AFP and New Product Launch!

I just returned from the AFP conference this year in San Diego and I have one thing to say: I wish I lived here if I didn't already live in Philadelphia (does that make sense?)

San Diego has the nicest downtown area I have ever seen- it's like Downtown Disney on steroids. I don't recall seeing any trash, any graffiti, or anything that could remotely give a blemish to the city. Granted, I had a limited experience (we never ventured more than 10 blocks from the convention center), but still if you combine that experience with the glorious weather then I can understand why people love this city.

The conference itself was very, very, busy for us. From our success last year, we knew that people were understanding just how much we are an alternative to other software programs, including Blackbaud's Raiser's Edge. Our reception grew this year and folks got to see our latest innovations around prospect research, open API's and our new social fundraising solution, DonorPages.

For prospect research, we demonstrated our integration with industry leader Wealth Engine, and took a look at a certain Microsoft billionaire's public record. In our API review session, we helped explain the power of an open API, and showed how our clients have integrated the toolkit in their website to provide rich web content driven directly from their DonorPerfect Online database.

Finally, we also announced and demonstrated our latest product offering, DonorPages. I've been blogging about it for months now under the code name of spider.net.

Event Screen Shot of DonorPages. Click to Expand

With DonorPages, any organization can easily create a viral marketing campaign that empowers their constituents to create an easy-to-use 'DonorPage' and then invite their friends, family, and colleagues to visit their page and make a donation. In addition, DonorPages can easily integrate with other social networking tools, such as Facebook and MySpace, to create the perfect storm of fundraising activity and take advantage of your existing social networks.

Best of all, DonorPages is completely integrated with DonorPerfect, and allows both on-line and off-line gifts (from DonorPerfect) to display on the donor's individualized page. This new product is perfect for organizations that already raise money through sponsored events or want to tap into the enthusiasm of their constituents to spread the word. Finally, DonorPages is also available as a stand-alone product that can integrate with any other third party database via a simple download tool.

The conference also had a few surprises. For example, it was very interesting to see that Salesforce was absent from the exhibit hall after showing up in force for the NTEN conference. A few vendors had some splashy booths, while a few others chose a more conservative route. We ended up occupying a double booth, as we have done for years.

Overall, the conference was a huge success and we look forward to the coming months- the buzz on DonorPages has been fantastic, and I can't wait to see how it positively affects the fundraising successes for our clients for years to come.