I would like to hear from my peers the pros and cons of self-service donor portal. Recently, I've been discerning whether to enable it or not.
As a DBA I'm reluctant to let donors enter any info that would automatically overwrite/update existing info in the database. I see way to many typos / mistakes entering data for addresses, emails, and phone #s.
I could be considered a control freak but I also have been told by vendor partners that we have one of the cleanest databases they have seen.
I always want to have the option to review/approve/correctly code and new info.
Our database is simply too large, and our database team too small, to make it a viable option. The inviting and reviewing element alone would sink basically all of my time should it be successful! At least, that's the impression that I get. I'd be interested to know of others' experiences, too.
My understanding is that address changes can be reviewed, so yes, we are planning on opening up Donor Portal … but only to a select few donors. There are a couple major considerations:
Perfect! All of your inputs are super helpful to me. I did not know that you can enable self-service to only select donors. The recurring monthly donors is precisely the group I had in mind when I started thinking about this. I too am a "control freak" with regards to my database; therefore, I agree in not inviting everybody. Thank you so much my friends! :)
Thank you for starting this discussion. I'm thinking about opening this up to our Recurring Donors too. But I'm hesitant for all the reasons stated above, and I feel like there aren't many resources on this. I didn't know that you can enable certain functions like, viewing giving history. This has been one of the reasons that we've shied away from using this because we have names of funds that correspond with accounting codes that donors will not understand or need to know. If that is the case, we will look into this. Thanks!
