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Monday, July 07, 2008
Shorter is better...
Today I received an email from a non profit organization that read like a novel. I'm surprised Google accepted it instead of marking it as spam. It was so long I copied it to Word and counted the number of characters and words.
3108 words. 21,000 characters. And it wasn't a newsletter.
The call to action was buried on page 6. I didn't make it past page 8.
We know that with our clients, less is more- we get much better responses from shorter email marketing campaigns.
In your next campaign, try a short, text only message. Keep it simple and direct- i.e., we are x% short of our goal this year and need your help- click here to give.
Try it, and as always, test against your standard communication. I think you will be surprised by the results.Labels: DIrect Mail Campaigns
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
UK Fundraising....
It's been a while since my last post. Must. Post. More. Frequently.
One of the reasons is that I spent the last week in the United Kingdom helping our new UK distributor, CSDM (www.csdm.co.uk), get up and running to promote, sell and support our DonorPerfect customers in the UK.
Though we've never had a concentrated effort to build our business in the UK, we've always attracted non profits in the UK who bought our software. As you can imagine, supporting a client base with a 5 hour time difference is not an easy nor efficient task, so we realized that a local, established distributor was the way to go.
I visited CSDM in beautiful Ross-on-Wye and met with CSDM's founder, (ahem, Managing Director as that title is more recognized in the UK) for several days of intense training, understanding, and sharing of our similar yet distinct markets.
For example, one of the largest differences in UK fundraising is the absence of a US system of using individual tax deductions to encourage individual giving and a use of GiftAid instead. GiftAid is a program set-up by the UK government that allows individuals to declare their status as a UK taxpayer. Upon this declaration, any registered non-profit in the UK can submit a form of these declared donors' donations, and receive a rebate back from the GiftAid program.
Think of it as a government backed matching gift program that sends a check to the non-profit for approximately 28% of every pound pledged. For example, if a non-profit declares that 200 donors gave £10,000 in June 2008, then they are entitled to a GiftAid check of ~ £2,800.
Furthermore, if a donor declares GiftAid now and has given previously to the organization, the organization can declare those previous donations (to a maximum of 6 years) for GiftAid immediately. DonorPerfect easily identifies these previous donations, and automatically generates the correct report that matches the current GiftAid requirements- making it easy for our clients to generate 28% more in income.
In addition to supporting GiftAid, our UK version of DonorPerfect supports the European date format (DD/MM/YYYY) as well as the currency (£) and addressing requirements (postal code) inherent to all UK non profit organizations.
We're excited to expand our presence in the UK and look forward to serving the market through our relationship with CSDM. It's fascinating to see the growth of DonorPerfect in markets outside the US, and perhaps sometime in the future I'll be able to say again, "Can you help me get back to the M-5???"Labels: GiftAid, UK Fundraising
Monday, June 02, 2008
DonorPerfect Online - New Features June 7th!
We're releasing some new upgrades to DonorPerfect Online- we already sent a notice out to clients last week and the changes will occur seamlessly and automatically this weekend on June 7th.
Here's just a few of the great features:
- Expanded Flexibility in Filter Builder Wizard. The filter builder wizard interface was updated to make it easier to use, and users can easily alter and add new criteria to existing filters using the same wizard.
- Standard Fundraising Filter Folder. We've added a folder of over 45 commonly used fundraising filters. These filters make it easy to select some more sophisticated segments of your database, such as Re-activated Donors (Donors that have given in previous years, but not last year, and gave again this year) or Active Donors with Contact Activity (Donors that have given this year, and are in direct contact with your organization)
- Unlimited Auto-Calculated Fields. This powerful component allows users to define user-defined metrics from any transaction table to aggregate information for advanced reporting and analysis. Examples include the ability to calculate at the constituent level any of the following metrics:
- Initial Gift Amount to a specific General Ledger Fund
- Total Giving over X years
- Sum of Giving, within any date range, to any Fund
- Count of Gifts over a user defined time period
- Most Recent Contact date for a specific Solicitation
- And Much More!
Once these metrics are defined, they are stored in the Constituent's record and can easily be used for filters and reporting. We're introducing this component now as it will form the basis for our Business Rules and Analytics module, which we are feverishly working on for an early fall release.
We'll be sending out a complete guide to all DonorPerfect Online Clients later this week and will also update our documentation and training programs.
Overall, we're very excited about this release as we believe it will result in dramatic and positive results for our clients who will be able to segment and analyze their critical data so that they can make better decisions and increase their fundraising success!
Friday, May 30, 2008
Blackbaud buys Kintera (KNTA)..
Last night I received an email announcing Blackbaud's (BLKB) purchase of Kintera (KNTA), and you can read the rest of the details here:
http://www.nptimes.com/08May/5-30-08bnews.html
Kintera, as you may know, started at the tale end of the dot-com boom, went public, bought several companies, blew through $148 million and imploded.
Yes, my friends, $148 million spent. That's an awe-inspiring sum. I think it's pretty hard to do- I don't think I could have done it as well.
As the San Diego Union-Tribune pointed out, the deal may be good for Blackbaud:
"Blackbaud no doubt views Kintera's 3,900 customers, which include the American Lung Association, Lance Armstrong Foundation and Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, among its prized assets."
It does bother me that the organizations that we are trying to serve are treated as prizes to be won at any cost.
Like Blackbaud's other acquisitions in the past, it's inevitable that most if not all of Kintera will be assimilated within Blackbaud. For example, Kintera offers both Fundware, (Fund Accounting), and Pin! (Prospect Research), which are direct competitors to Blackbaud's Financial Edge and WealthPoint respectively. Kintera's Sphere is a bit different, and could hang on longer. Friends asking Friends will probably remain untouched.
So, where does that leave DonorPerfect?
Again, as I have mentioned numerous times in the past, we are very confident about our position in the marketplace, our robust fundraising solutions, and price-point. We continue to grow at a double digit pace, gaining clients the old fashioned way- we would rather earn a client's respect than buy it.
Competition is good for the non profit market- it reduces prices and increases innovation. We look forward to continue competing with Blackbaud, and expect to further increase our market share as they sort out their most recent acquisition.
If you're an existing Kintera client or prospect, or simply a non-profit looking for a great web-based (or installed) fundraising system at a great price, give us a try. A very friendly and experienced account manager (with an average experience over 8 years!) can walk you through our products, and I think you'll be impressed- I know our clients are!Labels: Blackbaud, Kintera
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Update...
Been traveling a lot again in the last 2 weeks, to Las Vegas and Long Beach, CA, for a presentation with Netzel Associates. I met their President and COO, Jay Grigsby, at a conference last fall, and while he may not have been impressed with my golf game, he did seem to like what I had to say- specifically about fundraising software solutions. As a result I was invited to speak during their national team meetings this month.
It's clear they LOVE what they do. They offer a full spectrum of services, such as development/feasibility studies, capital and endowment fundraising campaigns, executive searches, major gift programs, planned giving/endowment development, grant writing and research and more.
I even picked up a quick tip - when asking for a major gift, it's best to make the final ask in this way:
"Bob, we would like to honor you with a request for $100,000 as a leading gift for our XXX Campaign"
Pretty clever, eh?
In addition to asking the right way, they also use our integration with Wealth Engine to make sure they are asking the right amount. To that end, they are able to use a combination of DonorPerfect Online and Wealth Engine to accurately predict a donor's Giving Capacity.
It's important to know everything you can about your major donors, and our solution makes it easy so that you make sure you honor your donor appropriately without leaving money on the table.Labels: Capital Campaigns, Major Donors, Netzel Associates
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
LIVE from San Francisco...
I've been in San Francisco for the last few days, meeting with prospective clients and also attending the 102nd Boys & Girls Club National Conference. The conference has been a huge success and it's wonderful to hear the feedback and comments from the 100+ Boys & Girls Clubs that use DonorPerfect to raise more money.
We've been partnering with this organization for almost 10 years now, and it's great to see the organization grow and succeed in the intervening years.
During some down time, I also had a chance to do something I almost have no time for- sightseeing. Usually conferences are full of meetings, lunches, and quick coffee chats with potential and existing clients. This time, though, my daughter Annie gave me a school assignment- so I had homework to do.
The task was to photograph a self-drawn picture of Annie, appropriately called "Flat Annie", in front of famous landmarks so that she could report on them in school when I return. Luckily, the weather cooperated and here's some great pictures- enjoy!
 The journey started with a trip on the Famous San Francisco Cable Cars.
$5 Gets you a one way ride- no extra charge for Flat Annie!
 Next Stop was Fisherman's Wharf
 Golden Gate Bridge- It took at least 10 pictures to get the right
shot because the wind was blowing Flat Annie everywhere!
Monday, April 21, 2008
Update...
There's been a lot of activity over the last 3-4 weeks:
No less than 4 out of town trips- 3 conferences and 1 prospective client trip that could not have gone any better. It's always reassuring when your demonstration script works perfectly, even when thrown some curve balls (or spit balls as the case may be!). Our solution is perfect for their headquarters and regional offices that we may even be fast tracked for a decision.
We also released our annual client survey, and we've had the highest response rate ever. What's better is that the percentage of clients whose satisfaction has improved in the last year is at an all time high- which makes sense considering the major upgrades we released last year.
With the greater response rate also came some constructive and clearly negative feedback- one client even gave us all 1's- and when we compile the results I'll share a portion of the comments (there's over a thousand!).
Sales continue to be very strong, and we are significantly outpacing a record breaking 2007. With the growing pains comes some hiring ones- we are actively hiring for almost every position, including support, sales, development, marketing, QA, you name it. So if you or someone you know would like to work in a challenging and rewarding environment while helping make the world a better place for everyone, please let us know here. We really are a different kind of company- privately owned and only beholden to our employees and customers- that it makes a huge difference when compared to all the other companies in this space who may have different priorities and are publicly traded or venture backed.
Personally, now that DonorPages is off and running, I'm focused on the next big release of DonorPerfect Online and its eventual successor, DonorPerfect.NExT. Stay tuned!
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