Hi Sally,
Thanks for your participation - your information is critical to forming the review. I
will email you should I have any questions, otherwise, look forward to the review in
about a month or so.
Thanks again!
Eric
---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: Sally Zaino <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: "TechRocks Support" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 16:02:01 -0800
>Eric,
>
>Thanks for asking--answers are with the questions.
>
>Sally Zaino
>
>
>
>At 09:59 AM 03/14/2001 -0800, you wrote:
>>Hi -
>>
>>My name is Eric Leland I am a consultant working with CompuMentor in San
>>Francisco on a review of ebase. In addition to conversations with
>>Techrocks and ebase developers, I am gathering input from current users on
>>their experience using ebase. The goal is to provide a comprehensive
>>review of ebase for the benefit of nonprofits who are faced with the chore
>>of database planning.
>>
>>For those of you who are able, I would greatly appreciate your input on
>>the following questions. I encourage you to include details where
>>appropriate, and any other comments you have that may not be covered by my
>>questions below. You can send your answers directly to my attention at
>>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>
>>I hope to have the review done in April, which I will forward to the list.
>>
>>Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or
>>concerns. Thank you all for your time,
>>
>>Eric
>>
>>-------------------
>>Questions
>>-------------------
>>
>>Choosing Ebase
>>
>>Did your organization draft a database plan prior to choosing ebase?
>
>No.
>
>>Did your organization evaluate other database packages/services or custom
>>options? If so what were they, and why did you choose ebase over them?
>
>Our president used Quickbooks for a year or so, but we decided to try ebase
>because of its features geared toward non-profit membership organizations.
>
>>Did your organization upgrade to ebase from another database system? If
>>so, please list what system and explain what ebase has to offer over your
>>prior system.
>
>
>Same as above.
>
>
>>Using Ebase
>>
>>What do you use ebase for (e.g. contact list, donor tracking,
>>member/activist profiles, etc)?
>
>We use ebase as our main membership database, for donor tracking, endowment
>records, to publish updated membership lists, maintain our mailing list and
>email list, and to generate reports for tax purposes. We have not sent
>batch emails yet, because I haven't had the time to figure out how, but
>plan to in the future. We will use the profiles feature to keep track of
>volunteers.
>
>>Do multiple people in your office use ebase at the same time? No.
>>Do you own FileMaker Pro or FileMaker Pro Server? No.
>>Have you customized ebase? If so, please list the types of customizations
>>(ie new labels, new reports, new fields, etc). No, except for what is
>>possible with the run-time program.
>>Are their particular functions of Ebase you find most/least
>>helpful? Please explain. We are a small organization, without an office,
>>and we find it infinitely useful to have a fairly simple program that can
>>be put on a home computer to generate professional record-keeping and save
>>hours of time for our volunteer membership person (me). The tracking of
>>addresses and donations over time is very valuable, and ability to
>>generate a current membership report in a few seconds is great. The
>>fiscal year donation report was extremely useful, as we just filed our end
>>of probation report with the IRS to determine if we had public
>>support. This certainly saved hours. We also appreciate the fact that
>>ebase has the capability to grow with us, and we don't see an end to its
>>usefulness in the future. One thing that is a bummer is the fact that we
>>can't generate our thank you letters directly from ebase, since we don't
>>have Filemaker. I have to write the letter in Word and then switch
>>programs every time I add a payment. It wouldn't be so frustrating if you
>>didn't have those sample letters in there that CAN'T BE EDITED. The
>>inability to change the layout for the mailing labels is a pain, too. I
>>haven't figured out how to export as a Word Document (it exports as a
>>picture), so I have to cut off a half inch of every mailing label sheet.
>
>
>>Support
>>
>>Do you use outside consultants to help support/develop ebase? No.
>>Do you find the ebase manual helpful? Why or why not? Yes, its fairly
>>easy to understand. All I need is time to read it. It has walked me
>>through several operations successfully.
>>Do you find the ebase support listserv helpful? Why or why not? The
>>listserv is very helpful. Its great to have a place to post a question
>>and actually get a quick answer. We once had a crash and through the
>>listserv I was given a phone number to call and we got a personalized
>>tweak to save our records. The support is great. Most of the people who
>>post on the list are way more computer literate, and have Filemaker, but a
>>number of times I've archived answers that saved me from asking them myself.
>>
>>General
>>
>>What are the main benefits of ebase for your organization? It was
>>free! That's awesome. Its set up for groups like ours, and its almost
>>simple enough for us to use.
>>What are the main drawbacks? None, really. See functions question.
>>Other comments? Thanks.
>
>
>Sally Zaino
>The Manada Conservancy
>P.O. Box 25
>Hummelstown, Pa. 17036
>http://www.manada.org
>
>
>"The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to keep all the pieces." --Aldo
>Leopold
>
>
>>~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
>>Eric Leland, Technology Consultant
>>CompuMentor
>>487 Third Street, San Francisco, CA 94107
>>Voice: 415.512.7784 x349
>>Fax: 415.365.2870
>>Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>
>>http://www.compumentor.org
>>Bringing people and technology together to strengthen our communities
>>
>>http://www.techsoup.org
>>Technology served the way nonprofits need it / powered by CompuMentor
>>~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
>>
>>
>>
>>------------------ Reminder to each recipient: To change your list account
>>preferences, go to
>>http://email.sparklist.com/scripts/lyris.pl?enter=support and enter the
>>email address you used to subscribe to the ebase support list::
>>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>
>>To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>>ebase - Relationship Management for Nonprofits, http://www.ebase.org
>>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>
>
>------------------
>Reminder to each recipient: To change your list account preferences, go to
>http://email.sparklist.com/scripts/lyris.pl?enter=support and enter the email
>address you used to subscribe to the ebase support list:: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
> ebase - Relationship Management for Nonprofits, http://www.ebase.org
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
------------------
Reminder to each recipient: To change your list account preferences, go to
http://email.sparklist.com/scripts/lyris.pl?enter=support and enter the email address
you used to subscribe to the ebase support list:: [email protected]
To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
ebase - Relationship Management for Nonprofits, http://www.ebase.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------
