Join your peers at quarterly Raiser’s Edge User Group meetings!

Discovery Training Services sponsors quarterly meetings of a Connecticut Raiser’s Edge User Group. If you are not receiving meeting announcements and would like to, please e-mail Christine Mansfield at cmansfield@discoverytrain.com. The only cost is a $10 registration fee which is passed on to the host organization.

Several organizations have already volunteered to HOST A MEETING. If you would like to host a meeting at your location, please e-mail Christine Mansfield at cmansfield@discoverytrain.com.

We would also like to hear your ideas for other topics that are important to you.

Meeting Notes From Past Meetings

User Group Meeting

Hosted by: Gaylord Hospital, Wallingford, CT
Demonstration: Overview of Tribute module.

Once again we were fortunate to have Gaylord Hospital host this years spring meeting in their very comfortable and spacious Chauncey Conference Center in Wallingford. Approximately 30 participants gathered as three people from three different organizations, Gaylord Hospital, Yale-New Haven Hospital, and ECHN, discussed how they work the honor/memorial process within Raiser’s Edge. Of special interest was the very different ways each organization utilized this part of the program. The panel-led discussion proved to be a very successful format. The feedback was very positive from all participants who valued hearing how their peers use Raiser’s Edge.

User Group Meeting on November 30, 2005

Hosted by : Franciscan Life Center, Meriden, CT
Demonstrations: Quick Letters Mail Task

The fall Users Group meeting was held at the Franciscan Life Center tucked away in a quiet suburb of Meriden. There was a demonstration of Quick Letters that prompted a request to possibly cover segmenting at a future user group meeting. There was a lively question and answer session covering the many questions submitted by the participants. Topics included finding duplicate constituents; using the global change option; how recurring gifts work; and query-related questions. Those in attendance willingly shared their experience and successes. Our next meeting will be held in early spring.

User Group Meeting on June 6, 2005

Hosted by: University of New Haven, New Haven, CT

For its summer meeting, the Raiser’s Edge User Group participated as one of the breakout groups at the University of New Haven’s Development Best Practices Conference. The University’s Institutional Advancement office did an outstanding job of putting together a very informative day for all who attended. There were many new faces at the User Group session. Participants shared their successes as well as their problems. There were many questions concerning processing and tracking gift data as well as current challenges facing RE users who have recently, or are about to upgrade.

User Group Meeting on April 22, 2005

Hosted by: Manchester Hospital, Manchester, CT
Demonstration: Raiser’s Edge 7 Action Tracks

It was a cool spring morning in April where users from as far apart as Ridgefield and Willimantic gathered at Manchester Hospital for the quarterly User’s Group meeting. The morning session began with a demonstration and discussion ACTION TRACKS….what are they, why are they helpful and how do you create them. Group discussions continued as we pulled questions from a hat from our participants. The next meeting will be hosted by the University of New Haven as part of its Development Best Practices Conference.

User Group Meeting on January 25, 2005

Hosted by: Gaylord Hospital, Wallingford, CT
Demonstration: Raiser’s Edge 7 Custom Business Rules

Luckily it was only cold that morning (4º), and not snowing as approximately 25 Raiser’s Edge users gathered at 8:30 for a breakfast meeting at Gaylord’s lovely Chauncey Conference Center. Discovery Training Services demonstrated the use of Business Rules and facilitated a discussion on why, where and how an organization might use Business Rules. There were many good ideas shared by the participants.

User Group Meeting on September 28, 2004

Hosted by: The Jewish Home for the Elderly, Fairfield, CT
Demonstration: Blackbaud Simple and Conditional Mail Merge

The Jewish Home for the Elderly provided a wonderful spot for the September meeting. In spite of a driving rainstorm, a large contingent of RE users from the Hartford area made their way to Fairfield. Mailings of course are a hot topic for all RE users. After the demonstration of the Simple and Conditional mail merges by Discovery Training Services, the participants continued the discussion of mailings and shared a number of issues and solutions regarding mailings, addressee and salutation idiosyncrasies and more.

The INAUGURAL MEETING of the CT Raiser’s Edge User Group, June 3, 2004

The first meeting of the new CT Raiser’s Edge User Group was a smashing success! It was held on June 3, 2004, in North Haven with a gathering of enthusiastic, involved and committed participants! The attendees gave it an overwhelming stamp of approval and are committed to keep it going. Here are some HIGHLIGHTS for those of you who missed it:

• Thirty individuals representing 19 organizations
• Three animated round table discussions on:
• Pre and post conversion issues
• How do you manage Events?
• How do you keep your data clean?
• Approximately 50-50 split of RE 6 and RE 7 users
• Many, many shared ideas and solutions
• Networking, networking, networking!

The group made the following DECISIONS on how the meetings should be run going forward:
Morning breakfast meetings are best

• Hold meetings quarterly
• Change the location each time to different areas of the state
• Discuss only one topic
• Demonstration with a Q and A session is the preferred format

The group also made the following suggestions for TOPICS:

• Ways of managing events: the Events module, Excel, Access
• RE Tribute, especially reporting
• Exporting
• Importing
• Soft Credits
• Mail Merge