# US 2008/0307338 A1 · Interface representing cookbook for facilitating charitable giving to charity

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- Number: US 2008/0307338 A1
- Document ID: US20080307338A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 11/808,373
- Filed: 2007-06-08
- Published: 2008-12-11
- Earliest claimed: 2007-06-08
- Inventors: Edward A. Maurer
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20080307338A1

## CPC

- G06Q 90/00: Systems or methods specially adapted for administrative, commercial, financial, managerial or supervisory purposes, not involving significant data processing
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR

## Abstract

A method (e.g., provided in the form of a machine-readable medium on which are recorded machine-executable instructions for performing the method, execution of which by a machine provides an interface representing a cookbook for facilitating charitable giving to a charity) includes: providing at least one of first, second and third recipes for accomplishing (1) a first mission of making at least one of a postal-based, an email-based and a telephone-based appeal for donations, respectively, (2) a second mission of dealing with donations received, and (3) a third mission of acknowledging receipt of donations, respectively, each recipe including names of tasks, performance of which cumulatively accomplishes the corresponding mission, and a given recipe being provided without also providing application software by which to carry out the respective tasks; and automatically generating an interface by which an agent of the charity can at least view the respective recipes.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A machine-readable medium comprising machine-executable instructions for performing a method, execution of which by a machine provides an interface representing a cookbook for facilitating charitable giving to a charity, the method including:
providing at least one of first, second and third recipes for accomplishing (1) a first mission of making at least one of a postal-based, an email-based and a telephone-based appeal for donations, respectively, (2) a second mission of dealing with donations received, and (3) a third mission of acknowledging receipt of donations, respectively,
each recipe including names of tasks, performance of which cumulatively accomplishes the corresponding mission, and
a given recipe being provided without also providing application software by which to carry out the respective tasks; and
automatically generating an interface by which an agent of the charity can at least view the respective recipes.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the machine-executed method further includes, for at least a given one of the recipes, at least the following:
treating the given recipe as a set and at least the task-names in the given recipe as members of the set;
arranging the members of the given recipe into a sequence for which each member has an index value;
automatically initializing a value of a variable, i;
automatically selecting a member having an index value equal to i, TASK(i), from the sequence;
automatically prompting, via the interface, for TASK(i) to be executed;
awaiting receipt of data indicative of completion of TASK(i);
automatically incrementing, upon receipt of the completion-indicative information, the index such that i=i+1; and
automatically looping back to the step of automatically selecting.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The machine-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the awaiting step includes:
receiving the completion-indicative data from at least one of the following,
the charity, and
a service provider with whom the charity has an arrangement to service TASK(i).

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

The machine-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the machine-executed method further includes:
providing at least the following candidate arrangements of the sequence,
a first arrangement that orders the tasks as a single path of serial execution, with tasks that otherwise could be performed in parallel being ordered according to a degree of difficulty,
a second arrangement that represents a hybrid serial/parallel organization, where at least some of the sequence is a single path of serial execution and at least some of the sequence is represented by parallel paths of serial execution, with tasks that otherwise could be performed in parallel being ordered according to a degree of difficulty;
automatically prompting, via the interface, for a selection to be made from among the candidate arrangements; and
receiving data indicative of the selection;
wherein the step of arranging is based upon the selected candidate arrangement.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The machine-readable medium of claim 4, wherein the machine-executed method further includes:
ordering, for the second arrangement, tasks that otherwise could be performed in parallel according to a degree of difficulty.

### Claim 6 (depends on 2)

The machine-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the machine-executed method further includes:
automatically tracking an amount of time that elapses during the step of awaiting receipt of the data indicative of completion of TASK(i);
automatically comparing the elapsed time against a reference value; and
automatically generating a warning when the elapsed time exceeds the reference value.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The machine-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the machine-executed method further includes:
providing a plurality of reference values;
automatically prompting, via the interface, for a selection to be made from the plurality of reference values; and
receiving data indicative of the selection;
wherein the step of automatically comparing is based upon the selection.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein:
the interface is a interactive graphical user interface (GUI) of the type driven by pointing-device-events.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the machine-executed method further includes:
providing a help database, with regard to at least some of the task-names, with information explaining, for a given task-name, at least one of what the corresponding task is and a suggestion as to how the corresponding task can be performed.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The machine-readable medium of claim 9, wherein:
the help database includes contact information for one or more service provider candidates appropriate to the corresponding task.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The machine-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the step of providing a help database includes:
automatically prompting, via the interface, for a selection between prospective help information that is charity-location-centric or not;
receiving data indicative of the selection; and
populating, according to the selection, the help database with service provider candidate information that is at least one of the following,
selected without regard to a geographical location of the charity, and
selected according to the geographical location of the charity.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein, for the given task-name, the step of populating with geographical-location-selected candidate information includes:
automatically prompting, via the interface, for a geographical location to be designated;
receiving data indicative of a geographical location; and
automatically accessing information resources to identify relevant service providers within a reference distance from the geographical location;
automatically selecting candidates from among the relevant service providers; and
automatically retrieving information about the candidates; and
automatically populating the help database with the retrieved information.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The machine-readable medium of claim 12, wherein, for the given task-name, when geographical-location-selected candidate information is used, the step of populating includes:
automatically prompting, via the interface, for the reference distance to be designated; and
receiving data indicative of the reference distance;
wherein the step of automatically accessing information resources establishes the reference distance according to the received data indicative thereof.

### Claim 14 (depends on 11)

The machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein, for the given task-name, the step of automatically selecting candidates from among the relevant service providers includes:
at least one of filtering, sorting and prioritizing the relevant service providers according to one or more criteria.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The machine-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the one or more criteria include whether a given service provider has status as least one of the following:
a minority-owned business;
a charity;
a non-profit entity;
a not-for-profit entity; and
a faith-based organization.

### Claim 16 (depends on 14)

The machine-readable medium of claim 14, wherein there are at least two candidate criteria and wherein, for the given task-name, the step of automatically selecting candidates from among the relevant service providers further includes:
automatically providing, via the interface, the at least two candidate criteria;
automatically prompting, via the interface, for one of the candidate criteria to be selected;
receiving first data indicative of the selected criterion;
automatically prompting, via the interface, for an indication of whether the selected criterion is to be used to filter, sort or prioritize; and
receiving second data indicative that the selected criterion is to be used to filter, sort or prioritize;
wherein the respective filtering, sorting and prioritizing is based upon the first and second data.

### Claim 17 (depends on 1)

The machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein tasks corresponding to task-names of the first recipe include:
defining as a first ingredient a charitable donation, in terms of characteristics thereof, that is being solicited; and
defining as a second ingredient a target group, in terms of characteristics thereof, to whom the solicitation is to be made.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the tasks corresponding to task-names of the first recipe further include:
drafting a written statement, for which the intended reader is a member of the target group, describing that which is to be solicited; and
populating the target group with members.

### Claim 19 (depends on 18)

The machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the tasks corresponding to task-names of the first recipe further include:
making a list of new members of the target group; and
vetting the list via an external resource.

### Claim 20

A machine-readable medium comprising machine-executable instructions for performing a method, execution of which by a machine facilitates charitable giving to a charity, the method including:
providing a donor database;
receiving a first data file including data indicative of charitable payments received on behalf of the charity, the amounts thereof, and identifications of the payors thereof, respectively;
automatically updating the donor database according to the first data file; and
automatically generating, based upon the updated donor database, a second data file representing at least a list regarding donors to whom a gift acknowledgement should be communicated.

### Claim 21 (depends on 20)

The machine-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the step of automatically generating the list includes:
automatically sorting the list according to according to one or more criteria.

### Claim 22 (depends on 21)

The machine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the one or more criteria include at least one of the following:
the amount of the payment;
the date the payment was received, wherein the first data file also includes dates that the payments were received, respectively;
a classification of the donor;
a status in which a special-attention flag is true for the donor;
a status in which an expiation flag is true for the donor; and
a value of an expiation parameter associated with the donor.

### Claim 23 (depends on 22)

The machine-readable medium of claim 22, wherein there are at least two candidate criteria and wherein the step of automatically sorting further includes:
automatically providing, via the interface, the at least two candidate criteria;
automatically prompting, via the interface, for at least one of the candidate criteria to be selected;
receiving third data indicative of the at least one selected criterion; and
automatically sorting the list according to the third data.

### Claim 24 (depends on 23)

The machine-readable medium of claim 23, wherein the step of automatically sorting further includes:
determining if the third data includes two or more selected criteria; and
doing, if so, at least the following,
automatically prompting, via the interface, for a ranking of the two or more selected criteria,
receiving fourth data indicative of the ranking, and
the step of automatically sorting doing so according to the third and fourth data.

### Claim 25 (depends on 20)

The machine-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the step of automatically generating the gift acknowledgement list includes:
automatically querying the database for gift acknowledgements that are overdue; and
appending, based upon the results of the step of automatically querying, the second data file to expand the list to further include any donors for which a gift acknowledgement is overdue.

### Claim 26 (depends on 20)

The machine-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the machine-executed method further includes:
automatically querying the database for matches between the identifications of the payors in the first data file and identifications of donors in the database; and
automatically generating a third data file representing at least a list of new donors not previously present in the database.

### Claim 27 (depends on 26)

The machine-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the machine-executed method further includes:
automatically generating an interface by which an agent of the charity can at least view the list which the third data file represents.

### Claim 28 (depends on 20)

The machine-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the machine-executed method further includes:
automatically querying the database for selected matches between the identifications of the payors in the first data file and identifications of donors in the database, the selected matches corresponding to matching donors having a status in which at least one of a Notify-Upon-Donation flag and an expiation flag is true; and
automatically generating a third data file representing a list of the selected matching donors.

### Claim 29 (depends on 28)

The machine-readable medium of claim 28, wherein the machine-executed method further includes:
automatically generating an interface by which an agent of the charity can at least view the list which the third data file represents.

### Claim 30

A method of providing an interface representing a cookbook for facilitating charitable giving to a charity, the method including:
providing at least one of first, second and third recipes for accomplishing (1) a first mission of making at least one of a postal-based, an email-based and a telephone-based appeal for donations, respectively, (2) a second mission of dealing with donations received, and (3) a third mission of acknowledging receipt of donations, respectively,
each recipe including names of tasks, performance of which cumulatively accomplishes the corresponding mission, and
a given recipe being provided without also providing application software by which to carry out the respective tasks; and
automatically generating an interface by which an agent of the charity can at least view the respective recipes.

### Claim 31

A method for facilitating charitable giving to a charity, the method comprising:
providing a donor database;
receiving a first data file including data indicative of charitable payments received on behalf of the charity, the amounts thereof, and identifications of the payors thereof, respectively;
automatically updating the donor database according to the first data file; and
automatically generating, based upon the updated donor database, a second data file representing a list donors to whom a gift acknowledgement should be communicated.

### Claim 32

An apparatus to provide an interface representing a cookbook for facilitating charitable giving to a charity, the apparatus comprising:
task means for providing at least one of first, second and third recipes for accomplishing (1) a first mission of making at least one of a postal-based, an email-based and a telephone-based appeal for donations, respectively, (2) a second mission of dealing with donations received, and (3) a third mission of acknowledging receipt of donations, respectively,
each recipe including names of tasks, performance of which cumulatively accomplishes the corresponding mission, and
a given recipe being provided without also providing application software by which to carry out the respective tasks; and
interface means, operatively coupled to the task means, for automatically generating an interface by which an agent of the charity can at least view the respective recipes.

### Claim 33

An apparatus for facilitating charitable giving to a charity, the method comprising:
a donor database;
receiving means for receiving a first data file including data indicative of charitable payments received on behalf of the charity, the amounts thereof, and identifications of the payors thereof, respectively;
update means for automatically updating the donor database according to the first data file; and
generator means, responsive to the update means, for automatically generating, based upon the updated donor database, a second data file representing a list donors to whom a gift acknowledgement should be communicated.