Use the Compugene Software Online Round Robin to totally manage your Round Robin fundraising without requiring any additional software on your PC or Mac! This new version runs on any PC, Mac or Linux computer or ANY computer that has web-browsing software and has an active connection to the internet.
That's right: ALL the functions necessary to run a successful Round Robin, such as:
- creating your database
- sending notification e-mails
- calculating reciprocation
- producing gift basket scrolls
- and billing
Click here for pricing information
Following is a brief description of the Online Round Robin functions used to successfully conduct your Round Robin, in the order that you would normally perform them (for detailed product help and tutorial information, please click here)
Add Users to Database
To load the required user information (name, e-mail address, etc.) to your online database, create a comma-separated values (.csv) file on your pc in which each record has a minimum of 3 fields and a maximum of 10 fields; the first record should contain the descriptions of the fields, such as "Lastname"; the minimum 3 fields required are: Last name, first name, and e-mail address. Two additional fields you can supply are a 2nd e-mail address and the section number that a user should be part of (only required if you have more than one section). If you plan to print mailing labels and send your invoices by regular mail, then you should also provide the following additional fields: address line 1, address line 2, city, state, zip code. When you click the Add Users to Database button, you will be able to indicate which fields you are supplying and in what order the fields appear in your csv file. For example, lastname can be in any column of your csv file.
Here is a sample of a minimal .csv file containing just user first and last names and e-mail addresses:
Lastname,Firstname,e-mail
Longoria,Eva,eval@gmail.com
Botwin,Judah and Nancy,judah234@showtime.com
Send Notifying E-mails
Once all your names have been added to the database, you can click this button to have notification e-mails sent to all your users which will inform them of their new userids and passwords and how to access the online round robin. The format of the e-mail is totally customizable and is set by your administrator.
Perform Reciprocation
After your round robin selection period is over and all selections are completed, you can click this button to perform the reciprocal calculations. This works as follows: if user A indicated they want reciprocation and user B selected user A but user A did not also select user B, then the Reciprocal function will automatically add user B to user A's selection list.
Clear Reciprocals
If for some reason you need to clear existing reciprocal calculations, you can use this button to accomplish that and you can always re-calculate reciprocals by using the Perform Reciprocation button.
Produce Participant Scrolls
Use this button to produce a .docx file that can be printed, which displays the names of each participating user and the names of the users that selected that user, including those selected by reciprocation. These "scrolls" can be distributed with your gift baskets so recipients can see who chose them in the Round Robin. A participating user is one that made at least one selection. In order to print scrolls using the .docx file as created, you must have Microsoft Word 2003 or greater on your pc. If you don't have MS Word, don't worry: you can save the .docx file and convert it to a PDF file free at website http://www.doc2pdf.net/ and then print the pdf file that will be created for you.
Click here to view an example of a sample scroll.
Produce Non-Participant Scrolls
Use this button to produce a .docx file to print scrolls for non-participating users. Non-participating users are users in your database who did not make any selections themselves but have been selected by others in your organization.
Produce Statements
Use this button to produce a .docx file to print statements for all participating users so that you can bill them by mail for their Round Robin charges after the Round Robin has completed.
Produce Labels
If you are going to send printed statements to your users, you will need address labels. You can use this button to create a .csv file that can be used to create labels using the Mail Merge function of Microsoft Word or any other software that performs Mail Merge. (Of course, for this function to be successful, you must have loaded the users addresses into your database when you created the database.) When the box appears after clicking this button, click Save File and save the file in a folder on your PC. Note where you are saving the file, as you will be referring to it shortly.
When ready to do the Mail Merge, click here for information on how to do Mail Merge with Microsoft Word.
Receiving Payments
There are 3 ways that you can receive payments for Round Robin charges:
1- After your Round Robin selection period ends, you can compute reciprocation and produce your statements and bill participants by sending them paper or e-mailed statements; they can then pay you by check or credit card (if you accept credit cards.)
2- If you have an existing web page to accept credit/debit cards for other types of charges, you can have the Online Round Robin web site link your users to your existing payment web site where they can pay their Round Robin charges.
3- You can use our Compugene Software debit/credit card interface to direct your users to a web site where they can pay for their Round Robin charges using the Compugene Software merchant account. Additional fees may be incurred with this technique, so please check with us for further details.
Note: Remember that if you enable reciprocity and you charge for reciprocal selections, final charges will not be determined until the Round Robin has completed (all user selections have been made) and you have computed your reciprocal charges using the Reciprocal function.
You can:
1) allow users to pay online for their charges prior to reciprocation, close the site for selection and payment and then perform reciprocation and then bill users for any additional reciprocal charges that they may incur, or you can
2) close the Round Robin for accepting selections, perform the reciprocation calculations and keep the site open to accept payments but no additional selections; users can link to the site to pay their total or remaining charges.