Welcome To The New Fiscal Year!

James Shelley

Congratulations!  For many of you, you just finished up the last month of your fiscal year and did everything to get those last donations in.  After all those gifts are counted, celebratory emails announcing the surpassing of your goals have gone out to your board on constituents have gone out, and you finally get your lunch hour back; what’s next?


The beginning of your fiscal year is a great time to take a step back, get out of the weeds, and explore how to be even more successful in the new year.  Review the suggestions below to make sure that your Blackbaud software is ready to help you succeed this year.

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• Update your software!  Did you know that the latest version of The Raiser’s Edge is 7.93?  Log into Blackbaud.com and you can review and download any patches or updates that are available for all of your Blackbaud products.  New versions provide you with new features to be able to help you reach your goals, and patches come out periodically to fix any bugs that have been identified.  The user identified as the “Web Admin” will receive emails for any updates and patches that are available for download.  Clients who are hosted have all the updates and patches applied to their system as a part of the hosting service.
  
• Review your budget.  It’s the new year and your budget was approved!  Did you remember your technology line item? We are constantly working to improve your software and develop your services. The price of maintenance may change to cover this research on your software and the development of the services.  Contact your renewals specialist today to receive a quote for your renewal(s) if you have not already done so.
  
• Professional development.  Are you looking for the next step that will help the organization, and give your employees a great opportunity for professional development?  Make it a goal this year to have 2 employees earn their Associate level certification in The Raiser’s Edge this year.  Training packages are available to help get employees up to speed and ready for the exam. 
  
• Clean up your database.  We are only as good as our data, so our data better be spot on!  People move, “forget” to fill in their email address, and pass away.  Let Blackbaud help you get your constituent records to be full and correct so that you are better able to solicit in the new year. 
  

So, take a breath, and hopefully a vacation, and then let us help you move forward in 2014/2015!  As always, please contact your renewals representative at any time to review the above or ask other questions that you may have.


Until next time,


Blackbaud Renewals