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Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners Resource Guide Collection

Friends of Libraries: Membership and Donor Management Software

Information, resources, and advice for library friends groups in Massachusetts.

Membership and Donor Management Software

This guide is for friends of libraries, library foundations and other fundraising organizations that support libraries. 

The content in this guide is informational only. The inclusion of any links or services is not an endorsement. 

Donor and Membership Software Resources

What is membership and donor management software? 

Membership and donor management software seeks to make the process of soliciting donors, processing payment, tracking fundraising easier and centralized. Most will have features that allow for managing donors or members, creating a profile of a donor/member with the ability to see their giving history. A dashboard to track fundraising efforts, send acknowledgements and appeal letters. Some will integrate with accounting software, payment processing, and email marketing. 

Donor software allows nonprofits to accept, track, and process online donations. Functionality may include donor profiles, fundraising reporting and tracking, analytics, constituent reporting to cultivate and retain donors. Membership management software is used by membership-based organizations to help with member engagement and retention. Other features may include payment processing for membership, setting up member profiles and membership levels, and more.

Software used by Mass Friends and Foundations

FAQs about Membership or Donor Management Software

Q: How long does it take to customize and get ready to launch the software? 
A: One library took a year to launch. 

 

Q: What are the costs associated with donor and membership software? 
A: It varies. Friends reported costs between $400 to $1000. Little green light has a scale based on number of members. 

 

Q: Who manages the software program you use for membership? Do you have a designated Tech person, or does the Membership chairperson manage it?
A: It varies across libraries. Some libraries report membership chair, treasurer, and president of the Board. 

 

Tips about using Membership and Donor Software

  • Make sure you have someone in your group who is willing and able to manage the software.
     
  • We have found it to be very valuable both for managing our membership data base but also for sending out email messages to our members.
     
  • You'll want someone fairly tech savvy to get everything set up, because you may need to import existing data and/or make decisions about how your data is structured. LGL has a really extensive knowledge database that nearly always had answers when I needed help. The few times I needed more specialized help, their support team was great. I also got some very helpful advice from a facebook LGL user group