Monday, January 26, 2009
Enhancement Requests
During our training you had some great suggestions for feature enhancements. I have recently submitted these to our programming team to be included on the CTK Roadmap.
Report Builder
1. More visible break between records in vertical layout
2. When jumping between sections leave the section name populated
Append Only
1. Add "CST" to the timestamp
Record Level Access
1. Ability to create access filters based on fields from secondary level forms
Access Control
1. Ability to choose multiple users/groups to assign access
2. Have the ability to report on access rights
3. Ability to type in user/group name or have drag and drop feature
4. Disable "Delete" as being auto-checked
5. Rename "Report Builder Access" to "Report Center Full Access"
Users & Groups
1. Allow users to be part of more than one group
If you have any other enhancement suggestions we would love to hear them. Take the time to place a post here for our team.
Thank you,
Jenny
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Uncharitable: How Restraints on Nonprofits Undermine Their Potential
Hi everyone!
To kick things off, I'm posting the transcript of a radio  interview I heard on NPR with Dan Pollatta, author of   "Uncharitable: How  Restraints on Nonprofits Undermine Their Potential."  The crux of his argument is that the  US blames capitalism for the inequities in society, and then refuses to let  charities use the tools of capitalism to rectify  them. Please comment, I'm interested in your thoughts.
-Jenny Thomas
TEXT  OF COMMENTARY
Kai  Ryssdal: The bottom  line's a dangerous place this year. Lots of scary numbers down there. But  nonprofits that depend on charity are hoping that despite the tight times people  and companies are still going to share a little with the most needy. Because as  good as it feels to get, it can feel even better to  give.
As we wrap up our  look at philanthropy this week, a moment now for the groups on the receiving end  of your donations. People have been saying for years that nonprofits ought to  act more like regular businesses. The ones that do make a  profit.
Commentator Dan  Pallotta couldn't agree more. 
Dan  Pallotta: We let business  pay people based on value. But we don't want people making money in charity.  Want to make a million as a CEO selling violent video games to kids? Go for it.  Want to make a million curing kids of cancer? You're a parasite. So our top  business school grads gravitate to the for-profit  sector.
We let business  advertise until the last dollar no longer produces a penny of value, but we  don't want charitable donations spent on advertising. So charities can't build  demand for causes. Budweiser's all over the Super Bowl. AIDS and 
 
We let business  make mistakes, but expect charity to spend contributions cautiously. It's OK if  a $100 million Disney movie flops, but if a $5 million charity walk doesn't show  a 75 percent profit year one? Call the attorney general. So charities can't  develop learning curves for revenue generation.
Amazon could  forego investor returns for six years to build market dominance. But if a  charity embarks on a long-term plan with no return for the needy for six years  -- we expect a crucifixion. Business can offer profits to attract investment  capital. But there's no stock market for charity. So the for-profit sector  monopolizes the multi-trillion-dollar capital markets. No competitive  compensation, no advertising, no risk-taking, no long-term vision and no capital  markets. A perfect storm of prohibition that puts the nonprofit sector at  extreme disadvantage to the for-profit sector. We blame capitalism for the  inequities in society, and then refuse to let charity use the tools of  capitalism to rectify them.
Maybe capitalism  isn't the problem. Maybe the lack of it is. It's been banished from charity by a  Puritan ethic of deprivation that considers it contaminating. Maybe an ethic  that stands in the way of progress is an ethic whose time is  done.
 
Ryssdal: Dan Pallotta is  the author of "Uncharitable: How Restraints on Nonprofits Undermine Their  Potential."
 
