Three Things I Learned At ProductCamp For Your Nonprofit

This past weekend ProductCamp Austin held their 10th event.  It is the first ProductCamp globally to hold 10 events, and I was very excited to be able to a part of it.  For those of you who have never attended such an event, you are probably wondering “What is ProductCamp?”  ProductCamp is a nonprofit organization that serves Product Management, Product Marketing, and Marketing professionals with an opportunity to teach to, learn from, and network with each other. ProductCamp is a un-conference, meaning that it is FREE for anyone who wishes to attend! While your nonprofit may not have a product to sell, you do have a cause that needs donors to buy into your mission and support your organization.  Product camp is a great source of inspiration for innovation, marketing, service delivery etc.

I was excited to attend the event to get inspiration and wonderful new ideas.  Over the course of the day, I saw several presentations ranging from “how to tell your story” to “how to segment your customer base to better suit their needs”.  I got to thinking how some of these lessons could really benefit Sage Nonprofit customers who are looking to market their cause in a competitive environment.  There are three key lessons from ProductCamp that could benefit you and your organization:

1. Create and communicate an overarching strategy.

Day and day out I am sure you have a million ideas and programs that run through your mind. It is also easy to sit in meetings when ideas are being thrown across the table, which can lead to each person in the organization running in different directions. When it comes to communicating to potential donors about your organization, make sure you have a clear concise message.

You want your donors to know what your end mission is and what you are trying to accomplish, so they know what they are supporting.

This clear message will make it seem like you have a clear focus on your mission and that their money will be going to an organization that is making a true impact.

2. Tell a compelling story about your cause or nonprofit.

There is a lot of communication out there around how to position your organization or product to look better than everyone else out there.

I heard a great session from a gentleman named Mike Boudreaux who discussed how to tell a compelling story.  Mike’s points were backed up from this great video from Scott Sinek. Both of these speakers talk about why companies like Apple tell such a better story than everyone else.  What Apple does is use “why” to differentiate themselves in the market.  Apple is a great product because they challenge the status quo.  They don’t throw their product in the face of the customers, they throw their mission.  This is a great lesson for nonprofit organizations, who are looking to share their mission.  Not only will it cause your donors to feel more connected to you, it can create a movement that makes them want to be a part of your organization. Making that connection will not only lead to people donating to your cause once, but also keep them coming back.

 

3. Know your ideal donor and what is going on in their lives.

One of the sessions I listened to was from a woman by the name of Becky Trevino who discussed the importance of properly segmenting customers.  In the marketing world, it is important to understand, exactly who to reach in order to grow the organization.  Not only is it important to understand who that person is, but also to understand what is going on in their lives.  The more information you can collect on your donors, the easier it will be to identify how your donors will respond to the messages you are sending them.  For example, if you are targeting donors between the ages of 25-50 who love animals, think about how these donors find out about your organization.  Is it online via social media, are they watching your advertisements on TV?  Also, how do these people want to donate?  Are they living on their mobile phone or maybe they want to mail a check.  You can make the greatest impression on your donors by integrating the donation process into their day to day life.

Want to attend a Product Camp?  Visit http://www.productcamp.org/  to find one near you.

Brooke Grimes
Associate Product Marketing Manager
Sage Nonprofit Solutions

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Donor Loyalty Insights

The 2013 Sage Insights Survey on Donor Loyalty is now available.   The study conducted by Sage Nonprofit Solutions has some very interesting findings that are sure to bring value to any nonprofit organization.  Having had the pleasure of being a contributor to the study I was overwhelmed by the number of participants.  Loyalty continues to be a key theme for nonprofits and a driving force for development professionals.

Ironically, the study found that 67% of the people surveyed are not surveying their own donors.  I find it hard to believe that organizations, especially growing ones can reach their full potential without asking how they can get better and what they are doing well.  For me, surveying is always the thing I recommend an organization start with.  Donor/member feedback, should serve as your guiding light.

I was delighted to find that hand written thank-you notes reigned as the king of loyalty.  I have said it before and I will say it again, the value of a hand written thank-you cannot be over exaggerated.

The study goes on to share examples of what organizations are and aren’t doing today to ensure loyalty, and for those of you that were wondering, the most utilized give-away was none other than the classic pen.  My guess is the low-cost and  practicality make it the big winner.

In reviewing the study, I was most shocked to find 29% of nonprofits are doing nothing when a donor lapses.  This is good and bad news.  Great news for those of us looking for new donors and bad news for those of us failing to follow-up.

Overall, the study reveals numerous interesting facts and ideas for how your organization can insure that loyalty is a driving force.

Take-away: Check out the full survey, and see what your organization can do to improve loyalty.

Bridget Brandt

Marketing Director

Sage Nonprofit

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Certified Consultants: Invest In Real Experience

Would you ever choose a medical professional with “experience in the field” but who is not certified as an M.D.?  Probably not.  Even if that person is well intentioned, and has a working stethoscope and a copy of a Physician’s Desk Reference, you would probably decide they are not suitably qualified to make quality recommendations for your medical care.

The same could be said of software consultants.

Nonprofits often spending months evaluating specialized  accounting solutions before investing in a system. They carefully compare systems, evaluate costs, and weigh a product’s features against their needs. They invest time and precious funds to getting it just right. And they should—accurate financial reports are critical to managing a nonprofit, winning and keeping precious grants, even staying in line with the law.  Few would argue that it’s a casual decision.

Yet once they have just the right system in place, sometimes nonprofits choose to contract with independent “consultants” on their accounting systems. These consultants market their services to Sage clients, even though they have no real affiliation with Sage. Sage employees cannot vouch for these freelancers because they are not in our programs, and often are not even on our radar.  Unfortunately, the typical way we hear about them is via customer support when a client is frustrated with the service that they received.

The truth is product certification matters. Often unaffiliated consultants claim a range of product expertise, and maybe they really do have a great deal of experience with the product. However, product experience is not the same as certification. How do you know that someone is an actual expert? Certification is our way of letting our customers know how to find the real experts.

Every Sage Software Certified Consultant goes through a comprehensive certification process that covers advanced functionality of the product, including installation, importing, and customization. Each must spend a week at our corporate headquarters working directly with us to train on the product. They are then rigorously tested by Sage on their knowledge of the product and awarded certification only upon passing the exams.  Furthermore, each consultant in our program is also required to stay up to date on the product after each release. Consider Fund Accounting, with over 20 modules, and its multiple product releases a year, and you quickly see that this is no small level of proven expertise.

So, if you find yourself at the receiving end of a sales pitch for training or consulting on your Sage system, look for the Authorized Business Partner logo.  You can also visit our website for a list of certified Sage Business Partners or you can also call us directly to confirm an individual is certified or request a referral.  You would not put your own life in the hands of a freelancer. Don’t put the heart of your nonprofits finances in the hands of one either!

Christina Cockerham
Strategic Growth Account Manager
Sage Nonprofit

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10,000 Reasons To Use Google Grants

Started by Google in 2003, Google Grants helps nonprofit organizations raise money and promote their missions and initiatives on Google. Google Grants is essentially a nonprofit edition of Google AdWords, Google’s online Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising tool. Eligible 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations can receive up to $10,000 per month in free advertising within the Google AdWords search engine marketing platform called the Google Display Network. That’s ten thousand reasons to apply for Google Grants today.

Organizations selected for the program can use the free PPC advertisements to promote their organization’s website, raise awareness for their cause, recruit volunteers, attract new donors, market fundraising events and more. Google estimates around 6,000 nonprofit organizations are currently in the Google Grants program.

Google doesn’t accept every organization into the Google Grants program. Government organizations, community groups that require a membership, or organizations already using Google Adsense are not eligible. Another caveat, Google will not accept organizations with websites of poor quality, which they define as, having a vague mission statement and a poor user experience.

Any organization that is accepted must manage its own Adwords program, which means it must create the ads and select the most relevant search keywords to attract visitors to their website. The ads, which can be text only, must link to a page on the organization’s website, and the keywords must be relevant to their cause. During the program, an organization can’t show revenue-generating ads, such as Google AdSense or affiliate advertising links. An organization remains part of the grant program as long as it keeps its AdWords account active.

You should also note that Google for Nonprofits is open only to organizations based in the United States, while, Google Grants is open to organizations based outside the United States. Organizations based in countries outside the United States can view Google’s country-specific programs for nonprofits to find out which products are available for them.

In my next post, I’ll go into more detail on how Google’s Display Network works.  In the meantime go apply for a Google Grant on their website www.google.com/nonprofits

Dan Gonzalez
Web Manager
Sage Nonprofit Solutions

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Customer Love: Robin Woolery

This month’s customer love winner was nominated by Allison Haimes, Customer Support Analyst, Sage Nonprofit Solutions.

Who? Robin Woolery

Where do they work? The Girl Scouts of NE Kansas and NW Missouri

Why the love? January is simply a crazy time of the year for us at Sage.   As tax deadlines approach we always see an increase in our customer support calls.  We talk to numerous customers throughout the day troubleshooting, brainstorming, and resolving any issues they are experiencing. After a while, the calls start to run together. However a recent call from Robin Woolery Accounting Support Specialist with The Girl Scouts, made me stop and smile.  Although the hold time was less than ideal, Robin was beyond understanding, and even empathized with our busy tax season and high volume of calls.  She greeted me with the same cheery voice as always, and it genuinely helped perk up my day.  It is apparent that she has had extraordinary customer experiences with Sage in support, gushing we are “always so helpful to her”.  And no matter how many times we’ve all told her, “That’s what we’re here for,” she even apologizes for having to call at all.

All of us enjoy working with Robin.  In fact, when I told this story to another analyst, her response was, “Oh I’ve spoken to her many times and she’s always nice”.  Robin is a delightful customer to work with and truly exemplifies the standards of the Girl Scouts to be friendly, considerate, respectful, make the world a better place, and be a sister to every Girl Scout.  We appreciate having Robin as a Sage 100 Fund Accounting customer, and although we are not technically Girl Scouts here at Sage we are glad that Robin is a sister to us too.

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Tell Us What You Think

Sage is committed to providing the best nonprofit fund accounting and financial products to our clients, and we need your help!

We invite you to participate in our product research survey.

The survey should take you a maximum of 5 minutes to complete. Your insights will help us guide the strategic direction of Sage over the next several years. Please note that all information collected for this survey is for internal use only and will not be shared or sold to anyone. You’ll also be entered in a drawing for a Kindle Fire when you complete the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TMZJLKS  .

Thank you for your participation. We really appreciate your time!

Sage Product Management

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What Should Your Organization Do To Enhance Donor Loyalty?

Bridget Brandt shares her tips for developing a solid donor base in Fundraising Success magazine this month in her article “10 Things Every Organization Should Do to Enhance Donor Loyalty“  Building an effective donor loyalty program takes time and effort. Here is an abbreviated list of her tips to engage and grow your donor base.

 

1. Listen to your donors – find out why your donors give.  Ask for their advice, and put it to practice.
2. Share your good news – no news is not good news.  Communicate with your donors in a regular manner either through monthly, quarterly or whatever cadence your organization can accommodate.
3. Measure your success – share the impact in measures that map to your mission. Quantify your organization’s impact.
4. Survey your donors – know your donors, simple surveys and polls can be used to understand their preferences.
5. Leverage donor loyalty – leverage your board members.  Ask them to make calls and write thank-you notes.
6. Involve donor in the cause – invite donors into your organization to volunteer or visit.  Let them see their funds at work.
7. Get social – use social networks to connect and engage your donors.
8. Customize your approach – show you know your donors, and adjust your communications to their preferences.
9. Recognize repeat donors – notice those who give regularly.
10. Say thank you – simple enough, but this step is often overlooked.  Take time for this very important step.  The more personalized, the better.  Whether it’s a phone call or hand written note.

What are your tips for building donor loyalty?  Let us know in the comments.

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Planting Seeds Of Growth In America’s Food Deserts

Salad via Tanya Hall on sxc.hu

America recently gained awareness about “food deserts”, urban communities with a plethora of corner stores selling processed junk food, but no access to fresh produce and meats. Some see this as a critical opportunity to address that nation’s obesity epidemic.

However, it can be challenging for vendors to enter these markets when the customer base is not accustom to fresh fruits and vegetables in their diets.

So nonprofits have entered the market with grocery stores that have two goals – to supply nutritious options and provide education, according to WBEZ- FM. Louis Groceries recently opened a location in Chicago’s Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood. While it still carries Coca-Cola and Frito-Lays, some of the best-selling items, the store also offers an array of fresh produce and quality chicken according to store manager/director Terri Zhu.

A similar program is being created in Chester, Pennsylvania by the Philabundance organization. The community has been without a grocery store for more than 11 years, but that will change once the Fare & Square store is open to community members.

Are you aware of other organizations addressing America’s “food deserts”?  Let us know in the comments.

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