Middletown Area Senior Center July 29, 2009

"Fundraising is the art of maintaining relationships, and GiftWorks makes that easy," says the volunteer fund director of this organization.

In 2005-07, the Middletown (Ohio) Senior Citizens Center conducted a fund drive and built a new, state-of-the-art facility.  But there was not an on-going campaign to support the facility.  As a recent retiree, I volunteered to help establish a development department to conduct an annual campaign.  In the past, as a college administrator, I had done fund raising, but I had never operated a software program.  Upon the recommendation of a professional, I purchased GiftWorks.  And I am glad I did!  I downloaded the manual and set up the program.  At every step I found it easy to use, and there was always support available from GiftWorks if I needed it.  After two or three weeks, we were up and running.

To make a long story short, we have been able to raise over $70,000 since I began in November, 2008, and I am very proud of that.  All of my records are neat, up to date, and easy to manage.  Fundraising is the art of maintaining relationships, and GiftWorks makes that easy.

The mission of the Middletown (Ohio) Area Senior Center is to serve maturing men and women by addressing those needs and interests that contribute to their continuing health, employment, and independence.  In the current economic atmosphere we need to help support our senior citizens, many of whom are quite vulnerable.  As it turned out, the increased need for home-delivered meals, transportation, in-home care and other programs operated by the Center have caused membership to triple in one year to 2300 members.  An increasing number of persons over 60 years of age has placed a heavy burden on services, and the Center needs to fund vital programs for the elderly.  An on-going annual campaign maintained and supported by our GiftWorks Program will help make that possible.  I have been more than happy to recommend GiftWorks to other organizations with which I am familiar.