Technology Tools and Trends: How to make them work for you

My CharityConnects 2011

Jane Zhang

We help nonprofits use technology to achieve their full

potential. We do this by lowering the barriers to

technology through access to tools, knowledge, training

and talent.

A walk down memory lane…

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Web 2.0 Tools

• Twitter

• Facebook

• Newsletters

• Blogs

• RSS Feeds

• Social bookmarking

• Google Alerts

• Portability

• Connectivity

• Convergence

• Integration

• Progressing towards abundance and complexity

• Cloud

• Mobile

• CRMs

• On-demand Business intelligence

• Collaboration

• Social

• Apps

Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing

Benefit

• Less maintenance & upgrades

• No need for dedicated IT staff

• Lowers the cost of IT infrastructure

• Portable technology, greater mobility for staff

• Security

Drawbacks

• No control over maintenance & upgrades

• No control over user fees

• Increased cost for access

• On-demand may not be on-demand

• Lease vs Own

• Security & Privacy

Cloud Computing tools

• Google Apps (office productivity)

• Salesforce (CRM)

• Box.net/Dropbox (file sharing)

• Manymoon (Project Management)

• SlideRocket (online presentation)

mobile

• Fastest growing consumer product

• 22.8 Million subscribers

• 99% coverage of Canadians

• 75% have cell phones

• 50% phone connections are wireless

• 21% browse the internet

Mobile

Benefit • Mobile can reach most

Canadians (Mobile Giving) • Convergence of technology

allows for live capture of events, pictures, video, live blogging

• Tools such as group SMS can allow for instant real-time messaging to mobilize large groups of people

• Mobile Apps shifts from fixed connectivity to mobile

• Mobile Website

Drawbacks

• Cost of smart phones, data plans

• Cost of app development

• Security

Mobile tools

• Group SMS: Ez texting

– $10/month ~290 messages

– $149/month ~4700 message

• Mobile Giving Foundation Canada

– Glue between charity & wireless provider

– Vetting charity, pass 100% donations back to the charity from wireless carriers

• Paypal

CRMs

CRMs

Benefit

• Tracks relationships with our funders, volunteers, donors, members, public

• Help to identify champions, individuals engaged on multiple levels

• Capture organizational data for reporting

• Identify gaps in program & Service

Drawbacks

• Can be costly to implement

• Must have buy-in from all levels of organization

• Cost of customization

• Must integrate with organizational processes

• Training, staff time

Popular CRMS

• Wild Apricot

• Sumac

• SugarCRM

• CiviCRM

• Salesforce

• Raiser’s Edge

• Convio

On-demand Business Intelligence

On-demand BI

Benefit

• In-sight into how an organization is doing

• Real-time data to enable more agile decision making

• Hosted services allow for easy upload and quick analysis of data

• Allows for easier reporting

Drawbacks

• Data by itself is not insight, but have clear goals for outcome

• Privacy and security of hosted services

• Can be difficult to implement well

Tools for Insight

• BI-On demand

• Jaspersoft

• Crystal Reports

• Salesforce

Collaboration

Collaboration

Benefit

• Breaks down geographical barriers

• Reduce travel cost

• Real-time documentation of project development

• Reduce # of emails and drafts of documents

Drawbacks

• Staff time required for training

• Broadband internet/3G access

• Voice/video quality

• Not true replacement for face-to-face interactions

Tools for collaboration

• ManyMoon (Project Management) • SAP Streamwork (team management) • Google Apps • Smartsheet • Dropbox/Box.net • SlideRocket • Skype • Gotomeeting/GotoWebinar • Adobe Connect

Social

• Integration of Social with mobile, offline events, existing communication channels to weave together better engagement

Single Sign-on

QR Codes

Social

Benefit

• Hub of conversation, it’s where the people are

• When integrated with CRMs and other tools, can significantly increase reach and strength of messaging

• Help to build better brand

• Gives organization personality, emotional connection point

Drawbacks

• Short lived messages, can get lost in the noise

• When not integrated with communication strategy, can have limited impact

• Staff time, and proper guideline required

Tools to Manage Social Media

• Hootsuite

• TweetDeck

• Google Analytics

• Klout

Apps

Apps

Benefit

• No need to install software

• Less need for dedicated IT staff

• On-demand, access anywhere

• Cross platform

Drawbacks

• Early adopter stage, still need to develop best practices

• App overload

• Functionality thin, not replacement for enterprise software

• Cost of access

• Hard to organize, security?

How do we decide what trend to follow and how to make it work?

Goal Setting

• Be SMART, set goals for your organization

• Start with intent, add attainable #, benchmark, set measuring metrics, evaluate

• Go through the SmartChart process

• www.smartchart.org

•Staff Buy-in •Training •Recruitment •Budget •Time commitment

•Roadmap •Simplification •Automation •Capacity

•Budget •Scalability •Open Source vs Proprietary •Cloud vs In-house •Data Portability

Resources

• MyCharityConnects Slideshare channel

• TechSoup Canada Webinar

– June 15th, 1pm

Questions?

• jane@techsoupcanada.ca

• www.techsoupcanada.ca

• Toronto Net Tuesday

– June 14th, Digital Story Telling