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New Product Features: See What’s Coming in 2006

Key Wealth ID features including stock information and a handy news reporting service will be integrated into both the Access Manager and WebService products in early 2006. Wealth ID’s data identifies and quantifies the wealth of your stock market insiders with our proprietary collection of industry leading information. Note key stock transactions and pull up a list of all of your individuals with in-the-money options due to expire in the next 90 days. You can even receive news alerts on prospects cited in major media sources. Stay tuned, further information and pricing for these features will be introduced soon!

Learning Opportunities: Workshops–Free for Clients

Would you like to learn more about the new updates or great features that WealthEngine offers? Then, sign up for one of these free hour-long workshops. They are conducted via teleconference and webinar.

WebService: General Training including History Section

• February 7 at 11 am EST
• March 14 at 2 pm EST
• April 11 at 2 pm EST
• May 2 at 2 pm EST

• February 14 at 12 noon EST—Creating Reports
• March 3 at 12 noon EST
• April 5 at 10 am EST
• May 2 at 12 pm EST

To register for one of these workshops, please email workshops@wealthengine.com with your name, organization, preferred training date and phone contact information. Following your registration, we will send you a notice with the webinar and teleconference information. Space is limited so register today!

Feature Article: Easy-Ware President Shares Strategies to Increase Fundraising Success in 2006

“The nonprofit sector is very much in the press and the public eye today. Competition for funds is greater than ever. The recent natural disasters such as the hurricanes, the tsunami and the earthquakes have, quite deservedly, received great support from individual donors. This past year reminds me of the challenging period following 9/11, when everyone’s focus shifted to helping those most affected by it. In this time of great competition for funds, it’s important to know who to ask, how to ask and when to ask,” says Charlie Frankel, President of Easy-Ware Corporation.

Frankel shares three strategies for development offices to implement in 2006 for greater success in fundraising – and ways that technology can help you implement each strategy.

• Understand your constituents.

Know your prospect’s gift capacity. Frankel adds, “But it’s not just gift capacity; it’s also interests. Be sure to look at the causes your prospect has supported and where their interests lie.”

“When you begin a new appeal or specific campaign, the traditional method is to approach donors who have made large and/or frequent gifts to your organization and ask them for additional support, potentially at a higher level,” continues Frankel. “However, another important method is to find which constituents are the most influential and/or well-connected to the donors in your database and have the ‘influencers’ help you ask their contacts for additional support or have them attract new donors to your cause. To locate these influencers you need to be able to mine every person’s inherent network within your database to determine the value of their network to your organization. If you are looking for potential board members, event committee members or campaign volunteers, you should take into consideration the size and value of their networks – in addition to their own personal contributions.

Frankel offers an example: “Let’s say you have 35 people in your network, but none have given or volunteered. On the other hand, I have 15, all of whom have volunteered for a total of 1,000 hours. From a volunteer perspective, the value of my network is greater than yours. Ideally, you should know which of your constituents have high value networks, or have high average network gifts or large maximum network gifts.”

“So, it’s important to not just look at individual giving history and interests, but also who is connected to which prospect. This will also help you find the right person to make the ask,” sums up Frankel.

Using prospect research tools, like WealthEngine, in combination with constituent management tools, like Easy-Ware’s Total Info for Nonprofit Organizations, can help you and your development team better understand constituents and their giving habits. Frankel explains, “Prospect research tools can help you target people that may not have a history with your organization, but who are in your networking circle.”

• Increase your organization’s efficiency and productivity.

“Efficiency and productivity are essential in this time of increased competition for funds as well as donors’ attentions,” Frankel tells WealthEngine. “The sector is now being held up to new accountability standards. Outside sources are not only asking how many people are involved in your program and what outcomes are being achieved, they also want to know how effectively you are achieving those results. Overhead costs versus program costs are being carefully monitored. “

“Nonprofits are required to work harder, faster and smarter. All this with less staff,” notes Frankel.

Prospect research tools help productivity. Today, WealthEngine can quickly generate what used to take development staff weeks of time and dozens of binders to pull together.

Information-management systems can be a big help to understaffed offices by managing email communications, simplifying the tasks of sending acknowledgement and notification letters and even interfacing with accounting systems. Frankel says, “It’s up to you to find the right system for you – the one that attacks the most time-consuming tasks in your office.”

One of the fastest ways to increase efficiency is to eliminate multiple databases in your development office as well as in your organization. Frankel explains, “Multiple databases can cost your staff a lot of time and effort just to keep the databases in sync. To send out a mailing, you might have to export data from several systems and then de-dupe your lists. And if someone moves, you may have to edit a person’s record in two or three different systems – if you remember to change it in all places. On the other hand, if you have one system with one database, it dramatically improves your staff’s productivity allowing you to communicate with your constituents most efficiently.”

• Prevent staff turnover and plan for easy transitions.

Many nonprofits have turnover as high as 40% annually. Be prepared for the turnover that might happen in the next 12 months. Better yet, take steps to reduce or prevent turnover, where possible.

“There are many reasons for turnover – some beyond your control. However, staff burnout and high levels of frustration can be a driver. The right technology choices can reduce the burden on your staff and lower frustration levels which could be a key factor in your staff members’ decisions to stay or go,” notes Frankel.

“The right technology can also contribute to a smooth transition should turnover occur,” comments Frankel. “Technology should be easy to use and not require extensive – and expensive – training courses.”

“Since our Total Info software is an organization-wide system, existing staff are able to train the incoming staff members. In fact, the system is so simple to use that it typically only requires two hours of training before people can handle most tasks,” explains Frankel.

“You also don’t want to be held captive by your technology,” says Frankel. “What I mean by that is when you are filling a vacancy you shouldn’t have to try to look for people who have experience with your existing database because that only makes it more difficult to find someone and raises the cost of filling the position.”

“Active constituent management makes a big difference in today’s tougher fundraising environment. The right technology can save you time and help you stay in easy and regular contact with the people who matter most to your organization,” concludes Frankel.

Easy-Ware’s Total Info solution is a full-featured, multi-user, constituent relationship management software package that can be implemented for less than $1,000. The software was designed as an enterprise-wide information system with a focus on improving organizational efficiency and productivity. While it is a full-featured fundraising solution, it was designed to serve practically all of your other departments’ information needs, including events, grants, volunteers, funding, membership, outreach, class, camp or school registrations, marketing, management, box office and programming.

To learn more about Easy-Ware and the Total Info system, visit www.easy-ware.com

Client News: Smithsonian Development Specialist Hayes Lavis Shares His Photographs of the National Museum of the American Indian

Hayes Lavis, Development Specialist for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian, shares the photographs he has taken of the grounds surrounding the Museum. The National Museum of the American Indian is the first national museum in the country dedicated exclusively to Native Americans, the first to present all exhibitions from a Native viewpoint and the first constructed on the National Mall since 1987. Hayes uses these photos and others that he takes as graphics in funding requests and proposals.

Look below to see the beautiful summer phlox, the wetlands, and the vegetation growing in the traditional rotating croplands.

Do you have a success story or something else to share about your organization? If so, email Lynn O’Connell at loconnell@wealthengine.com, and we will try to include it in a future e-newsletter.

Questions and Answers: Using the WebConnect feature in your Access Manager for Best Results

Q: I used the WebConnect feature in my Access Manager to view a detailed profile on a prospect from my screening results in the WebService and the giving capacity was higher online. Why?

A: This occurs due to a modeled estimate used in the WebService to identify the Income Component in the Giving Capacity 3 Report when other income data is unavailable. This modeled data is not used in the Access Manager. If you wish to exclude this component you may do so by setting the Income Component to 0% in the Initial Giving Capacity Report page.

Q: I used the WebConnect feature in my Access Manager to view a detailed profile on a prospect from my screening results in the WebService and the number of data sources to which they matched appeared greater online. Why?

A: This occurs mainly with the Dun & Bradstreet and the Charitable Donations database. The Dun & Bradstreet report will not be listed in the Access Manager if the “Quality of Match” is very low and there are no other reports to tie it in. In these circumstances, WealthEngine would make note in the “Other Client Info” tab. The Charitable Donations may not be apparent because their existence is no longer flagged in the “Match Sources” box; instead, matches to this data source are now flagged under the “Aggregate Information” box.

For further information on these subjects, please contact info@wealthengine.com.

Staff Profile: Vicki Claussen

Vicki Claussen is WealthEngine’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Vicki says, “I am so proud to be part of the WealthEngine team because we have developed a product that is both effective and efficient in meeting the needs of our clients.”

One of the things that she likes about working at WealthEngine is the diversity of clients that the company serves. She says, “I have clients like Compassion International, World Vision and Turning Point Ministries who are faith-based ministries, as well as Easter Seals which provides services to individuals at the community level throughout the United States. Additionally, I have small schools, small local social-service agencies and large universities, healthcare centers and museums. While each of these organizations has specific needs related to mission, the WealthEngine product is flexible enough to help each organization get fundraising results.”

Before joining WealthEngine, Vicki worked for several nonprofit organizations, and she has a good understanding of the development profession. She was the Executive Director of Homecare and Hospice at the Seton Medical Center in Austin, Texas. She has also served on the boards of a number of healthcare-related nonprofit organizations.

Vicki lives in Iowa City, Iowa with her husband, Clay.

Contact Vicki at at vclaussen@wealthengine.com.

Upcoming Events:

Stop by Our Exhibit Booth at These Conferences

January 22–24	CASE District VI 2006 Conference, St. Louis, MO
January 29–31	CASE/NAIS Independent Schools Conference, Chicago, IL
February 1–3	Annual Conference for Development Researchers, Cambridge, MA
February 5–7	Case District II, Pittsburgh, PA

Hear Jay Frost, WealthEngine’s Chief Strategy Officer, at these Speaking Engagements

January 23	Georgia Planned Giving Council
February 16	AFP- Texas SanAntonio Chapter
February 23-24	CASE VIII "Planet of the Eights"