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New Spring 2009 DPO Release in time for AFP

Wednesday, March 25th, 2009

It’s that time of year again, and this year we’re looking to make a big splash at the Association of Fundraising Professional’s (AFP) annual 2009 International Conference, held this year in New Orleans, LA. We’ll be hard to miss- we’re sending a whole team of people in Blue and White DonorPerfect fundraising software shirts to help people understand why DonorPerfect continues to grow and is the leader for small, medium, and even larger non-profit organizations.

We’ll also be introducing our latest upgrade, the Spring 2009 release of DonorPerfect Online. This new release is packed with enhancements, and we’re automatically releasing this week to everyone on the DonorPerfect Online system. As always, upgrades are automatic and are included FREE as part of our ongoing service to our clients.

The major part of the upgrade will be the release of our new business rules module, called SmartActions. SmartActions allow any organization to create their own workflow rules based on changes or events that occur in the software or database.

Here’s how it works:

SmartActions™

Overview
The SmartActions module allows you to set up actions that your DonorPerfect Online system will carry out automatically when the specified “trigger” conditions are encountered. For example, if a gift of $500 or more is entered into DonorPerfect (the trigger), an email notification can be sent to the Development Director automatically and a call can be set up in the DPO Contact Manager (the actions). You can set up as many SmartActions as you would like. Create pop-up alerts and reminders, send emails, enter data into fields, launch websites – it’s all done automatically!

Benefits

Increase system configurability.
Save time by automating emails and other tasks.
Reduce the need for custom programming.
Run your nonprofit more efficiently.
Eliminate errors due to forgetfulness.
Improve effectiveness of new staff.

Features

Simple step-by-step wizard setup
Create Triggers when you open, create, edit, or save any of these record types:

Donor
Gift
Pledge
Contact
Other Info
Address record

Combine Triggers with filters to meet specific conditions.
SmartActions include the ability to:

Send email notifications to one or more staff.
Create a Contact or Other Info record.
Update a field.
Display a pop-up message.
Open a new browser window and display any web page or web site

All Actions can include merged fields for even greater flexibility!

We’re really excited about this release and are looking forward to meeting all of our existing clients and meeting future ones. If you’re an existing DonorPerfect client, stop on by to take a look! If you are new to DonorPerfect, we’d love to show you this great new feature and all of the other benefits of DonorPerfect that will make you raise more money and spend less time.

See you at the show!

Posted in AFP Conference, DPO, Spring 2009 Release | No Comments »

AFP and New Product Launch!

Thursday, April 3rd, 2008

I just returned from the AFP conference this year in San Diego and I have one thing to say: I wish I lived here if I didn’t already live in Philadelphia (does that make sense?)

San Diego has the nicest downtown area I have ever seen- it’s like Downtown Disney on steroids. I don’t recall seeing any trash, any graffiti, or anything that could remotely give a blemish to the city. Granted, I had a limited experience (we never ventured more than 10 blocks from the convention center), but still if you combine that experience with the glorious weather then I can understand why people love this city.

The conference itself was very, very, busy for us. From our success last year, we knew that people were understanding just how much we are an alternative to other software programs, including Blackbaud’s Raiser’s Edge. Our reception grew this year and folks got to see our latest innovations around prospect research, open API’s and our new social fundraising solution, DonorPages.

For prospect research, we demonstrated our integration with industry leader Wealth Engine, and took a look at a certain Microsoft billionaire’s public record. In our API review session, we helped explain the power of an open API, and showed how our clients have integrated the toolkit in their website to provide rich web content driven directly from their DonorPerfect Online database.

Finally, we also announced and demonstrated our latest product offering, DonorPages. I’ve been blogging about it for months now under the code name of spider.net.

Event Screen Shot of DonorPages. Click to Expand

With DonorPages, any organization can easily create a viral marketing campaign that empowers their constituents to create an easy-to-use ‘DonorPage’ and then invite their friends, family, and colleagues to visit their page and make a donation. In addition, DonorPages can easily integrate with other social networking tools, such as Facebook and MySpace, to create the perfect storm of fundraising activity and take advantage of your existing social networks.

Best of all, DonorPages is completely integrated with DonorPerfect, and allows both on-line and off-line gifts (from DonorPerfect) to display on the donor’s individualized page. This new product is perfect for organizations that already raise money through sponsored events or want to tap into the enthusiasm of their constituents to spread the word. Finally, DonorPages is also available as a stand-alone product that can integrate with any other third party database via a simple download tool.

The conference also had a few surprises. For example, it was very interesting to see that Salesforce was absent from the exhibit hall after showing up in force for the NTEN conference. A few vendors had some splashy booths, while a few others chose a more conservative route. We ended up occupying a double booth, as we have done for years.

Overall, the conference was a huge success and we look forward to the coming months- the buzz on DonorPages has been fantastic, and I can’t wait to see how it positively affects the fundraising successes for our clients for years to come.

Posted in AFP Conference, API, DonorPages, Spider.NET | No Comments »

Back from Dallas

Wednesday, March 28th, 2007

We made it back from Dallas and the AFP International show, though there was a little drama along the way.

Runway Incursion. This is not something you want to hear while in the process of landing and only 100 feet above the runway. Our flight took off like a rocket and veered right, and it was a very frightening 2 minutes before the captain reassured us that we would return safely.

Overall, the conference was a complete success, even though one of our booths was lost forever by UPS. Yes- that’s correct, it disappeared into thin air. Somewhere in Kentucky- at least according to the tracking computer. Regardless of what we suggessted, the very kind UPS representative insisted that it was gone and not likely to return. Though we had it insured, we were stuck- what to do?

Actually, it probably worked out for the better. We simply ordered another table and set-up an additional laptop. That probably helped us better because we were able to show off our new version of the Visual Edition (Version 9), along with some increased integration we have had with electronic payments.

Monday ended up being a 12+ hour working day, culminating with our first ever Wine and Cheese reception. We were pleased to see many happy clients witness a sneak peak of version 9, as well as new prospects that we hope become part of the DonorPerfect family. Our hardworking staff- Terry Hersh, Chad Kashub, Ann Brentano, Cheryl Brennan, Barry Horwitz, and Marc Siegel mingled with the crowd and diligently collected business cards because yours truly installed the paper in the lead machine upside-down- I guess I should have read the instructions.

I was also able to sit on a pannel discussion of the Fundraising Effectiveness Project. I’ve blogged about it before, and I hope the two sessions we presented will motivate more people to participate in thhis important project!

All in all it was another great conference, Dallas is a wonderful city (the steaks are humongous!) and we’ll be there next year in San Diego!

Posted in AFP Conference, Dallas | No Comments »

Who moved our cheese?

Friday, March 23rd, 2007

Safe to say, I survived Disney last week with the family. Though there were some rather crowded days, all-in-all it was a great trip.

Now it’s off to the Super Bowl of Fundraising Conferences, the Association of Fundraising Professionals International conference. This year, it’s in Dallas, Texas.

For the first time, we will be hosting a wine and cheese reception for clients and prospects on Monday, March 26, at 5pm. It will be at one of the conference hotels, The Fairmont. If you have a chance, please stop on by for a some light snacks and a sneak peek into our new installed version of DonorPerfect, Version 9.0!

Of course, we’ll be manning our booth in the exhibit hall. After 20 years of exhibiting at the conference, we will actually be at the front of the hall, right across from Blackbaud. Stop on by if you have the chance.

ps- A few people asked to comment on our Disney trip… Here were some main points:

1) We rented a 3 bedroom, 3 full bath fully furnished and stocked condo for the trip through a company called Villa Direct. Believe it or not, it was the same price per night as a single hotel room at a mid-tiered hotel at Disney! We couldn’t have been more pleased with the location (< 5 minutes from Disney) and the community swimming pool. Oh yes, the condo had it's own private, enclosed swimming pool as well off the family room. The kids were thrilled.

2) Animal Kingdom should be renamed Ridiculously-Crowded-to-the-Point-of-Suffocation Kingdom. Seriously, this park was so crowded you had to wait in line just to fit through the walkways. Go early in the morning or skip it altogether.

3) Magic Kingdom is still magical. Old favourites like the Haunted Mansion were a big hit with my kids, and new attractions, such as the 3-D show Philhormagic, were stunning.

4) We did the Back Yard Barbeque with Mickey. I would recommend skipping it. A big hit was breakfast with Pooh and friends. I have never seen our kids more excited.

5) We should have planned more downtime- though we had times of just sitting around the pool, most of the time was still spent rushing from ride to ride.

As I said, the week was very special, and now it’s back to the grindstone!

Posted in AFP Conference, vacation, Version 9.0 | No Comments »

The SuperBowl of Fundraising

Monday, February 6th, 2006

I was watching the SuperBowl yesterday with some Steelers fans- needless to say they were a pretty happy bunch- and my thoughts turned to our SuperBowl of fundraising conferences, the 43rd AFP International Conference on Fundraising.

If you haven’t been to a prior International conference, you’re missing out on a great experience. There’s over 2500+ other fundraisers who attend, and the knowledge and networking gained from this event helps us and our clients really focus and improve our fundraising efforts.

We’ll be attending again this year (Personally, I think it’s my 9th year) and we’ll be showing off our latest versions of DonorPerfect and DonorPerfect Online Fundraising Software at booth # 416. In addition, we’ll be highlighting WebLink, our new Web form solution that will streamline any organizations data collection needs over the Web.

The conference will be held in Atlanta this year, and I’m looking forward to going because I’ve always enjoyed the downtown area and I also have several college friends who live in the area.

PS- If you are attending, the first person to mention this blog will receive a free gift! Good luck and see you at the conference!

Posted in AFP Conference, DPO, WebLink | No Comments »