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A core system is the internal system a community foundation uses to manage its:
- Donor and prospect information
- Accounting (recordkeeping, transactions, fund accounting, disbursements, expenses, etc)
- Grants processing
The importance of a core system lies in its centrality to our work--it is the engine AND the data AND the functionality that drives how we do our work every day. Many people incorrectly think of this as our ‘accounting system’ and that line of thought has held us back conceptually for quite awhile. The Technology Steering Committee has agreed to focus attention on improvements to these aspects of our core systems:
- API and Internet interfaces to donors, advisors and nonprofits; improved access to data and enhanced workflow efficiencies
- Robust customer relationship management (CRM) functionality
- Seamless processing capacity linking the core system to investment managers and custodians; automating pool accounting and reconciliation
- 'Next generation' software to fully replace current core systems (such as FIMS, FoundationPower and Blackbaud) with flexible, open architecture that delivers a complete solution for the entire field.
To read more about these areas of concern, see information in the sidebar.
Each community foundation has a core system of some type. In the field, 87% of community foundations use FIMS or FoundationPower, a few use Blackbaud’s Raiser’s Edge and small foundations often rely on Quickbooks or simple spreadsheet accounting.
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Approx. Number of Users |
Approx. Assets Represented(Market Share) |
Estimated Field -wide Investment to Date |
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FoundationPower (NPO/MicroEdge) |
22 |
32% |
$3.9 million (1) |
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FIMS (NPO/MicroEdge) |
280 |
55% |
$10.5 million (2) |
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Raiser’s/Financial Edge (Blackbaud) |
N/A |
5% |
N/A |
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Assumes: average $150,000 purchase, $50,000 in annual development and maintenance costs, past 3 years
- Assumes: average $15,000 purchase, $7,500 in annual development and maintenance costs, past 3 years.
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