FundRaiser Blog

Many non-profits find that membership instills a sense of pride and ownership in supporters, encourages repeat donations in the form of membership dues, and allows donors from all socio-economic levels to participate at a level that is comfortable and sustainable.  For the full story, refer to my article on Memberships, written before the advent of Spark, the latest FundRaiser program to be offered and created especially for membership-based organizations that need more than Basic, but not all the power of Select or Professional.

The options for the Membership module allow you to match FundRaiser to the way you operate, with defaults to help automate proper payment application for existing members and the correct expiration date determination for new and existing members.  No matter how you run your membership periods, no matter how often dues are paid, no matter how many different types of memberships you have available, FundRaiser can help you manage payments, renewal letters, overdue letters, and Grouping members into specific segments as needed.

In order to create a strong membership program, there are  four basic questions you need to be think through in order for things to run smoothly. Knowing the answers will get a new membership program off to a strong start; or help clear up problems in one that is already established. Either way-- whether you are new to membership management or needing to strengthen one you already have, knowing the answers to these questions creates a solid foundation:

The answer to this question helps you decide whether you actually need or want a membership program at all! There are many benefits to a membership program but it will also be additional work to keep it running smoothly. Will this extra work be worth it to you?

This time of year, most of us "resolve" to make changes: in our lives; in our work habits; in our approach to life in general, etc.  And many of those resolutions fall by the wayside as the year develops, either because they seem too difficult, or they weren't that important, or (fill in the blank with your last unfulfilled resolution reason).  I'd like to suggest a resolution that will help you all through 2013, and will almost certainly repay your efforts manyfold:  learn how to better use your FundRaiser software to do what needs doing for your organization.  While learning the program doesn't sound nearly so important as changing lifestyle choices, or gaining virtues, or shedding bad habits, it can, for your non-profit organization, be the catalyst for many changes, like donor retention, increased donations, better communications, and less effort expended for all of it.  

FundRaiser offers several different training formats, to fit your individual and organizational efforts, from self-help using the program's built-in Help manual and training videos on our website, to scheduled live webinars, to on-site training at your facilities, and you always have the option to call or email the training office, or tech support, for help.  Each method of learning has it's pros and cons, of course, but the choices are available to you, and in this blog I'll try to give you some tips on how to approach them.  And at the end of this, I'll let you know how all this can benefit you at the end of the year.

The crunch was on at Lisner-Louise-Dickson-Hurt Home. They had to find a replacement for their Development Coordinator, and get her up to speed on their FundRaiser program fast. Ward Orem, CEO for LLDL Home, was pulling his hair out. “We had a huge mailing coming up, and then a spring campaign, and immediately after that a large fundraising event.” The Lisner-Louis-Dickson-Hurt Home is the only long term care facility in Washington, DC exclusively serving disadvantaged senior citizens of the city. They are FundRaiser Professional users.

Virtually at the last minute, they found a new Development Coordinator, Debbie Lyle. “Debbie is new in the position and was literally being dumped into boiling hot water,” says Ward. He decided to invest in onsite training for her. “Debbie had to get her feet on the ground and start running immediately. Individualization was critical. Although we have benefited in the past from FundRaiser training webinars, we felt that it would be so much more beneficial to have a FundRaiser trainer sitting right next to us. It was well worth the investment,” says Ward.

As the last week before the holidays wind down, things here at FundRaiser Software have been, well, INSANE! We’ve needed all hands on deck to manage tech support, sales, and fulfillment.  While it always feels great to be this busy (and the only thing we like better than being this busy is being this busy all the time!), it has been hard to find a moment to catch my breath and write this message. I would like to take a moment to thank you. You are the reason that we do this.

We truly are so fortunate. We all come to work every day and get to work with YOU - the absolute best customers on the planet! Even during the holiday rush, when everyone is trying desperately to get their last-minute appeal letters, thank-you letters, and tax letters out the door, so many of you take the time to thank us and wish us Happy Holidays. That means a lot to us! We know that the software isn’t perfect and sometimes you probably want to just throw the computer out the window, but you still manage to find the grace to be polite (if a bit panicky) and wish us well. That is enough. Truly.

Nick Haring is the new fellow at the end of the FundRaiser Tech Support line. In addition to Jonathan Smith, Nick is here to answer your questions about using the FundRaiser programs. Nick is replacing Sherry Willis whose own home business, Half-Pint Homesteads, has taken off and needs her full time. We are sorry to see her go, and happy to have someone like Nick join the FundRaiser staff. Right now, he's responding mostly to emails involving simple queries. "I’ll be on the phones soon!" he says.Nick studied Computer Science and Mass Communications at Missouri Southern State in Joplin, Missouri. After losing his home in the Joplin tornado in 2011, he moved back to West Plains, Missouri, to be closer to family.

After his move, he was happy to discover that FundRaiser Software was looking for someone like him as a support technician. Because of his ability with computers he is at home with technical questions; and with his interest in communications, he has an easy and pleasant way of sharing information. Look for his blog posts coming up as he settles in at FundRaiser.

Many non-profits began their data management using spreadsheets.  Yours may still use them, but there are many reasons to move away from them and into donor management software, as you may be aware.  If you're having trouble convincing others of this, you may want to use one or the other of these linked articles as good examples.

One of the big stumbling blocks to converting to a better system seems to be the old argument of "we would have to re-enter all that information, and no one has time to do that!".  Well, in FundRaiser there is a file menu option that allows you to import from other file formats.  Here are some quick tips and tricks on how to do that efficiently and successfully:

It's almost time to produce Tax Summary letters (End of Year Letters).  Usually sent in January, after the last donation for the year is in, end of year letters are a perfect way to re-establish your relationship with all your donors.  Here's a coherent plan of attack for FundRaiser users to breeze through this important time.

You'll obviously want to thank them for the year's donations, but do you want to list donations individually, or as a total dollar amount?  Do you want to mention the number of gifts they gave?  Would you like to encourage them to give again?  FundRaiser has merge fields and functions to help with all of this, with the most often used being the GiftList and GiftTotal functions.  GiftList can show a listing of the gifts you specify in a mini-report format, while GiftTotal simply adds up all the gifts you specify to print out the total dollar amount.

Now is the time to start thinking about what information you need for your End of Year letters for tax season.  Although these letters aren't sent until after the New Year, you may have some decisions to make and some data entry to complete in order for the process to go smoothly. For instance a couple of questions to answer are

Tax Summary letters, often called End of Year letters, give donors information on what they have donated to your organization that year. These statements differ from the holiday appeal, in that they are sent after the holidays. Their primary intention is to give information to the donor for taxes; however it is not uncommon to combine them with another appeal.

Tribute gifts are in a class by themselves when it comes to fundraising.  They give you the opportunity to acquire new donors that might otherwise not be involved with your organization, while offering existing donors the opportunity to show their respects by giving to a cause they already deem worthy.  Tributes can be "in honor of", "in memory of", or "in celebration of" something, whether person, pet, event, or otherwise.

For each tribute gift we keep track of three categories of people:

You can easily start a memorial giving program just by adding a line or two on your website, in your newsletters and in your appeal letters. For that small effort, you can experience both

Of course to create a really successful tribute program, you'll need to do more. Step by step is the way to succeed.Memorial gifts are made on the death of a loved one (people and companion animals), or in honor of a special life event like a wedding. People are especially likely to want to make memorial donations to organizations that deal with life and death issues, such as hospices and other health care related programs; veterinary practices and animal shelters. For instance, Kairos Dwelling, which houses terminally ill people, says that a large percentage of their income comes from tributes.

One of the great pleasures of working at FundRaiser is supporting people and organizations who are working in all aspects of nonprofit work. You are our stars, making us proud of the work we do. When you bring together our software with your mission and vision, you bring life to FundRaiser Software.

Over the years, I've talked to many of you who have shown great ability in turning FundRaiser into a powerful tool to relieve suffering of all kinds. I’ve written articles based on what you've told me. We've recently gathered together some of the most helpful of these resources and organized them by type of nonprofit work you are doing. Our hopes are to contribute even more to the realization of your vision.

Part II - Campaign Management

In the Gilda's Club case study talked about in my last blog entry, Debra mentions using the “code set up feature” for events. She is referring to the capability in the Campaign Management section to have Gift codes directly associated with events, so that the codes can be automatically applied to gifts.  In the Coding & Spare Fields training, we learn that there are 3 primary Gift Codes:  Motivation, Fund, and Purpose. 

In the blog about of Gilda’s Club, Debra makes some good points about events and sub-events. This is important to understand, so here is bit more detail.  In the Campaign Management console in FundRaiser Professional, Campaigns are comprised of Events. Events may be standalone affairs, or they may be comprised of Sub-events. This is how it looks

Gilda’s Club of Western Pennsylvania has a dedication to improving the lives of cancer survivors that inspires me. They keep up a very active schedule of fundraising to pay for the services they offer to cancer survivors and their families. They started small, using FundRaiser Basic, and over the years have built momentum so that they now are running several events at once. Staying organized is a challenge, and they have done it by skillful use of special campaign management features in FundRaiser Software.

Using the Campaign Management Console is straightforward, and in doing so, Gilda’s Club of Western PA is able to easily view campaign ROI, and make adjustments as needed to their campaigns. Debra Markovich, Executive Assistant at Gilda’s Club Western Pennsylvania uses FundRaiser Professional on a daily basis and explains how they stay organized while running several simulaneous events:

What happens when you begin to have more than one person working simultaneously in your donor database? For one thing, new situations arise that weren't there when only a single user was accessing the database. There may be questions about data integrity, work flow, or coordinatiing usage of the program.

This article will shed some light on these common questions and concerns about coordinating more than one user working in FundRaiser. I'll suggest ways to make FundRaiser even more helpful in keeping your information secure and accessible.

When Siena/Francis House began to grow, it also found the need to change how it was using its donor database. With more work, more people were using the database, sometime simultaneously. The development staff also increased the frequency of appeals from just a couple times a year to one going out nearly every month; and  expanded other types of in-person fundraising that relied on good information about how specific donors' felt connected to the organization.

Siena/Francis House is Nebraska’s largest shelter serving homeless men, women, and children. At the time of this interview, they had grown from 86 to 222 beds for the men guests, and more was needed. “Within 2 months of building the new men’s shelter, we were laying down mats for overflow. Depending on the weather, we now house as many as 300 to 350 men, women and children guests a night and serve 900 meals a day,” Marge Harman, Information Technology Administrator for the organization, told me. Faced with this kind of need, they have kept their database functioning optimally. “The need is there, that’s the sad thing,” says Marge. The following steps will keep your database working well under these high-pressure circumstances, too:

The brilliant colors of Fall have moved from the trees to the ground.  Bright confetti of red, orange, and yellow leaves litters the road and yards.  The smell of fallen foliage is rich and brings back childhood memories of jumping into piles of crunchy, newly raked leaves.  The summer complement of flying bugs is gone leaving only a few industrious honeybees to visit the few yellow flowers left on my dying tomato plants. 

We have had our little foundling kitten, Mab, for nearly two months now.  She’s a very different creature than the starved little waif who showed up on our doorstep.  She has become our fat little porch guardian, content to curl up on the step and sleep in the sun or hover just out of reach when we try to pet her.  It’s amazing the difference regular feeding makes.

Okay, so we're not going to travel back in time to keep tabs on Ulysses, here, but in tracking grant proposal progress, it is important to make sure that each step of the process is done in a timely manner. There are usually deadlines that must be met to be considered for grant monies, so it is imperative that we have some method of reminding ourselves when those deadlines are coming near.

In FundRaiser Professional and FundRaiser Select, the "Tickler" system fills this need. Tickles are date-sensitive reminders that can be associated directly with a name record, such as a Foundation from which we are seeking a grant. There is a Tickle tab for each and every name record. In this tabbed page, we can keep multiple tickles, with "Do Dates", notes, and more. In the case of a grant application, you would set up separate tickles for each stage of the application process, and later for the reporting deadlines. If different staff members need to be involved, you can assign tickles to the responsible staff members to accomplish. Once they have completed their portion of a tickle, they can pass the tickle along to the next staff member, or when completed, can give it back to you.

About 10 years ago, key members of CrossTalk ministry took a step back from their work, and realized they weren’t getting where they wanted to go. “We had a lag of four to six weeks in responding to people who contacted us. When we got around to contacting them they were irritated and didn’t care anymore. We were failing,” says Caleb Weiss, Development Director.

Caleb knew that donor management software could help, but theirs was more of a liability. “We had some kind of membership tracking software at that time. It took more work to use than it saved. We were also using several Excel spreadsheets. We needed a software product that would help us do our job without having to put so much into it.”