Software Company Criticizes Depiction

To the Editor:

We were very pleased to provide input for your article, “Remote Possibilities” Rather than buy sophisticated software systems, some charities find it pays to lease them via the Internet” (June 14). But we were extremely surprised by the way our Internet-delivered solutions were categorized as “a system to process credit cards using the A.S.P. model.” I felt it important that I correct this very limited representation.

RE:NetSolutions is a suite of Internet-delivered e-solutions that extend a nonprofit’s fund-raising and relationship-building capabilities to the Web.

The suite allows nonprofit organizations to enable and manage online giving, e-mail campaigns, online-event registration, and online directories (something particularly important to those with members or alumni), and online volunteerism and membership are on their way. To date, almost 300 nonprofits have woven one or more of these e-solutions into their overall fund-raising operations.

Given the comparable functionality of Blackbaud’s e-solutions and client base in place (total clients of about 13,000), it would have seemed appropriate to include RE:NetSolutions in the Multi-Purpose Systems section of the chart that accompanied the story or, at the very least, a more representative description in the article. It would also have better represented that the Internet-delivered solutions are offered by both new ventures and very established operations like ours.

Robert J. Sywolski
CEO
Blackbaud
Charleston, S.C.

Editor’s note: Blackbaud’s RE:NetSolutions was not included in the chart accompanying the article because most of the modules in the software suite, such as event registration, e-mail marketing, and volunteer signups, require that charities use the company’s Raiser’s Edge fund-raising software, which is not available as an application service provider.