9 posts tagged “integration”
mStoner provides an interesting look at How Donors Use the Internet. Interestingly, success of a nonprofit's web site can't only be judged by the level of online donations, since many visitors will check out an organization online but continue to give offline.
Nonprofit Times reviews a study which discusses the value of email addresses: Get an Email Address, Generate Income, as well as other trends in online giving.
Association of Fundraising Professionals discusses a survey that suggests that Integrated Fundraising Activities (are a) Key to Success and that using a variety of approaches is best, although reminds us that developing relationships and major gifts are still critical components..
Finally, the blog A Small Change suggests that fundraising no longer needs to be restricted by geography in Fundraising Without Borders.
Thanks to Holly Ross and the entire Nten staff for last week's annual Nonprofit Technology Conference, held in New Orleans. With so many worthwhile sessions taking place during the three days, the hardest part was choosing which sections to attend. I was also fortunate to receive what was clearly the most valuable prize at the Sponsor Fair, a $1000 donation to any nonprofit of my choice, generously contributed by Jay Frank of Nice Touch Communications and Telecom for Charity.
Kudos also to Beth Kanter who organized the Day of Service to assist local nonprofits in New Orleans on the first day of the conference. Working with Nancy Schwartz, (who writes Getting Attention to help nonprofits with marketing tips), I gave a quick ephilanthropy tutorial to Casa New Orleans.
I also participated in two conference sessions:
Tug of War or Pulling Together? Building Teamwork for Better Online Campaigns, David Hollender, Jed Cohen and I reviewed strategies for how an organization can work collaboratively instead of in silos. Sharing information regularly can help, as well as a current intranet site and 'lunch and learn' where departments are invited to learn about each other's projects. While it is helpful to build relationships with those in other departments before you are assigned to work on a project with them, it's also important to make sure that your own department's goals are met.
The Joy of CMS: Implementing Sustainable Content Management Systems (The Painless Way to Keep Your Web Site Current): I moderated a panel of three CMS experts: Andrew Cohen, Nathan Gasser and Jeff Herron. Instead of focusing on available products (of which there are many), we discussed how the idea of content management can be successfully deployed. Having a current web site is easier when the responsibilities are shared throughout the organization, and when management accepts this as part of everyone's job. We also discussed work flow - how web pages are reviewed and released, and how to insure that web content is consistent with other communication vehicles.
I also want to commend Laura Quinn and Dahna Goldstein who moderated two sessions on data integration which I attended. Since most of us have data in many locations, it is always challenging to share information between multiple products. Memorable takeaways: when evaluating products, data integration must be on the list of requirements, and it may be best to consider vendors who have been 'open' from the start rather than those who have changed mostly due to market demands Let's keep this discussion going on Nten's Data Standards & Integration affinity group!
It was also wonderful to return to New Orleans, which clearly is still recovering from the effects of Hurricane Katrina. My wife and I were serenaded one night by a couple who lost their home and were struggling to make ends meet.
Recently I was asked by my organization to do an analysis of technology platforms so that we could plan strategies for next year's national events. Over the past year we've rebranded our program and are doing a lot more national promotion than in the past, so we wanted to be sure we are on a solid path.
To gather information, I sought out development and technology staff at ten large nonprofit organizations which do comparable events. Not surprisingly for the nonprofit community, I was gratified by the helpfulness I received from the people I spoke to. I asked what products they were using, what worked vs. what didn't, and whether they would make the same choices today that they made in the past.
I wasn't really interested in which CRM product was best, since what's best for one organization may be not a good choice for another. However, I was curious about those organizations that chose to develop customized solutions rather than select prepackaged or hosted applications. At my current organization, we've struggled with multiple vendors in getting screens, processes etc. to work the way we would like them to. We've also heard from some constituents about user interfaces that are confusing or which otherwise make it difficult for them to participate in our programs.
As expected, many of my peers at other nonprofits have struggled to integrate online and offline data; some are doing only a partial integration; others have tried but fallen short; others have chosen to do data entry into two separate systems. I am encouraged by the new popularity of 'open' alternatives, but it's too early to report on organization successes resulting from these initiatives.
Generally, organizations that have developed custom solutions reported as much satisfaction as those who have chosen the large eCRM vendors. Yet, these nonprofits also admitted that system development had been a long, expensive process. Those who stuck with hosted products explained how they've had to closely project manage their vendor to make sure their needs were met as much as possible (as has been my experience).
My summary recommendation to my organization was to attempt a hybrid solution: consider staying with the vendors we have now if they can adapt to our requirements or connect to customized screens / systems developed elsewhere. I won't tell my national staff event managers they can't have what they want but we must be able to clearly document our requirements to give to the vendor or developer. In addition, we need to be able to differentiate between items that are deal breakers vs. others that would be 'nice to have.'
I'd like to especially thank these organizations whose staff generously gave of their time to help with my analysis: Alzheimer's Association, American Diabetes Association, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Multiple Sclerosis Society and Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization.
Sat, Oct. 13 I attended the NYC Joomla Day run by PICnet and sponsored by Google. Joomla is currently the most popular open source CMS (Drupal and Plone are also widely used).
As a relatively new Joomla user (I'm using it to build nonprofitbridge.com), I found the 'Joomla 101' session helpful. Louis Landry, a core Joomla developer, also reviewed the history of the development of upcoming 1.5 version and why it has taken a while to be released (it will be fully internationalized).
As I've mentioned elsewhere, I am a big believer in data integration, and that applications should be able to share data with each other. (I'm not alone in this effort - see the Integration Proclamation.) Ryan Cozimek of PICnet led an afternoon session to explain why integration of CMS & CRM products is important. Some benefits include allowing constituents to manage their profile on the web, providing a way to search data in inventory systems, making available help tickets to users and allowing for ACLs - access control lists, as a way to customize web site content. PICnet is currently developing tools to integrate Joomla with SalesForce and Democracy in Action. Recently announced integration initiatives by the big nonprofit vendors are Kintera Connect and Convio Open.
If your organization doesn't have an current web site because it takes too much time to update content, using a content management system will help. With an active community and developer base, Joomla looks like the strongest option in the open source CMS market.
Attended ephilanthropy.org's eTour this morning which focused on how to use online strategies for fundraising, advocacy and engaging constituents. Outgoing ePhilanthropy director Ted Hart offered a summary of 'ephilanthropy 101,' followed by Charles Riess (of RSM McGladsey, who hosted event), Blackbaud's Steven MacLaughlin and Convio's Bob Evans.
When it was suggested that nonprofits develop a specific online plan, I suggested that an online plan is useless unless it incorporates offline strategies. However, this becomes difficult when offline and online responsibilities are handled by different departments that aren't accustomed to working together.
When I retitled my blog, 'Bridging Development and Technology' earlier this year, I omitted an important part of the equation - Marketing & Communications. For an organization to take full advantage of the ephilanthropy techniques described today, it's important that Marketing/Communications partner with Development while using Technology tools. I am building a new web site at www.nonprofitbridge.com where I will further describe how this can be done.
Another worthwhile point: Every activity should drive traffic to your web site. In addition to regularly updating content, it's important for the web site to be a part of any organization initiative to attract and engage constituents.
Finally, it was suggested that organizations clearly list their objectives before selecting products and vendors. I asked: so why do many nonprofits base their decisions strictly on 'connections' or on products they've used at other organizations? After all, any vendor can fit the bill when you don't know what your requirements are.
There are many ways to join the Web 2.0 world. As was suggested by more than one speaker today, it's better to start something and learn from your mistakes than to wait endlessly while you plan the 'perfect' solution.
Since my current organization has used Kintera since January 2005, I eagerly signed up for yesterday's Nten conference call with Scott Crowder, who joined the firm as Chief Technology Officer earlier this year. Although I've raised nearly $7 million in online fundraising revenues, working with Kintera has been a challenge, especially when trying to integrate with Raiser's Edge, our offline fundraising software.
In addition to Scott's arrival, Kintera also hired a new Chief Executive earlier this year, Richard LaBarbera, replacing the firm's founder who had long held the position. Recently, Kintera announced a new initiative - Kintera Connect which promised a new approach to integrating with other systems, a complete reversal from Kintera's past strategy. However, when few details of this program were available, I feared this was mostly talk with little substance.
By agreeing to do yesterday's call, Scott made himself available for questions by the entire Nten community. Although Kintera Connect was a main topic, he also addressed many other issues including one that Kintera has always sought to bury - the company's financial viability. After detailing many new technical initiatives currently in process, Scott described the firm's goal of reaching profitability later this year and that they are "almost there now."
Scott also described how Kintera no longer wants to do "everything for everybody,' which has led to it having a product which tries to do too many things, not all which it does well. By opening up to tie in with other systems, Kintera seems to now realize that it must focus on its strengths: e.g. CRM, CMS, advocacy, and leave the rest to others.
Other announcements included:
- implementation of Akamai technology to enhance performance
- data center migration
- sharp increase in capacity to send mass emails
- enhanced CMS, replacing current system
Although I've often been a critic of Kintera in the past, this conference call shows that the new management at Kintera is determined to set things right. I'll wait and see if the results equal the promise, but Scott's willingness to talk openly is a promising sign. A recording of the conference call is available at Nten's site.
While coming back from lunch today, I met a staff member from our finance department in the elevator. Our office is setup in a way that finance and the president's office are on one side of the floor and everyone else is on the other side. I asked her if she liked being apart from most of the other staff members. At first she said no, but on second thought she said she enjoyed the privacy and being able to focus on her work.
About a year ago, my organization decided to invest in a new accounting package that would be more compatible with our fundraising software. It was a difficult transition, but now we have data flowing from one system into the other. Yet at most companies where I've worked, the fundraising and finance systems have been totally separate.
During a webinar today, I was reminded of the benefits of integrating traditional direct marketing and online fundraising. Yet these functions are often handled by different departments that each have their own agenda. 'Dual channel' donors usually give more frequently than those who receive only offline or online marketing. Yet few organizations have been successful in developing a truly coordinated strategy.
I used to think that doing my work well and pleasing my direct supervisor was enough to succeed. Now I realize that it is just as important to play well with others. While it's good to be friendly with co-workers, it's also important to work together with those in other departments, since most worthwhile projects require everyone's contribution. So for my organization's finance department staff, being 'separate' may be a mixed blessing.
Laura Quinn, Director of Idealware has released a valuable analysis on three approaches to data integration. Her site provides articles which help nonprofits decide what software to choose. Integrating data between different systems is always a sticky challenge, as I've experienced in my current role at the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation as we've attempted to integrate our financial, offline fundraising and online fundraising systems. Laura's article is a clear summary of integration options.
Is it better to use integrated software where not all the pieces are equally good or to search out the best applications of each category and try to use them together? My current organization has chosen the integrated route, but it's very a painful process. One vendor which promised to integrate with our existing fundraising software has never been able to get it working completely. Two other products that we bought from the same vendor, expecting them to work well together, still have been a challenge to integrate. Obviously many are concerned about this issue, as evidenced by the site Integration Proclamation.
This reminds me of the early days of PC software. Remember Symphony and Framework? Of course now you have Microsoft Office, which does have modules that work together well. But it seems that if an organization can identify its top needs, there's some merit to searching out the products that are strong in those product types. Integrated software can work too, but only if the 'strong' modules agree with your top priorities.
With Convio & GetActive's recent announced merger, the 'all from one vendor' concept seems to be gaining new steam. But it seems like there will always be room for products which do one thing especially well.
