The development office at a New England organization was in turmoil. Their one knowledgeable Raiser's Edge user had unexpectedly left the institution. The organization found itself unable to conduct the daily business of the development office. NMS consultants were able to assist the organization by processing the backlog of gifts and acknowledgement letters, generating reports for the development office and, in general, keeping the operation afloat until new staff could be hired. After the new staff was on board, NMS trained a broader range of users on the use of the system so that the organization was less dependent on the skills of one single member of the development team.

A major arts provider needed to create an interface between its ticketing operation and the Raiser's Edge. NMS provided direction and expertise on the steps needed to accomplish this task. From the mapping of fields to the impact of imported data on the development office, NMS was able to create and document a successful process for the client. NMS led the organization from the initial idea stage through the successful creation, testing and ultimate roll-out of the interface.

A long-standing organization was about to embark on a large capital campaign that would encompass more than 50 million dollars in the less than five years. The organization was uncertain about its ability to track the campaign progress both for the needs of the development office and for the needs of the finance office. In addition, it was concerned with tracking its annual fund and capital campaign simultaneously. NMS was able to work with the data staff as well as the development managers to capture the information they needed to report consistently and effectively throughout the life of the campaign.

An institution with a long history of giving had been unable to reconcile its giving records with the business office. This had led to significant conflict between the business and development offices. With a combination of restructuring campaigns, funds and appeals; meeting with business officers and development professionals, and establishing practices for responsible and efficient recording of gifts, NMS was able to provide the organization with ways to record and reconcile all giving, thus giving the institution a common understanding of the funds raised in the development office.

NMS clients spend countless hours acknowledging gifts. Sometimes the actual acknowledgement device is so time-consuming to produce that it takes an inordinate amount of resources from the institution. NMS has taught many institutions to improve their acknowledgement process by making it more efficient and effective. NMS strives to take into account the specific needs of each institution and the preferences of the CEO and/ or development director while designing a system which is easier to maintain and gets effective gift acknowledgments into the hands of donors in timely fashion.

Development offices traditionally have considerable staff turnover. Long-term clients work with NMS each year to train their new staff and to polish the skills of their current staff members. Training sessions are needed in order to introduce new staff to the Raiser's Edge software and to the data and processes specific to the institution. Training for the staff also allows for the current staff to share information with new members and gives the entire staff a forum to reevaluate current database practices and set goals for improved use of the database.

One of NMS’s clients, a large community agency serving thousands of at-risk individuals, possessed a database crippled by inconsistent data entry, unregulated importing of unqualified prospects, and a huge turnover in staff. After a review of their data and practices, NMS was able to assist the organization with transforming a database of over 500,000 unusable records to a working database of 150,000 donors and supporters.