The Organizer’s Collaborative is a group that develops tech tools and training for social change. Realizing that there was no software available for small nonprofits and activist groups, the Collaborative made their own membership software free and downloadable in 2002. They named the program the Organizer’s Database (ODB).

ODB started out as a basic yet intuitive system, designed for small technically challenged groups to manage donor lists, generate mass emails, track volunteers and process donations. It’s easy to use, absolutely free and made by nonprofits for nonprofits. Years of feedback have helped tweak the program to be perfectly suited to the needs of small grassroots organizations.

What started as a few dozen users in the United States, has blossomed into 2,500 downloads of the software in the fourth quarter of 2005. The software is open source, so that anyone can make changes or add features specifically required by their organization.