Technology for Change™

Databank Life

Fri, 24 May 2013 11:00:00 -0500

As a recent addition to thedatabank team, I have a fresh perspective of what it's like to work here. I thought it would be fun to share with our clients who thedatabank really is, and what makes us different.

What makes thedatabank different?

We are not big. We are a company of 14 individuals, including 2 leaders guiding the ship. Everyone has a different story of how they ended up here - some started out as fledgling interns, some came from the non-profit world, and some wanted change in their life.

We love what we do. No one at thedatabank is here because they are hoping for a gigantic paycheck, they are here because of the difference they can make for nonprofits through technology. For my own reasons, I love working with technology - and now I get to work with it in the context of helping others. I enjoy thinking about what our clients are doing with the technology we provide, everything from protecting our environment to helping people with disabilities. In some small way, I feel like I am helping those causes too.

Our departments are small, but of Rockstar Status. In the Tech department there are 6 of us, but don’t let our small numbers fool you. We are smart, dedicated and occasionally snarky. There are always new things getting developed, old things being rethought, and everyone helps out with Support. So when you submit that support request, if you imagine you just sent your request to a far-off place with 100’s of people sitting at computers who look at the ticket number more then the name, you couldn’t be farther from the truth.

(Some of our staff, former staff, and friends at a Saints game this May)

Some other factoids about thedatabank crew:

Many people here bike to work or take public transportation, because they care about reducing their carbon footprint and being healthy.
Sometimes, staff members will bring in fresh baked cookies in the afternoon. Why? Because they're delicious and they make people happy.
Once a month we have Brown Bag Bonding (B3) and we all eat together and play trivia.
We organize staff outings and 5k runs that thedatabank sponsors as a way for staff to help support the community (and for the staff to just have some fun together).
During lunch breaks or brief meetings in the hallways where different departments meet up with each other, we often spend the precious "free" time throwing around ideas that can help our clients have even better experiences with their Databanks.
We also talk about our lives outside of work. There is a master gardener here, avid runners, music buffs, outdoor enthusiast, travelers, and list goes on.

It is incredible to work at place that not only values what you do at work, but also outside of work too!

The next time you think about thedatabank, you can imagine us all eating fresh baked cookies in the kitchen or hopping on our bikes in the morning. But most importantly, you should know we are working hard to create, support, and offer you the best nonprofit CRM tool we can!

How To Handle Your Nonprofit's Technology When Staff Members Leave

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:15:00 -0500

You already know that your staff members are your greatest asset, and you've got a great group of people who are passionate about your cause. That's probably why you never want to think about that time when they might leave. But people do leave, and your organization needs to be ready to handle it.

Through my work in the nonprofit technology world, I've seen some bad staff transitions, and some good ones.

Some potential technology problems when a staff transition goes badly

The organization can lose access to data or services - Sometimes, when a person leaves, they take their username and passwords with them, leaving the remaining staff with no way to get to their email list, fundraising data, or other mission-critical pieces of information or services.
The organization can lose momentum on critical activities - For some organizations, the problem isn't that they don't have access to critical tools, but that no one except the person who has left knows how to use them. The organization then loses valuable time in figuring out how to do the tasks this person used to do, and where to receive help or training to do these things.
The organization can lose track of its technology strategy - If the organization's technology strategy only lives inside a particular staff person's head, it means that when that staff person leaves, most of the organizations strategic gains leave with them. The organization then goes back to square one in figuring out how best to leverage their technology to produce results.

How to handle staff transition well

An essential component of handling staff transition well is preparation and planning. Handling staff transition well would include:

Documenting your technology and technology strategy
Planning how to effectively manage the transition while it is happening
Planning how to manage technology while looking for new staff
Planning how to get your new staff on board and up to speed as quickly as possible.

Where to start

We've put together a short PDF guide for nonprofit organizations handling staff transition. It's a great place for you to get started in managing the technology side of your staff transitions.

Update: We've also put together a worksheet you can use to document your technology please feel free to download the worksheet and use it to record information about technology you acquire.

I'd also like to hear from you. Based on your own experience, what steps would you recommend nonprofits take to prepare for staff transition that weren't mentioned here?

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Three Things You Should Know To Create An Effective Infographic

Thu, 09 May 2013 08:30:00 -0500

Post by Marketing Intern Antonia Kurtz

You just clicked send on your monthly e-newsletter sent to thousands of supporters, and the post-send anxiety is setting in. Your newsletter was crafted to relay a message, but will it get the job done? Your message is important, and so is the way you present it. Maybe you should consider presenting some of your updates as an infographic. From an annual report to a mailer, infographics can be used to relay information in a concise and attractive manner.

3 Things to Remember When Creating Infographics

Infographics don't have to be cutesy. They can also look professional. When using infographics for a serious topic or an internal report, your infographic shouldn't contain bubble letters and butterflies. Keep in mind colors, clean lines, simplicity, and a design that matches your organization's style and message.
Infographics can come in many forms. Some examples of ways to deliver infographics are in: direct mailings, web pages, blast emails, and internal reports. Using different ways to express data gives the viewer a well rounded view of the information. Need some inspiration? Social media houses the largest amount of infographics, especially Pinterest. You can also check out my infographic on the right, conveying some stats about our blog.
Infographics should have a clear intent. Do you want to fundraise? Bring awareness to an issue? Get people to volunteer? Don't just fill it with every stat your nonprofit has under the sun, make sure the information you are presenting has a clear intent and has a story to tell. My infographic on the right tells a short story of how our blog has performed in the first quarter of this year.

Wait, so how do I make one of these?

There are a few infographic makers online that are easy to navigate. Although they are convenient, templates or software can make infographics look generic. As an alternative, you can create them in-house. If you have access, you can use design programs to make an infographic from scratch, hire a designer, or you can even also use word or powerpoint (HubSpot has instructions & templates to make great infographics in powerpoint). However, creating them in-house can be time consuming and/or expensive.

Infographics aren’t always the answer

As a lover of anything pretty, an efficiency snob, and marketing intern, I think that infographics are pretty neat - but there is one important thing to keep in mind: Infographics won’t always be the answer.

Infographics only work for nonlinear information. The viewer should not need a lead in, or a follow up. Infographics work best when used to communicate stand alone results. A great quote by Vin Scully that I found on the Idealware Infographics Report is: “Statistics are used much like a drunk uses lampposts: for support, not illumination.” Make sure you aren't just listing supporting stats, but that you're able to tell an informative story about your topic with the information you're presenting.

Any tips to add? I'd also love to see examples of infographics that your organization has made! Leave a link in the comments below.

Creating Habits for Social Good

Tue, 07 May 2013 09:24:00 -0500

Creating Habits for Social Good was a session from NTEN's 2013 NTC, lead by Katya Andresen and Allan Burstyn. The part of the presentation I found most interesting and wanted to share, was the idea of influencing behavioral change.

For-profits have been influencing behavior and creating habits in their customers for years. For a perfect example of this, look no further than Facebook. I will admit Facebook has been successful in influencing my behavior, and I’m sure I’m not alone. The good news is, these tactics can translate to the non-profit world as well, and be used to create social good. But how? First you need to understand what the ingredients are to influencing behavioral change.

Motivation + Ability + Trigger = Behavioral Change

Influencing behavioral change can be broken down into a simple equation: Motivation + Ability + Trigger = Behavior Change. Let’s break each one down:

Motivation - People are most driven by Impulses and emotions, (videos, emails, and social media have to be successful in invoking a certain feeling).
Ability - How easy is the desired action to achieve? Simplicity is key. Motivation and ability are very closely tied.
Trigger - Triggers can be internal or external, but they need to bring your desired action to mind for your audience.

The most important take away? These three things must happen at the same time. Like a regular math problem, if you take out part of the equation, you aren't going to end up with the desired result.

How can you translate these emotions and drives into content? Videos and storytelling are best for behavioral change - try a hook at the beginning of a video with an emotional story. Be sure to include stats to show validity and a clear, easily achievable call to action.

Finally, consider mobile friendliness. Mobile makes it easier than ever to allow people to take action the moment they are triggered, so think about using mobile landing pages to catch people when they are on the go.

A Few Of My Favorite (free) Things for Nonprofit Marketing

Thu, 02 May 2013 10:15:00 -0500

thedatabank isn’t a nonprofit, but being a small, privately owned business, we don’t have a huge budget for marketing, unlike many of our direct competitors. So like many nonprofits, we rely on some awesome free tools to help us make and monitor great content. So, without further ado:

My top ten favorite free marketing tools

1. Flickr (creative commons) - Need to spice up that blog post with some great images? Flickr is my go to tool for free, amazing creative commons photos. I use them in all of thedatabank’s blog posts. Need help searching creative commons on Flickr? Social Nicole has a great how-to on her blog. And remember, it’s important to credit the wonderful people who create these images as well (you’ll find our credits at the bottom of every post). I hear Creative Commons is a great resource as well.

2. SocialShift Icon Set - It almost pains me to give this one away, but since I like you so much, I’ll tell you - this free set of social media icons is AMAZING. That’s right, it’s totally free. This gorgeous set comes with 246 icons (82 icons in 3 sizes) meeting very nearly all of your icon needs. Thank you so much to InstantShift and Manuel Lopez for providing this free resource! The set is a bit old, missing icons for instagram and pinterest, but they have done a couple updates in the past 2 years, so maybe there will be more to come!

3. Fotor Photo Collage - Want to put together a photo collage of a recent event to share online, but don’t have a designer to put one together for you? Check out this neat tool! I recently used to it share some highlights from this year’s Nonprofit Technology Conference.

4. Google Analytics - I really hope you are all using this already, but just in case some of you haven’t made the leap yet, I’m including it. Logging in to Google Analytics the first time (and second and third...) can be a little overwhelming. But there are tons of how-tos and guides out there to help you out, including Google’s own help center.

5. HubSpot Blog - Ok, so this isn’t really a free tool, per se, but there is tons of great free content in there - plus, they share sweet free tools that they’ve made and free ebooks for download. Basically, you should just make sure to bookmark this blog.

6. Grooveshark - Sometimes staying focused and being inspired to make great content requires a great playlist.I love Grooveshark, because I can plug it in and listen for free all day to playlists I’ve made or listen to a random playlist by someone else, without commercials. And, I can share playlists with my friends and co-workers.

7. SlideShare - Ah, the wonder that is SlideShare! Want to share that fancy PowerPoint you worked so hard on? Load it into slideshare and send away! If you want some of the more advanced features that they offer, they have special pricing for nonprofits.

8. Pixlr Photo Editing Services - This is a great tool where you can give pictures cool effects (much like instagram) but also do things like resize your photos. Again, our friends at SocialNicole have a great walkthrough for resizing images with Pixlr. Pixlr is a super fun tool to use. If you just want a simple photo converter tool, you can try this one.

9. My RSS Reader - I’m heartbroken that Google Reader is going away this summer, and I’m on the hunt for an alternative that I really like (so far I'm enjoying the free version of NewsBlur - but you can only have 64 subscriptions). Readers are important for me because at a glance I can see when nonprofit and technology leaders are posting new content, I can browse for ideas and themes that are inspiring, and I can quickly find great content to share on social media.

10. Microsoft Office Image Gallery - My co-worker turned me onto this little gem of a resource. Microsoft has a huge gallery of icons and images you can use for your website, all for free download. Quick, easy, and they come in beautiful selections.

Well, that’s my list! I hope you found at least some of my suggestions to be helpful. What free tools do you use? I’d love to hear what other free tools people have found.

Stay tuned for the next installment of My Favorite (free) Things - Chrome/Mozilla browser extensions and apps.

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Working with Cross-Sector Leadership

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:08:00 -0500

The Technology for Change blog is happy to announce our new contributor, Hugo Narumiya. Hugo started as a marketing intern in February, and will write blog posts occasionally during his internship.

Since I came to the thedatabank as a marketing intern, I am learning everyday from our team members about the dynamics of how the nonprofit sector works in the Twins Cities metro area. From my previous academic and professional experience in Brazil, I’ve learned that working with cross-sector leadership and negotiating different interests involves understanding the importance of the role played by integrative leadership to achieve the common good.

Three lessons I have learned from my past experience so far

1. Create shared space for members dialogue. Sharing information with people can occur in a physical, virtual, or mental space. Individuals can learn through a communicative space improving their self-awareness and developing adaptations needed in terms of beliefs and practices. Providing opportunities for collaborative working allows members to build productive professional relationships among culturally diverse groups and opinions from the individual to the organizational level.

2. Look outside the organization. Expanding both knowledge and vision of what others are doing in similar areas can be useful to compare and contrast different visions among the negotiation process. Reflecting about the individual behavior, organization’s purpose, and both their intrinsic and extrinsic values, provides an overview of what motivates them for a win-win partnership and how they can create efforts to manage the network relationship.

3. Think politically. International and domestic NGO’s play an important role in most advocacy networks. On the other hand, communicating, negotiating, and resolving conflicts across the public, private, and non-profit sector can be challenging. It can be a rewarding experience if you are able to understand how those alliances influence business and political strategies. Building positive partnerships with the public/private sector requires understanding the process of connecting social, political and cultural information to mobilize people and resources to support the organization’s goal.

Currently, I am working on apply these lessons to a project with prospective local business organizations that thedatabank and MetroIBA might be interested in partnering with. If you are not familiar, the MetroIBA is a nonprofit organization that works to support and preserve locally owned, independent businesses in the Twin Cities. The MetroIBA’s goals can be divided in three main categories:

a) to promote local independent businesses.

b) to educate consumers on the value of shopping at locally owned businesses.

c) to improve conditions for local independents by influencing public policy.

I am looking forward to broadening my knowledge about the importance of cross-sector leadership to sustain local businesses and to create economic opportunity for community development through public policies, advocacy, and education, as well as comparing differences and similarities between social entrepreneurship projects in the U.S and Brazil.

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A Beginners Guide to Choosing CRM Software for Nonprofits In 6 Steps

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 08:00:00 -0500

When beginning the process of researching potential Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) systems for your organization, you may be thinking “where do we start?”. Here is a breakdown of the 6 steps to successfully implementing a CRM:

1. Is your Organization Ready?

You want to be sure that your organization is ready to take on the process of buying and implementing a CRM system. This includes evaluating if you are adopting one for the right reasons. A CRM itself is not going to fix an organization’s internal issues around collaboration. However, wanting to bring together your data on your constituents in order to serve them better, is a good place to start. The buying and implementing process can also be time-consuming, so be sure you are committed.

2. Identifying your Nonprofit’s Needs and Priorities

In this step, you should take a look at your goals, your current assets, and your parameters. For goals, consider both short term and long term goals. For your current assets, take inventory of all places you currently store your data. Write down the file type, owner, use, etc. For parameters, look not only at your budget, but also the hardware used in your office, and the processes and procedures your new CRM will need to support. Need helping putting together a needs assessment? Look at these quick tips for a needs assessment.

When it comes to determining your budget, keep in mind that budgets will vary greatly from organization to organization based on their needs in a CRM. To give you a place to start, estimated costs should be broken down into one-time costs and ongoing costs. This is because some vendors make it very inexpensive to get into their system, but costs may rise over time. On the other hand, some systems have high start up costs, but are less expensive to maintain. In addition, consider costs you might incur outside of the actual CRM like data cleansing, new computers, etc.

3. Getting the Most out of Demonstrations

By this point in the process, you should have your potential CRMs narrowed down to your top 2-3 choices. Be sure to get a custom demo from each vendor that illustrates key tasks that you’ll be doing in a CRM. Try to have at least two people (preferably the same two people) on each demo and take good notes.

4. Understanding the Written Proposal

Be sure your written proposal from each vendor addresses the following things: products/key features, ownership and data privacy, support and training, detailed estimate/cost outlook, responsibilities (both yours and theirs), timeline, and opt-out options. If any of these things are missing or unclear, be sure to ask the vendor.

5. Comparison

For this step, go back almost to the beginning of the process. Review your Needs Assessment to make sure the final choices are still a good fit. Also review your demo notes again for anything you may have missed or forgotten. Don’t compare your final options simply on the features they provide - also consider the trustworthiness of each vendor, how your sales process went with them, and ask for references from some of their current clients.

6. After Launch

The process does not end with your final decision. Once your system is up and running, require that all staff who will use it go through formal training. Three months after launch, evaluate how things are going - are you are happy with the current configuration, and has everything in your contract been fulfilled? One year after launch (and every year going forward), re-evaluate your CRM’s configuration to determine if there are things that are inefficient or unused, new things to standardize or integrate into your CRM, and keep your data clean by running data services (such as National Change of Address - NCOA).

For a more in-depth information on this topic, listen to the recording of my recent webinar, What is CRM Software for Nonprofits?

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Getting the most out of your upcoming nonprofit conferences

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 11:10:00 -0500

Guest Post by Joel Barker - Joel is President & Owner of Backpack Tactics, LLC - IT solutions for your business and home. Follow Joel on Twitter: @joelbarker | @backpacktactics

Spring conference season is here!

It’s okay that the daily breakfast taco was the highlight of my conference trip to Austin, TX, right? In truth, there were many highlights - but according to my twitter feed, it was clearly my mission to consume mass quantities of tacos.

Between all the sessions, exhibits, lunches, and networking, how can you get the most out of your conference experience?

It’s up to you to decide what you’ll take away from a conference. The presentation lineup is out of your control, but the experience is all on you.

Getting the most out of your upcoming conference

Presentations & Sessions

A few weeks ago I was at the South by Southwest conference. I knew from attending the previous year that it would be impossible to attend even half the sessions I wanted. I also knew that even if a topic is interesting to me, a poor presenter can make a session very unfulfilling.

Knowing all this, I mapped out my top three sessions for each hour. There were a few times I attended my second choice session simply because it was near my third choice. This afforded me the ability to assess the first five minutes and if it appeared to offer less than I had hoped, I could duck out and make it to the other (third choice) session.

Following the presentation itself, I find it just as valuable to connect with the people who asked questions during Q&A. So often others will ask questions I have, or will raise points I had not considered. Seeking these people out right after the session often results in the best conversations of the day.

Exhibit booths

It can be overwhelming to interact with so many vendors trying to sell products and services, but it can also be extremely productive. The key is to go into the exhibit hall with a strategy.

Take a few minutes before walking around to review the list of vendors; or even better, review it online before the conference. Think about the next 12-24 months at your nonprofit. Is there a possibility you’ll be changing accounting software? Needing a fundraising firm or consultant for a capital campaign? Or needing to increase your social media exposure? Network with the firms that may be options for the future.

By thinking long-term you can learn a lot more about products and services in person than by just visiting a website.

Be there

Networking is perhaps the greatest benefit from attending a conference. There are always a lot of networking opportunities. Showing up a few minutes before a presentation and introducing yourself to other attendees is a great way to meet people who are interested in similar topics.

Then there’s the usual networking opportunities during session breaks, lunch, and happy hours. Collect business cards when you can. After a conference I like to take my stack of business cards and add all of those people to LinkedIn. At first, I did this because I preferred having an electronic catalog “rolodex” in one central location. I soon discovered an additional benefit was being able to see the posts and articles these new connections share.

Have fun

If you’re attending for work, you’re probably getting paid to spend a day away from your desk to learn new things. Enjoy it and smile. Don’t be afraid to explore new topics and soak up all the information you can.

Photo Credit: Joel Barker

The Campaign Way of Life

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 09:45:00 -0500

Post by Marketing Intern Antonia Kurtz

When I got my first real job working as a Field Organizer on a political campaign, I had an image of myself in a pencil skirt and a smile the size of Texas. It was election night, and the candidate I was working for had won! I was shaking hands. I was Hillary Clinton.

The reality? I was eating a raw hot dog in front of a computer in my office, making sure the hair I hadn't washed in a week and a half didn't obscure my view of the election results. Working on a campaign was simply the hardest thing I have done in my life, but it was also one of the best things.

The top 4 lessons campaign work taught me about politics, work, and life:

Putting yourself in new situations helps you to face your weaknesses: You can usually make choices to minimize, hide or avoid dealing with your weaknesses, but campaigns magnify them. I learned that I hate rejection. Constantly asking people to volunteer and getting rejected was HARD. Being forced to face this made me figure out how to deal with it, and I am grateful for that.
There is no replacement for hard work: Taking shortcuts rarely pays off, and nothing will make you stand out more than showing your motivation to get your tasks and projects done, even when that means being the last one to leave the office. And you don’t even have to brag about it, people will notice. Campaign work takes up almost every moment of your waking life, but making those few extra walk sheets instead of going out for lunch will get you ahead and make your dedication stand out.
Have a plan: Scaffolding a project is integral for success. Knowing what you’re working towards keeps you focused and motivated. Reviewing goals constantly kept me from quitting. Although election night wasn’t exactly what I imagined, it was just as magical. The candidate I was working for won and envisioning it helped make that happen.
The power of “the ask”: It is surprising what can be done simply with an ask. By election night, our office was overflowing with volunteers, donated food, and victory. None of it would have happened if our campaign team didn’t ask. People like helping people, and it is surprising who will say yes to what.

Overall, campaigns are a lot like life - except with more people threatening to burn your office down. Trying something different, whether it is taking a new job or trying something different in your current position, can really pay off in a big way.

What are some life lessons you have learned from previous or current jobs?

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"How would you wash a dirty dish?"

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 11:22:00 -0500

The Technology for Change blog is happy to announce our new contributor, Adil Imani. Adil started as the tech intern in January.

Breaking out of the Mac Bubble

I was determined to avoid the “Mac Bubble” in my last semester at Macalester. “Mac Bubble” refers to a term developed by students at Macalester College which symbolizes the risk of being so involved in Macalester life that you are unable to explore the great opportunities in the Twin Cities. That’s why a handy piece of advice given to me was “Get out of the Mac Bubble!” While I have always enjoyed the great opportunities for leadership and campus involvement, I strongly believe in exploring the local community through volunteering, internships, biking and anything else that gets you “out there."

While a spring semester internship was not on my radar (already suffering from Senior-itus), I came across an internship position at thedatabank through the Economics department. Reading through it, I realized that this internship would be very different from previous internships I have had. This was my first opportunity to work at a relatively small company, with a strong entrepreneurial spirit, a close-knit group of employees, the freedom to explore my own ideas and the opportunity to work closely with and learn from everyone at the company.

“How would you wash a dirty dish?”

My interview for thedatabank was set up for 1pm Central Time on a Tuesday. Interestingly, this translated to 1.30am for me as I was on my J-Term break in Mumbai, India. At least I can check that off my bucket list! Despite it being 1:30am, my brain became surprisingly active within 5 minutes of the interview, since the first question was “How would you wash a dirty dish?” I resisted the urge (as far as I could) to spurt out a tongue-in-cheek response.

Being thrown curveball questions, or questions that have been designed to prevent you from preparing for them, have become increasingly common in interviews across industries. Seemingly random and unrelated questions like “How would you wash a dirty dish?” actually serve as a great way for your potential employer to see how well you think on-the-spot, how detail-oriented and structured you are in your response, how clearly you explain something and get a glimpse of your personality as you answer it. Here are some tips for preparing for those unpreparable interview questions:

Don’t get nervous - If the answer is not immediately obvious to you, don’t worry – it’s not supposed to be. That’s the point
Take your time - It’s not about how fast you can answer it, it’s about the structure and detail of your answer. Take a moment to think through the question and put together a good answer
Practice - You can search online for potential interview questions. Look up some of the more obscure ones and think to yourself how you would answer them, so you have practice responding to these types of questions

Thirty minutes later the interview was over and the next day I was told that I had been chosen for the Tech Intern position. I was thrilled about it, and my parents joked that I should probably take up the dish-washing responsibilities at home.

I was a little unsettled by not knowing my exact job description and the details of my project, as I had been used to knowing for past positions. My first day at thedatabank however, dispelled any such feelings - not because I was given a job description, but because I truly realized the amazing potential and opportunities I would have over the next four months.

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