We help many not for profits implement CiviCRM through consultancy, training, configuration, support and custom development. Many of them come from a painful world of old Access databases, multiple spreadsheets and even paper. I love presenting demonstrations to new potential users; many are shocked by the scale of the software. CiviCRM is suitable for so many different organisations as it's been developed to cover so many bases off the back of community calls.

I maintain our own CiviCRM client database; it feeds into our drupal intranet to provide me with all the information I need at a click. I would be lost without it!

We feel there are too many obstacles facing not-for-profits (NFPs) considering commercial CRM offerings, including many of those that are charity oriented. From licensing models which restrict the fluid expansion of an organisation's user base (why should you be punished with higher costs for being successful?), to support from commercial companies being inherently tied to one supplier; a NFP would benefit from the option to 'shop around' for those most appropriate, e.g. based on: proximity and availability on-site, cost, experience, value added services... They also often lack the capacity for charity relevant workflows, necessitating either customisations, complicated and inefficient workarounds or an en-masse call for new functionality, as individual charities do not appear to carry the weight required to influence subtle NFP-only changes to market leading software, without large expense.

On the flip side, CiviCRM is completely free and open-source, carrying with it a friendly, hard-working and enthusiastic community of developers and implementers, constantly listening to the users' needs and sculpting future releases to the requirements of NFP organisations. This is exciting!

CiviCRM has one of the most active and friendliest communities I have come across. From initial tentative forum posts I was encouraged into engaging more actively through IRC and directly with other groups & individuals and am now happy to count many community members as friends. I recently found an article on the web that said if you post a question about CiviCRM anywhere on the web Lobo will post an answer within a few hours. It often feels like that is true.

One of the most valuable way in which the community supports me is by allowing me to bounce my ideas around and often someone is able to suggest an approach which is better than mine.

We are currently migrating to civiCRM. We will be using civiCRM for back office to record contributions, manage donor communication and report on contributions received.

CiviCRM is perfect for us because it is based on contributions

By giving the nonprofit sector a values-driven, free/open source solution for CRM needs!