Most US non-profits still don't use single donor database, says survey
Howard Lake | 13 September 2004 | News
A survey of American non-profits by online fundraising service provider Kintera has found that a majority of organizations continue to store information on donors and volunteers in several places instead of unifying contacts into a single, online database.
Of those surveyed, 46% of the respondents reported that their organizations are using two or more databases to store donor and supporter information for online use, while 25% said they are not currently using a database for this information at all.
Only 29% of those surveyed said that they rely on one online database for this purpose.
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The informal survey was conducted by Kintera Inc. via their website at www.kintera.com. More than 250 individuals responded to the web poll.
“While there are still nonprofits that continue to use two or more databases, our experience with customers over the past years indicate that the concept of a single, unified database for contact information is gaining popularity in the sector,” said Dr. Harry Gruber, CEO of Kintera.
He added: “with an online, unified database, an organization can look at a holistic view of each consumer’s activities and interact real-time with targeted and personal information, ultimately creating a powerful giving experience.”
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.