We have been building our next generation application platform (code name Infinity) for almost two years now. I can’t talk in specifics at this point, but I can say that we have two brand new applications built on this platform ready to ship! Sorry, no dates will be revealed here, my friends.

Is that Linux? Yep.

So, as we exit one of the most intense R&D cycles in the 18 years I’ve been at Blackbaud, I took some time to reflect back on our initial goals for the platform and do a little internal report card of sorts around how I think we did. I won’t bore you with the details, or maybe I will in another post, but for now I’d like to look at one place where I give the team an A+.

You didn’t think I was going to blog about the “B” grade did you?

Goal: Embrace web standards to maximize interoperability

I know, it’s a mouthful, but I can’t figure out how to put it any more succinctly. Two years ago it was obvious to the team here that we needed to be web delivered and if we were going to be web delivered we should use as many standards-based technologies as possible.

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I’d love to see more folks taking advantage of our APIs. So, while driving home last night I thought to myself that it would be cool to start up a little open source API community where together we can post and modify samples in an open source format. So in just a few minutes today at lunch I was able to easily set up a Blackbaud community on Microsoft’s CodePlex.

I also uploaded a sample that demonstrates how to write a simple plugin using the Raiser’s Edge 7.81 and Visual Basic .NET 2005.
You can view the project page here.
(Note this sample will only work with RE 7.81 or later, since 7.81 ships with the required .NET 2.0 support files)

Did you know that Plugins do not require an API license to create? That’s right, grab this sample, play with it, make your own plugins and contribute them to the project/community! The only restriction I am making is I am putting all code under a Creative Commons License.

I’ll be up front with you, I probably won’t have much time to field direct questions on any code I post. Also, this isn’t officially suported Blackbaud product. That said, if you are looking for a place to learn more about using our extensive APIs and plugins, I hope this community will serve as a launch pad. I’ll upload more stuff when I get free time and inspiration. What I’d most like to see is what you come up with.

Now go buy that .NET book and start coding! Be sure to let me know if you’d like to contribute code or projects, I’ll add you to the open source team. Make something really cool and we may ask you to join the Blackbaud Product Development team

Shaun

I was intrigued by this recent article about SAP and others incorporating collaboration features like wikis, forums, blogs and widgets into their products to help encourage communication among users. One of our main goals with products on the Infinity platform is to get beyond the idea of these apps being a ‘data storage’ tool and really focus on the ways in which the products facilitate and improve business processes. We’re already well on our way to meeting this goal through features like customizable, easy-to-use business transactions (such as sending receipts or posting to GL), and better integration of reporting data into these functions.

But a huge part of facilitating processes involves communication among people and departments. I’m wondering what we can do to better allow users to communicate with each other through our products? And where would this type of functionality be most useful? We’ve already taken steps in this direction in specific areas - Major Giving cultivation, for example, where we’re looking to improve the ability of fundraisers and their managers to communicate progress and status on their prospects. But I think this is an area we can explore further and really take advantage of some of the newer tools available to us.

It seems like there are some key characteristics of situations where in-product collaboration would be most useful:

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Putting 2006 behind us, of course it’s time to set down our resolutions for the new year. The thing that makes resolutions different from goals or plans is the idea that achieving them is primarily a matter of will or resolve. They can be…

• quantitative (lose 20 pounds!) or qualitative (eat healthier!)
• subjective (be a better person!) or objective (spend 10 hours a month helping out my favorite charity!)
• personal (appreciate the little things more!) or altruistic (make the world a better place!)

…but they are things that challenge us because they challenge our ability to overcome our limitations, our conditioning and our environment.

Of course, I’ve got my list of personal resolutions…..drop 20 pounds, finish the Cooper River Bridge Run in under 50 minutes, and complete a lengthy list of home improvement projects….just to name a few. However, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to try and come up with a New Year’s Resolution that has an impact on our Products team at Blackbaud and, by extension, the products we deliver. While surfing the web looking for some ideas, most of what I found centered on resolutions like “write more reusable code”, “comply with web standards” or “do more usability testing”; all worthwhile goals, but they didn’t capture my imagination or feel like what I was looking for.

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I recently ran across a new video sharing site for nonprofits, DoGooder.tv. Very cool. The site is live right now, though in alpha, and allows nonprofits to post high-quality videos for a small fee free. They plan to include more community and online donation functionality down the road, so this is pretty exciting.

But will nonprofits flock to DoGooderTV instead of free alternatives like YouTube or Google Video? DoGooderTV will always have a captive audience looking for nonprofit content, but whether or not organizations will be willing to pay for that placement remains to be seen. Tracking…

Update: Michael says:

The site is 100% FREE! A new version is online now that allows nonprofits to create basic home pages and upload video.

That’s great news from the DoGooderTV camp - not only because the the service will be free, but social elements like creating pages are coming sooner rather than later.

Using the Social Web, also referred to as Web 2.0, is a great way for your nonprofit to reach donors and spread your message.

Social sites are built to encourage sharing, and few things are more effective and inexpensive than viral marketing. While maintaining your own Web site will always be a priority, there are other ways to spread your organization’s story via the Internet.

Here are ten social web resolutions that can give your nonprofit an edge in 2007:

• Create a page at MySpace.com
  Your donors are getting younger, or at least they are acting younger…so should you. Reach out to them via MySpace.com this year. Setup a page for your organization, gather friends, post bulletins, and point people back to your online donation page.
• Go in-world with Second Life
  Get an account started at Second Life, and take your nonprofit into the virtual world. This is cutting edge internet marketing, so getting started now may get you closer to tech-savvy donors who are looking for something different. Have a meet-up in Second Life to discuss your annual campaign or just chat about issues. If you do it right, Reuters might show up and cover the event in the real world.

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