A Guide to Synagogue
Management Systems:
Research and Recommendations
January 2013
Authors
Elizabeth Pope
Laura Quinn
Chris Bernard
Considering Synagogue Management Systems ... 3
Introduction... 4
How.We.Researched.This.Report... 5
What.Should.a.Synagogue.Management.System.Do?... 6
Overview.of.the.Marketplace...12
How.To.Decide...21
A.Word.on.Pricing...25
How.Do.These.Systems.Compare?...26
How.to.Improve.the.Sector:..
Paths.Forward... 27
Index of Systems ...31
Avectra’s.netFORUM... 32
Chaverware...34
CiviCRM...43
Cloud.for.Synagogues...51
DonorPerfect...53
Fellowship.One...55
GiftWorks...57
iMIS.(Congregation.Suite)...59
Members360...61
Microsoft.Dynamics...63
MM2000...65
NOAH... 74
PatronManager... 76
The.Raiser’s.Edge(i)...78
Salesforce.Nonprofit.Starter.Pack...87
Shelby...95
ShulCloud... 104
ShulSuite... 105
StarChapter... 114
SugarCRM... 116
Talisma...124
Tessitura...126
Appendices ... 135
Appendix.A:.Methodology...136
Appendix.B:.How.We.Rated.the.Systems...139
Appendix.C:.Full.Requirements.Document...147
Appendix.D:.Other.Systems.of.Interest.in.the.Synagogue.Management.Sphere...161
About Idealware ... 162
TAble of ConTenTs
Considering synAgogue
MAnAgeMenT sysTeMs
Even as synagogues look to better understand the
many ways technology can help them interact with
and manage their congregations, the marketplace
is changing. New software options are available all
the time. In hopes of more clearly defining
syna-gogues’ specific needs and the ability of the current
marketplace to meet them, UJA-Federation of New
York convened an advisory consortium to address a
common concern about what synagogues currently
need to support operations and how synagogues can
use database systems to support engagement and
strategic decision-making. That consortium included
the national staff and representatives of the North
American Association of Synagogue Executives,
National Association for Temple Administration,
Orthodox Union, Union for Reform Judaism, and
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
UJA-Federation of New York retained Idealware to
conduct a large-scale research project into
constitu-ent managemconstitu-ent systems—both those traditionally
marketed to synagogues and from other
sectors—com-paring their features and seeing how they might help
synagogues meet their current needs and prepare them
for the future. Idealware was selected as an
indepen-dent third party, and this report reflects our research,
recommendations, and findings and does not reflect
the opinions of the consortium.
This report serves as an overview of the market for
synagogues looking to implement a new data
manage-ment system or those that want to learn more about
how their current system compares to others on the
market. On page 26 you’ll find a helpful chart that
compares different options, and lists of systems helpful
in different scenarios for systems, to help you make a
decision on page 21. On page 32 you’ll find summary
writeups of 22 systems, including longer,
feature-by-feature reviews of select systems.
The appendix is chock-full of information, too,
including a comprehensive look at the methodology of
the project, the full requirements document Idealware
wrote after analyzing interviews with synagogue
staff-ers and experts in the area, and other systems and tools
useful in the synagogue management sphere that came
up in the course of our research that aren’t specifically
constituent management systems.
Idealware’s mission was to investigate the various
constituent management systems available to meet the
specific needs of synagogues. Keep reading to see what
we found out.
inTroduCTion
Idealware’s mission
was to investigate the
various constituent
management systems
available to meet
the specific needs
of synagogues.
To kick off the project, Idealware conducted
conversa-tions with synagogue staff members, consultants in
the technology space, and representatives from other
affiliated organizations. We wanted to understand
not only what synagogues needed from a database in
terms of the day-to-day business of their
congrega-tions, but also to identify and define what they felt
the future of data management should look like. We
then wrote and prioritized a comprehensive set of
system requirements based on these interviews and
focus groups. [See the entire requirements document
in Appendix C.]
This requirements document provided the
founda-tion for two sets of vendor product demonstrafounda-tions.
Using fact-based criteria for rating, we participated in
hour-long demos of 22 systems carefully chosen from
an initial list of 60 systems designed for synagogue
management, donor management, and membership
and association management, Constituent
Relation-ship Management (CRM), or church management.
Idealware then wrote up narrative summaries of the
systems describing their fit with the requirements of
synagogues, pros and cons, and pricing. You can read
those summaries beginning on page
32
.
We further narrowed that list to 12 systems based
on how closely they met existing needs, their current
market share among synagogues, their cost, and the
vendors’ willingness to partner on a solution tailored
to the synagogue marketplace. Three bowed out at
various points during our process, so you’ll see nine
compared in this report.
We participated in additional two-to-three-hour
demos of the systems in which we addressed every
area of the requirements document and compared
each system on a function-by-function basis. We
analyzed the results, determined where each system
needed enhancement to fit the needs of this audience,
and requested that the vendors or a consultant prove
pricing specifications for these enhancements. You can
see the apples-to-apples comparisons of nine systems
on page 26.
For a complete discussion of our methodology, please
see Appendix A.
How we reseArCHed THis reporT
We wanted to
understand not only
what synagogues
needed from a
database in terms
of the day-to-day
business of their
congregations, but
also to identify and
define what they felt
the future of data
management should
look like.
You may be questioning if you need a database to
help manage your synagogue’s database in the first
place, especially if your congregation is small, your
budget is tight, and you don’t have a surplus of
full-time tech-savvy staffers to help you maintain the
system. Perhaps you’re wondering, “Hey, what’s wrong
with Microsoft Excel?” Absolutely nothing—Excel
is a great tool, but it’s a spreadsheet program, not a
database. Databases help you to link different pieces
of information together so you can see, for example,
who in your congregation is related to each other, if a
family has come to the high holidays each of the past
five years, whether an individual has given multiple
times through his business as well as his personal
accounts, and more. A data management system for
your synagogue can be an investment, but it will
save you countless headaches as it consolidates and
streamlines information about the people who have
interacted with your synagogue—whether or not they
are members.
So now that we’ve convinced you that synagogues
need a system to help manage data, what can you
expect such a system to do?
We’ve broken out some of the traditional features you
would find in a conventional synagogue management
system, but we’ve also described some of the more
“aspirational” trends emerging in the larger world of
nonprofit databases that synagogues might find useful
in taking a strategic view of their congregations.
You’ll find that these categories line up with the
categories we’ve used in our rubric to evaluate the nine
systems selected for detailed comparison in this report.
family unit and Household
Management
The family unit (or household, as it is generally known
in the nonprofit world) is the building block of your
congregation. You’ll want to make sure that the
database you choose helps you immediately figure out
how many households you have, who is in them, and
what relationship they have to the synagogue. Can you
see all the information about a household—billing,
email and direct mail correspondence, event
atten-dance, donations, and more—in one helpful place on
the constituent record, or do you have to hunt around
to get the information you need to know about a
particular family? Make sure you can keep track of
nonmember families as well, whether they once paid
dues and have now lapsed, are the grown children of
member families, or simply came to an event once.
The concept of congregational membership is evolving
as synagogues try to connect with individuals who are
not members but who interact with the synagogue
through events or programs, and your database can
help you keep track of these constituents, too.
wHAT sHould A synAgogue MAnAgeMenT
sysTeM do?
A data management
system for your syn-
agogue can be an
investment, but it
will save you countless
headaches as it con-
solidates and
stream-lines information.
event, Honor, and High Holy
day Management
The high holidays are traditionally the most hectic
time for synagogue staffers, who must manage a major
spike in attendance in addition to religious duties, so
it’s critical that the database selected has sophisticated
support for special events. Expect a system to help you
bill for holiday seating—including for specific seats
if that’s important to your congregation—and view
historical information about who has come in
previ-ous years. This functionality will help you run events
throughout the year. Systems vary widely on whether
they can help you manage waitlists, overflow, and
ticketing, so pay close attention to their capabilities in
this area.
The system can also keep track of which congregants
have been invited to receive aliyahs and organize
listings for the program book, if appropriate.
You’ll also want to make sure that the system lets you
see information about the children of the household
in a useful way, and track as much information as you
want about them while still clearly delineating that
they are minors and thus might have different kinds
of information to track. For example, how does the
system handle children of divorce with parents who
share custody? Does it have an elegant solution, or
must you manually make sure that both relationships
are clear and easy to see? When the non-custodial
parent wants to pick a child up from Hebrew school,
for instance, this won’t seem trivial.
basic Constituent and
relationship Tracking
Look for a system that lets you record useful
informa-tion about the individuals that make up the family
units in the database, too, such as occupation, the
tradition or movement in which they were raised,
whether or not they keep kosher, their birthdays,
and other relevant facts. Systems should also help
you track the interactions these individuals have had
with the synagogue—including letters, emails, calls,
meetings, and other communications—in a single
place. Such information can be useful for fundraising,
member renewals, and volunteer solicitation.
Member Management and
dues renewal
With the right database, you can save a lot of staff
time by automating much of the workflow around the
annual dues renewal process. Systems can help you
manage which families have renewed and which have
not, track discounts given on the member dues rates,
and batch invoice renewals for all members at once.
Some systems let members pay their dues online and
can manage flexible payment terms, such as quarterly
or monthly payments. If your synagogue associates
membership fees with High Holiday seating, look
for a system that can help you manage this process
through comprehensive event and member benefit
management features.
Systems should also
help you track the
interactions individuals
have had with the
synagogue—including
letters, emails, calls,
meetings, and other
communications—in a
single place.
It may surprise you that integrating Yahrzeit tracking
into nontraditional synagogue software solutions
didn’t seem to be a substantial obstacle for the vast
majority of vendors whose products we demoed. Most
felt that integration with the Hebrew calendar could
be accommodated with an algorithm, and almost all
the rest of a Yahrzeit module could be built with
cus-tom fields. When choosing a system, look for a vendor
that’s willing to work with you to build a Yahrzeit
module, as well as one that has substantial support for
fundraising as part of its out-of-the-box infrastructure.
Keep in mind that working with a vendor on this
kind of customization is a major enterprise, though,
and be prepared to commit the requisite time and
funds to the process.
donation Tracking
Member dues and event fees are only part of a
synagogue’s financial health; a database can also help
you fundraise for gifts and pledges. Yahrzeits are a key
piece of this. Look for a system that’s strong in
help-ing with donations and that can accommodate tribute
gifts with both the honoree and the donor credited,
grant solicitation and management, and solicitation of
organizations and not just individuals. Again, online
giving is becoming increasingly important to the
synagogue sector.
observances and gift exchanges
When Purim basket season is in full swing, you may
want a database that helps manage this by keeping
track of which families have donated and who they’ve
honored. Sophisticated tribute-gift-tracking is also
important. Those who run Leagram fundraisers will
also need a system that can give an organized list of
anniversaries or birthdays in a given month, although
this is a pretty basic report for most databases.
overall online Constituent
interactions
As mentioned throughout, congregants increasingly
expect to be able to conduct much of their business
with their synagogue online. This includes paying
Online event management—even from a mobile
device—is becoming increasingly important to
congregants, who want to be able to RSVP online for
an event and pay for it with a credit card, too. Some
of this overlaps with what congregants are looking
for from school registration for Hebrew and religious
schools, so it might be worth investing in a tool that
helps you achieve this.
yahrzeits
Many synagogue staffers reading this report may
wonder why we suggest looking at non-traditional
synagogue management software when vendors who
have been in the synagogue space for decades have
already built in support for Yahrzeits and the Hebrew
calendar.
Marking the anniversary of a loved one’s death in the
synagogue is not only a sacred religious experience for
most constituents, but also an important donation
op-portunity. Staffers need to be able to track the dates of
a person’s passing on both the Hebrew and Gregorian
calendar (and was that before or after sunset?), know
who should be notified, track tribute gifts, and gather
other important information about the Yahrzeit, such
as how to pronounce the name of the deceased.
Look for a vendor that’s
willing to work with
you to build a Yahrzeit
module, as well as one
that has substantial
support for fundraising
as part of its
you keep track of such important data as emergency
contact information and allergies for each enrolled
child. You also might want a database that can assign
children to specific classrooms and teachers, manage
grading and promotion at the end of the year, and
make attendance tracking a snap with quick entry
forms. Synagogues associated with full-blown day
schools will want to invest in a dedicated education
management system.
Cemetery Management
Not all synagogues have cemeteries affiliated with
them, so if yours doesn’t, feel free to skip ahead. Those
who are still reading know how important good plot
management can be in the wake of a congregant’s
passing—you want to make sure you have all the
information about reservations and billing at your
fingertips. Some systems help you see which of your
plots are sold, occupied, and reserved with a digital
map that graphically indicates each of these statuses.
Others handle this through fields that capture this
information. Some systems also let you link Yahrzeits
to cemetery plots to help ease the observance process.
Access and security
You’ve probably heard a lot about “cloud-based” or
“Software-as-a-Service” systems, where the vendor
hosts the system remotely (not at your synagogue)
and you access your database over the internet. Some
people worry about the security of congregants’ data
being in the cloud, but Idealware has found that
cloud-based systems are just as secure as installed
dues, registering for events and other activities, and
updating their member profiles with demographic
and contact details. You want a system that can
pass this information in a meaningful way to your
database and the constituents’ profiles, and financial
information should eventually be able to go your
general ledger software with account codes attached.
Mobile-optimized sites are becoming more important,
too, and a system might work well with your existing
Content Management System (CMS) to help
man-age your website, or it might not. Check before you
commit to a new system.
facility Management and staff
scheduling
Facility management came up repeatedly in our
interviews and focus groups, but we remain
uncon-vinced that this has substantial overlap with
constitu-ent tracking. Some systems have workarounds, and a
couple of the very expensive ones can help you with
facility rental, billing, and calendaring, but those who
have sophisticated needs in this area might want to
look into implementing a separate system, such as
EMS Light.
Hebrew and religious school
Management
The two separate pieces here are registration and the
day-to-day management of the school’s students.
For registration, a system should assist you in billing
households for their children’s enrollment, and
possi-bly allowing them to register their kids online. For the
daily management, you’ll need a system that will let
As long as a system is
readily accessible and
dependable, it doesn’t
really matter if it’s
hosted on- or offsite.
Congregants expect
to be able to conduct
much of their business
with their synagogue
online.
or if it’s included in the quoted price of the package.)
Ideally, the software will let you easily create and
manage email lists of constituents, track such statistics
as how many people opened one of your emails, and
let you send out invoices or event registration emails
through the system on sophisticated graphic templates
unique to your synagogue. Let’s not forget about snail
mail—your synagogue management software can help
you automatically generate mailing labels, manage
subscriptions for print newsletters, and verify
ad-dresses with a link to the USPS. It should absolutely
help you mail printed thank-you letters for donations,
Yahrzeit notifications, and tax letters at the end of the
year. Again, look for a system that gives you lots of
options in terms of merging the information in your
database onto attractive templates, and that makes it
easy for you to create letters with simple queries.
Accounting integration
Some of the systems in this report are designed to be
your general ledger software as well as your synagogue
management software. Others offer additional tools
from the same vendor that integrate into the program.
Still others aren’t designed to keep financial
informa-tion in the system, but let you easily export data with
the proper accounting codes to popular software like
Great Plains, QuickBooks, or Sage 50 (formerly Sage
Peachtree). If you want to stay with your third-party
general ledger tool or are unhappy with what you’re
currently using, this is something to keep in mind.
Customization
Synagogue staffers are increasingly interested in
having a system user-friendly enough to customize
to their own particular needs, even if they aren’t very
tech-savvy. When looking at a system, make sure that
staffers can hide pieces of functionality that aren’t
applicable to minimize screen clutter, customize
dropdown menus, and add an unlimited number of
custom fields—all requirements without which our
participants felt a synagogue could not effectively
function. Other options to consider here include
renaming or deleting existing fields and, for the very
technically advanced, accessing the API or source code
of a system to update it or add features.
systems that live on your server (sometimes more so,
since someone’s job is to make sure that those systems
are safe). As long as a system is readily accessible and
dependable, it doesn’t really matter if it’s hosted on- or
off-site. The software solutions in this report run
the gamut from installed systems that you’ll need to
host on a dedicated server to subscription-based SaaS
systems that you can enroll in on a monthly basis.
Which one you decide to go with depends largely on
the particular needs of your synagogue, but don’t let
whether it’s on your server or in the cloud be a
make-or-break issue. Make sure that you can customize the
permissions within the system to suit your synagogue’s
needs, such as hiding billing information from certain
users based on User ID.
email and direct Mail
You want to avoid using a personal email address for
outgoing mail to send out broadcast emails to your
congregants—those messages can end up in recipients’
spam filters all too easily. Many database systems help
you manage your constituent email correspondence
with a broadcast email tool, either one built into
the system or through seamless integration with a
third-party tool like Constant Contact. (Check to
see if you’ll have to pay for external email software,
Synagogue staffers
are increasingly
interested in having a
system user-friendly
enough to customize
to their own particular
needs, even if they
their help as much as you want for a flat fee? We’ve
indicated how the systems handle customer support
in their individual writeups as well as how easy-to-use
and stable the system was during our demos.
How-ever, it’s important to note that we didn’t interview
current clients of each system about their experiences
with the vendor.
reporting and Querying
A database should absolutely have standard reports
that help you answer important questions about your
synagogue, such as “Who are the parents with kids in
preschool?” or “Who gave last year but not this year?”
Queries should be easy to build, flexible, and not
lim-ited to certain fields. You’ll also want to see if a system
can help you report for data issues, such as duplicates
or inconsistent practices, and if staff can create reports
“on the fly” defining what formats and information
are used. Customizable dashboards are becoming a
more-attractive option for many synagogue staffers
who want to quickly see up-to-date financial or
program data pertinent to them. Synagogues should
also think about reports that will help them share data
with other congregations around the country to help
improve processes and learn more about the landscape
of synagogues today.
usability, support, and
documentation
No matter what kind of database you choose for your
synagogue, you’ll want to make sure it’s reliable and
easy to use, and that there’s a vendor, consultant, or
active user community (in the case of open source
systems) available to help you out when you run
into trouble. Make sure you understand the support
package you sign up for—will the vendor charge you
every time you call with a problem, or can you enlist
Synagogues should
also think about
reports that will help
them share data with
other congregations
around the country to
help improve processes
and learn more about
the landscape of
So what kinds of systems will handle these synagogue
needs? Certainly there are specific synagogue
manage-ment systems, but we wanted to take a broader look
to see if other systems –such as those designed for
membership management, donor management, or
church management—might fill the core needs as well
or better, possibly with a little bit of customization.
What options are there?
For each software area, we researched the marketplace
and identified systems that would be particularly
relevant for synagogues. The list of systems that
ap-pears under each heading therefore reflect systems that
have been reviewed for this report, not an exhaustive
list of all choices on the market.
synagogue Management systems
Some vendors offer systems targeted directly at
synagogue data management—primarily to help with
the management of membership and dues, events,
and fundraising. There are more-established vendors in
this space that have been around for decades and usually
offer systems built upon installed systems with optional
web-based components as well as newer vendors that
have harnessed the power of CRM (Constituent
Relationship Management) platforms and built specific
products on top of them.
There’s one obvious benefit of choosing a system
designed for synagogues: Its vendors have built it with
the intention that, right out of the box, it will have what
synagogues require. You won’t need to worry about
calibrating the Hebrew calendar within the system or
explaining what a Yahrzeit is to a consultant. However,
not all synagogue management vendors have
success-fully incorporated important innovations into their
products, and some are hard to learn. There are some
great synagogue management products available should
you choose to go down that path, but we’ve found that
the vast majority of requirements identified by
syna-gogues in terms of fundraising, member management,
overview of THe MArkeTplACe
It’s worth exploring
both those systems
traditionally marketed
to this market and
those that are not
in order to make an
informed choice about
what a database can do
for your congregation.
There’s one obvious
benefit of choosing
a system designed
for synagogues: Its
vendors have built
it with the intention
that, right out of the
box, it will have what
synagogues require.
its demo. As of January 2013, the product is now
complete and live with a few synagogues. Cloud for
Synagogues is very capable at handling family units,
member tracking, and Yahrzeits, and helpful in
running events. Since we demoed the product, Cloud
for Good has also added an accounting module and a
donation acknowledgement feature as part of the basic
package. It recently completed an outward-facing web
portal to allow synagogue members to edit their own
demographic data and settle their accounts, although
Idealware was not able to demo this new feature as of
press time. Cloud for Synagogues starts at $2,400 a
year for the most basic package of up to 10 synagogue
staff users, with additional costs for staffers beyond
that. Data migration is also available from about
$3,000 and up, and onsite training is an option for
$125 an hour. For more on Cloud for Synagogues, see
page
51
.
MM2000
MM2000 is a comprehensive synagogue management
system with a useful integrated web module called
MMOnTheWeb. It’s strong in accommodating family
units, membership- and donation-tracking, customer
support, and specialized modules designed specifically
to meet the needs of the Jewish community, but isn’t
as strong in terms of ease of use, broadcast email, or
user experience. The software starts at $2,750 for a
single user for MM2000, with considerably higher
charges for additional users and to add on modules
that manage such important functions as schools and
broadcast email. MMOnTheWeb is an additional
$1,000 plus monthly hosting charges. For more on
MM2000, see page
65
.
shulsuite
ShulSuite, a synagogue management software
solu-tion from Pogstone, is a powerful and customizable
web-based system that uses the open source CiviCRM
platform to operate, with additional (and strong)
capabilities in accounting, event management,
Yahrzeits, and member management added to the
basic CiviCRM package. The software is robust in
most areas we looked at, but isn’t immediately
intui-tive for new users; the learning curve may be steep.
Implementation costs are optional and can range up
to $5,000. Monthly subscription costs between $125
relationship tracking, event management, accounting,
and other primary areas of concern can be very well
accommodated by software systems not currently
marketed to synagogues, and that functionality
specific to the Jewish community can be incorporated
relatively easily without a complete restructuring of
the software’s underpinnings. It’s worth exploring
both those systems traditionally marketed to this
market and those that are not in order to make an
informed choice about what a database can do for
your congregation.
We identified five candidate systems that had a large
market share or were offering particularly innovative
solutions. (See Appendix A: Methodology for more
information on how we selected the systems for
inclusion in this report.)
Chaverware
Chaverware, a product from Circuits & Systems, is a
popular Windows-based synagogue management
sys-tem. It’s designed well to handle the day-to-day needs
of a synagogue, with strong functionality to manage
individuals and family units, billing and invoicing
needs, and Yahrzeits. However, synagogues are given
only a few custom fields to work with, and much of
the interface can’t be customized. It supports email
and merging letters into Microsoft Word. The process
to create a new query to find constituents with whom
you’d like to communicate is a bit time-consuming
and complicated, but is quite powerful in terms of
granularity. Through an extension called ChaverWeb,
the system also provides reasonable support for online
event registration, online payments, and the ability to
update their own profile information. Standard
pric-ing starts at $3,100 and includes one year of support
and three user licenses. The optional ChaverWeb costs
an additional $1 per household per year. For more on
Chaverware, see page
34
.
Cloud for synagogues
Cloud for Synagogues is a new and powerful
web-based product built on the Salesforce CRM platform
by Cloud for Good, a consulting firm that specializes
in implementing Google Apps and Salesforce CRM
with nonprofit clients—so new, in fact, that the
product wasn’t done when Idealware conducted
membership tiers, and the related dues and benefits.
Membership and association management systems
would be quite useful in helping a synagogue manage
its annual dues renewal process, as that infrastructure
is very robust in the systems we examined. Event
management also tends to be strong, as the types of
events membership organizations run tend to translate
relatively well to the synagogue world. However, the
more general fundraising needs of synagogues might
be problematic with these systems out of the box.
Most don’t accommodate tribute gifts or sophisticated
“moves management” processes that help advance
supporters to major donors. Interestingly, the member
and association management tools we demoed that
focused on performance and box office management fit
the requirements of the synagogue sector quite well.
We identified seven member and association
manage-ment systems that had not only strong member and
event functionality but also offered compelling
solu-tions for fundraising needs. (See Appendix A:
Meth-odology for more information on how we selected the
systems for inclusion in this report.)
Avectra’s netforuM
Avectra’s netFORUM is a sophisticated member
management tool marketed as an all-in-one solution
for associations. It’s strong in member management,
of course, and also has great event, billing and
invoic-ing, and reporting capabilities. It’s not as strong in
donation management, though, and not all parts of
the system can be easily customized to the needs of
synagogues. netFORUM is a web-based tool with
an intuitive graphic interface, and its constituent
portal integrates with your current synagogue website
to preserve a unified appearance. The system costs
$3,000 per year per staff member, which includes up
to 150,000 constituent records. Support is included
in the subscription cost, but implementation costs an
additional $10,000. For more on netFORUM, see
page
32
.
Tessitura
The Tessitura Network offers donor, member, and
event management software and services, and is
interested in partnering with synagogues to configure
the software to the specific needs of the sector.
and $325, or an upfront annual subscription costs
between $1,200 and $3,000 per year. For more on
ShulSuite, see page
105
.
shulCloud
ShulCloud is a more-affordable-but-less-robust
newcomer to the synagogue management software
market. The software is entirely web-based and has
excellent member management and billing
capabili-ties, as well as a content management system to help
manage your entire website. It also provides support
for donations, event management, and broadcast
email and direct mail. Developed by a synagogue for
its own use, the system is friendly, easy-to-use, and
doesn’t require any special hardware or a server to
implement. The premium tier, which most synagogues
choose to implement, costs $2,400 a year. For more
on ShulCloud, see page
104
.
Membership Management
systems
Membership management systems (as well as the
similar association management systems) are databases
specifically tailored for managing members of an
as-sociation, professional network, or other dues-paying
group. In addition to tracking members and dues,
these databases will often also help manage newsletter
subscriptions, special gifts, and invitations to events
and workshops, among other things. Some available
solutions will also allow you to manage multiple
Membership
and association
management systems
would be quite useful
in helping a synagogue
manage its annual dues
renewal process.
prohibitively expensive. Pricing for the system is based
on concurrent users and costs $5,940 per year for the
minimum five-user package, with each additional
user costing $1,188 per year. On top of this, NOAH
has a required fixed-price implementation and data
conversion cost of $29,900, and charges $600 per
1,000 contacts in the database per year if you choose
to have the system hosted by JL Systems. For more on
NOAH, see page
74
.
iMis (Congregation suite)
In comparison to other tools reviewed in this
report, iMIS is a very powerful but very expensive
member and donation management solution. A third
party company, (C) Systems, has developed a set of
synagogue-specific add-ons for the software called
the Congregation Suite. The Congregation Suite for
iMIS is very strong in member management,
constitu-ent and relationship tracking, evconstitu-ent managemconstitu-ent,
donation management, and Yahrzeit tracking. It’s a
complicated system, however, and isn’t designed to
meet the needs of small or mid-sized synagogues that
are less data-savvy. The pricing for iMIS combined
with the Congregation Suite from (C) Systems can
range in price from $50,000 to $150,000 for upfront
license fees depending on the size of the congregation
and the scope of the configuration and customization.
For more on iMIS, see page
59
.
patronManager
PatronManager CRM is a web-based constituent
management system from Patron Technology built
upon the Salesforce CRM platform and targeted at
arts and cultural organizations. It’s got great abilities
in donation tracking, event management, broadcast
email, and customizability, and has lots of potential
for helping to keep track of various types of
constitu-ents for a synagogue, but out of the box it has very
limited invoicing and billing abilities and can’t yet
support automatic recurring member dues—although
that feature is planned for an upcoming release.
PatronManager has a mandatory setup, customization,
and data-migration fee that starts at $2,500. Many of
its organizations are billed on a per-ticket basis, but
for synagogues, PatronTechnology would probably
levy an annual subscription fee which the vendor says
would start around $2,500 per year. For more on
PatronManager, see page
76
.
Tessitura has thus far worked mostly with arts and
cultural organizations with sophisticated ticketing
and box office management needs. The software is
very strong in membership management, donation
tracking, and event management, and although it’s a
complex system, it doesn’t seem as difficult to learn
as some others in its price range. The Tessitura license
varies based on the size of the organization—and
whether the organization chooses a perpetual licensing
structure or a Software as a Service approach—but the
vendors reported a license fee range between $4,000
and $15,000 for organizations of comparable size to
most synagogues. For more on Tessitura, see page
126
.
Members360
Members360 is a web-based association management
software program from Affiniscape. Strong at handling
family units and memberships, special events, and
member communications through broadcast email
and direct mail, it is less robust in donation
manage-ment. Though the software is not currently targeted
at the Jewish community, and thus lacks some of the
built-in features important to synagogues, we were
impressed with Members360’s customizability, power,
and user-friendliness. The software is available at three
tiers, but the lowest-end wouldn’t allow synagogues
to manage family units. M360 Core, the mid-level
option, is $5,500 per year for unlimited user licenses
and substantial customer support. The top tier, M360
Connected, costs $8, 500 per year and also includes
a Professional Development module. Both of these
choices also require one-time website and database
implementation costs that start between $4,500 and
$5,500.
Shortly before this report went to press, Affiniscape
was acquired by another company, YourMembership.
com, and we were unable to determine what this
acquisition might mean to the synagogue
manage-ment space. For more on Members360, see page
61
.
noAH
NOAH is an impressive web-based member
manage-ment system from JL Systems that has strengths in
member tracking, customizability, invoicing and
billing, broadcast email, and event management.
It’s a strong and flexible system which could
accom-modate many synagogues’ needs, but it might be
(See Appendix A: Methodology for more information
on how we selected the systems for inclusion in this
report.)
The raiser’s edge(i) for synagogues
The Raiser’s Edge(i) by Blackbaud is a
well-established, higher-end donor management tool
that’s created a specific solution for synagogues. The
software can help you manage your synagogue’s gifts,
grants, and tributes with ease. It’s very strong in
dona-tion tracking, billing and invoice management, events,
Yahrzeits, and customer support, but isn’t as strong
in representing family units. The Raiser’s Edge(i) is a
very powerful system—with great power comes great
complexity, however, and you’ll need to have a pretty
high comfort level with technology to easily navigate
The Raiser’s Edge(i). Pricing is based on concurrent
users and starts at $6,300 for a perpetual license for a
single user for the most basic implementation, which
doesn’t include the events module. For more on The
Raiser’s Edge(i) for Synagogues, see page
78
.
Talisma
Donor management tool Talisma is a compelling,
higher-end choice for synagogues looking to devote
resources to fundraising. Talisma is also strong in
starChapter
StarChapter is an association management product
with strength in member and event management but
limited functionality in billing and invoicing,
manag-ing family units, and trackmanag-ing donations. It’s a
cloud-based platform that’s easy to navigate and customize,
but may not have all the power a synagogue needs in
terms of core accounting functionality. The software
comes in three pricing offerings: $699 per year for
limited customization, storage, training, and five
included email addresses; $899 per year for more
robust features; and $1,499 for the top-of-the-line
product, with additional fees for e-commerce support.
For more on StarChapter, see page
114
.
donor Management systems
A donor management system is a database
specifically-tailored to the needs of fundraising staff. As such,
these tools feature strong reporting and querying
functionality in order to better understand each
donor’s history with your organization and help
identify your best donation prospects. Many products
will also be able to create visual representations of
these reports, such as a Key Performance Indicator
(KPI) gauge or thermometer or other charts and
graphs. Donor databases will typically either include
out-of-the-box online payment processing and
dona-tion funcdona-tionality, or will integrate with third-party
systems, to allow for one-time or recurring credit card
transactions.
Donor management systems aren’t, however, all that
great at tracking constituents who aren’t also donors.
Because these databases are intended to give you a
top-to-bottom look at just the constituents who give
you money, they often don’t help you get a sense
of the “big picture” of constituents. Individuals are
usually stored in “donor” records, so even if you’re
recording a volunteer or someone who came to an
event just once, they might still be considered a
donor. Additionally, some of them aren’t very
substan-tial when it comes to helping a synagogue manage its
annual dues renewal process.
We identified four donor management systems that
had strong donation functionality and also substantial
workflows for member dues renewals and tracking
interactions with all of a synagogue’s constituents.
These tools feature
strong reporting and
querying functionality
in order to better
understand each
donor’s history with
your organization and
help identify your best
donation prospects.
constituent records. Setup is an additional $100 to
$1,000, and migration quotes are available by request.
For more on DonorPerfect, see page
53
.
giftworks
GiftWorks is a user-friendly, reasonably priced donor
management tool. It’s helpful in donor management,
but doesn’t have all the member and event
manage-ment functionality most synagogues would need to
function. GiftWorks comes in four editions, one of
them cloud-based, and the installed versions range
from $549 to $2,499 per one-time user license plus
support and implementation costs. GiftWorks
Any-where, the cloud-based edition, is $75 per month per
user license. For more on GiftWorks, see page
57
.
CrMs (Constituent relationship
Management systems)
While some databases are designed to provide a
deep-dive into only one constituent group, a Constituent
Relationship Management system (CRM) provides
a high-level look over all of your constituents. These
systems are typically very flexible but will often
re-quire a fair amount of customization in order to meet
your needs. Systems like Salesforce and CiviCRM
are fairly blank slates out of the box, and you’ll likely
want (or need) a consultant to help you set them up
for your organization. With some modification, you’ll
be able to track constituents in a number of different
groups—not just donors, members, and volunteers,
but also students, alumni, parents, and more. You may
well have to build in features that go beyond basic
constituent tracking, like dues renewal workflows,
seating and ticketing, and Yahrzeits, to name a few.
But it’s pretty straightforward to find a consultant to
help you do this, and often the investment upfront is
evened out by a lower ongoing cost.
CRMs share a strength and a weakness: their inherent
customizability. Since most systems come out of the
box without much built in, the transition process will
require a lot of oversight from your staff as they work
with a consultant to build a system that works for
your synagogue. However, once you’re done, you’ll
have a system that’s tailored for your needs without
needing to build a whole system from scratch.
member management, event management, and
cus-tomization, with broadcast email functionality being
slightly less powerful. You can obtain Talisma as either
an installed, hosted, or cloud-based option. Prices
vary. Mid-sized synagogues looking to implement the
installed version would pay about $17,000 for four
user licenses, plus training and migration costs. For
the Software-as-a-Service product, expect to pay about
$10,000 a year plus training and migration. The first
15,000 records are included in the cost, after which
a fee of $10 per 1,000 additional records applies. If
you choose to have the vendor host the software, that
charge is estimated at close to $21,000 per year. For
more on Talisma, see page
124
.
donorperfect
DonorPerfect is a reasonably priced donation
manage-ment system that’s fairly easy to use and to customize.
The software is very strong in household management,
event management, and donation tracking and strong
enough in member management and broadcast email
to handle most synagogues’ requirements.
DonorPer-fect is available as both an installed system and
Donor-PerfectOnline, the web-based version of the platform.
Most organizations are choosing to implement
Do-norPerfectOnline, which ranges from about $708 per
year for one user with 1,000 constituent records—but
without events, email, or technical support—to about
$5,600 per year for all these features and up to 25,000
Systems like Salesforce
and CiviCRM are fairly
blank slates out of
the box, and you’ll
likely want (or need) a
consultant to help you
set them up for your
organization.
require additional configuration and more advanced
technical knowledge to implement. Dynamics also
lacks a Yahrzeit module, and it’s not clear how easily
the software could be customized to meet this need.
For nonprofit organizations, the price for the hosted
option is $119.88 per year per user; the nonprofit
pricing for the installed option is $212 for the server
licensing and $30 per license. For more on Microsoft
Dynamics, see page
63
.
salesforce nonprofit starter pack
Salesforce is a CRM platform used widely in the
for-profit world. The company offers up to 10 user
licenses free-of-charge to qualifying organizations
with its Nonprofit Starter Pack. Strong in household
management, donation management, and member
management, Salesforce is not as strong in event
management, and doesn’t include a portal where
members can interact with your synagogue online.
Salesforce is technically free, but to properly configure
and support the system, you’ll need the services of
someone tech-savvy enough to navigate its substantial
technical intricacies and possibilities. In addition, the
apps you’d need to assemble a system that meets the
requirements for most synagogues could potentially
cost you thousands of dollars per year. You can
pur-chase Cloud for Synagogues, a version of Salesforce
that’s been customized for synagogues and reviewed
elsewhere in this report. For more on Salesforce’s
Nonprofit Starter Pack, see page
87
.
sugarCrM
SugarCRM is an open source, web-based Constituent
(or Customer) Relationship Management system
designed for for-profit businesses. Its power,
user-friendliness, and customizability might make it
worth considering for the synagogue sector, although
out-of-the box it lacks many features important to
synagogues, such as donation tracking, event support,
and Yahrzeit tracking. A synagogue looking to
imple-ment SugarCRM would need to work closely with a
consultant to tailor the software to the organization,
but once the customization process was completed,
SugarCRM might be able to meet many synagogues’
needs. Pricing for SugarCRM is based on a tiered
system—the most basic implementation is free. Most
synagogues would want to start at the higher-level
Alternatively, you can choose to partner with a vendor
who offers a managed package based upon one of the
platforms geared to specific needs. For this report,
we’ve reviewed ShulSuite (based on CiviCRM) and
Cloud for Synagogues (based on Salesforce)—both
included in the Synagogue Management section—and
PatronManager (based on Salesforce), which is
included in the Membership Management section.
There are only four commonly used systems that
meet Idealware’s definition of CRM platform; we
reviewed all four. (See Appendix A: Methodology
for more information on how we selected the
systems for inclusion in this report.)
CiviCrM
CiviCRM is an open source, web-based
Constitu-ent Relationship ManagemConstitu-ent system that can be
downloaded for free, but you’ll almost certainly
need a consulting firm to configure the software to a
synagogue’s needs. (You can also buy an
implementa-tion of CiviCRM that’s already been customized for
synagogues, called ShulSuite, that’s reviewed elsewhere
in this guide.) It’s strong in constituent tracking
and household and individual management, event
management, broadcast email, and member
manage-ment, but the out-of-the-box donation management
and invoicing capabilities don’t meet the requirements
identified by synagogues. With customization,
though, it’s a user-friendly system that could help your
synagogue function more smoothly. Customization of
the software could cost anywhere between $2,000 and
$50,000 based on the complexity of the organization’s
needs. For more on CiviCRM, see page
43
.
Microsoft dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics CRM is the software giant’s
answer to an integrated Constituent Relationship
Management system, and is designed to be an
all-in-one database accommodating all of an organization’s
needs. The Nonprofit Template, developed by
Microsoft and available at no charge, transforms the
out-of-the-box sales-centric tool into a
nonprofit-centric platform. It’s pretty user-friendly and fairly
strong in donation management, reporting, member
management, correspondence, and email. Event
man-agement and web portal capabilities are available but
raising efforts, Sunday schools and prayer groups, and
reporting on finances, programs, and attendance. The
sector is robust enough to merit its own publication,
Christian Computing Magazine, which publishes
a helpful online chart each October comparing the
products and their features.
Most churches don’t operate on a membership basis,
so the member/nonmember structure integral to
the operating of the majority of synagogues isn’t
well-supported in many church management systems.
Additionally, not all the systems have accounting
workflows that will be useful for
synagogues—espe-cially around the collection of dues and tribute gifts.
Synagogues would also need to work with the vendor
of a system to ensure that it could accommodate the
Hebrew calendar for Yahrzeits and other Hebrew date
tracking. However, much of the rest of the
functional-ity aligns with what a synagogue would need, with
out-of-the-box support for fundraising, excellent
relationship management for constituents, and helpful
event and attendance tracking. There is considerably
more variety in this sector than currently offered by
vendors in the synagogue management space.
For this report, we focused on systems that had the
ability to help synagogues manage membership and
accounting needs and that seemed customizable
enough to fit this sector. (See Appendix A:
Methodol-ogy for more information on how we selected the
systems for inclusion in this report.)
shelby
Shelby Systems offers two products to the church
management sector: Shelby v.5, the installed version
of the software; and Arena, a web-based product
designed to be a CRM. The systems currently work
in tandem—most of the accounting power of Shelby
is in the installed version, while event management
and household and individual records are mostly
maintained in Arena. Synagogues will find most of
their needs met out of the box with Shelby, and many
features that aren’t included could be customized with
reasonable ease. Arena is slightly more user-friendly
than the installed version, but both systems could
likely be learned relatively quickly by synagogue
staffers. For larger churches, Shelby currently charges
between $8,000 and $60,000, depending on the
size of the project, not including highly customized
options, which range between $540 and $1,200 per
year per staff user. Additionally, there are fees charged
by a consulting company to work with you on getting
the system up and running, which come in around
the $10,000 mark. For more on SugarCRM, see
page
116
.
Church Management systems
The church management software sector is
sophis-ticated and thriving, and its vendors have begun to
incorporate innovations from other systems marketed
to handle general nonprofit data management.
Un-like the most widely used synagogue management
systems, which aren’t explicitly marketed to certain
movements of Judaism, vendors here often specialize
in the mainline Protestant, Catholic, and evangelical
denominations and the particular data needs of each.
Some larger companies, like Shelby and ACS
Technol-ogy, market different products to each of these sectors.
The landscape is varied, with both installed and
cloud-based options. Megachurches, defined as those
with more than 2,000 people who come to worship
on average each weekend, have their own special data
management needs, and are also accommodated by
the marketplace.
Church management systems generally focus on
helping staff keep track of the individuals and
households who come to worship services and events,
broadcast email and direct mail management,
fund-Church management
systems generally
focus on helping
staff keep track of
the individuals and
households who come
to worship services
and events.
membership dues or tribute gifts. Some of its features
can’t be customized to accommodate
synagogue-specific terminology and functions. Pricing depends
on average weekly attendance, and ranges between
$720 and $2,700 per year for the most basic edition.
For more on Fellowship One, see page
55
.
ACs
ACS is a major church management software vendor
that we identified as a possible system of interest for
synagogues. The vendor declined to participate in
Idealware’s report.
installations. Pricing includes unlimited concurrent
users of the software, implementation, and some data
migration; ongoing annual fees that include support
and updates are about $3,200 to $24,000 per year.
For more on Shelby, see page
95
.
fellowship one
Fellowship One, a church management software
product from ACTIVE Network, is a web-based
software tool that serves a mix of evangelical and
mainline congregations of various sizes. Strong in
tracking individuals and households and in managing
events, the software doesn’t have the ability to support
We’ve provided considerable information in this
report about the systems we reviewed, but much
of the work will rest upon your shoulders. No two
synagogues have needs exactly alike, and it’s simplistic
to suggest that one system will fit all—we know that.
So Idealware recommends that you assess your own
resources, including the budget allocated for your
synagogue’s technology infrastructure. (If you don’t
currently have a budget for technology, it’s time to
make the case for one to your board.)
Those synagogues looking to implement a new data
management system will find that there is somewhat
of a gap in the marketplace. There are a few newer
synagogue management systems available that offer
sophisticated relationship tracking, customizable
interfaces, and integration with a synagogue’s website,
but they are fairly new and don’t have a robust client
base. Software vendors who have marketed to
syna-gogues for decades haven’t incorporated these
innova-tions, and their systems are built on older relational
models that aren’t very flexible and can be slow and
unstable. Finally, a synagogue can choose to go with a
vendor that hasn’t traditionally worked in the Jewish
faith-based community and get a sophisticated system
that meets many of their needs, but they will need to
working with the vendor to customize a solution that
can accommodate functions specific to synagogues.
With that said, let’s dive down into some different
scenarios that might help narrow the systems of
interest for your congregation. These scenarios are
meant to be a starting place—please see our detailed
overviews, pricing section, and comparison matrix for
more information about each of these options.
want to get started Quickly,
with a smaller budget?
Is your budget for technology small, and do you have
limited requirements for customization and power
from your data management system? These synagogue
management systems are preconfigured for synagogue
needs and are at the lower end of the pricing
spec-trum—they fit a budget of about $4,000 or less per
year for the first five years:
• Chaverware
• MM2000
• ShulCloud
• ShulSuite
How To deCide
Please see our
detailed overviews,
pricing section, and
comparison matrix for
more information about
each of these options.
Let’s dive down
into some different
scenarios that might
help narrow the
systems of interest for
your congregation.
system with sophisticated functionality already built
in. However, let’s say you’re willing to work with a
vendor or consultant to build in some specific features
and terminology that makes a system work for your
synagogue. With a budget of up to $10,000 per year
in the first five years, you have a lot of options:
• ShulSuite
• Members360 (Please note that this system has been
recently acquired by YourMembership.com.)
• DonorPerfect
• Cloud for Synagogues
• SugarCRM
• Tessitura
• Salesforce
• Shelby*
need More from your database,
and looking for An established
vendor?
Do you have more money to work with and need a
very sophisticated system that can help you manage a
complex set of processes and constituents? Maybe you
have a whole religious day school but still want a
sys-tem preconfigured for synagogues? These syssys-tems are
major players in the donor management and member
management sector that offer software tailored for
synagogues. They’ll fit a budget of $50,000 per year
willing to invest Time and Money
upfront, with a smaller budget?
Let’s say you still have a small budget, but you’re
interested in taking advantage of some of the newer
models for synagogue data management systems:
robust communications, powerful reporting, and
sophisticated relationship management. If you’re
will-ing to work with a vendor or consultant to build in
synagogue-specific features, you’ll have more choices.
This list assumes a budget of $4,000 per year or less
for the first five years, either upfront or ongoing:
• CiviCRM
• Cloud for Synagogues*
• ShulSuite
• PatronManager*
looking for a pre-Configured
system, with a Medium-sized
budget?
Perhaps you’ve got a couple hundred households in
your synagogue and need more power in terms of
reporting and relationship tracking. You may have
outgrown some of the systems that will fit the needs
of smaller congregations quite well, but still want a
system that will work for synagogues right out of the
box. These options will fit within a budget of $10,000
per year in the first five years:
• Cloud for Synagogues
• ShulSuite
• The Raiser’s Edge(i) for Synagogues
want flexibility with a
Medium-sized budget?
If you’re a mid-sized synagogue interested in taking
advantage of the newer models for synagogue data
management systems mentioned above—robust
com-munications, powerful reporting, and sophisticated
relationship management—you’ll want to seek out a
* Depending on the complexity of your needs, this system may cost more than the price listed for the scenario
If you’re willing to
work with a vendor or
consultant to build in
synagogue-specific
features, you’ll have
more choices.
description of the user-friendliness and learning curve
for the systems included in this report and to indicate
how comprehensive the training and tech support is
for each.
Each available option has its own strengths and
weaknesses. It doesn’t matter how good a particular
system is if it doesn’t fit your synagogue’s needs. It’s
nice to think that a system that’s really tech-forward
will improve your synagogue’s day-to-day workings,
but if you’re only at the synagogue half-time, or the
volunteer in charge of your database isn’t comfortable
with a very sophisticated system, it may not make
sense to invest time or resources in software that will
require tons of upkeep. Regardless of what we say in
this report, it’s critical to take a look for yourself and
make your own decision.
When making a decision, keep in mind that your
list of constituents could grow quickly—especially if
you’re beginning to keep better track of constituents
who aren’t members but who interact with your
synagogue through events and programs. Ask a vendor
during the selection phase if pricing will change
depending on how many individuals and households
are in the system. Budget for upfront and ongoing
costs, including the costs to train staff members to
use the system properly. It’s worth checking on the
or less in the first five years, and so are appropriate for
very large synagogues:
• iMIS Congregation Suite
• The Raiser’s Edge(i) for Synagogues
got a larger budget, and willing
to invest?
What if you have the capital to invest in lots of
upfront customizations and are looking for a powerful
system with substantial online integration? Say you
have the time and patience to partner with a vendor
or consultant to tailor a system to your congregation’s
needs—for a budget of $50,000 per year or less in
the first five years, there are a lot of options to choose
from:
• SugarCRM
• Tessitura
• Salesforce
• CiviCRM
• Talisma
• Shelby
• iMIS
• The Raiser’s Edge(i) for Synagogues
• NOAH
Hopefully, the information in this report will help you
understand what’s available and narrow your search
to a handful of options. Think through your needs
carefully—which of the features described here are
critical for you? Which are only nice to have, or not
useful for your congregation? What other features not
discussed here might be useful?
With that list of important features in hand, contact
the vendors and ask for demos. Ask them to show you
exactly the features you consider important. Consider
giving them a script which walks through the tasks
you’ll be doing every day at your synagogue—for
example, “I add a tribute gift to the system, and then
create a thank-you letter for both the donor and the
honoree.” This can be very useful to help compare
different systems to each other. We’ve tried to give a
Each available option
has its own strengths
and weaknesses. It
doesn’t matter how
good a particular
system is if it doesn’t
fit your synagogue’s
needs.
financial viability of the vendor, too, including the
number of customers currently using the system—you
wouldn’t want to choose a new system only to have
the company fold months later.
There are less-quantifiable aspects of software
selec-tion, too. You’ll want to ensure that a vendor has a
culture that fits with that of your synagogue, and that
understands that the primary objective of your
orga-nization is to be a religious anchor for the community.
A system should ideally match the mental model of
your staff and be easy for them to learn and maintain
with proper training.
You’ll want to ensure
that a vendor has a
culture that fits with
that of your synagogue.
We’ve mentioned this throughout the report, but it’s
worth calling your attention to the salient fact that the
prices for the systems we’ve profiled were all quoted—
either by vendors or consultants—and should
therefore be taken with a grain of salt. If a tool appears
to be near the top-end of your budget but you could
stretch to accommodate it, ask for pricing specific to
your synagogue’s data needs and congregation size very
early on in the process. Otherwise, you might be in for
some sticker shock after you’ve added all the modules
and features your synagogue needs to function.
Some of the tools in this report are “free,” specifically
the CRM platforms SugarCRM, CiviCRM, and
Salesforce Nonprofit Starter Pack. Free in this context
means free as in puppies, as we say at Idealware—sure,
they don’t cost any money to acquire, but you’ll need
to pay for care and feeding, or in this case, pay a
consultant to tailor the systems to the specific needs
of your synagogue. Those fees can be significant and
can add up to tens of thousands of dollars. In addition
to the upfront costs, remember that you’ll need to