Today Chris Walker picked me up at home and helped me get my jacket on. It's tough with the sling, but I can usually do it myself be now. I'm learning to be self-sufficient as a right-hander with a right-shoulder injury; my left hand is able to write a bit and use a mouse now.
After a few hellos I held a couple of "quick" meetings, mostly about product development. Then we held the first company meeting since the accident. I started with me--people have been asking and wondering when or if I'm ever returning:) The good news about the broken shoulder is it's healing well. The bad news is I'll still be out of the office for most of the next 4 weeks.
Next, I explained a bit about our product schedule for GiftWorks. I'll post the details here in the next week or so, but the short version is we've released 5 free updates containing about 60 features and a larger number of changes or fixes. The next major update comes April 23rd, and that will include a significant upgrade to our QuickBooks integration, plus some other fixes and features you have been clamoring for.
This summer you will have a renewed, redesigned, and simpler way of handling households. Mary Pat Donnellon is the dedicated product manager on GiftWorks and will be posting here about the changes and improvements over the next few months. Oh--the next version of Giftworks is going to rock, and is scheduled for either June 30 or later in the summer, depending on how we decide to roll out the features. I expect you'll want it sooner than later, and for the other additions to come later in the year. Let us know (we'll send a survey).
Finally, Online Donations will be ready in 2 weeks. This has taken longer than we expected, but it will be well worth the wait. The forms are well-designed and easy to use, and the transactions import easily into GiftWorks. More on that later from Chris Walker when we get closer to the date.
It's good to be back. While I was there I squeezed in a meeting on the Lancaster Free Wireless project, which I'm catalyzing but not working on directly, and another with the ED of the Lancaster Y (I'm on the Board). By 4 pm I was pretty tired and ready to head home.
My takeaway from today? Hire great people. And ask them to recruit people who will reflect well on them. We have a great set of people working hard to serve customers, and we get it right most of the time. It's a pleasure to see thing running so smoothly, so see how deeply everyone cares about serving nonprofits and how they will go to the mat to solve a problem or get a feature or change approved. We don't always get it right, but with the right people, always make it right.
So everyone at Mission Research, thanks for your support. And customers--you too. We've heard you and we're digging deeper to do well for you. I love this job.
Congratulations Charlie! I'm the new development and outreach coordinator and fell off a flight of cement stairs onto my knees a week before my first phon-a-thon! I literally feel your pain. Great news about the updates. It's awkward to work between individual donors and households now. I had begun to discuss transitioning out of Giftworks but news of the new updates - all in areas where we are struggling with the product - will keep us hanging in through summer.
Karin Hammer
said on Mar 22 at 8:01PM