Connections

Random Interactions and Connections

Steve MacLaughlin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:33:00 GMT

Today's blog entry is a random collection of worthwhile and useful links. Enjoy!

NTEN's Donor Management Software Survey
Cast your vote. Take the time. Speak your mind. NTEN is now doing a survey of Donor Management Software that I really hope you'll spend a couple of minutes to complete. The feedback benefits the entire nonprofit community. Past NTEN surveys about CMSs and CRMs are also useful sources of comparative information. Blackbaud scored very well in those surveys.

The Baudcast - Episode 15
This episode cover disaster fundraising, Beth Kanter's Gnomedex experiment, real-time social fundraising, people to people fundraising, non-numeric web analytics, social actions widget, Google Grants, and more. The panel discussion includes Chad Norman (Internet Marketing Manager), Allison Van Diest (Blackbaud Interactive Marketing Manager), Melissa Dodge (Public Relations and Media Coordinator), and myself.

Introducing the Blackbaud Payment Service
Have you heard of PCI DSS? Has your technology vendor? If you handle credit cards, either online or offline, then you need to understand what PCI DSS compliance means to you and your organization. Learn more at Blackbaud's PCI FAQ or blog. From October of 2008, any organization that requires a new merchant ID from the credit card companies must be PCI DSS compliant. In October of 2009, all organizations must be PCI DSS compliant to process credit cards.

Accessibility and Blackbaud NetCommunity
BBNC v5.5 had some significant and important improvements on the accessibility front. There's a new article on Blackbaud Labs that explains how to build an accessible UL-based menu and the sample code to do it. Keen observers will also notice that the website is running a prototype of article building functionality, including tagging, within BBNC.

Listening to the Nonprofit Tech Social Media Stream
Beth Kanter has posted a great list of links, listings, and listening posts for people to get in tune with the nonprofit tech space. So many nonprofits always ask me what to read / listen / follow and she's put together some very helpful resources here. This is a good place to start.

Upcoming NetWits Live @ Portland Event

Steve MacLaughlin — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:18:00 GMT

After a very successful and sold out event in NYC earlier this year, Blackbaud Interactive is holding a West Coast edition of NetWits Live. This time the free event will be held in Portland on October 2nd.

Here are some of the great speakers and sessions that will be at the event:

Lose Control: Social Media and Your Message
Holly Ross, Executive Director, NTEN: The Nonprofit Technology Network

The Right Message, The Right People, The Right Time — Making the Most of Email Marketing
Allison Van Diest, Blackbaud Interactive Marketing Manager,

The World Wide Web Show — Turn Your Staff into Stars with the Real-Time Social Web
Chad Norman, Internet Marketing Manager, Blackbaud, Inc.

Where: Hilton Portland Hotel and Executive Tower
When: Thursday | October 2nd | 8:30am to 12:00pm
Who: Nonprofits on West Coast and Portland area
How: To register please visit: http://www.blackbaud.com/netwitslive

Space is limited so register early.

Kintera Integration with Blackbaud Platforms

Steve MacLaughlin — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:22:00 GMT

For the past few weeks our teams in San Diego and Charleston have been very busy working on integrating a variety of things. And obviously a big part of the integration effort has been around our products.

Blackbaud CTO Shaun Sullivan posted a very cool screencast that shows off Kintera integrating with The Raiser's Edge and Blackbaud Enterprise CRM. The demonstration shows the Kintera Connect API, the RE API, and the Infinity platform API all in action.

In the screencast, Shaun shows an example of constituent data from Kintera flowing into The Raiser's Edge. He also gives a little bit of a preview of how the Kintera integration to RE7 will have first-class status within the application. There is also a demo of how data from Kintera can be pulled into Blackbaud's Infinity platform.

The examples in the screencast provide some insight into the technical workings of the platforms. But they are not intended to be representations of final code or what Blackbaud intends to ultimately release to customers. We want to make sure we're managing expectations properly.

A couple of additional details around some things Shaun references in the screencast:

Blackbaud is in the process of developing a Kintera Adapter for The Raiser's Edge
The Kintera Adapter will surface as a first class area within The Raiser's Edge
Blackbaud is currently in the early stages of a pilot program for the Kintera Adapter
Blackbaud will also be extending the no license fee offer for the RE API to current Kintera customers that have The Raiser's Edge
Blackbaud plans to release an initial version of the adapter prior to the end of the year

There's been some FUD being spread out there and we felt that it was important to let customers and the nonprofit technology community know what's happening. The teams working on this project have accomplished a tremendous amount of work in a very short time. I think this is a great example of the technological horsepower that the combination of Blackbaud and Kintera's resources can generate.

I'll be posting some updates as we move through our pilot program and the general available of this offering. Stay tuned...

The World is Bumpy

Steve MacLaughlin — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 23:43:00 GMT

One final thought from Sydney. I was at a Starbucks this morning down by the harbour trying to get my daily fix. At some point the iced chai latte kicked off a neuron and this thought fired across my mind:

The world isn't flat. The world is bumpy.

My work with international clients and my trips across various oceans has taught me that it's more than "z's" and "s's" that can cause bumps in our interactions. There are certainly language and localisation challenges, but there are also bumps over processes, cultures, governments, and banking.

Try getting the French and Italians to agree on a common bank transfer standard, let alone the banks in the countries themselves. Getting the language options right also means having a native speaker give it the thumbs up. Understanding what certain countries allow you to access via the Internet or the data privacy standards of a given nation can also make for a rough ride. These bumps should be expected and made part of any global technology decision or implementation.

This presents challenges for not-for-profits and the consulting firms and technology companies that serve them. But there has been a lot of progress made in recent years around better serving international customers. And I know that Blackbaud continues to work on providing solutions that meet the needs of our clients around the world.

A Signal Turning Green

Steve MacLaughlin — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:16:00 GMT

At last week's 2008 Blackbaud Asia Pacific Customer Conference, I spoke about some Internet trends that are happening in and around Australia. Whenever possible, I try to localise <sic> the information that I present to make it more meaningful and relevant to the audience.

One of the sources of information that I mentioned was the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Creative Industries and Innovation’s (CCI) Digital Futures Report that was released in July 2008. A lot of people in the audience were quickly jotting down a number of the stats that I mentioned.

I thought that I would post some of the more interesting and relevant pieces of information from the report:

80% of Australians use the Internet
74% of men and 71% of women use the Internet
84% of people between the ages of 35 and 49 use the Internet
66% of people between the ages of 50 and 64 use the Internet
86% of people with an annual income more than $70,000 per year use the Internet
93% of people with an annual income more than $100,000 per year use the Internet

These statistics are very similar to the findings of the Pew Internet & American Life Project research for Internet usage in the United States. Many people in the audience seemed surprised by this as there's a perception by many organizations that Australia is lagging in this area. It's something I call "Board Room Wisdom" where decision makers or those who wield a lot of influence make poor assumptions about what their constituents are really doing online. Just because you're not doing it...doesn't mean other people aren't either.

Another area I talked about was looking for leading indicators and a signal turning green that can help predict behavior. One trend that I always encourage nonprofits to look at is the usage of the Web for banking and other financial management tasks.

82.9% of Internet users research purchases online
59.2% of Internet users pay their bills online
46.2% of Internet users make at least one online purchase per month
$200 is the average amount they spend online each month
10% spend more than $500 per month online

In some areas, these statistics are slightly better than what we're seeing in North America. It show a very positive inclination to participate in online fundraising and other interactions important to nonprofits.

The study also looked at trends around social media and here are some findings of note:

39% of people said the Internet has increased their contact with others with shared activities

52% of people said the Internet has increased their contact with family members

62% of people said the Internet has increased their contact with friends

The Digital Futures Report goes on to look at usage of different media types and several other areas. This is very good reading material for nonprofits in Australia and other parts of the Asia-Pacific region.

That's it from the other side of the world. The next post will originate from home soil. Thanks to all of the people at Blackbaud Pacific and the many customers that I've had the pleasure of meeting and working with over the past two weeks.

Social Networking Ideas and More

Steve MacLaughlin — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:00:00 GMT

The latest episode of The Baudcast covers a lot of topics and is well worth a listen. Episode 14 is nearly 40 minutes long and a lot of the discussion is around the value of social networking and how nonprofits can begin to leverage it.

The panel discussion includes Chad Norman (Internet Marketing Manager), Melanie Milonas (Public Relations Manager), Chris Clark (Software Engineer), and myself from Blackbaud. Also on the panel are Danielle Brigida (National Wildlife Federation) and Garrett Keating (United States Naval Academy Alumni Association and Foundation).

There's a great exchange between the panel about social networking and what is working, what makes the metrics move, and what might not yield results. A common trend is to see a small number of very active users. I think this reinforces the 90/9/1 Rule that I've talked about in some of my presentations about social media.

We also talk a little bit more about some of the new social networking functionality in Blackbaud NetCommunity v5.5. Chris Clark touches on some of the development work that has been done on the product, and he discusses some of the thought processes that went into building this functionality.

The build vs. borrow choice also gets a fair amount of discussion by the panel. Many nonprofits might be able to get things started purely through borrowed technologies or social networks. For certain key constituent groups the build approach may be a very effective tool to help increase the relevancy of those relationships.

A question sent in via Twitter from Marc Pitman asked about fundraising differences and trends in Asia Pacific. I did my best to explain the hybrid nature of fundraising here that combines a focus on recurring gifts and major gift development. It's very much a combination of fundraising techniques used in the UK, Europe, and North America.

There's plenty of other good stuff in Episode 14, and I hope you'll listen to it and send us some feedback. I was also glad that Skype managed to work and sound pretty good from here in Australia. Sometimes all this technology actually does work.

Blackbaud's 2008 Asia Pacific Customer Conference - Day 2

Steve MacLaughlin — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:30:00 GMT

It's the second and final day of Blackbaud's 2008 Asia Pacific Customer Conference in Sydney, Australia. Yesterday had some really good presentations, and some even better in-between session conversations.

I'm doing four presentations today and I'm hoping that my voice holds up. Here's what I'll be speaking about:

Integrating Online and Offline Channels to Get Results
You've Got Email! Now What?
Blackbaud NetCommunity Demystified
Social Networking & Blackbaud NetCommunity v5.5

Hopefully I'll be able to blog about some of the other sessions, but it's going to be a very busy day around here.

(Updating Periodically)

Blackbaud's 2008 Asia Pacific Customer Conference - Day 1

Steve MacLaughlin — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:15:00 GMT

G'day from Sydney and Blackbaud's 2008 Asia Pacific Customer Conference. I'm really looking forward to the next two days of the conference. The event is taking place at the Harbours Edge Events Centre in Darling Harbour here in Sydney.

The main conference room was jam packed for the opening session. John O'Donnell, Managing Director of Blackbaud Pacific, kicked things off. There are nonprofits here from Australia (all territories including Tasmania), New Zealand, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

The conference begins this morning with a keynote presentation from Rebekah Horne, Vice president Australia and New Zealand, Fox Interactive Media. Horne is responsible for driving the growth of the portfolio of Fox Interactive Media sites including MySpace.com. Her great work in Australia has led to a recent promotion to run MySpace UK and Europe.

Rebekah started off by noting that media is always rapidly changing. Engaging with younger generations using social media is about having a meaningful dialogue. These are illusive consumers of media, technology, products, and services. There is an opportunity to build awareness and advocacy with this audience, even if they aren't constituents today.

Social networks aren't just about a large pool of people. They are a very powerful way to engage people on a larger scale than possible with traditional channels. The 113 million people on MySpace is an example of how things get opened up on a global scale. Rebekah talked about a recent project done with MySpace and World Vision around the Myanmar disaster. They were able to react quickly, generate a tremendous amount of awareness, and make an impact.

Rebekah Horne went on to talk about the six types of social media users: Essentialists, Scene Breakers, Netrepreneurs, Transumers, Connectors, and Collaborators. It's the connectors and collaborators that are driving much of what is happening on social networks today. Once upon a time it was about just pushing out a message. Now it's about sharing the message and allowing that message to be transformed in new ways.

Up next is Charlie Cumbaa, Senior VP of Products and Services with Blackbaud. Charlie talked about some exciting things that have happened over the past year at Blackbaud. He also talked about the Blackbaud product strategy and roadmap. He shared where we are today and where we are going in the future.

Charlie talked about the continued growth of the company, our increased investment in product development, and he also discussed the acquisitions of Target Software, eTapestry, and Kintera. We're working to meet the diverse needs of our clients on a global basis, and the clients Blackbaud serve in Asia Pacific are an important part of that. He finished his presentation by taking questions from the audience.

Following the lunch break, I sat in on a session about using interactive media that was done by a group of people from Habitat for Humanity Australia, Oxfam Australia, and Lort Smith Animal Hospital. Clive Lam from Blackbaud Interactive started off the session by talking about how interactive media has changed and the role Web 2.0 plays in all of this.

Mark White, COO from Habitat for Humanity Australia, spoke about the decision process that his organization went through when deciding what kind of online platform to use. He spent some time explaining what Habitat does, the different types of constituents they engage with, and how that influenced their online strategy. Mark focused on how the "volunteer journey" and the "donor journey" are often disconnected, and using a tool like Blackbaud NetCommunity allows them connect people along the way. Habitat needed a user friendly extranet environment, enhance volunteer coordination, a way to enhance access to information across geographic and functional areas, and the tools to grow their volunteers and donors. Managing and helping the journey from volunteer to donor is a critical element in the organization's success, and they are using the web to make that happen. Mark noted that Blackbaud NetCommunity has given Habitat a "powerful and transformative way" to engage people and convert them into donors. They viewed the investment as a more efficient and effective way to acquire donors than through traditional channels.

Bernadette Maguire with Oxfam Australia then talked about how important integrated solutions are to an organization's fundraising success. She recounted the tale of making an online gift and the lag time before she received any further communication from the organization. It's not a data problem. It's a stewardship and ultimately a fundraising problem without integrated systems. Bernie talked about the growth of Oxfam's online giving and what has helped to drive their success. About 25% of their total income now comes from online donations. 34% of their donations in the first part of the Australian tax year came from their online site. She talked about how the template structure of building web pages has really helped them to quickly publish content and donation pages without being dependent on technical resources. Bernie talked about the trends that Oxfam has seen with their online giving and how important it is to be able to track when appeals go out and their performance over time. She closed by noting the importance of having a single database for online and offline supporter information, the benefits of doing things online, how the Web impacts other internal processes, and to be sure to your solution addresses data integrity to avoid duplicates and unreliable information.

Then Cath Hoban from and Lort Smith Animal Hospital talked about their first venture into online fundraising. Lort Smith is the largest animal hospital in the Southern Hemisphere, the third largest in the world, and they care for over 100,000 animals per year. The organization is 75 years old, but prior to 2006 they didn't have a fundraising department. They also had a very inadequate online presence that didn't allow them to take online donations. Cath discussed how they put a strategy together to improve their online and offline fundraising results. Their whole project went from concept to product selection to planning to design to implementation to development and launch in less than 8 months. This involved implementing both The Raiser's Edge and Blackbaud NetCommunity as part of the initiative. Cath explained how they've used affiliate programs, banner ads, fundraising widgets, and other tools to help with their Strays Birthday online fundraising event. Their online efforts so far have been successful and the ROI has been much better than if they had used traditional channels alone. Cath spent time explaining how their email marketing campaign has achieved results and how they have been able to measure this. The combination of direct mail cards, ecards, and email messages has really worked for them. They are already halfway to their goal of raising $200,000 from a combination of online and offline pledged and gifts. Cath closed about some ups, downs, lessons learned so far, their goals for next year, and a sneak preview of their newly redesigned website.

The next session started off with a presentation by Charlotte Grimshaw of Fundraising Research & Consulting about Prospect Research and the Fundraising Process. She talked about the growth of wealth in Australia and that there are now 172,000 millionaires in the country. Charlotte went on to discuss the various information and data sources that can be used to complete a total picture of a potential donor. This can be both internal and external knowledge, and there are ways to balance both of these to get results. She discussed an example of how donor screening is done, what it typically includes, and the results.

Anni Macbeth was the last presenter of the day and she spoke about Future Trends of Younger Generations. She started off by noting that engaging with these groups is a challenge, but it is not impossible. Anni reminds us that younger means faster (linear, lateral, multiple, depth, immediacy), and that relationships happen in two kinds (real world / virtual world). There are clear generational differences between Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y, and Anni went through many of the key characteristics that nonprofits need to understand. Baby Boomers are downsizing their lives, have a strong sense of community, but many can't afford to retire. Find what out what they care about, show how they can give back, and remember that they are security conscious people who will plan for bequests. Gen Xers are a split group where half are "brand x" people that have no distinguishable characteristics from Baby Boomers. The other half is leading change, have their own personal sense of time, and are called the Me Generation by Boomers. They are focused on who they are, where they are going, and how they plan to get there. These Gen Xers are leading a lot of what is happening in virtual worlds, they are mobile, their identity varies, and they make assumptions about money and materialism. Gen Xers defer to doers and heroes, status is tied to achievement, and you need to walk the talk with them. Gen Yers value their time over almost everything else, and they tune out organizations that don't move at their speed. They are comfortable with multi-channeling, the conversation is more important than who they are talking to, and they use their intuition to judge authenticity. Gen Yers want to be engaged right now, why they should do it right now, and don't look too far down the road. Anni closed her remarks by talking about where human communication is going, made a reference to the Cluetrain Manifesto, and robots. Yes, robots.

A very informative day. A lot of great speakers. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's sessions. Stay tuned...

(Note: To my new friends in Australia, please forgive the z's instead of s's)

(Updating Regularly)

Connections from Down Under

Steve MacLaughlin — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:08:00 GMT

I'm in Australia for the next few days to present at Blackbaud's 2008 Asia Pacific Customer Conference. Our office here in Sydney has grown tremendously over the past few years. And Blackbaud's Internet offerings continue help how nonprofits in the region engage with their constituents.

Australia is a country of about 21 million people and there are 170,000 nonprofit organizations registered with the government. Aussie's donate about $11.4 billion per year to charities, of which $7.7 billion comes from individuals. And the whole Asia-Pacific region continues to grow as well.

Organizations like Make-A-Wish Australia, Wildlife Warriors, Save the Children Australia, and Habitat for Humanity Australia have chosen Blackbaud NetCommunity to help drive their online fundraising and community building initiatives. The ability to handle a nonprofit's content management, email campaigns, online fundraising, community building, and integrated data needs has made it a very popular solution.

But you don't have to be a very large or international nonprofit to take advantage of what BBNC has to offer. My favorite client story from the trip so far is Lort Smith Animal Hospital in North Melbourne. The organization is doing their first ever online fundraising event called Strays Birthday. The group hopes to raise $200,000 in both online and offline donations as part of the event.

The Blackbaud Interactive team here in Sydney did a tremendous job working with the client to develop an event fundraising website with some character. The microsite has a good mix of form and function. Understanding your audience and being able to have a bit of fun with the design is always a welcome sight.

In just a few short weeks, the Lort Smith Animal Hospital has raised over $20,000 online. They are also raising money through offline channels and have the ability to quickly measure and track the progress of their efforts in The Raiser's Edge. For them, having an integrated solution for their fundraising endeavors is already paying off.

I'll be blogging later this week from the Asia Pacific Customer Conference. I'm really looking forward to meeting with and talking to the nonprofits that will be attending.

Latest Baudcast Episode Focuses on Fundraising Techniques

Steve MacLaughlin — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:20:00 GMT

Episode 13 of The Baudcast is really worth listening to this week. I've missed the last two recordings due to some scheduling challenges, but the content keeps getting better and better. Lots of focus on traditional fundraising efforts that are getting results.

The panel discussion includes Chad Norman (Internet Marketing Manager), Melanie Milonas (Public Relations Manager), and Jamie Holaday (Internal Communication Coordinator) from Blackbaud. Also on the panel are Marc Pitman (Founder, FundraisingCoach.com), and Ken Meifert (Senior Director of Development, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum).

Ken Meifert talks about a recent direct mail campaign that involved some list building, data modeling, and a high-touch mailing that was extremely successful for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Marc Pitman chimed in with some tips around getting board members and nonprofit executives bought into smart direct mail techniques. Ken discusses why the effort worked and how a special targeted mailing with nine points of personalization got results.

The subject then switched to planned giving and there was a very interesting discussion about trends with the aging. This type of fundraising continues to be an underutilized approach. Marc notes that 70% of people die without a will, and there is a simple message that nonprofits can use to actually help their constituents.

Of course, there's bit of commentary about technology's role in all of this. And a good Q&A session at the end around running a good employee giving campaign. There is also some information about the now sold out 2008 Conference for Nonprofits, the NetWits Live event in Portland, and some other related news items.

Chad Norman is becoming the Leo Laporte of the nonprofit podcasting world. You can get the latest and all the previous episodes of The Baudcast here or on iTunes.

Multichannel Marketing Mojo

Steve MacLaughlin — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:20:00 GMT

There is a lot of talk and discussion about multichannel communication out there in the nonprofit world. Organizations want to do it, consultants recommend ways of doing it, and technology vendors claim to have the tools to actually get the job done. But in many cases, it's more sizzle than steak.

At Blackbaud, we've been working on delivering a true multichannel tool that allows nonprofits to do the complete lifecycle: Data Segmentation, Channel Selection, Message Creation and Delivery, and Roll-up Reporting. While some tools on the market handle bits and pieces of this process, there aren't any that embrace both online and offline channels. Until now.

Our Blackbaud Direct Marketing (BBDM) application will soon include functionality that integrates with Blackbaud NetCommunity's email capabilities. It's a great example of the Infinity platform in action that pulls multiple products together as a single robust solution.

BBDM has a very strong set of marketing planning, scheduling, segmenting, and reporting features that clients are using. With a solid foundation in place we've added new channels that can be leveraged as part of a direct marketing campaign. And we're surfacing BBNC's email tools on the Infinity platform to do it.

This is a big step in the right direction for nonprofits that want a solution that does more than just talk about multichannel capabilities. Gone are the days when you have to do your direct mail in one application, your email in another, and other passive channels somewhere else. (Nothing legacy about what Blackbaud is doing here.)

Blackbaud Direct Marketing allows users to make segmentations made up of highly granular data selections from any data source, including but not limited to The Raiser's Edge, Blackbaud Enterprise CRM, or BBNC. Then you have the option to create mailing packages that may be a direct mail piece and/or an email. If you choose email as one of the options, then you can setup the various email settings and design options without having to switch to a different application. Sending test messages or final blasts can also all be done within BBDM.

From there the integrated reporting and tracking capabilities of BBDM and BBNC kick-in. No spreadsheets or disparate system for tracking source codes. Nope, we have the tracking and finder number goodness baked right into the mailings. And conversion information can be round tripped back to the CRM. (I won't confirm or deny the rumor that grown men have openly wept upon seeing this.)

Look for this capability to get even more powerful over time. Adding additional active and passive marketing channels will allow for a more comprehensive approach to marketing and fundraising efforts. Two thumbs up to the development teams and customers that helped shape this unique solution.

Blackbaud NetCommunity v5.5 Release News (Part 4)

Steve MacLaughlin — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:25:00 GMT

Blackbaud NetCommunity v5.5 was released last week and the initial feedback and response has been really positive. Here are a couple additional items of note about the product.

First, there's now a Blackbaud NetCommunity blog called The Connector that launched today. This product blog joins its other brothers and sisters like The User's Edge, The Spotlight, and The Thread. Look for contributors from across product development, Blackbaud Interactive, and other parts of the company to post things on this blog.

We've also posted some more information about our new Wave Social Networking functionality that is part of Blackbaud NetCommunity v5.5. Check out some of the videos and additional feature information that has been posted online.

Over on The Doc Side blog, Betsy Unger has posted some updates about the new BBNC User Guides. There are also some new user guides that include the Website Design Guide, Team Fundraising Guide, and the User Networking Guide.

And another post talks about the new video tutorials that are being added to BBNC. The first tutorial is a great step-by-step guide to processing sign-up transactions in The Raiser's Edge. This tutorials will appear along with the BBNC help files that are built-in to the product.

Look for some other product news and notes in the future.

Upcoming Presentations in 2008

Steve MacLaughlin — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 13:04:00 GMT

I've done about 15 or so presentations this year at conferences and events. So now I feel like I'm in the homestretch of the year with only a few major conferences left on the schedule.

Here are some upcoming events where I'll be presenting:

August 21 - 22, 2008
Sessions on Social Networking, Blackbaud NetCommunity, and more
Blackbaud’s 2008 Asia Pacific Customer Conference
http://www.blackbaud.com.au/event.aspx
Sydney, Australia

September 29, 2008
"Pass it On: Using the Social Networks of Your Supporters for Viral Marketing and Team Fundraising"
2008 National Catholic Development Conference
3:45pm – 4:45pm
http://www.ncdc.org/annual_conference/2008/
Lake Buena Vista, FL

October 1, 2008
"Social Networking Strategies for Success"
Blackbaud's Quarterly Conservation Group Meeting
10:00am – 2:00pm
Washington, DC

October 20 - 21, 2008
Sessions on Email, Blackbaud NetCommunity, and more
Blackbaud’s 2008 European Conference for Not-for-Profits
http://www.blackbaud.co.uk/events/bbe2008/conference.aspx
London, England

November 16 - 19, 2008
Sessions on Web 2.0, Social Networking, Integrated Marketing, and Blackbaud NetCommunity
Blackbaud’s 2008 Conference for Nonprofits
http://www.blackbaud.com/events/bb_conf/charleston/nonprofitconf.aspx
Charleston, SC

December 2, 2008
"Living Between the Tides: How to Succeed in a World of Technology Change"
AFP Massachusetts 2008 Conference on Philanthropy
http://www.afpmass.org/conference/
Boston, MA

I hope I'm not forgetting anything. And I'm sure some other webinars and events will come up between now and then as well.

Blackbaud NetCommunity v5.5 Release News (Part 3)

Steve MacLaughlin — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:56:00 GMT

Blackbaud announced today the official release of Blackbaud NetCommunity v5.5. The release also contains some important updates to our Online Campus Community (OCC v2.5) solution.

"We designed Blackbaud NetCommunity from the ground up as a content management and online fundraising solution to serve the needs of the nonprofit community. Since it was introduced in 2004, more than 600 nonprofits have selected NetCommunity to create an online presence and recruit and retain donors in the online space." - Marc Chardon, Blackbaud CEO

BBNC v5.5 includes improved site design features and a native social networking feature called “Wave,” that will provide nonprofits with an opportunity to further engage their constituents online. Additionally, the release unveiled a new set of NetCommunity Open Platform APIs for creating custom parts, integrated web services, and custom transactions.

"With Wave, Blackbaud has introduced a new way to leverage social networking—both within the application and by integrating to social network services like Facebook—which will add to the viral nature of our work. Being able to have an easier way to reach out through social networking channels will help us extend our audience as we move more and more in that direction. Additionally, the ease of integration between Blackbaud NetCommunity 5.5 and our other Blackbaud systems will help us close the loop between our online and offline direct marketing efforts and really take our reporting, data management and usage to new levels.” - Michael Sola, Director of Information Technology, Chesapeake Bay Foundation

Here are some more details about what is in the new release:

Content Management – The solutions now support “workflows” by allowing designated users to approve and publish submitted items from content authors. The improvements also supports versioning and roll-back capabilities of content. Multiple image uploads (even from Facebook!) and easier document linking are just a few of the other content management enhancements.

Fundraising and Marketing Enhancements – The latest release significantly improves the management of donations by allowing website visitors to make multiple donations or registrations via a single transaction. Viral marketing and fundraising efforts are enhanced through support of eCards and page sharing links that embrace Web 2.0 concepts. And to support direct marketing initiatives, we now provide an easy way to create “friendly URLs” and external source code tracking.

Improved Internationalization, Accessibility, and Extensibility – The latest versions provide improved compliance with online accessibility standards, including Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) and Section 508. Re-captioning of fields on many forms, allowing website content to appear in multiple languages, is also supported. Best of all, these versions make our open APIs even more powerful, allowing richer customizations by clients and partners.

Social Networking – Wave, Blackbaud NetCommunity’s new social networking feature, is the first natively-developed social network in an Internet solution designed for nonprofits. BBNC 5.5 & OCC 2.5 now go beyond simply allowing the sharing of information with Facebook to allowing organizations to provide their website visitors tools for their very own social networks, complete with personal messaging, Circle of Friends, self-forming groups, and expanded Facebook integration.

Customer Requests – And of course, every release gives us an opportunity to incorporate more customer requests, and this is no exception. Great features such as a scrolling donor wall for TeamFundraising pages and printable event calendars will make clients’ websites more friendly to visitors, the updated EE PlugIn will make their work easier, and additional security options, including reCAPTCHA online fraud prevention, will protect them behind the scenes.

We're already working on the next few releases of BBNC and OCC to keep the momentum going. Innovation doesn't sleep or take holidays.

Blackbaud NetCommunity v5.5 Release News (Part 2)

Steve MacLaughlin — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 12:12:00 GMT

Blackbaud NetCommunity v5.5 is probably one of the biggest releases we've ever done with the product. There are just a ton of great new features and improvements that take it to a whole new level. (Enough new things to fill 65+ pages of documentation alone.)

For nearly two months, I sent out a "BBNC v5.5 Treat of the Day" to key internal stakeholders and members of our Blackbaud Interactive team to promote some of the new things in the release. I thought that I would share my Top 30 treats, and keep in mind that this only scratches the surface for what you'll find in the release. Enjoy!

1. Page Sharing including social media linking
2. Email Notifications for social networking and content approval
3. eCards, eCards, and eCards
4. Document linking made simple
5. Improved editing from the page level
6. Recaption all donation part fields
7. Custom donation part confirmation pages
8. Friendly URLS for pages, team fundraising, social networking, and more
9. Support for Moneris as a merchant account option
10. Language settings and language selector controls
11. Associate an image with a role
12. Giving Search functionality integrated to The Raiser's Edge
13. Multiple image upload
14. Recaption the login part
15. Social networking in BBNC
16. Personal messaging in social networking
17. Groups in social networking
18. Floating CSS modal window
19. Recaption nearly everything in social networking
20. New user security settings
21. Event registration custom confirmation page
22. Firefox support for admin tools (including the Mac)
23. Targeted content interface improvements
24. Calendar view and printing updates
25. Versioning in content management
26. Directory search fields
27. Anonymous postings on a discussion board
28. Social networking info on user tab
29. Optional reCAPTCHA on donation forms
30. Content approval at the page editing level

A big thanks goes to everyone in the product development, quality assurance, and release management teams for their hard work for the past several months. And thanks to all the clients, consultants, and people that have provided us with ideas, feedback, and inspiration along the way.

Maybe for an upcoming release I'll post the treats on this blog or something. That might increase the traffic already pouring in from certain geographic locations. ;-)