Clear Communication Key to Get the Information You're Looking For

Fundraising software usually comes with a number of canned reports including LYBUNT, SYBUNT and Pareto’s Analysis to name a few. These reports may provide information you need, but they're unlikely to give you everything that relates to the way you do things in your organization. You probably have an additional software package — report-writer software — with which to write your own reports. I have seen many organizations send the wrong staff members on technical report-writing courses in the hope that they would be able to create complex reports for themselves. This is a great idea in prospect, but you need someone with a pretty rare combination of skills to be able to (a) interpret the business requirements — a business skill — and (b) write the reports — a technical skill. Sadly, many nonprofits have wasted time and money that way.