First post of the New Year!  Hope you had a great holiday period.  Back to work now and carrying on my Mobile discussions that we were having before the new year.

So how often have you taken in 650 gifts in the first 20 mins of trialling a new fundraising tool?  Would you consider that a success?  That happened recently with a new Blackbaud Mobile client (whose name will be revealed when I get permission from them to reveal it!).   However success like this is nothing if you can't measure it and measure it in a timely manner where you can actually do something with it.

When we were building the new platform we had taken into account the fact that so many mobile fundraising tools were a little on the poor side when it comes to analytics, data and recording ROI. So we've tried to record everything that goes on with the tool.  When does it get shared on social media, How many donations have come in, when, how much are they, where did they come from?  Was radio the best tool to use or was it Social media.

The only way to get better at this type of fundraising is to test, test and test again.  It's new stuff so there is no silver bullet (although I doubt there ever will be) so you need to work out what is best for your organisation. Do your donors prefer to be solicited on Facebook or local radio or perhaps it's best in the newspaper?  All of this has to be taken into account.

 Now here is the thing - how quickly do you need this data - For a direct mail campaign you probably would be looking for results in the first 4-6 weeks, for email it's probably nearer the first few hours but with something like Mobile where the contact and the reply are almost instant you need to be quicker than that.  We've built the tools so that you can see the results in seconds rather than hours. So if you send out an appeal you can see straight away who has replied back to it, who has checked out your Facebook tab or viral video and be able to tweak in real time.

So let's say you have an event that you are soliciting mobile gifts from.  The most powerful way to solicit gifts from your audience is by showing them how much you have raised so far and push them towards a goal - think Comic Relief or Children in Need and their totaliser.  Without realtime access to the data you can't do that.  In fact having a Totaliser or Totometer there would be a great tool...

Finally when you have a successful night like our client in the first paragraph you want to be able to know who gave, when, how much and if you have a relationship with them already?  With integration to your back end database such as the Raiser's Edge you could link both areas together. This way you can take those mobile numbers and contact those who you have had no contact with before, update those you have and ask them all for a Gift Aid declaration (which would be auto sent to them anyway). 

So the success of any campaign is based around data and how quickly you can take the data and work out success or failure rate.  Make sure you can tweak things on the fly but most of all test and tweak, test and tweak!

So Facebook won't let you take credit card gifts (or even have a secure page) and Twitter has nowhere to even ask for gifts.  You've created the greatest viral video in the world but you can't get people to click through to your site and give their credit card details?  It's a major issue and one that has dogged social media fundraising for quite some time.

Whilst we have seen an upturn in giving via social media it has yet to reach the potential it clearly has as a medium.  So when Blackbaud Mobile was being built we looked at this as an area we could make easier.  Take out the credit card, take out the need for a secure webpage, move the processing onto a mobile (with it's built in payment method) and add video straight into the equation.  We wanted to make it quick, easy and convenient to give via social media.

So we've built a series of widgets that are auto created when you set up your campaigns within BB Mobile.  we have Facebook widgets, Twitter links, Linkedin widgets, Facebook tabs and a pile of other tools that can be used in social media.

So imagine you have a great viral video that people are gladly sharing around Facebook.  Instead of having just the video being shared you can encourage people to share the wiidget instead.  That widget (shown on the left here) will have info on your campaign, images or video, the option to share across networks AND the ability to donate straight from here!

Your Fan page could have a new tab which is configured for your org and branded as your tab with the ability for you to solicit gifts straight from facebook without having to go anywhere else for it.  It's pretty straightforward to add the page too.  You get your branding inside BBMobile and then this creates the page for you. Three simple steps gets this into the page (see below).

As with any other area of Blackbauf Mobile you are able to solicit differing values of gifts as you see fit or give the end user the choice of gift. This is very new technology right now and will take some work to get onto the radar of fundraisers but it's something that they can do as part of their social media engagement rather than instead of it.

Peer to peer fundraising, Friends asking friends, events based fundraising, team fundraising - it has lots of names but essentially the biggest area of online fundraising in the UK today is centred around asking your friends to give you money for a cause whilst you run a marathon or climb Kilimanjaro or take a bath in beans (old school).  We've done some research in the past around this stuff and there is a compelling arguement that things such as social media help towards this type of fundraising - however it requires effort on the part of the donor - navigate the page, go get credit card, make donation etc. 

What I really like about the Events piece of Blackbaud Mobile is that it is so simple to use and can be updated in real time.  So your fundraiser will choose a sub keyword which will be off the back of your main campaign.  Let's say the charities keyword is Donate then the supporter who is taking part in the event for you has perhaps the word 'Robert' so this supporter asks his friends to text 'Donate Robert' to 70004.  These donations are then credited to Robert but all the money flows back to the charity.

The supporter, marathon runner, baked bean guy signs up on the site then is given their own webpage complete with Totometer etc which can be incredibly effective when running an event.  Imagine if the donor can see in real time if their friends are donating to them whilst running their race night or quiz evening?  If they had access to a large screen or projector they could project the amounts they are getting up onto a screen and within 30 seconds of the text being sent it registers on their totometer?  That would be enabling your fundraisers to use cutting edge tools but keeping the process simple, easy and effective?

Putting tools like this in the hands of the fundraisers not only gets them enthusiatic about the technology but also keeps them involved.  If we can also use this page for Photo galleries, messages from supporters and a place to house videos etc then we start to get to a place where people have the potential to come back to and give multiple times!  Astute personal fundraisers will exploit it in lots of different ways but you've given them the tools!  Did I mention it could be shared on social media?  It has the 'Spread the Word' section which is great for this type of thing.

Combine this work with the likes of Everyday Hero and you have some exciting prospects for the future of this medium.

Thoughts?  Will your fundraisers want to have this tool at their disposal?

 Blackbaud Mobile has lots of interesting and cool tools for all sorts of things from social media widgets through to QR codes but one area that is extremely exciting is the concept of Regular Giving via a mobile phone.

 How does this work?  Well we know that a huge portion of gifts to charity in the UK are giving through regular methods such as Direct debit or to a lesser extent regular credit card gifts but what would be the easiest way for people to give these small gifts?  Signing up via a text message is simple and easy and it means the donor has control of their  donation on a monthly basis.

A keyword is allocated to your account which is purely used for regular giving and is registered with Phone Pay Plus as a regular donation keyword (it can't be used for anything else for obvious reasons).  Then when someone texts 'Regular' (For example) to your shortcode (70004) they will give a gift every month.  What is pretty cool about the system though is that the donor gets a text message every month to say the money will come out within the next 24 hrs and they have three choices - leave it and the money comes out, text STOP and stop the regular gift entirely or text SKIP and miss that month's payment on those lean months but resume the next month - flexible and easy!

This is an area that few charities have done anything with yet as it's so new to the market but those orgs who decide to go for it with this system will reap the benefits.  When Face to Face fundraising started in 1997 those orgs who took advantage early on were the orgs who are still reaping the benefits of thousands of direct debits coming through.  Direct debits did suffer a lull during the worst part of the recssion but is on the up again now.

So what do you think?  Is regular giving via a mobile phone a viable concept?   Are you going to give it a try for your charity?

So have you heard of Blackbaud Mobile?  We launched it a few weeks ago and I'm as excited about it as I have been about anything we've ever done. 

We could have just gone for a mobile giving platform which integrates with the Raiser's Edge but we decided to go a step further and create something that spans across the mobile environment.  It splits into three distinct areas - Create, Promote and Analyse .

Create - Create your short code and keyword for mobile giving  - this is the first stage.  People have shown recently that they are willing to give via their mobile £15M in one year from Comic Relief shows that this is important.  The mobile phone is the first truly personal medium it has mass penetration and recently I saw it quoted that 25% of people actually sleep with their phone in the bed with them!  (not at the side but physically in there usually under the pillow!!).  The phone has a built in payment mechanism which lends itself to easy small payments.  The second aspect to the mobile is WHO is willing to give - A recent NFP Synergy survey showed that Men aged 25-34 are most likely to give via a mobile phone...interesting as this is the demographic that we tend to find the most difficult to market to!  When you create your keyword you can choose whether you want a regular giving keyword or a keyword for an individual to use in an event.

Promote -  Built into the platform are a whole host of promotional tools which are built to encourage giving either at events, social media or print media.  We have built in social widgets for Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin which incorporates powerful tools like video directly into the system.  Imagine if you could get that great viral video to have a built in donation tool which would not require credit cards etc? We've built in pre built QR codes, widgets, totometers and a host of other tools to make it easier to promote your mobile giving.

Analyse -  It may not be the sexiest part of Blackbaud mobile but it is absolutely the most important.  The platform gives you the ability to analyse your results in real time so you are able to see within 30 secs of the donation/interaction who is giving and how successful are you being.  Imagine being able to share that with an audience at an event in real time?  We give you configurable totometers so that you can project the donations onto a big screen and see what is happening and use this to encourage people in the room to donate more!

 All of this integrated to  the Raiser's Edge is why I'm very excited about this.  I will be doing a series of short blog posts about the platform over the holiday period as to go into everything that we can do in one post would make for a ridiculously long blog post and it's nearly Christmas!

Howard Lake at UK Fundraising did film our launch and the presentation by yours truly which you can take a look at below or by clicking here.

Did you know that the old iphone (the 3GS) had the same specs as a PC from 2001?  So it’s predicted that accessing your website on a mobile device will be the prevalent medium in just 2 short years but are you ready to do this?  Recently I went round the country talking to a host of not for profits about their plans for the future online and was scared by the results.  Of the roughly 100 orgs I spoke with, barely three of them had any plans for a mobile website with a further one organisation saying they were in the process of building a site.  I'm hoping I was talking to the wrong people but if not we've got a real issue.

The big problem right now is that donors/alumni/prospects are not complaining but this is a temporary stay of execution those complaints are in the post.  Facebook tracks the following publically on mobile -

•  More than 350 million active users currently access Facebook through their mobile devices
•  More than 475 mobile operators globally work to deploy and promote Facebook mobile products

Those are big stats.  Lots of people doing things on mobile but what is the NFP sector doing?  We should be making plans at the very least.  However let’s not just jump on the bandwagon just because it is there.  The first thing we need to do is justify the work involved so we have to ask ourselves some questions to frame the work.

Question 1 – Are people using your site via a mobile phone?  I run a website for a local park group and we have Google Analytics set up on the site.  I was surprised to notice that 20% of visitors to the page were actually accessing the page via a mobile device.  Google breaks this out very simply and very easily for you.  So I’d suggest that is your starting point.  This is a new site but is obviously in need of a mobile friendly version.  This is the most basic of websites for people who like walks in the park over tech so that is an interesting stats to start with.  Take a look at the image on the right for the breakdown of the stats.  The park site is in the process of being moved to a wordpress.com site which has an automatic mobile version.

Question 2 – What is a mobile?  We are used to thinking that mobile phones are just a step on from our old desktop phones and for a lot of devices that is the case.  Non smart phones are still used 70% of the time for making phone calls but when we look at smart phones the breakdown is quite different.  The iphone is only used for calls roughly 45% of the time!  The rest is data.  The mobile phone is no longer just a phone but more a personal media device. 

Mobile devices span across a gamut of devices from iPhones to tablets to old Nokia 2110.  Do you want to optimise for everything?  Probably not so look again at your analytics and work out what people are coming to your site on.  These are good as they show the range of devices that are currently accessing your site.  Take a look at the example below for some imple details.

Question 3 – How do we create the site?
So there are many questions around this one.  Do we create a separate mobile site and have people redirect when they come to via a mobile? Or do you simplify your current content so that it is accesible?  There are pros and cons with any method.  A simple blog on the subject is here.
Most people are inclined to just employ multiple style sheets on a mobile and thus minimise the disruption when adding content.  Have a look at the way we are handling this at Blackbaud with our latest version of Netcommunity.  This method means that you only add content once and the style sheet configures it to the medium.  What works with this method is that it works wether you are talking about mobile phones or mobile browsers or even just desktop browsers.  The difficulties of this method is that you do need to make sure your content will fit with the process.

Question 4 – What next?
Once you have established a mobile website you need to monitor the success.  As with anything you need a base value to start from.  If you are being successful with your mobile site then you should encourage more mobile traffic so why not take the value you started with in question 1 and use that to base your growth from.  That was what you got online with the old site – what now.  Also keep monitoring, testing and checking so that you can see if there is a change in your findings over the months that you are live?  You need to be ready to adapt to new methods and new devices – it’s not a case of switch it on and forget about it...but you knew that didn’t you?

I got an email from Google the other day telling me that I was being moved over onto the new Beta for Google Analytics and I headed over to have a look at the new features.  Firstly they have tidied up the interface to make it easier to navigate around which helps but they've also added some fantastic new features that I'm loving already so i wanted to share.

Our industry still has problems with measuring ROI and engagement across our web presence and whilst it's hard to measure it's going to be hard to implement.  Recently I have been doing some straw polls at various charity events on those monitoring Social Engagement or even any web ROI and I'm very sad to say that of the roughly 150 orgs that I have asked this question to less than 10% have said they either have a strategy or even a plan for one.  I did speak to 2 orgs who were doing a great job but out fo 150???

So what are these new tools.  They cover three really fundamental areas - Social Engagement, Mobile and Visitor flow.

Social Engagement.

So you've added some cool Facebook tools to your website but how are you measuring what people are doing with them?  Likes on facebook, Sharing on twitter, Google +1's.  You may have added them all but what is happening with them. This new tool lets you take that data and transfer it into real data and thus helps guide your future use.  they break it down by engagement and actions.  Are people liking your pages on facebook?  Is it working?  Now a simple report to validate that is more than welcome.

Mobile.

Some recent Morgan Stanley Research said that come 2014 more of us will be accessing the Internet via mobile devices than via our desktops.  With this in mind we need to be more mindful of what we are doing with this.  The new mobile stuff will tell you how many people accessed your site via a mobile and also which device!  So if you have a bunch of people accessing via the Galaxy do you want to optimise the site for that device?  This links in perfectly with our new Netcommunity Mobile stuff and give you a great insight into what people are using.

Visitor flow.

This is an area i am really excited about.  So you know who comes to your site right...but what do they do?  Does a particular page prompt a certain action?  Yes you could put together complex reports from this before but the new visitor flow stuff in Analytics helps us to properly visualise this stuff!  You can filter but country, city, broswers, operating system or most other parameters or you can even create your own parameters and then look at where people are landing on your site and what they do from there.  One site I personally run for my local park had an interesting, but insight obvious, thing happen.  Most of our US hits were hitting the news page before the home page.  Now this is a local park in Cumbernauld so that struck me as strange but not when I realised that that particular page was tweeted on the Cumbernauld House trust account which is mainly US based people.  I could have made that assumption but now I can see it.

These tools are really incredibly easy to use and give insights into your website that if you are not monitoring you really should be.  They can also be incredibly useful in determining your next steps for your site and for your constituent engagement.  Check them out when they are rolled out to everyone.  I'd love to hear opinions if you are already using this stuff though.

"For the members of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, today is our Thanksgiving."

That's what I said from the podium two years ago this week as the then president of AFP's South Carolina Lowcountry chapter and the chair of National Philanthropy Day.  And I meant it.

It's the day when we gather around the table for a meal and celebrate how thankful we are -- in this case -- for donors who invest both large and small amounts of money, of time, of their lives to help others.

So it's Thanksgiving again today, and I have just returned from the 2011 National Philanthropy Day celebration, which proved again to be a special event.  To be with 450 people in a room so full of warmth and joy is something pretty wonderful.

It is AFP Lowcountry's tradition to present awards on this day, each year, honoring the outstanding individual and corporate philanthropists in our area.  Blackbaud is incredibly honored to be among the group of businesses that has received one of these honors.  CEO Marc Chardon attends the event each year to share in the celebration and connect with colleagues and friends alongside of which he serves in the community.

Today, he was also there as the one who nominated the Coastal Community Foundation (CCF) for a new award -- Outstanding Community Partner.  If you follow this blog, you already know how highly we think of CCF, our partner in philanthropy.  The organization holds and manages The Blackbaud Fund and works with us to teach employees how to be grantmakers as we make funding decisions each year.  The staff at CCF - George Stevens, Richard Hendry, Edie Blakeslee, Tina Arnoldi (and the rest of the tremendous team) -- are always there when we call, seeking advice and ready to collaborate.  Our very hearty congratulations to CCF for a well-deserved honor!

We'd also like to congratulate Mr. and Mrs. George Fennell, who were honored as the Outstanding Individual Philanthropists.  Together, and with their family, they support more than 30 nonprofits in the Lowcountry, focusing on child development, health and education.  They have truly made an impact and stand as an example for us to follow.

Finally, we'd like to send major kudos out to Paul and Paula Heinauer and their company GlassPro for winning the Outstanding Corporate award.  As Paul said from the podium, they have really interwoven the concept of service and servant leadership into the company from the very beginning. 

Of course, it was also special to hear from Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (before you ask, yes, it's THAT Roosevelt family - she is the grandchild of Franklin and Eleanor), the now former senior executive over global corporate citizenship for Boeing.  Ms. Roosevelt, who has now moved into a role leading the Goodwill of Northern New England, shared with us insights about how to -- and not to -- go about asking companies for money.  The key point?  Cultivate them as partners and understand that just because a company is in your community, that doesn't mean the organization is your best partner.  You need to have a match in goals.  Do your research.  Take time to understand where you might have opportunities, and be honest if they aren't there.

Although we are sad to see Ms. Roosevelt leave Boeing, which has a new operation here in Charleston (a very BIG deal for our community), we are very pleased to welcome her, through her new role at Goodwill, to the Blackbaud family.

Thanks to everyone who made National Philanthropy Day -- and Philanthropy Week (a week-long celebration here in the Lowcountry) such a success!  It's so wonderful to be a part of a thriving, giving community.

Drum roll, please!  It's time to announce the names of the 20 organizations that received Reward Your Passion grants from Blackbaud.

How did they win, you ask?  It all started with a volunteer.

That's right!  Any Blackbaud employee who volunteers for a nonprofit can apply for a Reward Your Passion grant.  There's a simple application that asks about the organization and how the employee serves.  Each quarter, the applications are gathered up and shared with an employee committee representing our different geographic locations (Team Blackbaud Global). 

That team gets the happy task of deciding who gets the grants!  They do the job by focusing on the volunteerism - what's most meaningful, who gives the most of him-or-herself (ex: is the person handing out flyers or serving on the board - hint, board service is considered a more significant investment of time and talent).  Sometimes it's a tough call, but with 20 grants being given each quarter, there's lots of room for many good organizations to receive donations in honor of employees' service.

So we're proud to announce, that for Q3, the following received Reward Your Passion grants:

Cloa's Ark Animal Sanctuary

Yoga Benefits Kids

The Albany

All Out Adventures

Charleston Concert Association

Komen Lowcountry Race for the Cure

Safe Homes

St. Baldrick's Foundation

Alley's House

Books from Birth

Charitable Society of Charleston - Reindeer Run 2011

Girls Inc.

Zoot Theatre Company

Dee Norton Lowcountry Children's Center

High Fives Foundation

SCORE - South Carolina Oyster Restoration and Enhancement

Charleston Miracle League

Moonstruck Theatre Company

Push America

Sidewalk Chalk

I don't know about you, but when I look at this list, I see so much service and so much fun.  At theatres in London, Dayton and Cambridge...with an environmental initiative right here in the Lowcountry....and with other organizations located near and far.  It's just another reminder of the great people I work with every day.  Please join me in congratulating the Q3 winners!

It was a bright, sunny day.  A beautiful day for an important event.  A day when city officials stood next to nonprofit leaders and philanthropists alike to break ground for Charleston's new homeless shelter...and an eco-friendly shelter at that.

I was proud to be there, a part of the audience sharing in the issue that faces our city and the hope that Crisis Ministries brings to those who need some help.  "Food. Shelter. Hope."  Those are the words Stacey Denaux, executive director, and her team use to convey what Crisis Ministries provides.  

I've visited the current shelter many times, both the men's shelter and the family (women and children) shelter.  Although it's a tough place to be because it brings the issue of homelessness so clearly into focus...makes it so real...it's also a place that has such a lively spirit.  Each year, the team at Crisis Ministries helps homeless members of our community get back on their feet. In addition to providing a place to sleep and regular meals, the organization offers medical assistance, counseling, legal help, and veterans' services to its guests.  Someone doesn't just become homeless, and these services are aimed at helping to address the reasons behind what caused the situation in the first place.  To truly address homelessness, you have to address the personal need.

The shelter began in 1984 when a group of volunteers who were running a soup kitchen out of Grace Episcopal Church on Wentworth Street saw need increasing.  They knew we needed something more extensive to serve what was a growing problem, a growing population.  So leaders from all parts of the community -- religious, civic, business, philanthropic-- joined together to create the vision that is now Crisis Ministries.

It was only fitting that representatives of these same groups were on hand to help celebrate a new chapter in the effort to try to end homelessness in Charleston.  Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr. was one of those people - a leader who was there at the table in 1984 and has been a strong supporter of the shelter's work.  Anita Zucker, philanthropist and CEO at the InterTech Group, and her son Jonathan Zucker, were there to show their family's support of the organization, which now includes the new family soup kitchen in the soon-to-be constructed building.  James Bakker, son of Blackbaud founder Tony Bakker and his wife Linda Bakker, represented his family, which is funding the new property's food rescue center.  And, representing the religious community, the Reverend Canon Michael Wright, Rector of Grace Episcopal Church (where the vision began), celebrated the idea of hospitality and the role members of all the faiths in our community play in serving the shelter.

It was a fine day.  A beginning for an organization Blackbaud has been so proud to support for more than 15 years.  A time when, as Mayor Riley put it, "We have many prominent homes in this community...but we're about to build the best one." 

Meet Shakeima Chatman, one of my colleagues at Blackbaud.

Shakeima is a committed volunteer at The Increasing H.O.P.E. (Helping Others Prosper Economically) Financial Training Center.  Read her story here!

Check back next month to meet another person who embodies Blackbaud's value of serving others.

It's that time of year again.  Time to hop on a plane and gather with 2,000+ of my favorite people at BBCON.  And I can't wait!

BBCON?  That's the Blackbaud Conference for Nonprofits (if you're on Twitter, check out @bbcon and #bbcon).  The 2011 event is our 12th annual, and it's going to be fabulous.  It also helps us to mark our 30th anniversary as a company working exclusively with nonprofit organizations.

I do admit to being a tiny bit biased about this event.  Years ago, I used to work with the wonderful team running the conference, and the event has remained near and dear to my heart ever since.  But it wasn't my experience doing event marketing that made such an impact on me.  It was the time I got to spend with our customers.  That's absolutely the best part of BBCON.  Each year, I reunite with friends I have made in previous years...and meet new ones.

We've developed a tradition at BBCON where we seek ways to give back to the community.  We've done group projects with attendees, like creating paintings for the Foundation for Hospital Art, making craft kits for kids who visited the MUSC Children's Hospital, and building a library of books for a community organization in Prince George's County. 

This year, our citizenship focus is all about wellness, offering morning activities (yoga, walks, runs), a Wii Fit competition (we're giving away the Wiis), chair yoga in the Nonprofit Expo, a healthful food demo...and more.  Basically, we've woven different ways to "be well" into the conference, including healthful food offerings.

In addition, we're doing a "get social and give back" effort.  For each Tweet using the #bbcon tag, we're donating 25 cents.  For each new like on Blackbaud's Facebook page, we're donating $1.  And for each Foursquare check in to 2011 BBCON, we're also donating a $1.  The donations will all go to the Capital Area Food Bank's Fresh Produce program (yea wellness!).  So please join in!!!

If you're in DC at the event, please do stop by the Corporate Citizenship booth in the Nonprofit Expo to say hi!

Last summer, representatives from City of Charleston's office of Planning, Preservation and Sustainability got in touch about a new initiative they were launching - the Charleston Green Business Challenge. 

This challenge was based on a similar program developed by the City of Chicago.  ICLEI -- Local Governments for Sustainbility -- decided to pilot the challenge in five cities across the nation, and Charleston was lucky enough to be one of them. 

So the City partnered with The Sustainability Institute, Lowcountry Local First, the Green Fair, the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce and Charleston County to launch the challenge.  The idea was to a) help organizations understand what it meant to be green, b) encourage them to assess what they were doing already, c) and challenge them to improve their efforts within a year.  They did this through a scorecard that helped participants benchmark their current state.

Although Blackbaud has had a long-time focus on "doing the right thing," we were looking for ways to be more organized going forward, to identify what we did well and where we could improve.  The scorecard was exactly what we needed, giving us a way to evaluate a lot of practices we had in place and identify others we could add.  Although Blackbaud might seem really big to some people, we are far smaller than the large corporations that, for example, engage in extensive carbon reduction and sustainability efforts.  The programs available for them to evaluate their current state are often very complex and are oriented toward manufacturing models.  So this local challenge and its related scorecard were perfect for us.  We filled it out and sent it in last summer.  At that point, we were standing at a "tier two" assessment, based on their criteria.  And we had a list of things we wanted to do to improve.

Some of these initiatives were pretty easy to take on, like commiting to more formally communicating to the company about our green initiatives and pledging to purchase green products whenever feasible.  Others, like conducting a waste stream audit, were a little more complex.  We also took on large projects, as a part of our building maintenance, such as adding hand dryers in 32 restrooms in our headquarters as a part of planned maintenance.

In the end, we were honored to move from a tier two assessment to tier one.  About 55 firms participated in the challenge, and we learned the other night that we were one of seven groups to achieve the top ranking.  We are so proud to be in their company - Auto Sound Specialists/Alternative Energy Systems, the Charleston Battery (our philanthropy partner, helping to bring fans the Nonprofit of the Match at each home game), Hawthorne Suites, Holiday Inn Express & Suites, Mt. Pleasant, Perrin Woodworking, and The Sustainability Institute.  This list is so cool because it represents a bunch of different kinds and sizes of organizations, which further proves the point that being green and sustainable comes in all different forms.

A special thank you to Carolee Williams, project manager at the City's sustainability office, and Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. (who was on hand to give out very special awards made from reclaimed materials) for their leadership in this effort!  Thanks, as well, to Jane Kaufman (head of Greenbaud, Blackbaud's grassroots employee evironmental corps) and Scott Van Buren, our facilities director, for their partnership in the challenge this year.

I always look forward to the Trident United Way's annual Day of Caring.  This year was no different.

I joined about 200 of my Charleston-based colleagues who set out on Friday, September 9th to tackle various volunteer jobs in the community.  Typically held on 9/11 (except when the day falls on a weekend), the annual event drew 7,500 people across the Lowcountry this year - all clad in shirts that said COMMUNITYCHANGE (with UNITY in white, giving that wonderful extra meaning to the message).

Team Blackbaud took on dozens of projects, sending out teams of about 10-15 people each to do whatever was needed - painting, landscaping, gardening, construction, medical wellness checks with children...

I had the pleasure of serving on a team that headed out to the South Santee Community Center in McClellanville, SC.  If you know the area, you know that McClellanville is very rural.  This center is a vital part of the community.  It provides daily services (both in the facility and out in the neighborhood) for senior citizens living nearby as well as serving as an after-school center for kids.  The converted elementary school has been redone into a light, airy place that's filled with a lot of energy and personality.  (Thank you to Shelia Powell for hosting us!)

Our job was to build raised garden beds with a place to sit around the edge for the gardening group at the center, which is led by Jodie Thomas of Adaptive Gardens of the Lowcountry.  This is a really neat organization (and Jodie is a neat guy) that aims to enrich lives through horticultural therapy.  It was really incredible to listen to Jodie talk about all the things he does with his students to help them develop or strengthen motor skills - or participate in activites that otherwise wouldn't be accessible to them.  Something simple like raising a garden bed makes gardening possible for those who aren't as mobile - or who aren't mobile at all.

The South Santee Community Center staff and members couldn't have made us feel more welcome.  We enjoyed meeting them, talking with them about the project and what was going on at the center, and being a part of their day.  Meeting the people you're helping is always the best as it adds extra meaning to a project. 

At the end of the day, we had three raised garden beds as proof of our work.  Although it's satisfying to leave something physical behind as evidence that you care, what I valued the most was the chance to meet new people, be a part of a special community, and learn about both the center and Adaptive Gardens.  It's so cool what's going on in the community and all the ways people work to give back every day.

Thanks to Jodie, Shelia and the rest of the center's team.  And thanks to the Trident United Way for hosting such a great Day of Caring.  I know the rest of Team Blackbaud joins me in saying that we can't wait for next year.

Ready, set, go!

Want to join in?  In what?  In the American Heart Association's San Diego Heart Walk, an annual event that Team Blackbaud San Diego participates in both to show support of the organization and to be healthy.  It's a 5k walk focused on raising money for and awareness about heart disease and stroke -- the nation's number one and number three causes of death.

And it's fun.  Plus, you don't have to be in San Diego to participate.  Really. 

Team Blackbaud San Diego has fielded a team of walkers for years.  They gather throughout the months before the event to take regular walks, incorporating the idea of fitness into their everyday lives.  It's fun, it's good for everyone...and it's so in line with Blackbaud's focus on philanthropy and wellness. 

A little while back, we asked the American Heart Association how we might be able to incorporate other people in locations around the country or world.  They had two answers.  First, make sure everyone knew there were walks being held in many different locations.  Just pick one near you, reach out to your friends and family for support, and get fit while raising money for a good cause.  Second -- and I think this is very cool -- join the San Diego team as a virtual walker. 

So I admit that the words "virtual" and "walker" don't usually go together.  But it actually works.  What you do is sign up for the team, walk where you are, raise money from your personal network just like the other walkers and record your results online. 

Here in Charleston, where Blackbaud is headquartered, we have a number of people who regularly walk the property the building is on (keeping away from the alligators in the pond, mind you).  Daniel Island is a pretty place, and a walk outside is a nice break.  But during the summer it's just too hot, so my colleague Sally worked with our facilities team to map out an internal walking "track."  She posted the route on bulletin boards for those who want to take a stroll through the building and know how far they have gone.  This is for everyone, regardless of whether they sign up for the walk itself.

The American Heart Association helps out by providing an app that allows people to create their own walking paths and track progress, too - just go to their Start! Walking Now site.  So you have no reason not to do it!

Thanks to Team Blackbaud San Diego for leading the way for health, wellness and giving back.  Good luck in the Heart Walk this September - and have fun!