Newsletter, May 2008
By Karen Graham, Director of Business Development
Nonprofit Neighborhood
thedatabank to be Keystone in New Venture: Constellation Data Partners
Constellation Data Partners brings together proven experts in member/donor cultivation, tracking and communication, activist messaging, list enhancement and expansion, grassroots and direct lobbying, and voter targeting.
With over 60 years of combined experience, the partners bring together a broad understanding of the goals, governance structures, and funding strategies of major protagonists in progressive politics, including foundations, socially responsible business, religious and interfaith organizations, and labor.
The founding partners of Constellation are thedatabank, Astro Data Services, Progressive Victory, and Voter Contact Services (VCS).
Product Enhancement: Personalized Click-Through to Web Forms
Links from a PowerMail message to a Databank online form can now be personalized, so that the recipient does not have to re-enter personal information that is already in your Databank.
For example, if someone clicks from a PowerMail message into a Databank form like this:
Product Demonstration May 15
...they are asked to verify their email address (click yes). Then, they come to a form that is pre-filled with contact information. This saves them the effort of re-entering information that you already have in your Databank about them. (It only works for Databank forms.)
The auto-fill feature is not turned on for links by default, for privacy reasons. To enable it for a link, click to edit the URL, and check the Personalize Link checkbox. More detail is in the editor user guide.
PowerMail is the brand name for our bulk email tool, part of the eMarketing Module , which features an easy HTML editor, results tracking, and full database integration.
Congratulations to the Winners of our Tell A Friend Contest
 Mary Under Baggage of Lakota Express told 10 friends.
Angela Ritter was randomly selected from the pool of participants. She told 1 friend.
Both win a $100 gift certificate.
Although the contest is over, we still appreciate it when you tell your friends (and colleagues, former coworkers, organizations you donate to or volunteer with) about the Databank. In fact, if you're a client and we receive an inquiry from someone you referred, we will send you a thank you gift.
Our ongoing client referral program features gift certificates to the Global Exchange Online Store , where you can redeem them for organic chocolates, fair-trade tea and coffee, hand made crafts, and more.
New clients
Arkansas Game and Fish - The mission of the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission is to wisely manage all the fish and wildlife resources
of Arkansas while providing maximum enjoyment for the people. They will be using their new Databank to encourage members to renew, get more involved and sign up for various enewsletters.
The Uptown Association is a nonprofit trade association, which promotes Uptown Minneapolis, MN as a safe, prosperous, accessible, attractive, well-maintained and environmentally responsible commercial and residential area. It also exists to improve the economic stability and vitality of Uptown and to celebrate and sustain its unique spirit and sense of community.
According to board president Thatcher Imboden, "We chose thedatabank, inc. because they will provide us with the tools and training necessary to more efficiently focus our membership efforts, increase our efficiency in outreach and event registrations, improve our communications, and expand our fundraising capabilities."
Wisconsin Community Fund raises money and gives it away to progressive groups that are too new, too small or too controversial to be considered by mainstream funders.
Development Director Cindy Fesemyer told us she is excited to start using the Databank again.
"I started working with the Databank at my previous job, where I was the one who worked with you to migrate the old database, train on yours and make sure the staff was trained, as well," Fesemyer said.
"When I took the job at Wisconsin Community Fund, I was pleased, in a sick way, to see that we had a sad and difficult database. That meant we could, for a good reason, move our data to the Databank. Thanks for making it easy!"
How Do YOU Promote Online Giving?
This month on our blog, we're collecting (and sharing) your best ideas for converting offline donors to online donors, and attracting new donors to your online donation form.
Visit the Databank Blog to post your idea or story and read others .
Reflecting on a Decade
 How has the Internet impacted the nonprofit sector in the last 10 years?
by thedatabank Co-Founder Chris Hanson
10 years ago when we started to develop the Databank, there was a growing swell of hyperbole that the Internet was going to revolutionize nonprofit fundraising. I would say this has proven to be true except not in the way predicted before the dotcom crash. In one of my earlier reflections, I recounted a story about attending a nonprofit technology conference in 1999 which was littered with new companies claiming to have “THE” solution to help organizations reap millions (maybe billions or even zillions) in online donations. Some were so bold as to say if organizations didn't raise money online they would die.
Well the reality is they were the ones who went away because the huge shift to online giving didn't happened. While online giving continues to be the fastest growing channel for individual donations it still represents a relatively small percentage (less than 5% by recent estimates) of all giving. Direct mail continues to be the primary channel for donor communications and giving, and probably will continue to be for some time.
It seems every couple of years another technology fad storms the market. The latest “have to have” is social networking. As with all technological innovations, nonprofits should take the time to assess how it can provide value and help them fulfill their mission better than before.
Back to my statement that the Internet has revolutionalized nonprofit fundraising, but not in the way envisioned 10 years ago. There hasn't been a huge shift of donors from traditional sources to online. But what is clear is that the Internet offers a channel of communications to populations of people not accessible through direct mail or phones. In addition, it seems clear that many people who make donations through the mail use the Internet to research whom they donate to. All of which is to say that you may not die if you don't use the Internet as part of your fundraising strategy, but you'll miss out on a tremendous opportunity to grow.
Meet the Staff
 Karen Graham, Director of Business Development
At thedatabank since: 2003
What she likes best about her job: We have really good cookies at our staff meetings! Just kidding - what I enjoy most is helping people overcome their fear of technology, and learn to leverage tools like the Databank to help their organization succeed.
What she does in her spare time: Right now I'm reading three books ( The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time , Amazing Grace , and Going Local ); planting a vegetable garden; and knitting "socks" for my mother's golf clubs (at her request). I'll also be leading a toddler play group on Fridays this summer, with my 2-year-old son and families from our church and neighborhood.
Famous person she would like to have lunch with: Bill Moyers. He has interviewed so many interesting people that I'm sure he'd have some great stories to tell.
Featured Resource
Payment Gateway Partners
Payment gateways are a third party you pay to authorize your credit card and EFT transactions. This minimizes the amount of data entry you need to do, and provides an automated process for online giving and recurring gift processing.
The Databank integrates with five payment gateways: Authorize.net, FastCharge, IATS, VANCO and Viaklix. Each has a unique combination of features and pricing. View the payment gateway page on our web site for a comparison of vendors and a flow chart depicting how payments are processed.
Recent upgrades to the Databank have deepened our integration with Authorize.net and FastCharge, enabling them to handle recurring charges more efficiently. IATS will be next. VANCO has always been compatible with recurring charges.
Tip du Jour
Recurring Gifts, Sustaining Gifts, Monthly Gifts
This article, written by M+R Strategic Services and published on Guidestar, provides some benchmarks for recurring gift programs.
Now a centerpiece of many direct-marketing programs, monthly giving provides a reliable, low-cost stream of revenue that sustains ongoing programs. It also increases the annual value (and loyalty!) of low-dollar donors. And now that it is possible to handle both sign-ups and payments on-line, one-time donors are becoming recurring donors at a faster pace, boosting retention rates and helping organizations cut down on billing costs.
This is all great news for nonprofits. But what else do we know (or need to know) about on-line monthly giving? ( full article )
Karen's Blog
Your Databank and Your Web Site
In this month's enews, we've been focusing on online giving. The discussion would not be complete without mentioning web site integration; that is, the connection between your Databank and your organization's web site.
We host secure online donation forms that collect donor information and send it off to your payment processor and your Databank. The design of these forms (header, menu items, colors and fonts) is typically made to match your web site. Changes to your main web site's design or menus will not automatically roll to Databank forms, so you need to coordinate changes with us. Yes, it's an extra step, but it also allows you to work with any web designer or host of your choice.
Let me introduce the new web site of Humdinger College, our demo organization. (I had a lot of fun creating this site.)
Humdinger College
This site demonstrates how Databank forms fit together with an organization's web site, and showcases some of the different types of forms we offer. Watch the address bar in your browser as you click into different pages, and you'll know whether you are looking at a Nonprofit Office page or a Databank page. Also, note the different design of the Action Network section - that's what happens when a Databank form is not updated to match the current design template.
Honor Roll: thanks to Nonprofit Office for providing the template, CMS and hosting for the Humdinger College site. Thanks also to Adsoka , Gulo Solutions , Results Direct , and Webaloo for recently taking the time to get to know thedatabank better.
Karen
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