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With 9 established fundraising and volunteer programs to coordinate, the staff at Senior Resources in Columbia, SC needed a software solution that would offer convenience as well as features to facilitate their potential growth. When Annie Eveleigh, Director of Development for Senior Resources, started 7 years ago she discovered that they were using several different databases to store and track their information. Annie knew that converting everything into one centralized database was the only way information could be streamlined for efficient tracking and reporting purposes.

While Annie was familiar with other database programs she had utilized at previous jobs, she wanted to see what was currently available for a non-profit of their size. As an AFP (Association of Fundraising Professionals) Chamberlain Scholar, Annie attended the AFP International Conference where she saw a presentation on eTapestry. She was immediately interested in the web-based program and met with Jay Love, Founder and CEO of eTapestry, to discuss some of the options eTapestry had to offer. The convenience of a web-based product and the affordable maintenance fees sold Annie and the rest of the Senior Resources staff. Five years later Annie says that they "couldn't be happier about their decision to go with eTapestry."

In addition to the convenience of the product, Annie has been very pleased with the Advanced Email feature and the Online Giving options.

"After we looked at the return on investment and how we could maximize our resources, we began to focus on the features of eTapestry we could better utilize" said Annie. "We send out quarterly newsletters to over 5,000 constituents, so when we looked at trimming the development office budget, one of the ways I suggested was sending e-newsletters 2 of the 4 times. We also stopped sending mailed announcements of special events - we send all those invites via email now to folks who participated in previous years and folks who expressed an interest in the event."

Annie states that the Online Giving page has been "just wonderful". For almost 38 years, donors gave to Senior Resources the old fashion way - by check in the mail - so she anticipated a tough sell to get them to move to online.

Senior Resources started with an online donation page for their "The Gift that Gives Again" holiday card campaign in late 2006. They were so pleased with the results that they added another online donation page for their "March for Meals" fundraiser in the spring of 2007. "We began promoting the online donation option in email blasts, e-newsletters, brochures and on our website," said Annie.

Needless to say, the results were amazing! "Since the incorporation of the online donation pages the registrations for our 'March for Meals 5K at Riverbanks' have tripled!", Annie added.

Senior Resources could not be happier with the impact that the online donation capability has had on their donations. They are also very pleased that the rise in volume of donations has not created a heavier workload because the online donations flow seamlessly into their fully integrated eTapestry database with no additional data entry needed.

"We've offered an online donation option with our holiday card campaign "The Gift that Gives Again" the past 2 years," stated Annie. "Since this is an established campaign and many people are accustomed to giving through mail donations, the biggest benefit from that option is that it makes our data entry time less stressful. The holiday card campaign can have as many as 1,000 entries in a short period of time, so you can imagine how much it helps if they are done online! We wish everyone would register or donate online...maybe, some day."

About Senior Resources
Senior Resources is a non-profit organization that provides coordinated services, resources and personal choices to promote healthy, independent living through the support of staff and volunteers. Since 1967 Senior Resources has provided a variety of choices to Columbia area seniors & families by offering established programs for home care, transportation, senior volunteers, meal delivery and much, much more. Senior Resources currently touches over 2,000 lives each day in the Midlands of SC through their 9 programs. For more information on Senior Resources please visit www.seniorresourcesinc.org.

About eTapestry
Since its release as the first web-based fundraising software for nonprofits in 1999, eTapestry has grown to a leadership position with over 5000 nonprofit customers worldwide. eTapestry provides On-Demand fundraising solutions, including a donor database, website development, ecommerce, and advanced email. To learn more, visit us at www.etapestry.com, or call us at 888-739-3827. eTapestry is a Blackbaud Company.