Significant changes will be shipped in Service Pack 2010.03 involving Style Sheets. An attachment tab has been added so that any images required by the style sheet can be attached within the style sheet itself. This will eliminate the need to store these images on a web server. This will also make it easier for us to deliver additional templates for e-mail newsletters and profile reports. In fact, we will shortly be adding a number of new templates to our download site.
Read Project 53173...
With Service Pack 2010.03, we greatly improved the usability of the communication logs. We added the new account search feature above the list of accounts in the communication entry. With this feature, you can type part of the account name and press enter to select and add the account to the communication entry.
Read Project 41890... (screenshots attached)
Many customers use research firms to gather information about their major donors and they “append” this information to their accounts. With MIG, you can import this information into the “Analytics” tab of your accounts through the Andar Connector. In the past, the list of data fields was fixed. Now, with Service Pack 2010.03, you can define the list of data fields you wish to import. This new feature allows you to decide what information you want to capture.
Read Project 51034...
Designations are not simple! What makes them complex is the reality that people make mistakes and donors often change their minds. Let’s look at a very simple example. Donors Fred and John each make a $1,000 gift and designate it all to agency A. Let’s say that half way through the year, half of Fred and John’s designations were paid out. Then Fred changes his minds (or we realize we made a data entry mistake) and his entire gift is to go to agency B instead of A. So Agency A has received $500 from each of Fred and John for a total of $1,000. Fortunately, the payout process in Andar calculates everything as “year-to-date.” So that means the next payout will determine that agency A is now fully paid and B is underpaid. For the remainder of the year, the payout will pay out the remaining $500 from Fred to agency B and the remaining $500 from John will also go to agency B so that in effect both Fred and John’s designations will be paid accurately.
Of course, this is an extremely simple case. In reality, tens of thousands of donors and hundreds of agencies are involved with various fees etc., but the same concept applies. At the end of the year, the final payout report should be examined to see who remains overpaid and underpaid. At that point, you may wish to request money back from some agencies in order to balance the payout. Fortunately most changes occur earlier enough that the above “balancing” algorithm works well enough to minimize if not completely eliminate the need to manually balance the payout.
Now the big challenge is that John comes along and asks for proof (check numbers) that his gift went to agency A. Well, that’s a challenge! Only half his gift went to agency A, the other half went to pay agency B because Fred changed his mind!
Food for thought... Take a five dollar bill, sign it, put it in the bank. Go back in a week and ask the bank for your five dollar bill back. Impossible! Similarly, put $100 in the bank and tell the bank to make sure none of it is ever loaned to your friend Fred. Also, not possible.
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A true friend is somebody who can make us do what we can.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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