Blackbaud, Inc., the leading provider of software and related services designed specifically for nonprofit organizations, announced yesterday that it is acquiring Kintera, Inc., a pioneer and leading provider of a Software as a Service solution to the nonprofit and government sectors. The news is attracting concern among some nonprofit leaders. The anonymous fund raiser who writes the blog Don’t Tell the Donor writes that while Blackbaud’s “press release seems almost giddy, I’m not so sure nonprofits will be thrilled that their viable options for major providers continues to shrink." … Continue Reading

You’ve added a donation button to your Web site. That means you can sit-back, relax and watch Seinfeld reruns while the money flows into your organization. Right? Wrong. “Online donations are something that a lot of organizations really want to do, but there is, unfortunately, really complicated stuff that you need to understand to effectively make choices,” said Laura Quinn, director of Idealware, a Portland, Maine nonprofit that provides software reviews for other nonprofits. Read more from Laura about the nuts and bolts you need to know here. … Continue Reading

Picture two nonprofits. The first has a donor database that is full of bad information. Donors are getting the wrong receipts or no receipts at all. The organization cannot use the database to plan their fundraising strategies or track their effectiveness. The few reports they can get are useless. Staff members complain that no one trained them, and they get no technical support. For obvious reasons, they hate the system. The second organization loves its database. The data is clean. Donors get timely, accurate mailings. The organization has a good handle on its fundraising activities, and staff members get the reports they want. New personnel are trained on the database before they ever log in. And, someone on staff helps them resolve any problems and questions that come up. Both nonprofits are … Continue Reading