WHO'S WHO? PLEDGEMAKER ONLINE COORDINATOR
Paul Yerkey started at SofTrek in April of 1996. At that time, his duties included product testing, documentation, training, and implementation. With a background in software and information systems, one of the first things Paul had to do was learn fundraising; it is one part of the job that has not changed. Every client Paul works with teaches him something new about fundraising and the non-profit community.
As the company grew, Paul's responsibilities shifted and he served as SofTrek's training coordinator for several years. During this time, Paul traveled extensively and was able to visit many PledgeMaker clients. He always enjoyed helping users learn PledgeMaker and realize the full potential of the product. In addition, Paul trained clients on the use of Business Objects and assisted them with writing Business Objects reports.
Paul is the Account Manager for Grizzard and our PMOL Coordinator. The experience he gained by traveling to many clients sites, combined with his extensive knowledge of PledgeMaker, makes him a valuable resource to our PMOL clients and our staff. He is especially proficient concerning Direct Mail and assists our clients in the use of that module to produce their data files for mailings. This is critical to the success of any fundraising project. To sum up his experience, Paul says that one aspect of his job has never changed: "With everything I have done, my goal has always been to help clients use PledgeMaker to its fullest capability."
2005 USER CONFERENCE WRAP-UP
Over 80 attendees representing more than 35 organizations showed up for the 2005 PledgeMaker Users Conference, our longest conference ever with three full days of sessions. Based on the response by more than half the attendees in a post-conference poll, the conference was a great success. The additional day allowed SofTrek to lengthen sessions, provide more depth of detail in the subject matter, and lead the conference at a less harried pace. Most sessions were well attended and well received, and, according to those polled, were consistently valuable.
Amongst the session highlights was the presentation on Advanced Analytics by guest speaker Andy Wilder (from Epsilon) whose flair for presentation lent some sparkle to the subject. The food and lodging were said to be improved over the previous year, and side trips, like the well-attended Wet Jet boat tour, rounded out the attendee experience. Lowell Copeland was the big winner in the conference drawings, walking away with the iPod mini.
PLEDGEMAKER USERS CONFERENCE 2006!
With the 2005 conference a pleasant memory, we've solidified plans for the 2006 conference, and we're ready to begin taking reservations. Despite planned improvements, we've held the cost for the 2006 conference down so it will be the same as for attendance in 2005. Because of the popularity of the date with our clients, we have kept the scheduling to the week of August 1. The conference sessions will again be held at The Conference Center Niagara Falls, where we will enjoy their new dining area and ergonomic chairs.
We've blocked rooms at the Holiday Inn Select, which will be undergoing an 8 million dollar renovation in preparation for becoming an exclusive Crown Royal hotel. The renovation will be a floor to ceiling change, with new bedding, plasma screen TVs in every room, remote control lighting,
and the addition of deluxe common areas. The cost for rooms, if reserved in advance, will be $119/night, up from last year, but a significant discount from the $230/night for standard reservations. If you plan to attend, please register early! We plan more great give aways, and those who register early get more chances to win. If you have ideas about what you'd like to see at the 2006 conference (session ideas or other features), please let us know what they are right away and we will try to accommodate them (
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). If you have never attended the conference, or don't yet plan to in 2006, let us know what we can do to tip the scales and get you to come.
To register for the conference, visit our website for more information and forms: http://pledgemaker.com/conference or call: 716 691-2800 x 116. To reserve rooms at the hotel, call: 716-285-3361. Be sure to mention that you are with the PledgeMaker Users Conference (Group Code SOF) in order to get the special room rate. The number of rooms at this reserved rate is limited. Please make your reservations early!
Conference Dates: July 30 - August 2
Welcome Dinner: July 30
Session Dates: July 31, August 1, and 2
Conference Hotel: The Holiday Inn Select
Cost: $595 early bird (till May 31),
$695 regular (June 1 and later)
Conference Session Location: The Niagara Falls Conference Center
NAVIGATORS USE PLEDGEMAKER
With over 1300 fundraising staff in the field, the Navigators needed to find an economical way to support the communication and information needs of their far flung enterprise. Based in Colorado Springs, CO, The Navigators are a faith ministry supported by the contributions of individuals and churches. Field staff is actively involved in raising support for their area of ministry so access to information is critical to success. In the past, these needs were met with a combination of in-house created and off the shelf systems. To integrate these systems, The Navigators created a staff self service web site (Nav-Central) that allowed for access and entry of key information related to a given staff person?s constituency. Where Nav-Central was able to provide a key service to those in the field, the internal IT staff found it increasingly more difficult to maintain and stay on top of usage demands and new technology. Meeting these needs necessitated hiring additional staff and purchasing more equipment to support the increasing demand. Adding to this, The Navigators utilize PeopleSoft for their accounting and HR functions.
To help minimize the need for additional staff, meet user demands and control the impact of technology, The Navigators choose PledgeMaker Online with use of Oracle Portal to replace the current technology for the Nav-Central site. By doing so, they have been able to eliminate or re-source IT staff, integrate more information to the Nav Central site and provide more fundraising functionality to internal support staff. This allows them to focus on issues related to the Oracle purchase of PeopleSoft without the need to plan for future technology upgrades. Nav-Central now allows not only for integration of PledgeMaker information but also access to HR and accounting information pertinent to an individual staff person?s responsibilities and constituencies. Staffs are now able to record hours, access personal employment information as well as donor information and functionality from the PMOL data center.
“Our decision to embrace PledgeMaker Online really comes down to comparative advantage,” said The Navigators? Tom Cole. “By shifting responsibilities for fundraising software design and engineering to a company that specializes in that arena, we can more effectively support our ministries.”
PledgeMaker Version 4.3 Released
SofTrek recently released PledgeMaker version 4.3, which includes a couple of enhancements.
• Prospect Screen – A new Icon has been added allowing a keyword search of all prospect notes.
• History Screens – All History Screens now have the capability if exporting data to XML or comma delimited format.
• My Parameters – PledgeMaker now allows you to save criteria you have entered to be used again at another time.
WELCOME NEW PMOL CLIENTS
NEW PLEDGEMAKER ONLINE CLIENTS
QUESTIONS? COMMENTS?
Write to
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or call
(800) 442-9211. Visit us on the web at www.pledgemaker.com
SofTrek Corporation 30 Bryant Woods North Amherst, New York 14228
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Copyright (C) 2007 SofTrek Corporation