Tail Wagging Dog July 31, 2007 By RussBurke

In the past few days I've been struck by where the perspective dog can bite you. Take this business of selecting fundraising software. There are two perpectives that play heavy here...the tech perspective and the user (fundraiser) perspective.

These diverse perspectives don't really run counter. But they do have the capacity to miss what's truly important to the other's welfare. To wit: In the software evaluation process, it is easy for fundraisers to get wrapped up in what and how we did it before that they are unable to evaulate the technologist's observations about data flexibility and accessibility. After all, the technologist knows needs and the processes developed to meet them will change.

Similarly, technologists can get so wrapped up in data structure and relational coding that they remain far isolated from the very real need of fundraisers to have tools they can master for day-in, day-out use. Basically, does it do what we need to do and can I learn how to use it.

In the end, software evaluation must entertain both perspectives. But we need to be ever mindful about which tail is wagging the dog.

What I learned from Mal Warwick July 24, 2007 By RussBurke

Clunky technology and miscues aside, I really enjoyed Mal Warwick’s Webinar last week. Titled “What You Absolutely, Positively Need to Know About Direct Mail Fundraising” it really covered the ground in helping get our hands around the myriad issues that impact direct mail fundraising.

An attendee or two later commented that the presentation was too basic. Actually that’s where we planned it to be focused. But those exchanges brought to mind a very chilling realization. You don’t have to be a “beginner” to mess up direct mail fundraising…and by mess up, I mean getting far less response than possible. This is certainly no surprise but let’s look behind that obvious conclusion.

Thinking back on my direct experience with three nonprofits, two shared a deep history of direct mail solicitation while for the other, fundraising itself as an organized activity, was only three years old when I arrived. As I reflect on what direct mail planning was done, I have to confess that the organization with the shortest “experience” paid the most attention to what I see as the key to direct mail fundraising: donor segmentation. Note, I did not say they were best at it, the issue was just more consistently significant in their planning. (For the record, that organization owed that perspective to the gentleman who had the fundraising position before I arrived.)

Based on my experience, our biggest failure, and hence our biggest challenge, is to use the tools we have to intelligently segment our donors for solicitation, recognition and stewardship in ways that we can test for effectiveness. Failure to test and measure means that we’re just guessing.

Thanks, Mal.

Build Your Own User Manual July 20, 2007 By RussBurke

OK, this post won't wow you with rocket science thinking...but it is big on fundamentals.

On several occasions during GiftWorks online tours or classes, participants have asked if we have a "manual." What they really want is a not our GiftWorks Manual, but a site-specific GiftWorks fundraising software users guide. No we don't have one. Though time-consuming, you can easily create one for your nonprofit. Here 's a great volunteer project!

Think about your internal donor and donation "processing" and how you think you want staff to reflect that in their use of GiftWorks. You don't have to create all the language from whole cloth. You can copy/paste stuff off our Forums, Knowledge Base and right out of our manual to help keep processes straight. (highlight and Cntrl C/Cntrl V are my copy/paste keysets of choice.)

You will likely want to include lots of images of GiftWorks, internal process documents or other systems. The Print Screen button on most PC keyboards functions well. Pressing it once gets your entire computer screen copied onto your clipboard, while ALT and Print Screen puts only the active window on your screen into the clipboard. There are other tools on the market for doing screen capture if you want to manipulate the images you capture. (I use and really like Snag-It.)

Anyway, a style or process manual can go a long way toward insuring data consistency and dependable accurate reporting. Even the process of creating one can prompt a more careful review of work processes. The more you depend on a tool and integrate it into your processes, the more important a resource like this will be to your organization.

Happy authoring!

Its More than Conversion July 12, 2007 By RussBurke

Many organizations and, particularly, the people responsible for donor information management make a critical error when it comes to planning for the conversion. Beyond the due-diligence that it is so reasonable to execute on the new product's functionality, cost, stability, flexibilty, ease of use and learning, lies a whole other due-diligence arena and a large trap.

The oft-ignored due diligence I refer to is that which examines both the inputs required and outputs produced by your new software and how that can impact your work processes. It means evaluating your work processes to see if the new tool will make it easier to achieve the same outcomes by altering that work process. Often, new tools deliver opportunities to shorten time and effort cycles, eliminate paper-churn, and deliver better, i.e. more meaningful data. But it doesn't stop there. Sometimes you'll discover some work processes are simply no longer necessary at all!

This process is very hard to do, without doubt. At the least, you will be talking "scared cows" based on the "we always did it this way" mentality. At worst, you may be diminishing the very need for a perosn to be employed, ala "work obsolescence". Still, this absolutely should be done to maximize the benefit of conversion for your organization. But there is one more caution in this tale: The Trap.

The Trap is so easy to fall into when evaulating new fundraising software for purchase. And the danger doesn't diminish even after the decision is made and you are in the thick of conversion. The Trap is the difficulty we have in separating out the functionality we formerly had from the intent of the process or outcomes it was supposed to help us achieve.

Let me cite a hard example: The user facing conversion says "We need these four fields labeled MA, MB, MC and MD, each with a pull-down menu of 8 possible values." If you step back from that statement to understand that all that "machination" was just directed to handle a simple mailing function that depended on past donor behavior, then you get to the crux of the matter.  The former system "forced" the user to hardcode highly variable information in order to "track" that behavior. Maybe your new tool can streamline that whole process, eliminate that coding ritual (time-waster) and deliver better related results reporting to boot. The lesson: Don't let past processes blind you to opportunities for process improvement.

The total benefits accruing from conversion are up to you. 

The Summer Raise July 5, 2007 By Steve Fafel

I've been shopping around for a room at the shore this weekend, and am heading from realtors and hotels that the season is shaping up to be soft this year--occupancy is lower than expected. This could mean a lot of different things, but usually it's a bellwether for a bit of a consumer pullback. It's not that people aren't taking vacations, it's that they might be shifting their vacations to lower cost places, visiting relatives, or just staying home and enjoying the area.

With gas prices high, an unsteady real estate market, and a steady stream of rough news, the public mood isn't great. But for nonprofits, that might be your opportunity.

You give a mechanism for people to take action, to have impact, to change the world. When things feel unstable, people get uneasy with money and spending, and tend to hold onto it a little tighter. But that's for consumer goods and travel. For important causes like yours, the case can be different because of the psychology of your supporters: people want to feel better, and you give them an honest avenue for that. But you have to make the right appeal.

Try a mailing appealing to your supporters' (and potential supporters)sense of a shared mission, making clear how you serve as a way for them to have impact, to really get something done. Make the appeal aspirational and hopeful, and point to past results. Don't use fear, negative images, or desperation. Give people a way to be part of something bigger than themselves. They'll likely respond.

It's worth a try, and it's a perfect time to do it.