1 SEPTEMBER 15, 2013 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.thenonprofittimes.com

BY DON MCNAMARA AND PATRICK SULLIVAN

Edward Doolittle, developmentofficer of Aid Atlanta, has seenthe benefits of hosted donormanagement from two per-

spectives: as a paid employee and as avolunteer.

As the organization’s development of-ficer, Doolittle has enjoyed the en-hanced ease of access that hosted donormanagement has given his organization.

It’s about more than him being ableto do his job better. “Just being able tofree up a server and free up our IT de-partment, and the price of hosting camedown, as well as staff time, I would haveto say as a guesstimate that we’re savingseveral thousands of dollars a year,”Doolittle said. “Unrestricted money cango right where you need it most.”

It’s the nonprofit bottom line. “Themore efficient you can be, the moremoney can go to people the organiza-tion’s mission is all about,” Doolittle said.

He also volunteers at For the Kid inAll of Us, an all-volunteer organizationto help Georgia children in need.“There’s no centralized office, so using(Blackbaud) Raiser’s Edge helps keepcosts down,” Doolittle added.

Chris Kennedy, development officer

tion headquartered in Richmond, Va.,but lives near Fort Worth, Texas. “For adevelopment officer, it’s a numbersgame. But it’s not about numbers, butrelationships. So for me, the ability toget in front of more people increases as Ican get more information about morepeople. I will have the ability to have

of International Mission Board (IMB),wants relationships, lots of them. Thepast year or so of using a mobile applica-tion technology has made him confidentthat he will be getting what he wantsdown the road.

Down the road is a good metaphorfor Kennedy, who works for an organiza-

more relationships,” he said.Kennedy said it’s important to be

able to quantify the relationships. “Whenit comes to accessing wealth data, donormanagement software enhances my abil-ity to qualify a constituent on the spotbefore I walk in the door,” said Kennedy.

That might mean more work forKennedy, but he’s ready for it. “I feel thatthe impetus for a development officer’ssuccess is that person’s ability to be infront of constituents, not a computer. Asmobile access to constituent data in-creases so go excuses for neglectingface-to-face contact.”

Security concerns have made somenonprofits reticent to switch from on-premise software to hosted software.Ron Rainville, vice president of servicedelivery options for Blackbaud, com-pares the care and scrutiny needed withthe care accorded to America’s spaceprogram. “We just established our 7-by-24-hours operations center here inAustin,” said Rainville, relating it toNASA’s Johnson Space Center in Hous-ton, which tracks space flights every sec-ond, alert for any eventuality.

Cloud-based donor management sys-tems (software-as-a-service, SaaS) are be-

S P E C I A L F O C U S : D O N O R M A N A G E M E N T S O F T W A R E

School children in Lusaka, Zambia, crowd around IMB missionary Troy Lewis, whose primary focusinvolves ministering to those impacted by the AIDS crisis.

Continued on page 3

MORE DONORS MANAGED IN THE CLOUDTransition from resident data systems hurdling forward

Gathering at the annual AidsWalk Atlanta and 5K Run

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3 SEPTEMBER 15, 2013 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.thenonprofittimes.com

coming old hat. With this migrationcomes a bolstering of security. The goodnews for anyone shopping for a new sys-tem is few vendors have raised pricessince last year. Savvier consumers are be-ginning to realize that the data securityconcerns that proliferated in the cloud’searly days are largely being alleviated be-cause of increased visibility of and com-fort with the cloud.

“There’s not as many security con-cerns with the cloud as one would think,”said Elizabeth Pope, senior researcher attechnology nonprofit IdealWare in Port-land, Maine. Vendors will “have redun-dancy systems set up where you haveconstituent data backed up in different

places. A lot of nonprofits have security is-sues of their own with an on-premisedatabase.” Pope added that when a non-profit partners with a cloud vendor, it’sthe vendor that handles the security.

“As (security matters) become morecomplex, organizations realize this isn’ttheir specialty,” said Bob Girardi, vice pres-ident of product development for SofTrek,makers of ClearView CRM, in Amherst,N.Y. “They recognize that data is better offin the cloud.” Most nonprofits don’t ap-proach the level of security and redun-dancy provided by application vendors.”

Brendan Noone, chief operating offi-cer of Z2 Systems in Chicago, said he’sgrateful that customers are becomingmore knowledgeable about and com-

fortable with the cloud. “We don’t haveto spend as much time defending thecloud,” he said. “People see it as a way oflife.” NEON, Z2’s product, has beencloud-based since 2004.

One reason the cloud might be con-tinuing its momentum from last year isthat there is less sticker shock. SaaSproducts generally carry a monthly feeand are measured in dozens or hun-dreds of dollars, not thousands. And,prices might be falling further. “Whatwe’ve seen is that because of increasingcompetition, there’s going to be down-ward pressure on pricing,” said DaveSpacone, SofTrek’s president.

While a nonprofit must undergo cost-benefit analysis and take into account

costs over the lifetime of their cloud soft-ware, SaaS products by and large requiremuch less of an up-front cash outlay. “Ifyou’re buying a sophisticated (on-prem-ise) system, the outlay could be huge,not to mention the hardware and otherinfrastructure,” Spacone said. He addedthat because cloud software is pay-as-you-go, it allows nonprofits to spreadthe cost over time, which can be very at-tractive to some organizations thatmight not have the resources to spend$15,000 all at once.

Updating the software is also mucheasier with cloud solutions. Eprisa, awholly cloud-based product made bySaturn in Cheverly, Md., gets updated

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‘‘Unrestricted money can go right where you need it most. --Edward Doolittle of Aid Atlanta

Continued from page 1

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every two weeks. Clients don’t have toworry about using older versions. Itsaves money because vendors don’thave to support legacy versions. “It’s abig advantage over an (on-premise) so-lution,” said John Yost, a consultant forSaturn. “If you’re a software companyand you release a new version, you’vegot to support that version and all previ-ous versions your customers are using.”

Saturn serves nonprofits that have

100,000 transactions or more a month,according to Yost. It found its businessbeing gobbled up by other companiesoffering cloud solutions. “We decidedthat we were going to make a quantumleap forward, betting the company thatSaaS is the way to go,” said Yost. Eprisahas been on the cloud since 2006.

“Folks are getting educated,” saidPope. “As people use more cloud-basedsystems in everyday life, as they get moreexposure, there’s a little less of the

worry there. Folks need to shift theirmental model to this new way of access-ing software. They’re right to be warybut with more exposure, people are get-ting more comfortable with the idea ofthe cloud.”

Although on-premise software willstill be the best option for some organi-zations, vendors say that the market-place as a whole is moving to the cloud.“Even though applications work as on-premise or are delivered via cloud, our

focus is on cloud service,” said Girardi.SofTrek still sells and supports an on-premise version of ClearView, but it nolonger advertises its on-premise productand is nudging new customers to itsSaaS version.

That’s not to say that security is nolonger something to worry about. It isan issue, especially with the rise ofbring-your-own-device (BYOD) policiesfor gift officers. With BYOD, develop-ment officers are responsible for provid-ing their own smartphones or tablets.Mobile devices have allowed many non-profit employees to do business whileon the road or in satellite offices usingeasy-to-carry devices. This conveniencecan improve efficiency enormously, butit gives development directors a newworry: what might happen if the em-ployees lose their phones or tabletswhile they are on the road. Software de-velopers share these concerns.

“We think having data secure is aboutprotecting constituents,” i.e. donors,said Noone. “We take that very seriously.Anybody in this business has securitymeasures at the utmost recent technol-ogy to keep that (data) secure.”

Noone believes that BYOD policiesdon’t truly affect security. He said it’s thesame whether a gift officer is using a per-sonal device or the organization’s device.“That sounds more like permissions thansecurity,” he said. “It involves protectionsthat any system should have in place. Youshouldn’t have something without alogin or password. Anyone I know hassome kind of code to get in.”

Joseph Scarano, CEO of Araize, inCary, N.C., said data files are housed inservers provided by Rackspace, which isSOC-1 (Service Organization Controls,formerly SAS-70) compliant. “Creditcard and other critical data areprocessed from PCI (Payment Card In-dustry) compliant applications. The se-curity and data backup procedures inplace are far more extensive than whatcan be implemented in most nonprofitorganizations,” he said

Even as vendors take steps to en-hance product security, an organizationmust also take steps to protect its con-stituents’ information. “Protecting datain the cloud starts with protecting itwithin their organization,” said Scarano.“That starts with an organization’s inter-nal controls and the policies it creates. Ifyou don’t have the proper foundationfor data security within your organiza-tion, you will never protect data ade-quately in the cloud.”

Scarano’s advice to nonprofit man-agers regarding information protection:Make sure you have policies that definedata classification categories and datahandling requirements.

SofTrek takes an approach to securitydifferent from many others. Securityhappens at the database level, ratherthan the application level, meaning se-curity policies and privileges are stored

5

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S P E C I A L F O C U S : D O N O R M A N A G E M E N T S O F T W A R E

in the database. As long as security wasbuilt into the application level, said Spa-cone, “if you go at that data with anotherapplication such as a reporting tool oranalytics tool, you’re circumventing thesecurity.” When security is baked intothe database itself, “no matter how yougo at that data, that security cannot beavoided,” he said.

Security might be an abiding concernfor any fundraiser, but it is not the onlyone. Adaptability and integration becomemore important as more organizationsand providers of donor managementproducts make use of the cloud and evermore sophisticated technology to im-prove performance.

“The cloud is real. The cloud is secureand it’s not going anywhere,” said LeighKessler, vice president for branding andcommunications for BIS Global inMcLean, Va. “SaaS adds great flexibilityand scalability. Companies that had quickgrowth are now re-evaluating, figuringout if they can be doing things better.They’ve accepted the technology, andnow they’re thinking, what is the beststrategy? The best strategy is integration.”

Mark Connors, vice president ofAmergent in Peabody, Mass., said that hiscompany has partnered with BSD Tools,part of BSD Digital, a consulting andtechnology firm, to provide a compre-hensive suite of integrated e-marketingtools with Amergent’s Portfolio donormanagement system, a Web-based multi-user system.

Araize’s recently released FastFund On-line supports accounting, donor, mem-ber, constituent management payroll andWeb into a single integrated solution.

Scarano said that Araize also offersFastFund Accounting, which meets re-quirements for generating FASB-117 (Fi-nancial Accounting Standards Board)compliant reports.

Araize’s system is built around a singleentity record so that donations, ex-penses, billing and constituent relationsuse the same information for every trans-action and activity, and it appears such an

approach is the trend of the future.“The whole thing is about being

adaptable,” said Todd Hinton, executivevice president of Bernard Data Solutionsin Westminster, Colo. “Down the road,adaptability is going to be even morecritical. People worked for so long withlimitations with platforms, and they arelooking to get access to real-time data.”

To that end, Hinton said Bernard isreleasing Bernard Connect, an applica-tion programming interface (API) thatwill allow a multitude of applications forclients on the Bernard database. He saidthat the new development arose bothfrom his company’s search for innova-tion and from customer demands.

“I just see the whole connectivity thingbecoming more critical, about becomingmore accessible to our users,” Hintonadded. “But the point of the (BernardConnect) platform is adaptability. One ofthe new big features our clients are ex-cited about is the ability to attach docu-

ments to appeals or campaigns. For ex-ample, with direct mail, they might wantto attach spreadsheets. That allows themto see five years down the road what theydid with a campaign.”

Integration was a theme in this year’sreport, with many vendors reportingthat they’ve added the ability for theirprograms to “talk” to others, whether it’saccounting software, social media, oremail blast programs.

“What the API is trying to do is bringclients into one database, one platform,”Hinton said. “That way we’re giving aninterface to allow all of those systems totalk in the Bernard database.”

Synchronization with other pro-grams, said Pope, allows donor manage-ment systems “to track not just donorsbut what events folks come to, etc. A lotof vendors are wising up to that and try-ing to make systems where integrationcan happen.” ClearView now has inte-gration capabilities with wealth screen-

ing and email deployment applications. Other vendors have included integra-

tion as well. Mission Research, maker ofGiftWorks, has integrated its programswith MailChimp, as well as made Gift-Works Events accessible from GiftWorks.DonorPerfect allows users to post to andpull in data from social media. And Ex-ceed!, like ClearView, is now synchedwith Constant Contact.

“We do think that integration is a crit-ical piece of any good product or appli-cation,” said Dan Gillett, CEO of Kimbiain Austin, Texas. “In today’s market-place, everybody has multiple products(from different vendors).” Modules forAccelerate, Kimbia’s product, allows in-formation to get pushed out to creditcard processors, CRMs and the emailmarketing program Eloqua.

But integration with other programsisn’t always the way to go for some soft-ware developers. Steven Shattuck, vicepresident of marketing for the Indianapo-lis, Ind.-based company Bloomerang, saidthe software is concentrated on doing afew things really well, instead of being“mediocre at 20 or 30 things,” he said.

Bloomerang, a newcomer to the donormanagement software report, was incor-porated in 2012. “We looked at the mar-ketplace and consolidation was the norma few years ago,” said Shattuck. “Nowyou’re seeing very distinct individualproducts that do one or two things. We’regood at donor retention, donor manage-ment, and that’s all we want to do.”

Though integration might be the lat-est and greatest, Noone said that worry-ing about what programs are talking towhat other programs should take a backseat to training and implementation fornonprofits.

“Too many times people go after theshiny ball,” he said. “Nonprofits need toask themselves what’s more importantto them in implementing their missionand raising more money. A lot of organi-zations think they can just purchase a so-lution, but it’s really an extension or atool. You need them to get the job donemore efficiently.” NPT

Continued from page 5

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Eric Reese (right), an IMB missionary in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, visits the home of his friend Dona Lica(left) and her son David.

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TOP DONOR MANAGEMENT PRODUCTSAbila (formerly Sage)Fundraising 50 (hosted)Starting at $99/month

Fundraising 50 (on premise)Single user, starting at $3,400Multi-user, starting at $4,650

MillenniumStarting at $199/month800-811-0691www.abila.com

AccuFundAccuFundStarting at $50/user/month877-872-2228 X215www.accufund.com

AccuFund CRMUp to 10 donated licenses on theSalesforce.com platform877-872-2228 X107www.accufund.com/accufund-crm

Advanced Solutions InternationaliMISStarts at $5,000800-727-8682www.imis.com

AgilonAgilon ONE v.4.3SaaS, starting at $675/monthOn-site, starting at $14,100

AmergentPortfolioWeb-based multi-user, starting at$2,000/month800-370-7500www.amergent.com

AraizeFastFund Raising Online$35/month for up to 5,000 records$75/month for up to10,000 records$150/month for 10,000 to 20,000records$250/month for 20,000 to 30,000records$325/month for 30,000 to 50,000records$400/month over 50,000 recordsMulti-user – 5 concurrent users:$25/monthSpecial discounts for bundling withFastFund Accounting919-460-3990www.araize.com

Avectra, an Abila CompanyAvectra Social CRM Web-basedAverage license $125/month855-AVECTRAwww.avectra.com

Bernard Data SolutionsBernard Fundraising SoftwareSingle/multi-user up to 5,000records, $140/monthMulti-user, 10 users, 100,000records, $750/monthBernard Connect API also available866-936-6671www.bernardsolutions.com

BlackbaudeTapestryStarting at $99/month

The Raiser’s Edge(i)Hosted software, starting at $6,000

The Raiser’s Edge(i) EnterpriseHosted software, starting at $12,000

The Raiser’s EdgeSoftware only starting at $5,250

Blackbaud CRMPricing varies widely by organiza-tional need

Luminate CRM Starting at $1,995/month

Luminate Constituent EngagementSystemStarting at $2,495/month

Luminate™ Online MarketingStarting at $800/month

Blackbaud NetCommunitySubscription, starting at $5,000

TeamRaiserMonthly subscription withtransaction fee of 5.5 percent;one-time implementation andmonthly subscription fees vary

Friends Asking FriendsTransaction fee, 5 percent; one-timeimplementation and monthly sub-scription fees varywww.blackbaud.com800-443-9411

BIS GlobalCharityEngineStarting at $1,500/month866-737-8222www.charityengine.net

BloomerangBloomerangStarts at $99/month, up to 1,000records, to $499/month, up to40,000 records866-332-2999www.bloomerang.co

Click and PledgeSalesforce Donor ManagementFree with account through Salesforce866-999-2542, x3214http://clickandpledge.com/

DonorExpress SoftwareLiteSingle user, starting at $150Additional user, starting at $150

Standard and HospiceSingle user, starting at $650Additional user, starting at $245Unlimited site license, starting at$1,800

EnterpriseSingle user, starting at $950Additional user, starting at $350Unlimited site license, starting at$2,700828-264-2577www.donorexpress.com

FUND E-Z Development FUND E-Z Fund Raising SoftwareSingle user, starting at $995Multi-user, starting at $1,490877-696-0900www.fundez.com

FundRaiser SoftwareFundRaiser BasicSingle user, starting at $149Available online at $30/month

FundRaiser SparkSingle user, starting at $649Available online for $69/month

FundRaiser SelectSingle-user, starting at $1,400Additional users: $250 eachAvailable online for $169/month

FundRaiser ProfessionalSingle user, starting at $3,800Additional users: $400 eachAvailable online for $399/month800-880-3454 ext. 3www.fundraisersoftware.com

GiftWorks, a FrontStream CompanyGiftWorks StandardSingle user, $549Multi-user discounts available

GiftWorks PremiumSingle user, $849Multi-user discounts available

GiftWorks AnywhereSingle/multi-user, $75/month setupfee and $75/month/user

GiftWorks VolunteersSingle user, $199/month$149/month for additional licenses

GiftWorks EventsSingle user, $299$249 for additional licenses

GiftWorks OnLine DonationsSingle/multi-user, $149 one-timefee, $29.99/month

GiftWorks Web CollectMulti user, $14.99/month

GiftWorks Data ProtectMulti user, $4.99/month888-323-8766www.giftworksconnect.com

Heritage DesignsMatchMaker Fundraising SoftwareStandard EditionSingle user, starting at $1,900Multi-user starting at $4,245

MatchMaker Fundraising SoftwareOnline EditionStarting at $150/month

MatchMaker Fundraising SoftwareEnterprise EditionSingle user, starting at $2,790Multi-user, starting at $5,495

MatchMaker Fundraising SoftwareCanadian EditionSingle user, starting at $2,790Multi-user, starting at $5,495(800) 752-3100www.matchmakerfrs.com

KimbiaAccelerateSingle/multi-user, starting at $4,995877-204-9955www.kimbia.com

Metafile Information SystemsResultsPlusSingle user, starting at $1,000Multi-user, starting at $4,000

ResultsPlus PlatinumStarting at $8,500

EventsPlusSingle user, starting at $1,500Multi-user, starting at $2,000800-638-2445www.metafile.com

MicahTekNetViewStarts at $200/month918-449-3300www.micahtek.com

NationBuilderNationBuilder Nonprofit EditionStarting at $19/month for 2,000names or 200 email addresses, up to$999/month for 1 million names or100,000 email addresses213-394-4623www.nationbuilder.com

Orange LeapOrange Leap On Demand (hosted)Starting at $100/month/user (fourusers minimum)Custom pricing for more than 20users

MPX (on-premise)Starting at $100/month/user(four users minimum)Custom pricing for more than20 users800-562-5150www.orangeleap.com

Salesforce.comSalesforce.com Foundation NonprofitStarter Pack10 free licenses of Salesforce.com;discounts on additional licenses andservices800-NO-SOFTWAREwww.salesforcefoundation.org

Saturn CorporationEprisaSingle/multi user, starting at$1,000/month800-872-0090www.saturncorp.com

Serenic SoftwareSerenic DonorVision SaaSStarts at $90/user/month877-737-3642www.serenic.com

SofterWareDonorPerfect Fundraising SoftwareSingle user, starting at $3,070Multi-user, starting at $4,995

DonorPerfect Onlinefor Growing Organizations$39/month for less than 500 records

DonorPerfect Online ExpressSingle user, $59/month, less than1,000 recordsMulti-user, $69/month

DonorPerfect Online EssentialsSingle user, $154/month, less than5,000 recordsMulti-user, $193/month

DonorPerfect Online PremierSingle user, $264/month, less than25,000 recordsMulti user, $363/monthwww.softerware.com800-220-8111

SofTrekClearView CRMStarting at $500, plus$50/month/user800-442-9211www.softrek.com

StratusLIVEStratusLIVE for FundraisersStarting at $149/month/user (10-userminimum) plus start-up/service fees757-273-8219www.stratuslive.com

Telosa SoftwareExceed! BasicSingle user, starting at $499Multi-user, starting at $599

Exceed! PremierSingle user, starting at $3,095, plus$500/user800-676-5831www.telosa.com

TowerCare TechnologiesDonorPro CrMSingle/multi-user, starting at$180/month, plus $0.005/constiuentrecord724-935-8281www.towercare.com

Z2 SystemsNEON Cloudware CRMUp to 1,000 donors, unlimited users,$49/monthUp to 5,000 donors, unlimited users,$99/monthUp to 15,000 donors, unlimitedusers, $149/monthUp to 25,000 donors, unlimitedusers, $199/monthCustom pricing above 25,000 donors888-860-6366www.z2systems.com

7 SEPTEMBER 15, 2013 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.thenonprofittimes.com

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