Nonprofit News by Soft Trac

Sage Software has recently released Sage Fundraising 50, version 8.0, which features new Donate Now capabilities for Sage Payment Solutions customers, reporting enhancements, new user defaults, and enhanced security and system options – all to help meet nonprofit organizations’ donor and relationship management needs, while increasing the productivity of their development staffs. Easy-to-use and affordable fundraising software, Sage Fundraising 50 is designed for all nonprofit organizations needing a complete set of fundraising and development tools to help them with donor acquisition, fundraising, and operational efficiency.
“We are excited to offer donors the ability to donate online through our Web site, without us having to deal with complications that come with using a third-party payment service, such as importing, exporting, balancing reports, and additional fees,” said Joanne Boyer, development manager at Waveny Care Network, a New Canaan, Conn.-based organization providing a progression of living options, programs, and services for the senior community and their families, and a premier healthcare resource for most issues related to aging. “With Sage Fundraising 50, we can easily accept online donations and then neatly integrate them into our exiting database with a few clicks of the mouse.”

The new Donate Now functionality in version 8.0 allows Sage Fundraising 50 users with Sage Payment Solutions accounts to create donation forms on their Web sites. The constituent information and donations are then pushed into their Sage Fundraising 50 database for review and eventual upload. This seamless integration reduces customers’ duplicate data entry, because gift, recurring gift, and Donate Now data is transferred directly to Sage Fundraising 50. Sage Payment Solutions maintains PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliance for every payment processed to keep donors’ sensitive data secure.

Users can customize their organization’s Donate Now page to offer donors options, such as specific gift amounts, organization-specific designations, honor and memorial gift tracking, recurring gifts, and more.

“The new Donate Now feature will make it so easy for people to donate to our organization online,” said Abigael Okelarin, event coordinator at the Jewish Foundation for Group Homes, a non-sectarian, 501(c)(3) organization providing support and services for adults with disabilities in the Washington, D.C., area. “The donations will be processed automatically, so we can say goodbye to typing long credit card numbers into bulky credit card machines. Even better, duplicate data entry will be reduced, since all donation information will be transferred straight to our Sage Fundraising 50 database.”

Reporting enhancements built into version 8.0 can help Sage Fundraising 50 users strengthen their audit trail. Changes to reports can be saved, and reports can be stamped with identifying information, such as date, time, and page number. Validation messages can help users ensure accountability, while “last saved by” information can help them keep track of changes made to reports.

New user defaults for five functional areas Data Entry and User Interface, Quick Gift, Import Wizard, Donate Now and Online Gift Processing – will enable Sage Fundraising 50 users to continue to use settings that work best for them. New global security privileges in version 8.0 will allows administrators to grant permission to only those users needing to globally edit or add cards.

“I especially like the version 8.0 enhancement that allows me to assign global security privileges to a user without having to give administrative rights,” said David Hall, major gift manager and information systems manager at Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a national, nonprofit legal services, watchdog, and policy organization dedicated to ending discrimination against and harassment of military personnel. “In addition, the new user defaults will help our data entry staff stay organized and save time on common tasks.”

Sage Software recently released version 9.0 of Sage MIP Fund Accounting, the latest version of its award-winning accounting software for nonprofit financial management. Enhancements to the product include: new tax forms and eFiling by Aatrix®, new recurring and reversing entry management functionality, enhanced fixed assets tracking and reporting, streamlined navigation and enhanced user interface, and additional payroll, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and reporting functionality. For 25 years, Sage MIP Fund Accounting has been helping nonprofit and government organizations of all sizes track and report on multiple funds, across multiple budget periods; plan and manage budgets; maximize grants; and produce accurate, customized reports.
“The latest release of Sage MIP Fund Accounting includes several features, such as an easier-to-navigate interface and the Recurring and Reversing Entry Manager, that we told Sage Software would simplify our accounting processes,” said Rebecca Trevino, CPA, director of administration for The Railroad Commission (RRC) of Texas, an Austin, Texas-based regulatory organization. “We have been a Sage customer since 1996, because Sage MIP Fund Accounting is an outstanding fund accounting package. The software can handle any government structure that I have encountered.”

Krista Endsley, senior vice president and general manager for Nonprofit Solutions at Sage Software, said, “Sage MIP Fund Accounting, version 9.0, features stronger core functionality, while preserving the stability and reliability expected by our loyal nonprofit and government customers. This release debuts the product’s new user interface, and offers more tools designed to save time and effort for customers at all experience levels.”

New Version 9.0 Features

• New tax forms and eFiling by Aatrix® enables users of the Payroll module to quickly and easily produce W-2 and W-3 forms for employees, or eFile federal and state reports. Users can also review and file more than 250 federal and state tax forms and payments, which are automatically completed with their payroll data.

• Streamlined navigation and an easier-to-navigate interface enhance the user experience.

• New Recurring and Reversing Entry Manager can help save users time by allowing them to set up, edit, and manipulate repeat entry tasks.

• Enhanced tracking and reporting capabilities in the Fixed Assets module can help strengthen users’ audit trails.

Additional payroll, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and reporting functionality, as well as audit controls were added to Sage MIP Fund Accounting.

“The new Recurring and Reversing Entry Manager will go a long way in making our repetitive processes easier and faster,” said Trevino. “It expedites many of the data entry functions, thereby enabling us to process more transactions with fewer staff.”