Libby - I did a fairly exhaustive evaluation in part because I wanted my Board to know I had done due diligence, but also because I wanted to be sure the solution made the best sense for PCC. I evaluated eTapestry, DonorTools, CloserWare (Volunteer Matters), YourMembership.com, PhilanthrAppeal, Convio, and BlackBaud.

Civi was the clear choice because it did everything we wanted to do, and I knew from prior experience with Drupal that when new modules come out, I could easily expand our capacity if it was necessary. Plus, Civi is implemented by independent developers, which makes the process of implementing the CRM customizable. This was key because I only had sporadic time available to work on the project (I was in the field planting trees a lot) and Giant Rabbit was understanding about the fact that we couldn’t dedicate our entire staff of one to getting the project done in a quick fashion. The open-source mind-set works well for us: it’s a culture of contribution, self-reliance, and community.

Also, for us, because of what we wanted and our willingness to do much of the low-skilled labor ourselves, Civi was most economical for our needs.

Giant Rabbit - We recommend CiviCRM for organizations the size of Putah Creek Council because we feel the out-of-the-box features it offers are robust enough to make the platform work with a minimal investment. Once the organization is using CiviCRM, the natural growth of the platform through community contributions allows for improved features over time, and the openness of the data and the code base allows for later expansion or customization if it becomes necessary. In short, it is a good short-term, low-cost solution, while also serving as a solid foundation for later expansion.