Release Notes 2020-09-06

Major Development/Fundraising Tool Overhaul - and more

WEBINAR RECORDINGS:

We did a 2-day webinar to review all of the below changes. This set of webinars were designed for our current Development Coordinators who use our Developments module to get introduced to all the changes we have made to the module. 

We then did a Development Tool Overview Webinar that highlighted the new tools in place and how to use them. This training was designed to give an introduction to the Development Module to schools that have not used the BigSIS Development module previously. 

We followed up with a three-part Development/Fundraising Training Series that went into detail on how to use the Development Module. This was specifically done as a group training due to BigSIS offering the Development Module for free for the next six months. We trained Development Coordinators, who are new to the module, on useful tips and tricks for best practices, and how to use the module to its fullest capabilities. 

To learn more and see these recordings of the Development/Fundraising Training Series, check out our article: Development 1, 2, and 3 Webinars - How to Access Them and What They Cover.

GENERAL

• Consolidation of some buttons throughout the UI
• Better grouping to save space, especially on large screens
• New emoji icons to help understand what options do
• Easier Custom Filter Creator Button on all main tables
• Added Relatives Export on People Table
• Added Additional/Emergency Contacts Table with contact features
• MPF Request Form
• Email Templates added
• Email Testing added
• New filter for Oldest and Only Students on People, Student, and Enrollments Tables
• New filter for By Family/Household on People, Student, and Enrollments Tables
• Employee table is now Employee & Board Members table (easier to add board members)
• Employees & board members can marked ‘Exclude from Parent Square Sync’
• Added new Extended Care Participants Export to Extended Care Sessions
• Extended Care preferred groups feature has been improved
• Other minor Extended Care bug fixes
  
  

DEVELOPMENT/FUNDRAISING

• Pledge Payments Table has been redone from scratch, fixes bug that prevented filtering by dates
• Donation Campaign Update Utility now updates campaign in more places
• Added To-Do feature for development 
• Feature lets your development team know exactly what might be missing, needs updating, etc.
• Added ability to move payment around from a donation to a pledge (e.g., when gift is submitted but meant as installment on existing pledge)
• Fixed issue where an admin entered an initial installment on a pledge
• Added Stock Gifts support
  
• Added an all new By Program report and widget to track giving for each grade level (percent of families given, total amount raised by program, identifying families that haven't given by program, etc.)

DONOR PROFILES

• Added Mail Merge to Donor Profile Table
• Donor Profile Cards
• Easily view Recency, Frequency and Monetary (RFM)
  • First/last/largest donation, this year, last year, status, lifetime, for each donor
• Added RFM Query
• The RFM Model of segmentation is used to rank donors by their potential to give during the current fiscal year based on how recently (R), frequently (F), and how much (M) they have given in the past.
• New Donor Profile Filters Added
• Major/Principle Donors
• Donor-Advised Funds
• Person/Company
• Change in Giving
• Inactive/Deceased Members
• Hidden/Visible on Public Forms
• Solicitation Preference
• Improved New Donor Profile Creation
• Added Donor-Advised Funds support for Donor Profiles
• Added ability to designate Charitable Sponsor
• New Easy to Access Data Analytics
• Change in Giving Filters
• Donor Status (Lapsing, Lapsed, etc.)
• Major/Principle Gifts
• Added Suggested Ask Amounts
• Uses latest scientific research to determine amounts
• Suggested ask amounts can be included in emails with a link to a pre-filled form
• Suggested ask amounts can be included in mail merge letters
• Added ability to set Donor Profile Options directly from the Donor Profile table
• Select columns to display
• Amounts for Major and Principle Gifts
• Select Donor Profile Cards
• RFM Segmentation Options
• And more
• Added ability to access Donor Reports from Donor Profile table
• Added important donor profile data and fundraising data to Donor Profile Exports
• Added ability to hide specific donor profiles from public forms for profiles with deceased or inactive members

FUNDRAISING

• Added improved filters to assist in fundraising
• New improved By Role filter
• Available in Donor Profile table and People Table
• Filter by 
• Advisors
• Alumni
• Current Board Members
• Former Board Members
• Donors
• Current Employees
• Former Employees
• Grandparents of Alumni
• Grandparents of Current Students
• Current Students
• New Students
• Current Teachers
• Former Teachers
• Volunteers
• Added super powerful new Fundraiser Email and Fundraiser Mail Merge features
• Reaching donors by email and letters has never been easier and smarter
• Features are available in People Table, Donor Profile Table, and new Additional Contacts Table
• Many new markers for fundraising including markers for suggested giving amounts, social influencing, top percentile of donation amounts, etc.
• New Smart Text for Roles marker generates a human readable sentence that calculates all the roles of the recipient
• Emails can now link a recipient directly to your donation form and pre-fill in a donation amount
• Added ability to load a sample fundraising email or fundraising letter
• Email Markers have been improved to make them easier to use
• Some markers now feature examples and help
• Public Donation Form improvements
• Modern, simpler, more beautiful design
• Now features a heart-shaped progress bar to alert donors to campaign status
• Added ability to share form with friends on social media
• New smart form feature detects if user has existing pledge or ongoing gift so they can pay installments
• Added ability to create a header and footer for the form