August 2009

FINANCIAL HEALTH GROWS MINISTRIES, FOSTERS GIVING

We all know that giving is an integral part of our Christianity, that everything we have comes first from God, and that we have a moral obligation to share with those in need. When we encounter those around us who are generous with their time, talent and treasure, we recognize them as persons who put their Christianity into action.

Giving, however, doesn’t always come easily. It’s one thing to take blankets and clothes to the neighbor whose house just burned down, but it’s quite another to give money when we’ve lost a job or are concerned that our church may not handle the funds wisely. Habits can also work against giving—missing Mass, forgetting church envelopes, believing the parish has enough donations without ours. Sometimes we’ve simply become accustomed to a lifestyle that requires all of our income to support. Parish leadership is the key to removing all these obstacles that get in the way of generous giving. When our churches demonstrate a strong, healthy financial position, parishioners are encouraged to “step up to the plate” and give more. Ministries—better funded and vibrant—can reach across the aisle and provide tangible service that members are able to touch and feel. A culture of service is created and becomes the norm rather than the exception for church families.

Your ParishSOFT products provide many ways to tighten the belt while growing your ministries and increasing giving all the way around. Here are the top 10 tips to keep churches using technology and administrative resources wisely. Continued...

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

“The LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone….’ ” Genesis 2:18

It’s all about people, isn’t it? We were created, from the beginning, to be social beings.

Here at ParishSOFT, we’re focused on this more than ever, even to the point of changing our logo to “Connecting People and the Church.” Connecting means more than just “establishing in relationship.” To us, connecting encompasses concepts like communicating, collaborating and engaging. We focus on helping you to connect better with the communities you serve.

For the past 10 years, ParishSOFT software has made it easy to communicate via postal mail, email and website to families, individuals, parents, volunteers and groups. Over the past year, we’ve added Parish IQ to quickly find people based on just about any criteria and to organize the list into a dynamic, constantly updated workgroup. We’ve added NotifyNow instant communication (phone & texting). We’ve also given you the ability to do high-quality e-newsletters and other communications by integrating our software with Constant Contact®.

We’ve recently introduced My Own Church to make it easy for your members to look up and update their own information. Soon we’ll be adding My Own Church – Mobile Edition for iPhone, Blackberry®, or other smart phone. My Own Church – Mobile will lead to more personalized ministry. Imagine preparing for a home visit and being able to use your phone to look up a photo, family member names, some personal information and notes from prior visits.

How is this all possible? Grace! This comes in the form of terrific customers, fabulous ParishSOFT staff, and the good sense to listen and learn from each other. Add to that our new Agile software development process, which helps us take all the input we receive and turn it into high quality products delivered at a rapid, predictable rate, and the result is great new products as well as continuous improvement of our existing ones. As always, we count it a blessing to serve you and welcome your feedback.

Bill Pressprich
President & CEO
_________________________________________________

• Select from dozens of workshops, including many led by our
  users with “real life” experience.
• Gain proficiency in using your software.
• Network with peers from around the United States and other countries.

Registration Fee includes keynotes, workshop sessions and materials,
welcome reception, four meals, and the Henry Ford Museum event.

Register by September 15, 2009 to receive the early bird discount.

NEW PRODUCTS

Address Quality Module

10% of Americans move each year. How do you keep your addresses current?

Save on mailing costs! Address Quality keeps your addresses clean, up-to-date, and compliant with the new U.S. Postal Service “Move Update” regulations—quickly and easily—right from the software you already use!

Address Quality checks your name and address records against the USPS database and notifies you of any name and address differences. You review the changes and either accept or—since your records are sometimes more up-to-date than USPS’s—decline them. Changes you “accept” are automatically entered into your ParishSOFT database, saving you the time and effort to correct them one at a time. Address Quality tells you who has moved in the last four years, so you can make any adjustments in your list of active families and keep a more accurate census.

ConnectNow Ledger & Payables

The first in ParishSOFT’s suite of ConnectNow Church Accounting modules, Ledger & Payables is a simple, powerful accounting system designed to help churches and schools boost productivity, streamline management and meet financial accounting standards. With built-in nonprofit cost accounting for each ministry or event and secure Web access, Ledger & Payables accommodates customized chart of accounts and financial statements, transaction-level drill down, and easy reporting for organizations of all sizes. And because it’s fully integrated with our Offering & Pledges module, you’ll never have to enter data more than once.

ConnectNow My Own Church

My Own Church lets parishioners and staff access family and member information from a computer, smart phone, or any device with an Internet connection. Parishioners can register online and submit paperless updates to their family and member information. Staff can accept or deny those updates, so they maintain full control over the integrity of their data. Because My Own Church is fully integrated with the Family Directory desktop software, staff can manage family and member records for multiple organizations from any location. My Own Church lets parishioners and church administrators work together to keep census information accurate and reliable.

ConnectNow Online Giving

Ideal for parishioners who use the Web to manage their personal business. Online Giving lets members manage their church contributions and giving schedules using the Internet. Members can set up one-time or regular scheduled electronic offertory or pledge contributions using one or more bank or credit card accounts. Automatic deposits go directly into the designated church account—no checks or paper forms are required. Online Giving is brought to you by ParishSOFT and our valued partner, Our Sunday Visitor.

Other ConnectNow modules in development include Payroll, Billing and Accounts Receivable, Ministry Scheduler, Family Directory and more; and each of these Web applications will work with your desktop software, so you can mix and match. Visit www.parishsoft.com/connectnow for more information.
_________________________________________________

In keeping with our mission to listen to our customers, we’ve begun a series of site visits to parishes using our software. These visits help us provide better products. We also learn about your challenges and connect you with solutions from thousands of other parishes.

We were a little surprised to hear from so many of you how frequently staff turnover disrupts the rhythm of your parish offices. Many of our other parishes have tackled this very issue, and we hope their solutions will help make life at your parish office a little easier.

Document what you do.

Rather than being the only person in the office who knows how to do things, take time to write and update Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s). Parishes in the Archdiocese of Atlanta use SOP’s to set data management guidelines and provide documentation that keeps records consistent and reliable within the parish and across the diocese. SOP’s are a great resource for other staff members—who may need to fill in for you—and the next person hired to do your job.

Keep records you (and others) can trust.

Sound data management practices, used consistently by everybody, deliver accurate information that helps each staff member do his or her job. With good records, staff will make better-informed decisions, budgets and ministry programs. Your church will keep connected with more families and members. And your reports and mailings will not only be correct, they’ll look professional. SOP’s and users’ groups can help you keep better records and reach consensus on what your data standards should be.

Take advantage of ParishSOFT’s training tools and knowledge base.

ParishSOFT offers online self-help tools (videos, FAQ’s, user guides, forums) and hands-on teletraining courses for all levels of users. So whether you’re a new staff member or an experienced user who could use a refresher, we have a class to help you get your job done more efficiently. Update your SOP’s with any new processes that you implement after your training.

Find strength in community.

You’re not alone! As a ParishSOFT user, help is always just a click or call away. And as Catholics with a call to holiness shared by millions, there isn’t any problem we can’t solve by working together.