best php cms for non-profits?
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- qwasazzygreyrezebby
hey, gotta build a fully content managed site for a non-profit... php... was thinking wordpress but there is all this members only and personalized members shit that seems like a pain to integrate with wordpress. looking into alternatives. drupal sounds good on paper but i've heard its a pain for designer/hack developer folk like myself... joomla is popular but the name sounds like i don't want to deal with building a site in jooooooomla. any other ideas?
- ETM0
Concrete 5
http://www.concrete5.org/CMS Made Simple
http://www.cmsmadesimple.org/
- Continuity0
Depends on how complex the site will be.
On another QBNer's suggestion (I forget who), I plugged my own site into concrete5, and I love it. It's absolutely caveman simple.
- qwasazzygreyrezebby0
standard non-profit content stuff... but there has to be donation management stuff where users can log-in and see data specific to their account... like up to 500 users.
- client may consider a canned solution like BlackBaud... $200/hour consultants too...vaxorcist
- ArmandoEstrada0
non-profit doesn't mean they have no money.
- ETM0
^
I have learned this many times. I have cut corners and strung something together because they say they have no money. Then a little later they say they were not satisfied and suddenly have 30k to give someone else to "fix it"- I saw this too.. clients may blame your character rather than their budget for problemsvaxorcist
- qwasazzygreyrezebby0
right...
- comicsans0
Expression Engine
- qwasazzygreyrezebby0
expressionengine site down at the moment. what's up with modx?
- qwasazzygreyrezebby0
yo just installed concrete5... pretty painless, seems cool./ can you stylize the admin area?
- ukit0
Expression Engine
- pastpastdue0
expression engine, by far. I think they might even have pricing for non-profits.
- airey0
stay away from modx, it's shite. it might be great down the road but for all the huff and puff developers that like it give it's more work for less result than the other well known cms solutions.
expression engine is awesome but developing for it is a lot more expense and time than some of the simple solutions like concrete5, wordpress tec. still, if the clients needs all that extra members only areas and so forth expression engine may be the perfect solution.
- ESKEMA0
C5
- vaxorcist0
I was IT director of a nonprofit years ago, and we had situations like this....
Controlling client expectations is a huge thing here... also make sure only one or two people on client side can make decisions, otherwise waaaaaay too many cooks in the kitchen...
Option 1: talk to people, get some idea, then pitch a solution based on joomla or wordpress.... tweek a bit, but control expectations and make it clear that some things client thinks are "minor" changes may require a whole change of strategy, not just a tweek
Option 2: go mega custom based on EE, consider hiring EE consultants, bill by the hour, and make sure the endgame is clearly defined....
Make sure you know if there's a deadline due to an event. Be prepared to cut features at the last minute in order to get reliability.
Make it clear to client that reliability may be decreased by last minute new features....
Be prepared for an "aristocratic attitude" from some nonprofit staff... they may treat you like a partner or "hired help" depending on how some things look to them.....
Note that Joomla may actually do well for this, but had some bad PR in 2004 when Joe Lieberman's badly setup campaign server crashed... system admins may mention this in a meeting, some nonprofit tech people do things like this to discredit projects in front of decision makers, so be careful and make sure they're on your side if you can....
- vaxorcist0
Nonprofit meeting politics can be strange,especially with board members.... if there's a guy in a meeting wearing a strangely expensive looking suit who keeps saying something like "why don't you just do it all in 3 days in Access" you can say "we will consider that" and change the subject because he may be a major contributer, not somebody you can just directly contradict in a meeting..... so ask somebody to tell you who has what authority and background and bias and skeletons in closets,etc....
- or you can contradict bullshit, but be ready with clear reasons and people to back you upvaxorcist
- qwasazzygreyrezebby0
yea, nonprofit meeting politics is 100% predictable...
- lukus_W0
Drupal.