Random Ramblings...

Summer's here and like most everyone else, I've been busy and neglecting certain things- hmmm, like this blog. I think my own advice from several posts ago suggested that a good blog strategy is not necessarily the frequency of communication but the predictability of it.

Unfortunately, I've been unpredictable lately.

I have only a few excuses- summer being one of them- and apparently the number of 'tweets' I send from watching the Phillies (Yes, I am a die hard Phillies fan).

So here's a few random thoughts I wanted to share:

Deceptive Credit Card Sweepstakes.

On the radio the other day, I heard that TD Bank (a major banking institution here in the NorthEast) is offering a summer sweepstakes whereby their Debit cardholders can win a prize if they 'swipe and sign' instead of entering in their PIN number when making a transaction.

Why is TD Bank encouraging their customers to sign a receipt instead of using their PIN? Simple. Just follow the money. By classifying the transaction as a VISA/MC purchase, TD Bank (or their affiliates) can charge more than if the transaction is using a PIN number. That is, they can charge the merchant/business 3% instead of 1% or even less. That adds up- and quickly. No wonder TD Bank is willing to give away $50,000 to make it happen but the end result is that everyone else loses. By encouraging these transactions, businesses have to pay more in fees which inevitably leads to higher prices which hurts everyone. So the advice of the day? If you are going to use a Debit card, try to use your PIN. You save the merchant money which will be passed onto you in the future in the form of lower prices.

For non-profits, it works the same way. If your organization has the capability to process Debit cards with a PIN, or better and you can use ACH (Checking/Saving Account info)- you can save your organization a lot of dough (and you don't have to win a ridiculous sweepstakes to get it).

DonorPerfect Roadmap Roadshow

Tomorrow and Wednesday I'll be presenting the DonorPerfect Roadmap Roadshow (TM). Nearly a thousand clients have already signed up but it's not too late! Check your email for the invitation or login to your client account for more information. This 45 minute presentation will highlight our direction for DonorPerfect and outline plans for our impending release of DonorPerfect.NExT- scheduled for October 6, 2009!

Social Network Fundraising

As many of you know, we've been offering a Social Network Fundraising solution for over a year now. Called DonorPages, this groundbreaking solution makes it easy to enable your constituents to raise money on your behalf. We've got a ton of success stories, and with that success we recently promoted Rob Strickler to manage the division. Rob just launched his blog here, so take a look- DonorPages is simple the most powerful, easiest and cost effective solution in the marketplace!