Jan 8, 2019
Didn’t we just cover this in the hour and a half meeting we just had?
seen from Malaysia
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seen from Malaysia
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seen from United States
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seen from United States
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Didn’t we just cover this in the hour and a half meeting we just had?
Oh yeah? Go on, please tell me more about your proficiency with “Razor’s Edge.”
That’s not a thing.
PaperSave recognized as Blackbaud Technology Partner of the Year at BBCON 2014.
PaperSave, document management, workflow and transaction automation solution for Blackbaud to Debut it's latest version at bbcon 2014.
Email Manager - An Introduction
Email Manager is a Raiser’s Edge plugin which seamlessly integrates your email campaign lists and results with Campaign Monitor.
The Email Manager Solution Email Manager performs the otherwise laborious tasks of uploading lists and retrieving results for you with virtually two clicks of your mouse button.
To create a new list of recipients on Campaign Monitor, simply select a Raiser’s Edge query and click ‘Upload’.
To load the latest results of your Campaign Monitor campaigns directly onto The Raiser’s Edge, click ‘Retrieve’.
It’s that simple. And you can customise Email Manager in many ways, from how your lists are named to how your results are recorded on The Raiser’s Edge – and everything in between.
Try Email Manager Free For One Month We’re confident that once you’ve tried Email Manager, you won’t know how you did without it.
We provide an Email Manager installer especially set up for your use. And it’s fully functional and completely free of charge for the first month. No catches.
So if you’re tired of manually exporting your mailing lists from The Raiser’s Edge, uploading them to Campaign Monitor, downloading results and importing them into The Raiser’s Edge – or, worse, never getting around to adding your results to The Raiser’s Edge at all – we can help.
8 Reasons Why Email Manager Will Suit Your Organisation • One license per Raiser’s Edge database (plus the sample database) so you can install Email Manager for as many users as you wish. • The Raiser’s Edge API module is not required to install and use Email Manager. • Fixed cost, lower than Blackbaud’s Online Express Tier 1 over 3 years. • Common or separate configuration between multiple installations. • Lists, clients, recipients and email volumes are limited only by your Campaign Monitor account. • Fully-functional one month trial with license key provided on payment. • 20% discount for registered charities and schools. • Free support for 3 months and free updates.
Ordering If you would like to appraise or purchase Email Manager, we require the serial number of the Raiser’s Edge database with which you wish to use Email Manager. We will then provide you with a setup program specifically built for your installation. (This helps us prevent unauthorised use of our products.) Or you can appraise Email Manager with the Raiser’s Edge sample database by downloading the generic installer.
Once you’re happy with Email Manager, we will invoice you for payment after which we will provide you with a license key. Without a license key, Email Manager will cease to function with your active database 30 days after the date we deliver it to you. (It will continue to work with the Raiser’s Edge sample database, though.)
Your Email Manager license is valid for any number of installations provided that they are all used with the Raiser’s Edge database corresponding to your serial number. And Email Manager licenses have no expiry date, so it’s yours forever.
Our license entitles you to 30 days’ free support and a minimum of 12 months’ of updates. After 12 months, updates are free of charge at our discretion; however you will never pay more than 50% of the list price for any update after you purchase Email Manager.
We also provide a 20% discount to registered charities and schools.
Development Partnerships We are always looking for development partners to help us improve our products. We offer significant discounts to customers who we feel are able to liaise with us at a high technical level.
Please ask us about partnership opportunities.
Contact To find out more about Email Manager, and arrange for a free, fully functional one month trial, contact us at [email protected].
Protégé Solutions is a technology company specialising in customer relationship management applications.
Day 3
In a spirited, yet probably doomed, attempt to make up for yesterday’s late showing here is the blog for day three of my internship. My last entry was certainly no where near hot off the press; this one hopefully achieves a lukewarm temperature. I really don’t want to talk too much (i.e. at all) about how these bumbling efforts are written: a) because people who try to explain how they write/ perform/ paint usually dribble phrases like ‘I explored my inner darkness and synthesized that with the inspirations of 11th century neo-Kantian post-modernism’ out of their mouths and b) to talk about writing a blog in a blog gets way too meta even for a philosophy student like myself. But it does help bump up the word count.
Today I grappled with the Raiser’s Edge database. Raiser’s Edge is probably the most popular database aimed at serving charities and stores data on pretty much everything to do with fundraising. Dom, kindly and incredibly patiently (almost to a fault-I think soil would have grasped the spreadsheets quicker than me) lead me by the hand into the world of Raiser’s Edge. All of the records of the St. John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital are stored in it so it was pretty crucial to not to tread carefully. Thankfully, Dom was a good teacher and so, eventually, I was changing records and registering donations like a machine. Albeit a cack-handed, infuriatingly slow one.
The pace did pick up though the more I practised and the software is pretty user-friendly. My degree rarely makes use of databases, or numbers for that matter, but repeated use really hammered home the how’s and where’s and what’s. It felt good to be doing something where the instant benefit to the charity could be seen. As a form of practical production data-entry can rarely be beaten. The only problem is completing necessary, recurring administrative processes can turn you into a bit of a robot. Or a cricket score-keeper. Both of which I admire but would not necessarily want to become for an extended period of time. Actually a robot would be ridiculously cool. As long as I could fly. With booster jet wings. And thruster rocket legs. Yeah.
But I digress. The practical data entry was to be superbly balanced with some immense political theory. John, our Communications Manager, unleashed an hour long whirlwind explosion of information detailing the fundamentals of political lobbying and the legislative processes of the EU and the UK. My only previous experiences of political theory were ‘The West Wing’ and ‘The Thick of It’ respectively so it was a lot to take in. Oh and, if it counts, a political philosophy module from first year. (Clue: it doesn’t). But John persevered and slowly, like an ice lolly on wallpaper, things began to stick. It was a blitz of words like ‘implementation’, ‘statutory’, ‘the’ etc but John was as clear and concise as these things can be and I am very grateful. On another note, he was an undergrad at Soton- though pints at Jesters were even cheaper when he was there.
Another thing I started today was the noting down of the recommendations for the creation of a fundraising committee. It’s one of a few things I want to bring to my first team meeting on Friday. The team meeting’s held in the rather swish boardroom (where we hosted the sixteen Malaysians yesterday) and involves a teleconference call to the CEO, Rod Bull, and some of the other team members in Jerusalem. I’m looking forward to it and have been practising my ‘business face’ in anticipation. But I’ll bring my recommendations for the fundraising committee as well as some research into the Al Jazeera International Documentary Film Festival and the meeting should prove valuable and successful. Of course, I actually have to finish those two things which is why I’m going to log off now. I’ve learnt not to make rash promises (both with work and other areas of life) so I’ll play it safe. Will see you when I see you.
Finding the right database
Choosing the right database for your organization can be extremely time consuming and frustrating. Typically, for the person making the final decision, this is not their area of expertise. What I have found majority of the time, is most users want to be able to hit the easy button and everything will work on its own. Well it is not that simple. However it does not have be extremely difficult either.
There are different approaches to take when selecting a database, like understanding what information you are gathering about your constituents and how the information is being used currently. Also look at what information you would like to gather and how you would like to use the information. For instance, knowing how someone became connected to your organization, what type of events they attend, and/or which solicitations they respond to, can help you keep constituents engaged. And if these things are important to you and will help increase donor participation, having a database that will give you this information will be important.
Accessing your database is a consideration that is sometimes last on the list, but for me is at the top. Having a database housed on your server or a hosted environment helps determine which software to choose from. Housing a database on your server at times may appear more cost effective, and if you do not encounter many server issues then this decision may suffice. There are other considerations that should be thought about, for instance, backing-up information daily, having access away from the office, and how to retrieve information if it is accidentally deleted. The database coordinator or whomever is managing the database must make sure the database is backed up often. It is recommended daily although some organizations may back-up once a week. Unless your organization has an IT department or someone working on the server on a consistent basis, they can allow you access to your server away from the office. What I have found is most smaller foundations/churches/schools do not have this type of access and if so some information may be restricted because of security issues. Finally, again if you do not have an IT person/department, if any data is lost and/or deleted off the server, it is gone. I know that sounds extreme but I have seen it happen.
Choosing to have a hosted database where the software company keeps your information on their server is my preference. Typically you can log in from any where you have an internet connection. If you have a meeting with a donor away from the office and take notes, you may want the option of putting that information in the database right away. Your database manager will not have to worry about backing up the system daily. If any information is accidently deleted, it can be retrieved with 48 hours (average for most companies). One important feature I find very helpful is system upgrades. Software companies are always doing things to enhance their products, typically if you are hosted you are automatically given the latest software upgrades.
I know there are a lot of companies out there with a lot of different products, and it can be overwhelming, especially if you are not database savvy. Here are a few databases I worked with:
Raiser's Edge - This database has a lot of bells & whistles, which can be a little too much for some user's. But with the right modules added there is no limit to donor research, reports, and being able to keep up to date information on the overall health of your organization. It works great for nonprofits and schools with a major development department. I would not recommend for a church unless major fundraising is happening. I also recommend Financial Edge should you need accounting software. Gift acknowledgements are simple once it is set-up. They have a lot of different options for training.
eTapestry - Another Blackbaud product which is first of its kind being completely online. Photo directory, automatic reports, and the six degrees of seperation are great features. It does a great job with managing donors in the same household. It also can integrate with other accounting softwares. Training is done remotely, however you can pay for someone to come out to your organization.
DonorPerfect - Offers both, hosted environments and/or housed on your server. It is user friendly. It has really good fundraising functionality. It also has a feature that I enjoy, it can look at different fundraising trends, which can keep you up to date on what is working.
Sage - Offers a couple different fundraising softwares: Fundraiser 50, which is really just scratching the surface in terms of a database. Most smaller organizations tend to opt for this one without really thinking about their organizations growing. If you are tired of using Microsoft Office products to keep information Fundraising 50 may be a decent option for you. I would suggest the Fundraising 100 if you do not need an extremely powerful tool but something more than basic. I was told from a representative at Sage that this software will not be offered next year but right now it is. Sage just now launched an online product as well. If you more power, Millennium may be the right tool for you. It is comparable to Raiser's Edge out of all of their products. Sage also offers MIP accounting software which is a leader in its field for a stand alone software. It can be integrated with other fundraising softwares. Getting trained was an issue that I encountered from Sage.
iMis - If you are looking to really build a database that really suits your needs and you have a large organization, iMis may be the product for you. iMis has different suites which allows you to create a tool that suits your needs.
FellowshipOne - I will not go into a lot of the church softwares, however I do find FellowshipOne a really great tool for a medium to large church. It is not extremely cheap as others. However it gives you a blank canvas to work from and once everything is in place it is very easy to use. If you are a pastor who is tech savvy, having the information integrate with your mobile phone will help you keep membership information up to date.
These are just a few products and suggestions. Again if this is not your area of expertise, it may be a good idea to reach out to someone who can help you asses your organization's needs and wants, to get you a database that will work with your organization. This does not have to be expensive.