New features, an oldie but a goodie, and a look at what's coming up!
It’s that time again! Every month, CharityEngine rolls out some new features that will make it easier for our nonprofit clients to engage donors, execute events and campaigns, and raise more money for valuable missions.
Following on the heels of our first (successful!) Product Showcase Webinar earlier this month, we will report on exciting new features, then revisit some helpful features and give you a sneak peek at what we’ve got cooking for the near future.
In our February Product Showcase Webinar, attendees will have the opportunity to see these features demonstrated, as well as have the chance to ask questions directly to our team.
New Features
Let’s start with a look at what’s new.
Microsoft Excel Connector
As we teased last month, we have now released our Microsoft Excel Connector. This new integration will allow clients to load and continuously sync query data directly into an Excel spreadsheet. And once the data is in Excel, you have the flexibility to manipulate the data points any way you wish, offering the opportunity to create even more custom reports. Unique to your data, custom reports provide valuable donor insights.
Updated Time Zone Features
New time zone functionality is available to all CharityEngine clients! We developed this technology after receiving client requests, underscoring your ability to influence how our software evolves. We endeavor to meet clients where they are and provide the technology needed to make our clients’ jobs easier.
So what was the requested functionality? Clients can now schedule email sends in different international time zones. When you’ve done the research and understand the best time to have emails hit donors on the West Coast, for example, it’s nice to be able to schedule that send when you know it’s going to be most effective.
Upgraded Dashboards
Dashboards offer CharityEngine clients a quick look at aggregated data, highlighting trends as well as reporting on the metrics that can help shape your actions. Our new Form Performance Dashboard zeroes in on how your forms are doing.
For example, how many people are clicking on your donation form but neglecting to donate? If the number is lower than you like, it’s an indication you need to optimize your donation form to increase fundraising.
CharityEngine’s new Advocacy Dashboard shows you information on the issues you’ve identified as important, as well as showing you details about your constituents and the activities in which they’re taking action.
Contact Card Enhancements
During our webinar, clients asked for a certain enhancement to contact cards. Specifically, they requested that giving history be added to those cards. Our dev team listened, and we’re pleased to announce that contacts cards now show gift information and history.
Feature Highlight: Online Bill Pay
Let’s take a quick look at a CharityEngine feature we released a while ago. The Online Bill Pay Application accepts all credit and debit cards, PayPal, and even accepts ACH payments. Among other benefits, this makes it easy to collect outstanding sustainer, membership, or pledge payments without the complexity of having to create a custom reactivation form.
As a reminder, CharityEngine is a PCI- and SOC 2-certified payment processor, keeping donor data safe and saving our clients money while cutting out payment-processing middlemen. CharityEngine clients enjoy the most secure, most efficient payment processing out there!
Look Out for New Product Enhancements!
What else do we have in store for you? We’re about to announce enhancements to our auction module! Soon, CharityEngine clients will see:
- Texting alerts for bids
- The ability to add manual bids
- Automatic bidding with increments and maximum bid amounts set
- Search functionality within the auction site
- Bulk action capabilities, such as bulk emails or bulk charges at the end of your event
We will also announce further enhancements to forms, enabling QR codes to be used to direct donors to a donation page and allowing event registrants to check in using just their code.
Save the date! The February Product Showcase Webinar is planned for 2:00 PM ET on Thursday, February 9. In it, we will demonstrate these features, answer questions, and solicit feedback on features. Register now for this valuable webinar!
