Price Plan Mea Culpa January 30, 2007

Earlier this month we changed our pricing to a subscription plan, and, well, it didn't go over so well. The response wasn't terrible, but we learned something: some nonprofits would rather pay everything up front and have the choice of paying for upgrades later, rather than paying annually. We reverted to our regular pricing after a few weeks while we study it more and get your input.

If you're a customer currently, nothing changed. If you're looking at GiftWorks now, you might have heard we were a traditional software company with a one-time purchase and paid upgrades down the line. What we were trying to accomplish was this: simplify the maintenance and upgrades, keep costs down for customers, and simplify our development and marketing processes.

I'm sorry for the bad communication and the false start--it was my fault, frankly. I think in general we've done a pretty good job of communicating, being open, admitting the occasional mistake, taking care of customers well. As we grow the company and evolve, we're going to continue trying new things to improve the customers experience. Your feedback has always been such a great guide for our work, and we'll keep listening.

But this time, we didn't ask enough questions. We're asking now, and we'll listen. GiftWorks is still the most affordable, easiest to use fundraising software, and we plan on continuing to improve it for your benefit. And if we change anything, we'll ask first, let you know ahead of time, and always give you a choice. Of all the joys of growing and running Mission Research, your feedback and passion have been the greatest.

Thank you for your understanding, and feel free to contact me directly anytime with your concerns and feedback--email is charlie@ .

Comments

I would like to subscribe to this "blog" newsletter but I can't figure out how to do that. I have no clue what a "typekey" or "typepad" account is. So, instead I tried the "subscribe to this blog's feed" and instantly got a screen full of text with no white space.

Usually you find forms that say "do you want to subscribe to this" - fill in your name and email etc. Your help would be appreciated.

Charlie, As an early adopter of Giving Works, and one who could, if necessary, change databases. I am a fan and will pay what is needed. I applaud your work and efforts to improve GiftWorks. I expected some occasional rough edges, and feel you have been remarkably good at avoiding them. Our new Development Director is an expert on Razors Edge. Even so,she is sticking with you for obvious reasons, price, ease of use, and adequate functionality.

As for the folks that are critical of your software or pricing I say: "Try something else with similar or higher price and see how you like it. To you I say: "Keep doing your best to see that Giftworks is always improving without becoming too expensive."

If you pull this off, you will be doing something trememdously valuable to help us all fulfill our missions of making this a better world. Surround yourself with positive people as smart or smarter than you that share your idealism. You've got my vote.