Donor Tools Nonprofit Software » Uncategorized http://blog.donortools.com Smart online donor management software for nonprofits. Thu, 16 May 2013 20:23:21 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 Donor Tools Featured in Idealware’s Consumers Guide to Low Cost Donor Management Systems http://blog.donortools.com/2011/06/22/featured-in-idealwares-consumers-guide-to-low-cost-donor-management-systems/ http://blog.donortools.com/2011/06/22/featured-in-idealwares-consumers-guide-to-low-cost-donor-management-systems/#comments Wed, 22 Jun 2011 18:33:36 +0000 Ryan Heneise http://blog.donortools.com/?p=2132 A Consumers Guide to Low Cost Donor Management SystemsWe’re thrilled to be included A Consumers Guide to Low Cost Donor Management Systems, available today from Idealware.

Though we didn’t unseat any of the big companies to get on the Top 10 list, we are still proud to be mentioned in the guide. You can find our blurb on page 33.

Idealware mentioned Donor Tools as one of the best choices for organizations who “need something easy to set up and use”, and who “need just the basics”.

We’re also proud that one of our friends, Turnbull Marketing Group, has an ad on page 138 of the guide, specializing in Donor Tools.

Download the report today from Idealware.

]]> http://blog.donortools.com/2011/06/22/featured-in-idealwares-consumers-guide-to-low-cost-donor-management-systems/feed/ 1 Recent Help Desk Posts http://blog.donortools.com/2011/02/02/recent-help-desk-posts/ http://blog.donortools.com/2011/02/02/recent-help-desk-posts/#comments Wed, 02 Feb 2011 12:00:36 +0000 Ryan Heneise http://blog.donortools.com/?p=1992 Donor Tools has a fantastic help desk. Did you know that?

Here are some of the latest help desk articles that we’ve posted:

]]> http://blog.donortools.com/2011/02/02/recent-help-desk-posts/feed/ 0 How to Recognize an Anonymous Donor http://blog.donortools.com/2010/11/30/how-to-recognize-an-anonymous-donor/ http://blog.donortools.com/2010/11/30/how-to-recognize-an-anonymous-donor/#comments Wed, 01 Dec 2010 02:50:33 +0000 Ryan Heneise http://blog.donortools.com/?p=1911 It’s easy to indicate when a donor wishes to remain anonymous.

The trick is to use the Recognition Name field. Ordinarily you can leave this field blank, and it will automatically be populated with the donor’s full name. However, if a donor wishes to be anonymous, the Recognition Name can come in handy.

Let’s look at an example. Say you have a donor named “Joe Donor”. If you leave their recognition name field blank, then their recognition name will automatically be “Joe Donor”. You can change it to anything you want, such as “The Joe Donor Family”, “Joe and Judy Donor”, or for this example, “Anonymous”. Simply type “Anonymous” in the Recognition Name field, and save the record.

Now, whenever you export your database to do a mail merge, use the Recognition Name field instead of Full Name. Anyone who has expressed their desire to remain anonymous will be listed as such in your list.

Picture of exported list of donors from Donor Tools

Exported donor list, showing "Anonymous" listed as Recognition Name

]]> http://blog.donortools.com/2010/11/30/how-to-recognize-an-anonymous-donor/feed/ 0 Multi-Currency Donor Management http://blog.donortools.com/2010/11/11/multi-currency-donor-management/ http://blog.donortools.com/2010/11/11/multi-currency-donor-management/#comments Thu, 11 Nov 2010 17:38:32 +0000 Ryan Heneise http://blog.donortools.com/?p=1891 Did you know Donor Tools is multi-currency? Yes, you can record your donations in your native currency, whether US Dollars, Euros, Pounds, or anything – we currently support over 150 different currencies and their respective currency signs. The best part is that Donor Tools’ donations reports will change to reflect the selected currency signage. So if you select Euros as your organization’s default currency, then your donation reports will show donations with the € symbol.

What’s more, you can record individual donations in currencies other than your organization’s default currency. For example, if your native currency is Canadian Dollars, you can still record a donation that was made in Euros. (Note that we leave currency conversion to you.)

Changing your Default Currency

You can set your default currency by going to Settings, then “Tax & Currency”.

]]> http://blog.donortools.com/2010/11/11/multi-currency-donor-management/feed/ 0 End of year customer satisfaction survey http://blog.donortools.com/2009/12/18/end-of-year-customer-satisfaction-survey/ http://blog.donortools.com/2009/12/18/end-of-year-customer-satisfaction-survey/#comments Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:05:14 +0000 Chris http://blog.donortools.com/?p=1341 We care what you have to say! Please take a few minutes to fill out our end of year customer satisfaction survey and while you are at it tell us what features you want. We promise we will do more then listen, we will do something with what you say!

Tell us what you think!

Take Our Survey

]]> http://blog.donortools.com/2009/12/18/end-of-year-customer-satisfaction-survey/feed/ 0 What is the difference between Tags and Smart Tags? http://blog.donortools.com/2009/12/16/what-is-the-difference-between-tags-and-smart-tags/ http://blog.donortools.com/2009/12/16/what-is-the-difference-between-tags-and-smart-tags/#comments Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:58:53 +0000 Chris http://blog.donortools.com/?p=1324 Tags are just like regular old fashioned tags like what you may be familiar with from blog posts and social networking – you can manually any arbitrary tag to a donor record. Smart Tags, on the other hand, are applied automatically based on conditions that you define. For example, you could have a smart tag called “LYBUNTs”, which would give you a list of all donors who donated “Last Year But Unfortunately Not This year”.

Here’s a blog post that explains in a little more detail: http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/19/introducing-smart-tags/

Oh, and there’s no limit on the number of regular tags that you can create.

]]> http://blog.donortools.com/2009/12/16/what-is-the-difference-between-tags-and-smart-tags/feed/ 0 Happy Holidays from Donor Tools! http://blog.donortools.com/2009/12/15/happy-holidays-from-donor-tools/ http://blog.donortools.com/2009/12/15/happy-holidays-from-donor-tools/#comments Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:02:59 +0000 Chris http://blog.donortools.com/?p=1337 We’re terrible dancers, but that didn’t stop us from putting together a special holiday dance, just for you! Click the video below to watch.

]]> http://blog.donortools.com/2009/12/15/happy-holidays-from-donor-tools/feed/ 0 How to Setup Recurring Online Donations with PayPal http://blog.donortools.com/2009/12/15/how-to-setup-recurring-online-donations-with-paypal/ http://blog.donortools.com/2009/12/15/how-to-setup-recurring-online-donations-with-paypal/#comments Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:58:10 +0000 Chris http://blog.donortools.com/?p=1322

It’s easy to track recurring donations through PayPal. As long as you set up PayPal with IPN, then any recurring donations through PayPal will be recorded in your Donor Tools account.

Simply set up your PayPal account to notify Donor Tools of your donations, as described here: http://support.donortools.com/forums/49168/entries/45863.

Now, any donations that you receive on a recurring basis through PayPal will automatically be recorded into your Donor Tools account.

Here is a guide from PayPal on how to setup subscription buttons:https://www.paypal.com/en_US/ebook/subscriptions/button_factory.html

]]> http://blog.donortools.com/2009/12/15/how-to-setup-recurring-online-donations-with-paypal/feed/ 0 Nonprofit QuickBooks Integration Makes for Easy Donor Management http://blog.donortools.com/2009/12/14/nonprofit-quickbooks-integration-makes-for-easy-donor-management/ http://blog.donortools.com/2009/12/14/nonprofit-quickbooks-integration-makes-for-easy-donor-management/#comments Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:57:29 +0000 Chris http://blog.donortools.com/?p=1317 Duplicate data entry is crazy talk around here. You can export and work with Quickbooks in a flash. The best part is that this functionality is free with every paid account. Exporting data from Donor Tools to Quickbooks is really easy. To export donation data:

  1. Navigate to the Donations tab
  2. Select a date range that you’d like to export
  3. Click “Export to Quickbook

Screen_shot_2009-11-28_at_8.34.29_AM.png

Donor Tools will generate a Quickbooks-format IIF file that you can then import to Quickbooks. To import this file into Quickbooks:

Screen_shot_2009-11-28_at_8.32.29_AM.png

Screen_shot_2009-11-28_at_8.39.10_AM.png

After the file has been imported into Quickbooks, you’ll be able to see any new donors in Quickbooks’ Custo mers page. All the donations that you just imported will be in Undeposited Funds. You’ll need to make a deposit according to your bank statement, and then reconcile as you normally do.

Donors are exported as Quickbooks Customers. Donor Tools also exports the donor’s contact information that’s stored in Donor Tools: address, email, and phone number.

Donor Tools Funds are exported as Quickbooks Classes. If you use classes to track your programs, Donor Tools will assign each donation to the appropriate class. If you don’t use classes, that’s alright, Quickbooks will import the classes anyway, but they won’t be displayed on your reports. Here are some examples of Funds/Classes:

  • Building Fund
  • Inner City Missions Project
  • Orphanage Support Fund

Donor Tools Sources are exported as Quickbooks Income Accounts, and a special Item is created in Quickbooks for each source. Here are some examples of Sources:

  • Individual Contributions
  • Tithes & Offerings
  • Online Donations
  • Golf Fundraiser
  • Christmas Appeal Letter

Donations are exported to Quickbooks as Sales Receipts. Each donation becomes a separate Quickbooks sales receipt. This way, each donation is credited to the donor (or “customer”) in Quickbooks, and the donation is also credited to the appropriate income account (Source). Splits are recorded as separate income items under each sales receipt.

Here are some helpful resources for Quickbooks:

]]> http://blog.donortools.com/2009/12/14/nonprofit-quickbooks-integration-makes-for-easy-donor-management/feed/ 0 » Xero Personal http://blog.donortools.com/2009/11/02/%c2%bb-xero-personal/ http://blog.donortools.com/2009/11/02/%c2%bb-xero-personal/#comments Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:20:34 +0000 Ryan http://blog.donortools.com/2009/11/02/%c2%bb-xero-personal/
this [accounting] space is a good opportunity – ripe for a new business model

via blog.xero.com

This is exciting news – personal finance software (and business accounting also) is desperately in need of new blood.

What software do you use to manage your personal finances? What about at your organization?

Posted via web from Donor Tools’s posterous

]]> http://blog.donortools.com/2009/11/02/%c2%bb-xero-personal/feed/ 0 We’re on the List of Change at #100 http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/28/were-on-the-list-of-change-at-100/ http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/28/were-on-the-list-of-change-at-100/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:54:36 +0000 Ryan http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/28/were-on-the-list-of-change-at-100/

I’m totally stoked to be counted in this list of blogs, many of which I read regularly.

If you haven’t seen the List of Change, definitely go check it out. If you’re a RSS feeder, you can import the OPML file into your reader and follow all these blogs.

Posted via web from Donor Tools’s posterous

]]> http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/28/were-on-the-list-of-change-at-100/feed/ 0 The Girl Effect http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/28/the-girl-effect/ http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/28/the-girl-effect/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:51:14 +0000 Ryan http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/28/the-girl-effect/

Fantastic video. I have got to get off of YouTube.

Posted via web from Donor Tools’s posterous

]]> http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/28/the-girl-effect/feed/ 0 I could not stop watching this video http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/28/i-could-not-stop-watching-this-video/ http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/28/i-could-not-stop-watching-this-video/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:38:56 +0000 Ryan http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/28/i-could-not-stop-watching-this-video/

]]> http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/28/i-could-not-stop-watching-this-video/feed/ 3 Twitter Updates for 2009-10-28 http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/28/twitter-updates-for-2009-10-28/ http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/28/twitter-updates-for-2009-10-28/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:00:00 +0000 Ryan Heneise http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/28/twitter-updates-for-2009-10-28/
  • Making money takes practice like playing the piano takes practice – (37signals) http://post.ly/AYub #
  • RT @lessaccounting: @samjulien Its a full accounting app, although tracking "donations" for a nonprofit might be better suited on donortools #
  • @Branch_Family You might also look at our product – http://www.donortools.com in reply to Branch_Family #
  • Twitter / Hoots and Thomas: @MariSmith That goes with … http://post.ly/AZ7h #

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    ]]>     http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/28/twitter-updates-for-2009-10-28/feed/ 0     Crush It http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/27/crushitbook/ http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/27/crushitbook/#comments Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:54:39 +0000 Ryan http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/27/twitter-hoots-and-thomas-marismith-that-goes-with/

    very best marketing strategy ever: CARE!

    via twitter.com

    I saw Gary V. at LessConf a couple of weeks ago – he was irreverant as ever and very entertaining. Special bonus, they gave us a copy of his book, Crush It (http://crushitbook.com/). I recommend it, even for non-profits.

    Posted via web from Donor Tools’s posterous

    ]]>     http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/27/crushitbook/feed/ 0     Making money takes practice like playing the piano takes practice – (37signals) http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/27/making-money-takes-practice-like-playing-the-piano-takes-practice-37signals/ http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/27/making-money-takes-practice-like-playing-the-piano-takes-practice-37signals/#comments Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:25:49 +0000 Ryan http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/27/making-money-takes-practice-like-playing-the-piano-takes-practice-37signals/
    Making money takes practice, just like playing the piano takes practice.

    via 37signals.com

    I suspect the same is true for raising money.

    Posted via web from Donor Tools’s posterous

    ]]>     http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/27/making-money-takes-practice-like-playing-the-piano-takes-practice-37signals/feed/ 0     Twitter Updates for 2009-10-27 http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/27/twitter-updates-for-2009-10-27/ http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/27/twitter-updates-for-2009-10-27/#comments Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:00:00 +0000 Ryan Heneise http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/27/twitter-updates-for-2009-10-27/
  • AFP Blog: Nonprofit Technology: Twitter to squeeze the wine business for charity | Webware – CNET http://post.ly/ALJT #

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    ]]>     http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/27/twitter-updates-for-2009-10-27/feed/ 0     AFP Blog: Nonprofit Technology: Twitter to squeeze the wine business for charity | Webware – CNET http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/26/afp-blog-nonprofit-technology-twitter-to-squeeze-the-wine-business-for-charity-webware-cnet/ http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/26/afp-blog-nonprofit-technology-twitter-to-squeeze-the-wine-business-for-charity-webware-cnet/#comments Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:04:36 +0000 Ryan http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/26/afp-blog-nonprofit-technology-twitter-to-squeeze-the-wine-business-for-charity-webware-cnet/
    Twitter to squeeze the wine business for charity | Webware – CNET: “In an attempt to boost literacy rates around the world, Twitter has launched a wine label with San Francisco-based winery Crushpad.

    The label is dubbed Fledgling Wine. In addition to its Web site, the self-described ‘social winemaking venture’ has a Twitter page too that just kicked in minutes ago”

    via afprc11.blogspot.com

    Make sure to check out the twitter page: http://twitter.com/fledgling

    Posted via web from Donor Tools’s posterous

    ]]>     http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/26/afp-blog-nonprofit-technology-twitter-to-squeeze-the-wine-business-for-charity-webware-cnet/feed/ 0     Twitter Updates for 2009-10-23 http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/23/twitter-updates-for-2009-10-23/ http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/23/twitter-updates-for-2009-10-23/#comments Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:00:00 +0000 Ryan Heneise http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/23/twitter-updates-for-2009-10-23/
  • RT @jasonsowell: Help me go to LAS VEGAS for a mission project – Sowell on @donortools https://fireproof.donortools.com/my/funds/11369 ^RH #

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    ]]>     http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/23/twitter-updates-for-2009-10-23/feed/ 0     Twitter Updates for 2009-10-21 http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/21/twitter-updates-for-2009-10-21/ http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/21/twitter-updates-for-2009-10-21/#comments Wed, 21 Oct 2009 09:00:00 +0000 Ryan Heneise http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/21/twitter-updates-for-2009-10-21/
  • Just got back from my first EVER yoga class. I feel great! Looking forward to going back. ^RH #
  • We have had a bunch of signups today!You too can try us out for free http://bit.ly/2Mwj2C ^CD #

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    ]]>     http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/21/twitter-updates-for-2009-10-21/feed/ 0     Twitter Updates for 2009-10-20 http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/20/twitter-updates-for-2009-10-20/ http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/20/twitter-updates-for-2009-10-20/#comments Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:00:00 +0000 Ryan Heneise http://blog.donortools.com/2009/10/20/twitter-updates-for-2009-10-20/
  • @dh really great to see you at #lessconf Saturday. Your talk was super inspiring! #
  • RT @solaris1201: RT @NomadsLand RT @nonprofitorgs: 29 Nonprofit Bloggers to Follow on Twitter: http://bit.ly/1Q8QhE || #nonprofit #charity #
  • RT@TechSoup: RT@TACS_NPower: Just came across this again and still love it! 100 Online Tools for #nonprofits | http://ow.ly/vfP3 #nptech #
  • RT@OrionGrassroots: Micro-volunteering with cell phones: nonprofits get valuable crowd-sourced help from supporters http://beextra.org #
  • @askdebra Hey, thanks for the link Debra. Glad the article is proving to be helpful. in reply to askdebra #
  • RT @NPWebinars: Register for tomorrow's webinar: Beyond Strategic Planning: The Case for Integrated Planning. Just a few spots left. #
  • RT @ProjectAus: 100 Online Tools for #nonprofits http://ow.ly/vfP3 via @donortools @TechSoup @TACS_NPower #nptech #nfp #socent #
  • @craigxxxchurch Wow that video is a trip. in reply to craigxxxchurch #
  • @lessallan @stevenbristol You guys did a fantastic job with @LessConf! I came back totally stoked. Looking forward to next time. in reply to LessConf #
  • @iKrissi Hey, hope you're having a great day. #
  • @askdebra Congratulations! in reply to askdebra #
  • RT @scott_piro: RT: @askdebra brief summary (with screen shots ) of how to ID Twitter Spam on @donortools blog: http://bit.ly/43bCXj ^CD #

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