NTEN Conference/Social Return vs ROI

I just completed a conference with NTEN, and this time around, I have to say I felt a different vibe- and I'll explain in a moment.

The NTEN Technology conference brings together the latest trends in technology for the Non-Profit Sector. Full of energy and lots of young people (well, at least younger than I am), it was definitely invigorating to see everyone come together.

However, who was coming together? Unlike last year, I definitely noticed many more folks connected with technology companies or they were independent consultants. Of course, I fall into this same group, but usually it's important to see that the people we are trying to serve- actual non profit organizations- attend the event.

I guess I just experienced a different vibe this year- technology seemed to be the focus, and not non profits. There were scores of people selling themselves or the latest wares- and many times I didn't even know what they were trying to sell. Technology for technology's sake I guess.

In reality, the only reason why non profits should invest in any technology is if they believe they will achieve a return on investment greater than their current processes. Now, ROI can be calculated in many ways, and it's not just about dollars. There's certainly SROI, or Social Return on Investment, that must be measured as well, and something I'm calling STROI, or Social Targeted Return on Investment.

Your STROI can be measured and influenced by activities such as public awareness campaigns, volunteer initiatives, special events, and grass-root advocacy projects, just to name a few. So while an initiative may not raise a lot of money, it may raise awareness which could be very worthwhile to your cause, and potentially create a fundraising base in the future- which could be a very, very, very, long time away.

I do believe people put more of an emphasis on STROI than traditional ROI, simply because it's easier to convince people with feelings rather than fact - the returns are nebulous and not easily measured. I.E., anyone can spend $50,000 and buy a full page ad in USA today. Sure, you'll get lots of people that read the ad- but will you ever know how many? Will exactly 5% of those readers become advocates and donors? The answer is always 'maybe'. So people try it and most fail.

I think the same reasoning applies to many new technologies. Let's create an application on Facebook! They have tens of millions of members! Sure you may get 1000, 10,000 or even 1 million people to download it- along with the other 30 applications they downloaded already. How many of those that download it are committed to your cause? How will yours rise above the crowd? Is it worth developing an application to try and find a needle in a haystack, when you have to pay and maintain the cart that holds the whole haystack? (And pay for the driver, and maintain the wheels, and the axle, etc. etc.).

It's no secret that the best fundraising activities or technologies generate both the return on investment and spread their message to raise social awareness. These types of activities include traditional Thons (such as walk-a-thons, bowl-a-thons, dance-a-thons, etc.) where the constituent is actively recruiting (through their social networks) additional constituents and raising a significant and meaningful amount of money at the same time.

Direct mail fundraising, a tried and true ROI king, certainly is a case of lower social return (you target a limited pool of people), and a high return on investment. The same goes for Planned Giving and Capital Campaign initiatives- since the ROI is off the scale for these activities, the fact they only reach a few people doesn't matter. On the other end of the spectrum, a newsletter reaches many people, but the overall ROI is quite low.

Finally, you have a group of activities that have both low social return AND low ROI. Some examples of these (which include both off-line and on-line technology) include On-Line Shopping Malls, Paid Banner ads, personalized widgets, full page newspaper ads, television ads, etc. I even think tools like Twitter come into play here- where's the ROI?

In face of the other alternatives, doesn't it make sense to avoid this last group of activities if at all possible?

New Upgrade Hits the Streets...

Our latest upgrade of DonorPerfect Online was downloaded seamlessly over the weekend to thousands of users...........and no one heard a sound.

That is, unless you were one of the two (yes only two) clients that phoned in over the weekend on our 24 hour support line. While I would love to proclaim the upgrade was a 100% success, it does look like we successfully implemented the latest release of DonorPerfect Online for the remaining 99.991% of our users.

With this new version, clients can expect to receive:

1. New Soft Credit Reports. These reports take in account each donor's capacity of generating gifts by listing the soft credits that were generated by the donor. This way, donors are recognized not only by the gifts they give, but also the gifts that they are able to influence through other constituents.
   
2. International Customization. While we've always had the ability to track foreign currencies in our product, addresses and dates can now be displayed and stored based on the user's preference.
   
3. A New Batch Module. We're proud to offer the first complete browser based flexible batch entry program. Through batch entry, organizations can easily enter in hundreds or thousands of gifts, create batch templates, and efficiently split, soft credit, and create tributes on the fly within the batch. Finally, batches can be committed by the user to be reviewed by a supervisor, who can finally authorize and post the batch. There are many more features available- please contact your Account Manager for more information.
   
4. Custom Report Writer Improvements. We've upgraded the look and feel of our custom report writer, and included more export options such as Word, Excel, and PDF. Creating a report is just as simple, and now all columns can be easily be sorted in ascending or descending order simply by clicking on the column heading.
   

This interim release of DonorPerfect Online is just a shadow of what's in store for later this year. I've blogged about it before, but DonorPerfect.NExT is coming along, and we're looking forward to generating a few more disruptions in the marketplace.

In the meantime, I look forward to seeing clients at the following upcoming conferences: NTEN in New Orleans (starting tomorrow!), as well as the International AFP conference in San Diego the following week.

We've got some BIG announcements coming out during the AFP conference- stay tuned!

Productivity Boost!

So, I finally joined the digital world- I bought a new cell phone.

Yes, I've had a cell phone for 8 years (it's easy to remember because I bought my first one when my wife and I were expecting our first child- Annie is 8 years old). But now I've got something that is incredibly efficient, and to be upfront, I'm a little afraid of it because now I'll always be connected.

It's a new Blackberry World Edition Phone, and replaces my cell phone, calendar, and laptop.

Yes- it replaces my laptop- at least for reading email and doing casual web surfing. As you may know, SofterWare (parent company of DonorPerfect) switched to Gmail about 5 months ago. The Blackberry phone integrates with Gmail and Gmail calendar.

Every email that I receive in Gmail displays in my Blackberry. If I respond to an email on my Blackberry, it's copied on my desktop in the office in real time. What's more, Gmail is so tightly integrated into the Blackberry that it's impossible for a recipient to know if I responded via regular email or my phone- all the settings (including my text signature at the bottom of the email) is the same.

Likewise, the calendar functionality in the Blackberry is perfectly synchronized to my calendar in the office. Any changes I make on either are reflected in the other. This also means that my colleagues (and especially my wife!) can easily know my schedule and we can better communicate and plan accordingly.

What's the best part about all these services?

It didn't require a call to our I.T. department.

Setting up the email and calendar took about 3 minutes- you simply enter your Gmail User ID and password. The software does the rest and BOOM! You're connected in real time.

It goes without saying that the primary benefit is to stay connected with your staff and donors. Whether we like it or not we live in a connected world, and those that stay connected will achieve greater success.

Other benefits of a Blackberry:

• The software is easy to use and very intuitive. I didn't require training at all.
• The phone can be powered by a standard mini-USB cable. (It does come with a regular AC adapter too). This means I can power the phone from my laptop in case an electrical outlet is not available.
• It has a full functioning QWERTY style keyboard, making it easy to send full text messages and responding to email.
• This model claims to work all over the world. Since I'll be in the U.K. and Latin America this summer, we'll see if it really works.
• The Blackberry also acts as a USB jump drive ( I purchased the 4GB version). I don't have to worry about carrying a separate jump drive to transfer large files between computers.

Some drawbacks:

• The mini-USB power did not work initally on my laptop. The Blackberry gave me a non-descript error saying there wasn't enough power. A quick check on Google and it appeared I needed to download a newer USB driver. I did, and it worked- I just wish the error message was more descriptive.
• I wish the volume could be set louder- perhaps I have bad hearing?
• The Gmail application on the cell phone has crashed once. Turning the phone on/off solved the problem.

Overall, I'm very impressed with the phone. I am no longer bound to my office or laptop, and the productivity increases have been dramatic. Setting up the device could not have been easier- it clearly shows the power and ease that Software as a Service (SaaS, like DonorPerfect Online) delivers to the end-user so that expensive I.T. staff is not necessary for configuration.

(Notes: The phone costs ~ $400, and signing a 2 year extension decreased it to $199. The 4 GB SIMM memory card was an extra $79. In addition to whatever cell phone plan you pay, it does require an unlimited data plan from Blackberry, which is an additional $25/month, and includes web browsing.)