7-3-96
Contacts:
Curt Carlson, University Systems Technology, (515) 296-
2606
Jennifer Henrich, News Service, (515) 294-6881
NEW COMPUTER PROGRAM HELPS FUND-RAISERS
AMES, Iowa -- University Systems Technology (UST) Inc., Ames, born from a collaboration between Iowa State University and the ISU Foundation, is developing new fund-raising software for Windows systems.
The company will release a new, broad-based fund-raising system, called SUMMIT for Windows. This expanded version of UST's previous product will be more versatile and easier to use, said Curt Carlson, UST's chief executive officer.
The program is written to aid fund-raising activities of any size organization. It will have several features, including: "constituents," which provides access to information about individuals and organizations such as names, addresses and education; "contributions," which maintains pledge and gift details about individuals and organizations; "gift clubs," which tracks giving clubs and their members; "prospects," which maintains details about prospective donors; "members," which tracks various membership types; and "events," which manages event, activity, task and attendee information.
"We are bringing the full system into the Windows world and doing it in a format that looks extremely good compared to our competitors," Carlson said. "The system is very comprehensive."
SUMMIT for Windows is continually tested by the ISU Foundation, Iowa State's fundraising organization. The Foundation received their first upgrade July 1, and organizations and schools that have agreed to upgrade their systems can receive the new software after September 15.
UST was started in 1987 -- by James Hopson, executive director of the ISU Alumni Association and Wayne Ostendorf, director of the ISU Administrative Data Processing Center -- to serve the alumni development and fund-raising system market. The company's primary product, Iowa State's fund-raising software system, was transferred to UST for commercialization in 1987.
"We went from the ISU Research Park out into the community," said Carlson. "UST is truly a technology transfer company."
Carlson, who became CEO of UST in December, graduated from ISU in 1985 with a degree in management information systems. He worked at Ford Motor Co., Detroit, before returning to Ames in 1988 to help start UST.
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Diana Pounds, University Relations, dpounds@iastate.edu
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Revised
7/3/96