Meet the Idealware Bloggers Part 4: Eric Leland

Another in the Meet the Bloggers series, this one from a very fun interview with Eric Leland. As in all of the interviews, time was too short and I look forward to having more time to chat and get to know him in the future.

Eric Leland

On Connecting Nonprofits & Technology
Eric started out as a part time assistant for Amnesty International with just one computer running outreach. A lot of the work was sending out letters to student to participate, so the organization was just getting into email. Based in New York he had to travel down to DC repeatedly to fix the computer handling their email list so he jumped in to figure out why it was having so many problems. Once it was fixed he saw successful emails triple and at the same time student attendance tripled as well. Putting 2 and 2 together, Eric saw that email and online mattered more to the organization than they knew and became inspired about finding out how to work with new technologies. With no formal technology training, he built his knowledge working on the ground finding real world solutions.

On Blogging
Having started a blog years ago that was referenced as a "who to read" by Third Sector New England, Eric realized that he didn't want to pursue the demands of constant blogging and decided not to write anymore. When Laura approached him about writing for Idealware, however, he felt it made more sense to work with a whole community of authors, not for himself but to help create something bigger than any one blogger. It's an opportunity he appreciates and has enjoyed.

The Magic Wand Question
One of the questions I asked in each interview was this: If you had a magic wand that could transform one aspect of nonprofit technology in an instant, what would it be and why?

According to Eric, the NPO sector could use a large dose of pragmatic earned income strategy from for profit world, so that's where he would start. As nonprofits there is not enough emphasis on bottom line or "what's the ROI"? In the nonprofit sector we call results "outcomes" but they aren't always meaningful in practice. When you work with the smarter organizations you see that they will have metrics to help with decisions, but as with everything some are more effective than others. The effective organizations are using a more businesslike approach.

The Next 5 Years
Asked about what he finds to be the most exciting trend in nonprofit technology for the next five years Eric had a lot of enthusiasm for the way the community has started sharing best practices and lessons learned.

Eric sees a bigger trend in and more emphasis on sharing knowledge to become a better expert in their field. Some of this is due to the rise of social networks possibly, but the important thing is that now more informed individuals and organizations are sharing best practices that real people will be able to use. He feels nonprofits can really learn from each other and improve their effectiveness when they share and put things out there things like how-to's, top ten lists and toolkits.

Personal snapshots

First thing you launch on your computer when you boot/in the morning?
Email (Gmail) with Google Calendar a close second.

Is there a tech term or acronym that (still?) makes you giggle and why?
Maybe its not a giggle, but its fun to snark about "the cloud" which is a term that is to start with so amorphous and vague already , and anyway who really wants their technology in a giant ball of water?

Favorite non-technology related thing or best non-techy skill?
Best non-tech skill would be doing pottery and ceramics. Also really loves outdoor activities like surfing, but is (understandably) scared of sharks.

Which do you want first - Replicator, holodeck, transporter or warp drive?
The transporter, for those times that it is about the destination and not the journey, such as red-eye flights to the East Coast!