Indianapolis Visit
I just returned from a very productive trip to Indianapolis where I spent some time with both Blackbaud Fundware (BBFW) and The Financial Edge (FE) clients.
My friend, Steve Ketterer and I, hosted a user group for a large number of his BBFW clients. The turnout far exceeded our expectations and we are thrilled with the result. I thought that other clients might benefit from the material that we covered, so I decided to share a brief summary of the discussion in this forum.
BBFW topics:
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BBFW is a fully supported financial management application. Blackbaud is investing development resources into the product in order to meet our customers' needs. Our committment to the former Kintera Fundware client base has not changed since we first announced the acquisition last year.
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Current BBFW clients covered by a current maintenance plan may decide to take advantage of a free software upgrade to FE (Free upgrade is limited to an exchange of BBFW to FE modules). New software capabilities are available for purchase.). The decision to upgrade is optional and totaly at the discretion of client management. There is no plan in place to require conversion--that is, BBFW clients may also choose to remain on Fundware.
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BBFW version 7.5 is currently available. We plan to release version 7.6 in Q4 of this year. For details regarding BBFW upgrades please refer your questions to the
BBFW Support team.
FE topics:
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I offerd a brife company overview and FE product demonstration to the group. For an online version of the demonstration, please follow this
link.
Next Generation
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I shared an overview of my latest research results and a high-level description of my vision for Blackbaud's financial solutions. I also requested that those in attendance volunteer to participate in my current and future research efforts. The offer is open to any willing participants with a financial management responsibilities or experience. Please feel free to contact me directly if you are interested in helping shape our future product offerings. My email address is
andrew.payne@blackbaud.com.
To those that attended the session, I would like to extend my thanks for sharing your valuable time with our team. Again, from our perspective, the meeting was most productive and I look forward to developing longstanding dialogue and relationships with all that were in attendance.