Version 9

We're putting the final touches on our latest release of our PC-LAN based product, DonorPerfect Visual Edition, and it's looking great.

This probably the biggest release for us since we moved to our first 32 bit platform 7 years ago.

Some Highlights of Version 9:

• New Design. We've completely updated the look and feel to make the program more intuitive and easier to use- but don't worry! Unlike Microsoft Vista, we still retained the traditional Menu, File structure to make the transition seamless. New users will love how easy it is to get started, existing users will love the fact they don't have to relearn how to use the software!

• WealthEngine Integration. Obtain valuable prospect information from 25 different database sources, including real estate, pension, FEC giving, and SEC Insider holdings. This prospect data is the SAME data that others offer, but at 1/4 the price! Why pay more for the same data?

• Outlook Email Integration. We've created a custom DP button in Outlook that will automatically copy any selected email(s) from Outlook to the donor's contact history in DonorPerfect. You can select one or many emails and it works automatically based on the sender's email address.

• New Acknowledgement Processing. This easy to use module makes the tedious task of thanking your donors easier than ever before. Easily preview donations, make edits on the fly, and create bank deposit reports in seconds. Integrates with Microsoft Word to create letters- you never have to know how to mail merge again- it's automatic!

• New Custom Report Writer. Easily create new reports from scratch with the unlimited flexibility of our built in report writer. Create lists, groupings, and calculated fields. Easy drop-and-drag interface makes formatting a snap. Get exactly the information you want, the way you want it.

• Quick Gift Entry. Enter in dozens to hundreds or even thousands of gifts fast and easy. Instantly print a transaction report, and reconcile your gift processing. System automatically reminds you for outstanding pledge balances. It's the fast way to enter donations quickly and accurately.

• New Financial Reports. We've added several new reports, and all reports have been given an upgraded look and feel to make them easier to read!

Version 9 represents our continued effort to innovate and provide the latest solutions for our clients.

Personally, I've never seen our company work so well as a team. Everything is clicking, we're having record sales (which must be annoying to our competitors... ;) ), record client retention, and our development efforts are on track and on schedule.

We start shipping Version 9 on Monday to new clients. We'll roll out the new version to existing clients (over 6000!) over the next several months (otherwise Support and Training would mutiny, I'm sure).

If you are an existing DPV customer and want to receive the upgrade sooner simply send an email to your account manager.

Congratulations to the entire Version 9 team- it's going to be a great ride over the next several months!

Be Careful about PayPal Donations....

I had a friend recently who had some money frozen by Paypal- he occasionally sells items on Ebay and one of his buyers refuted the charges over 30 days after (after giving positive feedback no less!). It wasn't a lot (<$200), but the very fact that PayPal not only froze his PayPal account but also dipped into his checking account remains very disturbing.

It took several unanswered emails and 30+minute phone calls, and to date, the problem still isn't resolved! In fact, a short search on the Internet uncovers a literal treasure trove of horror stories about using PayPal to collect money. It sure seems safe to use it to buy things, but when you collect money (for items or even donations), you put yourself at a lot of risk.

PayPal is not a bank- when you collect money, it goes into a PayPal account which is neither federally regulated nor insured. In fact, it's not even your money. PayPal can decide to do whatever they want with your money at any time. In addition, if you do have problems, customer service- at least according to my friend- is abysmal. One easy way to check is try and calling support at http://www.paypal.com/ - go ahead try it- they make it nearly impossible to contact a live human being (there's voice recognition software that you have to wade through first).

Here's a short list of some websites... while some of them are more or less trying to steer customers to their payment solution, the sheer number of horror stories leads me to believe that my friend's experience is very common.

http://paypalproblems.wordpress.com/
http://www.paypalwarning.com/
http://digg.com/security/PayPal_hit_by_payment_problems
http://pcworld.about.com/magazine/2007p030id101525.htm
http://www.reason.com/news/show/33114.html ****

**** This last one is quite interesting because it shows how a blogger raising money had his account frozen because he simply included a link about terrorism that was recognized as 'hateful' by PayPal.


Bottom line- I would never recommend PayPal to any non profit organization. Though we do offer our own service, called WebLink, with it's own real Merchant Account, I would encourage readers to use something else, even our competitors' products, before they use PayPal.

24 Hour Support? You got it!

As a result from the feedback from of our client surveys, we've added a new feature to our Premium Support plan.

Effective July 1st, all clients on Premium support now have access to emergency LIVE support 24 hours a day.

Now, we're not exactly thinking we'll get calls in the middle of the night (but we may), rather we think this will allow clients that need access to support to reach us in an emergency.

The good news is that unlike Dell or other large companies, the support is provided by one of our Tier 2 support reps, so you can be assured that your problem can be resolved. (Not only that, but in easy to understand English!)

It's just one of the many new improvements we've made to our expanded Support Services, which includes 3 levels of support: Maintenance, Full, and Premium.

Because of our record growth, we're very pleased that we continue to offer expanded services to meet the needs of our clients- it's a win-win situation!

When new doesn't work....

I believe I've witnessed something very interesting- and I think we may see more of it in the future.

I'm talking about regressive technology. This is where you buy something new, to replace something old, that in the end is actually worse.

Case in point-

We recently moved to a brand new office with a brand new telephone system. The office is wonderful- nearly double the space and much nicer than our old office. So far so good.

It also came with a brand new phone system. This means that your computer and phone work together, so that you can see the last 100 calls you received, which ones you missed, and which ones went to voicemail- all on your computer screen.

Sounds great? I thought so too. Except the voicemail is terrible. In fact- it sucks.

Our old system was almost 10 years old. Yet, you could rewind messages, slow them down, even speed them up. If you called voice mail from your own phone, it knew it was you so all you had to do was type in a password. You could delete messages in one key stroke. It was fast and simple.

Well- the 'new, advanced' one is a little different.

• It's slower to retrieve messages. There's pauses between messages that should be instantaneous.
• It literally has a bug- when you are finished getting the last message, it goes into an infinite loop, and you need to hang up and call back to do anything else.
• You can't fast forward. You can't slow it down (especially useful for fast talkers). It's nearly impossible to forward it to anyone- there's no automatic help to say "To forward, press 1".
• If you delete it, it's gone forever - POOF - even if done accidentally.
• The first part of the message lists the incoming phone number and time in date- in long drawn out simulated computer talk- before the message begins. Yet another time waster.

It literally blows my mind that we can take such a backward step in something as simple as voicemail, that it got me thinking- New technology is not always better. We really should have done due diligence before accepting our fate, because I'm pretty sure that while frustrating, we are probably going to accept our fate and do nothing.

Sigh.

It's the same thing with Fundraising Software. Through the years I've witnessed countless companies try to rush in with new technology that actually doesn't hold a candle to what it replaced.

Web 2.0 may fall into that category. While we are certainly in the process of developing new tools, we aren't jumping into the deep end and forgetting our base product. In fact, the fundraising market has been littered with the corpses of companies that introduced new technology that was inferior to what they already had!

For those of us that wore bell-bottoms when we were kids, this included FundMaster, and more recently, Campagne Associates' Alchemy product. Both were eventually killed and sold off.

I'm determined more than ever not to repeat their mistakes. As they say, "those that don't learn from History are doomed to repeat it".

We'll be deliberate, yet pursue those technologies that make sense for us and our customers. You'll be seeing it soon- with our upgrade to Version 9 of DonorPerfect nearly complete, and a brand new initiative that will rock the fundraising world- quite literally.

Stay tuned.

:)