Event Details

This year NTEN has hosted a series of webinars on both the Cloud and Data for nonprofits. In this final series, we bring the two together to look at: 1) the connections between how nonprofits use data and how they use the cloud, 2) examples of nonprofits who have moved infrastructure to the cloud and manage their data there, and 3) looking at the Cloud and Big Data, including examples of using them in conjunction to connect folks to programs and support transparency.

Thanks to the generous support of Google, we're able to offer you this awesome series for free! 

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Webinars in this series will include:

• November 29th - NTEN's New Nonprofit Data Report and Connections with the State of the Nonprofit Cloud Report
  
  This year NTEN and Idealware conducted a survey of nonprofits about their relationships with data, and what we found was a large dichotomy—either they were doing a lot with their metrics or not much at all. Too often barriers keep nonprofits from collecting and integrating important data into their daily work. The barriers are familiar to those who work in and with nonprofits: not enough staff or time to collect or analyze this data; not knowing what data to collect or how to make use of it; competing demands or conflicting reporting requirements; money or technology limitations. We also found that funders play an important role in both the challenges and opportunities for nonprofits regarding data for decision-making.

   

  • Key findings from the research, presented by Laura Quinn and Annaliese Hoehling, including:
    • overview of the kinds of data nonprofits are collecting, and how they’re using it
    • key internal factors that affect organizational use of data for decision-making
    • key external factors that impact organizational use of data for decision-making
    • the impact of funders on data collection
  • Connections to the cloud, presented by Annaliese Hoehling and John Kenyon, including:
    • what practical help can cloud-based technology offer to data challenges?
    • what general impact can cloud technology have on organizational culture and strategy when it comes to managing data to achieve your mission?

   

  About the Presenters

  Laura Quinn, Idealware

  Laura has been working in the software sector for more than 15 years. As Idealware’s Executive Director, she directs Idealware’s research and writing to provide candid reports and articles about nonprofit software. Prior to Idealware, Laura founded Alder Consulting, where she helped nonprofits create Internet strategies, select appropriate software, and then build sophisticated websites on a limited budget. She has also selected software, designed interfaces and conducted user research for multi-million dollar software and website implementations with such companies as Accenture and iXL. Laura is a frequent speaker and writer on nonprofit technology topics.

  Annaliese Hoehling, NTEN

  Annaliese has been with NTEN since 2006, working to connect NTEN members with each other and with the information and resources that will help make their jobs a little (or a lot!) easier. As Publications Director, Annaliese is working to develop NTEN's research and publications resources that document the transformational power of technology in the nonprofit sector.

  John Kenyon, NTEN

  John Kenyon is the Educational Program Manager for the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN). He is a nonprofit technology educator and strategist who’s worked exclusively with nonprofits for over 20 years providing advice, teaching seminars and writing articles. John educates nonprofits about using technology strategically because he knows it can help their organizations operate more effectively and efficiently. He authored the chapter “Effective Online Communications” in the book Managing Technology to Meet your Mission (Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2009). John is an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco and has been a featured speaker across the US, England, Australia and online.

• December 6 - Managing Data in the Cloud
  

  Strategies and theories are great, but there is no substitute for hearing from a respected colleague about their honest experience. Hear from ACHIEVA's Director of IT Steve McDonell about his real life experience in moving his organization to the cloud and managing their data there as they quadrupled in size over the last thirteen years. Steve will cover the strategic and tactical reasoning behind the changes, how it was implemented, their challenges and successes with the transition and how they currently manage their systems.

  In this webinar, participants will learn about:

  • Moving an organization to the cloud
  • Implementation lessons
  • Tips to help with your organization's transition

   

  About the Presenter

  Steve McDonell, ACHIEVA

  Steve McDonell is the Director of Information Technology at ACHIEVA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is the current chair of the Technology and Communications Committee of the National Conference of Executives of The Arc and also serves on the Advisory Board of Pittsburgh Technical Institute’s Information Technology program. During his tenure at ACHIEVA, Steve has worked within ACHIEVA and with other nonprofits to implement practical and cost-effective technology solutions in response to issues faced by these organizations. ACHIEVA has utilized cloud-based systems for over a decade.

• December 18 - Accountability, Transparency and Data in the Cloud
  

  The Sunlight Foundation uses cutting-edge technology and ideas to make government transparent and accountable.They gather and distribute data in the cloud to support their strategic goals. In this session you’ll hear from Communications Director Gabriela Schneider about how your organization can foster transparency and accountability, as she wrote about in her recent NTEN Change journal article. You’ll hear from the Director of Sunlight Labs Tom Lee how Sunlight manages large amounts of data and how they use the cloud. Their staff programmers are an integral part of their work and they will talk about how it works for them including using API’s and internal operations. They’ll also discuss the challenges that come with managing data in the cloud including lessons learned to help your organization in thinking about using the cloud and sharing data both for your organization and your focus area.

  In this webinar, participants will learn about:

  • Making your organization more transparent and accountable
  • How Sunlight gathers, processs, manages and distributes data
  • How the cloud is integrated into various data and communications operations

   

  About the Presenters

  Gabriela Schneider
  Communications Director

  Gabriela Schneider is the Communications Director of the Sunlight Foundation. Prior to joining the Sunlight Foundation, she was the Media Relations Manager for the Council on Foundations, where she secured media coverage for the philanthropic sector. Previously, Gabriela organized grass roots campaigns for the Public Policy Office of the American Psychological Association and worked to protect children's online privacy as Senior Policy Analyst for the Center for Media Education. She earned her Masters of Arts in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and her Bachelor of Arts in journalism from Lehigh University.

   

  Tom Lee
  Director of Sunlight Labs

  Tom Lee is the Director of Sunlight Labs; prior to assuming leadership of the labs, he managed Sunlight's Subsidyscope project, an effort to explore the level of federal involvement in various sectors of the economy. On that project, Tom and his team were responsible for identifying and parsing federal databases covering various forms of government support, evaluating their quality, and composing sophisticated analyses and analytic tools based upon them. Tom came to Sunlight from EchoDitto, where he handled the technical implementation of Drupal projects for clients like Greenpeace UK and Mother Jones. Before EchoDitto, he did .NET development for members of the House and Senate, building constituent services websites and one of the first reusable software platforms for member offices. Along the way he's done Movable Type consulting for Gothamist, lobbied WMATA to open its data, taught screen-scraping to TI Georgia, cleaned data for academics, built sites for numerous bloggers, and mostly avoided electrocuting himself. His writing on technical policy has appeared in the American Prospect, Techdirt, Progressive Fix, and various impassioned Slashdot threads.

Event Materials