Paying bills never sounds very sexy, but having money in your bank sure can be! And one thing nonprofits universally need is money in the bank to run programs and provide services, conduct advocacy and education, or a host of other social benefit work.

One financial management tool frequently used by companies and organizations is QuickBooks. If you're not familiar with it QuickBooks helps organizations manage essential financial tasks like paying bills, creating invoices, producing reports, and tracking expenses, contributions, and payments.

QuickBooks Premier 2009 allows the installer to select from a general business version or five industry-specific versions of QuickBooks, including Nonprofit Edition. QuickBooks Premier Editions 2009 is available for an admin fee of only $45.

Need an accounting package for your nonprofit, but don't know what to look for? Read A Few Good Accounting Packages in TechSoup's Learning Center to find outmore about QuickBooks and other solutions.

The generosity of others is a beautiful thing. For nonprofits, it is our lifesblood. If you find that you are challenged with needing to manage large lists of donors, or manage large groups of volunteers, I think that you may want to check out GiftWorks Standard and GiftWorks Volunteers. 

GiftWorks Standard can help you more effectively manage donors and prospects. You can gain greater insight into vital donor and donation information, with customizable reports on trends, revenue, segmentation, and more. The software even includes a feature allowing for the creation of custom mailings targeting your constituents or printed solicitations for attracting donors.

Earlier this week, I blogged about a promotional offer for Sage Fundraising 50 software. Well, get it while it lasts! The deal only lasts until 4 p.m. Pacific tomorrow so if your nonprofit (with a budget between $1 million–$10 million annually) hasn't requested yours yet, you need to shake a leg. Sage Fundraising 50 is software that is built specifically with larger organizations in mind. You cannot currently be using Sage Fundraising 50.

A couple of weeks back, Matt blogged about an upcoming promotion for Sage Fundraising 50 software. Well, the time has come, so get your orders in today.

Available from TechSoup this week only, Sage Fundraising 50 allows larger organizations to manage donors and events, report results, and increase operational efficiency through an assortment of built-in tools. This special offer is only available to qualified organizations with annual budgets of between $1 million and $10 million and who are currently NOT using Sage Fundraising 50.

Fundraising in a down economy is tough business, and Sage understands you need the tools to help you make the most of every opportunity. That's why Sage and TechSoup will be making available a special offer to help eligible organizations maximize their fundraising efforts.

A single-user license of Sage Fundraising 50, a comprehensive fundraising, development, and donor management solution, will be available as a donation at TechSoup April 20-24 thanks to the generosity of Sage. This special offer is only available to qualified organizations with annual budgets of between $1 million and $10 million.

If you'd like to find out more about Sage Fundraising 50, sign up for a free webinar next week at Sage. Space is limited, so sign up today! You can also learn more about the special offer at TechSoup.

Our contact at Intuit just let us know that today only (Monday, December 22), QuickBooks Pro 2009 is free after rebate at Staples. You can purchase the product at your nearest Staples store or online.

This is good news for any organizations that aren't eligible for an Intuit donation or have already received their donation for the year and need another copy of QuickBooks.

As you probably already know, tomorrow is our special GiftWorks promotion. For one day only, nonprofits with budgets of up to $200,000 can request the discounted GiftWorks license (the usual cap is $50,000). What you might not know is that the usual one-request-per-year limitation is also being lifted for the day. For tomorrow only, you can request a second license if you've already requested one this year. That's great news!

Last week, Kami led a very successful webinar on GiftWorks. If you missed it, be sure to check out the recording. And don't forget to come back for the promotion tomorrow. We'll be here bright and early at 8 a.m. Pacific time.

As of this week, donations of Crystal Reports 2008 are now available at TechSoup Stock. If you haven't already upgraded to 2008, today's your lucky day.

Forums host and longtime friend of TechSoup Sasha just let us know about an interesting case study on the Land Trust for Tennessee. According to the case study, Kendra was using FundRaiser Professional donation management software, but wanted more flexibility in reporting. She eventually settled on using Crystal Reports in conjunction with FundRaiser Professional. The result has been more customizable, easy-to-read reports, and better communication throughout the organization. "Some of our board members have picked up on donations made by people they know, and been able to thank them personally," Kendra said.

For more information on fundraising and reporting, check out An Introduction to Grant Reports.

For organizations still looking to make a decision about their accounting software, Microsoft’s latest version of Accounting Pro (available to qualifying organizations on TechSoup Stock) is worth considering.

If your organization offers financial literacy training or small business development programs, TechSoup Stock may be able to provide bulk quantities of donated Quicken products to help. To see if your organization qualifies for this discounted offering, visit TechSoup's Intuit Financial Literacy Training Program page.