By Shane Thacker

Oct. 1 marked the first anniversary of ebase, a free database program designed for nonprofits by a nonprofit, and according to its creators, it has been a very good year.

More than 5,000 organizations have downloaded the program since its 1998 release, says Marshall Mayer -- who was the head of Desktop Assistance, the organization that programmed ebase -- and is now a principal in the Technology Project, formed from the merger of his former nonprofit and the Rockefeller Technology Project.

As reported by PNN last year, ebase is a downloadable database template designed to manage information about individuals and households. It is based on the FileMaker Pro software program, but since it is a self-contained "runtime" application, FileMaker is not required for its use. (However, some modifications and network applications do require the parent program. See the ebase Web site for more details.)

Probably its most "nonprofit-oriented" ability is that of managing e-mail campaigns and supporter contacts. In the Heritage Forests Campaign -- reported on in the June 1999 issue of Nonprofits & Technology -- ebase was used to manage the outreach process, Mayer says.

The program was designed to help nonprofits adapt quickly and be more responsive to supporters, Mayer says, making those supporters feel more engaged in the organization.

"Contribution thank you notes, for example, can be sent via e-mail on the same day that the check is received," Mayer says. "Once someone has given you attention (in the form of writing a check), the best thing you can do is return that attention interactively."

Developing this interactivity with the organization's constituency, Mayer says, is a pressing need for those in the nonprofit field.

In another coup for the program, ebase has won the 1999 Best Social Innovation (Software Category) Award from the Institute for Social Innovations. The awards are given out to programs that are deemed the most innovative at helping solve social problems.

So what does the next year hold for ebase? Mayer says distribution and technical support are both areas in which the Technology Project wants to continue to improve.

For distribution, the Technology Project is considering allowing those who don't want to or can't download the program from the ebase Web site to get the program in other ways.

"We are considering a shrink-wrapped version, to include all ebase software on a CD and a printed manual," Mayer says. "Of course, we will have to charge for this, but availability and pricing have not been set."

The organization is also planning to increase the training and technical support resources available for the nonprofit community. As more people download ebase, the more demand grows for local technical support, Mayer says. The Technology Project plans to address this need through a network of local trainers and consultants over the next year.

Technical support for ebase will be made more available through its Web site, Mayer says, providing ebase customers with a way to get the answers to their questions online. The Technology Project also plans to increase the amount of technical training resources as well. However, due to the increasing amount of time required to help the growing number of ebase users, not everything will be free.

"Many forms of technical support will remain free, but not all," Mayer says. "We will assess a nominal charge for immediate support provided by our staff, whether on the phone or via e-mail, to solve a particular problem for an ebase customer. Over the next year, we also hope to establish some distance learning programs -- web-based skills training -- that will be low cost for ebase customers."

When asked for his advice to other groups thinking about providing free software for use by nonprofits, Mayer suggests openness as the key. Groups developing software should take advantage of the "open-source" development models, Mayer says, allowing them to benefit from the experiences of others.

(While retail software often can develop in a secretive, proprietary manner, open-source supporters advocate developing software by releasing its source code and opening the development process to outside comment.)

For those wishing to use ebase -- now in Version 1.0.2 -- and see exactly what a free program can do for their organizations, the application is available for download from the ebase Web site.

Shane Thacker can be reached at
shanethack@mindspring.com