Soapbox Engage Blog

With its latest release this weekend, Soapbox Mailer takes mass email integration with Salesforce.com to a whole new level, allowing you to merge data from any standard or custom field on any of the following objects:

In November 2013, Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines, killing more than 6,000 and devastating villages and towns across the island nation. Global Fund for Women, a leader in advancing the rights of women and girls worldwide, moved quickly to empower their grantees in the Philippines to address the need.

Using Soapbox Engage, Global Fund for Women achieved its most successful online giving effort ever in response to a crisis. Online contributions totalled more than $75,000 from donors around the world, helping devastated communities rebuild and safeguarding women and children in the aftermath of the storm.

Do you find your nonprofit getting a request for a refund of a donation? If so, beware that there is a scam afoot that targets nonprofits, as reported by IATS.

A baddie contacts you posing as a donor and asks for a refund. They say they meant to donate less. They say they used the wrong card. They say that some horrible thing just happened to them and they need the money back for expenses related to said horrible thing. In fact, they could say a lot of things.

Online petitions are a powerful way to mobilize supporters, build your mailing list, increase donations, and advance your mission.

We're proud to introduce Soapbox Petitions, our latest app with which you can easily create mobile-friendly petition campaigns with your organization’s branding that integrate directly with Salesforce.com.

With Soapbox Petitions, there is no platform that gets in between you and your supporters. No sponsored petitions dilute your message. No fees are charged for gaining access to your supporters or for the size of your mailing list.

I just signed a petition for a cause I believe in, sponsored by an organization I care about. The petition happened to use a well-known online petitions platform.

The logo on the top of that site was for the platform.

The thank you email that landed in my inbox after I signed the petition was from the platform's email address.

That platform's logo was at the top of the thank you email. Its name was in the footer.

The thank you email was even signed by the platform's team.

When all was said and done, it was hard to remember whose petition I had signed.

Soapbox Mailer, our Salesforce-native mass email app built for your budget, just got much faster in delivering messages.

Thanks to features included in the Salesforce Summer '13 release, we've optimized Soapbox Mailer to produce benchmark testing showing 30% faster email delivery.

Ever feel like achieving the data management goals for your nonprofit is like climbing Everest?

Intrepid data mountain climber, meet Database Sherpa, friend of the Salesforce-minded nonprofit accidental techie!

To effectively raise money and build an engaged group of supporters, your organization needs more than just a donate page on its website. You need strategies and tools like online petition software that move people from casual visitor to recurring donor and dedicated supporter – all while minimizing overhead.

Online petitions are an effective tool to capture the casual visitor and active donor alike, and move them down the engagement path - even if yours isn't an advocacy organization. In today's advocacy world, online petition software can ensure your organization is making meaningful connections with your supporters in a way that delivers on your mission.

Here are nine reasons why your nonprofit should consider using online petition software.

Online petitions can be an effective way for your nonprofit to build support around an issue while expanding your mailing list - even if your not primarily an advocacy organization.

Done right, and with the right service, petitions can be an outstanding addition to a complete engagement path that cultivates more donations and supporters for your nonprofit.

But how do you know if the service you are considering is the right service? Here are ten questions every nonprofit should ask when considering an online petition tool.

As folks all around the nation participate in what has become an annual tradition in #GivingTuesday, we wanted to highlight some great friends and clients doing wonderful work in the world.

Photo credit: #GivingTuesday

Check out the latest Tweets from some of those clients and friends and learn how you can help them in their efforts.

Effective online fundraising is more than a donate button. It’s a complete path that moves people from casual visitor to recurring donor and dedicated supporter – all while minimizing overhead.

Leading supporters through the engagement pathWednesday, December 4th 3 – 3:30 pm ETRegister Now!

Join us tomorrow for our first in a series of webinars throughout the month of December!

We'll be highlighting strategies and tips to complete your path for more online donations and supporters as well as presenting the tools available within Soapbox Engage to complete your path.

Tucked into the Winter '14 Force.com Platform Release from Salesforce.com is a little gem that nonprofits, and Soapbox users in particular, can get excited about: the addition of flexible API limits.

Effective online fundraising is more than a donate button. It's a complete path that moves people from casual visitor to recurring donor and dedicated supporter - all while minimizing overhead.

How does your nonprofit's path look? Is it a single donation page and a strategy involving crossed fingers and wishful thinking? Is it a cobbled together collection of tools that kinda sorta work together?

If so, not to worry! You're not alone - and we're here to help!

Seven essential facts every nonprofit fundraiser should know about the path to online donations:

As fast as it arrived, amazingly Dreamforce 2013 is now in the record books.  San Francisco was taken over by more than 120,000 attendees at the Salesforce.com event, including more than 6,000 non-profit organizations, making Dreamforce one of the largest technology conferences for our sector in the world.

Before the last day of Dreamforce comes to a close, I thought I'd share some of my experience from the event to help those newbies in 2014 prepare for the event.  Also, I'm interested in hearing your feedback too, so please contribute your thoughts in the comments.

At PICnet, we love what we do. Deeply. And the prime numero uno reason for this is that we work with great clients who are rocking the world for social good.
We're happy to share the next in our occasional series of personal little love notes from a PICnetter to one of our clients. Julie Dennis sends this out to the good folks at City Parks Alliance.

Who is City Parks Alliance?

City Parks Alliance (CPA) is the only nationwide membership organization dedicated to urban parks. By uniting hundreds of civic and community leaders, government agencies, and recreation authorities, CPA is able to hold steadfast to its mission of engaging, educating, and nurturing the creation, revitalization, and sustainability of parks and green spaces in cities.

With so many great sessions on-tap for Dreamforce 2013 next month, we were a bit overwhelmed in choosing the sessions our team will be attending.  The Dreamforce agenda tool is fantastic, but we needed something a little more straight-forward to see a high-level overview of all the sessions in one spreadsheet.

So, we're pleased to present our Dreamforce 2013 Non-Profit Sessions spreadsheets.  It includes every non-profit session, listings by speakers (we wanted to make sure to catch our buddies on stage), and a listing of the meet-ups.  Enjoy!