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ParishSOFT Offerings
Newsletter for Parish Users & Friends
June 2011 Issue
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 Registration Is Now Open!
The ParishSOFT Conference - November 7-9, 2011 Anaheim, California  | | Visit the new conference website! |
Join us for the conference of the year for Catholic Church professionals. Together, we'll learn how to build a wave of engagement in your church or organization, including getting your parishioners "on board" and keeping them involved in vital church ministries! New this year: - Online registration and secure online payment!
- New workshops to help parish and diocesan staff better engage God's people.
- New priests track, designed to help priests get comfortable with their parish technology and learn practical applications for ministry, communications, and leadership.
- Priests attend free with one paid staff registration, making it easy to budget for the best learning and networking opportunity of the year.
- Register before July 1 and we'll automatically enter you in our drawing for a $50 gift card to Outback Steakhouse, so you can have dinner on us while at the Conference.
Visit Conference Website >>
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 And the Winner Is . . .  | | From left: Bill Glover, Lisa Sliker and Fr. Eric Arnold from Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Ellicott City, MD. |
Story #9, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Ellicott City, MD Lisa Sliker's submission scored the most votes with 1,827 (a whopping 52.5%), and her parish will receive the new iPad 2. And they're already thinking of ways to use the iPad 2 as an incentive prize to parishioners who respond to an upcoming technology campaign. Congratulations, Lisa, and all the parishioners and friends of OLPH and the Archdiocese of Baltimore who voted! If you're looking to get better census data for your parish, save thousands of dollars, and give your priest the on-the-go parishioner information he needs to make ministry more mobile, be sure to read Lisa's story. Story #5, St. Mary's Church of Red Oak, IA, finished second with 1,273 votes (36.6%) with their successes with Online Giving story. Due to the incredible response to their stories, we've decided to award the additional prizes of FREE 2011 ParishSOFT Conference registration to both Lisa Sliker and Lisa Sallach of St. Mary in Red Oak, Iowa. Read More >> |
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Contest Drives Engagement Among Parishioners, Diocese
 Our recent success story contest was the first one we've done using an open voting forum. We weren't sure exactly what to expect, and it was fascinating to watch the responses come in.
The lead changed hands several times in the first few days, and then an incredible thing happened: a 220-family St. Mary Parish in rural Red Oak, Iowa, pulled ahead. Way ahead.
How did they do it, and what did we all learn in this experience? (You may be surprised!)
Read More >>
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An Extra Week of Tithes Per Month?
 | | Lisa Sallach and Fr. Ken Gross |
Make it Happen with Online Giving!
At St. Mary Parish in Red Oak, Iowa, Lisa Sallach reports they have gained the equivalent of an extra week of tithes every month since offering Online giving to parishioners. You can, too!
Altogether, the 550 churches now using Online Giving will receive an estimated $38.6 million in direct-deposited annual giving from the 32,858 participating families. That's income they can count on.
Free Online Giving Webinar
Learn how we can help you get started with Online Giving by registering for our FREE and informative Online Giving Made Easy webinar on:
Or choose from later dates on www.parishsoft.com/webinars.
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ConnectNow Ministry Scheduler Initial Release!
 We've released the browser-based ConnectNow Ministry Scheduler to a limited group of parishes, and if you're already using My Own Church (which lets parishioners log in to volunteer and set their own ministry preferences), you'll be able to get rolling with online scheduling in July! Ministry Scheduler is the best way to organize any service, special event, or ministry and keep track of every volunteer. And it's the only system on the market that integrates completely with the family and member records in your other ParishSOFT programs. From liturgical schedules to your annual festival and everything in between, Ministry Scheduler makes it fast, easy and automatic to recruit volunteers and schedule them according to their qualifications and availability. Free Ministry Scheduler Webinar To learn more and see the new Ministry Scheduler system in action, sign up for one of the following live webinars conducted by our ParishSOFT staff: Thur, Jun 30, 10:00 - 11:00 AM EDT Thur, Jul 7, 2:00 - 3:00 PM EDT (more dates) Back to top |
| July & August Technology Seminars
Our Parish Technology Seminars are educational, fun, and free! The seminars give parish staff the chance to discuss how the latest technology for churches, including ParishSOFT products, can help them with ministry.
 | | We're heading to NY and CA for upcoming seminars! |
Sessions for July and August include:
- July 19 - St. Gerard Majella, Port Jefferson Station, NY
- July 20 - St. Matthias, Flushing, NY
- Aug 10 - St. William, Atascadero, CA
- Aug 11 - St. Joseph Conference Center, Diocese of Monterey, CA (Seminar in a.m.; Users' Group in p.m.)
Register for a session near you, or call 866-930-4774 x1 to host a session for your neighboring parishes. Register for one of our scheduled events on www.parishsoft.com/seminars.
A big thank-you to all our fantastic host parishes!
- California: St. Clare, Roseville; St. Vincent de Paul, Petaluma; and St. Robert, San Bruno.
- Connecticut: St. Bernard, Rockville; and St Francis of Assisi, Middletown.
- New York: Church of St. Patrick, Armonk; and Our Lady Help of Christians, New York.
- Texas: St. Thomas Aquinas, El Paso; St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Odessa; St Margaret Mary's in San Antonio
- Wisconsin: thanks to all parishes and diocesan staff who attended the webinar version of our Parish Technology Seminar.
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| Catch a Webinar
If you're eager to get started using some of our new tools, or if you want to learn more about how a particular product can help your ministries, sign up for one of our many free webinars! Webinars are interactive, educational discussions about how technology can serve the needs of your church and school.
You connect from your computer and telephone in a very casual, no pressure setting with one of our product and ministry experts. Sessions for June - July include:
- ConnectNow Church Accounting, Ledger & Payables
Wed, Jul 13, 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM EDT
- NEW! ConnectNow Ministry Scheduler
Thur, Jun 30, 10:00 - 11:00 AM EDT
Thur, Jul 7, 2:00 - 3:00 PM EDT
(more dates)
Tue, Jul 12, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT
- Parish IQ (Intelligent Query)
Thu, Jul 21, 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM EDT
Thu, Jun 30, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT
Wed, Jul 6, 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM EDT
(more dates)
- Using Technology to Advance Your Religious Education
Thu, Jul 7, 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM EDT
Wed, Jul 20, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT
(more dates)
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Online Giving Updates Coming July 6
On July 6 (7 a.m. EDT), we'll update the Online Giving system. Among the several enhancements in this release, you will find the following: -
 One-time login allows administrators to manage giver accounts and administrative functions in the Online Giving system without having to log in repeatedly - Improved export functionality to other popular church software programs
- Simplified requirements for creating passwords
- and much more!
Release notes, in development now, will be available from the Online Giving system's dashboard for all administrator-level users once the update is complete. The feedback you give us continues to drive the future of all ParishSOFT products. Please let us know how we can serve you better. Back to top |
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New Jersey Parish Salutes Linga McClair
 | | Linga McClair |
While setting up Online Giving for her parish, Church of St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Wyckoff, NJ, bookkeeper Marlene Nardone had some questions about her merchant agreement. She connected with Linga McClair of ParishSOFT, and got the answers she needed.
"Linga is a remarkably patient and kind person," said Nardone. "She was so helpful with my Online Giving questions that I sang her praises to a staff person at a neighboring parish, where they're considering ParishSOFT's Online Giving program. It's great to know that real, caring people stand behind the ParishSOFT products!"
Thanks, Diane, for the great compliment! Please continue to let us know how we're doing and what we can do to better serve you and your parishes. And thanks, Linga, for demonstrating the heart of our company to our wonderful customers.
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 | | Download the Latest Release Notes |
Parish Suite Version 3.7.27
The latest version for non-sychronizing parishes, 3.7.27, offers a new Last Name, First Name search capability in the Post Contributions screen, new print functionality for Orthodox sacraments, and a new commemorative contributions report. Full release notes are available here.
The latest version for synchronizing parishes is 3.7.23. Release notes are available here.
Have questions about the latest update? Give ParishSOFT Support a call at 866.930.4774 x2.
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New Primary, Subsidiary Accounts in Accounting Suite
We updated our ConnectNow Church Accounting system on Friday June 24 to add primary and subsidiary bank account capabilities to our software. While these features are available only to a certain diocese at this time, we'll be making them available to you in the coming months. The new primary and subsidiary bank account process lets you maintain multiple, subordinate asset (bank) accounts in your chart of accounts to track associated church funds, yet attach those internal bank accounts to a single bank account established at a banking institution. Separate tracking of funds for various organizational entities and associated billing charges (e.g., sacraments, daycare, choir, education, cafeteria, mortgage, etc.) can give you a better picture of cash flow and expenditures. Full release notes are available here and from your software's dashboard. |
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Write Brilliant Parish Emails
Check out our latest white paper, How to Write Brilliant Parish Email Copy, originally published as a column in Christian Computing Magazine. You'll learn 10 tips that can help you boost your read rates and member participation. Download it free on our White Papers Web page.
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Give us a call! 866.930.4774
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