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Susan G Komen for the Cure Indianapolis has a simple and direct mission statement: "To eradicate breast cancer through research, education, screening and treatment". While it only takes one sentence to describe their goal, it takes a lot of people, organization, and effort to accomplish it.

In an effort to become more efficient with their resources, Komen Indianapolis recently conducted an audit of their fundraising software and what they needed it to do. They considered Best Practices, as well as what would streamline their processes and utilize their time and resources most effectively. After speaking with other organizations that used various software products, they found that eTapestry was still the best software for their needs. They realized that there were changes that they could make in the way they utilized their eTapestry database that would minimize the time and resource issues they were experiencing.

One of those changes was purchasing Advanced Import.

The Indianapolis affiliate used eTapestry to import selected Race for the Cure registration information into their database. They would obtain an excel spreadsheet from their Race Software and send that to eTapestry, who would perform a data service that would import the information. There were so many Race for the Cure donations to enter each year that Komen Indianapolis had to restrict the donations they imported to only those who gave gifts of $100 or more in order to reduce the amount of information eTapestry imported.

"We researched Advanced Import and found it to be a very user friendly tool" states Letha Keslar, Director of Development for the Indianapolis of Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. "We love Advanced Import! We were able to import every donor from the Race this year, regardless of their donation amount. It has made our gift processing at Race time so much easier and timely!"

Susan G. Komen for the Cure is the world's largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors. There are affiliates in 125 cities and communities worldwide. Komen relies heavily on volunteers in order to accomplish their goals in so many areas.

"Due to the fact that we have so many volunteers, who generally aren't in the office making notes on their outreach efforts, we ask them to use an excel spreadsheet," states Letha. Before getting Advanced Import, a volunteer would have to spend a great deal of time manually entering each contact from each volunteer spreadsheet. This was very time consuming due to the extensive notes they try to keep, so making sure that the donor's contacts and notes were up to date proved to be difficult at times.

"With the Advanced Import tool I can just upload all of the notes and contacts directly from the volunteer spreadsheets, keeping the database updated with all communication between Komen Indianapolis and donors. Now when we contact donors I feel more confident that we are working with the most up-to-date information," states Letha.

eTapestry module options like Advanced Import help keep Komen Indianapolis budget down by not using different applications or third party companies in order to have all of the functions they need. Due to eTapestry's versatility, they have started using eTap as a dashboard-type user interface that can be the launching point for many of the functions they need to utilize on a daily basis. The purchase of Advanced Import made it possible to store and manage the contacts, notes, and follow-ups for their constituents. They also started using the Correspondence section of eTapestry instead of Word due to the huge time-saver that the data merge values have proven to be.

Another change that has allowed this dashboard-type approach of eTapestry to work for Komen Indianapolis is the link between their database and their online giving page. They used to use a different online giving page provider, but recently switched to an eTapestry eCommerce page, which pushes the data from the page directly into their database in real time, as opposed to the manual entry they did previously. "Between the capabilities of Advanced Import and the communication between the eCommerce Online Giving page and the database, so much data entry time has been saved, which is wonderful when you have such limited personnel resources!" Letha said.

"For a small non-profit with a very small staff, such as Komen Indianapolis, eTapestry is a very helpful, effective tool!" states Letha. "Such a powerful database with limitless customer service at such an affordable price is hard to believe."

About Susan G. Komen for the Cure® and the Komen Indianapolis Affiliate

Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever. In 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure and launched the global breast cancer movement. The Indianapolis Affiliate of Komen for the Cure is working to better the lives of those facing breast cancer in the local community. They join more than 100,000 breast cancer survivors and activists around the globe as part of the world's largest and most progressive grassroots network fighting breast cancer. In 2008, Komen Indianapolis awarded $1,616,000 to 25 different Indiana not for profit agencies that are providing education services to 31,000 men and women, clinical breast exams for 3,831 women, and mammograms for 3,913 men and women. Additionally $800,000 was contributed to the Komen's National Research Program that utilizes a blind peer review process to screen and select national scientific and clinical research projects involved in finding a cure for breast cancer. Locally, there are six research projects currently being funded with Komen dollars. For more information, call 317-638-2873 or visit www.komenindy.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.