Once you’ve established some internal alignment back at the ranch, it’s time to go fundraising technology shopping! This is where many teams freeze … the choices are numerous and often daunting. The prices are hard to compare and vary widely. The feature sets provide a dizzying array of delights, but will you ever use them? This is a good moment to seek some advice. Rather than depend on the technology companies to tell you why their widgets are better than the next, turn to some trusted peers who have recently gone through the technology selection process and ideally have a year or two of field-testing reality under their belts. Ask them some frank questions: Did they pay what they expected to pay? How long did it actually take to implement? Are they raising any more money than before?
Philip King is founder of The Donation Funnel Project, an experiment in online and mobile fundraising. He is a regular contributor to NonProfit PRO.