September 2021 Product Update

Hello.

Yet again, many of you are faced with quickly shifting situations around your Fall events and fundraisers. You are not alone, and we are here to help.

If you have questions about your upcoming fundraisers or just want to prepare for unforeseen obstacles, just reach out, and we'll help you plan for any eventuality.

Please see our newest features below. As always, we love to hear from you, so don't hesitate to drop a note with your thoughts.

Let's go do some good.

BetterUnite Product Team

NEW FEATURES

Event Planner Checklist

Build, manage and track your event checklist of tasks in pre-event, logistics, in-event, and post-event activities, or build your own fully custom categories and checklist. You can also take advantage of default starter kit tasks we provide anytime, with a single click. These default tasks can be auto-added to your event with timelines that match your event, which you can customize anytime. You can categorize, assign owners, due dates, and status to each task. You can also export your tasks anytime.

Auction Item Packages & Bundles

You can now create Auction Item Bundles that include multiple auction items. As you create the bundles, you can merge images and content from bundle items and modify them to make them specific to that bundle.

Event Messaging Updates

We have now released our event messaging plans (those that we were forced to update due to phone carrier changes - we sent you a few emails :). We still offer extremely low-cost messaging options. You can now turn on Basic Event Messaging for your event to enable automated SMS/Text messages, like outbid notifications and welcome messages. You can also turn on Custom Messaging for your account and add Advanced Messaging to your events that require advanced features. These plan updates and pricing align with the latest telephony updates we've sent you, where the networks charges have increased.

Auction Improvements

“Priceless” option for an auction item, where the price is “priceless”
Include QR code URL for the auction item full URL in the export auction items export file
Include the QR code on the print cards export pdf
Ability to bulk-delete auction items
Ability to sort item categories (also applies to event offer categories)
Ability to reset auction item sorting to default sort (i.e., revert to sort by number)
Ability to reset category sorting to default sort (by name)
Include auction item full URL in the export auction items export file
Ability to show auction item provider on the auction item public view instead of the highest bidder.
Ability to show Misc1 or Misc2 info on the auction public view instead of the highest bidder
Ability to rename the titles for Misc Information 1 and Misc Information 2 per auction item (mouse over to enable edit mode). The auction item public view will also reflect these titles if you choose to display them.

Other Noteworthy Enhancements

Many enhancements have been released recently that may not be obvious within the system. So here they are for your review...

Guest Page auto-highlights action areas on the first visit by the guests to help them identify where the different actionable buttons are (e.g., silent auction, giving levels, raffles, etc.)
Ability to add a default banner for automated emails per campaign
Ability to track campaign-specific contact address information
Shift management (volunteer and campaigns with sessions) usability improvements (managing past shifts)
Ability to include custom fields in the contact import template
Ability to turn off Pay by Bank option in checkout
Raffle prize option to allow viewing and no allocation. This is a helpful feature to support the scenario where you may have raffle prizes, but you want to draw without the purchaser allocating their tickets to a particular prize.
Email formatting and verbiage updates for automated emails
And many smaller updates...

During the COVID shutdown, virtual events became a necessary lifeline for organizations relying on proceeds from scheduled events to keep their organizations afloat. Often, the band-aid out-performed the in-person events of the past. Virtual auctions exceeded previous profits by 80% or more.