Database or E-Constituency Management Services

There are a bunch of these out there. Don’t waste your time looking at high end versions like raisers edge, kintera, or convio if you don't have about $10,000/year to spend.

For those on budgets, take a look at z2, Democracy In Action (they offer credit card processing at pretty great rates for small non profits www.democracyinaction.org) and eTapestry (www.etapestry.com).

We (and Refugees International) started out with eTapestry (which is free for small orgs with small databases) and migrated to DIA (which is pretty cheap). We have since moved from DIA, which got too pricy for our needs, to z2 systems.

Web based databases are really the way to go as they take care of nightly backups and you can access them from anywhere in the world with an internet connection.

You might also take a look at Common Knowledge's guide for selecting a ECMS.