on the shore At Bahia Mar Yachting Center, visitors will enter the in-water displays through the new Performance Village, featuring hot performance boats, such as Cigarette. Another new themed section, Sportfish Village, displays the latest boats and equipment for fishermen, including one-of-a-kind designs from custom builders. Once again the vessels docked near the Superyacht Builders Association Pavilion promise to dwarf and amaze everyone in their shadows. The Yacht Builders Tent houses displays from around the world, including Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Australia, British Columbia, Cayman Islands, United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Inside Broward County Convention Center younger visitors will get special treatment at the new KidZone, featuring youth fishing clinics from Capt. Don Dingman, founder of the nonprofit Hook the Future. The indoor space displays smaller boats and trailers, safety equipment, fishing gear and marine accessories. It also hosts marine seminars in wide-ranging topics, presented by the International Game Fish Association’s School of Sportfishing and The Blue Wild. The smartphone app introduced last year, MyBoatShow, not only helps users find their way
around all the docks, showrooms, tents and barges – including a new floating cocktail barge near the Hall of Fame Marina – but it also allows them to post their favorite yachts to Facebook and to search for boats by name. Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, Oct. 25-29, www.showmanagement.com. One- and two-day tickets are available via the website (at discounted rates) or at the gate on show days.
Hargrave 125 raised pilothouse motor yacht, designed by Fort Lauderdale’s J.B. Hargrave Yacht Design.
Donor upgrade
DonorCommunity provides all-in-one fundraising software for nonprofits The past five years have been challenging for the nation’s charitable organizations. Many struggled as both personal donations and corporate sponsorships dropped due to the challenging economic conditions. But it looks as though the tide has turned. According to a recent study of U.S. nonprofit organizations by the Nonprofit Research Collaborative, charitable receipts rose in 2011 at more than half the organizations surveyed. This was the first time since 2007 that more than half of the charities surveyed saw an increase in their receipts. That comes as good news to David Blyer. Blyer specializes in helping nonprofits raise funds more efficiently. He’s the founder and CEO of DonorCommunity, a cloud computing software firm based in Sunrise that enables nonprofit organizations to cultivate donors, increase their fundraising efficiency and broaden awareness of their mission and goals online. “This is a very cool application,” says Blyer, who launched the company David Blyer in 2009. “I built a truly integrated solution that encompasses a website and integrates all of the fundraising applications within that website.” Blyer targets small- and medium-sized nonprofits, which lack the budgets and personnel of larger charities. His application helps clients streamline tasks such as email marketing, online donations, event management, social networking and website management. “DonorCommunity is helping 2-1-1 Broward better engage our current supporters, develop relationships with new donors and better manage all of our fundraising efforts,” says Lynne Wines, president and CEO of First Southern Bank and Chair of 2-1-1 Broward. “Its integrated platform, which is so easy to use, has enabled us to dramatically expand the reach of our ongoing initiatives and is making all of our outreach much more personal, efficient and productive.” Blyer charges $7,200 per year for use of the DonorCommunity software, which includes free support and training, unlimited users and unlimited record size. “I want people to embrace my software,” he says. “I want them to make money off of it, and I want them to become efficient. That’s what we can provide through our software.” —Robyn A. Friedman For more information about DonorCommunity, call 954-607-7361 or visit www.donorcommunity.com.
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