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I have just inherited the job of calendaring all grant requests, due dates, amounts requested/received, reports due, whew - I am having a panic attack just thinking about it! This is in addition to all gifts processing, website, prospect research....
Anyway - is there any software you could recommend? I know this is Blackbaud-land, but since we kind of let our maintenance lapse it will cost us something like $10,000 just to get them to talk to us again...
So - does BB have a module or does someone else have something I can use? I have been trying to write something in Access but it is going to be a bit primitive and we will outgrow it very soon. I know I can use Actions and Outlook to track dates, but they won't help as much when I want to track amount requested vs. amount recieved, etc.
We are itty-bitty but we write for about 50+ grants a year so there is a lot of tracking and I am now rambling on and hyperventilating....
sigh
thanx
__________________ Andrea Shlasko
Database Manager
Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Sun Coast Inc.
"Just another day in Paradise, where every meal's a banquet and every day's a holiday"
Blackbaud has the RE:search module which gives you the prospect tab. This can be used for grants or for major donor solicitations. It has some great things but also some not so great things (like reports). You would need to contact your blackbaud rep and see if you can get a demo.
The search module is great in that it allows you to link the money received directly to the grant proposal, but our grantwriter just moved her calendar to MS Project so that she could create both individual timelines for each grant and one that encompasses the whole year (and keep the two linked together). If you don't have RE:search, I would definately suggest Project and an Action Track in RE.
Our web host has given me access to MS Project 2003, so in the interest of serious cost-saving, I am taking your recommendation and teaching myself how to use it. The option of buying another RE module is not viable since our maintenance (and version) are serously lapsed.
Any advice/suggestions anyone has on Project 2003 would be much appreciated. It looks like this is the path I am going to take.
Thanks
__________________ Andrea Shlasko
Database Manager
Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Sun Coast Inc.
"Just another day in Paradise, where every meal's a banquet and every day's a holiday"
I manage our grant calendar in Raiser's Edge. All Institutional prospects are entered as constituents and enter Letters of Inquiry, Proposals, Invoices, Reports, etc. with their deadlines as actions. I also assign these actions to the appropriate staffmember. We are a small outfit, so it helps also to have all of our solicitations in RE: direct mail; proposals; corporate sponsorships; events; etc. With RE as our one-stop-shop, we can really coordinate our efforts much more efficiently. One great example, is that many foundation trustees are in RE as individuals, and we can link them through relationships and even note cultivation actions/interactions on both their record and that of the foundation when appropriate.
__________________ Viva Krasinski
Development Services Manager
P.S. ARTS
Restoring arts education to our public schools since 1991
I have just inherited the job of calendaring all grant requests, due dates, amounts requested/received, reports due, whew - I am having a panic attack just thinking about it! This is in addition to all gifts processing, website, prospect research....
Anyway - is there any software you could recommend? I know this is Blackbaud-land, but since we kind of let our maintenance lapse it will cost us something like $10,000 just to get them to talk to us again...
So - does Blackbaud have a module or does someone else have something I can use? I have been trying to write something in Access but it is going to be a bit primitive and we will outgrow it very soon. I know I can use Actions and Outlook to track dates, but they won't help as much when I want to track amount requested vs. amount recieved, etc.
We are itty-bitty but we write for about 50+ grants a year so there is a lot of tracking and I am now rambling on and hyperventilating....
sigh
thanx
andrea.bbbs,
Obviously, RE w/Prospect module would give you the full meal deal, but since your criteria at this point requires a low budget solution, you may want to check out an MS Access-based Proposal & Grant Tracking application that may or may not be helpful. It may be free to use, I'm not sure - you would have to research its actual licensing / terms and conditions. I can not vouch for the safety/quality/applicability of this file, but perhaps it would be interesting for you to check out.
I would love to hear more about how your prospect module tables, etc. are built in order to track this information. Any insight/suggestions you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
I agree with those posting that the RE:Search module would be the best way to go. I've been exploring other options and I keep coming back to Search. Hopefully we can get it soon.
Our Executive Director wanted the whole organization to start using Microsoft Project - it's WAY over-kill. We got a much cheaper version of project management software called Project KickStart. Nobody has used it beyond initially setting it up for one of our events.
__________________
Robin Lyda
Database Strategist
Intermountain
Helena, MT robinL@intermountain.org
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