Data Sense

Time for a Little Horn-Tooting and Thanks-giving

Data Sense launched in April of 2009 and I am happy to say I’ve been busy. I started with some pro bono work with Alpha Sigma Phi, Wishard Hospital Foundation and Progress House. Since then I have had as clients Kappa Alpha Theta, Sycamore Trails Research and Conservation District, Jessica White & Associates and the YMCA of Greater Indianapolis. I have been invited to submit proposals to four other organizations. None of this would have happened were it not for local consultants and fundraisers who very generously took the time to meet with me and share their wisdom. So in this month of November I send a special “Thank You” to Jessica White, Wendy Boyle, Nancy Frick, John Carreon, Katy Cantor, Jim Wood, Meg Gammage-Tucker, David Sternberg, Ruth Purcell Jones, Bryan Orander, Gale Wilkerson, Jennifer Pendleton, Nancy Berst, Paul Giese, Bob Rush, Kim Hodges, Jane Howard, Becky Schafer, Larry Smith, Amy Rubin, Felicia Brewer, Beth Gehlhausen, Kathy Pedrotti Hays, Gwen Kibbe, Aimee Laramore, Mike Laudick, Marnie Maxwell, Kris Parmelee, Sonya Baker-Hallett, Jose Lucende, Steve Bariteau and Bob Swaney.  I hope I didn’t miss anyone. Thanks to you all for your time, advice and trust. Carol

Association Fund Raising Software

I will be making a presentation at THE Foundations Seminar which will take place in Indianapolis at the end of the month.  My topic for attendees, who are primarily fraternity and sorority foundation executives, is “Prospect Tracking for Efficient Fund Raising.” These organzations have special software needs because the product must serve two user groups—those who support the membership and those who raise money. Results of a survey of the foundation executives indicates that most use either Patriot Software, IMIS, or Raiser’s Edge—three very different software products. To prep for the presentation, I’ve been studying each to determine its prospect tracking capabilities. It has been an adventure.

Fund raising software packages are like cars. Some have engines bigger than others, they come in different models, and if your budget allows you can add extras to make the ride more comfy. All of them can move you toward your fund raising goals and even the compact models, if they have user-defined fields, can handle prospect tracking. I drove a Raiser’s Edge for 10 years total and recently became certified to drive Blackbaud’s compact model, eTapestry. The company gave me access to a copy of the database which I have customized with fields for prospect tracking and moves management. It’ll purr like a Pontiac GTO when I’m done with it. The Patriot dealer let me test drive his newest model and I’ll be taking an IMIS for a spin in the next few days.

Here is what I want to leave with you. Don’t give up on your fundraising software. It might not be the lemon you think it is. Learn to drive it, find out what it can do, and with a good map it will take you where you want to go. Oh, you might want to keep it clean and get it tuned now and then. Data Sense can help with that.

BizNar

If you do any research on businesses, are interested in statistics, government patents or Gallup-type reports, you have got to check out BizNar.  http://biznar.com/biznar/about.html. As explained on their website, this search engine goes “deep” into selected business collections and returns references that you will not get from a Google or Yahoo search. Oh, and you won’t get any duplicates either. There is a great advanced search feature that allows you to limit the search by collection or even specific resource. I checked out the resources they cover and it is a pretty nice handpicked group. BizNar, created by Deep Web Technologies, http://www.deepwebtech.com/ is free.