LaborNetwork@gmail.com wrote: > I have been looking for quite some time for this, and the only solution > I can find less than $10K is FileMaker Pro. Unfortunately it will > require me to either spend the next 8 months learning how to create a > database from scratch, or spend $10K on a developer!
It wouldn't be that difficult. I used an existing, included FileMaker templates from 7.0 for a non-profit and took about two weeks (an hour here, an hour there) to tweak the template to track several types of contacts: donors, prospective donors, volunteers, and the artists supported by the organization.
For the donors and prospective donors, one table is used with a list indicating current, prospect, hiatus (but maybe a donor again someday), and inactive (often moved, closed business, or worse).
Volunteers includes a list of the skills the person has, previous projects (a one-to-many relationship), etc. I use the same contacts database for everyone in the file, but if the person is a volunteer there is an entry added in the volunteer details table. I like having all my contact data together because then it migrates to other programs more nicely.
Artists need a resume, previous works list, gallery dates, and more. We can match donors to artists by their interests, volunteers to artists by need, and even volunteers and artists to donors for the purposes of begging for money.
I used the Task Management template and changed some field names, for a start, then added some other tweaks. I did not do a major redesign, since I was volunteering my time.
Now, I'm no FM Pro guru, coming from MySQL and "serious" programming. I like to code, not click on script steps!
If someone like me can modify the toys in the box, I'm sure you can find someone to do what you need for a very reasonable rate. I'm also sure you could, if you spent a few weeks (not months) playing with FM Pro.
The nice thing is that since we modified the existing templates under 7, we've just added features (mainly reports and two or three fields) over the last two years or so. Example: We make sure any list is a table, not a text list, and create a nice form for the staff to add new values and descriptions of the values. When we wanted to add photos of artwork, no problem -- modify the artist subtable to include a field for photos. With FM Pro 8.5, we can use tabs to keep things on one screen.
I'm sure anyone here could help with some basic questions. I'm always picking up tips.
