Tales from the Road

I just finished exhibiting at the National Catholic Development Conference, held this year in Orlando. Typically referred to as NCDC, this conference hosts over 700 development professionals from about 500 catholic organizations across the US.

It's our fifth year exhibiting at the conference, and our first, in at least 10 years, that our booth and materials did not make the flight. Apparantly, they were hijacked to Texas instead, and we had to activate "Operation Conference Backup". Luckily, after a quick infiltration of a local 24 hour Kinkos shop and with help from our marketing gurus, we whipped up some materials and booth in

Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales"

just a few hours. Special thanks goes to both Chad Kashub and Sam Goldenberg for stepping up to the plate and helping out over the weekend.

The conference proved to be a major success as we were able to demonstrate our latest version of DonorPerfect, Version 10. Version 10 sports some new features, including a completely integrated Special Events module that makes it easy to plan, coordinate, and execute almost any kind of special event.

It's easy to record event details, such as venue information, expenses, and even auction items. Invite groups of constituents at a click of a button, and record responses just as easily. The module even tracks teams or tables in a drop-and-drag interface, making these assignments painless. Finally, over a dozen reports track the progress of the event, and comparison reports make it easy to evaluate one event against another. It's simply awesome!

Surely, the chief buzz at the conference was the state of the economy and its effect on giving. Though there were some exceptions, most people were resigned to the fact that this year would be tough and they were preparing for a decline in most revenue categories as compared to last year. An exception seemed to occur in major gifts and planned giving, which at least anecdotally, seemed to be on the rise.

The next several weeks will be very busy for us as we release Version 10- it's going to be very exciting!