The Technopath Way: Productivity through tech for nonprofits

Join the NPSP Training Program wait list: technopath.ac-page.com/NPSP-Training-Program-Sept22This week on The Technopath Way, Sarah is talking with Rebecca Tasetano and Ruby Menon about their experiences before and after joining the NPSP Training Program earlier this year.Tame the NPSP Learning Overwhelm* Have a real person to talk to when you’re stuck* Check your trainer’s credentials before diving in* Why is this person qualified to teach me about this topic?* Use the resources you have* Both women discussed how having the course materials and the study guide have continued to help them in their careers as nonprofit Salesforce consultants* Make sure to actually dive into the study resources you’ve got around you - you get out what you put in!* Tap into community* The NPSP Academy connects current students and other nonprofit Salesforce enthusiasts to have a space where people can collaborate, ask questions and find community support* While in the Training Program, both Ruby and Rebecca mentioned how they were so glad to have a group of other people at the same experience level as them so they didn’t have to feel concerned about whether or not their questions seemed too basic* Trailhead is great, but it can be a lonely experience. Find a buddy interested in a similar learning path inside the NPSP Academy and study together!Links mentioned in the episode:* Free webinar on September 20 at 1 pm PT/4 pm ET - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/so-you-want-to-be-a-nonprofit-salesforce-consultant-tickets-408902266687* Free NPSP Academy - https://npsp-academy.mn.co/landing/plans/217036* NPSP Training Program wait list: technopath.ac-page.com/NPSP-Training-Program-Sept22

Looking to take the Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud Consultant Exam? Get on the waitlist for our comprehensive study guide here: technopath.ac-page.com/study-guide-wait-listAre you currently doing the work of what should be 5 separate positions in your small nonprofit, while staring down the business end of burnout? We see you. It’s very similar when you’re growing a small start-up company like we are here at Technopath. This week, Sarah and Allyson discuss when it’s time to think about hiring someone to help you, the process Sarah went through to find Allyson, how they’re approaching hiring now that Technopath is growing even more and how to handle the double-edged sword of ‘there’s too much work, but I’m still worried there isn’t enough budget.”If this sounds like your current situation, connect with us on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/technopathsf or our free Nonprofit community https://technopath.mn.co/share/tke03sU6qwViCc-L?utm_source=manual and let us know what resonated with you in this episode!How will you know when it’s the right time to hire?* Things are falling through the cracks* Emails aren’t getting returned* Social posts aren’t getting posted* Donors aren’t getting acknowledgements* You’re doing ALL of the jobs* While working in a small organization often means filling more than one position at a time, no single person should be doing all of the jobs. That’s a recipe for things not getting done.* A specific task needs deep knowledge of a particular topic* Major donors* Creating a new programHow can you on-board someone new when you’re already overwhelmed? * Check out the Technopath Way episode Taming the On-boarding Overwhelm - https://www.spreaker.com/episode/48956537* Instead of one marathon meeting with minimal info retention, consider recording smaller videos explaining aspects of your organization and processes* Have all necessary on-boarding documents saved in one place (we use Coda.io) What if it’s not in our budget?* Is this new position something you could put out a call for volunteers on?* Simple admin processes to free up valuable time and brain space* In-frequent tasks that require specialized knowledge* Start with a part time position* If this position would normally receive $80,000 annually for 40 hours of work a week, start off-loading your overwhelm with someone doing 20 hours a week for $40,000 annually.* Consider contractors * Contractors are a lower commitment than W2 employees if you don’t always need someone to cover these tasks or aren’t sure about hiring a dedicated team member yet.* Check sites like fiverr and Upwork for contractors who can do specialized website work, execute on your social media strategies, or any other number of tasks that are overwhelming you* Put a call out to your community for local people who also do these kinds of tasks and would be willing to work on a contract basis

Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: echnopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upOn this episode listen to Sarah talk about how you can use technology to make true, real-life connections with people even if they start out online. The last few years have made it necessary to do a lot of connecting and networking on the internet, but what do we do now that things have started to open back up and everyone wants a break from their screens?Sarah is giving examples from her own networking adventures as someone who identifies as an introvert. Sarah’s Tips to Tame the Networking Overwhelm:* Call it something else* Lots of people are intimidated by the term ‘networking’ and picture stiff suits, awkward conversation and stilted small-talk. Get out of your head by calling it something more fun!* If you still just aren’t able to meet in person, check out our episode with Rebecca Tasetano about how to make hybrid and online events more engaging* https://www.spreaker.com/episode/49285325* Turn to people you already knew in real life to connect you with others who could be interested in your organization’s cause* Use Meet-up (https://www.meetup.com)* An online platform to connect with groups who are aligned with your nonprofit’s mission and then meet up in person* Invite connections on LinkedIn/Instagram/Facebook to coffee* You can do this in person or virtually* Even virtual coffee dates can be helpful as you’re able to directly connect with one individual rather than speaking generally to large audiences on your social channelsHow do you nurture your online communities into real-life connections?

Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: echnopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upRuby Menon’s non-linear career path has equipped her with the many diverse skills she bring to help small to medium sized nonprofits leverage their systems, incoporate technology and shift mindsets internally to collect better data and drive more consistent outcomes.Currently Ruby is a consultant helping small to medium sized nonprofits with their technology and data needs. She and her husband work with incarcerated people to help them rejoin society after their release through her husband’s nonprofit: worknetinc.org Today Sarah sat down with Ruby to learn about what data literacy means in terms of smaller nonprofits, small steps you can take to start collecting better data and ways to get more staff buy in for big technology shifts. Ruby’s Tips to Increase Data Literacy for your organization:* Establish what it means to be ‘data literate’ in your organization* Know where your data flows from* Know where you want to display it (for funders, for volunteers, for stakeholders)* Be able to distinguish important data points from vanity metrics* Work backwards from the outcomes you want to achieve* Desired Outcome: You want to have every contact associated with a company* Current Situation: Hundreds of contacts with no comapny association* Why is this? The organization is not asking for employer details on in-take forms (or not making question required)* Fix: Create a field on the organization’s in-take form for employer details and make it a required field so the form cannot be submitted without that information.* Map out your processes as clearly as possible. This one has lots of benefits* Hand-off to new team members is easier because there is an objective, pre-determined list to give the new person* You’ll be able to determine what data points you actually need* Can simplify the build out of new data tracking systems* Understand where your data is coming from * Which forms are you using to collect information* What questions are being asked* Why are these data points being collected?* Being data literate cuts down on the need to clean your data later as you are already collecting relevant, complete data

Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: echnopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upChris Federspiel began his career at a young age, coding websites in middle school followed by Perl and CGI scripts in high school. He later moved into the field of sales and marketing for Internet Creations and Silverline. His entrepreneurial spirit led him to co-found Plative as a Salesforce Systems Integrator (SI), followed by Brainiac. Chris’s latest venture, Blackthorn.io, was established in 2015 and has seen exponential growth and success since then, having received multiple Salesforce.org Partner of the Year awards. Under Chris’s leadership, his dedicated teams have worked relentlessly to earn Blackthorn Events the honor of being the highest-rated events app on the Salesforce AppExchange, while Blackthorn Payments now has the most gateways and payment methods available on the platform.Chris’s Tips for Taming the Event Tech Overwhelm:* Every event has a message to deliver whether it’s a new piece of content, capital campaign or updates to stake holders* Think through what your event’s message is and how you’ll know if you’ve conveyed it to your audience/constituents/donors* Answer these questions to help you think through event metrics you’ll need* Will this be in person, virtual or hybrid?* Do you know who attended which types of events in the past?* If they were virtual, do you know if they actually attended vs just registered?* Do you know how long they were at your event? (For in person: Did they stay the whole time, leave before the keynote, etc? For virtual: Did they log on early/late? Did they pop in and out of the event? When did they exit the virtual event space?)* Did this person register for and attend more than one of your events? Which ones?* Did they engage with you at the event? Did they type in the chat box, ask a question, participate in a poll?* Have you entered data from past events into your database?* What do you want these attendees to do after this event? (Ie, become a recurring donor, attend more events, volunteer regularly, make a planned gift)* Make your event as easy to engage with as possible* Have multiple ways for attendees to tell you what they’re thinking with polls* Focus on making your event’s content compelling* Have one system for everything (event attendance recording, donor/attendee information, payment processing, poll results) rather than seperate systems you have to cobble together or remember to update individually* If you’re having sponsors consider a piece of technology that integrates with the rest of your system to be able to see if attendees engaged with sponsors, which ones and how* C-vent for virtual, in person and hybrid events with sponsors https://www.cvent.com/* Silent Auction management* Blackthorn.io event management and payment processing apps. They are native to Salesforce so you will skip having to do all of the extra data imports, tech management and typical scrambleOther Interesting Links* Stripe Climate* https://stripe.com/climate* Contribute a portion of the revenue you accept through stripe toward funding companies working toward capturing carbon in the atmosphere* Watsi* https://watsi.org* A nonprofit organization collecting donations to fund vital health care and procedures for people in developing countries.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: echnopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upWhen a nonprofit wants to add a new system to their tech stack, what’s the first step they need to take? In this episode Sarah speaks with Watt Hamlett of Hamlett Consulting to find out what sets nonprofits whose tech implementations succeed and those who struggle, apart. After years of experience with nonprofits and Salesforce, Watt founded his consultancy four years ago. He was curious about why some nonprofits’ new tech implementations went smoothly, while others were long, drawn out and painful. He dedicated his consultancy to helping more nonprofits improve their tech usage while integrating new pieces of tech with minimal headaches. From initial steps before the discovery process through adoption, Watt has some excellent tips and strategies to tame the new tech overwhelm.Watt’s Tips to Tame the New Tech Overwhelm* Do a tech audit* What do each of your staff members currently use, sometimes you’ll find them using different tools for the same job (one uses Mailchimp, another uses Constant Contact)* What do you want the technology to do?* Sit down with your board and your staff members to establish clear goals and the exact set of issues you want the tech to help with* How does the technology actually work?* Often the people making the tech choices don’t understand what the tool’s limitations are, and often end up paying a lot more than they thought for initial implementation help* If you don’t already know how to work with the problem this tech ‘solves’ you’ll likely end up with something too complex for your needs. * Hire a technology expert to advise you during the process* Hiring a separate technology expert to help you on your hunt for the right implementation partner can save you a lot of time, money and headache. * The technology expert can help you prepare before the implementation, choose a partner that actually understands nonprofits’ needs and knows the technology you are bringing in. * Keep up team morale throughout the process* Staff members are more likely to adopt the technology if they aren’t already frustrated with it before they even get started. * Remember that the team working toward implementation is doing their normal jobs with the added responsibility of making this new tech work for everyone in your organization. Find ways to show extra appreciation for the extra work they’re doing.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: echnopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upTake Aways from Nathan’s Episode1. Join a community like our Technopath community to get your technology and data questions answered by experts and others going through similar situations (https://technopath.mn.co/share/tke03sU6qwViCc-L?utm_source=manual)2. Make your list of questions – What do you want to measure? What’s relevant to your organization? How do you measure the things you’ve chosen? What will you do with the data once it’s collected?3. Make your goals/KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)4. Put out an RFP, look for an AmeriCorps Vista program or write a job description5. Check out our On-boarding episode to help tame the overwhelm of acclimating the new person to the job (Episode 20: Tame The On-Boarding Overwhelm)6. It will likely take time to find the perfect fit for your organization so have a back-up list of other candidates7. Have the “meeting before the meeting” to reduce drama and friction in main board or stake holder meetings. This gives you a chance to get buy-in from anyone who might be reluctant to adopt new ideas about data.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: echnopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upWhat is the secret to finally get more people to turn their cameras on during virtual events? How can you get people to actually answer questions and interact? This week on The Technopath Way Sarah interviews hybrid event facilitator and Salesforce Admin, Rebecca Tasetano. They get into ways to make hybrid and fully online events more impactful and fun for attendees and organizers alike!Rebecca’s tips for taming the digital event overwhelm:* Give your audience a reason to actually have an event together ie be interactive rather than passive* Interactive tech options besides Zoom* Gatherly* Topia* Remo* Map out the event before hand* What will you need in the physical room to help the digital attendees feel included? Ie Where should the camera be? Can you set up a projector so the presenter can see their digital audience as well?* Will there be physical and online presenters? What orders will they present in?* How many breaks will you include?* Utilize Zoom’s break out rooms feature* Have a purpose or discussion topic for each break out room to get the conversation flowing* Plan on breaks throughout your program, don’t feel like you have to have every moment scheduled or programed* Track your metrics* Who RSVP’d vs who showed up* Who did your attendees engage with?* How long did your virtual attendees stay? * Check out the facilitator cards Rebecca mentioned https://www.facilitator.cards/cards/* Learn more about Rebecca’s online/hybrid event facilitator services - https://www.pkasolves.com

Sign-up for The Technopath Way Weekly Newsletter here: technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upThis week's episode is short and sweet. Did you know even the tech pros out there come across technology they don't love and struggle with sometimes? On The Technopath Way this week Sarah chats about different ways to think through tech you may not love, but might need to use. She gives you an inside peek at a piece of technology she struggled with this week and how she went about trying to solve her problem. Take Aways:- Even if you don't think you'll like a piece of technology, give it a try and push yourself a little bit outside your comfort zone- Ask for help. Even if you feel like a tech-whiz there will always be some things you're better at than others. - Know when to cut your loses with a piece of technology and move on

Sign-up for The Technopath Way Weekly Newsletter here: technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upThis week on The Technopath Way, Sarah is mixing it up with a discussion on the book "Different" by Harvard Business School Professor Youngme Moon.Professor Moon talks about the increasingly small differences between competitors in different niches throughout her book. Sarah and Technopath's Strategic Assistant, Allyson, discuss how the points Professor Moon makes in her book might apply to nonprofits, especially as it pertains to their marketing or outreach efforts.Take-aways:- It can be hard to avoid comparison and 'shiny-object syndrome' when you start looking around at other organizations in your space. Take inspiration from them, but realize you should be striving to be radically different to serve the largest amounts of people possible.- Sometimes internal processes are the best ways to set yourself apart in your field. Are you living out your stated values within your organization?- Try making connections with other nonprofits, businesses or organizations that might not be an intuitive fit for your nonprofit. It might surprise you how much extra engagement you get from people who haven't happened into your orbit before.Curious about the music video idea Sarah mentions in this episode? Check it out for yourself - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jij22c6DYCc