| Have a question or problem using DonorPerfect Online? Don't forget that DPO has its own tech support services available to answer your questions. This support is included in your annual maintenance agreement, so take advantage of it! Email them at
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| Submit a question about fundraising and alumni outreach to be answered by the Tech Program Team, a Mentor, or one of your peers! We'll include one Q&A in each future issue of the eNewsletter. Check out this issue's Q&A below. |
| Now you can find all of our previous GIJP Technology Program eNewsletters online! Click here to find a list of all our previous eNewsletters.
Let us know if there is any content you'd like to include in future issues! |
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Attention DPO Users!
Did you know DonorPerfect Online offers a regular eNewsletter with tips for using the system as well as information about updates to the system?
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2008 GIJP Conference - "Embracing Abundance" |
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Thanks to everyone who attended our 2008 GIJP Conference. It truly captured our theme of "Embracing Abundance," as we filled the conference center to capacity! As promised, we have collected much of the content and resources shared at the conference and posted them online for you to continue to learn all year long. Please feel free to share these resources with anyone you think would benefit from the content.
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Message from Sue Kline, Director, GIJP |
 It was incredible to witness the amazing energy and passion from all of the special guests, presenters, philanthropists, and - of course - all of the camp professional staff and lay leaders at our 7th Camp Conference. Thanks to everyone who truly made our conference theme "Embracing Abundance" come to life!
As promised, we have been working hard to get our conference materials available to you online. You can find all of the materials on our Conference Resource page. In addition, due to popular demand, we have created a Channel in YouTube to show the three keynote addresses from the first day of our conference: Michael Steinhardt, Nancy Winship, and Rabbi Ethan Tucker. Feel free to share these links with anyone who will find them helpful.
Although we have worked hard to make the conference a success, our Technology Program team has been continuing its efforts to offer the camps advice about utilizing technology effectively. For example, they have provided some information below about how Camp Gilboa is efficiently using a variety of social media tools. And they have also provided a description of yet another eNewsletter tool: VerticalResponse.
Please continue to contact me or the Technology Program team with any ideas to improve the offerings of the Program. |
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The Technology Program Team |
 Kevin Martone, Technology Program Manager
 Joe Ruotolo, Business Systems Analyst |
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Tip of the Month from Rachael Sevilla, Habonim Dror Camp Gilboa |
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Rachael Sevilla of Habonim Dror Camp Gilboa faced a problem most nonprofits face: How do I find the time to effectively utilize these exciting social networking tools online? She realized that these free tools offered lots of opportunities for engaging her constituents, but she was already swamped with her regular responsibilities.
Her solution? She found ways to integrate some of these tools so that she could share her camp's stories, events, and other information via multiple channels with minimal effort.
First, Rachael created a blog. She began posting information and pictures from a variety of programs and events on the blog. Then, she created a Facebook Page. She hoped to use the Page to engage the many "fans" of Camp Gilboa already using the social networking site. Rachael had already been using Google Calendars to manage the many programs and events offered by Camp Gilboa throughout the year.
Finally, she brought it all together in the Camp Gilboa Facebook Page. Rachael found an application* in Facebook that allows you to share your Google Calendar directly on your Page. She also realized that you can easily connect your blog directly to the Notes section of your Facebook Page. Now, whenever Rachael posts to her blog, the information is automatically updated in the Facebook Page Notes section (as well as the Page's Mini-Feed). Now Rachael has very little work to do to maintain the Facebook Page - her content is automatically updated from her Google Calendar and her blog. It allows her to focus on listening to her constituents on Facebook, not pasting content!
Have you found any creative ways to efficiently and effectively use the web? Have you learned any lessons along the way? Let us know! We are sure that others can learn from your experiences.
*Note that Facebook applications are not run by Facebook, so be sure any application you download is being used by many other Facebook users.
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This Month's Q&A - Does VerticalResponse really offer a free eNewsletter service for nonprofits? |
Question: I recently heard that a service called Veritcal Response actually offers eNewsletter functionality like Constant Contact free of charge. Is that true?
Answer:
Yes, VerticalResponse is a tool that offers a variety of services for communicating with your constituents, including eNewsletter, eSurvey, and postcard distribution services. Their eNewsletter service, which is similar to Constant Contact and MailChimp, offers up to 10,000 free emails per month to qualified nonprofits. They define an email is any communication via their service to an individual email address. So, if you have 5,000 email addresses in your database, you can send them all two eNewsletters each month from VerticalResponse for free.
You can sign up for a free trial before you even apply as a nonprofit to try out the service. We found that the application was fairly easy to use. It offers many nice starter templates to get your eNewsletter started, although we found it slightly harder to customize the templates than in Constant Contact. However, the interface is basically like using MS Word, so it is not very difficult to master. It offers many of the same statistical features as Constant Contact as well, allowing you to view who has opened your eNewsletter and which links they are clicking on. Unlike in Constant Contact, however, you have to download the statistics to MS Excel to view (Constant Contact allows you to drill-down on these stats right in the application). Finally, Constant Contact is the proven leader in ensuring your emails get through spam filters and reach their destination. VerticalResponse has less of a track record in this area. The vast majority of emails will get through, but they have slightly less success in this area.
This blog post compares VerticalResponse, Constant Contact, and a variety of other eNewsletter services. Take a look if you are in the market for a new service.
In summary, VerticalResponse is a viable alternative. It's worth applying for the free account and testing it out. In addition, the other intergrated services may offer some value for your nonprofit.
Are you using VerticalResponse for your eNewsletter? Do you have any additional comments about the service? If you are using VerticalResponse (or have used it in the past), please let us know! |
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What's Next? |
In our next eNewsletter, you MIGHT find:
- More Alumni Outreach strategies
- and more!!
Is there another subject you'd like to learn more about? Please contact us with suggestions. | |
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