Blackbaud, which pulled its Financial Edge product of the reseller channel a few years ago, is testing the product with its Fundware resellers. That’s part of the new Connect program, which started as an ISV program, according to Scott Butler, VP of public sector solutions. He said some of the FundWare resellers are starting to see volume with Financial Edge. Blackbaud also plans to start using the channels to reach governmental markets, which Butler said would help the company promote existing accounting relationship and the next generation product that goes into release early this year. The Connect program includes several elements such as the referral program, via which participants can get referral fees on products from Financial Edge and the Raiser’s Edge to its e-Tapestry and Kintera applications. Read more...

Microsoft has begun selling Dynamics CRM (Constituent Relationship Management) for nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations, the first specialized CRM product from the vendor.  This new offering was described as having out-of-the-box CRM functionality and customizations for features peculiar to these organizations such as donation and pledge management, basic membership management, basic volunteer tracking, campaign management, dashboard reports, and support for online payment solutions. It is available both as on- premise software and though Dynamics CRM online. If I had thought about this more when the release hit my email, I would have asked whether Microsoft is moving into an area that has produced a lot of ISVs (Independent Software Venor) offering specialized CRM. Read more...