$300 Billion in 2006

Americans gave nearly $300 billion to charity in 2006, setting a new record and breaking the record set in 2005 when the numbers were boosted by several natural disasters, including hurricane Katrina and the Indonesia tsunami. (Source: Giving USA Foundation). Adjusted for inflation, this represents a 1% increase over 2005.

What's even more interesting is that individuals in America are driving this growth- 83.4% of the total. Combined with the fact that 65% of households with income less than $100,000 give to charity and you have a situation- unique to America- where giving cuts across all socio-economic groups. Indeed, according to the research, Americans give twice as much as the next most charitable country (Britain was #2), and approximately 12 times more than the next country, France.

I'm not sure why this is so- certainly there are a number of factors involved, such as less governmental support for social programs here and the tax deduction factor that drives larger gifts. Of course, Americans could just really be more generous and I could keep it at that.

Giving will continue to increase through the years as the supposed '41 trillion dollar' wealth transfer will start to kick in and it will probably make $300 billion look paltry. This might be 20 or 30 years down the road, and while I may not still be here, I know DonorPerfect will be able to track it!

Anonymously yours,

Put this one under the "What are they thinking" category...

We literally receive hundreds of leads a month. Most are from are target markets, of course- non-profit organizations that are looking for easy AND robust fundraising software.

Every month we do receive a handful from overseas, and a typical story is from people who are trying to raise funds to build a boat that will connect their village with the mainland. It's very difficult to understand if they are being serious, or if they really think fundraising software will help their predicament. In the end, we usually have to ignore these requests because inevitably they ask for a donation or even promise to send a cashier's check for twice the amount, and to refund us the difference (the old Western Union-Cashier Check fraud scam that has been going on for years).

Lately though, we received this request from an anonymous person, with an anonymous organization, who wanted to be treated, well, anonymously.

This person wanted a full demonstration of DonorPerfect Online, a free account, complete access to all materials, and please, "No phone calls or mail - email only".

Well, the last time I checked we were not in the 'anonymous' industry. We like to build partnerships with our clients, and predictably, this means we need to know who they are and what they do.

If this person is a competitor, they should just stop by our booth at any of the dozens of conferences we attend because a) we'd rather take less materials home, and b) we'd rather they know the truth about our software rather than the lies that we hear all the time (OK, OK, that was a little harsh, but really- if they are going to talk about our software at least get it right and be up to date).

We'll see if this person responds favorable- my guess is that they will quickly lose interest and try another way to get their information "anonymously".

More traveling...

Last week was pretty brutal travel wise- I conducted a presentation of DonorPerfect at Cougar Mountain Software's business partner conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Cougar Mountain Accounting Software is just one of the many Accounting programs that integrate with DonorPerfect. By recording transactions just once in DonorPerfect, those same transactions can be easily imported into a number of accounting software programs. This single entry method greatly reduces administrative time and significantly cuts down on errors- your fundraising software and accounting software figures can actually match and reconcile! You can learn more about DonorPerfect's Quickbooks accounting interface.

After taking a red-eye from Las Vegas back to Philadelphia, I was off for a 'quick' trip to Lisbon, Portugal to present at a Unicef conference. Unicef has been a DonorPerfect customer for over 10 years, and our flexible software fits well with their unique needs. We're looking to expand our relationship and convert some installations to DonorPerfect Online over the next several months and also upgrade others to our new version 9.0 that was met with rave reviews.

Traveling to Europe was quite fascinating- it's been almost 20 years since my last trip there- and I wish I had more time to spend in the country. The exchange rates were not good- $100 US converted into only 65 Euros. I remember just a few years ago when the dollar was trading much higher, in fact, twice as high. Therefore, certain items like Diet Coke now cost 4 Euros, or about $6.15. Ouch.

Fundraising outside of the US is also a bit different. For example, foreign donors/consumers are much more familiar with the concept of electronic payments. In fact, most of Unicef's donors participate in a monthly, electronic transfer giving program, where average renewal rates exceed 97%. Compare that with the sub 80% renewal rates for traditional pledge programs and you have a superior fundraising approach that costs less to run and raises more money. Simply brilliant.

To be or not to be...an RFP...

RFP's (Request for Proposals) are a waste of time.

Wow- did I just say that? More importantly, did I mean it?

Well, yes and no.

To be upfront, many times, RFP's are indeed a waste of everyone's time. Here are some examples:

1. A small organization with 2 users, 2000 records, and a budget of $5,000 creates a 91 page RFP for review. Unfortunately, at this level, no vendor will complete this type of RFP because it simply does not make business sense to spend 30+ hours for that level of opportunity where your profit evaporates to nothing.
   
2. A larger organization submits a 150 page RFP that includes 292 customized details, including ones that say, "The system must integrate with legacy databases", or my favorite, "The system must be easy to use".

RFP's that DO make sense include those that are carefully thought out and include detailed needs analysis that are essential to the organizations operations. Yes, it may be nice for the fundraising software to integrate with your lighting air conditioning system, but is it worth it?

We also receive many unsolicited RFP's. While we appreciate to be included in the selection process, we will never have enough information to fill out the RFP completely and competently UNLESS we are able to spend some time upfront with the prospect.

Why? Because it's impossible to know how to answer the questions unless we have a much thorough understanding of the organization's business practices, mission, and goals. It will take time- expensive staff time- to make sure that we fully understand the requirements so that we can accurately answer the RFP. This is why many times, we require a first round demonstration of our product so that both sides can ask and answer questions to see if we're a good fit. Would you ever go out on a first date by filling out and signing a prenuptial agreement? I don't think so- that can happen at a later date, once we get to know each other better.

Why should non profit organizations care? Well, to be upfront it's much better for us to spend time on the things that really matter to your organization than to spend time making sure that we're using the correct font and formatting style. If we are required to spend endless hours just making sure an RFP looks correct, rather than being correct, we will have to raise our prices to justify our time investment, and that helps no one.

Therefore, please understand our position on RFP's. Sometimes they are a waste of time- for both sides. Other times they are very helpful, but not without a clear and upfront understanding of the requirements so that we are all on the same page and the project is a runaway success!