All posts by zadmin

The Importance of Independent Implementation Partners:

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World-class nonprofit, higher education, and healthcare clients have turned to Zuri for over a decade to achieve advancement operations and technology excellence. Zuri is a first choice among complex organizations for implementation of new CRM software, and the organization-wide change management and business transformation these efforts require. By putting our clients first (ahead of application/platform vendors and their beholden implementers), Zuri has excelled with helping clients achieve successful implementations. These efforts are typically much more than technology projects. Most modern implementations require multiple application vendors, and as more and more dependent implementers are brought into a tech transition, the client’s control and direction can shrink even further. Not having an independent implementation partner like Zuri means missing the voice of deep experience that is focused on your definition of success.

Simply put: your team should hire an independent implementation partner. There four key reasons to engage an independent implementation partner make a clear case:

  1. Clients come first. We partner with application vendors (click here for details) but not at the expense of our clients’ needs. Period.
  2. Technology is a means to an end. What tech you pick matters, but not to us. This year alone, we are helping dozens of clients with Salesforce, Blackbaud, Ellucian, and many other applications. The real objective of these projects is not the conversion to the new application but the ability to better support your mission.
  3. The CRM is actually a small part of the technology transition. Most of our clients have around a dozen important applications and the CRM choice is often just a replacement for the database of record (even if it is a lot of work). Integrating a dozen tools into the CRM —no matter which tool and no matter which formal partnerships are in place—is a strong suit of Zuri’s. Even more complex than tech issues are the organization-wide considerations in projects like these. 
  4. Objectivity is critical. An independent implementation partner is not beholden to the application vendors who prefer to subcontract with or otherwise control the efforts of dependent implementers. Honest expertise unlimited by directives from the application vendor is in our clients’ best interests.

A final, awkward observation is that when an implementer is dependent on the application vendor for its work, we often see the vendor’s bottom line come before the client’s success. When you start to hear “that will need a change order”, “that’s custom code”, or “we just need a minimally viable product”, those are the hallmarks of client-second thinking. Of course, sometimes changes are required and not all dependent implementation partners are incapable of listening to the client first. But, the power dynamic can drown out what’s best for the client. Because Zuri is independent, we are able to remain objective, see the big picture well beyond the application(s) being installed, and put our clients first. Always.

The innovative technology being implemented is important to our clients’ success, but it is a means to an end. Having independent implementation partners like Zuri will help ensure these engagements are serving your organization’s real objective—leveraging technology to raise more money and build better relationships. Many vendors are good actors, of course, yet their primary objective is too often to stand up a minimally viable product disconnected from the big picture. If you are interested in Zuri’s approach or want to make the most of your vendor’s technology, reach out to innovations@zurigroup.com and we’ll see how we might help.

Advancement technology satisfaction survey

advancement services, Business Intelligence and Reporting, data analytics, data managament, database systems, fundraising, ,

Zuri Group and EverTrue recently conducted a thorough survey of advancement users’ satisfaction with their systems. The central finding was that users are unimpressed with their resources. Dissatisfaction with databases, reporting tools, analytics resources, and other important fundraising tools was often 40% or more. And, the typical response for nearly all of the questions was “it’s ok”, which means that “Meh” is the average sentiment among our users. You can check out the report here: The Advancement Technology Landscape 2017 – EverTrue and Zuri Group

Here’s a sample of the report that highlights the challenges faced by our advancement technology environments:

Advancement technology satisfaction
Reporting, a central solution for advancement programs, is failing to meet demands.

The trend for the survey suggests that “common” issues (like gift processing) received better satisfaction scores whereas more innovative and new areas, such as social data management (which only a few companies, like EverTrue, really address) and analytics, received lower satisfaction scores. Some of this may simply be the typically slow technology adoption our industry experiences. However, it is important to move beyond the “we don’t have the money/time” argument and start to examine the roots of these issues and how your institution can begin to improve satisfaction.  Our users clearly want more and better solutions.

 

There are some solutions and some ongoing obstacles to improving the advancement technology landscape. To solve the issue, non-technical tactics like building trust and negotiating expectations are more important than you might think. Delivering on the fundamentals–accurate, complete and timely data–and adopting a PR-style, metrics-driven strategic information management approach will gain some favorable survey points. However, the lack of funding for, and innovative technical solutions to, fundraising applications remain pretty substantial problems. Thus, expectation management will be a critical component of your effectiveness.

What is your team experiencing? How have you improved user satisfaction at your institution? Share your best tips and tricks to help tackle this ongoing challenge.

 

The New Fundraising Calendar: NOW!

advancement services, AFP, AHP, CASE, fundraising, philanthropy

Consumer experiences shape much of our constituents’ fundraising lens. For example, I’ve written extensively about the #iPhoneProblem. This “problem” doesn’t mean iPhones are bad; to the contrary, they are so good our nonprofit tools simply can’t keep pace with users’ expectations (see our recent technology satisfaction survey for details: https://goo.gl/M1PIy5). This spreads to issues like use and reliance on mobile functions, which are creeping up the charts for donor giving preferences, for example. All of this consumer experience impact increasingly affects how we plan, schedule, and execute our fundraising strategies.

One need look no further than “Giving Tuesday” (i.e., philanthropy’s response to “Black Friday” and “Small Business Saturday” gimmicks) to see how our strategies and calendaring are being shaped. Giving Day efforts by universities (which I appreciate, for the record) feel a little like GroupOn specials. The provenance of GoFundMe pages is becoming harder to discern….am I giving to my alma mater or some guy at my alma mater? Overall, urgency and immediacy are prime objectives in this new approach. “Act now, before it’s too late!”

An interesting article in the Atlantic (https://goo.gl/jRfajb) assesses the impact of constant marketing to prospective students. For fundraising, the trend is similar. The days of a year-long direct response calendar are numbered. 24/7/365 strategies like peer-to-peer efforts are starting to look as if they can outstrip time-honored phonathon efforts. For example, one university’s recent Giving Day resulted in 1,800 new donors among the 12,000+ donors to that effort, totals that far surpassed the more tedious phonathon efforts to date.

So, what does this mean for nonprofits? For starters, rather than that year-end pitch to all of your constituents, more and more immediate solicitations (ideally conducted by peers, such as alumni reunion classmates) are to be expected.

As this GivingUSA chart suggests, giving is remarkably stable and generally finite and therefore nonprofits must try their best to get as much of the pie as possible. Now! That year-end big mailing? Do it sooner. That email communication plan? Start it today. That reunion fundraising effort? Get it moving. Don’t have a good peer-to-peer tool? Get one, fast!

Some of this is hyperbolic, of course, yet the message should be clear. If your fundraising schedule calls for raising most of your money with calendar and fiscal year-end pushes, by the time you reach many of your prospective donors, they will have already given….just not to your organization.

3 Glimpses at New Advancement Technology Survey Data

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EverTrue and Zuri Group partnered this fall to conduct a survey of advancement professionals to understand current sentiment about the advancement technology landscape. It’s a big study, with dozens of questions and hundreds of respondents. We are just getting started with the analysis. Here’s a quick glimpse into the our survey in advance of the AASP Summit #AASP16.

The survey reached a broad group: 646 responses from 434 institutions. And these respondents represent all aspects of advancement, including 11% among vice presidents and nearly 180 advancement services professionals. Here’s the breakdown by role and area:

While our analysis has just started, one important reporting issue jumped out at us: while reports are considered useful, access to reporting is considered a real problem. These two charts show that satisfaction is much greater for reports than for users’ access to them. This raises the obvious challenge–how do we make our often inefficient, sometimes hand-crafted reports more readily available for consumption?

We are working on a thorough report from these survey results. In the meantime, ask yourself whether your useful reports are less accessible than your users would like. If so, consider automated dissemination of reports (think: monthly email blasts, ideally with links to secure locations), dashboards, and self-service functions that will put data in users hands more effectively. If you’ll be at #AASP16, let’s connect and discuss what we’re seeing in our technology landscape.

Update: the full survey is now available here. What we found overall was that this dissatisfaction with technology is endemic. None of the areas had significant satisfaction levels. Particularly when we think of the “it’s ok” response as an indicator of mediocrity, the results are clear: advancement technology is not meeting users needs. As we move away from the basics (database of record, gift handling), we find the satisfaction goes down. So, the opportunity we face is that more complex and innovative needs require the most attention. Let’s hope we can get better and better tools to move the needle from mediocrity to magnificence.

Subtle Clues to Leverage for Gift Administration

advancement services, Gift Processing

How to Leverage what we Learn
How to Leverage what we Learn

The Wall Street Journal’s article on JP Morgan’s new $10,000,000 cap for accounts in their private banking area. On the surface, this seems like an issue only for the 1%, but philanthropy, of course, is affected substantially by this group. So, their banking issues are our philanthropy issues. And, this particular issue can be leveraged to improve operations and gift administration.

“How so?” you might ask. One specific consideration is how gift administration can learn from and leverage details about donors’ bank accounts. Here’s how:

  1. Banks Matter. If a donor is nice enough to write a $50 check to your organization on a JP Morgan Private Banking account (look at the middle left of the check, typically, to find the account type), that donor might have easily added a few zeroes to the gift. After all, those account holders are deca-millionaires!
  2. Numbers Matter. Have your team check the check number. That nice donor writing check number 35780 likely has substantial cash flow; the average donor will likely write just a few thousand checks in their lifetime (and Millennials may write nearly none at all).
  3. Name that Donor. Check accounts held in trust, with “TTEE” listed, and other such naming conventions likely mean that the donor has enough assets to have placed them into a trust. This is a typical move for those who will be affected by probate court upon their death…and, right now, that means having more than $5 million in assets via your estate.
  4. Pictures are worth a thousand words. Have the gift team look at what else the check tells us. If there check has puppies and mentions the Humane Society, for example, you know where the donor’s heart is.

These tips and tricks should be applied to improve your day-to-day operations. Establish a process whereby gift analysts can forward such findings to the research team or gift officers so you get some added movement on these donors.

What other tricks would you suggest to improve gift administration? Your comments on this would be welcomed. Happy fundraising!

Donor Data Management position

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If you’ve interested in steering the Blackbaud CRM implementation at a complex, multi-state health system, this manager of donor data management position in the Detroit area will be a great opportunity. Trinity is a wonderful employer and the leadership for this area is seeking a partner. Have a look at the position description (here) or click here for Trinity’s HR site.

Facebook is making some game-changing tools available

advancement services, fundraising, philanthropy

If you haven’t checked out https://nonprofits.fb.com/, do it. Now. This is Facebook’s effFacebook's Nonprofit Support Pageort to streamline a bunch of useful resources. Some of this is new but much is tried-and-true. How to reach your constituents. How to make it easy to give a gift. How to activate supporters.

Well, what are you still reading this for. Check out the site. And, let me know what you think. It may not change how some of us fundraise, but it will change fundraising for the better.

3 change management lessons learned from (attempted) travel this week

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Many of us have been affected by this significant snow storm, most much worse than me. I was set to travel to LaGuardia tonight but the travel gods had other plans. This puts me in a pickle. I was heading to a client site and we have a great deal to cover.

As I waited to hear back about my airline alternatives to get to the NYC area before heading to LA this week, a few “ah-ha” moments popped to mind:

  1. Know your resources. When you’re in a bind, great problem-solving resources are essential. Do you have the right numbers in your contacts? Can you have someone help solve one problem (flights) while you solve another (rental cars). If not, get prepared for the unexpected. This approach–having plans B-Z and assignable resources in the wings–is also vital for great change management.
  2. Focus on the fixable. Being mad about the snow is like being mad about the sunrise. However, planning and preparation might make it easier to focus on what can be fixed. Could I fly, for example, to any of the other airports in the area? Can we still cover our subject matter remotely (yep!)? When can I get back to the area (two weeks!)? So, while not ideal, this change isn’t going  undo progress and there is no sense becoming unhinged about those things outside of my control.
  3. Prioritize your outcomes. In rough weather travel, as with change management, some things matter more than most. With travel, your wallet and passport can solve a ton of problems. With other changes, having your key stakeholders on board with a new direction in the face of change can make all of the difference.

As the great Mick Jagger once said (over and over again) “you can’t always get what you want”…which is so true in the case of travel and change management. As he told me “If you try sometimes, you might find you get what you need.” In my case, I now need to get to California. Safe travels!

007+Q=Awesome Advancement Services

advancement services, fundraising, major gifts, philanthropy, Uncategorized

Have you seen Spectre, the newest 007 edition? It’s great fun. As with recent Bond films, Advancement Services and 007technology and data play an increasingly important role in achieving success. Sound familiar? I had an “ah-ha” moment during the film that the great and vital coupling of 007 and Q  (Bond’s resident tech-leveraging geek) is like the best advancement services shops. It might help your team to think the same. Here’s why:

  1. Partnership. The movies show a team that works together for a common cause. Each team member has a role and, if they perform it well, the other is clearly buoyed.
  2. Anticipation. Q is working hard in advance of requests from 007. In our profession, we should be, too. Instead, I see too many of us waiting for specs from folks who frankly may not know (how to ask for) what they want until they see “it”. So, with Q, he has “it” produced so 007 can assess and use what makes his job easier.
  3. Acceptance. Bond will be Bond. He steals a car, oh well. He escapes a government-mandated lock-down…well, what did you expect, he has to go save the world. Does Q stop supporting his colleague? Nope. He realizes that 007’s skill set is such that following the rules may not fly at times. The same goes for our best fundraising colleagues. Instead of chastising, Q enables in order to get the most out of a top performing employee. We should do the same with better service (such as via admin support), better self-service, and more understanding of the rigors of international spy…er, fundraising work.
  4. Quality. At the end of the day, Q produces amazing products that serve 007’s needs, which keeps 007 coming back for more. That sort of quality-based symbiotic is what we all need in our shops. Brand, look-and-feel, ease of access, accuracy–all of these play a role in our colleagues’ perception of the quality we produce.

Am I missing a few key details? Yes. At one point in the film, Q mentions a prototype cost the Queen 3 billion pounds. Most of us don’t have that budget lying around, do we? Our work is sometimes more mundane than saving the planet from evil, so the urgency and intensity of our roles will be different. And, we all know that not everyone in the British intelligence agency gets as much attention as Bond, which is similar to what happens in our own teams. But, as with any good film, we shouldn’t let reality get in the way of a good plot.

Those potential obstacles (and probably dozens of other objections) notwithstanding, think for a minute about your advancement services shop as Q partnering with 007, anticipating needs and accepting “shortcomings” while delivering the level of quality that keeps the user coming back for more. Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? Get to it, Q.