1. Recording our data

2. What did we have? 48 databases in our Archive drive
Dave’s contacts on Google (personal, work, NACCOM)
Duplication! Data protection! Accuracy!
Duplication! – multiple places where someone’s info could be stored, so eg may get multiple letters from us!
Ending up with multiple versions saved – not sure which is most up to date
Data protection! – if someone asked not to hear from us again, almost impossible to make sure this happened Accuracy! diff addresses, diff information, accidentally rearranging columns / deleting stuff

3. Also word case notes!

4. Areas to consider (1)
Clients (refugees and asylum seekers, past, present, waiting list...)
Night shelter (venues, attendance, volunteers)
Houses (owners, maintenance tracking, regular maintenance / checks...)
Boaz Life activity attendance
General client progress /developments

5. Areas to consider (2) Volunteers (who, where, what...)
Giving (individuals, regular, one off, trusts)
Churches (contacts, fundraising, prayer support, talks)
Partner agencies
Contractors (housing, interpreters...)
Events (fundraising, supporter, volunteer...)
Speaking engagements (contacts, plans, resources)

6. Options we looked at
Totally bespoke (freebie OR prohibitively expensive!)
CiviCRM through our local Council for Voluntary Orgs (GMCVO)- approx £7000+ upfront PLUS ongoing costs
More or less “off the peg”, via a major supplier
Different staff members at diff points with expertise in managing new DBs
CiviCRM (£ £1000 per year)

7. What we went with... Blackbaud eTapestry Health warning Sales pitch
Persistent
Wasn’t as flexible as we’d hoped / understood
Blackbaud have over 30 years’ experience in providing databases to charities
Many organisations such as CAP use Blackbaud as their database provider and The Message Trust will be moving over from using a bespoke system to using Razors Edge (by Blackbaud) in 2015.
eTapestry by Blackbaud is specifically designed for small charities
Cost- £7000 over 3 years

8. Was it worth it?
YES!
Asked finance, fundraisers, support workers and me.

9. Funders
Accuracy of info
Logging all contacts
Reporting

10. Individual supporters
Update monthly gifts
Save letters / correspondence
When someone phones up we know who they are and what their connection is (finance data is hidden)
Relationships
Data protection changes and fundraising regulation- helps us be compliant (eg single record, no more mailings, but an still keep data for GA etc)

11. How we use it for client support work

12. How we use it part 2
Journal entry- replaced endless Word doc case notes

13. How we use it part 3

14. Queries and reports (1)
List of people accommodated in a time frame (e.g. current clients, all women, people hosted )
Waiting list (referrals through website create record automatically)
Case note updates during a period (e.g. when support worker off)

15. Queries and reports (2)
Number moved in / out / submitted fresh claims / attended review meetings
Attendance at activities or night shelter
Automatic monthly reports generated
Journal entries by tags (eg “speaking out”)

16. Conclusion Our database is invaluable!
It has dramatically helped us in reporting to funders (stats!)
Also in client support- consistency and accuracy
Funding is available
If you don’t have an in house whizz, and even if you do, consider outsourcing!