FEP and You November 27, 2006 By RussBurke

Fundraisers have long been plagued by the silo effect when it came to understanding their fundraining effectiveness.  Sure, if you took the time, had the right data and the tools, you just might be able to look at what you had done overall or by appeal or campaign effort.  If you had longterm data, you could even compare this year's to previous year's efforts.

But comparing your results against anything but Giving USA's Annual Report on Charitable Giving was pretty much hopeless.  This general inability to see results in broader terms, both internally and externally, meant meaningful trend and planning information was mostly beyond reach. 

But the FEP is all about to change.  The Fundraising Effectiveness Project, led by Bill Lewis, is a joint venture of the Urban Institute's Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University and the National Committee on Planned Giving (NCPG). 

Their goal is to help nonprofits develop measures that help nonprofits better understand what is happening with their donor resource base.  Just as important, their plan is to make this information broadly available so that you will be able to compare your results against the results of nonprofits in general.  With thousands of nonprofits contributing to the information pool a more accurate and informative picture will emerge. 

Participating in the FEP will give you more information immediately about your resource base.  You'll be able to see if you are losing or gaining donors or dollars and just where it is happening.  Your ability to understand specific donor "segment" outcomes will be strengthened.  This will help you to discern where more effort/investment might be needed to shore up or improve your results. 

We at Mission Research are committed to helping our clients get the most out of FEP participation and findings.  They've extended the initil deadline for participation his first year to Dec. 15.  We encourage all of you to participate. 

As the new kid on the block, Mission Research came into this project very late.  But I have to hand to the Mission Research development team, led by Chris Walker, on this project.  They turned it around in a very short time to give our customers the simple GiftWorks interface and features you expect from us.  We're plugged in now so we will be able to get FEP development support to you even sooner.

You can learn more about the project at http://www.betanews.com/newswire/pr/Charities_and_Software_Firms_Partner_on_Groundbreaking_Charitable_Giving_Survey/32919

Best wishes for an informed future...

Thanksgiving Community November 27, 2006 By RussBurke

Over the Thanksgiving Holiday, I was given to think we at Mission Research have a lot to be thankful for.  It starts with you, our customers and friends, who believe that we are bringing a great and growing product to serve the nonprofit community...and doing it in a thoughtful, sustainable way.

I like to think that we, collectively, are a community engaged in a struggle to make this world a better place.  This is not, in my mind, an epic battle fraught with drama and high action.  For so many, it is a day-to-day slog through challenges that often appear so much bigger than we are.  Yet, they push forward, secure in the knowledge that they are making a difference...one life at a time.

When meeting our customers and prospective customers, I'm always impressed by the vast range of activities and missions represented.  Even with all those differences, we might easily agree that friend- and fundraisinga are critical to the success of our mission.  We might also agree that we need to be operating in ways that support economic and ecologic sustainablilty.

Part of my role at Mission Research is to foster Community.  We see one of the most important ways to support community is to design and build online services for our users and others.  We are working to create some new tools to help thoughtful folks pursue their missions in a sustainable way. 

We believe that nonprofits will benefit with sustainable practices...and hope to demonstrate that in the next few weeks.  In the meantime, let us know what you think is needed to build truly sustainable nonprofit enterprises.

Your input is always appreciated...

Thanksgiving Break for Support November 22, 2006 By Steve Fafel

Just a reminder--Mission Research will be on a break for the holiday until Monday morning. Post your questions to the online discussion group at http://help.missionresearch.com and someone from the community should respond.

We're thankful for our customers. The best customers are the ones willing to tell us how we can improve to serve them--adn everyone--better. We do a lot of things well, but we truly appreciate the feedback so many of you have given about GiftWorks, our support efforts, and our product evolution. We're a better company, and we thank you for it.

Next week we have a number of exciting announcements, so please check back!

Have a great holiday, and for those of you outside the US, have a great couple of days and we'll see you next week!

Are New Tech Tools Right for You? November 18, 2006 By RussBurke

Hi Folks: This is addressed to the fundraisers out there. I've been thinking a lot about how we can better serve GiftWorks users, prospects and the development community in general. But, in my head, I keep bumping up against this generation x vs. generation y consideration. Generation x’ers can be happy with a web source that delivers timely, factual perspective on fundraising topics of interest, offers easy-to-use look-up tools to find answers, topics or engages others in pertinent discussions. For generation y’ers, the interest goes well beyond the static web page, in fact, well beyond the web. Their world is a rich tapestry of opportunity to share, communicate, participate and create. New tools and technology emerge everyday to push those possibilities ever forward…like personalized digital streaming to websites, cell and smartphones, and ipods, and other even more specialized and marginal digital outlets. Here’s the dilemma. All that technology stuff is cool and so now. But is it technology that fundraisers will use too communicate with each other? [We’ll leave the questions of whether or not it is appropriate for their personal professional/community constituencies up to them, for now.] My concern is that, for fundraisers, the utility value decreases rapidly…citing the valuation of your time invested in creating, managing, monitoring and responding to these “personalized’ spaces. But hey, that’s just me. I’d love to hear what you have to say about this new technology and your perceptions of how useful it is in the professional development of fundraisers and their need for continued learning. So jump in and, while you’re at it, tell me what tools you like/dislike…and why. It’s an open call… -- Russ Burke

Where to Start with Internet Fundraising November 16, 2006 By RussBurke

Folks:

For many small or start-up shops...and even longer term operations, the mystique of internet fundraising looms large.  Staff and Board members alike can be lured into believing that it is just a matter of putting up a website with a "GiveNow" button...or just subscribing to one of those "refer-a-friend" webservices.  Certainly there is promise there...and behavioral/generational/cultural changes point in that direction.

But internet fundraising simply isn't that simple.  Organizations should exercise fundamental due diligence.  At the most basic level you can ask: Does your mission really lend itself to investment in e-presence?  Maybe your e-presence should be bent toward advocacy and community building?  What do you and your board expect e-presence investment to gain for your organization?

Internet fundraising is no longer new.  The web is chock full of excellent sources of information backed by good documentation and sound principles.  A basic primer is available at the Network for Good's "What is ePhilanthropy page: http://www.networkforgood.org/Npo/technology/answer1.aspx  That can get you started in the right direction.  A good source of information at both beginning and advanced levels is the ePhilantopy Foundation's site. http://www.ephilanthropy.org/site/PageServer  They offer structured web-based information and beginning and advanced training world wide.  Finally, I want to share the NonProfit Advisors site for those really new to this whole idea:  http://www.npadvisors.com/  Their approach can help you get grounded with the language and issues that matter.  There are many more.

The internet can represent an enormous strategic benefit for your mission. There is no reason to go this alone nor avoid appropriate due diligence.  An effective internet program requires research, understanding of your demographics, a structured plan and a budget commitment to match, and clear goals with benchmarks. 

Your mission deserves your best thinking.  Plan. Engage. Harvest.  Good luck.

  -- Russ Burke

GiftWorks Update 5 November 12, 2006 By Steve Fafel

What’s new in GiftWorks 2006 Update 5?

GiftWorks 2006 Update 5 adds support for some major new operating systems and software updates from Microsoft, including support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0. The new system requirements (with the updates in italics) are:

Bug Fixes

+ Right click and delete donors quickly could cause errors

+ Repeated imports of households would cause database errors

+ Export from pages would fail if directory path no longer exists or lack of required permissions.

+ Database Backup and Restore would fail if folder path no longer exists or lack of required permissions.

+ Time not calculating or displaying properly for certain pages

+ Donor giving history graph not accurate

+ GiftWorks uninstall could cause error when opening Outlook

Modifications

+ Support for Internet Explorer 7.0

+ Support for Windows XP 64-bit Edition

+ Support for windows Server 2003

+ Improved error handling for Addins

+ QuickBooks posting changes

-          For donations and pledge payments, the transactions will be posted as one journal entry per donation/payment.  Each journal entry will consolidate the transactions, posting one line per asset account and one line per fund for each income account.  The payment method details (check number or cash) will be posted in the Entry Number field.

-          For all journal entries, the fund name will be posted to the Memo field for income accounts.

+ Changes to Import Guide

Thank You Redux November 6, 2006 By RussBurke

Folks:

The final line of the previous post about the November season...something like "and don't forget to thank your donors"...brought to mind the awesome power of saying thank you and the challenges fundraisers face in that process.

Experts used to claim that people need to hear "Thank you" seven times before they felt truly thanked.  I last heard that claim in about 2001.  More recently, those that research such things claim that the impressions to recognition threshold moved from seven to twelve.  That's an even more daunting number but I have to believe, for it to be true, that people are suffering more from information overload rather than a surfeit of thanks yous.

Still, recognition of the impressions to recognition threshold clearly points to one thank you is not enough.  Do you have a plan to reinforce you gratitude to donors?   Do you leverage each opportunty for interaction with donors as another opportunity to say thanks again?  Do you think beyond letter...to phone calls, cards, references, quick emails, the myriad little things that let donors share in the psychic rewards of your mission?

There is nothing more powerful than linking donors to your mission.  Just think of the power of a note or email that read...Dear Sally: I saw two foster kids today beaming with anticipation about meeting their new "family" and I thought of you...and your commitment to....  Write from the heart.  Your donors will appreciate it in so many ways!   That bridges the impressions to recognition threshold, hands down.

Thank you.

November November 3, 2006 By Steve Fafel

November. The end of the easy part of Fall, the beginning of the rougher part, the gray between oranges and whites. Holidays mean temporary generosity among the general population, and different expressions of generosity from the truly committed.

Get your mailings out before and after Thanksgiving. Make your appeals, frame them as shared missions. Show up at community events and holiday parties. Recruit those who share your mission and help them channel their desire to help.

Then give yourself a break. Refresh. Regroup. And don't forget to thank your donors!

Raiser's Edge "Squeezing" More Profits Out of Customers November 1, 2006 By Steve Fafel

Blackbaud, which makes Raiser's Edge, just posted its earnings, proudly announcing an increase in profit of 16%, and that their average sale is now $40,000.

"Charleston-based software maker Blackbaud Inc. announced a 30 percent increase in third-quarter profit Monday, as it closed larger sales and continued to squeeze big gains out of the product that it has built its business on.

Blackbaud's earnings for the three-months ended Sept. 30 increased to $9.9 million from $7.6 million. Revenue for the quarter jumped to $49.9 million, a 16 percent increase."

(from the Charleston Post & Courier).

We're a different kind of company. While their CEO is pushing for bigger sales and more and more revenue per customer, we are giving all nonprofits great software at an affordable $299 per license. We're a socially responsible business dedicated to the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit.

And comparing GiftWorks to Raiser's Edge is like apples and oranges anyway; we're affordable, easy to use and appropriate for most organizations, while Raiser's Edge is expensive, hard to use, and designed for large enterprises that can afford $40,000 on fundraising software.

So if you are an apple, make sure you're buying software designed for apples. If you're an orange, then you have a large enough bank account where you don't need to worry about a $40,000 charge for software. But just make sure you aren't getting the squeeze put on you when you're closing your deal with Blackbaud--their revenues should be based on superior software and service, not on unnecessary extras that you may never use.

Any comments from the Raiser's Edge crowd? Click comments below--thanks!

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