Amanda Hickman

The Great Database Caper

I've tossed and turned about my first guest contributor entry here on the lovely DMI blog. How do I slide technology in between The CUNY Compact and Predatory Lending? I could write about some very cool tools that are out there--I've never met a grassroots organizer who can't think of a use for a barcode scanner that talks to their database, or a database that can be loaded onto PDAs and synced with the server at the end of a day of door knocking[1])--but the truth is that again and again what community led organizations desperately need is a decent database and some training. All the little stuff -- basic security, network health, keeping the web site up to date--is training. The thing you can't get in a class is a really good database. I've taken to calling this the One True Database, which sometimes elicits laughs from fellow techies because of course half the problem is that there is no "one true database" when Community Voices Heard is trying to figure out how to keep in touch with hundreds of voters who pledged to turn out at polls without overloading their membership database, while the Asian Pacific Environmental Network has no use for a database that can't support multiple Asian alphabets. In my experience the truth turns out to be that most community led organizations with a healthy variety of active campaigns and an engaged community of members and leaders need something close to the same thing from their database, or they need it to be flexible in about the same way.

CVH and FUREE Families United for Racial and Economic Equality will tell you that their database is fantastic (sweet of them, since the LINC Project built and supports their databases and as a LINC Circuit Rider I appreciate the flattery) but the truth is that when FUREE wanted to know how to do a search for home child care providers who had come to at least three of their five recent meetings about challenges that home child care providers face in New York City, I couldn't come up with a clean way to do it.

There are great databases geared towards non-profit, membership organizations, but there is a catch: most non-profits use their databases (and their members) primarily to raise funds. Organizations that prioritize member engagement want to use their database to look at members as more than deep pockets and eventually they'll hit a wall using a fundraising database to do that. And most non-profit membership database packages are essentially fundraising databases. There are some great examples of organizing databases out there, but not one of them is perfect.

If you want to see some that I like, have a look at del.icio.us for reviews. If you are wondering just what this "del.icio.us" thing is you'll just have to sit tight and wait for tomorrow's "Nifty Tool Chest" entry.

[1] I'll confess, I am taunting you dear reader. If you want to know more about how this works you have to ask.

Amanda Hickman: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 6:32 AM, Dec 07, 2005 in Democracy | activists
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