in
 
   

Postings from the front line

Provocative opinion from a third sector maverick

All we want for Christmas

Organising your database is like picking up your dry cleaning – you avoid it for ages but once you do the feeling of virtue is so overwhelming you cannot understand why you didn’t do it before.    We are just girding our loins, waiting the arrival of the management consultants who are magically doing some pro bono work for us to sort out our database.  At present our database is in the state I imagine many charities’ are.  We have a spreadsheet, compiled in a hurry, made up of people with whom we have come into contact.  As it has been formed from the records of each of our staff the notes are practically incomprehensible to anyone but the author.  Acronyms litter the page like the spelling of a madman and there are more duplicates than you can shake a Christmas stocking at.   As a result it sits on our server, doing the virtual equivalent of gathering dust.   

So all we want for Christmas this year is a database that actually means something.  We should be using it every day for mailings and updating contact details.  Our aim is to create the kind of database that lobbyists use, that’s updated after every meeting with their views and interests so that when analysed it shows who should be meeting who to get things done.  We’re a long way from that, but when the rest of the world is committed to giving things up, we’re committed to starting something – and more importantly keeping it going.  It’s the admin version of going to the gym.  So I look forward to seeing you in the New Year and showing off our muscled, flexible database…

Published Jan 03 2008, 08:00 PM by Adam Nichols

Comments

 

Tim Davies said:

Hey Adam

A challenge indeed.

But a good resolution. I wonder how many other people are including 'managing data better' in their new years resolutions.

I've recently been exploring different solutions for not-for-profit organisations and youth organisations creating databases to manage their contacts and keep track of what they're doing.

One of the biggest lessons I've learnt is about growing systems as organically as possible. Getting a database and expecting it to fit your way or working from day 1 is unlikely to work - but choosing a system that can grow and evolve with you - and building in the time to review, develop, retrain and pick up tips and tricks from colleagues if far more likely to make database building a positive experience.

In that light - I was really impressed to find a free Contact Relationship Management system (3 different log-ins or less - then you start paying monthly) from Zoho.com at http://crm.zoho.com/.

I've worked with a system called CiviCRM quite a bit (which is designed specially for not-for-profit organisations) - but where that takes time to set-up technically - the only time taken with the Zoho option is time to learn to use it and mould it to your needs. Might be worth a look?

January 8, 2008 6:08 PM

Children & Young People Now is the official publication for members of the National Children's Bureau and The National Youth Agency.