Comments on: More Nonprofits Adopting Convio’s Common Ground http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/more-nonprofits-adopting-convios-common-ground Confessions of a Non-Profit Executive Director Sat, 13 Mar 2010 11:46:18 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Mark Bajkowski http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/more-nonprofits-adopting-convios-common-ground/comment-page-1#comment-100636 Mark Bajkowski Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:09:00 +0000 http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/?p=3731#comment-100636 I am a small business consultant who, from time to time, comes across issues related to non-profit web technology and I see that this industry's commercialization reaches somewhat disturbing levels. The web tech (systems & apps) providers tend to treat this industry as yet another vertical market to monopolize while a natural scenario, where a specialized tech provider could be itself also a non-profit, would make most of business sense here. It seems also that an available service oriented architecture (SOA) would be the best candidate for necessary customization on the individual org level. Certainly, a $200 per month, being an equivalent of 1-day per week at minimum wage, is not going to break a bank, it results in an obvious conflict of interest. I guess that the current health care industry "dilemma" comes to mind with its underlying question: how much profiting from a sickness can make somebody really care about a well-being. I am a small business consultant who, from time to time, comes across issues related to non-profit web technology and I see that this industry's commercialization reaches somewhat disturbing levels. The web tech (systems & apps) providers tend to treat this industry as yet another vertical market to monopolize while a natural scenario, where a specialized tech provider could be itself also a non-profit, would make most of business sense here. It seems also that an available service oriented architecture (SOA) would be the best candidate for necessary customization on the individual org level. Certainly, a $200 per month, being an equivalent of 1-day per week at minimum wage, is not going to break a bank, it results in an obvious conflict of interest. I guess that the current health care industry "dilemma" comes to mind with its underlying question: how much profiting from a sickness can make somebody really care about a well-being.

]]> By: Mary Moley http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/more-nonprofits-adopting-convios-common-ground/comment-page-1#comment-100308 Mary Moley Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:10:53 +0000 http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/?p=3731#comment-100308 Yeah and did you see you have to pay for two seats min.? Wow. Yeah and did you see you have to pay for two seats min.? Wow.

]]> By: Allan Benamer http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/more-nonprofits-adopting-convios-common-ground/comment-page-1#comment-99441 Allan Benamer Sat, 17 Jan 2009 18:22:50 +0000 http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/?p=3731#comment-99441 I think this is a classic build vs. buy issue. Salesforce.com right out of the box definitely needs some work to get it up to speed. Common Ground is a short cut but you'll have to adopt its business logic. My assumption is that Common Ground uses Convio's existing experience with nonprofits to build in best-of-breed business practices into Common Ground. That doesn't mean your nonprofit will necessarily adopt those practices. There may be reasons not to go with industry-standard practices. For me, the interesting point here is that the market is giving nonprofits more choices as to how to use SaaS for their purposes. I think we can all agree that that's a Good Thing despite how we feel about Convio or Salesforce.com. I think this is a classic build vs. buy issue. Salesforce.com right out of the box definitely needs some work to get it up to speed. Common Ground is a short cut but you'll have to adopt its business logic. My assumption is that Common Ground uses Convio's existing experience with nonprofits to build in best-of-breed business practices into Common Ground. That doesn't mean your nonprofit will necessarily adopt those practices. There may be reasons not to go with industry-standard practices. For me, the interesting point here is that the market is giving nonprofits more choices as to how to use SaaS for their purposes. I think we can all agree that that's a Good Thing despite how we feel about Convio or Salesforce.com.

]]> By: Judi Sohn http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/more-nonprofits-adopting-convios-common-ground/comment-page-1#comment-99439 Judi Sohn Sat, 17 Jan 2009 18:02:31 +0000 http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/?p=3731#comment-99439 Tanner, Common Ground is not an add-on to Salesforce. It's a stand-alone offline donor database built on the same platform as Salesforce.com. Yes, a nonprofit can hire a consultant and build a lot of the same functionality, but I can tell you from experience you're talking tens of thousands of dollars. Also, Convio offers phone and email support on Common Ground, as well as continuous updates. A nonprofit can't get that on their own, and that's what you're paying for on a regular basis. We're not using Common Ground because we've already been on the Salesforce.com platform for 2.5 years, and we're also a Convio customer. But if we were starting fresh now, with the same budget now as we had back then (which wasn't that much) we would definitely do it on Common Ground. It's really good. Tanner, Common Ground is not an add-on to Salesforce. It's a stand-alone offline donor database built on the same platform as Salesforce.com. Yes, a nonprofit can hire a consultant and build a lot of the same functionality, but I can tell you from experience you're talking tens of thousands of dollars. Also, Convio offers phone and email support on Common Ground, as well as continuous updates. A nonprofit can't get that on their own, and that's what you're paying for on a regular basis.

We're not using Common Ground because we've already been on the Salesforce.com platform for 2.5 years, and we're also a Convio customer. But if we were starting fresh now, with the same budget now as we had back then (which wasn't that much) we would definitely do it on Common Ground. It's really good.

]]> By: Idealist Consulting http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/more-nonprofits-adopting-convios-common-ground/comment-page-1#comment-99409 Idealist Consulting Sat, 17 Jan 2009 00:52:38 +0000 http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/?p=3731#comment-99409 As a practice we have done over 130 Salesforce implementations and are one of the original four nonprofit partners. That said, we have reviewed Common Ground extensively with our consulting team, and this one of the most well formatted Salesforce configurations for the nonprofit space. The addition of visual force integration enhances the user interface; the use of the account to contact platform is intuitive; and the contact connector is excellent. At the end of the day, it is nice to see another option out there for a nonprofit looking for a reliable starting point with Salesforce. Considering the hours of development behind the product and the quality of work displayed I do not think the monthly subscription is a show stopper. Ultimately, Convio has done a tremendous job working on the Salesforce platform. As a practice we have done over 130 Salesforce implementations and are one of the original four nonprofit partners. That said, we have reviewed Common Ground extensively with our consulting team, and this one of the most well formatted Salesforce configurations for the nonprofit space. The addition of visual force integration enhances the user interface; the use of the account to contact platform is intuitive; and the contact connector is excellent. At the end of the day, it is nice to see another option out there for a nonprofit looking for a reliable starting point with Salesforce. Considering the hours of development behind the product and the quality of work displayed I do not think the monthly subscription is a show stopper. Ultimately, Convio has done a tremendous job working on the Salesforce platform.

]]> By: Tanner http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/more-nonprofits-adopting-convios-common-ground/comment-page-1#comment-99400 Tanner Fri, 16 Jan 2009 16:58:17 +0000 http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/?p=3731#comment-99400 So, is this essentially a new template built on top of Salesforce.com with a recurring monthly cost? Why would someone not simply build the system to suit their needs or hire a Salesforce consultant to configure their system with all of the known best practices? This would only be a one time cost rather than an expensive recurring cost. So, is this essentially a new template built on top of Salesforce.com with a recurring monthly cost?

Why would someone not simply build the system to suit their needs or hire a Salesforce consultant to configure their system with all of the known best practices? This would only be a one time cost rather than an expensive recurring cost.

]]> By: Patrick Shaw http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/more-nonprofits-adopting-convios-common-ground/comment-page-1#comment-99377 Patrick Shaw Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:49:04 +0000 http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/?p=3731#comment-99377 It will be great to know how that early adoption holds up. For the price point (I think it is about 100/person/month), I don't think this is an especially affordable model, particularly given that it doesn't look like you get access to any of the Convio online goodness. It will be great to know how that early adoption holds up. For the price point (I think it is about 100/person/month), I don't think this is an especially affordable model, particularly given that it doesn't look like you get access to any of the Convio online goodness.

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