“Donors engage in an organization because they believe in its mission, have been personally touched by it, or both” said Burton. “At the same time, donors are constantly being courted by other compelling causes. My and John’s session will help health care development professionals ensure they’re doing all they can to keep their new donors from becoming one-hit wonders, and their repeat donors from fading to black. The best practices and tips we share could help attendees transform current donors into loyal fans.”

Scheduled for Tuesday, June 3 at 11:15 a.m., and titled, “The Art of Donor Loyalty,” Burton and Stroup’s AHP Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference session will help health care development professionals understand the critical nature of branding; engage donors beyond the capital campaign; recognize the shocking reality of “thank you;” understand the importance of social media; and know 11 tips for donor loyalty.

In addition to serving as executive director of development for Clarion Hospital Foundation, Stroup has served as mayor of Clarion Borough, a Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry Community of the Year, since January 2006. At Clarion Hospital Foundation, he is responsible for all of the Foundation’s fundraising activities, including special events, annual appeals, planned giving, grant preparation, appropriation requests, and capital campaigns. Prior to joining the organization, Stroup served as sales manager for Sorce Incorporated; contracts representative for Westinghouse Electric Corporation; and advanced cost analyst for HRB Singer, Incorporated. He is a member of the Clarion Chamber of Business and Industry, and the Clarion Rotary Club, and serves as vice chairman for the Clarion Development Corporation’s board of directors. In addition, he previously served as vice chairman for Clarion Hospital Foundation’s board of directors; on the Clarion Health System board of directors; and as a religious education teacher at Immaculate Conception Church. Stroup holds a B.S. in Accounting from Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania, and a M.B.A. from Clarion University, also in Pennsylvania.

Prior to joining Sage Software in 2006, Burton was development manager for Maine-based Portland West, a 40-year-old social service agency. In that role, she helped launch an extremely successful development and fundraising department. Burton also worked as a load executive for the United Way of Greater Portland in 2001. She is a member of the greater Austin Chapter of AFP (Association of Fundraising Professionals), Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP), and is the president-elect of a newly merged nonprofit consisting of Reading is Fundamental Austin and Capital Area Reach Out in Read in Austin, Texas. She regularly speaks on fundraising topics at industry events, as well as writes about fundraising topics for trade publications, such as FundRaising Success, The NonProfit Times, and The Promise. Most recently, Burton presented a session on funding diversification at Community Action Partnership’s (CAP) Annual Convention in August 2007

For more than 25 years, Sage Software has been helping nonprofit organizations further their missions and better serve constituents through the use of technology, by offering Sage MIP Fund Accounting and a range of Sage Fundraising product choices, including Sage Fundraising 50, Sage Fundraising 100, Sage Fundraising 100-Rainbow Edition, Millennium, and Sage Endowment Management, so that nonprofit organizations of all sizes can select solutions best fitting their budget and program needs.

For more details about the 2008 AHP Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference, please visit http://www.ahp.org/regions/mid-atlantic/conference/specifics.php. For more information about Sage Software’s Nonprofit Solutions, please visit http://www.sagenonprofit.com or call 800–647–3863.

About Sage Software
Sage Software supports the needs, challenges and dreams of nearly 2.9 million small and medium-sized business customers in North America through easy-to-use, scalable and customizable software and services. Our products support accounting, operations, customer relationship management, human resources, time tracking, merchant services and the specialized needs of the construction, distribution, healthcare, manufacturing, nonprofit and real estate industries. Sage Software is the North America business of The Sage Group plc, a leading global supplier of business management software and services to small and medium-sized businesses. Formed in 1981, Sage was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1989. Sage Group now has 5.7 million customers and employs over 14,800 people worldwide.
www.sagesoftware.com