The Technopath Way: Productivity through tech for nonprofits

Never miss an episode or recap again! Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: https://www.technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upOne of the things that is often left out or at least not easy to organize when dealing with technology is documentation. Specifically training documentation. Last year around this time one of my students from our masterclass came to office hours and showed us this tool that blew my mind. I am so pleased to have the CEO of that amazing tool, Scribe, here to tell us about not only how the tool works and how it was developed, but also how it can benefit nonprofits and you!Here are some of my key take-aways from our chat:Traditional methods of creating documentation can take hours, but using Scribe has given people HOURS of their lives backIterate - the first version you create of anything is going to be simplistic. Keep building on it and incorporating feedback, whether that’s a tech tool you’re developing or a nonprofit program you’ve just launched.Think deeply about the problem you are solving and for whom, don’t just build something because you think it’s coolShare your knowledge! Your whole organization will benefit from your insider tips and short cutsGet started with Scribe here: https://scribehow.comThanks for joining us today, Jennifer!P.S. Looking for expert guidance, step-by-step visual instructions and comprehensive video explanations to help prepare you to take the Nonprofit Cloud Consultant Exam with confidence? Check out a free preview here: https://coda.io/d/NPSP-Study-Guide-Preview-by-Technopath_dB7GHMLpEhi/Overview_su0UHHave you tried Sunsama? Get your first three weeks free with our link: https://www.sunsama.com/a/technopath

Never miss an episode or recap again! Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: https://www.technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upThank you to this week's sponsor, Sunsama! Have you tried Sunsama? It's one of Sarah's favorite tools to organize her day and get everything done. Her favorite feature? The warning that pops up when she plans too many hours of work tasks to be able to accomplish in 8 work hours a day.Get your first three weeks free with our link: https://www.sunsama.com/a/technopathWhat do we mean when we say ‘program management’ in terms of Salesforce for nonprofits? Programs are what nonprofits are really all about. They are what nonprofits actually do to serve their constituents. For instance, a nonprofit vision clinic could have a program where they provide free eye exams to children, another program where they provide free eye exams to teenagers, and a third program that accepts donated eye glasses.Today our discussion will focus on the current landscape of program and case management tools out there. Whether it’s a workforce development, a food bank, or an after-school program, any human service program needs to be able to track how the humans they are serving are doing as a result of the nonprofit’s programs. After today’s episode you’ll walk away with a better understanding of why process mapping is crucial to running a sustainable nonprofit, how to get started mapping your organization’s processes and how a program management expert translates these processes into Salesforce.Joining us for this discussion is Matt Henry. Matt is an expert in technologies that help nonprofits run their programs more efficiently. He currently runs his own nonprofit consulting firm, Ascendably, where he helps nonprofits implement and maintain their Salesforce orgs and zero in on their processes.Key Takeaways:Always start by writing out all processes. You’ll be shocked at how many different interpretations there are of certain steps between staff members.Once you’ve written out processes it’s much easier to figure out how to streamline them or even add in a completely new process or program.Try elements.cloud, Lucidchart, or draw.io to create a visual representation of your processesWatch Matt map out a nonprofit’s processes in real time in the free webinar pinned at the top of our free community NPSP Academy: https://npsp-academy.mn.co/share/nxvxYbrrqeCqJ_yb?utm_source=manualMatt uses Sunsama every day to organize his most pressing tasks and keep himself on track as an independent consultant with many projects going at once. Try it today: https://www.sunsama.com/a/technopath

Never miss an episode or recap again! Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: https://www.technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upWe love learning here at Technopath which is why we are so excited to welcome Alexander Lapa as today’s guest! This week we’re hearing about his journey to help nonprofits with Salesforce and subsequent adventure building a tax receipting app for Canadian nonprofits using Salesforce. If you’ve wondered how those apps your Salesforce org uses, make it from idea all the way into the App Exchange, this episode is for you! Alex walks us through his experience and answers Sarah’s questions about the process.Curious about how Sarah gets it all done as a business owner while balancing her health and social life? Check out her secret weapon, Sunsama, here http://www.sunsama.com/a/technopathHer favorite part is the alerts that let you know when you’ve scheduled more work tasks than could fit into your set work hours for the day!

Never miss an episode or recap again! Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: https://www.technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upNonprofits need to stay in touch with their donors, volunteers, and members to keep them engaged and informed. And with so many communication channels available, email remains one of the most effective and cost-efficient ways to do so. But managing email campaigns can be time-consuming and resource-intensive, especially for small nonprofits.That's where email automation comes in. With email automation tools, nonprofits can streamline their email campaigns, save time, and provide a more personalized experience for their audience. If your nonprofit uses Salesforce as its CRM, there are several email automation options that you can integrate with it.To talk about this, we’ve brought someone on with a ton of expertise in Salesforce email tools: Aaron Beatty. Aaron recently founded Engage Evolution to design solutions for marketing cloud, pardot for nonprofits and other industries as well after years of experience helping other companies achieve these goals in house.In this episode Sarah and Aaron get into brass tacks about email service providers, email automation and even Salesforce connected tools that can help with push messaging, SMS messaging and scheduling and tracking your social media. Talk about an all-around tool!Some Key Take-Aways:Build the strategy before you build the toolKnow exactly what it is you’re lookin to use the data or automations for before you engage an implementation partnerHave marketing and sales stakeholders involved in the planning and implementation of new tools to make sure they are going to solve the actual problems those departments are facing. If you wait until the tool is built to simply train them on it you’re likely to realize you’ve missed crucial questions or data points.Create hyper-personalized emails for recipients beyond the traditional mail merge/Name fields. What information do you already have about this person? Have they filled out interest surveys? Come to specific topic based webinars? Use that information to send only truly relevant content and your open rates will soarIf you are a Salesforce Admin looking to get into Marketing Cloud, the best way to do this is with on the job trainingRemember, you have loads of transferrable skills as an Admin that will help you with Marketing Cloud, the skills to really focus on are the soft skills: communication, understanding your clients’ pain points, digging into feature requests and helping them think through their toolsIf you want access to Sarah and everything Technopath is doing, be sure to join our free community to gain more clairty and confidence with helping nonprofits with Salesforce tech: https://npsp-academy.mn.co/share/nxvxYbrrqeCqJ_yb?utm_source=manual

Never miss an episode or recap again! Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: https://www.technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upOverselling: What is it? How do we avoid it? What do we do if it happens to us?Nonprofits are often approached by software salespeople promising to revolutionize their work and streamline their operations. However, it's not uncommon for these salespeople to oversell what their software can do. They may make claims that aren't accurate or that the software can't deliver. This can be especially dangerous for nonprofits who often have limited resources and can't afford to invest in software that doesn't meet their needs.By taking these steps, nonprofit organizations can make informed decisions about software purchases and avoid overselling. It's important to take the time to evaluate software products carefully to ensure that they meet the organization's needs and expectations. If you are a consultant, be sure to heed these warnings.There are several warning signs that a salesperson may be overselling a software product to a nonprofit organization, including:Promising too much: If the salesperson is making unrealistic claims about the capabilities or benefits of the software, this may be a red flag that they are overselling.SHOW DON’T TELL! If they say it can do it, say let me see it before I sign the contract.Focusing on the sale, not the needs of the nonprofit: If the salesperson seems more interested in closing the deal than in understanding the nonprofit's unique needs and goals, this may be a sign that they are overselling.Not providing detailed information: If the salesperson is unwilling or unable to provide detailed information about the software's features, functions, and limitations, this may be a sign that they are overselling.Pressuring for a quick decision: If the salesperson is pushing for a quick decision or trying to rush the nonprofit into signing a contract, this may be a sign that they are overselling.Making promises that can't be backed up: If the salesperson is making promises that seem too good to be true or that they can't back up with evidence or references, this may be a sign that they are overselling.Ignoring the nonprofit's questions or concerns: If the salesperson is not listening to the nonprofit's questions or concerns, or is dismissive of their feedback, this may be a sign that they are overselling.Pushing add-ons or upgrades: If the salesperson is recommending expensive add-ons or upgrades that are not necessary for the nonprofit's needs, this may be a sign that they are overselling.Tips to Avoid Being Oversold:Clearly define your needs and requirements before engaging with software salespeople. This will help you identify the features and functionality that are essential to your organization.Ask for demos and trials before committing to anything. This will allow you to see the software in action and get a better sense of its capabilities.Check references and read reviews from other nonprofits who have used the software. This can give you a better idea of whether the software meets the needs of organizations like yours.Don't be afraid to negotiate. Software salespeople may be willing to work with you on pricing or feature sets if you ask.What to Do If It Happens to YouEven with the best research and due diligence, it's still possible to be oversold by a software salesperson. We’ve seen this happen before at smaller nonprofits where an executive or even volunteer purchases a product quickly to meet an urgent need. If you find yourself in that situation, here are a few steps you can take:First, be honest with the salesperson about your concerns. Explain the specific features or functionality that you were promised but that the software doesn't deliver.Ask if there are workarounds or alternative solutions that can be used to address your needs. Solution architechts are creative people. That’s why they built the app in the first place! They could get the clearance to design something for you that would benefit many nonprofits.If the salesperson is unable or unwilling to address your concerns, escalate the issue to a manager or supervisor. They may have more authority to offer a solution or disappointingly refund.Links Mentioned during the episode:Episode 210 - How to Choose a Database for Your Nonprofit:https://www.spreaker.com/user/15193886/pros-and-cons-of-salesforce-for-nonprofiArticle by Paul Ginsberg and Eli Kaufman evaluating CRMs:https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/nonprofits-when-salesforce-great-choice-paul-ginsberg/?trackingId=pPt8H7tlRd6fM4Da4Lr9Og%3D%3DDigital Wireframing Resources:LucidChart - https://www.lucidchart.com/pages/elements.cloudFind a webinar Sarah hosted with Matt Henry showing how to use elements.cloud to outline an actual nonprofit’s needs in our community Lunch and Learn recordings: npsp.academy.mn.co

Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: https://www.technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upThis week on The Technopath Way we’re listening in on a collaborative discussion Sarah had at Salesforce Saturday with other Salesforce enthusiasts who are wondering about how ChatGPT and AI will change daily Admin tasks. Should we be incorporating it ourselves? Is it going to make human Admins obsolete? If you’ve been seeing all the posts about what ChatGPT and all this improved AI means for the Salesforce Ecosystem, you’ll hear a few different takes on the future of Salesforce Admins.During the discussion everyone shared about how they’ve been experimenting with ChatGPT lately. The conversation then turned to how Admins who aren’t experienced developers could use AI to help them create usable code.Some take-aways from this week’s conversation:You can ask a chat bot to explain development concepts to you and continue asking it to simplify the explanations until they’re at your level of understandingTry asking the AI to translate bits of code you aren’t sure about into something a human can read to learn what it’s supposed to be doingWhen trying to fix error codes, enter what you are trying to do along with the error code you received. The ChatGPT will likely be able to give you an explanation of what went wrong and give you possible ideas on how to fix itWarren Walters’ video Sarah mentioned:

Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: https://www.technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upDo you look around at everything you need to do - household chores, professional tasks, learning objectives - and just throw your hands up in the air instead of get down to business? It turns out most of us are in this boat at least some of the time. You know there are many things to accomplish but you somehow can’t quite get started. Maybe it feels overwhelming thinking about everything to be done, or there’s so many steps you’re not sure where to start. I recently came across a term that helped me understand these feelings in myself and put a name to what had been going on - Demand Avoidance.Demand Avoidance is rooted in anxiety which is often made worse by...... you guessed it - overwhelm.Today I am talking with Allyson Kennett about the things we are avoiding and ways we can break ourselves out of the inertia and move ourselves forward.Quick Tips to Break the Inertia:Start small, you’ll only overwhelm yourself more if you try to change everything at onceForm small habits, one or two at a time to build your consistency and truly make lasting changeJust grab the next thing you see that you need to do, and do it. Even if it’s out of order. Grab the plate sitting next to you on the table and put it in the dishwasher, that act will give you the momentum to open up Trailhead and do 10 minutes, which leads to a break through in a work task you’ve been stuck on.Some things Sarah wishes she’d put into practice before now:- Know when to cut your loses with a piece of technology and move on- 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.* Productivity Tech only works if you actually use it so don’t just pick what everyone else is saying they do, test drive the tool to see if it truly makes sense for you* Know your own weaknesses and choose tech tools that help bolster you in those areas-There’s benefits to doing A/B testing-Take things one step at a time and start small-Figure out what you want to measure and start there

Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: https://www.technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upHave you tried sending press releases, connecting with journalists and seemingly every other ‘trick in the book’ to get your organization into the news cycle only to be met with crickets? Then today’s episode with nonprofit PR expert, Nadia Tchoumi, is exactly what you need.If you’re an Awesome Admin, many of these lessons can be applied to building your personal brand and getting visible to land those coveted Salesforce roles. Be sure to listen until the very end as I’ve also recorded a special PS to give you some quick lifts to build the tracking Nadia and I talked about into a nonprofit’s Salesforce org!Nadia began her career as a journalist traveling across Canada. She often received press releases and inquiries from nonprofits about good, important work they were doing to support their communities and wanted to include all of them in her stories. Unfortunately, many of them missed the mark with their communications and didn’t end up making it into the publications they wanted. This led Nadia to eventually found New Hope Media as a place where she could help nonprofits get the visibility they needed.Tips for getting your story seen:Build relationships: Cold calling newsrooms is often not the best route. For the best chance of making it into the news cycle you’re hoping for, build relationships with the reporters, journalists or creators at the outlets you want to be in.Once you have the interview, give it legs!: Social media can be fickle for getting actual exposure, but it’s great for helping extend the reach of interviews, spotlights, or any other type of coverage you might get from traditional media. Help extend the reach of your hard earned exposure by putting it on the internet with social media!Track it: The power of tracking your PR efforts lies in helping you build deeper relationships with the organizations you want to be in and the individuals who work there. What should you be tracking when you’re trying to get noticed in bigger outlets?Who you are connecting with. Not just the organization, but the specific people thereWhat stories you’ve pitched themWhich stories they’ve picked upThe type of coverage they’ve given (positive, negative, etc)Have they come to any of your events? Engaged in any of your initiatives?Media engagement goalsGoals: Set very small, attainable media engagement goals each quarter. When you’re first starting out you shouldn’t be aiming for more than 1 engagement each quarter to build confidence and quality.Tackle your fears: Realize your own areas of expertise, value yourself and your experiences. Get outside of your comfort zone!Evaluate: How did you do communicating the core message? What happened after the interview? Not just in donations or direct emails/calls to your organization, but did you suddenly get more followers on social media? Did your website traffic spike? (Track it!)The BEST strategy: consistency. Don’t give up!Links:Find out more about how Nadia can help your organization here: www.newhopemedia.caA free resource Nadia shared to help you write better press releases: https://mailchi.mp/403b00fc23b6/3reasons

Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: https://www.technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upAre you ready to take the Nonprofit Cloud Consultant Exam? Use our checklist to find out: technopath.ac-page.com/exam-readiness-checklistThis week on The Technopath Way, Sarah is flying solo with some common pitfalls many newer Salesforce Admins face when looking for experience by volunteering at nonprofits and 8 tips on how to avoid them.Tip #1: To understand what the nonprofit needs you first need to understand nonprofits and the nonprofit success pack.If you sit down to discovery with them and you don’t understand how nonprofits function, that’s like being unprepared for an interview. Study how nonprofits work. This is why I teach about it in my training program. Nonprofits are scrutinized more than for profits — by the government, by the board, by foundations and grantmakers, by their donors, and a lot of information is public. A clean system can be the difference between getting a grant and not.Tip #2: Start with something simple, choose one pain pointKnow your time and how much you have to devote. If you bite off a big project and then realize you didn’t really have time to volunteer, you are leaving the nonprofit with a big hole. Even if your new and it is hard to gauge how long something might take, you may want to block off 4-6 hours on your calendar a week until you are done with the deliverables you’ve defined.Bonus Tip: Once you have the one pain point you are going to solve for, make sure that the feature being requested isn’t already offered for free by NPSP. Some of the NPSP solutions are too complex or are add on features that cost money. The fees for Salesforce’s donation product, Elevate, may be something the Makerspace could afford, but in the case of integrations, you want to bring them a few options and do your research.Tip #3: Don’t forget to ask them for a login!This should be the first assignment you give to the nonprofit. You got to see what you are dealing with now that you know their pain points. You may need to send them instructions on how to create a user.Bonus Tip: On a Salesforce Saturday for Nonprofits we hosted in the past, Paul Ginsberg talked about what you should do on the first day on the job of being a Salesforce admin for a non-profit. The first thing he said (and we think this is a really great tip) is to create a sandbox. This gives you a copy of exactly where the system was when you started. Also create a backup file of their data, this also gives you a file with the starting point. If you have an integration request like the one at Markerspace, create an integration user if they don’t already have one.Tip #4: Don’t fear productionA big pitfall we see in a lot of new admins is that they’ve heard the advice about ALWAYS building in a Sandbox first so much that they are scared to do anything in production. Do most things in a sandbox, but don’t be afraid to push to production. Especially for nonprofits who are not yet using the system and don’t have tons of data, you are not going to screw what they have up that much, because they don’t really have anything yet.Bonus Tip: Did you also know that if you really screw something up on you can call Salesforce and put in a case to have a system revert to a prior date. Avoid this like the plague, but know that it is possible.Tip #5: Build some reports and dashboardsThis is one of the first things you should bone up on. The only reason nonprofits want to have a system is for reports. They are scrutinized by so many different audiences and parties that they need to be able to pull reports quickly when a donor asks. They want to make strategic decisions based on donor retention and other key performance indicators and you can help them with that!The great thing about reports is that it doesn't touch any of their core system or functionality.Bonus Tip: Let them know that you can schedule reports or dashboards to come to them weekly or monthly. They might not know this.I have some lessons on easy lift reports like donor retention in the Salesforce Saturday vimeo collection. Ask your nonprofit about the kind of metrics that their board or funders ask them for. If they do have clean data, you can build reports that display things in a way that really helps them. Some things they may be struggling with if they have already started pulling reports is soft credits. It is so crucial I’ve touched on it in multiple Salesforce Saturdays, my mini-course, extensively in my study guide and in the Nonprofit Training Program. Be sure you understand how these work if you are working with a nonprofit that expresses this as one of their pain points.Tip #6: Don’t take on data cleanup unless you have excel skillsWe aren’t saying you can’t do this, but you need to have fairly excellent Excel skills. The NPSP data model is complex and it is really important to know if you are working with nonprofits. (link at the bottom of the notes to Excel learning materials)Tip #7: Do not build something hard to maintain and leave behind documentationYou are fabulous and will not be there forever so make sure whatever you build, avoid hard coding unstructured data as variables in automations or report filters like a campaign name. If someone isn’t aware you did this and renames a campaign, what you built no longer functions.You do not need to reinvent the wheel. Tip #8: Leave behind documentationThis is SUPER important. It’s a huge focus of the portfolio project within my Nonprofit Training Program and for good reason! It is such a waste of your time if you build out Salesforce and no one uses it.Bonus tip: There are programs that make creating this documentation a breeze like Scribe, which is what we use in class.Links mentioned in the episode:Study Guide Preview:https://technopath.ac-page.com/preview-nonprofit-consultant-study-guideCourse page:technopath.podia.comPower of One Formula:https://www.salesforce.com/video/296533/Excel Course and Cheat Sheetshttps://linktr.ee/CheatSheetsMelissa Hill-Dees book:https://www.amazon.com/Accelerating-Nonprofit-Impact-Salesforce-cost-effective/dp/1801070911

Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: https://www.technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upWe’re closing out 2022 with a look forward to what we are planning for Technopath and The Technopath Way in the coming year. Listen in as Sarah and Allyson sit down to discuss a focus shift for The Technopath Way and the goals and changes for the company as we move into Q1.If behind the scenes looks at Technopath are some of your favorite Technopath Way episodes, then you’re in for a treat today! Over the course of the last several months we’ve been reading responses from our audience and looking at who tends to listen to our episodes. The results show us that on the whole, people are interested in more in-depth technical Salesforce discussions, and nonprofit basics. As a result, in 2023, we will add more of that content and reach out to more guests that can speak to those topics.In Q1 we will also be opening enrollment for the NPSP Training Program again, with a twist! Last time, we heard from many people who wanted to take the class in a more DIY, asynchronous format. This time around you will have the option to be in weekly live class sessions with Sarah to ask questions, work on your project and have direct guidance OR receive all the same class materials and have access to optional office hours every other week to ask questions. Enrollment will re-open January 16, you can sign up to the waitlist and get notified as soon as we open the doors here: technopath.ac-page.com/january-2023-join-the-waitlistWe’re excited to see what 2023 brings for all of us, Happy New Year!

Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: https://www.technopath.ac-page...One of the most common questions I get from nonprofits is how to decide whether or not they really need Salesforce. I spoke with Alexandra Mannerings last week on her podcast, Heart, Soul & Data, about how to pick the right tech stack for your nonprofit. This inspired today’s episode of The Technopath Way. While Salesforce is a robust and customizable tool, it may not be the best fit for every organization. I also dive into a few alternatives I’ve heard about throughout my years working with nonprofits. My episode on Heart, Soul & Data: https://heartsouldata.com/ep-4...“Salesforce might be a good fit for us” Checklist:* We need to track donations and donor information* We need to track our activity* We need integrations with PayPal/Stripe* We need to track event registration* We need to send mass emails and texts* We need to track custom information specific to our organization * Our organization has unique needs* Our organization wants custom automation* Want to use it as a donor engagement/nurturing tool * You have a designated data base administrator (someone who is in charge of taking care of and in putting data) on staff“Salesforce might NOT be a good fit for us” Checklist:* Only tracking gifts, contacts, email and text messages* Your cause fits within a specific niche that has specific CRMs (example: a church, there are dedicated CRMs for churches that are designed to satisfy the unique needs only religious institutions would need to track)* If you do not have a designated data base administrator (DBA) on staff. You absolutely need someone on your staff in charge of your data base if you are going to get Salesforce.Great alternatives for very small nonprofits (small budget, no DBA)* Little Green Light - https://www.littlegreenlight.c...* Aplos - https://www.aplos.com* Neonone - https://neonone.com* Bloomerang - https://bloomerang.co* Donor Perfect - https://www.donorperfect.com* Social Solutions - https://www.socialsolutions.co...* Hubspot for Nonprofits - https://www.hubspot.com/nonpro...* Blackbaud/Raiser’s Edge - https://www.blackbaud.com/prod...

Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: https://www.technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upOne of our most listened-to episodes of all time was our Mini Episode of Sarah’s productivity hacks back in November of 2021 ( https://www.spreaker.com/episode/47567458 )This week Sarah is revisiting that episode and updating it with the picks she discovered this year that help her stay even more on top of her growing business.Key Takeaways:* Productivity Tech only works if you actually use it so don’t just pick what everyone else is saying they do, test drive the tool to see if it truly makes sense for you* Know your own weaknesses and choose tech tools that help bolster you in those areas* Check for free trials before committingLinks:Mail Mergehttps://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/mail-merge-using-an-excel-spreadsheet-858c7d7f-5cc0-4ba1-9a7b-0a948fa3d7d3https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Efb_oMgxEsAI writinghttps://www.copy.ai/ - free up to 2,000 wordshttps://www.jasper.ai/https://rytr.me/Episode with Joshua Peskay: https://www.spreaker.com/user/15193886/tame-the-content-creation-overwhelm-withNotetaker AppJoins your Zoom meeting and takes notes for you!Fathom: https://fathom.video/invite/JiseqgTime blocking toolCreate your tasks and time-block your day and week with ease.Sunsama: https://sunsama.com/?referralId=6298b999b21f7b00014470c3

Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: https://www.technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upThis week on The Technopath Way, Allyson Kennett, Technopath Marketing and Strategic Director, joins Sarah to talk about what we’re thankful for right now. Gratitude practices have been very popular for a while now, and we wanted to think about our ‘wins’ over this past year as we move into the next one. Some of what we’re thankful for is business related, but a lot of it is tied to our lives and families. What are you grateful for this year? Drop us a line and let us know! If you have any suggestions for future topics or guest speakers you’d like to hear Sarah interview please email us at allysonkennett@technopath.ioWe’re running a Black Friday Special on our Nonprofit Cloud Consultant Exam Study Guide and Practice Questions this weekend only! https://technopath.podia.com/npsp-exam-study-guide-and-questions?coupon=STUDYGUIDEBLACKFRIDAY2022

Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: https://www.technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upThis week on the podcast we have Tim Lockie of The Human Stack. Tim Lockie is CEO and Founder of The Human Stack℠, co-host of the Why IT Matters podcast, and uses he/him/his pronouns. His history with the nonprofit world and technology seems to be intertwined. Tim has 20 years of organization experience as a volunteer, youth worker, camp counselor, music instructor, foster parent, getaway driver for teens in danger, board member, finance director, bookkeeper, recruiter, and community administrator…the list goes on. He has seen system deficiencies range from missed opportunities to damaged relationships in these capacities. Tim believes that Digital Transformation is affordable and scalable with nonprofits of all sizes and is obsessed with The Human Stack℠. You can hear more from him and his co-host Tracy Kronzak on the Why IT Matters podcast. Key Takeaways:* Take the shame out of tech hesitancy - tech isn’t everyone’s strong suit and that’s okay!* Don’t overbuild your CRM* A complex piece of technology is like a car, if you don’t have anyone who knows how to drive it, it doesn’t matter how beautifully it’s built, your organization will ‘crash’ it* If you’re drowning in tech, more tech is not the answer to the problem, take it bite by bite* You have to think about the humans using the technology and set them up for success* Make training on new technology a part of your organization’s culture* It’s better to have fewer tools that more people know how to effectively use* Get your data clean and right before building out technology* Have a simple way for people to report unexpected issues with the technology AND the data in less than 30 seconds* Keep your technology-enthusiasts happy in your organization by giving them a sense of belonging, this will help with the Human Stack vs Tech Stack issuesFind out more about Tim Lockie and The Human Stack at their website: https://thehumanstack.com

Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: https://www.technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upAlexandra Mannerings is the founder of Merakinos, a data services and education company devoted to helping nonprofits sustainably access the analytics they need to grow and thrive. She earned her PhD in epidemiology and public health from the University of Cambridge in England. Studying the risk of disease spillover from fruit bats in Ghana, West Africa, taught her firsthand how to ask impactful questions and creatively leverage limited resources to answer them. Today on The Technopath Way, Alexandra sits down with Sarah to discuss how our values and emotions are central to capturing good data in our organizations. Key Takeaways:* The Google Maps Policy:* You have to know where you’re going and why you want to get there in order to choose the best route the software offers you. The same goes for your data. You can track anything. The numbers will be there, but without your intentions they won’t be meaningful.* Emotions don’t cloud judgements, they are essential to making good decisions* Not sure you believe that? Check out the massive body of brain research generated about the man behind the example Alexandra shared https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/phineas-gage-neurosciences-most-famous-patient-11390067/ * Collaborating with other nonprofits serving in similar capacities as yours is a great way to benchmark data and chase down more grants* Just starting to benchmark a newer program? Look to other nonprofits who have done similar programs in the past to gauge appropriate benchmarks.* Example: Your organization is starting a program to improve childhood literacy. * What are the current levels in the population you want to serve? * What other nonprofits have served similar populations in the past? * What were their first year results like? Aim for similar levels in the first year and expand from there as appropriate* Check out Alexandra’s interview with Sarah on her own podcast Heart, Soul & Data https://heartsouldata.com