Release Notes: November 7, 2024

Release Notes: November 7, 2024

What's New

This release introduces key updates, including user interface enhancements and new tools to help you better manage your fundraising efforts. These improvements offer more customization, help you save time, and make the platform more visually appealing and easier to use.

Donations UI Improvements

We’ve reimagined the Donations interface to make entering and managing donations faster, more intuitive, and customizable. These updates are designed to streamline your workflow, giving you more control over how you handle donations while improving the overall usability of the platform. Whether you’re working with individual or bulk donations, the new features make the process smoother and more efficient.

Here's a breakdown of what’s new:

Recent Donations Dashlet

We’ve introduced a new Recent Donations Dashlet that allows you not only to see your recent donations but also to add a donation without navigating away from the dashboard!



Benefits:

  1. Quicker access to donation entry, saving time and reducing steps.
  2. Easy-to-use interface for adding donations directly from the dashboard.
  3. Streamlined workflow, enabling faster data entry.

IdeaTo add this dashlet, go to your Dashboard Settings and look for the Recent Donations option. For detailed instructions on customizing your dashboard, refer to our guide here: How to Configure Your Sumac Dashboard.


New Donation Entry Options

We’ve expanded the ways you can add donations in Sumac, providing more flexibility and efficiency based on your specific needs. Whether you're entering a single donation quickly or managing multiple donations at once, these new options simplify and streamline the process.

Benefits:

  1. Flexible options to suit different donation entry scenarios.
  2. Save time with Quick Donation for minimal entries or use Standard Donation for more detailed records.
  3. Batch and Import options reduce manual data entry, making it easier to handle large volumes of donations.

Here are the new options when adding donations, each tailored to specific use cases:


  1. Quick Donation: Designed for fast, minimal input donation entries, this option opens a donation entry screen that focuses only on mandatory fields. Additional fields can be completed later if necessary.
  2. Standard Donation: Ideal for detailed donation records, allowing full customization of fields at the time of entry.
  3. Batch Donation: Best suited for entering multiple donations at once, enabling shared attributes to be applied across a group, streamlining data entry.
  4. Import Donation: Allows you to import donations from external sources directly into Sumac, providing quick access to the Import area and simplifying bulk data entry.
Idea
These options are available when adding donations from the Donations Area in Sumac or by clicking the Plus icon in the Recent Donations Dashlet.



New Card-Based Donation Records

We’ve introduced a card-based interface for donation records, organizing fields into easily manageable cards. Some fields are now conditional, appearing only when relevant, which reduces clutter and makes the interface more intuitive.



Benefits:
  1. A more organized layout, making donation records easier to manage and navigate
  2. Reduced clutter, with conditional fields displayed only when relevant
  3. A streamlined interface that helps you focus on the most important details

We’ve also replaced text-labelled buttons with icons, creating a simpler and cleaner look.

Additionally, we’ve renamed the field “When Received” to “Donation Date” for added clarity.

Idea
Experience the new card-based UI by opening any existing donation record or adding a new one. The layout will automatically adjust to your preferences.


More Customizations for Donation Records

We’ve enhanced the customization options for donation records, giving you more control over how information is displayed. You can now hide, reorder, or select which fields and cards you want to see within each donation record. This update lets you tailor records to focus on the details that matter most to you.



Benefits:
  1. Greater flexibility to customize which cards and fields are visible, allowing for personalized records.
  2. Increased efficiency by minimising unnecessary information clutter.
  3. A streamlined, top-to-bottom layout that simplifies data entry, eliminating the need to jump around the screen.
Idea
To customise your donation records, click the new gear icon on any donation record.



You can also access this feature by going to Special Editing and selecting Customize.



New Quick Action Buttons

We’ve added new action buttons to donation records, making it easier to manage multiple donations and related activities.

You can now:

  1. Use the Add Another Donation button to start a new blank donation records.
  2. Use the Save and Clone button to save the current donation and duplicate its information into a new record for faster entry of similar donations.


Additionally, you can create new donation batches, campaigns or events without leaving the current screen, further streamlining your workflow.





Streamlined Payment Entry

We’ve simplified payment entry by allowing users to enter credit card details directly within the donation record, eliminating the need to switch between multiple windows. Similarly, fields for cheque payments will only appear when entering check-related donations, reducing unnecessary clutter.



Benefits:

  1. Fewer steps required for entering payment information.
  2. A more intuitive process, with fields appearing only when relevant to the payment method.
  3. Fewer windows and screens to navigate, speeding up data entry.

Batch Donation Entry

We’ve introduced the Batch Donation Entry feature for handling bulk donations more efficiently. This feature allows you to set shared attributes for multiple donations, streamlining the process by pre-filling details and saving time.

Benefits:
  1. Streamlined entry for multiple donations, reducing repetitive data entry.
  2. Pre-filled attributes make it easier to manage large groups of donations.
  3. Faster bulk donation entry with fewer manual steps.
To add a batch of donations, click on the Plus and select Batch from the Recent Donations Dashlet:




Or access it while in the Donations Area:



On the Batch Donation screen, you can set shared attributes for the donations you're entering:



You can also connect these donations to an existing batch or create a new one:



Once ready, you can begin adding donations one by one -

Specifying unique details for each donation before moving to the next.
New Dashlets for Donations Management

We’ve added new dashlets to provide quick insights into key metrics, making it easier to oversee and enhance your fundraising performance. 

These dashlets make it easy to track donor engagement trends, visualizing year-over-year changes, and adjusting strategies based on monthly activity to meet fundraising goals.

With the new dashlets, you gain:

  1. An organized overview of fundraising health, tracking efficiency, retention, and growth
  2. Quick access to key metrics that reveal long-term donor engagement trends and year-over-year changes
  3. Simplified monthly and yearly comparisons to adjust strategies effectively
  4. Highlights of improvement areas to help you reach your goals faster

Fundraising Effectiveness Score Dashlet

This dashlet helps nonprofits monitor fundraising performance in real-time by calculating overall effectiveness. Using key metrics from Sumac’s Campaigns and categorized donations, it provides a high-level view of your fundraising health by analyzing:

  1. Efficiency: Funds raised relative to fundraising expenses
  2. Retention: Percentage of repeat donors compared to total donors
  3. Goal Achievement: Funds raised versus your fundraising goal
  4. Donor Growth: Year-over-year comparison of donor numbers

This consolidated data gives a streamlined snapshot of your organization’s fundraising performance, helping to identify opportunities for optimization.

Idea
Add the Fundraising Score Dashlet by navigating to Dashboard Settings and selecting it. For step-by-step customization, refer to our guide: How to Configure Your Sumac Dashboard.


(Click and drag “Fundraising Score” over from your Available dashlets to an appropriate Dashlet group)

InfoTip: Ensure donation records are categorized correctly, and Campaigns are set up for best results.

New Donations Dashlets from the Fundraising Effectiveness Report

To support visualization of important performance indicators, we’ve also brought insightful charts from the Fundraising Effectiveness Report to your dashboard, including:

Donor YoY Monthly Comparison: Monitor monthly donor activity year-over-year



Dollar Growth YoY Monthly Comparison: Track how your donations grow or decline compared to the same month last year



Donor Year-over-Year (YoY) Change: Track how donor numbers evolve each year



Donation Growth YoY: View the annual growth or decline in donations



IdeaTo add these charts to your dashboard, go to Dashboard Settings, select your preferred dashlets, and start gaining actionable insights. For more on customization, see our guide: How to Configure Your Sumac Dashboard.

User Interface Improvements

We’ve made several updates to Sumac Desktop’s user interface, improving navigation and visual appeal. These changes include updating the background color of records from grey to white across all themes and enhancing the dashboard’s color contrast. Together, these tweaks create a cleaner, brighter design, making it easier to focus on your work.

Benefits:

  1. A cleaner, brighter interface that improves readability and reduces eye strain
  2. Enhanced color contrast for better visibility
  3. A modernized, polished experience that feels fresh and contemporary

Here’s a breakdown of the changes we’ve implemented:

Updated Record Background Color
In the Teal and Purple themes, we’ve changed the record background color from grey to white for a lighter, more contemporary look.

Renamed “Relations” to “Relationships”
In contact records, the tab for “Relations” has been updated to “Relationships” to better reflect its purpose in tracking connections between contacts in your database.

Easier Contact Picture Updates
Changing a contact’s picture is now easier! Simply click on the Picture Avatar area in the Summary Tab to open a window where you can set the contact’s picture.



Automatic Record Loading
When navigating to Donations, Memberships, and Case/Custom areas, your most recently added records will now load automatically, allowing for faster access to the records you’re most likely to need.

Alert
We're eager to hear your thoughts on these new features and enhancements. Your feedback is crucial to us, so please share your experience and suggestions at product@societ.com.

Version Releases: SUMD 4.7.16


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