Why FundRaiser Professional?
This month’s case study of WLMB – TV40 illustrates not only the versatility that FundRaiser users can tap into, but also some of the features that can be found exclusively in FundRaiser Professional. For many organizations, FundRaiser Select, with its “optional” module features, will fit the bill nicely, but if you really want the power of Campaign Management, or the flexibility of Rapid Gift Entry, then you’ll want to explore FundRaiser Professional more closely.
WLMB- TV40 uses the Campaign Management features of Professional to give them more precise reporting on things such as ROI (Return On Investment), percentages of response (positive, negative, or none), and net income on particular events. Of course, even with Select you can work out those figures on your own with a little bit of math and using reports limited to particular events, but FundRaiser Professional’s Campaign Management section allows you to set up your events individually, plugging in a total expense figure, and to track many aspects of each event, such as:
- Overall Response
- Attendance
- RSVP Responses and Reservation Counts
- Paid Ticket Counts
- Complimentary Ticket Counts
- Sponsorships
Special Summary and Detail reports allow various level of detail, from a campaign overview to detailed, event-by-event descriptions of gifts, pledges, and the above aspects, too. If you want this detail without having to “do the math” yourself, then Campaign Management may be what you need.
Another Professional-only feature is the Rapid Gift Entry, which can be used with a check reading machine to really speed up data entry. If your organization deals in a large number of small gifts, then data entry of those gifts can be labor-intensive, eating up those dollars by way of staff time. With Rapid Gift Entry, the flow of gift entry is greatly improved, and with the addition of a check reader, it’s almost effortless.
Some of the features WLMB are using are available as optional “add-on” modules in FundRaiser Select, of course, including the Pledge module, and the Premiums module. In FundRaiser, Pledges are considered to be “promises to pay a certain amount of money in increments over a given period of time”. The program can not only record a Pledge, but it can generate a suggested payment schedule, which can be adjusted at any time, and will give you reporting capabilities on amounts paid, amounts due, current status, etc., making the whole process much less time-consuming. Another thing this module helps automate is the correspondence associated with Pledges that are not a part of other types of gift-giving: a “thank you” for having made a pledge; reminders that payments are coming due; reminders that payments are past due.
Premiums are almost unique to radio and television situations. They are incentives offered for donors who give at a particular rate, usually. So a donor at one level might receive a T-shirt or CD, for instance, while another donor giving at a much higher level may receive a book or DVD. Offering Premiums for giving can increase the workload in other ways, too, such as keeping track of inventory and backorders, printing shipping labels, or recording when something is picked up and doesn’t need shipping. FundRaiser helps with all of that, including the costs of items and their value to your donors. It can even show those “benefit” amounts as not tax-deductible, which is very helpful for end-of-year statements. You and your donors will know exactly where you stand.
- FundRaiser Professional includes all modules that are extra-cost items with FundRaiser Select, including:
- Memberships (expiration dates, “member since”, unique coding for types, benefits, etc.)
- Pledges (payment scheduling, reminders, overdues, status reporting, income projections)
- Tributes (“in honor/memory/celebration of” gifts, acknowledgements, listings, etc.)
- Volunteers (track projects/tasks, hours, value equivalencies, and more)
- Premiums (incentive items tracking, shipping labels, simplified inventory control)
- Product Sales (sales tax, inventory control, shipping/packing/backorder notices)
- Phonathon (for “real-time” information, challenges, etc.)
If you need more than a couple of these, or you just have to have Campaign Management or Rapid Gift Entry, then you’ll definitely want to look at FundRaiser Professional. If you already have FundRaiser Select, keep in mind that we give you credit for what you’ve paid to purchase Select, so you only pay the difference, not the whole price. We can’t make it much more fair than that.
