Advocacy & Environmental Groups

Rights — human, animal and environmental — are the cornerstone and enlightened expression of a free society. We're grateful to our colleagues at environmental and advocacy organizations for their work and pleased we can support them. We also recognize that these organizations face particular challenges and circumstances in their fundraising efforts. Some of the particular needs we keep in mind when working with such clients include:

  • Direct mail is likely a big part of your fundraising efforts. Easily segmenting mailings and reporting on your results is critical. Acquisition lists may play an important role in securing new donors.
  • Program funding may run on a shoe-string, making cash flow reporting very important so you can keep your programs and initiatives alive.
  • Beyond their donations, your constituency supports your organization's mission through additional activities — advocacy letters and emails, signature collection for petitions, and volunteering — that you want to track and acknowledge.
  • Special events, particularly team events and “friend-raisers” may play a special role in both cultivating prospective donors and promoting your organization's message.

We needed expert guidance on using our Raiser's Edge® better and we got it from the Heller team. They know how technology works for healthcare fundraising – capital campaigns, major gifts, annual fund, and events. With their help we’ve been able to clean up our data, use less paper, and work smarter.

Julie N. Campbell
Director of Individual Giving

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NTC 2012
04/03/2012 - 04/05/2012

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Case Studies

California League of Conservation Voters

When the California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV) first contacted Heller Consulting, one of their primary issues was difficulty getting the reports they needed. Although they knew Raiser’s Edge had the capacity to provide them with valuable information, most of their reports were done on an ad hoc basis using queries, laboriously maintained spreadsheets, or educated guesses! The culprit was their coding structure. The organization of their fields and tables did not support the reports they needed. Our approach? After understanding their reporting goals, we completely broke down and rebuilt CLCV’s demographic and financial code tables, always with an eye towards structuring the data to make the reports most useful. We then set up a suite of financial, analytical and statistical reports that are now used on a daily basis. There is now greater confidence in the data and staff spends less time generating accurate, useful reports.

Planned Parenthood Golden Gate

As with many of our clients, we've had a long relationship with PPGG. We first worked with them to convert their fundraising system from FundMaster to Raiser's Edge. During that process we cleaned up their codes and developed (and docu me nted!) constituent entry and gift handling procedures. This docu me ntation facilitated consistency in their data entry practices over ti me and through staff changes which allowed the organization to maximize the potential of Raiser's Edge. During this project we also facilitated the electronic integration of donor information from Planned Parenthood National, reducing reliance on manual entry. In subsequent years we have supported efforts to use Raiser's Edge to track grant application and stewardship, developed a reconciliation process between Develop me nt and Accounting, provided ongoing staff training, and hosted PPGG staff me mbers at regional Heller Consulting educational seminars.

Project Inform

Their original conversion of data to RE was unsuccessful, so they engaged our conversion services to salvage the project. Our unique experience and knowledge of both fundraising operations and conversion programming made us a perfect resource to turn this project into a success for them. We worked with them to understand their operations and then re-converted their data successfully. We then conducted customized, targeted training, providing them a great based for using their new system.

Marin Humane Society

MHS was evaluating their fundraising software options and asked us to review their needs and offer advise regarding what to look for in the software they selected. They decided on Raiser's Edge and asked us to conduct their data conversion, process development and staff training. The project was a great success and they are now happily using their new software.

Yosemite National Institute

In our first project with YNI, we started with a cleanup their Raiser's Edge system and a standardization and documentation of their business practices. This paved the way for integrating data from two FileMaker databases used by affiliated branches. We then provided training to staff in the “home office” outside San Francisco and their colleagues who now access the system remotely from Seattle and Yosemite . We've subsequently provided additional training as their staffing or strategies change, and interim support during personnel transitions.