PatronManager

Our PatronManager Certified Admin of the Month for September is David Bander, Managing Director at Kirkland Performance Center in Kirkland, Washington. 

We asked David some questions about his journey and current role as a PatronManager Administrator at his organization. Here is what he shared with us:

1. What is your favorite PatronManager feature?

CRM Snapshots, duh (a reporting feature that pulls highly specific segments of patrons in one cohesive list). It makes reporting so much easier!

2. Has becoming a Certified Admin improved your ability to mentor and teach PatronManager to your colleagues?

Absolutely. While I still have to assist the team, I’m helping them with more advanced requests and they’re now able to take on many more tasks themselves. That helps empower them and frees up time for me.

3. What is one of your goals for 2019?

Right now, we are using an Outlook calendar event as the central location for all programming — rental and presented. We are now moving that information to PatronManager, which will link to other records like “Facility Rental Items” and “Ticketable Events,” so that our whole staff has a more complete picture of what’s happening at our organization, tied to the rest of our data. This will also help make the information more accessible, so if I’m at home (or on a beach…) and a staff member has a question, I can easily find the answer and clarify it for them.

4. What have you accomplished since becoming an Admin that you are most proud of? Are there any unique PatronManager customizations that you have created as an Admin that you would like to pass on?

I created a Custom Object (sections within Salesforce that allow you to store and view specific data) that digitized our clunky, error-laden, paper purchase order process. It may be super simple, but it has made our financial process more efficient and easier to track and report on. By moving paperless, our bookkeeper no longer has to track down receipts, invoices, or pursue a trail of approvals, and it has freed up more time for financial analysis and projections, plus a happier staff across the board (you know those financial types 😉).

5. What additional resources have you discovered since becoming Certified that have benefited your organization?

We have developed some great automated custom fields to give the Development department quick auto-calculated data points, making reporting way easier. We created several new roll-up fields called “Amount Donated This Fiscal Year” and “Amount Donated Last Fiscal Year,” which live on all of our account records. Then by using Process Builder (a Salesforce automation tool), we move the same information to individual contacts records, so we can get the information we need regardless of whether we are looking at an account or a contact. The fields take into account the fair market value of our fundraising events, so we have a complete picture of donations made.

6. Which one of your organization’s events are you most excited about this year? (If you had to pick one…)

I’m most excited about a showing of Napolean Dynamite coming up next May, celebrating the 15th anniversary of the film! Immediately following the screening, we’ll be hosting a talkback with Jon Heder (Napoleon, himself!), moderated by yours truly.

7. Which words or phrases do you most overuse or are known for saying?

I tried to make “Who wants pizza!?” my catchphrase, but it turns out that real life doesn’t work like a sitcom, and without a laugh track (or pizza) it didn’t pan out.

8. What is your favorite vacation spot?

I’m currently on a ten-year plan to see all 30 American baseball stadiums with my dad. I love seeing so many new cities and eating a hot dog on a hot day at the ballpark! 

9. Is there anyone from the Client Community, Client Support Team, or Education Team that has helped you and your organization improve during your journey to becoming a Certified Admin? 

Dude, everyone has been awesome. Claire Randall (PatronManager’s Education Manager who passed away in 2016) was a rockstar who first got me interested in becoming an Admin. Ellen Hindson (Education Specialist), Elise Rebmann (Director of Client Engagement), Jill Michaelree (Account Manager), and Christy Warren (Senior Manager of Education) were all amazing in putting on the Seattle Training Day last year. It was such a valuable day — I wish everyone in the region could have attended. After that event, two more people on my staff became interested in becoming Certified Admins!

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