The Jay Love Blog : eTapestry

Looking in the Rear View Mirror

Jay Love — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:10:00 GMT

After taking a "then and now" look at our eTapestry web site and the history of the name, I thought maybe we should try the same exercise for eTapestry the application. There is nobody more perfect in the world than John Moore our CTO to provide such insight. Therefore, as I take a couple of vacation days later this week, I have handed the key to this blog post to Mr. Moore. I think you will enjoy his comments and a couple of the comparison screenshots even if he manages to let a couple of buzzwords slip in...

As eTapestry passed its ten year anniversary last month, it seemed like a great opportunity to take some time to reflect on where the product was ten years ago and where it is now.

As a true startup venture, the first versions of eTapestry were functionally lean and no frills, as the priority was getting the first web-based fundraising product to market in a short period of time.

The operating landscape for eTapestry had some interesting hurdles ten years ago. One of our key design principles was to keep the amount of data and graphics on application pages low since broadband had nowhere near the level of penetration it does now.

Page design had had an intrinsic "vanilla" feel in order to sidestep browser compatibility issues since Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer were engaged in the original "Browser Wars" and agreements on HTML and JavaScript standards were yet to be seen.

Client-side presentation tools and programming languages ten years ago were not mature enough to emulate the rich desktop application experience users were familiar with so the original eTapestry interface was functional but clunky.

Thanks to the SaaS model of software delivery, an active customer base, the resources of Blackbaud and a crackerjack software development team, eTapestry evolved rapidly both in terms of interface presentation sophistication and ease of use as the technical landscape changed.

The software development tools grew up; AJAX and Dynamic HTML led to the ability to create a much better user experience. Broadband became ubiquitous and client computers became faster so application pages could show richer content without sacrificing navigational speed.

While the future will undoubtedly bring new challenges with respect to delivering a web-based fundraising application, I have no doubt that the experiences of the last ten years and the ever-increasing power of technology will serve us well in shaping tomorrow's product.

Happy anniversary, eTapestry.

John Moore
Chief Technical Officer

The eTapestry Web Site Then and Now

Jay Love — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:55:00 GMT

Earlier this week we perused a sample of the outstanding work of our very own eTapestry Web Services team. Thanks for the kind comments about their work.

During the course of writing that post it made me think of our very first eTapestry web site and the immense amount of transformation it has gone through over the years.

I can still recall the brainstorming meeting Steve Rusche and I had with the senior class students from the Herron School of Art at IUPUI they were part of the early cadre of brand new web site designers combining the technical skills with their already honed artistic skills. Any and every possible name for our new product had been tossed around. Yes, we tried every trite phrase regarding the "web" or "the midwest" or "fundraising". You should all be glad the artistic students vetoed the many dubious names John Moore, Steve and I had offered. To this day, John still laments the lack of faith those students had in our creativity...

During the brainstorming session one of the graduate students insisted on both of us describing the product's proposed functions in detail. Thankfully we did, because when one of the students stated that we were weaving together a rich "tapestry" of functionality for the charity world. Immediatey, one of us placed the infamous small "e" in front of that very vivid word of tapestry to form the now famous moniker of eTapestry! (Part of the reason for the "e" was the fact that all of the URL’s for variations of tapestry were taken, but eTapestry was wide open!) I remember looking at Steve, smiling, and saying even we can make that name well known far and wide in our beloved sector...

The rest is history as the pundits say. eTapestry did become known far and wide even with the design of our first web site below. They say a picture is worth a thousand words and perhaps that is the case here.

All of us involved with starting the company took our turn at writing a "white paper" or two. Here are a couple of those original ones here and here. They also served as a bit of a product road map for us in those very early days. I must however, give credit to Steve for so much of the text in those first web sites. As John and Scott were coding, and I was selling, Steve was writing and arranging. (I truly miss all of the early pictures of our activities that we used to fill up the space and to illustrate we were a "fun" group to associate with. If you visit eTapestry you can see some of those adorning our walls. We are the slightly younger guys with the gleam in our eyes...)

Our web site has continued to evolve and thrive just like the rest of the organization over the years and because of our alignment with Blackbaud. We just keep getting bigger and hopefully better. Below is our current web site. To say the least it is so much richer in content and depth.

The site is still under the watchful eye of Steve with the help of our Web Services leader, Josh Esslinger. (Who together, to this day, deflects many of my crazy suggestions in such a kind manner that I actually feel good about not every seeing them come to fruition.) However, instead of those insightful graduate students we have our very own web services team. They are every bit as creative and certainly much more experienced than those students were back in the late nineties. Just walking by their desks and/or offices will clue you in on that. What is there for art and inspiration is certainly not what you would find in your average office environment. Here is a shot of the team below, I will give a clue, Josh is in the back row... Perhaps they will be helping you create a magnificent Internet outreach for your organization soon!

Buzz and Flattery Will Get You Everywhere

Jay Love — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:55:00 GMT

"Buzz" as it applies to Advertising and Public Relations is defined by Wikipedia as the following:

Marketing buzz or simply buzz is a term used in word-of-mouth marketing. The interaction of consumers and users of a product or service serve to amplify the original marketing message. Some describe buzz as a form of hype among consumers, a vague but positive association, excitement, or anticipation about a product or service. Positive "buzz" is often a goal of viral marketing, public relations, and of advertising on Web 2.0 media. The term refers both to the execution of the marketing technique, and the resulting goodwill that is created. Examples of products with strong marketing buzz upon introduction were Harry Potter, the Volkswagen New Beetle, Pokémon, Beanie Babies, and the Blair Witch Project.

It is possible for firms to track the marketing buzz of their products online using buzz monitoring. For some companies it is important to understand the buzz surrounding a product before committing to the market.

Those of us who have the chance and/or the responsibility to create or approve marketing and PR campaigns for any organization are always striving for such "Buzz". This is especially true in the new Internet marketing age where a comment, mentions, re-Tweets and "posts" can be tracked to the extreme degree. We might be close to achieving such buzz with our latest eTapestry marketing campaign. Here is a recent blog post about campaign pictured below from Donald Temper.

Here is an excerpt from his post:

There are all sorts of rules for marketing, whether by direct mail or e-mail. There should be a guarantee. ("Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back.") There should be urgency. ("This offer expires in 48 hours.") And so on.

Sometimes the marketing can include a suggestion of exclusivity. ("This offer isn't for everyone–just those who want the best." Or "We're only making this offer to a select few.") One thing I haven’t seen–and I’m an avid reader of marketing advice from Glazer-Kennedy and a slew of others–is: Don't deliberately insult the recipient. Nor have I seen: Don't cast the product you’re marketing in a bad light.

Maybe we can learn something from the folks at eTapestry.com. That company's latest e-mail promo compares its potential customers to dung beetles. But, hey, that's not the end of it. It compares its own product to skunk cabbage.

Mutualism. It's what they call it when two things benefit each other. And just like the dung beetle and skunk cabbage help each other out, so too do eTapestry’s fundraising software and your cause.

Donald we appreciate your flattery and the mention out on the web. I personally think your comments have true merit. Yours is just one of so many comments, emails and notes we have received about the campaign. More importantly our prospective customers have really noticed too! In the economy of 2009 this has been a real blessing for our sales teams.

Please allow me to give credit where credit is due. The campaign was the brainchild of our advertising firm Young and Laramore and Steve Rusche on our team. When they presented it I immediately loved the concept and the offer associated with it. Like the originators of the idea, I had a hunch that our market, consisting of non-profit executives, was smart and witty enough to truly appreciate it and respond. Happily, that has been the case. Boy, I am glad that I am not marketing to attorneys as I was 30 years ago. They picked over every marketing piece and seldom had a sense of humor...

Steve, now what do you suggest for next year?

Just For Fun

Jay Love — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:48:00 GMT

You have heard me comment on the various events that help make up the special culture at our eTapestry Division of Blackbaud. Please allow me to describe our twist on the classic company golf outing. There may not be another one like ours anywhere.

We start out by inviting and in fact, encouraging as many non-golfers to attend this Thursday early evening event. Next we find the closest, most unique and economical par three golf course near our office. How does $5 per person for an economical company golf outing in 2009? The Heartland Resort can best be experienced by their web site. Where else can you play within the confines of RV hook-ups, a good ole swimming hole and a neat little miniature golf course. The map below provides some insight into the wide variety of nearby activities!

Those of you who follow professional golf are familiar with the Ryder Cup. We borrowed a few ideas from this great event. We match up each non-golfer with a golfer for a two person team. (One qualifies as a golfer at eTapestry if you either played at least once before or own a set of golf clubs or have a significant other with a set of golf clubs!) This two person team plays alternate shot golf until the ball is in the hole or a score of 8 is achieved. (It does happen even on a par three course...) We offer various prizes to add to the fun. My favorite part is that the entire course is so compact that you can virtually talk or at least yell over to everyone else while the round is going on. The action is fast paced and is never without a dull moment with this format. We had a three way tie this year for first place. As I left to go babysit my granddaughter they were deciding on whether to:

Have a one hole playoff
Pick a hole to find the lowest score on that hole
Flip a coin/play paper/rock/scissors
Play 3 holes on the miniature golf course

I have played in quite a few charity golf outings and even in a PGA Pro Am, but I can truly say for minute by minute fun and fellowship the eTap outing takes the blue ribbon. I personally love chatting with many of our employees during such away from the office gatherings. Here are a few pictures to provide additional color:

The event was so popular this year we had several other Blackbaud employees from various other locations join us. I am betting that they will arrange their schedules to join us next September like so many of us do for the fun!

Kicking off the new eTap Seminar in the Big Apple

Jay Love — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:49:00 GMT

They say if it flies with a New York crowd then it will fly anywhere. If that is the case, then we are in for a great run with our new seminar format throughout the rest of 2009. By the way, here is a link to register if we are coming to a city near you. There is a good chance you may have a short commute to see what I am talking about. (See the list at the bottom of this post)

I am almost ashamed to say that all I did was present, which in my opinion is the fun part, especially when you get to spend a holiday weekend in such an outstanding city as New York.

The heaving lifting was done by three members of our new account sales team in their spare time. You see, they still were achieving their sales quota as they assembled the myriad of details, facts and examples for such a large presentation. Therefore, I salute Katie Rucker, Mike Kierce and Cate Schafer on a job well done. For those of you who have not had the pleasure of meeting any of the three, I have included a few pictures.

So much for our producers, let's return to the packed room on 8th Avenue in New York last Tuesday. We had quite the variety of non-profits. Present were large National NPO's, start-up NPOs, NPOs from various vertical niches, NPO consultants and someone wanting a Microsoft Vista training session! (Just joking about the last one...)

My favorite part is that this group was brimming with questions and numerous actual day to day stories regarding the various key technology tools we discussed. Their real life case studies truly added as much or more to the presentation as I did.

Here are a few key slides which should provide an overview/preview for anyone reading this post. Perhaps you will want to see and hear more after glancing at these...

I can guarantee anyone coming will leave with at least 3-4 new ideas which could have an immediate impact on your communications and fundraising success. Feel free to send me a note at jay.love@etapestry.com to let me know if you came away with at least three.

Here are the upcoming cities below, sort of the eTapestry rock and roll fall tour! I hope we see you there...

Sept 15 - Baltimore
Sept 15 - Boston
Sept 16 - Charlotte
Sept 16 - Dallas
Sept 16 - Cleveland
Sept 16 - Atlanta
Sept 16 - Seattle
Sept 17 - Portland
Sept 17 - Houston
Sept 21 - Chicago
Sept 23 - Milwaukee
Oct 5 - Tulsa
Oct 6 - Oklahoma City
Oct 6 - Cincinnati
Oct 6 - Jacksonville, FL
Oct 6 - Detroit
Oct 8 - Phoenix
Oct 8 - Minneapolis
Oct 13 - San Diego
Oct 13 - Richmond
Oct 13 - Memphis
Oct 14 - Tampa
Oct 14 - Newark, NJ
Oct 14 - Los Angeles
Oct 14 - Kansas City
Oct 15 - Madison
Oct 21 - Birmingham
Oct 22 - Charleston
Oct 28 - Denver
Nov 4 - Louisville

A New Tradition Here at eTapestry/Blackbaud

Jay Love — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:02:00 GMT

Most of you reading this and previous posts are somewhat aware of the many traditions here at eTapestry. Our culture has been special from our inception and in my opinion always strives to become better each year. Our activities and sharing with each other range from the fun activities like our annual seed spitting contest around the 4th of July or our "Family Feud" contest between departments to sporting competitions like our annual kickball or badminton tourneys to meaningful activities like our quarterly charity volunteer days to our annual awards luncheon where partners, vendors and team members are recognized. Here are a few shots of those below.

I have always compared our culture to that of a large happy family. You know the ones that always have the great holiday celebrations and family reunions. They also seem to celebrate anything and everything. The only way such a family can become better is when it is combined with another large happy family. Perhaps a past wedding or two will bring that image of combing two great families into focus for many of us.

We just completed our two year anniversary of being part of Blackbaud. You see, we had our "wedding" in late July of 2007. I can truthfully state that it has been the combination of two such great families and cultures. Sure, we might have missed a cousin’s birthday along the way during these first two years, if I may continue with this metaphor, but we sure celebrated most of them.

Yesterday we were able to adopt one of Blackbaud's traditions as one of our own here in Indy. During our monthly company meeting, which brings our entire team together, we honored those reaching three and five years of service. Thanks to Blackbaud we were able to offer some special prizes to commemorate the service as well as much deserved public recognition. This was our first time to award the Blackbaud originated keepsakes. Here are a few of the pictures from the meeting (my apologies to the team members who were out of town helping prospects and customers).

I think we have found a keeper in this new tradition. It nice to find the traditions which keep both families proud and moving forward at the rapid pace we have been. Hopefully, many of you reading this blog will have a chance to interact with a 3 year or 5 year winner pictured above in the coming months!

NPO Blogging

Jay Love — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:35:00 GMT

Since we create custom web sites here at eTapestry and we now have a tool for very low end web sites called BlackbaudNow you might guess that all of us at eTapestry look at a large number of NPO web sites each week. One of my favorite parts is checking out personal blogs within those sites. I am especially fond of any blogs being written by the top executive of the charity.

A personal blog written by the top executive provides keen insights into that person, their method of leadership and their vision for the NPO. It gives me a superb way to connect, especially just prior to pulling out my credit card to become a supporter of the vision and mission portrayed. I am guessing I am not alone.

What is a major surprise and even a mystery to me is why more executive directors do not start a blog. One of the main roles of any executive director in the charity world and for any CEO in the business world is to initiate and facilitate communications. If any person in the key role as a leader is writing a letter, creating an email, answering an email or delivering a speech then they are MORE than qualified to do a weekly or monthly blog post regarding the mission of the charity. Heck, if I can do it, anyone can...

Let’s use a simple chart to illustrate:

Blog = Communications = Relationship Building = Success!

I will add a few footnotes to my masterful chart at the end of this post. First, I wanted to share examples of NPO blogs and in particular those authored by executive directors. As always, I am a huge believer in a picture (actual blog) being worth so much more than my text.

Before I share some examples of those executive director blogs I wanted to point you to a truly informative article that appeared in Fundraising Success about NPO blogging. You can find the article here. This article is jammed packed with information and tips.

I will share a few of the insights below:

According to Leroux Miller, there are six key ways in which blogs are different from Web sites:

Blogging software is easy and fast to use. Users can create and publish posts very quickly.
Updates appear at the top of the page, whereas if you update your Web site, visitors don't necessarily know what content was updated when.
Posts don't have to be long articles. You can add brief, frequent entries.
Blogs take on a personal, friendly style. It's a conversational, not institutional, medium.
Heavy use of links
People can subscribe so updates are delivered to them, rather than them having to visit your site to search for updates on their own.

Further reading reveals Leroux Miller stating there are five main types of nonprofit blogs:

News blog. If your organization wants to be known as the go-to source for the latest news on a topic.
Advocacy blog. If you want to be known as the "voice" of your issue.
Toolbox blog. If you want to be known as a resource, problem solver or technical assistance provider.
Storytelling blog. If you want donors to better understand the need for and impact of your work. Has a more personal tone.
CEO/executive director blog. If you want to build confidence in your leadership and approaches.

As you peruse the article you will also see how nimble the author is in answering the basic questions of why, who, when, where, what and how. It is well worth a read by any NPO considering adding a blog to the web site. Great stuff!

Please see how these various blogs add so much to understanding the mission and vision of the NPO's they represent below. Enjoy and please email me with any other examples I might be able to share a few weeks down the road.

Indianapolis Museum of Art
Shepherd Community Center
Jews for Jesus
Not a blog, but just as good: summitforsomeone.org
Live Strong
Indianapolis Children's Choir
Cathedral High School
Indy Cultural Trail
Life With a Baby
GreenPeace
Kiva
New York City Coalition Against Hunger
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
One
Oxfam America

Notice how the mission becomes real to the reader. Stories tell so much, often in emotional and meaningful ways. Think how easy it will be for the potential supporter to relate to the cause and yearn to be involved more. Is that not how philanthropy truly begins? Give it a try and I think you will soon see such relationships taking shape. Everyone reading this knows how to tell a good story. You may be a small step away from becoming a thought leader and a relationship building machine for your NPO!

When a Door Closes another One Often Opens

Jay Love — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:00:00 GMT

Last week an article from the local Charleston SC newspaper was for forwarded to me with a simple inquiry "Could we help?"

The essence of the story revolved around a stolen computer which was worth so much more than the price of an older PC. A children's home in South Carolina had the records and contact information for all 2,000 plus supporters of the charity on that computer. So when the burglar smashed the window and stole the computer in order to later try to sell on the street for $90, they were possibly hurting the ongoing funding for a fledgling NPO. All of us at Blackbaud/eTapestry knew we could help and more importantly insure such a calamity could never happen again!

The later articles outline the strange twist to this story when the Executive Director Danny Gilbert was tipped off that he could buy his very own computer back for $90.

Well as Paul Harvey used to say, "Now for the rest of the story..." I placed a call last week to Danny Gilbert. When the return call came I was in for a treat. Danny was one of the most refreshing conversations I have had in quite awhile. Chipper would hardly describe Danny. He believed in his mission of helping the children in need and was not bashful about explaining what they do for the kids daily. He was also quite frank about his lack of expertise regarding technology and how a good partner might be just what they needed.

Based upon that delightful conversation I introduced Mark Scott our Account Executive for South Carolina. He immediately worked with Danny and his small team to conduct our first step in helping any NPO, an in-depth analysis of their needs. That analysis revealed many needs for us to help address. Among them:

Provide a secure, online database they can manage from any Internet connection that can grow with the organization over time. Even track multiple locations when they raise enough money for the boy's ranch.
Eliminate duplicate data entry processes so they can easily track on-line donations, volunteers, event attendees, and sponsors from one centralized system.
Enable personal fundraising pages so board, current donors, volunteers, motorcycle run and fishing tournament participants can raise money for the organization by leveraging the power of viral networking.
Easily post items to an online Wish List page so constituents can become more aware and responsive to what they need to run the ranch.

Our story truly has a happy ending. We will be assisting Danny’s charity in ways he never dreamed of a few weeks ago. Part of that assistance will be provided via a gift in kind from our corporate foundation. The link to apply for such grants is here. More importantly, this type of situation where such critically vital information might be lost or stolen can never happen again. The Software as a Service (SaaS) nature of eTapestry's product will ensure the security of Danny’s computer, even if it is stolen or the building is broken into. The data will remain safe and the ability to use it from another location will prevail.

If any of you would like to also help Danny and the Eagle Harbor Boys Ranch please find more details at this link. Now you have "the rest of the story..."

We Did it Again, Only Better!

Jay Love — Tue, 12 May 2009 16:42:00 GMT

Pardon me while I boast just a minute about a truly special achievement by the team in Indy at eTapestry. Just earlier this week, four of our customer support employees were on hand for a large banquet in Indianapolis to watch the very best places to work in Indiana crowned.

As you can see below, it was quite the night, and we sent our very best to celebrate...

Ain't No Mountain High Enough

In earlier years, eTapestry was named the 19th best and the 17th best, so our goal was to crack the top twelve. Being in the top twelve is desired since those organizations are the ones most recognized and benefiting from a flood of resumes, as well as insurance salesmen coming to us...

You know you have to be careful when you set any goal because it just may have a better chance of coming to fruition. In this situation that is exactly what happened. eTapestry was named the 12th Best Place to Work in Indiana!

Below are actual non-touched up photos from the big night. Jason, Isaac, Kim and Geoff were on hand to accept the award and to hear about the practices which allow organizations to rise to the top.

I often reflect back on how eTapestry and now eTapestry/Blackbaud has grown into an organization that could be fortunate to rank so high. So many factors come into play. Through the years all of us kept watching and listening to what we saw and heard about great places to work. Key attributes or descriptions about the top organizations kept coming up. Among the words we heard and tried to emulate were:

Fun, rewarding, engaging, caring, friendships, fairness, respect, growth,
Quality, stability and excellence

We continually strive to achieve and then build upon those attributes via the core values our organization put into place the first year of our existence. In fact, those core values are on the back of every employee’s business card and are the first thing you see on the wall when you walk in our front door. They are:

eTapestry's Guiding Principles
Operate with the highest levels of honesty, quality and integrity
Treat all with fairness and respect
Be prudent in commitments and always keep them
Foster a fun and challenging environment
Demonstrate fiscal responsibility in all activities
Exhibit philanthropy to our community and marketplace

When you have a great team of employees who are motivated and commissioned to act with the values listed above in mind, it is quite a superb combination. Perhaps the Top Ten is within our reach for 2010!

The Largest Gathering of Technical Folks in the Nonprofit Sector

Jay Love — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:14:00 GMT

Yes, earlier this week I was part of the WiFi/laptop festival known as NTC.

This annual event, usually in the SF Bay area, continues to grow and thrive. They have certainly found their niche with an ever increasing gathering of truly passionate folks focused on the common mission of putting technology to work for the missions of NPO's. This year the event sold out early and truly lived up to the anticipation of seeing packed rooms for every session.

I was often a speaker in the early years of NTC. However, this year I was able to function as a participant, networker and part of the anchor vendor sponsor's ground team. Each of those assignments had certain benefits in making my two days there more worthwhile.

I am going to focus in on the participant aspect with a few observations and perhaps an opinion or two. I am hoping that the opinions bring a few replies that I may share. Please let me know your thoughts by just clicking on jay.love@etapestry.com and shooting me an email.

First, it was neat to see many of the larger sessions being piped out live for people to view via the web. Facilitating such technology is what should be done by such an organization and they more than made it happen. A big :) for all of those involved!

Next, it was quite a site in the large ballroom for the keynote sessions where everyone attended. Literally every seat was taken plus virtually any floor space on the sides and at the far rear of the huge room. Even with advanced planning they ran out of IP addresses for the laptops firmly entrenched on everyone’s legs. I wonder how many real time updates were being posted during the sessions?

I attended several of the sessions, particular the ones focused upon case study results within actual non-profits. In some cases truly revolutionary breakthroughs were showcased reflecting the integration of various technologies. Unfortunately most of the breakthrough examples were not within the budget reach of most charities. Only those with budgets who could withstand six figure outlays or larger with consulting firms were the lucky recipients of such integrations. Hopefully, those can be packaged in some manner so the other 94% of the NPO’s in the sector can utilize. (Most of you know that leveling the playing field in technology for that other 94% has been my mantra for virtually all of my 25 years in the sector.)

A couple of the sessions showcased the use of integrated solutions based upon so called "free or open" solutions such as Salesforce.com or Plone or Vertical Response and various others. As I watched the consulting firms involved talk about how they had assisted in making the integration of these tools happen for mere $15,000 to $30,000 investments, I could not help but wonder if most of the audience had any idea that such integration of CRM/Database tools with web tools/e-commerce pages and powerful email engines are standard offerings for many solutions from vendors like Blackbaud/eTapestry. We even have a new partnership with PayPal that is providing web site creation/hosting plus e-commerce/on-line donations plus CRM/donor database plus mass email functions within a single product that has no upfront or subscription fees for the small non-profit called BlackbaudNow.

More importantly, such solutions from well known vendors carry a few advantages that I just have to post here in my blog. Yes, I know it is a bit self serving, but they are so vital that I must state them or I am not being true to my mantra! Below are a few of the key advantages of dealing with a known vendor for such integrated solutions. They are:

You do not have to bear the development costs, which many times are NOT fixed fees
The solutions are backed by top notch ONGOING support at a reasonable price
The worry of new updates/versions to portion of the applications used breaking the integration and requiring more development costs goes away!
The solutions are upgraded and enhanced annually by the vendor based upon combined suggestions of the end user community
The vendor is obligated to fix any bugs that are found, usually for free
Proper training in a wide variety of formats is provided
Other NPO’s are using the solution and may be part of a user group community
The solution is kept upgraded and thereby functioning on new versions of operating systems, web browsers, MS Office and other backbone related systems
Many vendors scale the solutions and pricing so that the other 94% of market can actually afford to purchase and use on an ongoing basis
Additional add-on functions will be made available over the life of the solution

There you go ten quite important advantages in my opinion. These have been formed from all sides of the issue over the last 25 years. Please let me know if you agree or disagree.

I look forward to next year as the nonprofit world, via the NTEN Conference, will again showcase technology and the people behind the technology making it happen for all of us involved in some manner for charities large and small. Long live the geeks, CTO's, DBA's, CIO's and IT staffs who truly care and support the missions that matter to so many of us!

Twitter This or Twitter That

Jay Love — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:03:00 GMT

High speed personal blogging is here and it is growing fast. In fact, a few folks already have a MILLION people following their every post. How long did it take radio or even television to develop a truly loyal following of one million or more? Years and years, I am betting. In case you did not see the recent race to be the first to have one million followers on Twitter here is the story; and here is viewpoint on this recent event.

Wow, perhaps we should back up a bit and just explain what Twitter is. As is my custom, let’s turn to Wikipedia for a decent answer. In case you do not have time for the full article here is the essence:

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length which are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them (known as followers). Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow anybody to access them. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS) or external applications. The service is free to use over the Internet, but using SMS may incur phone service provider fees.

We are still early in the development of this new medium and its use for the nonprofit world. Is it an internal team building tool or can it be used by large constituent groups? One fact is clear. Twitter is a fast and easy way to communicate to as many followers who want to receive your 140 character news updates and opinions as possible. Any tool that is being used by growing masses must be explored by our sector in my opinion.

Here is another opinion on 5 ways to use Twitter for good.

I always recall a mentor of mine by the name of Terry Butler who helped us with our original business plan for eTapestry. We thought we had a good plan, even if it was fifty plus pages of our wit and wisdom. In one of our early meetings he asked us to shorten it to a one page summary. Then in our next meeting he had the audacity to ask us to reduce our idea to one paragraph! Just think, if we had been communicating via Twitter rather than email, we would have had it down to 140 characters or less...

I wonder how many future mission statements or NPO taglines will be the result of a tweet or two from some loyal Twitter follower. Time will tell...

Many of you have heard my infamous and now just plain old story of being the eager young salesman who was asked to introduce the fax machine to the legal community of Indiana more years back than I care to recall. Perhaps it will shed some light on what can happen with new and fast growing technologies. Once upon a time I began the process by diligently garnering an appointment with the largest law firm in the state. When the fateful day arrived it turned out to be quite a hot muggy summer afternoon. After passing out my shiny new business cards (boy was I still wet behind the ears!), I proudly announced that in the near future every business card in America would have a fax number on it. They actually started laughing!

Based on that reaction, it was time for the highlight of my presentation to begin or I ran the risk of being asked to leave immediately. I called my office and told them to fax me a legal contract. The machine beeped, then burped, then spit out a grainy, barely legible shiny sheet of paper with the large letters at the top, "A Contract to Buy 10 Fax Machines from Jay Love". I then made another claim that within a few years virtually every contract in America would be signed and delivered via a fax machine. One of the partners lit up a cigar, blew some smoke in my direction and proudly stated, "Not in my lifetime, kid!"

By the way, that particular law firm ended up with a room full of faxes a few years later. Guess who was smiling then? Do you think that law firm has formed an opinion on Twitter or Social Networking sites yet?

I for one think NPO’s should experiment with every popular form of communication. Such new media is often where deeply rooted passions for a cause can surface and rapidly spread. Having a million Twitter followers cannot be all bad...

Extreme Home Makeover and eTapestry Partner!

Jay Love — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:59:00 GMT

We have some late breaking and exciting news to share. This coming weekend marks the culmination of an entirely volunteer and donation driven family home being built in one week here in our hometown of Indianapolis.

ABC’s Extreme Home Makeover will be unveiling its Indianapolis home make over to a deserving family this Sunday. While Estridge is the lead build team to create a new home built in rapid fire time, eTapestry helped build a donation page and payment processing engine in one day that would accept online donations to fund the project. You can see what came to life in very short order at this link (Feel free to help out too...)

Yes, several of the superb team members at eTapestry stepped up in their own shortened "construction" time line to make this happen. My hat is off to Mike Garrigus (who built the page) and Kimberly Hammer (for back-end database help), along with Steve Payne, Josh Esslinger and Aaron Bacon for making this happen. Way to go, guys!

There were many local organizations involved in helping this Extreme Home Makeover happen quickly in our city. We were delighted to be asked to help and to be part of such a worthwhile charitable project. It is so neat to see such a large group of people and support come together so quickly. Because of those actions, much of America will see philanthropy in action and why so many of us think it is so magical.

The Academy Awards at eTapestry

Jay Love — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:11:00 GMT

Near the end of every year at eTapestry, we gather together to bestow our own very special version of the Oscars. This annual tradition revolves around the awarding the Spirit of eTapestry Award and the naming of our Associate of the Year. We do not have the Red Carpet arrival scene for opening entertainment, however we hold our own by inviting in and supporting the Lawrence Central High School performing show choir. This award winning group in its own right always sets the stage with a few numbers from their upcoming winter show mixed in with a few holiday classics. Seeing such top notch kids performing at such a high level brings a smile to everyone’s face.

We next highlight all of the charitable endeavors of our eTapestry division of Blackbaud. One of the first items I discussed with Blackbaud CEO Marc Chardon is the continuation and enhancement of such traditions as we became part of Blackbaud. Like so many other key areas, the folks at Blackbaud not only met, but actually exceeded our expectations here. Through Blackbaud’s charitable arm we have steadily increased philanthropic functions to now include nearly every employee on multiple occasions throughout the year. For more please click here.

Just like the Academy Awards, once the preliminaries are over, the stage is set for the awards we all came to see. Next on the docket is the Spirit of eTapestry Award. Here is a little background on this honor. We created it as a way to thank and recognize individuals outside of the company who have played a role in helping our business grow and improve. The award also represents the values that we wanted our company to be built on – Quality, Service, Integrity, Teamwork, Trust, and Fun. Those who receive the honor receive a statue of the flag-raising at Iwo Jima. This event was a significant victory in 1945 during WWII. It is an appropriate symbol for several reasons. First it represents outstanding achievement and commitment – the victory at Iwo Jima by the USMC helped bring to conclusion the Second World War. Second, it is a symbol of teamwork – the climb to the top of Mount Suribachi was dangerous and tortuous and required a team effort to achieve success. Third, it served as an inspiration to others – the sight of the US flag flying atop the island re-energized the troops.

And finally, it serves as a reminder of eTapestry’s original location on a retired army base Fort Harrison.

Our winners have ranged from our very first customer, to professional advisers, to major customers, to mentors, to investors and of course numerous business partners. In 2008, we recognized one of our largest customers who have been part of our family for several years. Like so many of our customers who are constantly improving upon their fund raising results, they helped to push us forward in so many innovative ways. For more information about Cornerstone University please click here.

Our final award(s) revolve around our individual star performers. The past winners of our Associate of the Year award are sort of the Who’s Who of eTapestry. Most of them are names quite familiar to most reading this blog. I would be remiss if I did not mention them all. They include: Mike Rusche, Scott Hedrick, Rick Radcliff, Chip Muston, Alice Baun, Wayne Robbins, Josh Esslinger, Doug Stevens, Greg DeaKyne, Melissa Allen, Becky Marcum, Rob Signorelli and Steve Payne.

This year we had two winners who impacted our business in huge, but separate ways. First, Kim Hammer, our manager of customer support who lives to improve customer satisfaction by her deeds and those on her team. I am sure any of you who are customers reading this entry will instantly recognize her and her commitment to excellence.

Next, we wrapped up our version of the academy awards with one of the leaders and key contributors on our sales team. Susan Ingram has literally succeeded at just about every role we have in eTapestry sales. From her initial start in existing customer sales to new account sales to sales manager to international/partner sales. She has climbed to the pinnacles of success in each endeavor.

As you can tell by the picture below, Susan and Kim’s smiles as well as their "can do" spirit are quite infectious. Hollywood better watch out for these two!

So, although I will enjoy the upcoming Academy Awards with all of its unique pomp and circumstance, I will also smile and think of the special eTapestry version from this past December...

eTapestry is Proud to be a Huge Part of FEP

Jay Love — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:43:00 GMT

In 2006, AFP and the Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C., launched the innovative annual Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP) survey. By comparing gains and losses in annual giving reported by donor software vendors, the survey helps fundraisers fine-tune their strategies.

This project is truly unique in several key areas. First, the results are based upon actual data contained in literally thousands of real life nonprofit fundraising databases. Second, as you will see below, this is one of the times that ardent competitors came together to pool results for the good of our beloved sector. (I am still not sure some can believe we truly did it. However, I am personally so proud of our group of vendors for rising to the occasion for such a good cause and dropping most of the petty reasons for not sharing data.) Third, the results are startling and highlight some key courses of action for nearly every nonprofit engaged in fundraising.

Participating vendors in the AFP Donor Software Workgroup include the following (companies marked with an asterisk are charter members of the AFP donor software workgroup):
Blackbaud Inc. (The Raiser’s Edge®)*
Compass Technology
Donor2/Campus Management Corporation*
DonorPerfect Fundraising Software*
eTapestry*
MatchMaker FundRaising Software*
Metafile*
Mission Research (GiftWorks)*
PhilanthrAppeal (FundTrack Software)*
ROI Solutions
Sage Software*
SofTrek Corporation (PledgeMaker)
Telosa Software Inc. (Exceed!)

Quite a strange group of bedfellows, would you not agree? I have to take a moment and brag a little bit about the huge part eTapestry played. Since our online model of the database application made it literally a single push of the button to participate for our customers, over 2,500 of them did just that! This definitely helped make the project a success since we provided the lion’s share of the data. I guess if you are going to brag a little you might as well mention all the key facets. In addition, eTapestry suggested the key report format used by the project. It was none other than one of our application’s key Executive Reports called Giving Dynamics. (See chart below).

In addition, since the FEP project and eTapestry’s customer participation were so successful, we decided to build upon that original concept and create an entire series of reports. It has become one of our most sought after modules called Benchmark Reporting. More background details about this exciting module are discussed in the podcast located here.

Now for the results . . .

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, which is essential in the blogging world since we are not writing novels or for the NY Times. The chart below reflects the actual Giving Dynamics as of 11/14/2008 comparing the previous year for a random portion of the eTapestry nonprofit customers located in North America. (Please note: dollars shown are in $000’s).

The report reflects a startling bit of news. Even though all organizations involved in fundraising strive to achieve a majority of fundraising goals in order to extend their mission, most of them lose more dollars from existing and previous donors than they obtain from new and recaptured donors! This report reflects 1,631 participating organizations with the new, recaptured and upgraded donors in 2008 representing 33 percent of the donors, while the number of lapsed and downgraded donors represents 59 percent of the total! Similarly, for every new donor gained, the organizations lost more than twice as many.

The true power of such reporting is in comparing your specific organization to the aggregate or to some specific subset meaningful to you. Subsets such as other organizations in your state or region or in your vertical part of the nonprofit sector reveal just how you are doing and what trends may be affecting you. Have you ever been in a board meeting where a board member asks how your results compare to other like organizations? Now you have an easy to use tool to more than answer such a question. More importantly, you are equipped to respond to or adjust to changes in our sector. Lastly, you know where to focus your efforts. A little extra care of existing donors could go a long way in changing the results in next year’s report!

A Monthly Tradition at eTapestry

Jay Love — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:07:00 GMT

If you have ever been around eTapestry you certainly know what the term OTM means. In eTap terminology and folklore, it is famous for representing Outstanding Team Member. You may have heard of plain old boring employee of the month awards. Try to place such previous thoughts out of your frontal lobe and allow your brain to be open to the concept of singing praises.

You see, on the first day of every month, every single employee has the chance to sing the praises of as many fellow employees as they choose. Believe it or not, most of our employees do just that in a very special manner.

The comments are often funny and witty about that fellow employee and their crucial deeds performed. In addition, they will in many cases evoke large amounts of heartfelt feelings for the person being praised. We then make those kind comments public every month at our all company meeting for one to two, to sometimes as many as three, winners. As you can from the picture below, we have saved those praises, every single one of them, for every month since our founding and have placed them on one huge wall in our office.

It is one of the first places I take guests and customers who visit. They marvel at the multitude of kind words expressed. Many say they are going to start the tradition at their office.

I read hundreds of emails in a typical business day (especially since I have signed up for just about every eNewsletter serving the charity sector, as well as most of our wonderful customers’ eNewsletters...) However, none seem to come close in enjoyment to those OTM nominations which flow in the 1st and 2nd of every month! It is just so neat to witness firsthand so many people singing the praises of each other. I will NEVER tire of those emails!

I shared with our team the following article from the magazine Fast Company. Needless to say, all of us at eTapestry agree.

Should you be reading this blog and have any words of praise for any of the eTapestry team, feel free to leave a comment or to email me at jay.love@etapestry.com. I will make sure the comments are forwarded to that individual. You may also have the splendid feeling of "making someone’s day!"