West Little Rock church finds ease and cost efficiency in new system

Agape Church was at a crossroads.

Not about its mission, but about its information technology.

The church’s record management software had just mandated that its customers move to a new release because it would no longer support the older version. The new release also required a more powerful server. The price: $20,000. That included hardware and software, not including monthly maintenance costs.

Sharon Zimmerman, network administrator for the Arkansas-based ministry, began to evaluate options for managing her 65,000 records.

"We had used the other software for over 10 years, so we had a lot of information," Zimmerman said. "As with anyone, it’s very important to us. We didn’t want to make a mistake. We took a lot of time with the decision."

And, Zimmerman performed meticulous research. Her attention was captured by eTapestry’s coveted No. 1 spot in user satisfaction in a Campbell Research survey of 2,124 users of donor software program users.

"The pledges are important," Zimmerman said. "That ‘s really big with us because we have a television network. We also have capital campaigns for the church."

This ministry operates two television stations, an elementary school, and a missionary alliance, as well as supports a variety of ministries that focus on a variety of groups and topics, including a children’s ministry and a music and drama ministry. Zimmerman said she took all the church’s donation methods—from telethon to capital campaign pledges—into consideration when evaluating systems.

Once it was determined eTapestry was a good fit for the church, Zimmerman began calculating costs. eTapestry’s conversion fees were half as much as some of the quotes she received from some vendors and its monthly fee was close to what the church would have paid for maintenance fees to stay with its existing software package.

One of eTapestry’s best features is how easy it is to learn, said Zimmerman. About a dozen staff members work in eTapestry. Staff members spend less than one-half day with new users in eTapestry, she said.

"Our past system was complicated for a new person to sit down and use," she said. "A couple of weeks of training would be required before someone could be let loose on their own."

About eTapestry
Founded in 1999, Indianapolis-based eTapestry is the first Web-based donor database and communications management system that rents its software to customers who access it over the Internet. Nonprofit organizations of all types and sizes using eTapestry do not pay the large upfront purchasing costs or the ongoing maintenance and support contracts typically paid in the purchase of more traditional software. For more information, go to www.eTapestry.com.