CiviCRM as a Donor Database Evaluation

Web-based

CiviCRM is accessed primarily through your web browser.It can also be accessed via API.

ASP

No CiviCRM ASP is available at this time.

Hosted

You can install CiviCRM in a hosted configuration yourself or vendors (http://civicrm.org/professional) can supply and maintain a CiviCRM installation for you to use.

In-house

You can install CiviCRM in an in-house configuration yourself or vendors (http://civicrm.org/professional) can supply and maintain a CiviCRM installation for you to use.

License fee

None. Software can be freely downloaded by anyone.

Installation

You can do it yourself or select a vendor to install CiviCRM (http://civicrm.org/professional).

Support

As an open source project extensive documentation and support forums are provided for free. You can also select a vendor to provide support (http://civicrm.org/professional).

Abstract analysis

Annual fund campaigns

Simple support. Track campaign through source field or with custom field. No strong campaign functionality.

Annual giving

Solicit through CiviMail, accept donations through CiviContribute and track and report on giving.

Auction event management

No specific auction event management. Potential support by creative use of basic functions.

Capital campaigns

Simple support. Target and segment your donor database. Track campaign through source field or with custom field. No strong campaign functionality.

Corporate giving

Supported through CiviGrant.

Credit card processing

Supported through CiviContribute payment processors (PayPal, Google checkout, Authorize.net and others).

Data management / analysis / reporting

Supported through CiviReports. CiviCRM lacks extensive donor management fields (which can be added as custom fields) and an extensive reports library.

Direct marketing

Strong segmentation and targeting through groups. Stong email direct marketing through CiviMail. Tracking interactions through constituent record. No strong campaign functionality. No integrated mail merge.

Donor relationship management

Core functionality.

Donor research

No default integration with donor research resources. Strong integration capabilities through open APIs would support integration with data providers.

Endowment management

No financial / accounting integration. No strong campaign functionality.

Event management

Supported through CiviEvent.

Gift annuity administration / contracts

-

Government relations / advocacy

Strong basic CRM, but no specific advocacy scoring or other advocacy functionality.

Grant making

Supported through CiviGrant.

Grant tracking

Partially supported through CiviGrant. No post grant performance tracking, task management, calendaring, etc.

Information on foundations / prospects

No default integration with grant research resources. Strong integration capabilities through open APIs would support integration with data providers.

Internet services

Strong integration with CMS (Drupal or Joomla).

Mailing list management

Supported through CiviMail and Groups. Not a replacement for a traditional mailing list management solution.

Major-gift management

Handled through activities functions. No lead / prospect conversion capabilities. No default project entity.

Major-gift marketing

Handled through activities functions. No lead / prospect conversion capabilities.

Matching gift management

Handled through custom fields instead of default functionality.

Membership / alumni management

Handled through CiviMember.

Online auctions

-

Online events / registration / management

Handled through CiviEvent.

Online fundraising / donations / management

Handled through CiviContribute

Outcome management

Potentially supported by upcoming CiviCase.

Planned gifts administration

-

Planned gifts marketing

Customization, not default functionality

Pledge management

Handled through CiviContibute.

Recurring gifts management

Strong capabilities through CiviContribute, but few default pledge management reports.

Volunteers / opportunities management

Customization, not default functionality

Type in partial constituent names to get a match.

The quick search provides a predictive interface which narrows down the list in real time as you type additional letters.
All searches in the system accept partial names (constituents, contributions, pledges, members, etc.)

Data entry default settings allow users to enter constituent and contribution information easily and rapidly.

CiviCRM provides profiles that can handle repetitive data entry tasks. Create a profile for your data entry task. Unfortunately you cannot set default values for profile fields in CiviCRM, HOWEVER, all modern browsers have a feature that will automatically fill our web forms for you and/or remember what you have typed in previous fields of that type, speeding up data entry siginficantly.

CiviCRM provides a sophistocated CSV import and update capability that is the preferred method for large volume, repetitive data entry. Create a CSV import template. Do the actual data entry (constituents / contributions / ??) in an Excel sheet. Import that sheet.
For normal data entry screens, CiviCRM provide no defaulting mechanism nor does it remember your last preferences on values like communication preferences.

Seperate recognition names for donors so that they can appear on honor rolls or published materials differently than in the database.

CiviCRM provides the database record name and custom greetings that can be used for mailing labels and similar situations.The user can also add a custom field easily to store the honor role name, handling this requirement. Custom fields can be accessed programatically or via csv export.

Spouses can have joint and seperate giving records.

Spouses can have both joint and seperate giving records by creating a household record that is connected to both spouses' constituent records. Contributions do not, however roll up into the household record without manual data entry.

Mailing names are auto-created per a set of rules.

CiviCRM provides seperate prefix, suffix and name fields and assembles them automatically.

Auto-address formats can be over-ridden.

Users can specify a custom greeting to over-ride the auto-created mailing name.
If users want full overwrite control when producing mailings, they should use the csv export functionality and make their ad-hoc modifications in Excel.

Relationships between constituents can be tracked.

CiviCRM provides standard relationships (employee of, head of household) out of the box. Users can create unlimited custom relationships.

Allows records to be archived.

CiviCRM does not provide an inactive check box that would hide the record in day-to-day workflows yet still allow it to be accessed if needed.

Globally change a large number of records in a batch.

You can create a profile with the fields you want to update, search for any set of records in the database and then batch update via profile. 

Audit log of changes to records.

Provided as a tab on the constituent record.

Calendar of grant deadlines

Simple list by date of grant deadlines via CiviGrant or via activities list.

Tickler to remind users of deadlines

Create other activity for each grant deadline, assign to staff.

Task tracking for the user and their manager 

Assign activities.

Track correspondence and communications with constituents

Logged as activities.

Handle in-kind gifts

Create a contribution type for in-kind gifts. No specific in-kind functionality.

Handles soft credits

Handles matching gifts

Use custom fields to track matching status and searches to identify open matches.

Track gifts to different funds

Use custom fields to track funds. No default functionality.

Handles split gifts between funds

Workaround... enter single contribution for each split.

Handle tracking gifts via campaign

Handled via custom fields. No default campaign functionality.

Handle tracking gift via appeal

Handled via custom fields. No default campaign functionality.

Handle tribute/ honor gifts

Supported in CiviContribute.

Notifying the honoree re: gifts in their name

Manual process involving searching, creating CRM records and then notifying.

Handle anonymous giving

Can be handled with a custom field, but not integrated functionality (masking from reports, for example).

Handle gift acknowledgments and thank you letters

Handled by CiviContribute.

Handle gift receipts

Handled by CiviContribute.

Handle end-of-the-year donor statements

Manual via search.

Handle pledges

Schedule and track pledge payments

Remind staff of pledges that are due

Remind donors of pledges that are due