Advanced Solutions International

Advanced Solutions International (ASI), the largest, privately-owned global provider of web-based software for member and donor-based non-profits, today announced results for the past 12 months ending December 31, 2008.

If fundraising is the communication of a need in order to elicit a philanthropic response, then it’s obvious that in order to raise funds, you need to get the communication part right. The digital age was supposed to make things easier, but are we taking full advantage of electronic communications?

The fact that you can process a donation electronically makes it more convenient, but it doesn’t necessarily mean an increase in donation revenue. This was the first mistake by the sector — we thought that opening up donation pages on our Web sites would attract large numbers of new donors. But apart from isolated cases, that didn’t happen. And while e-mail also has become part of our communication strategy to existing supporters, we’re still struggling to see the digital age improve donor acquisition.

More and more, charities are adding microcampaigns to their fundraising strategies. A microcampaign is any program conducted by an individual, over a short period of time, targeting a relatively small fundraising goal. It sounds simple, but it can be quite effective. As organizations realize the advantages peer-to-peer fundraising has over traditional charity-to-donor appeals, microcampaigns are beginning to form an integral part of the “isosceles donor triangle.” Considering the nuances of this type of fundraising, there are three key elements to making sure your microcampaign is as successful as it can possibly be. Make it personal Microfundraising has a major advantage over regular fundraising:

It’s been a long wait, but business-intelligence technology finally is within the reach of nonprofit organizations. Business enterprises have had these tools to play with for some time, but many nonprofit fundraisers are new to the game and are left scratching their heads, wondering what to do with them. Since nonprofits are without established best practices, they first need to get a clear understanding of business intelligence and start asking themselves some questions. They should find out whether the staff is effectively managing the donor pipeline, if the board has clear insight into the organization at all levels, whether real-time campaign-performance monitoring

It wasn’t too long ago we were told that direct mail was going to be completely overtaken by the Internet; and as little as five years ago, nonprofit organizations’ Web sites and direct-mail materials reflected that message. Today, with the explosion of online groups and social networks, tactics to reach current and prospective donors are expanding yet again. While it may be fun to speculate about marketing trends, which methods are actually best to secure a nonprofit’s fundraising future? Donor outreach is not just a single-layer approach anymore; it’s about integrating new media with tried-and-true communications practices while being very careful to ask donors

Earlier this month, FundRaising Success partnered with technology-solutions provider Advanced Solutions International for a webinar titled “Choosing and Using Fundraising Software: Tips and Tricks to Demystify the Process”. Presenters included Gary Green, vice president for technology at the National Kidney Foundation; David Drinnon, pastor and director of information technology and Web sites at the Second Baptist Church in Houston; and Dan Germain, senior executive, strategic business development, at Advanced Solutions International. During the webinar, attendees submitted questions for our experts to answer. We got to many of them, but here are Gary’s answers to some of the ones that weren’t addressed. Q: How many

Cutting through the communications clutter that donors and constituents are exposed to regularly is no easy task and can require a one-to-one, customized communications strategy. This is the topic of the white paper “One-to-One: Five Smart Ideas to Improve Communication with Members, Donors and other Customers” by Edward Wendling, director of marketing for Advanced Solutions International, which offers the following five tips for organizations looking to improve constituent communications: 1. Capture data — namely contact, demographic and transaction information — from every customer interaction. Collecting this information will help your organization create donor profiles, which will enable you to target and personalize communications.