Frequently Asked Questions

How many licences do I get when I buy CharityMaster?

It's amazing how few people are aware of CharityMaster's simple and inexpensive pricing. When you buy CharityMaster, you can install it on as many computers as you would like. The only limitation is that you cannot have more than 5 concurrent users sharing your single database.

How do I get my data into CharityMaster?

CharityMaster can import the data regarding your existing donors, clients, etc. Your data has to be in Excel or 'csv' (comma separated values) format. Your historical data about donations, attendance at events, etc. can be in such a wide variety of formats that we will have to do it for you. Typically this will cost you only a few hundred dollars.

Does CharityMaster have the ability to interface with donations received on our web site?

At this time, CharityMaster has no web interfaces.

Can we get access to our data from home?

There are a variety of ways you can do this even though CharityMaster is a desktop application without a web interface. You can access your data remotely without having to install CharityMaster on your home computer using several standard technologies:

Remote Desktop: You can access a computer where CharityMaster resides using solutions such as Microsoft Remote Desktop, PCAnywhere, or VNC.
Terminal Services: You can access data and applications over local area or wide area networks using solutions such as Citrix or Windows Terminal Services.
VPN: You can access the CharityMaster database remotely using a Virtual Private Network (VPN). There are multiple VPNs from which to choose - they range from free to expensive, software-based to hardware-based. An example of a free VPN is LogMeIn available at www.logmein.com.

All of these approaches require that CharityMaster be installed on a workstation that is running all the time in your organization's office and that the workstation be permanently connected to the internet.

Wouldn't a web based system be more convenient and less expensive?

When considering a web based system, you should think of the following:

Who controls your data? If you decide not to renew your contract, can you get your data back and will it be in a form that you can import into another vendor's software?
If you are a Canadian charity, the Canada Revenue Agency requires that your accounting records be stored in Canada.
What safeguards you from significant price increases? When you buy CharityMaster, you own a permanent licence and so there is no such thing as a price increase.

Some of the major software suppliers to the non-profit sector charge $1,500 per year or more for hosting between 1,000 and 5,000 names. Compare that to CharityMaster's one time price starting at $675.

Is there any limit on the number of names that CharityMaster holds?

While many inexpensive software packages have a limit, CharityMaster has none. Since it is built on an MS Access database, experts suggest there is a practical upper limit of 10,000 - 12,000 names.

We are just getting started. Do you offer discounted pricing for startups and very small organizations?

Yes we do. We know it's really hard to get started - we've been there! We offer a version that is limited to 1,000 names in your database with no entitlement to any enhancements. Contact us for details.

From what I can see, CharityMaster doesn't quite do what we need. Are customizations possible?

If you need something that we think will benefit all of our users, we will add it to the system for free! How is that for support? Otherwise our low development rate will ensure that you get exactly what you require.