NonprofitEye

I BLOG THEREFORE I AM by pam ashlund Anybody using accounting software out there? If you do, then you've probably seen the dreaded existential question, you click post...and then..you receive a message: Are you sure you want to do that? Fortunately all accountants have nerves of steel. Either that or we're just wild risk-takers (insert rim shot here). Software designers could have come up with something less unnerving, say for example "please verify your selection". Yet the best I've come across so far is a simple "are you sure?". Since I face that "are you sure" question every time I post an entry, I've had years to get used to it, but I still crack a smile sometimes. Just when I thought it was safe to go back in the water, I did a search on Technorati and got this result: There are blogs, and then there's whatever you just typed in. If it's a blog, we don't know about it. Maybe you made a typo. Or maybe it's a blog that do...

Development and Finance: A Broken Marriage? by pam ashlund This article is the start of a conversation on classic rifts that exist in nonprofit organizations. Today I'm blogging about the odd way that conflicts in Blackbaud's software products mirror departmental and emotional conflicts. Development and Finance - One department brings in the money ("develops" the funds) and the other counts the money. You'd think that would be a marriage made in heaven...but for some reason...not so much. This was evident, on two levels, at Blackbaud's 2006 Conference for Nonprofits. First, and most fundamental, at the software level: I attended the session on integrating two software products ( Blackbaud's fundraising product the "Raisers Edge" and its accounting product "Financial Edge"). You'd have to figure that two products from the same company would already be integrated (and certainly not require a class), anymore than one would think you...

No Room At the Inn: Pam heads for the Blackbaud Accounting Training by pam ashlund Come along with Pam on her work travel adventures. Don't have time to read the whole thing? Jump to the punch line! Los Angeles, 8:30 am OK, make that 8:45 am. Realizing the clock is running down, feed the cats, throw the laptop in the carry-on, dash out the door, drag my suitcase down the fire stairs behind me and beat it to LAX. LAX, 10:45 am Take off in a very ugly (and old) airbus. The plane is completely full. The guy sitting in our center seat leaves me no elbow room. Food is "pay-to-play" and I buy some cheese and crackers for five bucks. Watch "The Devil Wears Prada" while sit-sleeping for four and half hours. Dulles, Washington D.C. 6:15 pm Arrive at Dulles and take TWO airport subways to Terminal A, while chugging a dry cappuccino, lugging my carry-on and talking to Ma on the cell phone. Dulles, 7:25 pm Jump on the 30-seater to Charleston. This plane is half empty and t...