Association of Advancement Services Professionals News and Updates

services@supportingadvancement.com — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Excitement keeps building and AASP continues to develop and expand the benefits of membership – you won’t want to miss any of these:

- The Best Practice wiki space opportunity for each of us to review and add our thoughts will be announced within the week so be sure to sign up for your own account on Wikispaces so you can be part of the process to articulate best standards of practice for our field!

- The AASP Staffing Survey is still open but we’re fast approaching the June 19th deadline for submitting details from your organization (more feedback leads to more meaningful results and we hope you’ll take part in the survey)!

- AASP is all about professional development and the next learning opportunities are on the horizon which means you’ll want to be on the look-out for announcements regarding the webinar on “Lean” management practices as well as AASP Summit 2 – Reach for Innovation (your chance to register will be here any day now)!

- Your AASP board members have been active on the News (blog) and members are invited not only to comment on the blogs but also to initiate new topics and be an active part of the AASP site!

- And let’s not overlook the networking avenues of Facebook fan page – LinkedIn, and also Twitter (I’m not personally up on Twitter as of yet, but on LinkedIn and quite active on FB where you’ll find a group photo of the current board members)!

And just last week John Taylor shared a free preview of our newsletter for AASP members – AASPiration! Even now plans are underway for the next issues and the search is on for contributing authors as well as recommendations for member profiles. To submit topics of interest – including names of member colleagues you believe would be great contributors or spotlight profiles in “Meet your Neighbor” – please email your recommendations to Vicky Medlock, our great VP for AASP.

Let’s keep the momentum rolling by increasing our member numbers – it’s only $95 a year for both the regular and discounted benefits already listed and those that will continue to be provided to active members. If you haven’t already joined then please consider joining today and invite a colleague to be part of this great professional development experience – great for you, great for your organization and great for all of us in the field of advancement services!

With best regards to all,

Amy J. Phillips
AASP Membership Chair

P.S. We had quite a few email bounces when AASPiration was distributed to the membership list and we want to remind you to visit the AASP site regularly to update your profile and take full advantage of your member benefits. Your email is your log-in but if you’ve changed email addresses or forgotten your password then just email me and I can reset the details and get you up and going again – that includes you lapsed members who want to renew, too!

CASE Summer Institute in Advancement Services

services@supportingadvancement.com — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 05:00:00 GMT

It's important to make the best use of our professional development and training dollars in a planned and thoughtful way - in tough economic times its imperative.

We are highly recommending the CASE Summer Institute in Advancement Services which covers the the myriad of tasks managed in development and advancement services. This year's faculty includes representation from education, healthcare and museum environments. Sessions will help attendees broaden their perspectives of operations, regulatory compliance, data mining, use of cutting edge technology, results of the most recent SupportingAdvancement survey on matching gifts and tools for prospect research and management. These are just a few of the important topics being covered and attendees will be able to take back practical knowledge to help their organizations. It's tough to find a better value.

We hope to see you at the University of Vermont in Burlington for this year's conference which runs from August 2nd through the 6th.

Just a reminder that the AASP Staffing Survey is still open!

services@supportingadvancement.com — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Just a reminder that the AASP Staffing Survey is still open! New deadline is June 19, 2009.

Due to popular demand, we're keeping open the AASP Staffing Survey. We've heard from a lot of you, and know that there are many who requested some extra time in filling this out!

This survey is a first of its kind in our industry to capture a comprehensive snapshot Advancement Services across all not-for-profit organizations. From higher education to community foundations, independent schools to international partners - every not-for-profit organization is invited to participate.

Please take a moment to follow the link below and share with us your experience. The results of this survey will be made available to all participants and shared at Summit 2009 - September 30-October 1 at Chicago Mart Holiday Inn.

Thanks to everyone who has filled out the survey, and we'll see everyone in Chicago!

Fill out the Staffing Survey here.

Why Should Non-Profits Post Videos on YouTube?

services@supportingadvancement.com — Fri, 22 May 2009 05:00:00 GMT

There are a few advantages to putting your videos on YouTube:

1. You don't have to develop technology in-house to deploy on your web site.

Once posted on YouTube, you can imbed videos into your own site and others such as Facebook, blogs, wikis, etc. with minimal effort once.

2. By setting up your own organization's YouTube channel you "protect"

your brand to some extent. This is true of all of the social networking sites.

3. The #2 search engine is actually YouTube.

A YouTube channel is another mechanism to get your organization more optimally placed in indexes.

4. Video is the #1 content people are viewing on the Internet.

Video should be an integral part of your channel strategy and we should all be considering channel shift from other media where it makes sense. It's also a good time to start developing video skills in-house.

5. Part of your online strategy should include measurable outcomes you'd like to leverage the social networking properties for. i.e. Targets for subscriptions, # of views, # of friends, friends and other metrics.

6. By deploying on YouTube and other social networking properties, you are showing up where people already are and where they want to be.

Network television is actively moving to web deployed shows, such as what are available on Hulu.Com. (U.S. only.)

7. If you do a remarkable video, there's always the chance it will go viral and you'll get much better exposure for your brand.

The ability to share, subscribe, comment and other functionality on YouTube are effective enablers of viral marketing. Post, Imbed, Tweat ...

8.Videos posted on YouTube are viewable on the iPhone. Most smartphones have a YouTube application.

One of the challenges in our environment is that any one of us can create a web presence and start posting content in minutes.

Part of our thinking needs to shift towards how to take advantage of functionality provided in the cloud in ways that maximize our internal resources and simultaneously promote brand in the widest possible number of venues.

It's important to take the long view with all of this and it's good to start experimenting if you haven't done so already.

Brian Dowling

Principal and Founder

www.SupportingAdvancement.Com

Digital Convergence

services@supportingadvancement.com — Fri, 15 May 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Digital convergence is happening faster than we realize, and just as the PC industry innovated at dramatic rates in the past, the mobile device industry is now the hotbed of innovation because of the intense level of competition.

So what does this mean for our profession? Some ideas and possibilities …

• More of an outcry from staff for more “friendly” devices such as iPhones. We’ll all need to understand where and why the outcry is happening.
• Less patience from our road warriors for accessing and updating information when they are travelling.
• More demand for ease of updating information such as contact reports using mobile devices.
• Our staff will face increasing challenges from having to support multiple device platforms.
• The distinction between 'personal' and 'corporate provided' devices will continue to blend. This has its own set of security and policy issues.
• Others?

We will all have to be creative in our managing and understanding the effects of convergence within our organizations.

A few thoughts on tactics ….

• Experiment early. If you haven’t done so already, deploy a few experimental devices in your organization so you can start to understand the issues and opportunities.
• Start to develop clear policy and management standards. i.e. What happens if a mobile device with donor information on it is lost?
• Start to receive training on developing content and applications for mobile devices.
• Lobby your fundraising software vendors on what you feel their strategy needs to be to deploy your fundraising software on a mobile platform.
• Make sure you understand the interfaces between mobile devices and social networking platforms.

If we could really predict the future we wouldn’t need to. However, there are some clear mega trends emerging and as leaders for enabling technology in our organizations, we simply can’t afford to sit still.

Many years ago we had to make decisions such as whether we used IBM DOS, Microsoft DOS or some other operating system. The spreadsheet revolutionized our approach to digital prediction and planning. We’re now at another see (sea) change to information access and management.

Don’t be caught “out of water” on this one.

Brian Dowling

brian.dowling@supportingadvancement.com

Acid Tests for Projects We Choose To Initiate

services@supportingadvancement.com — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 05:00:00 GMT

How do we update our plans for Information Systems and Data Management and make strategic decisions on an ongoing basis in relation to how the work changes and changes in the world? Information systems plans need to address mid-to-long term needs but should be very flexible in an environment that changes rapidly.

Successful implementation of a plan will be to work “outside” the current organizational structure and address what’s best for the organization. Staffing and structure may need to change. Budgets may need to be reallocated so as to make the best use of scarce resources.

The world changes at the margin, and it’s critical to realize that opportunities exist, but should not derail core strategies – if the strategy is only affected at the margin. For example, we may have 100 reports that need to be modified. If these are marginal changes, and we spend time implementing them all, we may have ignored the data warehouse project – which is a critical core strategy and a more enabling one than a long laundry list of small fixes.

The acid tests for Information Systems and Data Management projects should include the following considerations:

Does the project make a significant contribution to core strategies?
Does the project help to build revenue?
Does the project provide better analytics to manage our organization?
Does the project help to improve communication channels?
Does the project cross organizational boundaries?
Does the project free up resources?
Does the project reduce manual processes?
Does the project transfer knowledge and build core expertise?

Does the project leverage free or inexpensive resources?

Microsoft SQL Server Perfornance and Tuning

services@supportingadvancement.com — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Typical tuning and database performance activities are often based on ratios and sometimes they give misleading results. As database functionality continues to become more sophisticated, new methods of tuning will become more useful.

An example of this is the Wait-Time information in Microsoft SQL Server. This allows tracking of every step of a process so you can identify which steps are causing a lag in performance.

Consider the metaphor of the cashier in relation to performance tuning:

The Cashier is the CPU
Customer Being Checked is Running
Customers Waiting in Line are Runnable
Customer 1 Requires a Price Check
Price Check is Runnable

If you use a ratio or a simple statistic such as total time at a cashier, you may end up taking the wrong action to fix the problem.

Wait-time analysis would give you a clearer picture, by isolating the price check as the place where the longest amount of wait time occured.

Wait-time tables are used to keep track of this information in SQL Server and in newer version of the project there are dynamic views of these tables which make your workeven easier. Having said this, the date and time stamps are not recorded, and the table date is that from database startup time. If you use these tables, you will need to sample the data periodicaly in order to get meaningful comparisions. There are also hundreds of events to it's good to understand which are the most common ones.

There are a number of tools available, including SQL profiler, and some third party tools. Both have their uses. Trace gives very detailed information, and the commercial products typically allow a more granular level of analysis, have graphical interfaces and may be easier to use.

Performance Intelligence

This is the next moniker for perfoamcne management, and you may want to create a database performance warehouse to keep track of your performance data. Some of the key information worth capturing is:

1. At the SQL statement level - Badly written queries are still for the most part the #1 problem in performance.
2. Time Views (The time something took.)
3. Wait State (Measure Every Wait Individually)
4. Historical View (State History to Isolate Trends)

A performance data warehouse is clearly the way to start to monitor problems. Over time you can add reporting and metrics to gain a deeper understanding of what some of your most common performance problems are.

As database functionaly continues to become more complex, the idea of a performance data warehouse will be even more compelling. Hopefully vendors will keep adding functionlity in this area to help us all with the complexities.

Free Matching Gift Webinar

services@supportingadvancement.com — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 05:00:00 GMT

HEP is sponsoring a webinar on Wednesday, January 21. “How to double, triple, yes quadruple your Matching Gift Revenues” given by Jim Hammelev, Director of Workplace Mission Support Initiatives for The American Cancer Society. Jim will be sharing how ACS grew matching gifts to over $10 million dollars. Register now. More on matching gifts.

Customer Service

services@supportingadvancement.com — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 05:00:00 GMT

A student writer can’t merely survive on the earnings from freelancing. It’s just not possible. With tuition, rent, gas money, and the occasional latte, it is necessary to get a part time job. This October, I got one of those job things. Since being hired onto the staff of a prestigious coffee company where I dress in black like a beat poet and don a green apron. People come to our store because they know that they will get great customer service and great coffee.

Last week, the head honchos from the head office came to check out our holiday setup and make sure we were doing things right. I was minding my own business, making fresh coffee, when they came up to me and asked: “How did you come to [GreatCoffeeLand]?” I told them that I had always been a customer.

What makes great customer service? My company’s mission is not just to provide great customer service—no— we prescribe to the term: legendary customer service. I know it sounds a bit “campfire” but it is pretty dang smart if you ask me. When you walk in our doors on a daily basis, we learn your face, your name, or your usual drink. We strive to know you. You aren’t just a number to us or another customer, you are a person—one that deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. We treat you like a friend, not like an annoyance or bother. When something goes wrong, when your drink doesn’t taste sweet enough, or is too strong, or is not as hot as you’d like it, or you’ve decided that you want that extra shot of espresso, we’ll fix it for you. We don’t roll our eyes or make a big deal about it because we’re happy when we’re making you happy. If you come in our doors for the first time and are confused we will help you to figure out what you want. If you want a light-bodied coffee with a medium roast and subtle notes of cocoa, I can tell you which one to buy. If you’re trying to eat healthy, I can point you towards a pastry that is fibre-filled or a drink with protein in it.

One evening I had a customer who ordered a latte. I made it perfectly—I had made about a hundred by then. She looked at me disdainfully as I made it and as I was about to hand it off to her, she said “That’s not enough foam! Is that all?” Had she asked for extra foam at the register? Nope. No matter, I told her it would only take a moment and I made extra, taking my time to “baby” the milk I was steaming so that the foam would be perfect. I filled it with at an inch of foam and she still looked at me like she was disgusted. As I handed the drink to her, I asked if that was enough and she have a half-hearted: “Yeah” I told her I would put more on, but she refused my offer. I smiled at her and turned away to make the next drink. Little did I know that our encounter was not yet over.

“Do you have a sleeve?” She asked. I got one from the dispenser and put it on the counter next to her drink. What she said next shocked me. “Do I have to put it on myself?” She questioned, incredulous that she might have to lift a finger to put a sleeve on her drink. Now, what would you do if you were serving this customer? Would you say, “Excuse me, are you an amputee? I think you are more than capable of putting your own drink sleeve on.” Would you make up a fake answer about health regulations to force her to put the sleeve on herself and thus punish her for being so rude and difficult? Would you take her extra-foamy latte and sweep it off of the counter, watching it make a great brown arc in the air before it splattered on her scrunched-up irate face? Or, would you smile and say, “If you would like me to put it on, I can do that,” and then slip the sleeve on, smile extra wide and wish her a good evening?

I did the last one, even though the first three choices ran quickly though my mind. People shouldn’t be rude to the folks that are serving them, but most of the time they are. They will roll their eyes at you if you count out their change a bit slowly, or look at you like you’re the dumbest person alive when there is a drip down the side of their cup, but my job isn’t to teach anyone how to be a better person or how to treat others with love and respect. That was their parent’s job, and then their own responsibility when they entered the wide world of adulthood. Sometimes you just have to laugh it off and feel sorry for the people who treat you badly. They are usually very unhappy. Hopefully customers will respect us as a reflection of how much we respect them.

So, despite the occasional harrowing experience, I enjoy interacting with the customers who come into my store. I actually love my job. It’s not really “work” as some people view it. I do a lot, and I had to learn a lot to be able to serve in the capacity that I do, but I enjoy myself every day. I have fun. And now, I get lattes for free.

John Taylor's Annual Date of Gift Message

services@supportingadvancement.com — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Dear FundSvcs & Advance-L colleagues,

The following e-mail message, sent this time every year, has been verified and validated by attorneys and IRS representatives. A Canadian colleague has repeatedly confirmed the Canadian references.

As a reminder, the IRS released the 2009 allowable benefit levels, below which no receipt disclaimer is required, several months ago. You will find that information both in the FundSvcs & Advance-L archives as well as at the download site at www.FundSvcs.org. In fact you will find copies of what I consider all the relevant IRS forms and publications (some mentioned below) at the same site.

With that, here's the "traditional" Annual Date of Gift message, with a few updates:

Annual Date Of Gift Message

In the United States the IRS does not require any date of gift on acknowledgments/receipts. In Canada two dates are required: the date you received the gift and the date you printed the receipt. NOWHERE IS A "DATE OF GIFT" REQUIRED IN EITHER COUNTRY. In the most recent version of IRS Publication 1771, however, the IRS does suggest providing a "date received." My personal preference, however, remains "date processed." The acceptability of reflecting a processed date has been confirmed with the IRS.

We are often faced with the dilemma of donors sending in last minute end-of-year contributions and being frustrated when they get a receipt mentioning a "gift date" in January. I would be too. In fact, it is not the donee's responsibility to assign a date of gift. That responsibility clearly falls on the donor. Were you, as a donee, to state a gift date on a receipt you could, in theory, be required to produce evidence supporting that date during an IRS audit of one of your donors. Stating gift dates on receipts would necessitate your keeping envelopes with postmarks, for example, for the required IRS statute of limitations. That is why the only time I suggest mentioning a gift date is for gifts of securities IF you feel like providing a value for them (not required per IRS Publication 1771 as securities are gifts of property). However, if you choose to do so, make sure that you include a disclaimer advising the donor that the value - and date - are being used for internal purposes only and to seek official guidance from their tax advisor. My suggested receipt language for these instances is as follows:

"Thank you for your gift of X shares of Y stock, which we have valued for our internal purposes only at $Z as of MM/DD/YY. For tax purposes you will want to seek guidance from a tax professional in determining your deductible amount."

Duke University, during my nearly 15 years there, rarely received a complaint from a donor about showing a processed date and not a gift date. The phone calls literally went away 15 years ago when, for the first two weeks of January, Duke began including the following message on receipts in lieu of the normal fund, department, or school-based message and/or signature (I believe Duke no longer even needs to add this reminder):

"May we remind you that the date above reflects when we processed your gift, and does not imply the date your gift was made. While you should consult with your CPA or tax preparer to determine the tax consequences of your donation, the date you delivered or mailed your donation is generally recognized as the gift date. The determination of the
contribution date is entirely your decision. Should you have any questions concerning this matter, please contact me."

Don't get caught up trying to ascertain gift dates for your donors. But, since I am asked "When is a gift a gift?" every year, here are some common answers, and misconceptions:

The date on the check HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH REALITY. It's not a legal date of anything. Why some institutions find a need to record this date in their system is unclear (although many software packages include this field). Entering this date is a waste of time, IMHO, and certainly cannot be used to represent the date of gift, the date received, or the date processed. To save data input efforts, and to standardize gift processing, the only date I suggest you reflect for most gifts is the date the gift was entered on your system - which is usually automatically inserted - hence the phrase "processed date" recommendation I offer.

The customary "legal" date of gift for mailed contributions is the date of postmark. This, however, is not true for metered mail. Nor does a postmark reflect the legal date of gift for some other, non-cash, forms of gifts like credit card and stock donations. For credit cards, regardless of when or how the donor tells you to debit their account, the legal gift date is the date the charge hits their account. For stock, things get a bit more complicated. If the donor mails it in, the gift date is the later of the two USPS (not metered) postmarks for the certificate and stock power. If DTCed, it's the date of DTC and NOT THE DATE THE DONOR TOLD THEIR BROKER TO TRANSFER THE GIFT. For the gift to be consummated the stock MUST be registered in your name or in the control of you or your legal agent.

For items sent via third parties, like FedEx and UPS, the gift date is the date you sign for, or take into your possession, the package, not the date it was sent (a donor can recall items "mailed" this way until you have signed for it - thus the item is still in their control until control is yours).

From Crescendo regarding gifts by check: "These "check" rules apply despite the fact taxpayers could hypothetically stop payment on the check and negate the actual gift. One word of caution: postdated checks are not deductible when hand delivered or mailed. A postdated check is a promise to pay in the future and, thus, not deductible at time of delivery."

From Crescendo regarding credit card gifts: "Gifts by credit card are deductible in the year when the charges are made on the card owner's account."

From Crescendo regarding electronic delivery of stock gifts (dealing with a broker not acting on a transfer request when it is made): "Stocks are frequently transferred by electronic delivery. For instance, stocks are usually held in "street accounts" with financial services firms. While a taxpayer may irrevocably instruct his or her broker to
transfer the stock to charity, the gift is not complete until the stock is delivered to the charity's account. This means that the gift date for tax purposes may be days and possibly even weeks after the taxpayer's instructions to transfer. This poses a potential problem to last minute charitable contributions."

I hope everyone has a happy holiday season and few, if any, frustrated donors! Feel free to call/write if you have specific questions. A more "official" source than me for this topic is IRS publication 526 as well as IRS Publication 1771.

John Taylor
Associate Vice Chancellor, Advancement Services
North Carolina State University
Box 7474
Raleigh, NC 27695-7474
919.513.2954 (o)

919.816.5903 (c)
919.513.2406 (f)
johnhtaylor@ncsu.edu

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