Talli, funny you should mention expensive bloatware like donor tracking and the like. You are exactly right.
When I left Portland Audubon, they were about to spend close to $30K on such software, hardware and training. Long story involving in-house work that wasn't sufficient, a new executive director convinced he knew more about computer technology than me, a good salesperson, etc. Bottom line was that the donor-tracking stuff's fine (though expensive) at a general level, but that all the stuff the various departments (education, wildlife rehab, conservation, programs /field trips/tours) were looking for never got done and probably never will. Since the new database tools are closed-source and proprietary, extending them in such ways isn't possible.
My proposal had been to do a system tailored to National Audubon chapters (of which there are hundreds), which we could then make available along with training, etc charging only for our actual expenses. Seemed like a reasonable leadership role for the second largest chapter in the country to take. But my proposal was met with blank stares, oh well.
But I've been playing with the idea of using OpenACS to take another run at the Society, because as you say it does provide the basic tools that are needed...
