Trail Blazer, Non-Profit and Political Talk!

Trail Blazer team has been working hard the past few months on completeing the approval process for the Fair Poltical Practices Commission's, or FPPC for short, Form 460 (F460). this is the most used Form for the FPPC, candidates (and candidate committees) use this form for quarterly and semi annual reports. We have been working closly with the California Secretary of State Debra Bowen's (CA SOS) politcal reform division to gain the approval needed to become listed on the SOS list "Vendors/Service Providers Approved for Electronic Filing in California". I hope to announce soon that we have been approved and added to that list.

This time of year a lot of new campaigns get started and ask "what do I need to put on my contribution page for a disclaimer?"

While we are not lawyers, we suggest that you keep it simple. Somthing like:

Disclaimer:

• The Federal Election Commission requires that all of these statements are true for anyone contributing to the campaign.
  I am a US Citizen or Permanent Resident
  I am donating my own money
  I am not under contract to the Federal Government
  I am not making this contribution in the name of another person
  I am 18 years of age or older
  
  
• If there is an occupation/employer: Federal law requires political committees to use their best efforts to obtain and report the name, mailing address, occupation, and employer for each individual whose contributions aggregate in excess of $200 in an election cycle.
  
  
• Contributions to <> are not deductible as charitable donations for federal income tax purposes. Federal law limits contributions to $4,800 per person ($2,400 primary election, $2,400 general election). Contributions can be drawn individually or jointly from personal funds only. Joint contributions are attributed to each contributor equally. Corporate checks are prohibited. Cash contributions cannot be accepted. Contributions from foreign nationals are prohibited.

I thought I would share an email , my father sent to me, this joke really made me laugh.

 

You have to be old enough to remember Abbott and Costello, and too old to REALLY understand computers, to fully appreciate this.  
 
For those of us who sometimes get flustered by our computers, please read on...

If Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were alive today, their infamous sketch, 'Who's on First?' might have turned out something like this:

COSTELLO CALLS TO BUY A COMPUTER FROM ABBOTT  
               
ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?

COSTELLO : Thanks. I'm setting up an office in my den and I'm thinking about buying a computer.

ABBOTT : Mac?

COSTELLO : No, the name's Lou .

ABBOTT : Your computer?

COSTELLO : I don't own a computer. I want to buy one.

ABBOTT : Mac?

COSTELLO: I told you, my name's Lou .

ABBOTT : What about Windows?

COSTELLO : Why? Will it get stuffy in here?

ABBOTT : Do you want a computer with Windows?

COSTELLO : I don't know. What will I see when I look at  the
windows?

ABBOTT : Wallpaper.

COSTELLO : Never mind the windows. I need a computer and software.

ABBOTT : Software for Windows?

COSTELLO : No. On the computer! I need something I can use to write proposals, track expenses and run my business. What do you have?

ABBOTT : Office.

COSTELLO: Yeah, for my office. Can you recommend anything?

ABBOTT : I just did.

COSTELLO : You just did what?

ABBOTT : Recommend something.

COSTELLO : You recommended something?

ABBOTT : Yes.

COSTELLO : For my office?

ABBOTT : Yes.

COSTELLO : OK, what did you recommend for my office?

ABBOTT : Office.

COSTELLO : Yes, for my office!

ABBOTT : I recommend Office with Windows.

COSTELLO : I already have an office with windows! OK, let's just say I'm sitting at my computer and I want to type a proposal.  What do I need?

ABBOTT :  Word.

COSTELLO : What word?

ABBOTT : Word in Office.

COSTELLO : The only word in office is office.

ABBOTT : The Word in Office for Windows.

COSTELLO : Which word in office for windows?

ABBOTT : The Word you get when you click the blue 'W'.

COSTELLO : I'm going to click your blue 'w' if you don't start with some straight answers. What about financial bookkeeping? You have anything I can track my money with?

ABBOTT: Money.

COSTELLO : That's right. What do you have?

ABBOTT : Money.

COSTELLO : I need money to track my money?

ABBOTT : It comes bundled with your computer.

COSTELLO : What's bundled with my computer?

ABBOTT : Money.

COSTELLO : Money comes with my computer?

ABBOTT : Yes. No extra charge.

COSTELLO : I get a bundle of money with my computer? How much?

ABBOTT : One copy.

COSTELLO : Isn't it illegal to copy money?  

ABBOTT : Microsoft gave us a license to copy Money.

COSTELLO : They can give you a license to copy money?

ABBOTT : Why not? THEY OWN IT!

(A few days later)

ABBOTT : Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?

COSTELLO : How do I turn my computer off?
 
ABBOTT : Click on 'START'.............

Got this Great email from our mail house friends at do-good.biz  Thought it was something to save and spread the news about.
July 6, 2009



   
 
      At least once a week a mailing fails to go through here not because it was improperly prepared or because it was printed incorrectly. It's because there were "insufficient funds" in the customer's permit account.
 
      This problem can often delay a mailing for several days and may cause undue alarm about when the mail will get delivered. If you own your permit, it is necessary for you to make sure that you have enough money to cover the cost of postage for any particular mailing.
 
      If you are using our permit, we will call you a day or two in advance of the mailing requesting that a check be cut within a day or two. Mailers like us do not cover postage costs. That is not a good business model because of the large sums involved and the danger of default. However, if you are an established customer, we will usually take your word that the "check is in the mail that day", especially when the schedule tightens and the mail must go out.
 
      For those of you who own your own permit, you must abide by the following rules when writing and depositing your postage check at the clerk's window. (1) Put your permit number in the memo field. (2) Your check must be preprinted with name of organization/business AND address. (3) Whoever deposits the check must add their phone number and license number to the check itself.
 
      Whether you send your check to the deposit window or personally give it to the clerk, all three conditions must be met. These three conditions are relatively new so it is good to be aware of them. Once again, you will notice that this procedure is fraught with rules, typical of the post office.
 
      Follow these rules and plan ahead. Your mailing will sail through like a breeze. If you have questions about any of this, give us a call.

     Thanks for your interest in Do-Good.biz!
 
  Sincerely,
 
Thad Ludwiczak, CEO
Do-Good.biz  612-789-7226

 

Recently Trail Blazer clients have been signing up for online donations at an increased rate. But does having a web page for donations mean your work is done? Not by a long shot!

But with some preplanning and promotion you can increase your fundraising success.

Hint: Make the donation page a simple URL, like http://www.mysite.org/donate or http://www.mysite.org/donate.htm

Set some simple goals.  What do you want your online donation collections to do for you?

Because an online donation page is not a magic pill, we should look at what we did in the past.  From that we identified three areas that if you were just doing offline, you might change or make more effective.

Goals

1. Reduce paperwork and hours.

2. Increase sizes of gifts.

3. Increase number of gifts, both from existing donors and new donors (fourth goal).

So how does setting up an online donation collection help accomplish those goals?

1. Reduced paper work - Transfer the collection to the website – donors self input their data reducing paper work and hours.


2. Increase size of gifts – Once directed to your web site make up-sizing to slightly higher than average a real choice.  We recommend a small, medium, and large donation.  We have heard disagreement on whether to include an ‘open’ amount (fill in your own $) but I say go for it.  By making the Medium level on the website be 10-20% more than the average donation last year, many people will see that medium level as the default, causing some to donate more than last year’s average.


3. Increase number of gifts – Spontaneous gifts!  A well planned web site and email newsletters can have links to donation web pages for spontaneous gifts.  Email newsletters can track open and click rates that let you know what part of your mission people get excited about.  Web site analytic tools can give you information about your web site.  By looking at response rates, and adding forward to friend appeals you can increase the effectiveness of your email newsletters.  Printed newsletters still have a place – but are rarely forward and don’t have links to donation web pages for spontaneous gifts.

Don’t forget you need to promote!

Be sure a “donate now” button and links are on every page of your website – make them easy to find.  Make it clear that gifts make the mission happen; everyone knows it, nothing good happens by being shy.

Email – Every email should have a link to the donation page.  Depending on your message 3-4 links to the donation page would not be unusual in a newsletter.

Offline communications include not only the home page (and other contact information) but a link to the donation page.  See the hint about simple URLs above.  Even your stationary should have the simple donate URL, top and bottom if possible.

Most importantly measure your results.

Once your online donation page is setup to track donors, see who gives online vs. offline.  Do this for each of your fundraising appeals.  Include tracking for gifts that were outside of your appeals process.  Over time this will help you to understand and even target direct mail and email appeals with the best use of resources.

Although Trail Blazer's software won’t do the work for you, it makes the job of cultivating donors easier.  Your mission, your story, still needs to compel the donor to give their gift.

To learn more about setting up an online donation program, call Brian at 800-446-1375 or email him at bhanf@trailblz.com

The online donation tools are included in your Trail Blazer annual subscription. 

Trail Blazer Campaign Services, Inc. has 3 approved credit card gateways.  To learn more about each gateway and which has the best value for you, call Brian today 800-446-1375.

We never handle your money we simply facilitate the transaction between the donor and you.

As wiki tells me 'The holiday commemorates the Mexican army's unlikely defeat of French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguin.'

Here we celebrate some early victories and tomorrow Mark Panger's Birthday.  We have to congratulate Cynthia Lee-Sheng and Clyde Holloway for their recent wins.  Cynthia even defeated a sitting state senator (and a past client, perhaps they should have renewed their license with us) to win outright in the primary.  And Clyde Holloway’s challenger in the runoff dropped out (I’m sure it is because they found out Clyde had Trail Blazer on his side) a week after the primary.

And I almost forgot on Friday some or all of us might be out of the office for a viewing of the new Star Trek movie official meeting of the Trail Blazer team.

TTFN

Brian Hanf

We are beginning the process of upgrading our customer databases to the new multiple addresses per person capability.  This will also allow us to release the enhanced householding feature and query save feature.

What does this mean to you?

Sometime between now and May 15, we expect to complete the upgrade to your database.  You do not need to do anything to facilitate this.

IMPORTANT - for use to ensure data integrity while your database is in use, we will rename the old address fields to prevent access.  If you are in the database when this occurs, you will receive an error when attempting to open a search panel.  You should exit Trail Blazer.  Depending on the size of your database, the upgrade may require a few minutes up to couple of hours to complete.

After your database has been upgraded, your Trail Blazer look will change in a few ways.  This article details some of those changes:  http://www.trailblz.com/kb/?action=view&kb=91&cat=10.

This article provides information regarding address management:  http://www.trailblz.com/kb/?action=view&kb=94&cat=1

Thanks,

Trail Blazer Campaign Services, Inc

Check out the Trail Blazer Page on Facebook!!!

We need people to sign up as fans, so hop to it!

or paste www.facebook.com/pages/Trail-Blazer-Software/64872951180