Through TCMS, you can enter your clients' contact information and needs. TCMS also provides a client tracking log, that allows you to keep a record of contacts and actions regarding your clients.
You can enter physical items (furniture, appliances, etc.) as well as services (painting, driving, etc.). TCMS also provides a public page where donors can pledge their items, and you can contact them to arrange for pick-up or delivery. Items can be tracked on a “per item” basis, with details collected about each item, or on a “per count” basis. Items also may have a variety of dispositions, so an item can be tracked from the time it is pledged until the time it is used to fill a need.
TCMS provides a public page where volunteers can sign up to work with your organization. It also allows you to categorize volunteers in several different ways. You can search for volunteers using a variety of criteria.
Volunteers providing services can be scheduled for a particular client on a given date and time range. This schedule remains even after the work has been completed, which provides a record of service for both client and volunteer.
Items from the inventory can be matched with goods needs for a client. This helps to keep the inventory up-to-date, as well as providing a record of where the item was used. The item will also no longer show as a need, so any need counts will be accurate in real time.
Volunteers can be e-mailed individually, and the system will also send out an organization-wide “Info Blast.” Additionally, you can send an e-mail to the group of volunteers that are returned by the volunteer search page — for example, this allows you to search for all volunteers who said they could do plumbing work, then e-mail a plumbing opportunity to only those volunteers.
For its user management, TCMS utilizes WordPress, the industry-standard web log (blog) and content management system. For organizations that do not have a public website already, or organizations that have a static website that was built long ago that they cannot update, this allows them to gain a dynamic presence on the Internet. Because it is based on WordPress, organizations can create static pages, or use the blogging features for announcements, newsletters, or success stories — you don't have to have a “web guru” on staff. For organizations that already have a public site, we can provide links from them for the public pages of TCMS. (You can learn more about WordPress by visiting wordpress.org.)