We are a small cultural history museum. We purchased PastPerfect over a year ago and are in the process of entering approx. 800 names into its membership component. Previously, our membership was simply kept track of in a MS mailing file and on rolodex cards! Although we haven’t really used the membership component of PastPerfect yet (we are still entering data), we purchased the program for its multi-use aspect. We have already entered the titles in our research library into its library component. Both the membership and library projects are serving as “pilot projects” before we tackle the huge job of transferring over our accession records into PastPerfect’s objects section.

 

So far, entering the membership data has gone fairly smoothly. The one disadvantage the data entry person has commented on is the need to go to more than one screen to enter the data for a single person. As she said, “if you cold only enter the data from the browse screen where you can display all the variables for a single person”.  Perhaps this is fairly standard for any membership database?

 

Lisa Renken

Director

Lompoc Museum

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Diane Gutenkauf
Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2006 7:09 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Membership management software

 

In August I become the membership chair for a professional committee and am interested in purchasing software to manage membership records. Our group has about 850 members and we're currently tracking them in a spreadsheet program.

 

We don't need to link the membership database to anything else (such as ticketing or donor databases) so I'm interested in recommendations from smaller organizations who manage relatively similar membership sizes.

 

If you use a software package specifically designed to manage membership, would you mind letting me know what that package is?

 

Thanks in advance to all of you using database software (access, filemaker, etc.) but I'm really more interested in an off-the-shelf package, not a database. I've got access free, like a good MS client, and don't want to use it.

 

Regards,

 

Diane Gutenkauf

NAME Membership Chair-heir apparent

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