nonprofit times--major gifts going mobile as software catches up

SEPTEMBER 15, 2012 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.thenonprofittimes.com 1

BY MARK HRYWNA AND PATRICK SULLIVAN

The thought of major gift officers on the roadwith flash drives full of information thatcould easily be left on trains or elsewhere intheir travels absolutely terrifies Richard Bar-

ber. Luckily, he doesn’t have to worry about that any-more. “That’s completely gone away. We can getup-to-date information to them,” he said.

Barber, services manager for development andalumni relations at Loughborough University, just northof London in the U.K., recently equipped his six majorgift officers with smart phones. The fundraisers nowcan access constituent data on the handheld devicesrather than lugging around laptops or even binders.

“We’ve got gift officers who spend quite a lot of timeon the road, meeting with donors and potential donors,”said Barber. “It’s that instant access to data. You can be atan event, look up a donor, and have that institutionalknowledge about them,” he said. “You can be a lot morereactive to what’s going on rather than having to rely onwho’s there. They can do it there and then, not having totie it to a laptop or wait until back in the office.”

For Elliott Snuggs, vice president for operations atAsian Access in Los Angeles, Calif., a mobile app fordonor management was an absolute must.

“Sometimes when you’re small, you’ve got to be evenmore efficient. We need to have mobile connectivity toour donor management systems,” said Snuggs. “Whenany of us are on the road, visiting a church, a donor or afoundation, we need to be able to connect to that infor-mation straight from our phone. That might not be thecase for large organizations but there are a lot of us outthere that are in this small category,” he said.

At a large organization, there might be staff that pre-pare and compile information before fundraisers leavethe office for a trip. “It’s a little different when you’re anorganization our size; you’ve kind of got to do yourown work,” Snuggs said. If he’s on his way to the air-port and realizes he forgot to download the donor listfor Nashville, Snuggs can still access the data when helands and get information about other potential donorsin the region. In addition to giving record and contactinformation, the app can map directions to the individ-ual’s address.

Asian Access and Loughborough University areamong a handful of nonprofits that have been testing amobile app for Blackbaud’s Raiser’s Edge for severalmonths. The app will be generally available to Black-baud’s customers starting this month. In fact, severalcompanies this year have released apps for donor man-

agement products.Having the Internet in your pocket and accessible on

a handheld device has not only changed how informalgames of Trivial Pursuit are played, it’s also changingthe game for fundraisers. Donor management softwareis becoming just as mobile as anything else.

“We found that the experience on a phone’s browser,while workable, just took too long,” said Jon Bieder-mann, vice president of fundraising solutions for Hor-sham, Pa.-based SofterWare. “By having it as a true app,the process to look up a record and get contact informa-tion was decreased by about seven or eight times.”

An app “just makes (our product) easier to use,” saidOrange Leap President Kent Hollrah. “Functionality likeGPS tracking and mapping is more prevalent in an app-type solution. Your transfer rates are going to be faster.”The Dallas, Texas software company offers an app ver-sion of its on-premise product Orange Leap MPX. In ad-dition to GPS tracking, the app features click-to-call andconstituent information.

Jake Wagner, a major gifts officer for the Time of Graceministry in Milwaukee, Wisc., said he would be lost with-out his Android smart phone and DonorPerfect Mobileapp – sometimes literally. He spends about 80 percent of

Major Gifts Going MobileAs Software Catches Up

THENONPROFITTIMESTM

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Special Focus, page 2

S P E C I A L F O C U S : D O N O R M A N A G E M E N T S O F T W A R E

T O P D O N O R M A N A G E M E N T P R O D U C T S L I S T O N P A G E 5

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‘‘Smallerand mediumorganizationsuse (mobile)the most.

--John Biedermann of SofterWare

2 SEPTEMBER 15, 2012 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.thenonprofittimes.com


his time on the road and uses his donormanagement application for everythingfrom making voice notes in donor files togetting directions to his next appoint-ment, all while at the wheel.

“For my job, I need to be on the gridall the time,” said Wagner. “Lots of peo-ple need to see me on the weekends orafter hours, and if they can’t get a holdof me, I’m not serving them well.”

Wagner has set up the app to remindhim to email a donor every time one ofthe 250 donors he’s responsible formakes a gift, upgrades a gift, triples agift, or makes a first-time gift of morethan $250.

“I can use (the app) to see where I amwith a (donor) relationship, then I put anote in the app to call them back,” hesaid. “The number one thing (for amajor gifts officer) is follow-through. Of-

tentimes, donors are giving to you be-cause of the relationship you’ve built,”said Wagner.

There’s also a critical balance be-tween convenience and security. Snuggssaid he doesn’t mind having to log ineach time to access the app. “That can beinconvenient at times but I think I wantthat inconvenience. If someone stealsthe phone, you don’t want them to haveaccess to that data,” he said. “As soon as

you quit the app, it logs out.”Blackbaud’s mobile app is for people

who are on-the-go fundraisers, morelikely major gift officers, though it can befor any fundraiser who needs to get toconstituent information, said Dawn Hol-lowell, senior product marketing man-ager for Blackbaud, in Charleston, S.C.For someone who’s preparing for a se-ries of visits to several people in onearea, rather than lugging a laptop orbinder, the app allows them access totheir information on their smart phone.

“The moment you print it’s out of date.You never want to get someone in embar-rassing situations, a donor who just gave amajor gift yesterday and you don’t know.You have the ability to have constituentdata at your fingertips,” she said.

At events, it’s also the immediacy ofbeing able to input information intoyour records that’s appealing, ratherthan “writing it on a scrap of paper andwaiting until you get back to the office,”Barber said. A tablet often can look moreprofessional and not like a “second-classcitizen,” he said, because sometimespeople won’t expect the same level ofservice as a bank, for instance, becauseyou’re a nonprofit.

Apps and the actual operating systemare institutional memory, according toJennifer Mercer, product manager atBlackbaud. “As much as you can leavebehind for the next person to pick up, itmakes the relationship with the organi-zation feel more seamless,” she said.

Barber was fortunate that Loughbor-ough was deciding whether to upgradeto Windows 7 almost a year ago when hegot word that Blackbaud was developingan app for Raiser’s Edge. That’s whenthey decided to instead invest in An-droid smart phones for their major giftsofficers, in anticipation of this summer’sbeta release of the app.

“We were in a very, very lucky posi-tion,” he said. The app itself is free, butgetting smart phones for their major giftofficers was a significant commitment.

Sage gives you the knowledge you need to build strong relationships and boost success.

Know more about your constituents and you’ll get the gifts to secure your institution’s future. Sage Millennium gives you the fl exibility to retrieve data in meaningful ways. Identify those most likely to support initiatives like scholarships, library funds, and building endowments. Built for mobility, Sage Millennium lets you access and update data from any smart device. Visit SageNonprofi t.com/millennium today to make your institution Sage.

© 2012 Sage Software, Inc. and its a liated entities. All rights reserved.

Continued from page 1




and database size. Orange Leap servesmany faith-based organizations, but be-yond that its constituency for an app is“anybody who focuses on majordonors,” he said.

Though not all companies are mak-ing mobile-optimized software or apps,and not all organizations need suchfunctionality, mobile is where everything-- and everyone -- seems to be headed.According to a 2011 report from the Pew

Research Center’s Internet and Ameri-can Life Project, more than one-third ofAmerican adults own a smart phone.And while the nonprofit sector as awhole sometimes finds itself behind thecurve when it comes to technology, or-ganizations have the opportunity tojump out ahead of the pack.

“The tools are available, but it takes adedicated effort and you have to put inthe time,” said Gillett. “The people who

are really dedicated to those strategiescan be very successful today.”

Most nonprofits don’t have a specificperson dedicated for prospect research.It’s often part of the fundraiser’s job.The trend across Blackbaud’s productline is working analytics into everything,said Hollowell. Instead of nonprofitshaving to dig through the data, it willsurface in the product, she said, almost


He estimated it cost about £2,000(roughly $3,500) to equip Loughbor-ough’s six major gifts officers, and thedevelopment team has started to employa tablet computer at events. “It’s more ofa team resource at events,” he said.

Barber hopes in the longer term towork mobile and tablets into alumni re-lations, keeping recent graduates in con-tact and updated. “For me, one of thethings will be, very much in the next sixto 12 months, how our major gifts teamuses it. Even in just a couple of weeks, Ican see how this may change how wepresent our information and what wesaw because it’s more readily accessible.After a short while, we’ll start to lookagain how we use it,” he said.

“Once it’s live, the more we use it, themore uses we’ll find for it,” said Barber.

Biedermann said the DonorPerfectapp has about 450 weekly users, mostlymajor gifts officers and events coordina-tors who are often out of the office.“Sometimes you’re someplace and youhave a pitiful data connection,” he said.That’s less of a problem when using anapp. “The bandwidth necessary to com-municate between the app and ourservers do not rely on web browser tech-nology. It is a tiny footprint.”

When it comes to mobile access todonor management software, the maindeterminate is often not the size or theresources of the organization, but thelevel of comfort of its employees. “It’sless about the size of the database andmore about the sophistication of thestaff,” said Stacy Dyer, product market-ing manager of nonprofit solutions forSage North America, in Austin, Texas.“We’re finding organizations of all sizesinterested in expanding mobile capabili-ties,” she said. “We’re seeing more andmore younger, tech savvy employeesclamoring for it.”

The latest iteration of Sage Millen-nium will be optimized for mobile andcustomizable at the administration levelso development officers will have accessto the information they need while onthe road. “Major gifts and developmentofficers want to see as much data as pos-sible, but some are particular about thekind of data they want to see,” said Dyer.

“We’re seeing a lot of young peoplewho are coming into the nonprofit corri-dor,” said Orange Leap’s Hollrah, andthey’re expecting mobile access.

Dan Gillett, CEO of Kimbia in Austin,Texas, believes small and medium-sizedorganizations might get better use out ofmobile technology than large nonprof-its. “When you get to large organiza-tions, there’s a lot more complexity.”

Biedermann agreed: “Smaller andmedium organizations use (mobile) themost,” he said. “Once you get large, youhave less interaction. It’s all about seg-ments of donors, not individuals.”

Hollrah said his clients using mobilerun the gamut in terms of organization


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like smart software.Fundraisers need a quick snapshot so optimizing

data delivery is a big part of the process. “Are we show-ing the right information for the market, big and smallorganizations? Across the board, we want to make thelowest barrier to entry as possible. We’ve done a lot ofwork not to require extra hardware and extra settings.Once you add hardware, you start to exclude smallershops that are not as technical,” said Mercer.

Donor management is not always about the five- orsix-figure gifts. Many charities still use the tried and truechannel of direct mail, which still takes time, printingand postage. “If you can identify a percentage of yourdatabase that’s unlikely to give to you, you can focus onother areas where you can continue to inform aboutmission, cultivate those with capacity to give. That’smoney a nonprofit can spend to solicit new donations,”said Hollowell.

The latest version of Blackbaud’s Raiser’s Edge(7.9.2, released in April) has Giving Score functionality.“It’s really easy segmentation tool to use,” said Hollow-ell, able to get a data score within two clicks. She re-lated a story of the Hirshberg Foundation for PancreaticCancer Research. It was preparing to ask a major donorfor a gift of $50,000 but after computing a Giving Scoreand conducting another wealth screening, the founda-tion realized it could ask for -- and get -- a gift of$250,000. “It’s important once you know how muchthey can give. You can tailor those messages to the or-ganizations, spend time with them, cultivate them,”said Hollowell.

A 360-degree look of the donor allows nonprofits toknow how close they are to the organization, and whothe very best prospects are -- if they’ve volunteered, ifthey always participated in auctions, etc. “It’s best tohave that all in one space,” said Hollowell. Identifyingtop prospects is great but it also helps to find thosedonors who you don’t have to spend a lot of time on,the ones that you know volunteer for the organizationand participate in events or auctions to benefit yourcharity, she said.

SOCIAL MEDIA INTEGRATIONIt’s no longer uncommon for nonprofits to have a social

media presence, whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedInor all of the above. It’s almost a requirement now.

“It is very interesting and we’ve talked about thatsort of tracking, what’s on a donor’s Facebook page orTwitter account,” said Rebecca Gelinas, senior managerof global donor database strategy at Operation Smile inNorfolk, Va. “It’s nice to know, but how would we actu-ally use that information? That’s still to be determined.I think sometimes people get carried away with captur-ing the information, but the plan of how they use thatinformation is lacking.”

“Social media is a way to keep tabs on and connectingwith donors,” said Declan Murphy, marketing and socialmedia coordinator for Mission Research in Lancaster, Pa.Mission Research this year added Facebook, Twitter andLinkedIn integration to its GiftWorks product.

“It’s kind of like TweetDeck or HootSuite,” he said,referring to the social media management platforms. “Ifyou’re in GiftWorks, right there you can see all of yournews feeds. It’s a neat little spot to get all your info andkeep up to date with your donors.”

The functionality allows development officers to seetheir donors’ activity on social media platforms, and in-teract directly with them by posting messages to theFacebook walls or Twitter feeds. Murphy said users will


4 SEPTEMBER 15, 2012 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.thenonprofittimes.com


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‘‘The tools areavailable, but ittakes a dedicatedeffort and you haveto put in the time.

--Dan Gillett of Kimbia

T O P D O N O R M A N A G E M E N T P R O D U C T S L I S T O N N E X T P A G E

still have to friend and follow donors, but it’s a matterof convenience.

“If it’s not already part of their every day life, it’ll fastbecome one,” Patrick Dorsey, vice president of market-ing at Avectra in McLean, Va., said about monitoringand management of social media. “It’s so critical forthese organizations to understand and have their fingeron the pulse of important issues,” he said.

“The ability to consolidate and create this dashboardto see all these channels is becoming critical,” he said,to understand what their messaging can be and reachout to new supporters and donors. “It will become oneof the most valuable dashboards for organizations” try-ing to respond to the tone and emotions of other con-versations, said Dorsey.

Social media monitoring can make nonprofits ableto engage in conversation, participate at selected times,and be better equipped to go for that ask. “The moni-toring aspect will be able to consolidate all that infor-mation into one platform, into a CRM system,identifying donors and key influencers,” said Dorsey.

Blackbaud’s eTapestry partnered with Constant Con-tact to offer integration with the Constant Contact so-cial campaign, which helps people reach out andengage through Facebook. “It’s surfacing in all ourproducts at some level,” said Melanie Mathos, seniorpublic relations manager at Blackbaud.

There are many technology partners that can leverageplatforms to help build integration and use a customer’sFacebook page as a way to drive people to a database. “Alot of that is just the next evolution of peer-to-peer mar-keting that’s been very successful,” said Dorsey.

“The amount of data now at your fingertips is over-whelming,” said Dorsey. It is critical to have tools thatwill allow you to better measure donors and supporterson engagement -- to prioritize to whom you are reach-ing and the message. “Those type of tools that are reallymeasuring, prioritizing, automating certain interac-tions, based on that level of scoring, that’s the nextwave because you almost need some assistance with allthat data,” he said.

“Everyone has a strong database and differentstrengths…but additional features like social mediamanagement and donor engagement scoring, that’swhat’ll make the data actionable,” said Dorsey. NPT




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nonprofit times--major gifts going mobile as software catches up

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