarter, year, and/or project (yes or no to each of these)
- if the software has the ability to track volunteer skills, volunteer availability and interests, and volunteer impact beyond just number of hours contributed (fields that allow user to type in qualitative data, such as observations, etc.) - yes or no for each of these features
- if the software has the database information is stored at the organization using the software, or, remotely at the software company
- whether or not selected data could be easily exported into other types of data files (like a spreadsheet or a word processing document or even another database program)
- whether or not more than one staff member can read the database information at the same time, input data or change data at the same time, etc.
- a place for software users to rate the software and comment on their own use of such
If I had the expertise to do this, I would. But I don't. So I am giving this idea away. If someone wants to create this online interactive database, I would be happy to link to it via my web site, do away with my own listing, and promote the heck out of this database! It will be a guaranteed HUGE success with nonprofit organizations and generate a HUGE amount of regular traffic!
