PDX company to customize & support software for small nonprofit

March 4, 2019 12:35 PM

I volunteer with a neighborhood nonprofit, almost entirely volunteer-run. They have been getting by on software created my a member who recently left and provided no documentation. They need to track a bunch of data in a fairly simple way but many of the volunteers have a low level of computer literacy. What direction should I point them for new software? Are there any companies in the Portland, Oregon area that might be able to customize something and provide support?

They need to track:
- Member Data
- personal info
- volunteer hours
- payments
- weight of food taken
- Donation Data
- sources of donations
- weight of food donated

They work from several different computers, so something web-based would be ideal.

1) I'm not up to date in this field. What CMSs (or whatever) are preferred these days?

2) Can you recommend any companies in the Portland, OR area that could customize something and provide friendly, helpful support? This is an area where they might not mind paying someone.

posted by sibilatorix to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

Well - I am partial to: Office 365, specifically the SharePoint Online portion of things. Pricing is reasonable - because, for every "paid" subscription, you can invite people (volunteers/members) via "External Sharing" (all they need to do is register an email as a "Microsoft Account"). (Microsoft may even have non-profit pricing)

Because SharePoint Online structures many things as lists - you can collect simple data, collate it and report on it fairly easily.

(But... I am biased - I have worked with SharePoint for a very long time and tend to see it as a pretty easy-to-use hammer)

You might find other software options via "TechSoup" - and you might find Microsoft Alumni members looking for volunteer opportunities. (Being "reasonably" close to Seattle and all)
posted by jkaczor at 1:11 PM on March 4, 2019

It sounds like you're a food bank, is that right? There's actually a lot of web-based software targeted quite specifically to non-profits - if you don't have tech volunteers to own it, you might benefit from just paying for one, which should run you $10-$40/month. I haven't tried any of the available offerings, but googling "food bank software free" brings up a dozen or more options.
posted by the agents of KAOS at 1:42 PM on March 4, 2019

Check out Ideal-Logic, which is based in Corvallis.
posted by Knowyournuts at 7:27 PM on March 4, 2019

I've used Wild Apricot for these types of community organization sites before. It's helpful to pick a service that has dedicated phone and email customer support so that you don't end up having to become your own sysadmin.
posted by perihare at 8:37 PM on March 4, 2019

Check your MeMail.
posted by kristi at 7:01 PM on March 9, 2019