ReSource – the best resource is connected supporters

Staying connected to a loyal supporter base is vital to the majority of small charities. Administration is often done from a database or spreadsheet on a stand-alone PC on which information is recorded and mailings are generated.

ReSource, a small Christian charity, was exactly in this position when they approached PSL to see whether it was possible to overcome some of the difficulties they were finding. There was only one spreadsheet on one PC, so only one person could use it at any one time. Also, like a number of voluntary organisations, key personnel were often not in the office to access the PC. They could literally be anywhere in the world.

Anytime, any place, anywhere …

So what was the answer? A proper database with supporters details plus donations and purchases accessible by anyone at any time and from anywhere.

But surely the costs would be prohibitive in terms of hardware and networking and software development and training? PSL already had a lot of experience in developing secure internet-based database applications that satisfied the criteria … and didn’t cost the earth.

The end result is an easy-to-use contact and giving database developed for ReSource on an agreed fixed budget, with not one penny spent on anything other than the database. No new server, no extra networking and no upgrades – that meant no hidden costs or extras.

Who can use it?

Any authorised individual - plus any number of people can use it at the same time.
Where can they access and update the database?
Literally anywhere in the world with an internet connection.

Low-cost doesn’t mean low-functionality

George Lonchar is the Administrator at ReSource and worked closely with PSL on the design and implementation of the database. He says “Working with PSL was very easy. We didn’t know much about databases but had a sense of integrity in our working relationship with them”.

There are so many things that George and others can do with the database. Contacts, donations, subscriptions and any resources sold or sent can be analysed using any categories or form of segmentation that ReSource want to set up.

Data for reports or mail merges can then be easily extracted into Microsoft Excel - again at no extra cost, as all machines already had Excel on them.

“Everything is better organised and it’s really easy to manipulate things to meet our needs. Everything is far more streamlined and we want to continue to develop the database”.