MK Partners welcomes its newest client, The Natural Step, to the list of nonprofit organizations achieving salesforce.com solutions developed by MK Partners.

The Natural Step, an organization focused on developing blueprints toward sustainability for organizations of all sectors, lacked the technology to easily implement it’s mission statement. Struggling with outdated systems,  The Natural Step came to MK Partners to develop an integrated, web-based solution that could benefit their project management team in the field and the rest of their staff regardless of location.

Utilizing salesforce.com, MK Partners implemented a solution that enables The Natural Step to track donors, constituents, and all of the aspects associated with project management such as budgets, project teams, quotes, testimonials, and lessons learned in one web-based system.

MK Partners is happy to announce our latest product for nonprofits using salesforce.com, Who’s Money?, and to celebrate we’re giving it away! (keep reading to find out how you can get it)

Who’s Money? leverages salesforce.com’s latest features to provide up-to-date metrics on every Donor’s giving history without any user interaction required. The product is fully compatible with the salesforce.com Foundation’s Nonprofit Starter Pack, the legacy Nonprofit Template, and any other custom configuration you may have.

“We were tired of having to perform massive data migration and analysis for our customers just to get some basic metrics, so we built a simple and automated product to do it for them.”, said MK Partners CEO Matt Kaufman. “This finally solves the problem plaguing all nonprofits using salesforce.com”.

Who’s Money? is easy to configure from a visualForce powered setup page that includes options for scheduling how often you want your metrics calculated. Choose from monthly, weekly, or nightly options and start/stop the process with clicks not code.

Features:

• Updates Contacts with their last donation date
• Updates Contacts with the number and amount of all donations for the current year and last 4 years
• Updates Contacts with the number and amount of all donations for their lifetime

Requirements:

• Enterprise Edition, Nonprofit Edition, Unlimited Edition, or Force.com Editions
• Contacts and Opportunities

How to Install:
Visit http://sites.force.com/appexchange/listingDetail?listingId=a0N3000000260l4EAA
Configuration Steps available at www.mkpartners.com/support

Giveaway Details:
MK Partners is giving away a free 12 month org-wide subscription of Who’s Money? to the first 10 people to comment on this post and install Who’s Money? in their salesforce.com org. To help us match up your license with your comment, please use the same name and email address as your salesforce.com user. That’s it, it’s that easy, no hidden fees, it’s absolutely free.

Last month we wrote about Disney rewarding volunteers with free passes to their parks. Well Southwest Airlines has joined in too. They’ve partnered with Disney to give away a vacation for four to both the essay writer and the amazing volunteer they write about.

Read more about the contest or enter at www.southwest.com

MK Partners is proud to welcome The Arc of San Francisco to their client list. The Arc of San Francisco, a nonprofit organization committed to serving people with developmental disabilities by promoting self-determiniation, dignity, and quality of life selected MK Partners to optimize their use of salesforce.com.

The Arc of San Francisco has enlisted MK Partners to employ the latest salesforce.com functionality and best practices to their salesforce.com org. For years, The Arc has used salesforce.com to track job opportunities and job development for its clients. With a salesforce.com optimization, The Arc of San Francisco is excited to enhance it’s ability to track key performance metrics and it’s user interface.

MK Partners is pleased to add The Arc of San Francisco to its long list of nonprofit clients.

‘Tis the season of giving, but in these tough economic times, MK Partners understands the fundraising challenges your organization may be facing. Here are 10 important fundraising do’s and dont’s to keep in mind:

1. Do strengthen your case for giving. Your donors are more interested in how the economic troubles are directly impacting your beneficiaries, rather than your organization. Chances are, their needs are greater than ever, so your campaigns should emphasize this urgent need

2. Don’t apologize for asking. Even if times are tough, a request for donations to your cause is an opportunity for your donors to validate their values and beliefs. Instead, make sure you have a strong case for support, and that donors know where their money is going.

3. Do segment your donor file using the most sophisticated tools within your reach. Take advantage of salesforce.com’s tools to mail your donors more selectively, and focus more on those donors at the top of your giving pyramid.

4. Don’t cancel donor acquisition activities. Instead, budget-friendly ideas include list exchanges or networking events.

5. Do invest in personalized appeals – embed multiple data points from your database in each individual letter, refer to the number of years a donor has been contributing to your organization, whether they have been a volunteer, an event-attendee, a monthly donor, etc…

6. Don’t cut the cord. It’s crucial to stay in touch, especially with your most generous and responsive donors. Step up your online fundraising and communication efforts. Increase the frequency of your communication, and if you’re not using the telephone to stay in touch, now is the time to begin. The interactivity of telephone contact is important to maintaining personal contact. If possible, meet your donors in person. Face-time is more valuable than any number of emails you could send.

7. Do optimize online giving opportunities on your web site by making the process as easy as possible for donors, including a prominent “Donate” button on every page, and building a specific landing page for each electronic appeal to reinforce the case for giving. Make sure you are utilizing the capability of your online fundraising tools to track donor interests and behaviors, and be sure to use that information to personalize email offers.

8. Do emphasize your annual donor - those who give you a set amount each year are the people potentially wondering if they should give you the full $250 rather than just $150 this year. Large annual donations have the most flexibility and involve important, loyal donors who have been with you for several years. Focus on keeping such donors informed and motivated to maintain their support.

9. Do understand that corporate donations are the first to decline in a recession. Resist the temptation to go after “big gifts” from companies because they will make the largest difference, rather than lots of smaller gifts from individuals. The reality is that corporate giving is less reliable, and the time spent away from individual donors-who provide more than 83% of charitable donations, can be costly.

10. Do publicize your organization. Write a letter to your local newspaper or media outlet highlighting the value of your organization to the community. Now is not the time to cut back on marketing, instead redouble the effort. Make sure your mission statement is compelling and unique.

For an additional resource, here’s a link to an informative, recent NY Times article,

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/giving/11ARTS.html?scp=13&sq=nonprofit&st=cse

references:

http://www.afpnet.org

MK Partners is a proud sponsor of Dreamforce ‘08, happening in San Francisco November 2nd-5th. There, we’ll be introducing some of our exciting new products, and continuing our education on how to take advantage of the latest salesforce.com innovations for you.

We hope to see you there! Stop by and say hi, we’ll be at booth #353.

This year we’re happy to announce our charity giveaway. When you visit our booth, leave us your business card and you are eligible to win a $1,000 donation to the charity of your choice, on behalf of MK Partners.

As a leader in the nonprofit community, we are pleased to make this donation and show our support.