Here are just some of the enhancements included in GiftWorks 2011:  The ability to attach files and documents to donor records; enhanced receipting including simplified year-end receipting, Canadian receipting and more, more custom fields in both number and type (numeric and currency);  a new duplicate donor finder tool, enhanced pledge management, the ability to search Notes and use in Smartlist criteria.

All customers enrolled in our popular SmartPlan or who are using GiftWorks Anywhere will get GiftWorks 2011 automatically (at no cost) in September.  For everyone else, we are making it easy to get current with GiftWorks so your organization can take advantage of all the time-saving and fund-raising features we have added over the years.  Please email sales@giftworksconnect.com for more information!

If the donor's interest is breast cancer, you might invite him/her to a related event or support group or to meet a researcher in the lab.

If the donor is concerned about water run-off in local streams or is involved with businesses who are, you could ask him to get involved in your related project.

If the donor is retired, financially connected, etc., you might involve him in your Planned Giving initiatives. (If the donor is a financial planner or investment adviser, you might want to invite him to a lunch where you orient his colleagues to annuities and other planned giving instruments.)

If the donor has daycare interests and has a wealthy parent or family member, you might invite them both to see the architectural drawings for your new nursery.

Corinne O’Flynn wanted GiftWorks Web Collect even before it was released. “Once we saw the ease with which GiftWorks Online Donations was able to capture data, it was an instant wish that we could capture data online outside of an appeal for donations.”

Corinne is the founder of the Rowan Tree Foundation (Parker, CO), whose mission is helping families heal after the death of a child.

Rowan Tree’s website receives 160,000 hits each month. And though the organization’s events are local to Colorado, the foundation provides support and outreach worldwide. Only “about 65% of our website visitors are from the U.S. Most people find us via Google,” Corinne reports. “There is so little active support for those grieving the loss of a child across the globe that those who find us stay connected no matter what the distance.”

Each year Rowan Tree holds several memorial events enabling families to commemorate their child. One of them is an annual summertime Butterfly Release. Both attendees and nonattendees can register to have their child’s name read aloud and listed in the event program. Rowan Tree is using Web Collect to take and fulfill orders for personalized keepsakes made from photos taken at this year’s Butterfly Release.

"Fewer fingers involved, fewer mistakes."

Corinne created an online form with Web Collect to capture important personalized data and contact details. She then integrates this data seamlessly into her GiftWorks database. If the information collected includes monetary gifts, Corinne uses GiftWorks Online Donations to process the gifts. She is able to check and manage Web Collect, Online Donations, and GiftWorks Data Protect all from a single dashboard. “Fewer fingers involved, fewer mistakes,” Corinne quips.

After this event and others, Rowan Tree mails event programs, keepsakes, or other items to participants. “Having all the data on hand to do this automatically is great!”

Corinne has ambitious plans for future use of Web Collect, and she’s in conversation with GiftWorks developers, helping identify the most desirable new functions. As her next project, she hopes to develop a survey of 5–10 questions, use Web Collect to bring the responses into GiftWorks, then use that data to build a new awareness program.

“At Rowan Tree Foundation, we hope to help change the way child loss is addressed so parents have access to compassionate care that respects the humanity of their child, the gravity of the loss, and the lifelong impact that the loss of a child has on the family,” Corinne concludes. “To accomplish this goal, we need to have accurate information in our database so that we can treat each family with the utmost compassion.”

Nonprofits in health services have long had access to group purchasing—because they’re often part of a large group with a long history of group purchasing of medical supplies. Most state nonprofit associations also offer group purchasing benefits to their members. You’ll want to check what’s available to you and find out whether this is the best way for you to make the type of purchases you need to make. In addition to state nonprofit associations, we had identified only two other nonprofit group purchasing organizations: Purchasing Partners of America (Colorado) and Nonprofit Purchasing Group of Delaware, and both focus mostly on local vendors.

But now there's a new player on the group-purchasing block you’ll also want to check out: the Non-Profit Purchasing Group (NPPG), a new GiftWorks partner.

After a career in the for-profit arena, Dan Engel started the nonprofit Miracle League of San Diego, a baseball program for children with special needs that currently serves 175 players in the San Diego area. Also board chair of the California Oncology Research Institute, Dan realized the need for nonprofits to find savings on routine purchases.

When Dan announced the start of the NPPG this January, he immediately received 3,000 responses. Even organizations that had previously explored group purchasing welcomed the chance to look into discounts (typically at least 15%) from NPPG’s 43 listed vendors, including GiftWorks.

"The challenge is to educate people about the
opportunity to save money easily."

Although you might be able to find special sale prices on occasion, at NPPG you can find them everyday. NPPG’s offerings include office supplies, printing, payroll fees, consumer directed health plans, telephone services, email marketing, website design, search engine optimization, surveys, social fundraising solutions, online auction fundraising, web conferencing and more.

“The challenge is to educate people about the opportunity to save money easily,” Dan said. Most nonprofit staff members don’t have a lot of time to devote to comparison shopping.

Data from a 2005 Urban Institute study shows that a typical nonprofit (excluding those in the health sector) spends about 10.8% of its budget on supplies, communications, professional fees, and equipment rental and maintenance. Dan estimates that smaller nonprofits spend a higher percentage of their budget on these expenses because they typically have fewer paid staff and more volunteers. It is precisely those smaller nonprofits, which don't have the resources to identify and solicit discounts, that benefit most from group purchasing organizations.

Because NPPG is dedicated exclusively to nonprofits, it doesn't accept commissions, rebates or administrative fees and is thus able to pass through 100% of the negotiated savings to its members. Instead, NPPG charges a membership fee scaled to the size of the participating organization. All members access the same discounts and find the offers in one easy-to-access place.

With an annual fee as low as $19, your organization can come out ahead with the purchase of a single laser printer cartridge or a subscription to the services of one of NPPG's many providers. In addition, NPPG expresses its commitment to the nonprofit sector by donating 10% of its profits annually to charity.

Check out the offers of your state nonprofit association and NPPG and see if there are savings that can help you focus more of your staff time and funds on your mission, and less on back-office purchasing and bill paying.

For more information about NPPG, visit nonprofitpurchasinggroup.org or call Dan Engel toll-free at 877.849.6774.

     
 
Convergent has recently announced its new partnership with GiftWorks. Through this partnership, and the integration of their Investment-Driven Fundraising Model with GiftWorks tools, Convergent’s consultants are able to achieve even greater returns for their fundraising and sustainability plan clients.  Here’s how it all began:

When a nonprofit in Colorado where Tom Ralser taught Finance was deciding to move forward on a third campaign in the early 90’s, they asked Tom to step over into the nonprofit world and help them devise a winning strategy. Tom worked a little of his business-world magic and was able to demonstrate that for every $1 the nonprofit had spent, they had returned $17 in benefits to the community. With this outcome-driven philosophy, Tom moved into the nonprofit world on a full-time basis in 1993 and started the ROI revolution for nonprofits.

Who wouldn’t like to make an “ask” with a proven 17/1 return?

In today’s economic climate, every nonprofit needs to both maximize its impact and to communicate that impact in order to sustain ongoing investment. (Yes, Tom calls them “investors,” not “donors.”) Return on Investment is a strategy for the future in fundraising. Not to abandon the time-tested connections and the emotional appeals of the past, but adding the business case for investment completes the fundraising toolkit.

“Nonprofits and for-profits are not really all that different,” Tom explains. “Both seek to deliver outcomes that investors value.” If the cars you make aren’t fuel-efficient, you won’t sell many. If your homeless project doesn’t make a difference in your community, your grant probably won’t be renewed. “While the nonprofit arena may be a bit more subtle,” Tom continues, “the mechanism of rewarding the efficient and penalizing the inefficient still applies.”

When Convergent’s consultants are “on the ground” working directly with a client, according to Ralser’s colleague Frank Bennett, “we use GiftWorks to manage investor and prospect lists. When we complete our primary work, we train our clients and they continue to use GiftWorks. The ability to have all investor/prospect/stakeholder information in one place—in a format that is easy to manage—ultimately leads to more cohesive fundraising efforts short and long term. For most clients, the customized GiftWorks system is their fundraising hub.”

While impact itself is pivotal, the demonstration of that impact is just as important. For example, if you have a program to help school dropouts to earn their GEDs and 50% of the 200 students finish the program and get their GEDs (admirable community, education and social goals)—is this going to compel a local banker to invest in your program? On the other hand, if 80 of the 200 kids get a job, earning say $25,000/year, the banker will immediately see that those earnings translate into $2 million into the community (and an economic impact of $3.5 million). The banker (and the business community) will have no problem seeing how this outcome benefits them. “This is the classic win-win that we try to achieve with every client,” explains Ralser.

For more information on ROI and Convergent Nonprofit Solutions, visit their website at www.convergentnonprofit.com.

Also, GiftWorks is presenting a free webinar on August 11 featuring Tom Ralser on The Investment-Driven Model: Strategic Advantages in a Tight Economy. Please register here:  https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/856523016