Church Management Software:
How to choose the package that's right for you
A local pastor was browsing in a Christian bookstore one afternoon and decided on the spur of the moment to purchase the only membership management software offered. It looked good on the box. He took it back to the church, placed it on the office manager's desk without warning and said, "Here, let's get our membership organized." It wouldn't--and it didn't.
Another much larger congregation spent thousands of dollars on software designed for non-profit organizations. The software limited the number of records, but leaders felt it fit their current size and activity level. The staff wasn't worried that the software didn't have a contributions module because a volunteer couple had entered and processed contributions for years. But one November, the couple told the church they wouldn't do it anymore--effective December 31.
Seeing a way to save money, a church member at another congregation volunteered to create a membership database using generic database software. It worked well...most of the time. But then the member moved away, leaving church staff with limited knowledge and no outside support. In the middle of a busy program year, the database locked up. The staff found they had no information, no one to call and no data backup.
These stories are true. They are just a few from the files of the Indianapolis Center for Congregations (ICC). Since its creation in 1997, the center, a program of the Alban Institute and funded by the Lilly Endowment, has helped more than 200 congregations of various sizes and denominational affiliation with computer and ministry issues.
So, how can your congregation avoid these kinds of disasters, especially with so many available titles and enticing offers? The first step is to understand what church management software is--and isn't.
Church management software, or CMS, is a database and set of programs that allows a congregation to keep and use information related to activities of the church, including its people, its money and its physical assets. Products vary widely. Some software offers only a people database; others feature a complete set of modules for membership, accounting, scheduling and inventory management.
What it isn't is perfect. The goal is to find a CMS product that's a good fit for your church. You can do this by keeping a few steps in mind.
Match features to your congregation's practices. Individual congregational practices and culture vary greatly. You need to find software that meets your needs. Think about your "culture"--that is, how you do things. Knowing how your church's systems work--how and why you do what you do--helps you pick software that matches your needs rather than requiring you to fit your needs to its capabilities.
For example, do you use offering envelopes? Some CMS requires envelope numbers to record a pledge or contribution. Or, when recording attendance, do you want to keep track of who received communion? Some CMS offers this, some doesn't. Is your congregation large enough (or "family" enough) to have multiple people with the same first and last name (i.e., Joe Smith or Mary Jones)? Many software packages do a poor job of distinguishing between multiple people with the same names, especially when recording contributions or attendance.
Think about what you want your software to do. Of course you'll want to keep track of people, but how? By the various kinds of relationships they have with your church (members, visitors, constituents, children and spouses of members and so on)? Do you need to know different kinds of telephone numbers (fax, cell, pager)? What about keeping information about their spiritual gifts and how they use them? Do you want to print your own directory? Is contribution entry going to be done onsite or from a remote location, such as a volunteer's home? Do you want to maintain vendor information files and be able to enter invoices? Is it important that you are able to do payroll and everything associated with it? Do you want to keep an asset inventory (quantity, location, value and description)? Are you going to use your CMS package on an individual computer or on a network with multiple workstations?
These questions can seem overwhelming, but they're important. Too many churches buy software without considering what they want it to do. They end up with package that sits on someone's computer but isn't used because it just doesn't do what it needs to do.
Check references. Ask for a list of other congregations using the software you're considering. Especially look for church leaders in your area. Talk to them about quality, ease of use, technical support and training. Also ask them what they wish they'd thought about before they made their selection.
Capitalize on compatibility. Look for a software package that integrates membership, attendance and contributions functions. It's of primary importance that this information be contained within one database. Much of the information for each of these functions is common to all three. We recommend that you choose a CMS package based on these capabilities first, and on accounting or other features second. Other software can be used for accounting, scheduling and inventory control, but a database that integrates membership, attendance and contributions is key.
Don't undervalue training and support. Lack of adequate training is the most frequent mistake new users make. Many of a package's most helpful and useful features go unused simply because the people using it don't have enough training. Include plans and a generous budget for training. Ask the provider what training is available, and follow their advice. Some sponsor regional user groups, which can be a great help to both new and experienced users. The center also recommends that congregations purchase and maintain the support (sometimes called maintenance support) offered by a vendor. *
Consider converting--data, that is. Determine how the information you currently have will be entered into the new CMS package. Does your data need to be moved electronically? Or do you want or need to enter all the information by hand? Some products provide data importing tools and instructions that let you convert it in-house. Others require that the software vendor convert the data, usually at an additional cost. Some make no provisions for converting data electronically, which means all of it has to be done manually.
So, what features do you absolutely want?
A good, basic CMS package should:
- Provide easy-to-use data entry and inquiry screens throughout the database.
- Contain a search/query function that lets you select smaller groups of people or other information within your data.
- Allow for family members with different last names and addresses.
- Distinguish easily between people with the same name.
- Include extra user-defined fields.
- Provide directory listing options and contribution statements that fit your congregation.
- Track joint contributions (for husbands/wives and families).
- Feature easy-to-use documentation, either printed or online.
- Offer user training and continued support at a reasonable cost.
- Be continually improved by the vendor, based on user needs and requests.
- Contain its own security with access to different information and functions using IDs and passwords.
- Feature flexible reports so you can get the information you want how you want it.
- Have a user-friendly mail merge capability/interface.
- Be compatible with any Microsoft Windows or Novel Netware product.
- Be based on current database technology.
Remember, you're not picking CMS simply because it's the latest thing. "This isn't technology for technology's sake," says Aaron Spiegel, director of information technology at the ICC's Computers and Ministry Grants Initiative. "Computers can help congregations be more effective in people's lives."
By following these suggestions and spending time matching your congregation with the right CMS product, you greatly increase your ability to communicate with, learn about and provide ministry to your members and your community. Then, you might find yourself in the same position as one of the congregations that did it right.
Nancy Armstrong is the Congregational Resource Consultant at the Indianapolis Center for Congregations and helps direct its Computers and Ministry Grants Initiative. Brent Bill is the Center's associate director. Call (317) 237-7799 or visit www.centerforcongregations.org for more information.
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