Sage Nonprofit Is Now Abila

You have probably heard by now, but just in case you haven’t, Sage Nonprofit Solutions is now Abila!  Back in March, we shared with you the news that we were acquired by private equity firm Accel-KKR from Sage Group PLC.

Over the past few months we have been working out the details of the transition from Sage to Abila and preparing for our launch.  It has been quite a journey that really began 30 years ago, but we are excited for this fresh start and new independence.

Thank you all for your support.

Please bookmark our new blog at http://abila.com/resources/blog

 

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Before You Draw Conclusions, First, Draw!

Of all the sessions I attended at SXSW Interactive Festival this year, there was no other session that made me feel quite like the one presented by Von Glitschka, “Drawing Conclusions: Why Designers Should Draw.” Experiencing feelings of guilt and shrinking in my chair are good descriptors. I’m a software Designer, you see. Von made it his mission to convince his audience that drawing improves design and enables a designer to create smarter. He succeeded. He also convicted me when he threw out terms like, “creatively lazy”, “computer as a crutch,” and “you’ve become a ‘tooler’”. He directly said, “You can’t call yourself a designer if you can’t draw.” You know how sometimes when you sit in church and, out of your own guilt, you think the preacher is talking directly to you and about you? Well, that’s how I felt at Von’s session that hour.

I would argue, though, that drawing is not just for designers. Everyone should draw because everyone needs to be creative in some way. Are you trying to find a creative solution to what market segment your sales department needs to focus on next, or do you need a, “think-outside-the-box” solution to target your nonprofit donors? Before you jump to conclusions, draw what that could look like! Von put it so well when he said that drawing is a universal communicator. It’s part of human instinct. As a child (think back to your kindergarten years), when you were given a box of crayons, you drew. It doesn’t matter where you live, what culture you grew up in, or what language you speak; drawing bridges the gap when words fall short.

Looking instead of creating.  If you work in an environment that is not deadline-driven, I envy you. Most of us don’t always have the time to use the best methods to produce our best work. Often times, though, we use that as an excuse to skip the creative process and march too quickly down the path of least creative resistance, as Von puts it. He states that this path puts us closer (dangerously closer) to having a bigger industry problem like copyright infringement. When you avoid drawing because you know it will take more time to pull it off well, you move out of creating and move into looking for solutions. Remember that we are to be great, not shallow, thinkers. It’s no wonder why over the last 20 years the creative process has declined while copyright infringement has inclined. Von reported that, over the last five years, his work has been infringed upon over 200 times (maybe more he says), and around 20 of those situations required him to get a copyright lawyer. He states that every single one happened because designers went looking for a solution rather than creating it themselves.

But I can’t draw like Picasso.  It doesn’t matter if you can’t produce life-like portrait pencil drawings or Japanese cartoon drawings. Von likened “drawing” to terms like, “doodling” or “sketching.” Drawing does not have to be complex; it can be as simple as drawing stick figures. If you’re someone like me who does not make it a routine habit to draw, then it can be frightening when challenged to come up with a visual solution at work. We have to kill this fear because it kills our creativity. I equate this fear as kryptonite to creativity. We need to think back to our kindergarten years (how easy and fun it was) the next time we’re faced with the temptation to think we need to live up to Picasso.

Grace Francisco

Design Analyst

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3 Free Apps To Move You Forward

In a recent survey, we found that over 70% of our customers own a smart phone.  What was interesting from these results was that only 13% of those customers are using their smart phones to utilize productivity tools other than email!!  With millions of free apps available, there are unlimited possibilities as to how you can become more productive, at no cost to you or your organization

Check out the three apps I use every day that help me move forward, faster!

Trello –Trello is an app that, in one glance, tells you what needs to be done, by when, and where something is in the process.  You can use Trello on your own, or you can invite other members of your organization to join with you and share lists. The drag and drop functionality of this app is intuitive, reliable, and user friendly.  You can access this app from your desktop, tablet, or smart phone (I use Trello on all three).

When you first start using Trello, you will start with a board.  I have several boards that I use throughout my day. For example, I have a “Professional To-Do” board I share with my boss and a “Personal To-Do Board” that I keep to myself.  Each board gives three lists: To-Do, Doing, and Done.  You can add items to each list by selecting “Add Card”.  Once a card is added to your list you can easily drag and drop cards from To-Do to Done in less than a second.  At the end of a project or when performance review time comes around, you can see all of the “Done” items to celebrate your accomplishments. Since you can access this app on all of your devices, you can update your boards from work, home, or on the go.  The best way I can describe this app is fluid!  Updates and collaboration with other team members is so easy! https://trello.com/

Evernote –  The concept of Evernote is an online notebook that you have with you wherever you go. Evernote has allowed me to almost completely get rid of my paper notebook in the office and gives me constant access to notes from meetings, conference sessions, and outside research.  Since all of my notes are available on any device I feel prepared in every meeting, and I can even answer questions from people who stop me in the hallway and asked me what they missed in a recent meeting.

In order to start writing, all you have to do is click one button and start typing.  You can attach pictures and files to notes as well, so you have your important files with you wherever you go.  Also, when looking for particular notes, the search functionality in Evernote makes it easy to find them. http://evernote.com/

Twitter – I’m sure you are all asking, how can social media make you more productive?  Social media has a stigma that it is counterproductive to productivity, but it is actually very powerful when used in the right ways.   Twitter is a very quick way to see what is going on RIGHT NOW in the lives of other nonprofits, your funders, and your constituents.  “Listening” on Twitter is important to stay in touch with the needs of your constituents, what other people are saying about your organization, and what other nonprofits are doing to get results. The best thing about it is each tweet is 140 characters (or less), and you can access it from anywhere.  My favorite places to check twitter are in line at the grocery store, riding the bus, or waiting for an appointment.

Twitter has been a mainstream social media outlet since 2007, but people are still trying to figure out the best way to use it.  When you are first starting out I suggest that you only follow a few people or organizations you are interested in hearing from, so you don’t go into information overload on your Twitter feed. You can check out Leslie’s post, Twitter 101, for the basics to get you off to a good start.   https://twitter.com/

Now that you have a few apps to get you started, go out there and experiment!  Find the apps that are right for you and your work style.  I would love to hear your comments on the apps you love that make you more productive.

Brooke Grimes

Product Marketing Manager

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Sage Nonprofit Online: A Cloud-Based Solution

It’s official we released Sage Nonprofit Online a cloud-based solution starting at $349 per month. The nonprofit solution provides full-featured accounting, fundraising and grant management solutions with subscription payment options.  Learn more on our website and read the press release here.

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Things I Have Learned From Our Nonprofit Customers That You Can Use!

We just hosted our first Customer Success Tour.  The idea, which seems like a no brainer now, had never been done before.   We wanted to bring our customers together.  Share where we are going and see where they are and want us to be.  Simple!

The event was an amazing success.  Here are a few of the top lessons I learned from our customers that you can use for your donors:

1. Communicate- Your donors want to know more.  Email is not enough.   We need to share what we are doing multiple times, and we need to share it in multiple channels.

2. Share- Your donors want to know how the organization is impacting others and what others are doing in the organization.   One of the primary benefits of the success tour was being able to share the success The Jazz Foundation is having with Sage Fundraising Online.   It was a win/win for everyone in the room.  We were able to share the success of  great product, and our customers were able to learn a great deal about online fundraising.  You can do that in your organizations too.(Thanks Petr!)

3. Give them what they want– I have said this a million times and heard it a billion, but it bears repeating.  If you are sharing information about dog rescue with a cat person the message will not be heard.  Target your audience based on what they want to hear and what they care about.

4. Timing- New York in December is beautiful, but it is also hard to navigate and a very busy.   Sadly we inconvenienced our customers by bringing them into the city during the Holidays.   A great lesson for us and you.   Is the timing of your events suited for your schedule or the schedule of your donors?   Make sure they both jive.

5. Answer the questions– A great learning for me was that we need to have a more succinct resource for supporting our customers, so we put together  a customer resources page to help answer their questions.  Time and again, I stumble upon nonprofit pages that don’t answer the basic questions of donors.

1. Who are you?
2. Why should I give you my money?
3. Are you accountable for the money you have gotten before?

These are must have’s for all nonprofit websites, and it was a great reminder for me.

Take-away:  All in all, I learned more from those four short hours than I have in my five years with Sage.  When was the last time you got your donors together and asked them how you were doing?  Maybe it’s time!!!

Bridget Brandt
Marketing Director
Sage Nonprofit

 

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