Helping Nonprofts Select Calendar Software

Exerpted from a popular Reel Logix article written earlier:
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Many nonprofit organizations rely on The Calendar Planner to manage all of their scheduling needs. Since so many nonprofits rely on volunteers to help them achieve their mission, here are some of the questions we encourage nonprofits to answer as they decide on which scheduling software to aquire:

1. Is there a skill gap and lack of time to learn to use new calendar software.
2. What kind of support is available for nonprofit volunteers or staff?
3. How easy will the product be to install and get up and running?
4. Many of the volunteers may have had limited exposure to scheduling software or event planning software , what tools are available to help them learn?
5. Is support available by email, by phone, by IM or by fax?
6. Are there on-line tutorials available for to do self-paced learning?
7. Will staff or volunteers be able to experience the features of the software before purchasing through a product tour or a limited time trial?
8. Who specifically will use the software and what is the skill level of users?
9. Is there a cost for training? How will that impact the budget approved by the board?
10. Will new IT staff be needed to support the program?

The Calendar Planner is a Smart Buy for Nonprofits in a Tough Economy

(Press Release) – Nov 13, 2008 – Effective immediately, Reel Logix Inc is offering nonprofit clients a 20% discount off The Calendar Planner scheduling software. With roughly a quarter of their sales coming from those looking for nonprofit software, the company felt that this was an appropriate discount to show their gratitude to clients in tough economic times.

"The Calendar Planner scheduling software continues to be extremely well received by churches, schools and government agencies, needing help scheduling events, resources, people and projects," says Reel Logix Inc CEO, Randy McGowan. "The fact that The Calendar Planner scheduling software can stand alone or complement larger more complex systems already in place, is seen as a really significant advantage for larger nonprofits."

One such satisfied nonprofit user of The Calendar Planner calendar software across multiple departments is Green Acres Baptist Church in Texas. When Debbie Fisher, Church Planner, was looking for a way to manage an ever growing list of offerings including worship services, special events like weddings and rehearsals or classes, she discovered The Calendar Planner scheduling software to help her keep things on track.

In any given week Fisher coordinates more than 50 recurring events. In addition, monthly or less frequent and irregularly scheduled events like missions, leisure trips or concerts add extra scheduling challenges. "We've been using The Calendar Planner for our yearly planning calendar where I take all our ministry events and compile them into one planning calendar. We had been looking for a program to switch to and TCP fits the bill just right," says Fisher.

Another nonprofit client is Scripps Health in San Diego. "I am enjoying working with The Calendar Planner. It took me quite a while to find something as flexible and cost effective. It is much faster and more flexible; easier to update and make changes to or add/delete events," says Kevin Marty.

Create Online Calendars with No Recurring Fees

(Press Release) – Nov 14, 2008 – Version 5.3 of The Calendar Planner scheduling software now offers an affordable alternative to publish online web calendars for schools, churches and other nonprofits that want to share event and scheduling information with the public. This latest free scheduling software update from Reel Logix Inc allows an online calendar to be published in three easy steps from any web site. The best part? There are no recurring fees and with the 20-25% nonprofit discount, customers are enjoying this new capability for under $100.

Unlike traditional online calendar software, The Calendar Planner scheduling software program is installed locally on the user's machine. Calendars are created offline and then published as an online web calendar from any web site.

This avoids two of the biggest drawbacks to existing online calendar software. First, since it is software installed locally, users get all the capabilities they expect in full featured, desktop application calendar software program that online calendar systems simply cannot provide. Secondly, users can customize and publish as many online calendars as needed without incurring monthly fees. "We had many customers needing powerful calendar scheduling features not found in online calendars, but who wanted to publish web calendars. Many of our nonprofit customers did not want, or simply couldn't afford to pay the high cost of some online calendar systems. With a non profit discount and multiple unit savings a team of four would make a single purchase of about $350 compared to as much as $4,000 over the course of a single year for some tools on the market." says Philip Robinson, CTO at Reel Logix, Inc.

The Calendar Planner web calendar option allows users to add links to web sites or files including images and documents; add detailed notes that can be opened from the web and can be customized with images and colors to help brand a company.

The Calendar Planner also provides a wealth of time saving features for quickly creating schedules and adjusting to changes. Features like Recurring Events, Day-Off Management, Show/Hide, Push/Pull, Schedule Rollup, Unlimited Undos, Smart Scheduling, Event Auto-size and more, saves you time and makes you more productive. Says Estel, the event planner at Smoky Hill Vineyard Church in Colorado, "I no longer have to look into 15 calendars to see what is going on in the building."

Some sample calendars generated by The Calendar Planner:
- Yarnell Community Church
- Forrester High School
- New Mexico Potters and Clay Artists