Submitted by Tobias Eigen on 19 September, 2010 - 10:48
What is CiviCRM?
CiviCRM is a powerful, web-based contact relationship management (CRM) system. It allows an organisation to record and manage information about the various people and other organizations it deals with. CiviCRM is more than just an address book, it also allows you to track your interactions with people and organizations and to get them to engage with, and potentially give money to, your organization through your website. The information you gather is all stored in one place but you can access it from almost anywhere.
CiviCRM focuses on the needs of non-profits. Most business CRMs are focused on managing commerce; CiviCRM emphasizes communicating with individuals, community engagement, managing contributions, and administering memberships.
CiviCRM is open source, which means there are no license costs or user fees associated with downloading, installing or using the software. You may incur costs if you use a consultant to implement CiviCRM to meet your specific needs and you may incur website hosting charges.
CiviCRM is web-based, which means it can be accessed by many users at the same time from different locations. It has been developed with the international community in mind, and translations and multi-language options are supported.
CiviCRM Trainings in October 6-7
A great opportunity to learn about CiviCRM is coming up, whether you work for a nonprofit or are a web developer.
Berlin User and Administrator Training: 6 Oktober, 2010 9:00 - 17:00
Signup online: http://bit.ly/9YrEGR
A comprehensive one day hands on training course covering the configuration, administration, and every-day use of CiviCRM. This event is aimed at administrators and technical users at organisations that are either using CiviCRM, or interested in evaluating it. It is also useful for staff at organisations that develop or implement CiviCRM who need a complete understanding of "out of the box" features and configuration options.
Berlin Developer and Implementer Training: 6 Oktober, 2010 9:00 - 17:00
Signup online: http://bit.ly/bZx0t9
This comprehensive one-day hands on training course is targeted at implementers, administrators, and developers who want to learn more about configuring, customizing, and extending CiviCRM to meet their organization / client needs. You don't need to be a 'developer' to attend but you should have basic PHP and MySQL skills, and be familiar with (or at least ready to dive into) the CiviCRM code base.
Questions?
Tobias Eigen uses CiviCRM for the Kabissa online platform for African Civil Society (http://www.kabissa.org) and is glad to answer any questions about the upcoming trainings or CiviCRM in general. Contact: tobias@kabissa.org or 01522-348-2440.
The CiviCRM website at http://www.civicrm.org provides access to a wealth of information (in english) about CiviCRM, demos so you can take it for a test ride, forums where you can ask questions, and blogs so you can keep up to date on the latest developments.
The CiviCRM Manual (in english) is very comprehensive and useful: http://flossmanuals.net/civicrm
Help is needed with translating CiviCRM into German
The CiviCRM application has been 60% translated into German by volunteers, and help is needed to translate the rest. The CiviCRM Manual has not yet been translated into German, and help is needed to translate it.
If you are interested in joining a translation team or participating in a translation sprint event, please contact Tobias.
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