June 2012

Permission To Improve

By Andrea Berry, June 27, 2012

I just got Dragon NaturallySpeaking dictation software, and it's changed my life. Now, I'm not going to talk about how much I love the ability to speak and have my words recorded, which I do, by the way (if you want to know more about the tool see Steve Backman’s thoughts). Instead, I’m telling you about my new software love to empower you to find your life-changing tool. Productivity is essential for those of us who work at nonprofits, everyone really. Finding something that will help you do your job better and more effectively is absolutely amazing and potentially job-altering. We talk about this at the organizational level all the time, so why don’t we allow ourselves to spend that time personally, especially when it would improve the way we work?  My advice, from someone who has avoided spending this time for years: give yourself a little bit of time to look around and see if there are ways that technology can help you improve the way you do what you do.

What did I do to come to this revelation?  I asked myself, where do I struggle? What are the things I do during the day that I know if I had a little bit of help I could do better? For me it was writing. I write perfectly well, but slowly. I speak quickly and in full sentences however, and my thoughts come out of my mouth much faster, and often more eloquently, than when I type. That made the power of dictation software a no brainer. I wrote this post in about half the time it usually takes me, all thanks to my new best friend.  

Now it’s your turn. What do you that you could do better, faster, more efficiently? Do you struggle with tasks? Is there a tool out there that can help you manage your to do list? What about with time management? Can you find something that will help you stick to your timeline? There are tools out there that can help you in probably any area that you need support. Imagine the impact it could have on your day-to-day work. You’d do it for your organization, why not yourself?

It’s okay, you have permission now. Give yourself a little bit of time to explore and see if there is a solution out there for you. Spending some time upfront to find something that would really make a difference can be hugely worth it. It can change your life, I promise. And when it improves how you work personally, it will improve your organization’s capacity at the same time!

A Project Management Lesson from Captain America

By Andrew Gleason, June 21, 2012

Elaina Buzzell is a consultant helping nonprofits best communicate their programs and missions. This post was written for Idealware, but you can read other insightful posts on her site, www.elainabuzzell.com.

Yes, it's been a year since the movie Captain America: The First Avenger came out, but, just in case you are late watching it, there are spoilers ahead.

I was re-watching Captain America recently, and I noticed a great story about good project management. Right after the government gives the hero, Steve Rogers, the new abilities that turn him into Captain America, the scientist in charge of the project is killed, and then the military seems to forget why they did the project in the first place. They don't send him to the front lines to win the war or even have scientists examine him, but they instead send Captain America on a tour to sell war bonds. It thus takes a long time for the Army to get a good return on their investment, and their hero spends this time feeling depressed from under-utilization.
 
In a similar fashion, I've seen nonprofit technology projects that would have otherwise been successful go south at the finish line after an ED or other important staff member leaves the organization. Their replacement often doesn't see the value in the project, and aren't sure why decisions were made the way they were. As a result, the new tool isn't appreciated, it doesn't live up to its potential or the project is just axed completely.
 
But just because a leader goes, that doesn't mean that your tech project has to fail. Here are some things to do to make sure your project stays successful, even if there is a key departure:
 
1. Plan well to start off your project.
 
Planning well will not only help your project be more successful in the best of circumstances, but it will also help your project stand up better to problems like a key departure. This post will help you take on some planning on your own, and the keys are to be very clear on your goals, requirements, priorities, timelines and budget. But, for the planning to help to its fullest, you need to...
 
2. Document, Document, Document.
 
Make sure that all of your planning steps and decisions are well documented. Hold onto scopes and contracts from your vendors, and, assuming you took multiple bids, save those as well for reference. In the case of a leader's departure, these documents will be very helpful when bringing their Flickr image from user joelogon
replacement up to speed quickly and getting them on board with your decisions.
 
3. Have multiple stakeholders involved in your project.
 
It's true that "too many cooks spoil the broth", but no cooks will spoil it too. While it can be difficult for a nonprofit to dedicate two or more peoples' time to planning and project meetings, it will allow you to keep things moving if one leaves or even if one is just sick and has to miss a meeting.
 
4. Communicate staffing changes with your technology vendor.
 
Whether you are working with a paid consultant, a vendor, or a volunteer, make sure that they know that you are having a staff change, especially if their contact is leaving. They will, at minimum, want to know their new contact person, but will likely also appreciate a chance to meet with them and help bring them up to speed on the project. They can also potentially pause or slow the project to allow them to get settled into their position.
 
While many of these tips involve advance thought and actions long before you need that you will need to handle a transition, they will also help insure that the project is more successful in any circumstance. By setting your project up for success, you can be confident that you won't have a sad, under-used action hero, but you'll have a tool that your whole organization uses and appreciates.
 
Have you had a staff transition hit during a project? Did it affect the project's outcome? How did you handle bringing them up to speed?

 

Emerging Technologies for Human Service Organizations

By Laura Quinn, June 20, 2012
I'm in Maryland this week for the Legal Service Corporations's invitational Summit on Technology and Access to Justice. I'm excited -- it should be a great discussion on the ways that existing and emerging technology can help legal aid organizations provide more access to information and support.
 
The organizers of the summit are using an outline of emerging and interesting technologies that we created to form the structure of a whole group of sessions. It seems like they resonated really well with the legal aid community, so I thought I'd publish the list for those who are looking to brainstorm ways that new technologies can address some of their needs. Here it is:
 
Text Messaging
Text messages—sometimes called SMS messages—are short messages sent between mobile phones. These messages are usually limited to 160 characters. This limitation has led to the development of a shorthand language of abbreviations designed to conserve characters. (For example, “you” is “U” and “for” is “4.”) Initially, text messages were also limited to text, but can now often include images, sounds and videos.
 
Mobile Web
Americans are accessing the Internet with mobile devices in increasing numbers. This area continues to advance rapidly, and ideas that sounded like science fiction not that long ago are now gaining widespread traction with the public. Three areas to look at more closely are location-based applications, augmented reality and near-field communication.
 
Location-based applications provide users with information based on their geographic location. For example, foursquare  and Facebook  allow users to “check in” at a specific location, or announce their arrival using the application. Organizations with physical locations can also use the apps to offer specials and information for people who check in. Augmented reality uses technology to overlay additional information over the real-world environment—for example, if you use your smartphone camera to view the Eiffel Tower, you might be presented with information about the tower, hear an interview with someone who helped build it, or see pictures of the construction. Lastly, near-field communication uses radio frequencies to allow mobile devices to communicate with each other. One current focus of development for this technology is instant payment systems, which let people pay for products or services using cell phones instead of cash or credit cards. 
 
Bar Codes
Bar codes, or machine-readable representations of data, aren’t new—first developed after World War II, they came into popular use in the late 1970s.  What is new is that many people are now carrying portable barcode readers with them: smartphone cameras. By using the camera to “scan” a code, people can access data about a product, service, organization, or anything else. 
 
Codes include the Universal Product Code (UPC), which most people are familiar with from the grocery store, and QR codes, the 2D square bar codes that have been gaining popularity and are used on everything from business cards to event posters to magazine ads. 
 
Maps and Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Collecting and displaying data in a map format allows people to more easily see significant data relationships that are otherwise difficult to comprehend. Applied, this might be as simple as plotting points on a map, or it might involve complex systems—generally called Geographic Information Systems (GIS)—that let you color code regions, layer different information and create your own maps. For instance, using a GIS system you could plot the ethnicity of families per household and view that against income levels per city.
 
Data Visualization
Data visualizations use data in visual formats to tell a story, allowing people to more quickly and easily see patterns and understand the underlying data. This process has grown in popularity as graphic design tools become more available to the public, and large amounts of data become more available—and easier to process.
 
Predictive Analysis and Expert Systems
Organizations often accumulate a lot of data. Analyzing that data for trends, and using it to predict possible future outcomes or to provide in-depth information to staff or constituents could save programs money, or help them craft plans that attack the root cause of the problem.
 
Expert systems use the information acquired through time and experience to help guide those less familiar with a topic—for example, these types of systems can be useful to help volunteers answer more-complicated questions than they could otherwise, or to guide people through complex processes. Predictive analysis goes a step beyond data visualization to help organizations make decisions based on large amounts of data. For instance, how much time is it likely to take to serve a particular client based on the organization’s experience with similar clients? How likely is someone to donate based on specific demographic information?
 
Social Media Listening
Social media and networking is often used by nonprofits for fundraising, marketing and service. The access-to-justice community has been using these tools for fundraising and marketing, but as a sector has not been as comfortable exploring how social media could be used to identify those who need services, or to provide services directly.  
 
Gamification
For those people who are connected, the Internet is the natural place to turn for training materials and education, and eLearning is now commonplace. However, it’s moved beyond simply posting training materials and videos or conducting a webinar, and today, more and more organizations are talking about “gamifying” learning—adding game mechanics—to make it more enjoyable.

The Rise of Mobile Technology in the Global Development Sector

By Andrew Gleason, June 18, 2012

Andrew Gleason is Idealware's newest Research Intern, and recently graduated from Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York.  with a B.A. in Spanish and Peace and Global Studies with aspirations to work in the international development sector. At Idealware he assists many projects, and is working on research regarding the use of mobile technology among global development organizations.

Recently I did some high level research on the use of mobile technology in the global development sector and found some interesting mobile tools that are currently being used across the globe. Not only do these tools assist staff in the field, but also improve health, education, government and economic services to people living in developing countries. The research is for a report you'll hear more about down the road, but for now, I wanted to share some preliminary findings. 

Mobile healthcare initiatives are a rising trend. A noteworthy article from Mashable explores four mobile campaigns that have aided the work of healthcare professionals in Africa: Praekelt Foundation, Health eVillages, mHealth Alliance and Medic Mobile. These campaigns have introduced mobile tools that allow healthcare workers to provide important services to developing communities. TxtAlert, a tool used to send SMS reminders for patients to take their medication, and Please Call Me, a tool allowing patients to connect with their doctors even if they are out of airtime minutes on their mobile device, have had a tremendous impact on patient-doctor communication within the developing world.
 
Some of these tools are able to collect medical data, provide virtual healthcare and aid in diagnosis. This mobile technology not only increases the number of patients healthcare workers are able to treat, but also increases doctors’ efficiency in the field. There are numerous small and large-scale pilot projects being implemented in developing countries (SatelLife, DataDyne, Cell-Life), but what are global development organizations doing here in the U.S.? 
 
In the coming weeks Idealware will be exploring how U.S. based global development organizations are using mobile tools, specifically for fundraising and marketing. We will be taking a case-study approach and interviewing various organizations. We are excited to start this project and share valuable information with the nonprofit sector!
 

New Articles

By Chris Bernard, June 15, 2012

We're pleased to share two new articles today. The first is a new article written for Idealware by New York University's Patrick Yurgosky looking at Business Intelligence tools, and what they can offer nonprofits. It's a fascinating look at this complex and powerful systems. The second, written for The NonProfit Times by our own Laura Quinn, lists 11 ways to improve your corporate sponsorships by offering online perks, and will get you thinking about how to maximize corporate donations while also improving donors' return on investment. 

Both articles are free, as are all Idealware articles. Check them out now...

11 Ways to Improve Corporate Sponsorship Packages With Online Perks

Beyond Dashboards: Business Intelligence Tools for Program Analysis and Reporting.

 

 

 

 

Content Curation

By Chris Bernard, June 14, 2012

If one is good, two is better--and three better still. Right? In this case, that's true, as Idealware is lucky enough to share the stage with two friends this week.

Annaliese Hoehling, NTEN's Publications Director, posted to the always insightful Frogloop blog about the June issue of the NTEN:CHANGE journal, with the theme of content curation. Idealware's own Laura Quinn wrote one of the featured articles for the issue, and our team produced a snappy infographic to share the results of a survey we did asking people how content curation fit into the communications mix  at their organizations.


Head on over to Frogloop to see the graphic and read the post, or check it out in the June issue of the journal...

 

The Bring Your Own Device Nightmare

By Chris Bernard, June 8, 2012

This article, which originally appeared on Lasa's Knowledgebase, looks at the increasing trend of staff bringing their own mobile or portable devices into the work environment and how you can secure your network against intrusion. Lasa is a London-based development and resource agency for advice and information providers and has been providing technology advice to third sector organisations since 1984. You can read more information articles on the Knowledgebase site, and we're grateful for the permission to republish this one.

By Graeme Batsman, Data Defender 

Bring it on

Many of us have all heard of the acronyms BYO (bring your own), BYOW (bring your own wine) or BYOB (bring your own booze). It’s where an unlicensed restaurant allows you to bring your own wine, sprits, cider or beer for no charge or for a small corkage cost.

Similarly, within many IT environments there is now a tendency to allow employees to BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). Many organisations allow their workers to bring their own PCs, USB hard drives, memory sticks, laptops and, more recently, smartphones and tablets. This (usually informal) policy has been around for some time but the term is relatively new.

When looking at the pros and cons of bringing your own drink to a restaurant, we see it does no real damage to the restaurant. The customer may end up a bit the worse for wear but as long as they used public transport or got a taxi to get home no real lasting harm would have been done – luckily hangovers subside! However, BYOD has far greater consequences when we look at its possible security and compliance risks.

Risky business 

As data is the bread of butter of an organisation and it is hoped, secured, monitored, audited and kept firmly within the four walls of its office. However, it’s clear that through the increase in BYOD this is now being compromised.

Many organisation’s staff and volunteers use reasonably cheap devices which can have a large storage capacity, are easy to use and, unfortunately, have little security. Thousands of internal organisational confidential documents can be copied, innocently or maliciously, in minutes to someone’s USB flash drive.  Although many staff are just taking a document home to work on it during their evening, some may have the intent purpose to steal and sell important or incriminating documents to the press or possibly a rival organisation or company. Whatever the purpose, this creates multiple security and compliance problems. Documents are now dotted around, unsecured, unmonitored, unaudited and possibly not within the UK or EU.

There are also other security risks to consider. When a staff member leaves their place of employment he or she may not have taken the time to delete or remove important documents on their mobile device. People lose their phones, iPods or USB drives all the time. This causes all sorts of security risks, can break the UK Data Protection Act and break client confidentiality. A USB flash drive lost on the train can find its way into the wrong hands, generating negative PR, fines, lost clients, members and – potentially - funding. The organisation’s reputation could be critically damaged.

The Data Protection Act states data which is in transit (i.e. a USB device, laptop or CD) should be encrypted. It also states it is preferable to store data within the UK or EU. With modern home working and ‘hot desking’ it is not always possible for data carried by staff to always comply with these rules.

So what are the possible solutions?

Low security

Create a policy telling staff not to plug in their own devices – very flawed

This is for the lazy organisation which doesn’t want to invest in time, software or money in examining security risks. This option is very flawed as it’s very likely someone will ignore or forget this policy – hey presto, you have a data leak.

Give everyone a hardware encrypted USB flash drive – partly flawed

Hardware encrypted USB flash drives offer strong security but are sometimes expensive. It’s only a matter of time before someone plugs in an unsecured devices, takes data and again hey presto a data breach.

Medium security

Block all USB drives and CD/DVD drives – for the paranoid

In theory this is a great idea as no one can plug anything in and therefore data cannot be extracted. This can be achieved through configuring a Windows Group Policy Object with a .ADM file on your server, dedicated software or end point removable media software. Also some antivirus programmes have this functionality (such as Eset, NOD32). However, it reduces productivity and flexibility and is therefore not conducive to modern working.

High security

Automated port blocking and encryption software – good security

This option permits devices and allows data to be copied out but forcibly encrypts files (or folders) automatically. Be careful with this option since if it is not configured properly it can ‘brick’ certain devices like iPods or smart phones. This option allows monitoring and auditing but possibly the removal, blocking and deletion of data.

Automated port blocking and hardware encrypted USB flash drives – ultra security

This is possibly the best option, although it is a little inflexible. All unsecured devices are blocked and only use secure devices. Automated port blocking software can block and permit devices by model, make or serial number. One major disadvantage is some hardware encrypted USB flash drives cost up to £400 – not great for the organisation’s budget if you lose one.

 

Graeme is Director of Data Defender, a UK company devoted to defending the integrity of client data.

 

 

Case Study In Their Own Words: Finding New Ways to Present Old Ideas

By Chris Bernard, June 4, 2012

We’re a fan of case studies at Idealware, as they’re good ways to highlight both the lessons we’re trying to get across and the organizations doing so much good work in the world. This is the first of a new series we’re launching in which we invite nonprofits to submit a case study about something their organization is doing in their words.

HousingWorks RI

Four Full-Time Staff

By Nicole Lagace, Director of Communications

My organization, HousingWorks RI, works to improve long-term affordable housing rental and ownership opportunities in Rhode Island, especially for the state’s workforce. We conduct research and data analysis of long-term affordable housing—particularly how it relates to Rhode Island’s economy– and communicate this research to policymakers. It’s easy to get lost in the weeds with numbers and terms like “rental price percent increase,” “housing cost burden,” and “affordable to 80 percent AMI.” Our brand is analyzing and packaging information to be accessible, well designed, user-friendly and ready to use for action.

Essentially, we work to provide information that makes you the housing expert. 

We view all of our products through this lens. If a publication becomes overwhelmed with numbers and percentages (which it inevitably does in the first draft), we figure out a better way to convey the information. Are there real people we can use to illustrate the story? Is there a way to graphically depict the data that is less confusing? Is a traditional publication the right tactic for communicating this information? These are critical questions our staff answers regularly. 

The Issue: 

Earlier this year, we had planned to produce a four page Issue Brief on rental housing in Rhode Island. Rents in Rhode Island are higher than many residents can afford. Our state has been really hard hit by the recession. Our unemployment rate is double digits and foreclosures are a persistent problem for every community. The state’s foreclosure crisis has hit renters particularly hard, especially in urban communities. Nearly one third of foreclosures in Rhode Island over the last three years have been in multi-family properties, and we estimate that over 6,300 apartments were lost as a result.

The decreased supply of rental homes and increased demand has helped sustain high rental prices. The goal of the Issue Brief was to show the need for more long-term affordable rental housing.

When researching for a publication, we use a number of different data sources. In this case, we went to the U.S. Census Bureau to look at their American Community Survey data. We used their statewide data on renters in Rhode Island and found great demographic information like the age, education level, and median household income. Our local Housing Finance Agency, Rhode Island Housing, provided us with the average price rent for one-, two-, and three- bedroom apartments statewide. Digging deeper, we found the median and entry level wages for Rhode Island’s top three occupation groups from our Department of Labor and Training; and the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University tabulated the housing cost burden for renters in the state—a grim statistic of 27 percent of renters spending more than half their income on rent.

The Dilemma:

We had a lot of compelling data and information, but our copy was drowning in numbers and percentages. The other unforeseen problem? It was 2012, but the latest data we had was from 2010. We had to figure out how to make the data relevant and easy to understand all at the same time.

The Solution:

Enter the infographic. I am a huge fan of Beth Kanter, and started following her on Pinterest as soon as I signed up. I immediately went to her nonprofit infographics board for inspiration, and worked on a mockup of the data within the design context of a triple-decker home, a prominent type of apartment building in our area. When I shared the idea with our executive director, she immediately saw the value in presenting the data in this new format, but had some concerns.

Was it too big a departure from what we normally do? Was it worth losing an entire page of written copy? Could we make it happen within the confines of our tiny publication budget?

Ultimately, we decided to take the risk. The infographic would be designed to fit into the entire third page of the Issue Brief, but also to work standalone. Our amazing designers at Lakuna Design put the finishing touches.

The Result:

For starters, we generated a surprising amount of media attention. Remember, this data was not new, all of the numbers were from 2010 and had been seen by reporters in the past—but the numbers hadn’t been presented together in a format that immediately generated an “A-ha” moment for them.

We had a front page story in the Providence Journal (you can read it at the bottom of this post), the state’s largest daily, that read “Report finds cost of renting soars.” Other headlines included: “Rental costs soar in R.I. during foreclosure crisis,” “Nearly 40% of RIers rent their homes – 1 in 4 pays more than half of income on housing,” and “Report: 25% of RI renters cost-burdened.”

In all we had over 20 media mentions, including a small blurb in USA Today. Our experiment paid off and we continued to build upon our reputation for providing user-friendly, well-designed information.

The Takeaway:

It’s important to note that none of the news stories actually mentioned the infographic. They were all about the data reinforcing the need for more long-term affordable housing in Rhode Island, not HousingWorks RI presenting the data as an infographic.

Similarly, this blog post isn’t so much about another nonprofit using an infographic, but about encouraging you to take risks and experiment with packaging your information differently.

HousingWorks RI is small, and while we have grown a respectable following on Twitter, I’m still learning about how to best use these tools for nonprofit communications. When I sat down with our executive director to brainstorm ideas for this post, she quipped that I should write about how great it is to work for someone who offers the freedom to experiment and take risks with how we communicate our information.

She was joking—but having heard nightmare stories of “leadership” standing in the way of really creative communications strategies, she was also on to something. Creativity needs to be part of the culture for staff to be truly comfortable taking risks and chances. Because really, what is the use of all these free tools and technology if we’re not encouraged to play with it?   

Got an idea for a case study? Want to submit your own? Let us know by email at chris@idealware.org. 

Just Because It's Useful Doesn't Mean You Should Do It

By Laura Quinn, June 1, 2012

In my opinion, technology people too often equate the phrase “this tool could be useful for your organization” with “your organization should be using this tool.” Could an organization find Pinterest useful? Yes, there could well be value. What about Twitter? Yes, certainly some organizations are finding Twitter useful. But that doesn't necessarily mean that all nonprofits should start using these tools right away.

Nonprofit staff are generally not sitting around trying to find useful things to do with their time. Instead, they have a list of hundreds of things that might be valuable, and they need to prioritize them. So the question is not: “Could this new tool potentially be useful to me?” but rather, “How useful is it likely to be compared to all the rest of the things that I’m doing?"  

Or, for most nonprofits, "compared to all the other things that I'm not doing because I don't have time to do them?”

I think this is really important in choosing technology tools. It’s too easy to get overwhelmed and dispirited thinking about all the great new tools you “should” be using.  But really the question is whether those tools are so valuable that they should displace something else that you're already doing, or should be the first one or two new task items on your priority list.