FundRaiser Blog

When WJIE switched to FundRaiser, they were close to the memory of a very bad experience with other software. They were so happy to be rid of that software and they hoped that they had solved their problem. Shortly after their switch to FundRaiser, I wrote a case study. You can see the complete case study here. This blog is just about what they are experiencing now, after three years of using FundRaiser. Did FundRaiser continue to meet their expectations? This is what Calvin Bader, Engineer at WJIE, had to say:

“Things have gone very well. We just came through our spring fundraiser. Our staff continues to be very happy that we’ve switched to the system. They like the ease of use regarding pledge entries and other gift entries.

“One of the things we like best is the Custom page. It saves us a ton of time during a pledge drive. It’s one of the main reasons that we are able to get things entered so quickly. In the past, with our previous system, it took a long time to enter pledges into the system. Everyone was staying late at night during the fundraising drive; and the following week, people were still entering information. Using the custom page in FundRaiser, we are done a half hour after going off the air. We’ve designed that page so that it allows us to do everything that we need to do on a fundraiser right on that one page. That way we don’t need to switch from tab to tab,” says Calvin.

What does the winning of broadcast awards have to do with donor management software? More than you might think!WLMB-TV40 has been recognized for the excellence of its broadcasting with many awards, including 4 time winner of TV Station of the Year by NRB (National Religious Broadcasters) and 7 time winner of the Peoples Choice Award. Visible in their programming is a deep understanding of their audience, and this is where FundRaiser comes in...

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We are going to the National Religious Broadcasters Convention Feb 18 - 21, just a little over a week from now! We had a wonderful time last year; it was so invigorating and inspiring to be surrounded by passionate, engaged nonprofit leaders. We enjoyed so much having the opportunity to meet with some of our clients there, and we hope to connect with more of you this year, too. We'll be at Booth #463, and will be looking for you!

Yesterday, I heard a great simple idea on how to target newsletters to different segments of your mailing list. If you are sending out an email newsletter to your donors, you can easily customize that content to your donors' specific interests with a little reformatting.You are probably already including a variety of articles in order to appeal to a variety of interests among your donors. So, to help them connect to the specific content that interests them:

We're wishing smooth sailing at this busy time of year! How are things going with producing tax summary letters? If you run into questions about using FundRaiser, please contact us for help !    

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This year at the FundRaiser Christmas party, we all seemed to be in a mellow mood... except occasionally our office cat, Smudge (more on that later). James Ware (in photo at left), our main sales rep, brought a pitcher of margaritas, and it is possible that this helped, but at least it didn't hurt. No dancing on the tables or other classic 'office party' humiliations. I'd say we enjoy being together, and the Mexican food everyone brought helped, too. I'm not sure it all classified as strictly Mexican, but it did classify as good and even interesting. Sherry, who works in FundRaiser Tech Support, brought cheese cake made from the milk of the goats she raises. If you've never tried her goat milk cheesecake, then don't wrinkle your nose... it is excellent.

Joe Salrin (in photo at right) spent the time relaxing from his work doing data conversion at FundRaiser. If you ever need to move your data from a previous program into FundRaiser, Joe is the one that you talk to.

Life Radio Ministries needed to update their donor management software. "We were using something that had served us well enough over the years, but it was becoming extremely expensive to maintain, as well as being outdated. We decided to look for something that was more reasonably priced and which had stayed up with technology," says Joe Emert, General Manager of Life Radio Ministries.He was looking for features that allow him to create a personal, 'high touch' connection with donors...Read more ...

Last week, a friend of mine was complaining about people who ask to 'friend' her on Facebook and don't bother to add a personal note to their request. Reading this, I was aware of an uncomfortable feeling, because I've gotten pretty casual about this myself, although I really enjoy getting a little note myself. It only takes a few words to let me know that the person values the connection they are asking for.That's the topic of a new FundRaiser case study. In it, Joe Emert of Life Radio Ministries reminds us of the need for staying human in our communications with donors.

Last week, a friend of mine was complaining about people who ask to 'friend' her on Facebook and don't bother to add a personal note to their request. Reading this, I was aware of an uncomfortable feeling, because I've gotten pretty casual about this myself, although I really enjoy getting a little note myself. It only takes a few words to let me know that the person values the connection they are asking for.That's the topic of a new FundRaiser case study. In it, Joe Emert of Life Radio Ministries reminds us of the need for staying human in our communications with donors.

I was recently asked what my greatest technology challenge was, during an interview for TechSoup . For me, it's keeping up with changes. Sometimes you can participate those changes directly, for instance by giving input to us here at FundRaiser that could influence how we develop the software. Other times, you may not have much say about the a change, but you can choose your attitude and adjustment to it, for instance the growing importance of online fundraising, highlighted in our case study with Sacred Heart Radio this month.     A pleasant change at the FundRaiser office is the addition of Jonathan Smith to the FundRaiser tech support team. He joined us in August. He has previously worked in internet technology for a large phone company, and more recently as a computer instructor for Missouri State University.

Recently, Joshua and I had the opportunity to attend and exhibit at the 2011 National Religious Broadcasting Convention in Nashville, TN. I cannot easily describe how invigorating and inspiring it was to be surrounded by passionate, engaged nonprofit leaders for four whole days! It’s so easy to get so caught up with everyday management details, that I sometimes forget why I got involved in this business in the first place. The convention was a wonderful reminder of how much I love working with nonprofits. I can honestly say that I love my job because I get to work with the most important people in the world.While we were there, we also had the opportunity to meet with some of our clients, many of whom have been with us for a long time. Caleb, Jennifer (in photo at left with Joshua Shirley), and Josh Weiss from CrossTalk Ministries came by to meet us and could not have been more kind! They have been using FundRaiser since 1999, and are a brilliant example of a nonprofit who has really made the best use of donor management software, beginning with FundRaiser Basic and upgrading over the years all the way up to Professional Hosted! You can read the story or how CrossTalk has used FundRaiser to increase their donor base in their case study here. We also met Joe Emert (in photo at right with Joshua Shirley) from Life Radio Ministries, who spent a long time talking with Joshua about some of the ways he uses FundRaiser to manage their events, and to provide us with some thoughtful input for future development. Joe was so kind to share so much of his time with us.

On May 25, a few days after the tornado devastated Joplin, Missouri, another set of tornados passed by my house in eastern Missouri. The storms moved north, touching down briefly in a few places. No one was killed, but where tornados touched down, they caused significant damage. One of the places hard hit was Dhammasukha Meditation Center in Annapolis, Missouri. I know the residents there (who are also FundRaiser users) and so I was happy to pack up my chain saw and go help them clean up last weekend.

Dhammasukha Center has two sections of buildings. The upper section was untouched by the tornado, but in the lower section nearly every building was destroyed. The only structures left untouched were the two with people in them, and even these had the shingles stripped from the roof. One of the women was sucked out of her door and thrown onto the porch of the neighboring building. There, she was able to grab a hold of the front door by her fingers and drag herself in. She and another woman hunkered down in a corner and rode the storm out, while trees fell on all sides and the other buildings were destroyed. Although the noise must have been intense, they both said they had the sense of absolute stillness and peace.

Recently, Joshua and I had the opportunity to attend and exhibit at the 2011 National Religious Broadcasting Convention in Nashville, TN. I cannot easily describe how invigorating and inspiring it was to be surrounded by passionate, engaged nonprofit leaders for four whole days! It’s so easy to get so caught up with everyday management details, that I sometimes forget why I got involved in this business in the first place. The convention was a wonderful reminder of how much I love working with nonprofits. I can honestly say that I love my job because I get to work with the most important people in the world.While we were there, we also had the opportunity to meet with some of our clients, many of whom have been with us for a long time. Caleb, Jennifer (in photo at left with Joshua Shirley), and Josh Weiss from CrossTalk Ministries came by to meet us and could not have been more kind! They have been using FundRaiser since 1999, and are a brilliant example of a nonprofit who has really made the best use of donor management software, beginning with FundRaiser Basic and upgrading over the years all the way up to Professional Hosted! You can read the story or how CrossTalk has used FundRaiser to increase their donor base in their case study here. We also met Joe Emert (in photo at right with Joshua Shirley) from Life Radio Ministries, who spent a long time talking with Joshua about some of the ways he uses FundRaiser to manage their events, and to provide us with some thoughtful input for future development. Joe was so kind to share so much of his time with us.

Recently, Joshua and I had the opportunity to attend and exhibit at the 2011 National Religious Broadcasting Convention in Nashville, TN. I cannot easily describe how invigorating and inspiring it was to be surrounded by passionate, engaged nonprofit leaders for four whole days! It’s so easy to get so caught up with everyday management details, that I sometimes forget why I got involved in this business in the first place. The convention was a wonderful reminder of how much I love working with nonprofits. I can honestly say that I love my job because I get to work with the most important people in the world.

While we were there, we also had the opportunity to meet with some of our clients, many of whom have been with us for a long time. Caleb, Jennifer (in photo at left with Joshua Shirley), and Josh Weiss from CrossTalk Ministries came by to meet us and could not have been more kind! They have been using FundRaiser since 1999, and are a brilliant example of a nonprofit who has really made the best use of donor management software, beginning with FundRaiser Basic and upgrading over the years all the way up to Professional Hosted! You can read the story or how CrossTalk has used FundRaiser to increase their donor base in their case study here.


We also met Joe Emert (in photo at right with Joshua Shirley) from Life Radio Ministries, who spent a long time talking with Joshua about some of the ways he uses FundRaiser to manage their events, and to provide us with some thoughtful input for future development. Joe was so kind to share so much of his time with us.

Until recently, Mariemont School Foundation kept their donation records on Excel spreadsheets and pieces of paper. Encouraged to adopt donor management software by a new development director, they have quickly seen an increase in donations and members.The Foundation was established fifteen years ago and was very slow growing. "Records were kept in notebooks and on Excel spreadsheets. There were multiple Excel sheets. Nothing was ever carried over, so a new sheet was started every time," says Ann Pardue, on the Board to Trustees for the Mariemont School Foundation, and now the main user of FundRaiser. Read more...

Donor relations at Childcare Resources were limited when Pam King started her job there as the new Executive Director. "Letters were sent to the entire mailing list. We had no software, so we weren't able to personalize them or target them to sections of our donor base. Many donors were sporadic givers, giving once every few years, but there was no way to track giving history so it was hard to follow-up in an effective way." Childcare Resources helps lower-income children receive high quality childcare.

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