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Founded in 2002, the Good Samaritan Shelter in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, provides both emergency shelter and transitional housing to homeless men over the age of 18. They also collaborate with other local agencies to help their clients gain stability and address the issues of homelessness. Funds to operate are generated through individual and corporate donations, grants, and special events. Initially, Good Samaritan attempted to maintain donor information using Microsoft Word.
Leda Peterson, Good Samaritan’s Administrator, was researching donor database software in the spring of 2006 in order to capture Good Samaritan’s donor information all in one place, initiate a system for acknowledgements, and provide the reports she needed.
 Although eTapestry seemed to have all kinds of bells and whistles, her reviews showed that GiftWorks “met us where we were, gave us exactly what we needed, and didn’t complicate matters with features we didn’t need,” reports Leda. She spoke to other GiftWorks users and learned of Mission Research’s work with the United Way. Her decision was easy.
Using GiftWorks, she is now able to track donations in a professional way, do mailings with ease, capture a lot of data (lost to her earlier), and systematize those acknowledgements.
“GiftWorks is written in plain English,” she comments. “I’ve read the manual, but most of it is self explanatory. And help is only a click away.”
“I love the way GiftWorks talks to itself—if I change something (spelling or a ZIP code) on a SmartList, I know the changes will be made throughout the system. I don’t have to double check.”
The time savings with mailings is significant. “Now I am totally confident that the addressing is correct, that there are no duplicates. There’s no struggle. I can do it in seconds.”
An accountant friend who volunteers with a local arts center recently asked Leda what donor software program she would recommend. Leda responded, “You can look at the more complicated programs, but with GiftWorks, you’ll have what you need.”
“Now I’m the expert,” concludes Leda.
www.goodsamshelter.org |
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