This is all about change management, and it requires clear goals and a plan to get there. The culture of an organization is so important and hard to change without a framework and real accountability. There are a million books on the topic. I've found Managing Transitions by Bridges and Bridges to be helpful.
Tableau Foundation leverages their own software to create a dynamic annual report that updates weekly.. Pretty interesting if you know your way around the software!
https://www.tableau.com/solutions/gallery/tableau-foundation-living-annual-report
Yikes, glad you managed to squeeze it into the word limit! I understand why they set word limits, but sometimes it's just brutal and you feel like you have to squeeze all of the life out of your writing and all of the details out of the project to make it fit.
If I've got my final piece and it's more than 100 words over limit, I know I've got to cut content, once its under 100 I start nitpicking for phrasing, word choice, and things like splitting sentences into two so I can eliminate connector words. I usually put the paragraph or letter into http://www.hemingwayapp.com/ and remove all adverbs, rephrase passive voice sentences into shorter active voice sentences, and replace complex words with shorter, less descriptive words (when there's a character limit, if it's a word limit then I'll keep it interesting). I usually write funding applications in first person (I know not everyone does), so replacing the three-word org name with we/our also helps.
CiviCRM has to be installed as a plugin in one of the following content management systems (CMS) -WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal. It's free, but the user interface is a little blahh. But it's feature rich though. The website does have a demo you can try out. It's a good try if you do not want to spend any money on a CRM system yet. It can be installed on a local web server (on premise) or if you the organization's website has a CMS as stated it can be added there. If I find others I will list them here. Anyone want to give their thoughts about CiviCRM?
Also consider adding in some images and graphic design to the doc, just to break up the text. For example, when you mention your app, include a picture!
I do still think you should try to shorten your text a little. You're using a lot of words but I think you could express the same ideas in shorter phrases. (This is something I struggle with too!) One thing that helps me is using a text editor like http://www.hemingwayapp.com/. It identifies where you're using long sentences, adverbs, and big words and suggests alternatives. Might help you cut down on your word count!
This is an amazing initiative and I wish you all the luck!
I don't know if this will be helpful but FreeCodeCamp is a website that allows people to learn how to code and help nonprofits. NPOs can post a project they need to have done, and "freecodecampers" will come together to make it happen with what they have learned (it's free because they are learning + it helps with their portfolio).
However, I am unsure on how to get your project posted. You could contact FreeCodeCamp see how it works!
Edit: here's a link to the website.
Or make an Airtable, which has a template for donation tracking and can be set up to include a form feature.
You could use an automated service like Zapier or Integromat.
It also looks like you could do something with Google apps/spreadsheet https://developers.google.com/workspace/solutions/content-signup
Airtable has several CRM templates, but the beauty of this product is that it allows you to create the product you need. Very useful software, very free, cloud based.
I wrote this article on this exact topic. What I Wish I'd Known: Tips for a New Nonprofit Executive Director. I think I'm reading the rules right that this is ok to post. If the moderators need to axe it, I understand. Edited: Removed bit.ly link and added this full link per moderator: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-i-wish-id-known-tips-new-nonprofit-executive-jonathan-darr-king?articleId=6060460387428478976
As for encouragement: I see this work, the work of creating healthy organizations having a positive impact, as such a privilege. Sometimes it's tough and other times impossible, but sometimes we really do powerful, important, valuable work with people who are really invested in change, health, art, advocacy, systems change, etc.
Pro Tip: Do not stop talking to other ED's, experienced board members, and those most affected by or connected to the work.
Last one for now: Manage expectations. Don't promise a billion dollar endowment by year three. Everyone should support your effort to take this on and that means, in some ways going slow to go fast.
Hello, I'm a young motion graphic designer currently looking to do some voluntary work for non-profit organizations of any field.
Among some of the work I can do:
If you choose to work with me you can expect full dedication and commitment from my part. I'll do my best to provide you with high quality content that will respect and further strengthen your cause/brand.
Feel free to contact me directly at:
Example of my work: https://vimeo.com/121730346
And some more recent .gif's I uploaded to my dribbble profile: https://dribbble.com/pedro_mdp
A few things to note:
If all they want to do is have a custom form, stripe will let them do what they want.
Unless they are ready to become a card processor and deal with all the regulations associated with that, credit card payments generally go through a third party. Even if they set up a merchant account, the merchant account will still go through a third party, such as authorize.net.
The difference with stripe and most merchant accounts, compared with something like paypal, is that those solutions have APIs to let you fully integrate and customize the look of forms on your website.
To my knowledge, there are no free credit card payment processing systems out there. The lowest rate I'm aware of is Paypal's 501(c)3 discount which is 2.2% + $0.30 USD per transaction (fee is slightly different in other countries) - however, if you're planning on doing a swipe transaction, this fee is higher.
More info here: https://www.paypal.com/ca/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/Marketing/merchant/NonProfitsFAQ-outside
It's a policy for organizational accounts. Maybe individual are different, I'm not sure.
https://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/investing/accounts_products/accounts/organizational_account
> (You must meet a $250,000 relationship minimum to qualify for either application.)
Are you using something like WordPress or Drupal for your site? There are plugins/modules for a number of payment processors to make it easier to start accepting contributions. PayPal, Stripe, Baintree, and 2checkout are some of the established names. The fee structures are pretty similar (or they were the last time I checked), so I'd suggest go with whichever seems to have the best options for integrating with your site.
Just getting started? PayPal is quick and easy and has solid integrations with the big CMS applications. The good thing is that you can always change your processor later on.
If you're going to be using accepting online payments, and your organization doesn't have a membership/constituent database already, you could consider installing CiviCRM for a more full-featured fundraising package. There are extensions available for a number of different payment processors.
Wave Accounting is free accounting software. It can integrate/pull in transaction from most banks.
You might see if a local CPA would be willing to help you with your 990 pro bono.
We were using zigihub.com in our previous NP firm they might give you good discount offer and currently we are working on hubspot.com but it might be too expensive
I've run board meetings using Zoom Video Conferencing: https://zoom.us/ . It's highly effective. Each Board member will need to join using his/her own laptop or tablet with an internet connection, as well as an operating video camera, speakers, and microphone. There is also a dial-in option. You will need a professional account which costs $99/yr. Well worth the investment.
My suggestion would be to use find either an open source survey platform like Lime Survey for your website{they have a free self hosted edition or a paid edition}. That way you can direct people to your website to fill out the form. You can track Lime Survey with Google Analytics. There probably are some commercial platforms like Survey Monkey you can use as well.
​
But you want the live feedback component. I am sure you could get this with some type of custom development with the APIs if they are available.
Another strategy, which avoids cookie notification: Don't set cookies to start with.
Often cookies are not necessary, unless you do advanced tracking. For example, Matomo can be configured to disable all cookies, while still deliver perfectly useful visitor statistics. As a bonus, you can host it on your own server, and not share your users' data with a third-party.
What kind of cookies are being set, apart from the ones you already mentioned?
Theres definitely something really interesting to note about this campaign in regards its virality, structure, and self-organization.
It seems like the ease of sharing coupled with it's "stickiness" (as per The Tipping Point/Made to Stick) has led to the success of the ice bucket challenge. That's just basic network theory though, I am curious to see if it could be replicated in some way.
To speculate a little deeper, it takes advantage of a couple recently common social trends: short videos to post across most social media ( ease of sharing), viral challenges a la cinnamon challenge etc. ( people want to participate )
Currently the IRS has an approximately yearlong backlog for processing 501c3 applications. There is a term called "fiscal sponsorship" in which you work with an existing registered nonprofit and get the benefit of their nonprofit status (it's more complicated than that, but that's the gist). Local foundations you approach may even offer that themselves.
My general warning to the very common "how do I start a nonprofit?" question on r/nonprofit is: do you want to run a program, or do you want to run an organization. These are very, very different activities and require different skills and levels of commitment. I think successful young organizations require a mix of people: the empathetic idealist (programs) and the practical paper-pushing manager (organization). You need both.
Also, this is just me, but you should read "The Lean Startup". It's kinda businessy, but I think the "fake it till you make it" (do it on the small scale with little resources or management process, then try to scale up) approach to organization building is helpful.
Sounds like if you need this updated, you are probably overdue for a website facelift, too? If you even have a website?
I recommend contacting the people over at Free Code Camp. In order to graduate, their students have to make a (free) website for a nonprofit so ask to be put on that list. A membership system with payment options would likely be included.
Or, as someone else pointed out, use a simple CMS -- I recommend Wordpress (dot org). There will no doubt be an easy fix plugin available there for your donations issue.
One of the nonprofits I work with changed from a walk-in basis to an appoitment scheduling. They saw an improvement in their operations as well as it kept the people they are helping safer and happier because they aren't waiting to get help. If you're looking for scheduling software checkout one of these two options:
Attention all nonprofiteers, I want you to help me, help you stuff your stockings!
I want to update and improve an old ebook on simplifying membership management and need your feedback to make it better.
If you are on the board, work, run, or volunteer in a nonprofit organization, association or club, I'd love to hear your two cents on what you think of this Simplify Membership Management ebook, and how I can make it better.
All you need to do is read the ebook, answer the phone when I call, and chat for 15 mins. As a thank you, I help you stuff your stockings with a free $10 Amazon gift card. How does that sound?
Click here to pick a 15-minute time slot and I’ll give you a call.
Thanks!
I did a white elephant type gift exchange a couple of years ago at my previous org.
I bought Everybody Poops 410 Pounds a Year: An Illustrated Bathroom Companion for Grown-Ups. The guy who ended up getting it was actually the perfect person because he's a trivia wizard; he led trivia nights at local pubs and really appreciated the (shitty) knowledge he was about to gain.
If you don't find one to your liking please consider Plaza Community Services. www.plazacs.org We are currently sponsoring free clothing and food drives for the needy in Los Angles once a week and could use some financial help with the overhead. https://vimeo.com/46639918 thank you for caring about others.
Another issue I had with the salvation army was transparency.
They don't file or publicize the information in form 990: https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Form_990
How is the federal government responding to homelessness and protecting housing during the COVID19 crisis? Sam Moss of San Francisco’s Mission Housing and Laura Foote of Yimby Action are doing a Q&A with Diane Yentel, CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition on April 15th! Tune in!
https://www.facebook.com/events/532633297440790
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/vpIufuivrDwi0PHmugzv0XDIj7SyAY5CxA
GoDaddy has an issue with transparency and ethics. You can find bad reviews all over the Internet, but this is true to almost every company. I would not recommend giant companies; instead, use a web host that's ethical and transparent to their customers.
In this case, your options are GreenGeeks (Have used their host for years before moving to Dedicated Server) or Wordpress.com; from my experience, both are great. But it's back again to your NGO needs.
Hope this helps
If you have a neighborhood NextDoor message board ( https://nextdoor.com/) or Facebook Marketplace access in your area, send out a call for books. Arrange a convenient space to have people drop off books, and just wait for the avalanche. In my experience, people hate to throw books away, thrifts stores get too many to keep, this would be a wonderful way to get a fairly steady stream of books donated. (Re-up the request once a month to keep them coming in/)
Try posting as well to Canadian Nonprofit Technology LinkedIn group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/Canadian-Nonprofit-Technology-4397085
And perhaps you may be interested in this week's Pints Not Profits gathering in Toronto: http://pintsnotprofits.tumblr.com/
Interested in a tech job related to social good? Check out WeAreImpactful.org for a constantly updated database full of tech opportunities (research, funding, grants, internships) in social good! Impactful has an ever-growing list of jobs, internships, fellowships, funding, research opportunities, and organizations; and a <strong>Slack community</strong> for peer support and weekly discussions on tech + social good. We want to support anyone who wants to use tech for environmental and social good (i.e. tackle climate change issues, empower marginalized communities, help nonprofits, NGOs, etc. work smarter & faster, etc.). In light of recent events, if you happen to know of any high-tech / data-driven organizations that work on issues of racial equity, please let me know so that I can add them to Impactful's database!
That's partly the premise of "Winner Takes All" .
Regarding your first sentence, it remind me of the assumption that racial equity must be a zero-sum game, i.e. if another group gain, that means my group must necessarily lose. My non-fiction book club votes on books to read and one book brought up for a future vote was the best-seller by Heather McGee "The Sum of Us", which argues that racism and inequity has negative consequences for everyone, including the group/ people on the top.
https://smile.amazon.com/Sum-Us-Everyone-Prosper-Together/dp/0525509569?sa-no-redirect=1
You might want to look into project management software in addition to software specifically for volunteers.
Are you looking just to maintain schedules, or does each volunteer's work get passed down the line for more work by another volunteer?
For scheduling that will remain consistent, you may want to just stick with excel.
If it's more complicated than that and the issue is time management, who's handing what off when, etc. you may want to look here and try out a few programs to see what functionality you could use. Important stuff to look for might be the ability to input schedules, create network charts to designate workflow, and assign individuals to those nodes, etc.
edit: I'm diong government stuff professionally right now. I keep track of our contractors, who do all this stuff for themselves, so I don't have as much direct experience as I'd like. But I do keep track of when each of their employees have worked, and I manage to do it in excel with some exported spreadsheets that they provide. Another good idea might be to check with other local NGOs in similar demographic or who work in a slightly different niche than you do. Perhaps you can find out from them how they cope with the same issues and share a license if you have similar needs.
Two months ago, we were on the ground when our state was hit by the worst floods of the century.
Several NGOs stepped in– to rescue and rebuild a state that was neck-deep in water.
No one had the time, nor resources to coordinate data collection effectively. People were giving it their best shot, but it wasn’t uncommon to see NGO Facebook pages and celebrity fan pages flooded with desperate SOS calls and rescue requests. We intend to fix that.
Starting today, we are giving away our data collection platform to NGOs for an entire year at no costs at all: https://surveysparrow.com/we-care-for-ngo/
If you are a non-NGO, you can help by sharing the news. This Thanksgiving season, help us spread our thanks! Let the free accounts reach the right hands!
I have a solid pick for you: Kayako. Its social CRM software solution is amongst the best in the market, because it is easy to use, powerful, versatile and designed to meet the needs of modern business and customer service support. Do you know what makes it even better? You can a demo totally free by clicking here: https://www.kayako.com/demo-request
This modern and powerful social CRM solution allows you to handle your social media channels with ease and efficiency, so you can get more results using less time and resources. Your customer service support team will love it, because it will allow them to handle multi-channel conversations without problems, understand the context of the customer, route conversations easily to other members and more!
Kayako designed this software with customer satisfaction in mind, and hence, you will have an easy time making your customers feel totally satisfied, and therefore, they will become loyal fans and promoters who will defend your brand and boost your reputation.
As it is easy to use, and along the many useful features that it comes with, your team will be able to do more in less time, and therefore, you will boost the productivity of your company. Your customers will be more satisfied and you will save lots of time and resources... what can be better than that?
Don't wait more and request your demo today, because I'm sure that you will love what Kayako can do for your business!
I've used a Gmail add on called Streak quite a few times as a sort of CRM and love it. It has its limitations for the free version so be aware that you're limited in the number of items that flow through the pipeline but there are workarounds for that (move them to a new pipeline when they are "inactive" or archived for instance).
What I like about streak: (1) Native: it is an add-on for gmail so it lives in a place that you visit on a daily basis (2) Customizeable: set up like a smart spreadsheet, you can customize what goes in the rows and columns. Each row opens to a "box" which then can attach files, email threads (that can be auto-pulled from your inbox if you set criteria), and hold notes (3) Visibilty: it's really simple for a manager of the system to see who has done what and where everything stands without having to ask. (4) "Mobility": it has an app
Like I said, it has its limitations but I found it really handy for very small nonprofit grant management (on the free version) and for lead-tracking at a slightly larger scale real estate company (on the paid version).
EDIT: Interestingly enough Reddit Co-Founder, Alexis Ohanian is one of the investors
We're also currently using CiviCRM and Mailchimp. I've heard rumblings that there's an integration (https://civicrm.org/extensions/mailchimp-civicrm-integration), but we haven't implemented it, so we have to do everything manually. We update our Master List fairly frequently and segment/tag from there depending on the communication opt-ins and -outs of members. There are a lot of issues with doing it this way, the main being that when people opt-out via MC's unsubscribe, their member record in Civi remains the same. If they ever wanted to opt back in to a communication, well, MC has already marked them as do-not-contact.
Without knowing anything about the integration, I have to think a lot of how/if it works depends on how you've built your database and the logic of how communication preferences are written.
Totally understandable! I bet that there are some (thankless) roles that would be easy to hire contractor(s) for. Maybe it's carving out two or three tasks that an outsider could do?
I'm not that well-versed on the middle ground either, but seems like there are some folks here who might have some thoughts on that.
Edit: one thought is using a website like Upwork.com, which has independent contractors, including people who do administration. That could take time to find (and try out) the right person, but would be clean and legal.
So I found a list of related options in the "human services" software realm. I think there's a great deal of confusion in the term "outcome tracking software" and how it may apply to social services. Apparently even social service agencies don't use the same vocabulary for that.
I work for a small non profit as well. This software has worked brilliantly. Does everything Quick Books does but better. Slight learning curve but nothing you can’t handle. Oh, and it’s 100% free and open source.
It's not a package, but Hubspot has a great collection of free stock photos that they offer with no restrictions: http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/75-free-stock-photos-im-ht
Also check out https://unsplash.com/, super high quality images all licensed under a Creative Commons Zero license.
I'm a big fan of Bitwarden. I've only ever used a free personal account, but I did look into the pricing and functionality of their Business accounts and I would probably try them out first. https://bitwarden.com/#organizations
LMS for low-resource contexts / LMS Startups -
Hi everyone,
Created this account for work. My education org is pivoting quickly to build a few distance learning solutions for the youth we serve in Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. One such solution will be based on a lite mobile LMS and we're having trouble finding the right platform.
We've built a pilot on Easy LMS and have explored a few other well-knowns like Moodle, but are facing some challenges in our low-resource context for users with limited tech experience. Anyone that we speak to can customize the platform for us, but only up to a point, understandably. In terms of scale, we're likely to reach over 1M users after getting endorsed by a few govt ministries and professional associations.
Our specific challenges are:
Any thoughts regarding any of these hurdles or do any great LMS startups or resources for building great ed tech in EiE contexts come to mind? Let me know if I'm not making any sense here, I can dig in deeper with my team! Ed tech is a new world for me. Super appreciate any help!
That's pretty ambitious, you could also approach local businesses and colleges to see if they'd be willing to either loan you some equipment or sponsor you.
It sounds like you're more interested in hardware, but have you considered teaching coding? I've been playing around with scratch lately, the visual coding language created at MIT, and i think it's great for kids. https://scratch.mit.edu/ but I have no idea what age group you're working with.
The rule across the board seems to be: Post regularly. Don't fuss over much about the quality of the post. Consistency and certainty are greater than irregular, high-quality. For example, I would hem and haw over every instagram post, working on an informative, well-written "quality" captions, posting once/twice a week. When I was essentially forced to post one photo a day, there was no time for real captions.
Our following never grew so quick. Some of our more liked & shared posts came from the quantity not quality approach.
This is really about instagram, but I found it helpful in strategizing when to post:
To reiterate The_Nubbin's comment, yes you are able to mail merge using Google Sheets and Google Docs by using an add-on such as Mail Merge - Quick Solution: https://workspace.google.com/marketplace/app/mail_merge/218858140171
If you need help setting this up, please let me know and I can try and set it up for you. I've set up automated certificates using an add-on on Google Forms and Google Sheets so I anticipate this process would be similar.
Is there a reason you prefer Google Sheets vs. Microsoft Excel?
Thanks.
CRM is a good start for basic mail merges but an interesting idea is trying to fully automate it using Zapier. A hack for eTap is running a donation query, exporting it, and uploading it into a Google Sheet. Then with Zapier, you'd automate each new row to pass it over to Lob. Lob automatically would do the mailing for you so you'd shift the internal costs externally: https://zapier.com/apps/google-sheets/integrations/lob
Certainly not for everyone but worth exploring. Some CRMs just outright connect to Zapier, removing the download step.
I did a quick google search, and it doesn't look like 10to8 is an outlier. Seems like their pricing is pretty on par with other services, and honestly $250-$500/year for a service that your programming revolves around really isn't a whole lot.
It sounds like the organizational challenge is really the ED mismanaging funds, and the board should be taking action up to and including terminating that person. If the organization is to the point that their $500/year subscription can't be renewed, and they lost a major grant, that's a pretty serious issue.
Airtable has a template for this, but like most templates it's basic and requires some futher customization. https://airtable.com/templates/nonprofits-and-volunteering/expwzMEi50HFbV7TN/nonprofit-grant-tracker
Get the Jossey-Bass book on nonprofits. It's thick but covers a LOT. This was required reading in my grad program. I'm sure you can find a used one for cheap.
The Jossey-Bass Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and Management (Essential Texts for Nonprofit and Public Leadership and Management) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118852966/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_4XSVJRGATYM6QTJJ19S2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Greetings!
I am part of an organization called 'Social Lab' in Kosovo. We have developed a comprehensive sexual education mobile application for youngsters aged 13-21.
It is called "Shnet" and it is available to download it in both the iOS and Android stores for free and without adds.
It's in English, Albanian and Serbian language.
You can check it out and tell us what you think! Maybe even share it with young people you are working with.
Android: ➡️https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shnet
Apple: ➡️https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shnet/id1439130934?ls=1&mt=8.
Masking your browsing identity or location is actually a minor use case for a VPN. In a professional context the primary purpose is to make sure that your traffic is encrypted from your machine to whatever endpoint you choose. It prevents your data from being sniffed when you're using unencrypted lines and protocols, like email over hotel wifi.
I personally think that a VPN is just basic security procedure, and not something you should do without.
I use Private Internet Access and have found their speeds to be excellent, but there are a number of good providers out there.
I agree with your trustee, get it and use it religiously.
The cover looked cheesy, but I actually found this book quite helpful. Wished it had come in print. https://www.amazon.ca/Monthly-Giving-Sleeping-Powerful-Organization-ebook/dp/B00BEYXFVC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1529626615&sr=1-1
There can be technical issues. Connection, resources (iops/cpu/disks - if there is more than one resource-intensive service).
One does need something more than just a regular backup.
Add: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Capacity-Planning-Scaling-Resources/dp/1491939206/ (offtopic)
Get him a set of hiking clothes from REI.
Hey! I'm studying program development for my masters in macro social work right now and recommend the book Trying Hard Is Not Good Enough. https://www.amazon.com/Trying-Hard-Good-Enough-Anniversary/dp/1516971620
Of course you should take the results based approach with a grain of salt - not everything is about results. But it's a helpful way of thinking for grants and forming your model.
Just a quick recommendation that you read about the Carver Model of Board Governance. (I have no connection to anything Carver.) I used it once to successfully establish the proper boundaries between the board and the ED.
One of the issues for Directors in a not-for-profit is they get asked to play two roles -- operational volunteers and governors. To get around this, I create committees and the rule is operations can be discussed at committees, but governance is discussed at the board level.