Michele Belisle

NTEN

Jude Koski

Chris Zezza

Sam Dorman

Cassandra Smallman

Katherine Lagana

Meico Marquette Whitlock

Tristan Penn

Ash Shepherd

Rev. Tracy Kronzak

Carly Hohl

Drew Pizzolato

Dave Hansen-Lange

Chris Harley

Kristine Fernandez

Rajneesh Aggarwal

Jarrett Way

Thomas Negron

Amy Sample Ward

Rubin Singh

Andrew Berry

Redante Asuncion-Reed

Chantal Forster

Leana Mayzlina

Sophia Guevara

Dan Fellini

Sevetri Wilson

Keith Casebonne

Jim Tobias

Shreya Tragad

Lindsey Silken

Elisha Feliciano

Cindy Leonard

Joe Fuld

Natalie Clarke

The last couple of years have been transformational for the digital inclusion space. As jobs, schools, government services, social gatherings, and everyday tasks moved online, a recognition emerged that digital access and skills are critical in our society. In addition, there is increasing momentum to acknowledge affordable, reliable broadband as a human right.



We saw more organizations and individuals becoming digital equity champions, affirming that we need government support in the sector. <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/05/17/1099400660/on-federal-and-state-levels-plans-are-underway-to-enhance-internet-access">Some major victories were also won on both the local and federal levels</a> in getting government recognition and support around digital access. Many organizations learned or reaffirmed that digital inclusion needs to be a part of our missions, no matter our day-to-day work.&nbsp;



Our seventh cohort of fellows led and contributed to digital inclusion efforts in myriad ways. They spoke on panels, organized events, and made immense progress in taking many of their organization&#8217;s programs and adapting them to an online context. For some, this also meant convincing their organizations and partners that digital inclusion hadn’t traditionally been part of their work, but it was time to hop on that wagon. They accomplished some incredible feats, including supporting food bank clients in gaining digital skills and ensuring that formerly incarcerated individuals have the skills they need to survive in a digital world. I look forward to sharing more of <a href="/publications?filter=Digital%20Inclusion">their successes in the spotlights</a>, which we’ll publish this fall.



As we welcome our eighth cohort, I’m eager for them to follow in the footsteps of the incredible leaders we’ve supported over the last year. <a href="/learn/digital-inclusion-fellowship#Meet%20the%20fellows">Our eighth cohort includes 17 fellows from around the country</a>: California, Georgia, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, and Utah. They hail from various institutions, including a housing agency, city government, multiple libraries, workforce development, and several digital inclusion organizations. Their backgrounds and experiences are equally diverse, from a Nigerian immigrant to several first-generation Americans, a student currently pursuing a Master in Public Administration, and a fellow returning for a second year in the program. What unites this diverse group of individuals is a commitment to providing access and skills training so communities can be empowered to navigate the digital world.



Over the next year, these fellows will be learning and challenging themselves to become digital inclusion experts who will transform their communities. I&#8217;ll support these emerging leaders in building robust digital literacy programming such as:



<ul><li>Teaching seniors how to use hot spots.</li><li>Helping parents communicate with their children’s teachers.</li><li>Guide immigrants and refugees in navigating local services.</li></ul>



As we continue to learn to live with COVID and folks talk about &#8220;returning to normal,&#8221; I want to ensure that we retain all of the lessons we’ve learned about the importance of digital inclusion and continue to pursue digital equity for all. I&#8217;m confident that our 2022 cohort of Digital Inclusion Fellows and their passion for creating a more equitable and digitally empowered world will lead us in this direction.



The fellowship is made possible by the generous support of our sponsors: <a href="https://fiber.google.com/">Google Fiber</a>, the <a href="https://www.clevelandfoundation.org/">Cleveland Foundation</a>, <a href="https://digitunity.org/">Digitunity</a>, <a href="https://www.centii.org/">CENTII</a>, and the <a href="http://www.alliantcreditunionfoundation.org/">Alliant Credit Union Foundation</a>. A special thank you goes out to our founding sponsor, Google Fiber. The Digital Inclusion Fellowship was conceived and launched in partnership with Google Fiber in 2015.

Four illustrated colorful jigsaw pieces are interlocked on a dark blue background. The text reads, "NTEN Digital Inclusion Fellowship. Bring digital equity to your community."

Welcome to the 2022 Digital Inclusion Fellows

Boot Camp 2022. Change is inevitable. Growth is necessary.

Bay Area scholarships available for digital marketing conference

In 2020, <a href="https://www.centii.org/our-work">the Center for Inclusive Innovation</a>, an organization fiscally sponsored by NTEN, began a research project to assess both pandemic crisis-based and longer-term efforts to mitigate digital disparities. This project documents the experiences of more than twenty organizations that attempted to adapt or improve strategies and services to address the digital divide during the pandemic as short-term, crisis-funded deployments ended.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-full is-resized"><a href="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/thumbnail-cetii.png"><img loading="lazy" src="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/thumbnail-cetii.png" alt="An illustration of a rope bridge against a blue background. The text reads, &quot;Report | Bridging the Digital Divide with the Center for Inclusive Innovation.&quot;" class="wp-image-176885" width="232" height="300"/></a></figure></div>



Researchers gathered information showing that those efforts resulted in tens of thousands of Portland regional residents receiving aid in digital connectivity and access to needed services. There are substantial examples of success with programs having a positive impact. However, they also provide a picture of siloed efforts due to a lack of regional coordination. For instance, community-based organizations working in multiple jurisdictions such as Multnomah and Washington Counties, the City of Portland, Beaverton, and Gresham, had to navigate not only Federal requirements but also parallel but different local service delivery requirements. In the future, however, as all organizations have common goals under the Digital Equity Action plan, there are opportunities for better coordination and cooperation.



The findings from this research project and recommendations&nbsp;for action by governments, philanthropy, community-based organizations, and coalitions are collected in the following publication.&nbsp;



<div class="wp-block-buttons">
<div class="wp-block-button"><a class="wp-block-button__link" href="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Bridging-the-Digital-Divide_July-2022.pdf">Download the report</a></div>



<div class="wp-block-button"><a class="wp-block-button__link" href="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Bridging-the-Digital-Divide-summary_July-2022.pdf">Download a summary</a></div>
</div>

An illustration of a rope bridge against a blue background. The text reads, "Report | Bridging the Digital Divide with the Center for Inclusive Innovation."

Recommendations for bridging the digital divide in Portland

<h2 id="h-what-is-a-web-content-manager">What is a web content manager?</h2>



Are you a good writer and editor? Do you enjoy working with graphics and video? Are you interested in or have proficiency in using digital and web technology? For people interested in career paths that combine these skills, a position as a web content manager is a good one to explore.&nbsp;



Web content managers oversee <a href="/article/the-key-elements-of-a-content-governance-model/">the planning, organization, creation, and publishing of content</a> for an organization or company website and, sometimes, social media and email. They work with leadership (usually a marketing or communications director) to develop and publish content for their target audiences.&nbsp;Web content managers are typically located in an organization&#8217;s web team or communications department.



<h3 id="h-what-does-a-web-content-manager-do">What does a web content manager do?</h3>



Web content manager responsibilities can include:



<ul><li>Developing a content strategy</li><li>Writing blog posts</li><li>Updating web content</li><li>Building an editorial calendar</li><li>Content promotion</li><li>Identifying new content opportunities</li><li><a href="/article/how-to-systemize-improvement-for-your-nonprofit-website/">Monitoring and reporting on website traffic</a></li><li>Holding staff accountable for meeting content deadlines</li></ul>



They may also oversee:



<ul><li>Website maintenance</li><li>Technical troubleshooting and fixing issues</li><li>Digital marketing</li><li>Search engine optimization (SEO)</li><li>Social media management</li><li>Email marketing and production</li></ul>



It is important to note that — despite the role being identified with the web — web content managers are not web designers or developers. Designers create a website&#8217;s look and feel. Developers build and configure its structure and functionality. Web content managers create, upload, and organize the content (text, images, multimedia, documents) that populate a website.



<h4 id="h-skills-and-experience">Skills and experience</h4>



Web content management for most organizations is not an entry-level role. Instead, this position is typically filled by a college graduate with one or two years of experience in marketing, communications, project management, and website management.



In addition to writing and editing, skills required include:



<ul><li>HTML and CSS</li><li>Graphic software</li><li>Content management systems</li><li>Accessibility and compliance</li><li>Project management</li></ul>



<h4 id="h-html-and-css">HTML and CSS</h4>



Skills in HTML and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) are a basic requirement. Despite software now being common that can make writing and editing code easier, proficiency in hand-coded HTML and CSS will enhance your ability to perform on the job. Mastery of these fundamentals will help you recognize badly written code or fix incorrect code that software often generates. <a href="https://www.edx.org/course/html5-and-css-fundamentals">Gaining proficiency in HTML and CSS</a> as the first step towards a career in web content management is highly recommended.



<h4 id="h-graphic-software">Graphic software</h4>



Web content requires working day-to-day with images, logos, charts and graphs, infographics, and other visual media. This work requires skills to resize files, convert from one file type to another, edit and crop images, and sometimes, create your own visuals and graphics. To do this, proficiency in graphics software such as <a href="https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html">Adobe Photoshop</a> and <a href="https://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator.html">Adobe Illustrator</a> is a must.



<h4 id="h-content-management-systems">Content management systems</h4>



Unlike the early days of the web, most organizations with websites now use a CMS or a content management system. Common CMS platforms include <a href="https://wordpress.org/">WordPress</a> and <a href="https://www.drupal.org/">Drupal</a>. A CMS allows site administrators to create and edit web pages from a central, online location. It also locks down and separates a website&#8217;s design from content. This means a web content manager can edit and create content without affecting the site&#8217;s functionality, design, and navigation. Being the in-house expert on an organization&#8217;s CMS is a requirement for web content manager jobs.



<h4 id="h-accessibility-and-compliance">Accessibility and compliance</h4>



Accessibility means making your website and web content accessible to people with disabilities. Because of laws like the <a href="https://beta.ada.gov/">Americans with Disabilities Act</a>, employers — particularly government and organizations who do business with government — increasingly require <a href="https://beta.ada.gov/web-guidance/">accessibility</a> skills for web content managers. This means learning to recognize when web pages, images, web forms, or uploaded documents are not accessible and being able to fix the problem (by yourself or hiring an accessibility specialist).



<h4 id="h-project-management">Project management</h4>



Web content managers start their careers coordinating the work of colleagues to produce and submit online content. Later, web content managers may also contribute to technical and design scoping for website builds and redesigns, write RFPs (requests for proposals), and manage the work of web development and design vendors hired to execute web projects. These tasks can give web content managers experience in higher-level skills to advance one&#8217;s career: technical scoping and writing, formulating and managing budgets, working with stakeholders, coordinating communications up and down an organization, and vendor management.



<h3 id="h-salary-and-career-outlook">Salary and career outlook</h3>



Web content manager salaries vary depending on years of experience, education, location, and size of the company and industry.&nbsp; In the U.S., <a href="https://climbtheladder.com/web-content-manager-salary/">web content managers can make around $60,000 to $87,000 on average</a>. The median annual salary for this position is <a href="https://climbtheladder.com/web-content-manager/">$70,500 ($33.89 per hour), with the top 10% earning $122,000 ($56.85 per hour)</a>. The job outlook for web professionals is bright, with employment expected to <a href="https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/web-developers.htm">grow faster than average in the next ten years</a>, according to the Occupational Outlook Handbook by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

A bearded man works on a laptop while sitting at a wooden conference room table.

Web Content Manager Career Profile

We knew that the internet was a critical tool for everyone long before the global COVID–19 pandemic. But the last two years have proven over and over again how necessary internet access, accessible devices, and digital skills are for our organizations so we can work remotely, deliver programs in changing environments, and communicate with staff and constituents, as well as for individuals and families to access school, communicate with doctors, access services, and stay connected to friends and relatives. One of NTEN&#8217;s core beliefs is that the internet is a powerful and necessary tool and it is vital that it is affordable and accessible to all people.



In 2020, NTEN joined with a coalition of other organizations to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.eff.org/document/organizations-ask-incoming-biden-fcc-ban-digital-redlining" rel="noreferrer noopener">sign a joint letter</a> calling for a ban on digital redlining. Internet Service Providers &#8220;have decided to invest fiber optic infrastructure in wealthy neighborhoods in large densely populated cities while skipping low-income neighborhoods in those same cities. The result of this digital redlining is the formation of a 1st class and 2nd class broadband infrastructure where wealthy communities easily access 21st century opportunities with low-cost, fast Internet while everyone else is left behind.&#8221;



Since then, Congress enacted a digital discrimination rulemaking proceeding for the FCC to implement and in February 2022, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced the formation of the <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/task-force-prevent-digital-discrimination">Task Force to Prevent Digital Discrimination</a>, a &#8220;cross-agency task force that will focus on creating rules and policies to combat digital discrimination and to promote equal access to broadband across the country, regardless of zip code, income level, ethnicity, race, religion, or national origin.&#8221; The FCC approved&nbsp;a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-initiates-inquiry-preventing-digital-discrimination">Notice of Inquiry</a>, the first step in the full process which&nbsp;must be completed by November 2023 as directed by Congress in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.



<a href="/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/FCC-Digital-Discrimination-Comments_May-2022.pdf">NTEN joined EFF, the Center for Accessible Technology, and 36 other organizations committed to an equitable and accessible internet to file joint comments</a>.&nbsp;Here is a summary of the filed statement:



<ul><li>The filing asserts that the Commission should begin defining “digital discrimination” as the&nbsp;discriminatory infrastructure deployment choices made based on socio-economic status. Highlights how the deployment of fiber optic infrastructure plays a key role in the ongoing discrimination where high-income users are receiving 21st century ready multi-gigabit access and low-income users are left with legacy infrastructure built in decades past.</li></ul>



<ul><li>A history of redlining and its implications on this proceeding is provided in order to educate the Commission as to the nature of how many low-income neighborhoods stem from past discrimination that government action has historically been relied on to remedy. Adding broadband to our non-discrimination policies should build on those efforts.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Allowing for the continuation of discriminatory deployment of broadband infrastructure will perpetuate the past harms of historical discrimination.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Addressing discrimination in infrastructure deployment will be beneficial to the US economy and yield significant economic benefits towards low-income users.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Low-income communities, particularly in urban markets, are in fact profitable to serve with the appropriate expectations of return on investment.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Continuous growth in broadband demand must be included in the FCC’s analysis to avoid a ‘Separate But Equal’ outcome in infrastructure access.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Cable companies (i.e. Comcast) and telephone companies (i.e. AT&amp;T) engage in discrimination in different ways that the FCC must take into account in its analysis. Furthermore, the FCC should continue the presumption it utilizes in its competition analysis that wireless and wireline are not interchangeable as substitutes.</li></ul>



<ul><li>The FCC should produce its own study to add to the existing literature already created by the NDIA/CWA, USC, and Greenlining Institute studies.</li></ul>



We will continue advocating for and standing together with others to fight for an internet that is affordable, accessible, and safe for all.

White text on a dark blue background. The text reads, "NTEN. Connect. Learn. Change."

The FCC must end digital redlining

<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><a href="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Share-Roman.png"><img loading="lazy" src="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Share-Roman.png" alt="Share Roman headshot" class="wp-image-176904" width="168" height="300"/></a></figure></div>



The NTEN team is now fully staffed. We’re thrilled to tell you that&nbsp;<a href="/about-nten/staff/share-roman/">Share Roman has joined NTEN as our first Impact </a><a href="https://sandbox.nten.org/people/nten/staff/0014y00002coixpAAA">Coordinator</a>! They kindly indulged us as we played our favorite game, 5 Questions.



You’re a wonderful community organizer. What are your favorite parts about and reason for being a community organizer?&nbsp;



I think witnessing the excitement, passion, and anger it takes to get people involved in the work that seems to not have an end date. I’ve also found joy in the recruitment process of organizing. Connecting with fellow anxiety-ridden people who want to create change has gifted me with a chosen family and a deeper investment in movement work.



What are your favorite ways to relax and unwind? Why?



I honestly don’t know if I have mastered unwinding yet.



What is your favorite dish to eat?&nbsp;



Hear me out. Tuna Fish casserole, but made with ramen.



You’re an artist! What are your favorite ways to express yourself and your artistry?



Poetry. I show up as my whole self through my poetry. It is the only form of art that I feel the most safe and authentic in. I used to do photography, hard runner up!



Any books, podcasts, or artists you’d like to recommend?



Absolutely! Podcasts: <a href="http://thisistheread.com/episodes">The Read,</a> <a href="http://www.powernotpity.com/"> POWER NOT PITY,</a> and NPR News Now.



Artists:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/gyngerprynce/?hl=en">Prince Bri</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.izdabes.com/">Jet Toomer</a>,<a href="https://www.instagram.com/queer_kanaka/?hl=en">&nbsp;Queer Kanaka</a>



Books:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.abebooks.com/Bridge-Called-Back-Writings-Radical-Women/30777789762/bd?cm_mmc=ggl-_-US_Shopp_Trade-20to50-_-product_id=COM9780913175033USED-_-keyword=&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwoduRBhA4EiwACL5RPwPBs-5aqJkotR54YrLSCQnRb8hkgV21fZS1ZhaTu3QBhjC7LZSplhoCqUMQAvD_BwE">This Bridge Called My Back</a>

5 questions for Share Roman

Nonprofit organizations and the communities they work in and with are often not included in policymaking, budgeting, or decision-making by the government. Yet, organizations providing critical services, delivering valued programs, and connecting people to resources are incredibly important to so many communities. And, the people who work in these organizations should be resourced and supported for success. 



NTEN believes that when we work together we have everything we need to change the world. Working together requires that we create mechanisms for accountability and visibility so that everyone has a chance to contribute — that we make the table big enough for everyone, not only that some folks have a seat. This is why NTEN has endorsed the Nonprofit Sector Strength and Partnership Act of 2022. &#8220;Over the past two years, nonprofits have served on the front lines as America faces generational health, economic, and social crises. Nonprofits have adapted to disrupted operations and lost revenue while facing increased need in the community. While these challenges may be a poignant reminder of our sector’s importance, nonprofits have been delivering concrete outcomes for Americans for centuries. Whether they offer housing, nutrition, health, education, disaster relief, artistic inspiration, spiritual well-being, conservation or any number of other essential services, nonprofits are woven into and reflect the communities they serve. They work every day to improve lives and build a brighter future. Although they exist to advance a charitable mission, nonprofits have tremendous economic impact as the nation’s third-largest employer and generate nearly 6% of GDP.



The Nonprofit Sector Strength and Partnership Act creates mechanisms that leverage the mission, knowledge, and impact of nonprofits to help government and the sector work together more effectively in pursuit of shared goals.&#8221;



Learn more about the <a href="https://independentsector.org/resource/the-nonprofit-sector-strength-and-partnership-act-of-2022/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nonprofit Sector Strength and Partnership Act </a>and how you can support it with Independent Sector.

It’s time to prioritize the needs of the sector

The Canadian Centre for Nonprofit Digital Resilience aims to build a digitally-enabled nonprofit sector, where Canada’s nonprofits use data and tech to advance their mission and multiply their impact.



Leading Canadian and global organizations have joined forces to launch the Canadian Centre for Nonprofit Digital Resilience today.&nbsp;



For the first time, leading nonprofits are taking deliberate, collective action to build the digital capacity of the sector. The founders include some of the best-known names in the nonprofit sector, including Imagine Canada, Tamarack Institute and SETSI. It is receiving crucial assistance from global nonprofit technology leader, NTEN. And the CIO Strategy Council is bringing its support to bear to solve this critical challenge.&nbsp;



“Nonprofit organizations touch the lives of all Canadians – providing vital services to individuals, families, and communities,” says Katie Gibson, Vice President at CIO Strategy Council.&nbsp; “But most nonprofits aren’t equipped to thrive in the digital age. They’re forced to rely on outdated technology, and they lack resources and expertise. We’re asking them to save lives with one arm tied behind their back. We need to fix this.”



The Centre will focus on nonprofits most in need of resources to increase their digital resilience.&nbsp;



“Access to technology and digital skills is an equity issue. Well-funded nonprofits can invest in technology and reap the benefits. But Black-led and Black-serving organizations have been historically and systemically under-resourced,” says Victor Beausoleil, Executive Director of SETSI.&nbsp;



“There are also equity divides within organizations &#8211; executive and leadership staff are more likely to be white and program staff are more likely to be those in historically and systemically oppressed communities. How we train staff in technology needs to address this by including staff in all roles, of all backgrounds, and in all departments,” adds Amy Sample Ward, CEO of NTEN.



Digitally-enabled organizations use technology skillfully to operate more efficiently and provide higher-quality, beneficiary-focused services.



“We have a window of opportunity coming out of the pandemic to create a truly digitally-enabled nonprofit sector,” says Cathy Barr, Vice President at Imagine Canada. “Overnight, charities across Canada had to pivot to provide services online and enable work-from-home. This was a bumpy transition for many. But now many of our members see the potential for technology to improve reach and accessibility, enable higher-quality, client-centred services, and drive deeper engagement with all their stakeholders. The Centre for Nonprofit Digital Resilience will help them make the most of this opportunity.”



The Centre will convene nonprofits, grantmakers, and tech experts to drive progress on: research and knowledge mobilization; public policy; grantmaker practices; digital skills and literacy; shared platforms tools, and standards; vendor relationships; data standards and infrastructure; and access and connectivity.&nbsp;



“For the past 20 years, the Tamarack Institute has honed our approach including collective action to catalyse transformational change,” says Liz Weaver, Co-CEO of the Tamarack Institute. “Digital resilience is a huge challenge requiring all hands on deck. We see the challenges that community-based collaboratives face when trying to develop shared data and measurement approaches which are vital to achieving impact.&nbsp; Improving digital literacy, access to technology, and resilience will make the work of community change more impactful. &nbsp; Together, we’re going to make this happen.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



“For more than 15 years, NTEN&#8217;s research about technology adoption and use in the nonprofit sector in the U.S., Canada, and beyond has consistently found that the most important need for nonprofit staff is training to put whatever technology they have to work for their mission,” says Amy Sample Ward, CEO of NTEN. “We know that technology tools will change &#8211; every day and over time &#8211; but without the knowledge, skills, and practice in technology-related decision making, budgeting, planning, and evaluation, nonprofit staff in any department and in any organization aren&#8217;t supported in digital success. NTEN’s training programs combine our mission’s focus on equitable and strategic technology use with values of community and self-determination. We don’t want everyone to do everything the same; we want everyone to be able to do what is right for their community and organization. While Canadian nonprofit staff have been part of the NTEN community for 22 years, we are excited to extend our program models intentionally to reach more people with the kinds of training and support that can fuel their success.”



At launch, the Canadian Centre for Nonprofit Digital Resilience has over 85 advisors representing the diversity of Canada’s nonprofit sector, from Whitehorse to St. John’s. &nbsp;



“The non-profit sector is critical to supporting communities. Ensuring affordable access to digital solutions are critical to advancing data and technology equity to enable positive impacts for our society,” says Lawrence Eta, Chief Technology Officer for the City of Toronto and advisor to the Centre. “As a government leader, the launch of the Canadian Centre for Nonprofit Digital Resilience aligns to public service principles of advancing equity and inclusion, creating a strong technology ecosystem, and digital autonomy.”



Seed funders supporting the launch of the Centre include Okta for Good and Sonor Foundation.



“Through investing in unseen technology infrastructure, we can unleash talent and multiply impact across the social sector,” says Narinder Dhami, President of The Sonor Foundation. “The Sonor Foundation is honoured to support this work. We strongly align with the vision and ambition of this initiative and are excited to support&nbsp;the bold leadership driving this work forward. The philanthropic and public sector plays a critical role in enabling the digital transformation of the social sector. This isn’t feel-good, photo-op grantmaking. This is about investing in more effective solutions and structures to drive deeper impact across Canada.”&nbsp;



“At Okta, we believe that nonprofits — who are doing society’s most important work — should be as powerful as their missions,” says Erin Baudo Felter, VP, Social Impact &amp; Sustainability at Okta, Inc. “As technology companies, it&#8217;s critical that we play a role in helping nonprofits make the digital transition.&nbsp; We’re proud to support the work of the Canadian Centre for Nonprofit Digital Resilience. This initiative has the vision, ambition, and cross-sector support needed to accelerate the digital transformation of Canada’s social sector.”



For full details, visit <a href="https://ccndr.ca">Canadian Centre for Nonprofit Digital Resilience</a>.

Leading organizations invest in building the digital capacity of Canada’s nonprofit sector

2021 was an eventful year at NTEN as we continued to promote, work towards, and model equitable practices internally and externally. To ensure that NTEN continues to grow in our equitable operations, part of our process is to annually review efforts made to the <a href="https://sandbox.nten.org/about-nten#Equity">practices outlined in our equity commitment</a> and identify where we can push forward or expand on those efforts in the coming year. This evaluation process involves all three equity committees, including board, community, and staff. 



Our evaluation and review of 2021 have helped us identify some key successes while providing us with some priorities for 2022. This post is part of our continued efforts to share updates about internal and external efforts and outcomes to more directly invite accountability and collaboration in this work.&nbsp;



While our complete evaluation is quite long, we&#8217;ve summarized reflections and commitments for 2022 from every area of our commitments in practice.



<h2 id="h-staff-board-and-volunteers">Staff, board, and volunteers</h2>



<h3 id="h-2021-review-highlights">2021 review highlights</h3>



<ul><li>We hired two new staff in 2021 and engaged the new staff and their managers in reflection about the onboarding and hiring process.</li><li>More closely collaborated with and supported other board committees to improve the annual board self assessment survey; and support the board recruitment process.</li><li>This year, implementing the new concurrent and holistic committee application process resulted in a more accessible and streamlined experience with more community members on NTEN committees than ever before.</li></ul>



<h3 id="h-2022-focus">2022 focus</h3>



<ul><li>Strengthening continuity plans; updating and expanding hiring and onboarding documentation.</li><li>Board moving to a co-chair structure; adding the equity committee chair to the executive committee.</li><li>Creating more internal documentation and materials to ensure effective and efficient replication for the next call for committee applications and consistency across staff committee leads.&nbsp;</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-members">Members</h2>



<h3 id="h-2021-review-highlights-1">2021 review highlights</h3>



<ul><li>We reviewed the sliding scale for membership. The median price remains $99, which is an excellent sign of the strength and value of the membership. However, we also see a substantial number of people diverging from the median price – some paying less as they need and others contributing at 2x+ the rate to support members who cannot pay the suggested price.</li><li>The membership committee was restarted in 2021 to discuss topics ranging from our website redesign to NTC member options to ways to activate the community around our beliefs and advocacy campaigns.</li></ul>



<h3 id="h-2022-focus-1">2022 focus</h3>



<ul><li>As part of organization-wide efforts to create new evaluation criteria against our theory of change, we are expanding how membership and community metrics are measured and what goals are placed for them, prioritizing engagement and access over revenue or total numbers.</li><li>We are working on expanding the way NTEN&#8217;s advocacy efforts are connected directly to the value and identity of being part of NTEN, in addition to serving as an engagement mechanism for folks regardless of membership status or tenure in the community or sector.</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-speakers">Speakers</h2>



<h3 id="h-2021-review-highlights-2">2021 review highlights</h3>



<ul><li>To continue elevating community member voices as faculty, the program team updated expectations for faculty this year by introducing a maximum number of years for faculty leading a specific course.</li><li>Tristan (NTEN&#8217;s senior manager of equity and accountability) partnered with the program team to add to the perspectives across the team that support the NTC session selection process with community and session advisory participation.</li></ul>



<h3 id="h-2022-focus-2">2022 focus</h3>



<ul><li>We will work with course faculty to support and ensure that all courses help participants make the direct connections between equitable outcomes or priorities and the course topic as we see more opportunities for supporting folks in using technology as an internal leverage point for advancing equitable policies or processes in their organizations.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-sponsors-and-exhibitors">Sponsors and exhibitors&nbsp;</h2>



<h3 id="h-2021-review-highlights-3">2021 review highlights</h3>



<ul><li>The Sponsorship Team has ensured that sponsors (for NTC and year-round) are not only aware of our commitment to equity and liberation but are reminded of how sponsoring NTEN and NTC is an endorsement of how important our work is regarding equity in nonprofits.</li><li>Changed sponsorship approach for the NTC so that there are no tiers or &#8220;levels&#8221; of sponsorship related to how much a sponsor gives us; instead, all sponsorships are a la carte based on what options and budget a sponsor has, without any public-facing labels to denote any ranking.&nbsp;</li></ul>



<h3 id="h-2022-focus-3">2022 focus</h3>



<ul><li>We will more directly monitor how a sponsor is actually &#8220;showing up&#8221; and working with NTEN, the community, and NTC attendees so that we can both support them in being contributors to the community and ensure the community continues to benefit from folks sharing knowledge and experience (without sales or spam).</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-vendors-and-contractors">Vendors and contractors</h2>



<h3 id="h-2021-review-highlights-4">2021 review highlights</h3>



<ul><li>We have successfully put out opportunities for RFPs or other options to work with us that have garnered a diverse pool of applicants.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>Many of our most significant contracts are related to the NTC. We are limited by rules or requirements with a convention center.</li></ul>



<h3 id="h-2022-focus-4">2022 focus</h3>



<ul><li>We will ensure that vendor and contractor relationships are being closely monitored and reviewed not only before but during and after the relationship. This will be crucial specifically as 22NTC nears.&nbsp;</li></ul>



In addition to these above highlights, we have lined out a great deal more 2021 reviews and 2022 focus areas (eight pages worth!). We look forward to continuing to be self-reflective, critical, and forward-thinking in regards to our work and our journey towards liberation.

January 2022 equity update to the community

Community programs are an important part of our <a href="http://example.gom">mission</a> at NTEN, and we are looking for new community members who want to get involved!



The Tech Clubs connect community members locally to exchange knowledge, resources and learn from each other’s experiences. In addition, the online groups connect community members virtually around topics of interest and identity.&nbsp;



NTEN has always been a community. We prioritize ways to support people finding a peer who does similar work, has tried that same project before, or offers helpful advice. Through making connections with others, exchanging resources, and sharing experiences in these spaces, nonprofit professionals at all stages of their careers and across sectors find a place in the NTEN community.&nbsp;



A group of dedicated volunteer organizers lead the Tech Clubs and online groups. The organizers are supported by NTEN’s community management team, collaborate with one or more volunteer co-organizers, and get opportunities to connect with the network of organizers.&nbsp;



<h2 id="h-want-to-start-an-online-group-or-tech-club">Want to start an online group or Tech Club?</h2>



We already have many active <a href="https://my.nten.org/s/group/CollaborationGroup/Default?tabset-1d957=dda07">online groups</a> and <a href="https://my.nten.org/s/group/CollaborationGroup/Default?tabset-1d957=56a66">Tech Clubs</a> that you can join. And, we are always open to starting new ones when volunteers let us know they are interested in supporting something new. For example, we are currently working on starting an LGBTQIA+ online group, and a few new cities are hoping to launch Tech Clubs in 2022.&nbsp;



Are there any online groups or new Tech Clubs that you’d like to be part of or help organize? We’d love to hear from you and help get it started!&nbsp;



<h2 id="h-want-to-help-organize-an-existing-online-group-or-tech-club">Want to help organize an existing online group or Tech Club?</h2>



Several of our current organizers are interested in bringing on more folks as co-organizers. There is no need to start a group in this case. Instead, you could help an existing group have even more support for active conversations, events, and calls. Check out the current groups and let us know if you’re interested in helping out as a co-organizer!&nbsp;



<a href="mailto:community@nten.org">Send an email to let us know if you want to start an online group or Tech Club or are interested in helping to co-organize an active one</a>!

A megaphone with the words, "Call for new community organizers," set against a backdrop repeating, "Your name here."

Volunteer with NTEN as a group organizer

Please join NTEN in welcoming our new Lead Organizers, Dave Tinker (Pittsburgh, PA) and James Porter (Denver, CO) for Tech Clubs and Dar Veverka (Baltimore, MD), and Jonea Agwa (Burlington, Ontario, Canada) for online groups. This team of dynamic and enthusiastic community leaders kicked off their roles in November to support the network of about 50 volunteer organizers of the 20 Tech Clubs and 11 online groups.&nbsp;



We work together to connect with the Tech Club and online group organizers to hear what resources, tools, and support they need to be more successful in their roles. The Lead Organizers are planning an orientation next year for the many group organizers to connect virtually and also during the 22NTC Community Conversations.



Let’s get to know the new Lead Organizers.



<h2 id="h-lead-organizers-for-tech-clubs">Lead organizers for Tech Clubs</h2>



<h3 id="h-dave-tinker">Dave Tinker</h3>



<a href="https://word.nten.org/about-nten/pronouns/">Pronouns</a>: he / him



Tell us a little bit about yourself.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><a href="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Dave-Tinker.png"><img loading="lazy" src="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Dave-Tinker.png" alt="Dave Tinker headshot" class="wp-image-160801" width="225" height="225" srcset="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Dave-Tinker.png 300w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Dave-Tinker-150x150.png 150w" sizes="(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" /></a></figure></div>



I have been in fundraising for over thirty years now &#8211; more than half of that time at disability-related nonprofits and have been an adjunct in a graduate informatics program for over a decade. I am from and currently live in Pittsburgh, PA, and am an elected public school board director. During the pandemic, I picked up jogging 5 and 10k races as a hobby. I am starting to train to run a half-marathon next.



I was named to the inaugural class of Distinguished Fellows of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) in 2017, became a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) in 2001, and have traveled all over North America teaching fundraising and nonprofit management.



What do you look forward to the most in this role?&nbsp;



I am really looking forward to helping like-minded individuals.



What is something you do really well?&nbsp;



I’ve always been able to do research really well. It doesn’t matter the subject. This has helped me through my work as a fundraising professional.



<h3 id="h-james-porter">James Porter</h3>



<a href="https://word.nten.org/about-nten/pronouns/">Pronouns</a>: he / him



Tell us a little bit about yourself.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><a href="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/James-Porter.png"><img loading="lazy" src="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/James-Porter.png" alt="James Porter headshot" class="wp-image-160804" width="225" height="225" srcset="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/James-Porter.png 300w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/James-Porter-150x150.png 150w" sizes="(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" /></a></figure></div>



After having grown up outside of New York City and living in the city for the last 10 years, my husband and I (and our dog Charlie) decided to move out to the Denver area earlier this year and have been loving it since. Hiking, leaf peeping, and just generally more space!&nbsp;



Career-wise, I’ve spent close to 14 years working in marketing and communications for nonprofits. From immigration to refugees, neglected tropical diseases, and now working to end child marriage with VOW for Girls, I’ve been involved in a variety of issue areas. I have a sweet spot for helping nonprofit startups grow their brands, tell their stories, and differentiate their voice.&nbsp;



What do you appreciate/like the most about NTEN and the NTEN Community?



I got involved with NTEN in 2013 through the Nonprofit Technology Conference in Minneapolis. After that experience (and now seven NTCs!), I knew that I had found my people. Fun-loving, willing to share knowledge and learnings, compassionate, open, and welcoming &#8211; the NTEN world had it all! It doesn’t matter if you are first starting out in your career or are a seasoned professional. NTEN has something for everyone. I was still early in my coming out journey in 2013 as a gay man. The NTEN community welcomed me with open arms and helped me grow in my confidence as a nonprofit leader and, in general, as a human. I later joined the New York City Nonprofit Tech Club, became an organizer for five years, and look forward to my next NTEN chapter.



What are your top three apps/ books/ movies? Why?



I’m a travel fanatic and can’t live without a few travel-related apps:



<ul><li>App in the air — collects data on all of your air travel (when it becomes more of a thing again) and gives you stats like countries visited, miles traveled, most frequently flown aircraft, and allows you to buy carbon offsets for your flights!</li><li>FlightRadar — Ever looked up at the sky and wondered where the planes you see are going? Enter FlightRadar! Open it up, allow GPS, and see all of the planes near you and where they are headed from/to.&nbsp;</li><li>PlugShare &#8211; My husband and I have electric vehicles and love them. PlugShare enables us to travel more easily by showing nearby charging stations along with reviews of them in case there are any issues.&nbsp;</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-lead-organizers-for-online-groups">Lead organizers for online groups</h2>



<h3 id="h-dar-veverka">Dar Veverka</h3>



<a href="https://word.nten.org/about-nten/pronouns/">Pronouns</a>: she / her



Tell us a little bit about yourself.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><a href="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Dar-Veverka.png"><img loading="lazy" src="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Dar-Veverka.png" alt="Dar Veverka headshot" class="wp-image-160805" width="225" height="225" srcset="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Dar-Veverka.png 300w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Dar-Veverka-150x150.png 150w" sizes="(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" /></a></figure></div>



I’ve been working in tech for 20 some odd years. I’ve done for-profit and nonprofit tech and spent a few years as a nonprofit IT Director. Currently, I’m a Solution Architect working with nonprofits on CRM implementations for Idealist Consulting. I’ve volunteered for NTEN for a few years and love the community around NTEN and the work the organization does. I’m a data governance nerd and generally enjoy solving nonprofit tech issues. Besides software implementations, I focus on broadening representation in tech and tech leadership, accessibility issues in tech, and just generally trying to give back to the nonprofit tech community. I love hiking and reading in my spare time — the count this year is 49 hikes, and a couple dozen books read.



What do you look forward to the most in this role?&nbsp;



I’m looking forward to helping energize and support NTEN’s online community group organizers and help increase involvement for folks in the various groups.



What do you appreciate/like the most about NTEN and the NTEN Community?&nbsp;



It’s hard to say what I appreciate the most about the NTEN community &#8211; probably the community itself. It’s always a welcoming, thoughtful and inclusive space. I’ve met such a wide variety of folks and lifelong friends in the NTEN forums and at the NTCs.



<h3 id="h-jonea-agwa">Jonea Agwa</h3>



<a href="https://word.nten.org/about-nten/pronouns/">Pronouns</a>: she / her



Tell us a little bit about yourself.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><a href="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Jonea-Agwa.png"><img loading="lazy" src="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Jonea-Agwa.png" alt="Jonea Agwa headshot" class="wp-image-160806" width="225" height="225" srcset="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Jonea-Agwa.png 300w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Jonea-Agwa-150x150.png 150w" sizes="(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" /></a></figure></div>



I am interested in technology, particularly as it relates to digital equity, digital inclusion, and the ethical uses of technology. I believe technology has the ability to open doors of opportunity closed to people from marginalized communities. I also believe that technology isn’t the answer to everything and that indigenous traditional ways of knowing and doing need to be protected and preserved. When I am not working, I enjoy reading, learning, spending time with my dog Lulu, and hiking.



What is your most memorable experience with NTEN?



I have had so many memorable experiences with NTEN. I learned about the NTEN community through a LinkedIn post. What amazed and surprised me was that even though they didn’t know me, they treated me with kindness, respect, and love. Even though they didn’t know me, they created space for me to learn, grow, be seen, be heard, and be myself.&nbsp;



What do you hope to bring to this role?



Honesty and compassion.

"Meet the Community's Lead Organizers" set against a repeating background of the organizer's names: Dave Tinker, James Porter, Dar Veverka, and Jonea Agwa.

Meet the community’s new lead organizers

Although they grew more popular because of the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual volunteer opportunities are likely here to stay. Why is that? Besides keeping people safe during the pandemic, virtual volunteering also allows nonprofits to:&nbsp;



<ul><li>Reach a more geographically far-flung audience.&nbsp;</li><li><a href="/article/5-ideas-for-developing-more-inclusive-volunteer-management/">Make volunteering more inclusive</a>, especially for those with physical disabilities or time restrictions.</li><li>Offer skills-based volunteer opportunities for participants to enhance certain skills, especially tech-related ones.</li></ul>



However, just because virtual volunteer opportunities offer inherent benefits doesn’t mean your nonprofit’s volunteers will automatically sign up for each opportunity you present. Your virtual volunteer experiences must be engaging to inspire your audience members to get involved.&nbsp;



Here are five tips for planning engaging virtual volunteer opportunities:&nbsp;



<ol><li>Make your virtual volunteer experience unique and hands-on.</li><li>Ask volunteers what they’d like to see.&nbsp;</li><li>Ensure your technology is up-to-date.&nbsp;</li><li>Offer a valuable training process.</li><li>Conduct volunteer appreciation efforts.&nbsp;</li></ol>



As <a href="https://www.initlive.com/blog/volunteer-engagement">InitLive’s volunteer engagement guide</a> states, every interaction your volunteers have with your organization matters. If your volunteers have a positive experience with your virtual opportunities, from the time they sign up to when the opportunity ends, they’ll be much more likely to stick around for the long term. Let’s dive in!



<h2 id="h-1-make-your-virtual-volunteer-experience-unique-and-hands-on">1. Make your virtual volunteer experience unique and hands-on.</h2>



There are plenty of virtual volunteer opportunities that offer participants a unique experience that they can’t get anywhere else. Plus, you can still make your virtual opportunities hands-on by giving participants an active role in driving your mission forward.&nbsp;



You want to offer opportunities that will excite your volunteers and make them look forward to participating. Ensure you thoroughly explain what each role involves and create fun role descriptions to get volunteers interested and prepared! Remember to offer roles where your volunteers can learn new skills and engage with others, just like they can with in-person opportunities.&nbsp;



Let’s demonstrate with a few examples of virtual volunteer opportunities you can host:



<ul><li>A <a href="/article/the-virtual-food-drive-turning-a-website-visitor-into-a-donor/">virtual food drive</a> — Spread the word about your opportunity on several social media platforms and offer potential volunteers instructions on how to participate. Volunteers can help by acting as ambassadors and reaching out to their social media followers to encourage them to participate.</li></ul>



<ul><li><a href="/article/advocacy-and-politics-how-your-nonprofit-can-get-more-involved/">Virtual advocacy opportunities</a> — Teach volunteers to be strong advocates for your cause. For instance, you can host a virtual session on how to write effective letters to representatives. This will allow your volunteers to develop leadership skills and reputations as action-takers.</li></ul>



<ul><li>A <a href="https://www.qgiv.com/blog/virtual-peer-to-peer-ideas/">peer-to-peer fundraiser</a> — Encourage volunteers to create personalized fundraising pages and share them with family members and friends on their social media accounts. You can also create a social media group to share information about your fundraising campaign. LinkedIn and Facebook are great places to create group pages to share important information with fundraising participants. Use these pages to reach everyone all at once and keep participants engaged in the virtual fundraising effort.</li></ul>



<ul><li>A virtual advice line for community members — Train volunteers to answer questions and offer guidance on topics relevant to your nonprofit’s mission. For example, if your nonprofit specializes in teaching financial literacy, you can set up an advice line for community members to call in with their financial questions. This will allow your volunteers to take on a hands-on role and provide a valuable resource for community members seeking help.</li></ul>



These ideas will engage volunteers more effectively than generic ideas or ones that don’t require a lot of hands-on involvement.&nbsp;



<h2 id="h-2-ask-volunteers-what-they-d-like-to-see">2. Ask volunteers what they’d like to see.&nbsp;</h2>



Volunteers play an important role in any nonprofit organization. They lend their skills and expertise to help you deliver vital programs and services. Keeping this in mind, it’s important to consider how you can offer an experience that appeals to volunteers’ interests and preferences.



To offer the best experience possible for your volunteers, it’s important to understand what they would like to get out of your virtual opportunity. Send out a survey to your volunteers ahead of time asking about what they’d like to see in your virtual volunteer opportunities. This is a great way to show your volunteers that their opinions matter.



Here are some questions you may consider asking:



<ul><li>How likely are you to participate in a virtual volunteer opportunity?</li><li>What would make you more likely to participate in virtual opportunities?</li><li>How much time do you have to devote to participating in virtual volunteer activities?</li><li>Do you prefer to work collaboratively or independently?</li></ul>



Asking these questions before creating your virtual opportunities allows you to plan accordingly, ensuring your volunteers’ experience is exactly what they imagined it to be. You can also take their feedback after their volunteer experience to see whether it was successful or not. This way, you know what to continue doing and what to change for next time.



<h2 id="h-3-ensure-your-technology-is-up-to-date">3. Ensure your technology is up-to-date.&nbsp;</h2>



Like your <a href="/article/how-to-plan-virtual-fundraising-events/">virtual fundraising events</a>, your online volunteer opportunities require powerful technology tools to succeed. Having up-to-date technology simplifies your workload and saves time, allowing you to focus on other important areas of your organization.



According to a Salesforce Nonprofit Trends Report, <a href="https://vomo.org/blog/is-technology-changing-the-way-we-volunteer/">85% of nonprofits</a> said technology is crucial for their organizations’ success. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, nonprofits are taking advantage of all kinds of virtual opportunities, opening new frontiers in digital volunteerism. Having access to volunteer management software will allow you to communicate with your volunteers, organize their information, and plan better virtual opportunities.



Ensure your organization has access to the following tools:



<ul><li>Event planning software — User-friendly event planning software will help you manage your event staff data and plan virtual experiences. You can also set up schedules and make changes easily through the web or a mobile app to communicate with all your staff and volunteers.</li></ul>



<ul><li><a href="https://www.onecause.com/blog/live-streaming-for-nonprofits/">Livestreaming software</a> — You can gain a real-time view across all events, improve visibility, and manage multiple events through a single end-to-end solution. This will help you provide a better virtual volunteer experience and ensure everything runs smoothly.</li></ul>



<ul><li><a href="https://www.initlive.com/blog/volunteer-management-software">Volunteer management software</a> — To manage a large group of passionate volunteers, up-to-date volunteer management software will help you efficiently recruit, interview, schedule, and engage volunteers and report on your volunteer activities. You can use this system to offer the best volunteer experience from sign-up to check-out and provide volunteers with all the tools they need to succeed.</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-4-offer-a-valuable-training-process">4. Offer a valuable training process.</h2>



After your volunteers sign up, your training process helps them get into the swing of things and stay engaged in your virtual opportunities. Plus, when volunteers receive proper training, they’ll get much more fulfillment from participating in your opportunities because they’ll actually be able to make a difference.&nbsp;



Your volunteers will deliver the most impactful work when they are confident and passionate about what they have been assigned. Your training process sets the foundation for your volunteers’ success and empowers them to put their best foot forward. Organizations with organized volunteer training processes are more likely to experience greater volunteer engagement and satisfaction.



Your training process can be a live video chat with a group of new volunteers or a self-guided training module that volunteers can work through in their own time. Either way, ensure the training covers everything volunteers need to know to participate in your virtual experiences, including:



<ul><li>A detailed explanation of your organization’s history and mission.&nbsp;</li><li>How to log into your online systems or live stream.</li><li>Any specific skills they’ll need, such as how to make an advocacy phone call or log data in an online database.&nbsp;</li><li>How to check into and out of your virtual opportunities and how to track their volunteer hours.</li></ul>



Remember to monitor the training process. Reach out to your volunteers from time to time and encourage them to come to you if they have questions or concerns along the way.&nbsp;



Also, it’s important to keep in mind that every volunteer will have their preferred way of learning. Some may prefer group learning, while others may prefer individual, self-guided training. Ensure you tailor the learning experience to appeal to different learning styles.



Consider offering your volunteers a variety of learning opportunities with different platforms to create a fun and engaging way to prepare volunteers for the next steps!



<h2 id="h-5-conduct-volunteer-appreciation-efforts">5. Conduct volunteer appreciation efforts.&nbsp;</h2>



Volunteer appreciation is one of the most important components of boosting volunteer satisfaction. Your volunteer appreciation efforts help engage volunteers for the long term, not just for a single volunteer opportunity. Recognizing your volunteers for their hard work helps them build self-esteem and confidence.&nbsp;



When your volunteers feel appreciated and important, they are more likely to feel connected to your cause, resulting in a greater sense of personal fulfillment. Remember to maintain recognition throughout the virtual volunteer journey because ongoing volunteer recognition is crucial to keep volunteers motivated.



Here are a few effective ways to <a href="https://www.initlive.com/blog/volunteer-appreciation-ideas/">express gratitude to virtual volunteers</a>:&nbsp;



<ul><li>Send them a free volunteer t-shirt — Offering free merchandise is always an enticing thank-you gift, especially if your t-shirts are well-made and comfortable. Remember to add your organization&#8217;s logo to the shirts to promote your brand and make your volunteers feel proud to be a part of your organization.&nbsp;</li></ul>



<ul><li>Offer them a gift card to a local restaurant — Who doesn’t love free food? You can ask your volunteers their favorite food or restaurant and offer a gift card. This is a great way to make your volunteers feel recognized for their hard work.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Letters from the community — Nothing feels better than words of gratitude coming from the people they served in their community! Invite community members to write letters to the volunteers who made a difference in their lives. Your volunteers will feel special and see that their hard work truly makes a positive impact.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Post shoutouts on your social media pages — Social media is the best place to highlight and spotlight your volunteers’ accomplishments in a public forum. Consider posting a picture of your team or specific individuals who went above and beyond to highlight their accomplishments. You can also write about your volunteers on your website and share it on social media for everyone to read.</li></ul>



These appreciation efforts will make your volunteers more inclined to participate in future opportunities. Your volunteers donate many hours to support your cause. In return, it’s essential to show them that you notice all their achievements.



. . .



Now that you’ve learned about several tips on how to plan engaging virtual volunteering opportunities, it’s time to start planning accordingly! Offering an engaging, exciting experience for virtual volunteers makes all the difference in running effective virtual volunteer opportunities.



Remember to let your volunteers know that you’re open to feedback and their opinions on your program to help you understand what works best for them. Maintain consistent communication and continue to show your appreciation. Good luck!

An open laptop showing a video call with four people.

5 Tips to Plan Engaging Virtual Volunteer Opportunities

NTEN&#8217;s mission to support those working to change the world but ensuring they can do so with strategic and racially equitable technology use has never been more relevant than the last couple of years. So, instead of a multi-year strategic plan that tries to foretell the future, NTEN uses the Real-Time Strategic Plan model, which focuses on clarifying what we do, how we do it, and what is most important to us in making decisions. As such, we&#8217;ve turned to the strategic questions and priority areas of our Real-Time Strategic Plan many times during the pandemic to help guide our thinking and decisions about our programs, our conference, and our advocacy efforts. 



Critical to the success of our planning, decision-making, and vision of a better world is the team that regularly works together on all of it, including our Board of Directors. At NTEN, all board members come from the community &#8211; they have been part of sharing and learning like thousands of others. They have benefitted from our courses, earned their professional certificates, attended and spoken at the NTC, and volunteered for our on- and offline groups. Having board members who have experienced our mission from many different perspectives makes our work better and our meetings so much more fun. 



We are excited to share that we&#8217;ve gained four new board members who will be part of these conversations with us!&nbsp;<a href="https://word.nten.org/about-nten/board-of-directors/">You can see the full board and everyone&#8217;s biographies on the website</a>. Below, we&#8217;ve included comments from Jude, Leon, Rubin, and Yesenia. We&#8217;re thrilled they&#8217;ve joined the board!



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">I&#8217;m joining the board at NTEN because I believe in access to technology as a right, and NTEN&#8217;s values and core beliefs reflect my own&#8211;especially that change happens when the entire sector comes together. I&#8217;m honored to collaborate with a wonderful team of board members to serve NTEN and its community.<cite>Jude Shimer, CRM Manager The Center for Popular Democracy</cite></blockquote>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-black-background-color has-black-color is-style-dots"/>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">I am humbled and excited to join the board of an organization I&#8217;ve respected and worked with over the past decade. NTEN has been instrumental in my learning and growth in the nonprofit technology sector as a trusted resource.<cite>Leon Wilson, Chief of Digital Innovation and Chief Information Officer The Cleveland Foundation</cite></blockquote>



<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-dots"/>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">I&#8217;ve had the privilege to learn and share with the NTEN community for years and always appreciated the practical tools and resources they provided for nonprofits to thrive. What&nbsp;made NTEN different, though, was how they approached the accessibility and delivery of technology through&nbsp;a lens of racial equality and have cultivated a community of practitioners who feel the same. I am excited to join the board for an&nbsp;organization that practices its&nbsp;principles every day in real and non-performative ways and humbled to serve this community that has given me so much.<cite>Rubin Singh, Founder &amp; CEO OneTenth Consulting</cite></blockquote>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-black-background-color has-black-color is-style-dots"/>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">I am thrilled to join the NTEN board and repay all the blessings the organization has shared with me. I look forward to supporting NTEN&#8217;s outstanding staff and engaging with members.<cite>Yesenia Sotelo, Founder SmartCause Digital</cite></blockquote>

Four more community members join the NTEN board

You were born in New York, grew up in Phoenix, and have lived in Hawaii, Ecuador, Boston. What brought you to Miami?



The common thread here, aside from a 14-year stint in Boston, is warm weather. That would be the easy and probably obvious response. However, what brought me to Miami (the weather, being closer to friends and family, the ocean) is different from what has kept me here. I&#8217;ve been most surprised and completely delighted by Miami&#8217;s creative scene.



You spin, swim, scuba, and do yoga. These are all pretty much individual activities. Would you consider yourself a team player or a solo artist?



Ha, now that you mention it. Perhaps I&#8217;ve found my own way because I was never great at sports and usually the last one picked for any team. That said, you can&#8217;t dive without a buddy (mine are my dad and my brother), so there&#8217;s that. And as far as yoga, swimming, and spin, yeah, all pretty solo. My design work, on the other hand, is pretty much always a team.&nbsp;



You have a master&#8217;s in public health, not design. That&#8217;s curious. What inspired you to become a designer?



If you had asked 13-year old Michelle what she wanted to be, she would have said an artist, hands down. That was before one of my art teachers in middle school told me how &#8220;hard&#8221; it was to be an artist. That news hit me really hard and at an age where I wasn&#8217;t particularly confident in myself. Actually, I didn&#8217;t take another art class until after grad school. But I could never escape it. I found a way to design everything from agendas to flyers at different jobs early in my career. When I realized I could combine design with public health (designing campaigns, materials, etc.), it was as if I had won the lottery! The intersection of social justice and my strong belief that health is a fundamental human right, combined with good design, is the only place I really want to be.



Before joining NTEN, you designed 21NTC, our first virtual conference. Speaking of virtual, what was has been your favorite/most memorable virtual activity/event?



That&#8217;s hard to narrow down. Since the pandemic, I&#8217;ve had so many great virtual experiences. Some highlights are a kombucha class, a private virtual tour of Amsterdam, falafel making with an Israeli couple living in Spain, sangria class with drag queens in Lisbon, a day-long mindful retreat, James Baldwin book club, drawing classes, weekly happy hours, and a virtual Seder. However, I think the most memorable was the week I attended a wedding for my neighbor and his husband in New York on a Tuesday, a virtual celebration of life for my friend&#8217;s father on Wednesday, and a live-streamed funeral for another friend&#8217;s brother on Thursday. I never felt so close or so far.



What are you reading?



I&#8217;m currently reading&nbsp;<a href="https://bookshop.org/books/extra-bold-a-feminist-inclusive-anti-racist-nonbinary-field-guide-for-graphic-designers/9781616899189">Extra Bold: A Feminist, Inclusive, Anti-racist, Nonbinary Field Guide for Graphic Designers&nbsp;by Ellen Lupton</a> (Thinking with Type), Farah Kafei, Jennifer Tobias, Josh A. Halstead, Kaleena Sales, Leslie Xia, and Valentina Vergara. Described as &#8220;part textbook and part comic book, zine, manifesto, survival guide, and self-help manual,&nbsp;Extra Bold&nbsp;is filled with stories and ideas that don&#8217;t show up in other career books or design overviews.&#8221; We are all creative and would recommend it even if you don&#8217;t consider yourself a designer.

Three people in the ocean wearing scuba gear, smiling at the camera.

5 Questions for Michelle Samplin-Salgado

The NTEN team continues to grow! We&#8217;re excited to welcome Samara Islam as our new Program Coordinator.&nbsp;<a href="/about-nten/staff/samara-islam/">Samara brings a passion for community and problem-solving</a>. I asked her five questions to help us get to know our latest teammate.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright size-full"><a href="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/samara_profile-e1628170246512.jpg"><img loading="lazy" width="300" height="299" src="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/samara_profile-e1628170246512.jpg" alt="Samara Islam" class="wp-image-158407"/></a></figure></div>



What was your first job?



My first official job was in high school. I ran the audio board with an A/V team that recorded football games for local public access TV. If we want to get technical, my first job was actually in elementary school. I was fortunate enough to have a pretty sizable VHS collection growing up and rented them out to my friends and family.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;



You&#8217;re a musician. What are some of your favorite bands?



We could be here a while — I love a lot of bands, and my favorites are constantly changing! These days I&#8217;ve been listening to a lot of Weezer, Against Me!, and Meg Myers. I&#8217;ve seen Everclear live more than any other band and have always had a soft spot for 90s-era Aerosmith. I also really love Green Day, The Darkness, Muse, and Bad Religion. Oh, also Motion City Soundtrack, Bruce Springsteen, and David Bowie. I could spend an eternity talking about music I like, so let&#8217;s go ahead and cut it off here for now.



What are some of your favorite local adventures?



I&#8217;m not much of an outdoor person, but I do love taking my daughter to the Oregon Zoo! I also enjoy walking around Downtown Vancouver and Portland with my wife.&nbsp;



What was a favorite childhood meal?



Pizza! I have loved pizza for as long as I&#8217;ve had a conscious memory. I grew up in the 1990s, so Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles probably influenced this a lot.&nbsp;



What is one new place you&#8217;d love to travel to?&nbsp;



I am fascinated by early human civilizations and would love to check out the Pyramids of Giza. I also really want to go to India to see the Taj Mahal. We&#8217;re going to have to call this one a tie.

Samara Islam wears a black baseball cap and a purple long sleeve shirt, holds a white guitar and sings into a microphone.

5 questions for Samara Islam

You may have heard the words tossed around, and you&#8217;ve nodded along — but in reality, maybe you aren&#8217;t quite sure what a headless Content Management System is. We assure you — it&#8217;s nothing to lose your head over! Let&#8217;s pull back the curtain to clarify some things about headless, decoupled, and hybrid Content Management Systems (CMS).&nbsp;



<h3 id="h-what-is-a-headless-cms">What is a Headless CMS?&nbsp;</h3>



First, let&#8217;s get back to the basics — the traditional CMS. You&#8217;re probably familiar with systems like Drupal, WordPress, Sitecore, and Kentico. These systems (and others) are traditional in that they allow developers to author and edit content to create a web page. They also include a built-in templating and storage system. In short, a traditional CMS allows for storing content, creating templates, and building a web page.



Headless Content Management Systems start the same. <a href="/the-key-elements-of-a-content-governance-model/">You can author, edit, and store content and data within the system</a>, but the departure from a traditional CMS is in the templating. Instead of using the CMS templating system to create the page, all of that is offloaded onto a separate framework outside the CMS. This is accomplished through an Application Programming Interface (API), which allows content within the system to be accessible as data. That&#8217;s a simplified version of the API concept, but all you really need to know is that rendering your web page is external to the CMS.&nbsp;



<h2 id="h-why-go-headless-at-all">Why Go Headless At All?</h2>



Why bother offloading rendering to a different system if traditional Content Management Systems already have the functionality to render the content? Well, there are a few reasons.



<h3 id="h-the-latest-front-end-technologies">The Latest Front-End Technologies</h3>



The line between websites and web applications is blurring due to an increase in frameworks built with application-level interactivity in mind. These frameworks are becoming the norm because they ease the development and handling of complex&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.mightycitizen.com/our-work/texas-global?utm_source=NTEN&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;utm_campaign=headless_article" rel="noreferrer noopener">real-time interactions, animations, and visualizations</a>.&nbsp;



These frameworks rely on APIs for grabbing data. Because of this separation between content (CMS) and presentation (frameworks), each system can focus on what they are exceptionally good at. The CMS is excellent at content authoring and storing data, and the front-end frameworks have the power of displaying this data in whatever way your designers&#8217; hearts desire. The open-ended nature of the presentation layer is what gives this concept so much strength and flexibility.



<h3 id="h-multiple-platforms-one-website">Multiple platforms, one website</h3>



Nowadays, companies have a Constituent Relationship Management software (CRM), an Association Management System (AMS), and all sorts of other platforms that house all of their different types of data. These data can be&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.mightycitizen.com/insights/articles/integrating-your-associations-website-and-association-management-system?utm_source=NTEN&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;utm_campaign=headless_article" rel="noreferrer noopener">brought together</a>&nbsp;through APIs that integrate with a headless CMS and framework that grabs the data from the CMS. This allows all of your data to interact seamlessly, creating a better user experience for your visitors.



<h3 id="h-one-cms-multiple-platforms">One CMS, Multiple Platforms</h3>



With a headless CMS, you&#8217;re now outputting data as an API. That comes with the ability to use the same data for other platforms that rely on it. For example, a website, a separate mobile application, and a smartwatch could all use the same data that you&#8217;ve already outputted. The options are endless!



<h3 id="h-long-term-scalability">Long-term scalability</h3>



What&#8217;s excellent about separating data and presentation is that if the CMS needed to be swapped out or upgraded for any particular reason, the look and feel of your web page could remain untouched as long as the new system&#8217;s API can output the same data as the previous CMS. That functionality can save a lot of time, money, and effort when the design of your existing site is working, but the CMS is outdated.



<h3 id="h-performance-and-security-benefits">Performance and security benefits</h3>



It takes a lot more for a traditional Content Management System to render and display a page because it has to pull and parse from the database (your stored content) every time. By default, a headless CMS ecosystem has performance optimizations built-in because the data exists in an API.



Similarly, headless CMS ecosystems have security advantages. With rendering existing outside of the CMS, there is less data that could be vulnerable to exploitation.



<h2 id="h-sound-too-good-to-be-true">Sound Too Good To Be True?</h2>



Of course, it can&#8217;t be all rainbows and butterflies — there are some caveats when transitioning from traditional to headless. Traditional Content Management Systems have many out-of-the-box features (e.g., preview or authentication for front-end users, e-commerce functionality, etc.). When you are no longer using the CMS templating, you can no longer use any of those features out of the box. Either that functionality would need to be recreated using an API version of the implementation, or you may consider using a hybrid approach.&nbsp;



<h3 id="h-hybrid-implementation">Hybrid Implementation</h3>



With a hybrid approach, you can output your data using an API and use that functionality (for all the benefits mentioned above) while using the traditional CMS templating for the parts of your website that would require significant overhead and resources to output as data. That flexibility allows you to pick and choose which approach works better for each piece of functionality. For example, you may opt to use the headless approach for visualizations and interactions, as opposed to a traditional CMS template for complex authentication or member functionality.



<h3 id="h-decoupled-cms-vs-headless-cms-what-s-the-difference">Decoupled CMS vs. Headless CMS: What&#8217;s the Difference?&nbsp;</h3>



Perhaps you haven&#8217;t heard of headless CMS but have heard of decoupled CMS. Casually, you can use the terms decoupled and headless interchangeably. The distinction is that &#8220;decoupled&#8221; is the broad term for any CMS that separates its content authoring and data from its rendering. At the same time, some folks define a purely headless CMS as not having any templating system at all. In those terms, Drupal is not a headless CMS because it has a templating system but could technically be a decoupled CMS if you were to offload the rendering to another framework.



<h3 id="h-is-a-headless-cms-right-for-me">Is a Headless CMS Right for Me?</h3>



When deciding whether you should be building headless, there isn&#8217;t a hard and fast rule. Each implementation may benefit more readily from a headless or traditional CMS, depending on the needs of the site. Generally, the complexity in how you manipulate or interact with your data, in addition to how many data sources you have, are good indicators for which system is most beneficial.&nbsp;

A toy-sized statue of headless person sitting on a brick wall. It sits in front of a fake green hedge.

The Benefits of a Headless Content Management System

Digital transformation that actually works requires putting the right people on it and understanding what their job is — and isn&#8217;t.



A complete technology transformation, when done right, will transform every piece of your organization almost unimaginably for the better. We see the effects of this daily, working with ambitious organizations of different types and sizes to reach a new level of competence (and eventually excellence) with their technology.



But what surprises most people about the road to great technology is how much more it&#8217;s about getting the right people on board than about anything very technical.



Because at the end of the day, <a href="/technology-will-not-save-us/">an organization&#8217;s technology problem is almost always actually a people problem</a>.&nbsp;Persistent frustrations with technology result from a severely outdated approach to technology that no longer works in today&#8217;s world. You can no longer close your eyes and hope either that technology will somehow take care of itself or that someone else can take care of it for you. It won&#8217;t, and they can&#8217;t.



Fortunately, the way out of the woods is straightforward, at least conceptually. It&#8217;s the same thing you would do for any part of your organization that you care deeply about, from Fundraising to Programs to Communication to Operations.&nbsp;



You put great people on it.&nbsp;



Why? Because great technology is hard! It&#8217;s complex, it&#8217;s ever-changing, and by nature, it&#8217;s never fully solved. Great technology doesn&#8217;t happen by itself. It doesn&#8217;t happen without attention and resources, and <a href="/course/leading-with-technology-roadmaps/">it doesn&#8217;t happen without great leadership, clear strategy, and skilled communication</a>.&nbsp;



You might think this means that you need a traditional IT team, but we&#8217;re talking about an entirely different side of technology. Instead, what you need is a digital product team or a &#8220;Technology Accelerator Team.&#8221; A digital product team uses methods of product management that have solidly emerged as best practices in the tech world, recognizing that technology platforms require skilled, dedicated internal leaders with the clear mission of strategically driving and stewarding your technology investments.&nbsp;



Until your organization comes to grips with that reality, you will continue to be stuck in the dark ages, or the frustratingly dim ages, wasting countless hours and untold opportunities. Whereas once you make that transition, you find yourself taking on capabilities and opening doors you never quite knew were even possible.



We&#8217;ve seen this transition happen repeatedly, and it&#8217;s thrilling to witness. So we&#8217;ve pulled together what we&#8217;re calling the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://thebuildtank.com/roadmap" rel="noreferrer noopener">Roadmap to a Better Technology Tomorrow</a>&nbsp;to explain how it all works. In it, we walk through how to make a case for change, which key gaps need the most focus, how to build the team you need, and how to bring all the right players to the table.



On the one hand, each piece of the roadmap is relatively straightforward. But taken together, this path is also not to be underestimated. It won&#8217;t work as an afterthought or a low-priority side project. No doubt your organization is currently prioritizing some things with focus and resources. The same will be needed here to be successful. That&#8217;s why the roadmap starts with the clear mandate, &#8220;You Must Be Willing to Invest.&#8221;



That means investing real resources into the effort, yes. However, the costs of continuing to ignore the destruction that bad technology is wreaking are astronomical. And the benefits — in terms of cost savings, <a href="/staff-feelings-nonprofit-technology/">staff satisfaction</a>, better-engaged constituents, and ultimately in terms of significantly increased impact — are extraordinarily far-reaching. The future winners of every sector are already headed this way, so there isn&#8217;t much time to lose.



You can get there. But the first step is deciding where you&#8217;re headed towards a genuine transformation into an organization that includes strategic, ever-improving technology as part of its very DNA.



When you&#8217;re ready to take that on, we hope the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://thebuildtank.com/roadmap" rel="noreferrer noopener">Roadmap to a Better Technology Tomorrow</a>&nbsp;will help you get there.

Fifteen people dressed in business casual stand in an office lobby and look up, smiling towards the camera.

Your Technology Problem Is Actually a People Problem

One of the principles guiding NTEN is centering our roles around equity. This guidance allows us to remain open to change and improving as we grow alongside our local, regional, and global communities.
As we have done previously, periodic updates like this help us stay accountable to the larger community, who may only interact with a specific program or aspect of our work. While there is much more to the work to deeply advance equity, liberation, and their practices across the organization than what can neatly be included in a recap blog post, this is one way for us to keep as many folks as possible in the conversation with us as we grow:
<ul>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">We’ve implemented our evaluation process for the projects and work that we have been wrapping up as our fiscal year comes to an end this month. Specifically, we’ve done deep dives into each department’s work and identified ways to improve upon or further focus our equity and liberation efforts as focus areas for FY22 planning and budgeting at a team and organization levels.</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">To ensure that we continue to look to the future and plan how to better create practices and projects with equity at the center, I have met with all departments to discuss the upcoming fiscal year. Together we identified goals and ideas that each department can work towards in the next fiscal year.</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">We’ve evaluated <a href="/about-nten/working-at-nten/">our employee benefits</a> to ensure that we are meeting the needs of our staff and consistently explore ideas to enhance our benefits. True to equity, potential employees and applicants should know the benefits of working at an organization. We encourage you to post your organization’s benefits online, as well. One benefit not yet finalized is a Paid Time Off (PTO) bonus. Staff are meeting to refine the details but will soon add it as a new employee benefit.</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">21NTC was all virtual! While we were bummed that we couldn&#8217;t meet in person, it was an exciting and innovative event that invited new ways of thinking and planning. A few of the ways we were intentional about our virtual NTC being an equitable event include:
<ul>
<li>Elevating conversations about equity and race on the main stage with three keynotes, so there are multiple voices contributing to the conversation and an opportunity to hear big ideas each day of the conference.</li>
<li>Help and guidance from the Accessibility and Community Committees on building and creating accessible virtual spaces and sessions that provided attendees with options to customize their virtual experience to their needs.</li>
<li>Hosting online Racial Affinity Spaces during NTC and creating a private online <a href="https://my.nten.org/s/group/0F91U000000AfVwSAK/bipoc-nonprofit-professionals">Racial Affinity group that exists year-round</a>.</li>
<li>Closed captioning for all sessions.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">We updated our <a href="/about-nten/equity-commitment/">equity statement</a> and <a href="/about-nten/values-and-beliefs/">values</a> to reflect our belief that an organizational goal is to strive towards liberation for our communities. We have named liberation in our commitment and note that equity is a critical part of our journey towards liberation.</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">We’d like to highlight the equity work and practices we prioritize when posting online, including the social media standards we implemented to make our posts more accessible. If you haven’t yet implemented these standards when posting online, we encourage you to do so so that all of your community members have access to your online content.
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.boia.org/blog/alternative-text-what-and-why">Alt Text for images/photos</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.boia.org/blog/checklist-for-creating-accessible-videos">Captioning</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.boia.org/blog/make-your-hashtags-accessible">Camel Case for hashtags</a>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">Each year we search for and help support staff find professional development opportunities that will focus on their own equity growth within the organization. As we close out the fiscal year, we continue to focus on and meet with our staff to curate and search for equity-focused training opportunities for them.</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">NTEN was named as one of the <a href="https://www.oregonbusiness.com/100best/green/item/19321-2021-100-best-green-workplaces-in-oregon">100 Best Green Workplaces in Oregon for 2021</a>. As an organization, we consider <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/18/environmental-justice-means-racial-justice-say-activists">environmental justice to be racial justice</a>.</li>
</ul>
NTEN employs multiple levels of equity review, feedback, and contribution through staff, board, and community equity committees. These committees are crucial to the success of our work towards equity and liberation. Providing space for review, collaboration, feedback, and ideation is key to our community engagement practice. Community-centered work creates opportunities for us to deeply and meaningfully advance equity and liberation within the community and the sector. If you would like to be a part of the community-centered committees at NTEN, <a href="/community/committees/">applications for all committees are open for new participants through June 30</a>.

June 2021 Equity Update to the Community

<a href="/community/about-tony-pizzigati/"><img loading="lazy" class="img-responsive alignright wp-image-157845 size-full" src="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Tony-Pizzigati.jpg" alt="Tony Pizzigati looks upward as holds a piece of chalk" width="230" height="285" /></a>
NTEN is proud to be the new steward of <a href="/community/pizzigati-prize/">The Antonio Pizzigati Prize for Software in the Public Interest</a>, elevating and celebrating open source development for social impact work. The Pizzigati Prize honors the brief life of <a href="/community/about-tony-pizzigati/">Tony Pizzigati, an early advocate of open source computing</a>.
<h2>Annual Pizzigati Prize</h2>
The Pizzigati Prize honors software developers who create open source applications and tools for free public distribution that nonprofit and advocacy groups can put to good use.
These developers are making a two-faceted contribution to social change. First, they have a significant practical impact. Their software helps nonprofits become more effective and build their capacity to better inform and mobilize their constituents.
Secondly, developers of software in the public interest play a broader role. As they have evolved <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source-software_movement">inside the open source movement,</a> the ideals of public interest computing promote collaboration and sharing. Against the idea that progress demands cutthroat competition between individuals striving to get ever richer, these developers instead model the notion that we all benefit when we work together.
In the continuing struggle for a better world, this commitment to collaboration and sharing speaks to exactly what the Pizzigati Prize seeks to honor.
Prizes offer publicity to achievements crucial to social progress. Through the Pizzigati Prize, NTEN aims to specifically single out those individuals who have made outstanding contributions to software that serves the public interest. The prize program strives to enhance the stature of public interest computing and the public&#8217;s understanding of it.
Along the way, we hope this prize initiative will help link public interest software developers with each other and with the nonprofit and advocacy groups that need their assistance.
<h2>Open Source for Social Impact</h2>
Having supported the Pizzigati Prize for many years, NTEN is excited to now directly shepherd this important funding opportunity and embed it in the community using technology for social impact. In the coming months, we&#8217;ll announce new opportunities through NTEN&#8217;s community programs to build stronger relationships between those learning about open source solutions and those using or creating open source software. 
There are so many ways that technology has shaped and will continue to shape how we do the vital work of changing the world. Open source solutions are critical for building solutions that meet the sector’s needs and align with community values. We are thrilled for the opportunity to elevate and support community members and leaders invested in this work.

NTEN and the Pizzigati Prize join forces to advance open source for good

We were thrilled to spend a few days learning and connecting alongside many of you last month at the 2021 Nonprofit Technology Conference. But that learning and connecting aren&#8217;t over!
<h2>Online Forums</h2>
NTEN&#8217;s online forums connect community members virtually around topics of interest from technology tools to job experiences to personal identities. Regardless of your job description or career experience, there&#8217;s a space for asking questions, sharing resources, and connecting with your peers.
We offer online groups on a range of topics, and you can even start a new one!
<ul>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://my.nten.org/s/">Join online groups</a> of interest to you (be sure to log in to see all of the groups).</li>
<li aria-level="1">Start a new group or learn more about getting one started <a href="mailto:community@nten.org">by emailing us</a>.</li>
<li aria-level="1">Support online group organizers by <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nkvmKStT1-eC70Xrt2IacYS29tFrleGuMbEIQvKgRgE/edit#">serving as a Lead Online Organizer</a> for a year.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Local Tech Clubs</h2>
NTEN&#8217;s Tech Clubs connect community members in local areas across the U.S., Canada, and beyond. Some groups have continued to host events virtually during the pandemic, but all groups look forward to gathering again when possible. These groups create valuable opportunities for nonprofit professionals of all backgrounds to connect with local peers, service providers, and potential collaborators.
We&#8217;re excited for all Tech Clubs to return safely to events in the future and want you to be part of it!
<ul>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://my.nten.org/s/group/CollaborationGroup/Default?tabset-1d957=56a66">Join the Tech Club</a> in your area.</li>
<li aria-level="1">Start a new Tech Club if your area doesn&#8217;t have one &#8211; starting the group and making plans now is a great way to be ready for live events when the time comes. <a href="mailto:community@nten.org">Email us to get started</a>!</li>
<li aria-level="1">Support the network of local organizers by <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qfGmg9jSEKQ2bewbB0sHq5p2ArSpojW-CfW7Zg0NMZ0/edit#heading=h.vt64dkwmly3s">serving as a Lead Tech Club Organizer</a> for a year.</li>
</ul>

"NTEN online forums & tech clubs" in white on a blue background with text bubbles on the right.

Be Part of the NTEN Community Year-round

The news is filled with stories about the unemployment rate and the nonprofit organizations working hard to support their communities. Perhaps you try to help by donating online or purchasing a few extra things at the grocery store to donate for the local food drive. But times have changed when it comes to collecting donations for those who are food insecure. An excellent example of that is the virtual food drive held by the Food Bank Council of Michigan. Now, many of you might have been just like me and had never heard about a virtual food drive before. Out of curiosity, I decided to visit t<a href="https://vfd.fbcmich.org/">he Food Bank Council of Michigan&#8217;s virtual food drive</a> to learn more. The idea and the website really impressed me, and instead of just looking to learn more about what a virtual food drive was, I decided to donate. Here&#8217;s a closer look at what impressed me.
When visiting the website, you&#8217;ll see the homepage&#8217;s virtual food drive advertisement. The number of donations shopped for, and a checkout option is in the upper right. Scrolling down the page, you will see an area labeled &#8220;Explore Today&#8217;s Menu.&#8221; Besides raising funds and educating the visitor on food banks&#8217; purchasing power, you can choose to donate from a list of items. These include protein and carb options like peanut butter, pancake mix, rice, beans, and macaroni and cheese. For each of the items, the retail price is listed alongside the cost to food banks. For example, pancake mix is listed as costing $2.19 in retail but only 67 cents for food banks. You can donate one or a few of each item and add them to your online cart.  By using this site, potential donors learn that their financial donation can go much farther if food banks purchase these items themselves. And for those who would prefer to donate online without experiencing an online shopping experience, that option is still available.
The site provides helpful context on how donations have expanded food distribution in Michigan. Additional facts help visitors learn about growing food needs among the senior population and children.
What makes this site different? The organization not only allows site visitors to donate online, which most nonprofits do, but they also educate about the economic value that food banks bring. <a href="/how-young-americans-responded-to-2020s-major-moments/">Those who are used to purchasing items online</a> get the same type of experience. At the same time, the organization raises money from people like me who were curious about virtual food drives. After donating, you&#8217;ll receive a receipt for the donation, which will also include links to the organization&#8217;s Facebook and Instagram sites.
If you&#8217;re a nonprofit looking for innovative ideas to raise funds to help the many people in our country looking for assistance, this example might be the right one to learn from.

A can labeled "Food Drive" with a red heart. Behind it is a blurred box of canned goods.

The Virtual Food Drive: Turning a Website Visitor Into a Donor

For many nonprofit organizations, <a href="/diversity-and-inclusion-an-industry-of-disparity/">diversity and inclusion</a> are considered a top priority in their annual goals, and for a good reason. A team with a wide array of backgrounds benefits from unique perspectives, resulting in better decision-making and innovative approaches toward the nonprofit&#8217;s mission. However, infusing diversity and inclusion into your organization will likely require new practices to be put in place. An excellent place to start promoting inclusivity is your organization&#8217;s volunteer programs.
Evaluating and determining what barriers your organization&#8217;s volunteer programs have and then working to break them down is a solid first step in attracting and retaining a more diverse and welcoming volunteer workforce. This article will offer five ways to make your <a href="https://www.initlive.com/blog/volunteer-management">volunteer management process</a> more inclusive by providing all volunteers a better experience from sign-up to clock out.
Here is what we&#8217;ll cover in this article:
<ol>
<li>Make volunteering as accessible as possible.</li>
<li>Invest in accessible volunteer recruitment.</li>
<li>Build relationships with volunteers.</li>
<li>Make sure volunteers feel appreciated.</li>
<li>Leverage technology to improve the volunteer experience.</li>
</ol>
At InitLive, we&#8217;ve worked with thousands of organizations to refine their volunteer programs and provide valuable volunteer opportunities. We&#8217;ve seen these five strategies promote healthy and inclusive environments, making it a more worthwhile experience for everyone involved. Without further ado, let&#8217;s dive in.
<h2>1. Make volunteering as accessible as possible.</h2>
Many organizations use the same few volunteer management strategies for all their programs and <a href="/how-to-plan-virtual-fundraising-events/">events.</a> While this may make sense and save time, these methods may be causing unknown barriers for new volunteers.
For example, if your volunteer program requires a month-long commitment on weekdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., that means anyone with work or child-care responsibilities can&#8217;t help at all. Similarly, if you are only marketing volunteer opportunities to your existing network of volunteers, there is no opportunity for anyone outside of your network to join the team.
To avoid these less-than-ideal situations, it is important always to consider how your organization can ensure everyone has an opportunity to volunteer.
<h3>Volunteer Program Planning and Scheduling</h3>
One of the primary causes of inaccessible volunteer opportunities is poor planning and scheduling. When creating a volunteer program, consider how you can make it easier for all volunteers to participate. That means you need to consider the following needs:
<ul>
<li>Time — Consider the timing of your programs. Try and offer volunteer opportunities in the evening and consider smaller shift commitment options. For example, offer a few shifts a week from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., allowing them to participate outside of standard working hours.</li>
<li>Child Care — Can your volunteers bring their children during volunteer shifts? Consider offering some flexibility and child-care options that allow volunteers to have their children supervised while they work.</li>
<li>Transportation — How easily can your volunteers get to the volunteer location without a car? If there is limited public transportation, consider offering a shuttle service or carpool program to take the pressure off volunteers who need it.</li>
<li>Language — Is English the primary language of all your volunteer programs? Can you incorporate some other languages to include more people from your community? Take stock of your existing staff and volunteer language capabilities and incorporate different languages in your volunteer programs to make them more inclusive.</li>
<li>Food — Food is always nice to have during volunteer meetings or shifts, but it might be necessary for some volunteers who face food insecurity. Try and offer some food during longer shifts for volunteers. It makes everyone feel appreciated.</li>
</ul>
There are so many different barriers for volunteers depending on their unique circumstances. However, it is up to you and your organization to remove as many barriers as possible to ensure your volunteer programs are as inclusive as possible.
<h2>2. Invest in accessible volunteer recruitment.</h2>
Create a more accessible recruitment strategy that uses more inclusive and community-driven language. The last thing you want to do is scare off any potential volunteers from day one. It should be easy for someone to see what volunteer opportunities are available, what those volunteer roles are, and then sign up for the option that interests them. Long application forms that don&#8217;t offer a clear idea of what a volunteer will be doing can often leave people uneasy about what they may or may not be asked to do.
Here are some key elements to consider when building an inclusive volunteer recruitment process:
<ul>
<li>Don&#8217;t limit volunteers&#8217; shifts with too many qualifications or skill requirements. If you can teach a new volunteer a necessary skill for the role, consider removing it as a prerequisite. Many volunteers sign up for opportunities to learn new skills so the complex screening process can limit their growth.</li>
<li>Create an online volunteer sign-up page with public volunteer opportunities and shifts. This allows volunteers to browse opportunities, sign up for what interests them, and work it into their existing schedule.</li>
<li>Offer a signup process and communication in multiple languages. If you want to attract volunteers from all backgrounds, make sure to invest in a program that supports multiple languages.</li>
</ul>
By opening up the recruitment process to account for varying skills, schedules, and languages, you&#8217;re much more likely to attract a wide array of volunteers. This can jumpstart your journey to inclusivity and kick your relationships with new volunteers off on the right foot.
<h2>3. Build relationships with volunteers.</h2>
Volunteer engagement strategies are a core component of all volunteer programs, but ensuring every voice is heard may require a little extra effort. To ensure you are fostering an inclusive volunteer culture, you need to build meaningful relationships with volunteers. By investing in volunteer engagement efforts, you will be able to better understand your volunteers&#8217; needs and how to set them up for success in a meaningful and fulfilling way.
<a href="https://www.initlive.com/blog/volunteer-engagement">InitLive&#8217;s volunteer engagement guide</a> offers several ways to build meaningful relationships with your volunteers, and here are a few of the easiest ones to implement:
<ul>
<li>Create an open line of communication with all your volunteers. Offer your volunteers a direct communication line to a volunteer manager. This can be through email, SMS, or a volunteer mobile app. Volunteers should feel empowered to ask questions.</li>
<li>Send frequent updates and communications. Share all the significant impact each of your programs is having with the volunteers contributing to the program&#8217;s success. Not only will this make your volunteers feel good about the work they are going to do, but they will also feel more connected to your organization.</li>
<li>Collect volunteer feedback through surveys. Routinely send out communications to your volunteers asking for feedback on how you can better support them. This can be done through an online survey to make it more anonymous and help everyone feel comfortable sharing their perspectives. Make sure to share the survey results with your volunteers and communicate how you will improve their areas of concern.</li>
<li>Host volunteer social events. Bring all your volunteers together for a monthly lunch or weekly coffee break to connect and chat with your team. These social events also encourage volunteers to connect and build new relationships with each other.</li>
</ul>
By prioritizing volunteers&#8217; engagement, you&#8217;ll convey that you genuinely care about their experiences. In turn, they&#8217;ll feel much more involved and like a vital part of your work, directly encouraging them to stick around for the long haul.
<h2>4. Make sure volunteers feel appreciated.</h2>
Volunteers are the main workforce behind a lot of important programs and fundraising events. Despite their varying backgrounds, these people band together and donate their time and effort to a cause they all believe in. Showing appreciation to those volunteers goes a long way in making them feel seen and cared for.
You don&#8217;t need to spend a large portion of your budget to make your volunteers feel appreciated. You simply need to dedicate some effort to communicating thank you to your team in ways that resonate with them. You would be amazed how far those two words go in delivering a warm and welcoming volunteer environment.
Here are <a href="https://www.initlive.com/blog/volunteer-appreciation-ideas/">a few volunteer appreciation ideas</a> to help you get started:
<ul>
<li>Host a thank you event. Set milestones in your programs with thank-you events for your volunteers. During these events, share all the great impact the volunteers have made toward the program and consider handing out awards to your top volunteers. You may even line up catering for the event to show even more appreciation.</li>
<li>Host giveaways. Consider giving your volunteers some branded swag from your organization. A shirt or a water bottle with your organization&#8217;s logo on it makes them feel like they are an official part of your organization&#8217;s team.</li>
<li>Send personalized communications. Consider sending out a thank you message to each volunteer after their shift or after a fundraising event. Try to customize your message as much as possible. For instance, use each volunteer&#8217;s preferred name and directly reference the results of their efforts to convey that their contributions matter.</li>
</ul>
Regardless of the strategies you implement, what&#8217;s important is that your volunteers feel appreciated. They&#8217;ll recognize when you go out of your way to express appreciation in a personalized way.
<h2>5. Leverage technology to improve the volunteer experience.</h2>
Volunteering with your organization should be a simple and rewarding experience for your volunteers. Complex administrative processes can leave volunteers confused and frustrated, making the volunteer process inaccessible and resulting in more volunteer drop-off in the signup and onboarding process. <a href="/why-tech-adoption-is-crucial-for-accountability-in-the-nonprofit-sector/">That&#8217;s where technology comes in</a> to simplify the process.
Unlike spreadsheets and online forms, a <a href="https://www.initlive.com/blog/volunteer-management">volunteer management solution</a> is built to manage and engage with volunteers simply, saving time and reducing confusion. There are so many great <a href="/3-ways-philanthropy-tech-will-change-in-2021/">purpose-built solutions</a> available to organizations just like yours. Make sure to look for a volunteer management solution that can break down all the barriers discussed to ensure that every volunteer has the chance to participate in a meaningful way.
For instance, you should be able to develop a standout onboarding process that anyone can navigate. This process should allow you to build informative role descriptions, capture essential details about volunteers, and match them to the right roles based on their qualifications and interests.
During their time with your organization, you should also easily stay in contact with them using communication features. They should be comfortable and able to share their opinions and communicate any challenges they&#8217;re facing. In turn, you&#8217;ll be able to develop lasting relationships, resulting in a more significant lifetime value of volunteers year-over-year.
Now it&#8217;s time for you to evaluate what barriers in your volunteer management process are limiting who can participate in your organization&#8217;s volunteer programs. Once you have established those barriers, you can remove them through the right volunteer management tools and practices to make your programs more inclusive, diverse, and all-around impactful.

Four people stand next to one another looking into the camera. They're wearing grey sweatshirts with the word VOLUNTEER in white type on a red background. In front of them is a table filled with boxes of vegetables and water bottles.

5 Ideas for Developing More Inclusive Volunteer Management

We don&#8217;t have a common language for collaboration between large software developers selling and donating their platforms to nonprofits. Enter <a href="https://www.nonprofitcdm.org/">the Nonprofit Common Data Model (CDM)</a>, originally stewarded by Microsoft as a founding creator and ongoing community sponsor. For nonprofit data, creating this language is becoming a self-organizing necessity in the same way that <a href="https://www.weforum.org/press/2021/01/global-business-leaders-support-esg-convergence-by-committing-to-stakeholder-capitalism-metrics-73b5e9f13d/">the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESGs) criteria</a> are for the corporate world.
The Nonprofit CDM is a single tool, and <a href="/a-crisis-in-data-leadership/">more are needed at all levels of nonprofit technology use</a>. But that it exists at all is revealing to the kinds of thinking necessary to help solve core issues that plague the nonprofit world. It provides an interoperability standard and data architecture (the set of tables and fields that hold your organization&#8217;s data) and starting point for large software platforms and small applications alike to ensure that they are placing, at the heart of their service to nonprofits, the need for programmatic data to have some kind of alignment across platforms. It prioritizes building transmission lines for data owned by nonprofit programmatic needs and not shareholder economy software development exclusively while inviting a community of software platform and application dialogue.
<a href="/equity-guide-for-nonprofit-technology/">This is an opportunity to advance equity in nonprofit technology</a>. It deepens nonprofits&#8217; ability to choose where and how on the technology playing field they can enter and provides a standard for nonprofit data transit that can then be further refined and expanded by new participants. Yes, there will be country-specific needs, but the transmission lines still exist. Yes, it is a data architecture, which can feel like an abstraction. Still, it&#8217;s one that is supported by Open Source, adopted by large nonprofit-serving businesses such as Oracle/NetSuite and Unit4, and creating an opening (and teaching tool) for even new-to-nonprofit technology solutions to understand basic service needs for nonprofits as supported by data. In short, its existence creates opportunities for collaboration between software platforms that serve nonprofits to match the collaboration between nonprofits that takes place every day. Collaboration is how nonprofits, globally, best thrive, serve shared missions, and create a more significant impact.
Suppose the core premise of equity is not allocating the same share of the same things to everyone but rather allocating based on proportional need. In that case, CDM helps drive proportional data movement between nonprofit solutions to allow greater freedom of choice. Nonprofits using software adapted to the CDM can meet their programmatic needs with best-of-breed solutions, rather than those available only within the ecosystems (or ownership) of large software platforms. Because it exists as an Open Source architecture rather than an Open Source project based on a specific platform, it is strengthened by interdependency as more nonprofit software providers participate. This is very different from one platform simply providing API access that can (and has) shifted in availability over time, owning its own interoperability solutions to which it then provides access on its own terms to developers, or claiming that its own application, however developed, is anything more than the industry standard for its single platform ecosystem.
One factor in what will drive nonprofit efficiency isn&#8217;t repeating the same investments every 5–10 years in new large-scale software platforms but driving software platforms serving nonprofits to <a href="/the-problem-of-nonprofit-data-and-equity/">invest in nonprofit data as its own entity</a> altogether. More steps are needed, and more corporations should be invited to this table. There will need to be challenging discussions regarding ownership, when and how this kind of endeavor changes and grows, and what this means for existing (or founding) participants. But it is a starting point and a reinvigoration of attempts we&#8217;ve made over the last 30 years of nonprofit technology. What&#8217;s different now is the urgency of the moment we are in and living the promise of nothing about us without us.
&nbsp;
<a href="/article/2020-data-empowerment-report/">Download the 2020 Data Empowerment Report</a> to learn how organizations manage data collection and security and what policies they have in place to manage them.

The Nonprofit Common Data Model as an Equity Tool

In early 2020, several longstanding NTEN members and community leaders created the first iteration of <a href="/equity-guide-for-nonprofit-technology/">the NTEN Equity Guide for Nonprofit Technology</a>. I was privileged to be a part of the endeavor, and it felt both like a capstone experience in my long association with NTEN, as well as the launch point of a new perspective on what it means to serve nonprofits with technology.
At its heart, the Equity Guide makes requests of two audiences: nonprofits that are engaging with technology at the staff, leadership, and application development levels; and the commercial technology industry that serves nonprofits with products, services, and solutions. These requests are rooted in transparency, inclusion, efficiency, and leveling longstanding power and privilege dynamics.
A very clear point that the data use section of the guide makes involves data for nonprofits — ownership, control, location, privacy, and accessibility. This section calls to attention that nonprofits, as an ecosystem, require broad agency over their data to best serve their constituents. Nothing is more critical to nonprofits than their data, composed of donors, constituents, and operations information. Maximizing data availability for nonprofits maximizes nonprofits&#8217; ability to serve their constituents.
Globally, nonprofits store their data inside software applications and platforms, small and large. These technology tools frequently create ecosystems of users and businesses that either implement them or create integrated software tools. While technology for nonprofits is a win for nonprofits, a question exists about what shapes this technology&#8217;s development. Is it actually nonprofit customer needs, or is it other factors in the market?
Factors like a platform&#8217;s business partnership programs for implementation and integration companies, software platform sales goals, API availability, software development roadmaps, and revenue models behind these platforms all contribute to how much choice nonprofit customers actually have, and even how much of a monoculture of influential business partners and integrated applications exist around a software platform. Many of these factors are beyond nonprofits&#8217; ability and the global impact economy to influence.
Maybe this is OK. Maybe it&#8217;s enough, but it&#8217;s important to note a trade-off here. Large data platforms, especially those that make donations of products and services, are putting high-powered software into nonprofits&#8217; hands at a fraction of the cost that would ordinarily reflect on commercial customers. This is genuinely a good thing. The downside is that if nonprofits can&#8217;t always influence the sales models and goals, development roadmaps, business partner incentives, API and integration availability, and so forth, how do we ensure that these commercial tools aren&#8217;t permanently creating large ecosystems of users without direct priority in software development that ultimately hinders the global nonprofit ecosystem&#8217;s ability to define its own priorities and equitable data access?
<a href="/the-nonprofit-common-data-model-as-an-equity-tool/">Given the high costs to nonprofits of data migration between platforms</a>, organizational change, technology management, and crossing the digital divide; let alone factors such as nonprofit staff turnover and funding sources for technology in the first place, are we just repeating the same system of transactions that drove nonprofits from paper to computers, computers to servers and networks, and servers to cloud software? The Equity Guide is written with an aspirational outcome that the nonprofit sector can adapt, innovate, employ technology at scale, retain ownership of its data, and allow for ad hoc and planned innovation.
&#8220;Innovation&#8221; is a heady word. It&#8217;s used here to mean the global impact economy&#8217;s ability to exercise even greater agency in its use of existing and emerging data tools, platforms, and applications as seamlessly and economically efficient as possible. The authors of the Equity Guide, myself included, believe that nonprofits are always empowered by broader software choices. This choice in the market can run counter to the relationships between nonprofits and large software companies and their ecosystems. What if a competitor&#8217;s tool is simply better? Should an organization leave one platform ecosystem for another to take advantage of it? What if a nonprofit&#8217;s data is contained in several applications and services from competing ecosystems? Should an organization invest in expensive middleware, integrations, or business intelligence tools to get the data-driven outcomes it needs to meet its mission?
This goes well beyond looking at the difference between, say, applications that run on Android and iOS. While these are different platforms, software developers have accepted that their applications run on either must create ease of moving customer data. Otherwise, I could never see or use the notes I create in Evernote on my iPhone anywhere else but there. But this is what large software platforms do with nonprofit data. They keep it in structures that serve each platform and compel software developers to build integrations and connections (or not) so that their independent companies can sell in multiple markets. It&#8217;s inefficient, costly, and it means that nonprofits will always need to evaluate, at some point or another, when to leave one large platform ecosystem behind for another.
This doesn&#8217;t serve nonprofits at scale, given all the potential platform ecosystems nonprofits could use globally. When massive, global challenges compel them to work together in new ways, the first hurdle nonprofits face is the discussion regarding the interoperability of data, data migration, data integration, and data middleware. Suppose we&#8217;re solving <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_Development_Goals">the sustainable development goals and the journey to 2030</a>, or even a crisis like COVID-19, by first having to solve inefficiencies between the software platforms that nonprofits are using. In that case, we&#8217;re literally holding back the impact that mission-driven work can deliver.
Think of how we communicate every day: text messages are global standards regardless of carriers; the transmission of email is a global standard irrespective of whether or not it arrives in Gmail, Outlook, or some other service. Imagine our lives if getting a new mobile phone required leaving behind our friends on Verizon who couldn&#8217;t text us when we switched cellular carriers to T-Mobile. Remember what it was like when jumping from CompuServe to AOL, leaving behind entire groups of people because these services were once unable to talk to each other? That is the world nonprofits using large data platforms exist within, and it&#8217;s taking up needless time, money, and effort to maintain.
So, we arrive at an impasse. The nonprofit market is a billion-dollar business, and corporations know this. But there is an argument to be made that treating the nonprofit market with the equivalency of other corporate market verticals, despite the proliferation of corporate donation and discounting programs, is ultimately insufficient. Why?
It begins with the bottom line of the impact economy: achieving nonprofits&#8217; missions. While much discussion has been held regarding how closely nonprofits should run their operations to commercial tenants, the shareholder return for nonprofits isn&#8217;t profit but mission impact, however that is defined. The bottom line of the shareholder economy is maximizing profit on monetary investment. This priority, while not wholly incompatible with servicing the nonprofit ecosystem, is different than the priorities of nonprofits that are maximizing the output of services, not gross profit for its own sake. To be abundantly clear, I am not saying that nonprofits should receive all software for free or that a free market economy&#8217;s ordinary operations are a bad thing. But the systems of software development and implementation prioritizations and the needs between shareholder and mission-driven economies are different.
The standard corporate assumption of motivation in nonprofit organizations, especially as a high-growth market for sales and service, is skewed. It is missing a translation layer, which is why even the largest, most well-funded organizations struggle with technology. What gets lost in translation is the nuance of the promises that every organization makes to the constituency it serves, all of which are not defined merely by common ecosystem business processes such as fundraising but instead shared investments in mission delivery. The translation of nonprofit priorities to corporate technology takes the hard job of technology implementation and makes it harder because nonprofit staff already have multiple jobs, and a technology project is adding another that pulls them away from mission impact. Further, while it is expected that corporate software standards will frequently meet nonprofit requirements, especially around technological features and functions, where they fall down is precisely the difference between a shareholder-driven and a mission-driven economy: collaboration and coordination.
It would cost executive jobs if competitors in the same industry, such as soda, shared formulas, manufacturing methods, and research to improve soda products&#8217; quality across all companies. But this is what nonprofits do: share research, community standards, methods of service, and more, to elevate the needs of shared constituencies. Imagine a world where a service agency worked only with community members who agreed to access it alone and wouldn&#8217;t refer them to other organizations to meet additional needs. What is ordinary in the corporate world is heretical in the nonprofit world.
The inherent collaboration of nonprofit organizations globally drives the need for structures that facilitate exchanging nonprofit data. The solution isn&#8217;t a series of large software platforms that don&#8217;t participate in a common ground. This premise goes beyond simple commitments to interoperability and API access and towards mitigating the cost of adoption of tools, creating best of breed software choices, and promoting global data portability so that the price of innovation (and data migration) for individual nonprofits is mitigated, unlocking the opportunity of global collaboration.

Orange tinted photo of an open laptop surrounded by binary code.

The Problem of Nonprofit Data and Equity

It was February 11, 2020. We were finally <a href="https://18doors.org/">launching our new website</a>, a full rebuild to reflect our rebranding. We had finally shed our old skin, InterfaithFamily, and stepped boldly into the light as 18Doors. After over a year of hard work, we were ready to celebrate. We held a staff retreat, ate cupcakes decorated with our new logo, and toasted with champagne.



Days later, our office and offices everywhere were closed. We all know versions of this story. But the nightmare of 2020 surprisingly offered us new opportunities for digital success at 18Doors.



18Doors is a nonprofit that supports interfaith couples and families exploring Jewish life. While our headquarters are in Massachusetts, we function as a partly virtual organization with employees sprinkled around the U.S. and Canada.



In the first weeks, even months of the pandemic, things got ugly for many of us, myself included. I&#8217;m the director of content, and I was responsible not only for overseeing the creation of new content but editing it, building it on our website, and promoting it through various social media channels and email marketing. At this moment, every staff member at 18Doors was learning a whole set of new software that was integrated with our new website. When the lockdown happened, we found ourselves momentarily in the air, waiting for our parachutes to open.



As everything that wasn&#8217;t already digital became digital, I found myself in an impossible situation: stuck at home with my husband and our 3 and 1-year-old kids. Like so many parents, we were cut off from the outside world without notice. It was the middle of March, and Passover (a Jewish holiday and one of the busiest times of the year at our organization) was a few short weeks away.



The good news is, the story had a happy ending. And if you&#8217;re hoping to set yourself and your organization up for success during challenging times like these, here are some lessons we learned from everything that went right when so much was going wrong. Read on to see how the situation was handled by employees and managers.



<h2 id="h-set-yourself-up-for-success-any-level-staff-member">Set Yourself Up for Success: Any Level Staff Member</h2>



<h3 id="h-have-one-another-s-backs">Have One Another&#8217;s Backs</h3>



Not everyone was so busy at this time. Some of my colleagues who usually organize in-person programming were shifting to virtual programming but still had less on their plates. (Spoiler: They made the transition to entirely virtual programming, and while there was a lot of trial and error, it was a tremendously successful year). Some of my colleagues without kids took on extra hours to help the several of us who do. Leading up to Passover, staffers who had never once written for our website were coming up with ideas and writing content for the holiday. Others helped on the technical side to ensure our content was ready for the holiday.



Not everything was proofread in the way it usually is, and not everything was pretty. But a lot of content was created and shared, and I&#8217;m still not sure how it all happened because I was busy changing diapers and trying to make it to Zoom meetings.



<h3 id="h-speak-up">Speak Up</h3>



After the first few long dark months of lockdown, I hired babysitters and was starting to find actual stretches of time to work. The pandemic had affected my work in so many ways, and while it may have sunk me to my lowest low, it also made crystal clear what my pain points were. I&#8217;m grateful that my supervisors were paying attention.



It became clear that while we needed more staff in several areas of our work, I advocated for someone to help with our social media and audience engagement. As my ability to support this need became more minimal than ever, it was clear the time had finally come to hire a full-time audience engagement director. I can&#8217;t understate how long overdue this position was. We had the Cadillac of websites but needed someone to strategically think about how to fuel traffic and engagement with our users.



As I evaluated our content and the possibilities for growth, I could feel the wheels starting to move beneath me again. With so many talented professionals newly out of work, we had an overwhelming response to our job posting. We quickly hired a highly qualified person to get our new brand out there and take a chunk of work off my plate.



<h3 id="h-be-proactive">Be Proactive</h3>



While life was far from back to normal, it was miles improved from the spring. By late summer, we even got our kids back into daycare/preschool. And for the first time in my career at 18Doors, I stopped thinking about the daily grind of social media altogether and took a step back.



Here, in the middle of the pandemic, we were finally making a crucial hire that was years in the making. Freed from our audience engagement work, I had the headspace to strategize and plan for the coming year. No longer in charge of all the moving pieces of creating and disseminating content, I could think deeply about just the first part. We had many new tools at our disposal that utilized better visuals, more interactivity, and agile design. I could finally start thinking creatively about new ideas and how to bring overdue projects to life.



I also had some hindsight by this point to know that at any moment, childcare could be snagged out from beneath me. I included the immediate hiring of new contractors in my plan to help with content creation. Come fall, I&#8217;d have more hands-on-deck that I could depend on if I were ever unable to work.



<h2 id="h-set-up-for-success-supervisors">Set Up for Success: Supervisors</h2>



<h3 id="h-listen-really-listen">Listen — Really Listen</h3>



The challenges that my colleagues and I were facing were derived from the same source but were manifesting in entirely different ways. I know this because, during our staff meetings, which were scheduled to be more frequent than pre-pandemic, our CEO encouraged us to share what was going on in our lives. We had a leg up since we&#8217;re used to meeting via Zoom, and now that everyone was working from home, it brought us closer together.



Along with our other leadership staff and our board, our CEO continued to keep tabs on each of us. While so many people were being laid off from all kinds of jobs left and right, my CEO wanted to know how we felt. She sent us a survey to better understand how the situation affected our work and our mental health. She asked us multiple times what we needed and how she could help. We got on Slack so we&#8217;d have a place to connect about what was going on in our lives. While so many things were collapsing around us, 18Doors secured a PPP loan, and staff were urged to practice self-care.



<h3 id="h-support-people-not-just-positions">Support People, Not Just Positions</h3>



Come summer, things weren&#8217;t much better at home. My daughter, the older of the two, had daily meltdowns that were so dark, desperate, and helpless, they broke my heart, and we both wound up sobbing. My husband and I would alternate stealing minutes anywhere we could work, and it wasn&#8217;t adding up to much.



My boss had been tracking my progress and gave me permission to be totally honest about my situation. If I didn&#8217;t know I had her support, I would have sugar-coated it and tried to muddle through, which would have helped no one. While my situation was understandable, we also had a shiny new website to maintain and funders who wanted to see what we would produce with their grant money. There was certainly pressure to deliver. But we had pared my responsibilities down to the absolute necessities, and it still wasn&#8217;t sustainable.



We had another deadline staring us in the face — the High Holidays. I knew I needed help, and I trusted that my boss would have my back. Sure enough, <a href="/how-to-work-with-freelancers-when-their-work-is-a-mystery/">I got the go-ahead to quickly hire a contractor</a> for the rest of the summer to take over Facebook. I hired babysitters and started planning content for the next holiday.



<h3 id="h-change-course">Change Course</h3>



I thought hard not just about what content I felt we needed (the old, under-staffed way of thinking), but what I honestly thought success would look like and the resources I needed to achieve it. I spent hours thinking about our organization&#8217;s big picture, where the gaps and opportunities were, and analyzing data on what our visitors were looking for and what they were looking at.



This type of planning and strategizing is simply not possible when you&#8217;re stretched too thin at a nonprofit. The daily needs outweigh the big picture. It takes your company investing in you and your work to give you a small percentage of time in your day, week, or month.



My plan was not cheap — and I wouldn&#8217;t be able to do it alone. I asked to hire new contractors and more freelancers to help write the content and support on the production side. I could no longer be an island. Creating a larger quantity of professional content that was well-thought-out, proofread, and beautifully designed required multiple people contributing along the way.



<h2 id="h-where-we-are-now">Where We Are Now</h2>



I presented my plan to my supervisors and figured that whatever they approved would be a huge step forward. There were many questions, but they ultimately supported my ideas with a green light to start hiring immediately. In the last quarter of 2020, I had already onboarded two part-time contractors helping to keep the wheels in motion even when the unexpected in our new pandemic lives inevitably happened. In the fall, I drenched our website in visually appealing, useful new content for the High Holidays and Hanukkah. We offered tons of exciting virtual programming. Our audience engagement director learned quickly and shared everything we had to offer.



Going into 2021, it&#8217;s the first year I have a clear plan of what I hope to accomplish. I&#8217;ve never felt so proud of the work I&#8217;m doing, and it&#8217;s still a shock to me that this happened during such a challenging year.



As anyone who works at a lean nonprofit knows, there will always be roadblocks. But we do what we do because we care about the work and the people we help. The best advice I can offer from this experience is that if you are in a position where you love what you do but need more support to succeed: <a href="/the-most-important-meeting-of-my-day-every-day/">Make your voice heard</a>. Keep on asking. The time isn&#8217;t always right, unfortunately. But when it does seem right, ask again. And if you are in a leadership position, be open to change even if it&#8217;s risky, and empower your staff to try new approaches even if they might fail. Invest in them by supporting them during the hard times. That&#8217;s when you&#8217;ll find out how strong you really are.



Can your organization benefit from better teamwork and communication? You&#8217;ll learn valuable skills when you enroll in upcoming courses like <a href="/course/foundations-for-successful-remote-and-distributed-teams/">Foundations for Successful Remote and Distributed Teams</a> or&nbsp;<a href="/course/mindful-leadership-in-trying-times/">Mindful Leadership in Trying Times</a>.

Letter dice spelling out TEAM SUCCESS. Team is vertical, sharing the E in success.

An Unlikely Story of Digital Success in 2020

If you are a nonprofit manager charged with managing a technology project, what can you do to ensure your project is successful? What steps can you take to ensure that the vendor you partner with is the right one for you?
Many nonprofits seeking to build a technological platform such as a website or learning portal do not have in-house tech expertise. Nonprofits often partner with digital vendors to implement their tech vision.
When the vendor is good, and the relationship between client and vendor is stable and collaborative, the project will be successful. The process from vision to technical and design scope, design to launch will be logical and predictable. It will follow a timeline and a process that will be transparent to everyone. The product launches on budget, on time, and everyone is happy with the result.
Sometimes, <a href="/a-consultants-take-on-tech-equity/">there can be a mismatch between client and vendor</a>. Symptoms of a technology project headed south include:
<ul>
<li>Delays.</li>
<li>Scope creep.</li>
<li>Miscommunication or lack of communication leading to misunderstandings between client and vendor.</li>
<li>A chaotic process for decision-making on design and other deliverables.</li>
<li>Lack of transparency on tasks and hours billed to the client.</li>
<li>Going over budget.</li>
<li>Lack of a structured process for quality assurance (QA) testing and remediation.</li>
</ul>
Here are ten tips on preparation, <a href="/five-common-mistakes-in-website-request-for-proposals/">evaluating proposals</a>, and red flags to watch out for in working with digital vendors:
<ol>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">Seek productive conversations as a starting point. 
Is the digital vendor known to your organization? Have they worked on any projects in the past? Was the collaboration a success? Keep your eyes and ears open for vendors with a track record for your organization. Ask the IT, Communications, Marketing and other departments they have worked with on web and technology projects.</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">Seek out online communities that can support you, 
Don&#8217;t be shy about posting on online message boards about your needs. Describe your organization, project, goals and scope, and vision for a technology product. Responses from digital vendors are an excellent opportunity to learn from technical folks if your vision, scope, and plans have any blind spots. Listen to practical advice from people who have worked with digital vendors. Seek recommendations of vendors they worked with and who has done a good job for them.</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">Research potential vendors. 
Once you have some recommendations, make a list of six to ten vendors. Go to their websites and LinkedIn pages. Look at projects they have in the showcase section of their website. Do these include work for organizations and projects like yours? Do they include work similar in scope and vision to what you are trying to do?</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">Is the proposal easy to understand? 
In reading vendor proposals, does the vendor seem to &#8220;get&#8221; your organization, your project, your project&#8217;s scope, and vision? Are they able to articulate this in straightforward language? Communication is vital in complex technology projects. A layperson should be able to communicate with their technology vendor in terms they understand.</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">Do previous clients and projects resonate with you? 
Are examples of previous client projects similar in scope and resonate with what you are trying to do? For example, if you are trying to launch an online learning management system, does the proposal provide examples of learning management systems?</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">Contact references. 
Ask references if the vendor has done a good job for them in the past. Ask what type of project and for how long an engagement. How was their experience? Will they recommend or work with them again if given an opportunity?</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">Ask if employees are full-time or contractors. 
Will key staff working on your project be full-time employees or contractors? Contractors often have multiple clients. Their time, availability, and attention are not 100 percent devoted to the vendor. You may want to partner with a vendor who will staff your project with full-time employees.</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">How do they handle communications with clients? 
Does the vendor communicate everything by email, or do they use a project management portal? Project management portals allow for a centralized, online location for all communications. They archive and track conversations, record, and lay out milestones and important decisions. Users can upload important files and screenshots. Having a project management portal makes communications more transparent, efficient, and straightforward.</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">Do you have a dedicated project manager? 
The client should always have a single point of communication with the vendor. The project manager communicates client needs to their team, sets a production schedule and timeline, and ensures the client understands the process and their roles. The project manager should be clear and upfront with the client about expectations for decision-making, turnaround times, and reviewing and evaluating concepts, wireframes, designs and testing, approvals, and signoffs.</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">How do they handle QA (quality assurance)? 
QA testing finds and resolves bugs and ensures the product works as promised. The vendor should have a ticketing system for the client to enter bugs and errors as they test. The system tracks each ticket from entry to resolution. Communicating everything by email and circulating Word documents or Excel spreadsheets to track errors will get disorganized and chaotic.</li>
</ol>
To summarize, planning and research at the beginning, careful evaluation of proposals, and ensuring your vendor has a reliable infrastructure of staff, processes, and systems will go a long way to ensure your project will be a success. Doing your due diligence will help avoid common pitfalls when a digital vendor&#8217;s capabilities are not a good match for your needs.
&nbsp;
Before diving into your next technology project, learn how to map your vision to generate clarity and buy-in. <a href="/course/leading-with-technology-roadmaps/">Enroll in our one-week course, Leading With Technology Roadmaps</a>.

"Helpful tips" is written in cut-out letters next to an incandescent light bulb.

10 Tips for Working With Vendors for a Successful Digital Project

A once-in-a-lifetime pandemic and a global economic recession have made nonprofit services an essential lifeline for millions of people. Unfortunately, these twin challenges negatively impact nonprofits, causing many to reduce services, lay off workers, shrink budgets, or close their doors.
Profiling the YMCA, one of the most well-recognized nonprofits serving communities across the country, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/24/business/economy/nonprofits-coronavirus-economy.html">The New York Times</a> reports that many locations have furloughed up to 95% of their workers as revenues are down 30% to 50%. This is emblematic of a broad challenge for nonprofits, and the consequences could be dire.
According to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/non-profits-coronavirus-fail/2020/08/02/ef486414-d371-11ea-9038-af089b63ac21_story.html">The Washington Post</a><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/non-profits-coronavirus-fail/2020/08/02/ef486414-d371-11ea-9038-af089b63ac21_story.html">,</a> one-third of nonprofit organizations might not survive the pandemic.
In this environment, nonprofits can optimize their approach to time and expense management to maximize efficiency, enhance transparency, and demonstrate value at every level. By streamlining this critical business component, nonprofits are better equipped to capitalize on available opportunities.
<h2>Optimize Program Efficiency</h2>
Nearly <a href="https://www.philanthropy.com/article/73-of-charities-worldwide-see-decline-in-contributions">three-quarters of nonprofits are experiencing declining contributions</a>, causing an untimely decline in revenues that force organizations to do more with less. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/nonprofits-face-bleak-future-as-revenue-dries-up-amid-coronavirus-11589223487">According to a survey of nonprofit leaders</a>, 50% reported only three months of operating revenue, and nearly 20% only have a month of financial leeway.
Nonprofits need to become more efficient to survive and continue providing critical services. Time tracking enables nonprofits to understand and report on employee activity, creating insights into where additional support may be needed with volunteers or where staff time can be prioritized to perform higher-value work.
Notably, since the recent pandemic onset, many workers are logging more hours than ever before. <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-23/working-from-home-in-covid-era-means-three-more-hours-on-the-job">Bloomberg</a> estimates that the average person added three hours to their workdays, leading to increased burnout and decreased productivity. As employees manage multiple responsibilities, including additional child care and other essential duties, time tracking should be implemented with care, intentionality, and equity.
Specifically, nonprofits will need to consider these efforts&#8217; potential repercussions, exploring their implications for staff with different skills, abilities, tenures, and responsibilities. When rightly implemented, data from time tracking initiatives allows leaders to more precisely understanding:
<ul>
<li>Resource allocation. Knowing how much employee and volunteer time is spent on projects and priorities equips leaders to be more strategic with their decisions, ensuring that every dollar goes further.</li>
<li>Potential spending reductions. When financial resources are scarce, some business elements will inevitably be cut. Time and expense tracking can help identify potential spending reductions that minimize the impact on operational capacity.</li>
<li>Purpose &amp; spending alignment. When spending goes unchecked, it&#8217;s easy for organizational drift to direct resources away from mission-critical elements. Realignment can make sure that essential priorities remain funded.</li>
</ul>
Without time and expense tracking, it&#8217;s easy for mission creep and incremental spending increases to bloat budgets, making them unsustainable. In contrast, highly efficient organizations are positioned to thrive in the months and years ahead.
<h2>Maintain Government Grant Eligibility</h2>
Government funding can be a valuable source of operational revenue. For most nonprofits, <a href="https://www.thenonprofittimes.com/news/80-of-nonprofits-revenue-is-from-government-fee-for-service/#:~:text=The%20vast%20majority%20of%20the,contracts%20and%20fees%20for%20services.">80% of their revenue is derived from government contracts</a>, making them a vital lifeline during difficult times. Nonprofits will feel pressure to demonstrate value through impact and efficiency in an increasingly competitive environment.
For example, government grants often require onerous record-keeping and reporting. <a href="/choosing-a-nonprofit-accounting-tool-top-six-questions-to-ask/">Effective time and expense management make this process simple and straightforward</a>.
What&#8217;s more, since many nonprofits already face staffing and revenue shortages, these efforts can&#8217;t be excessively onerous, making a comprehensive but easy-to-use solution a must-have for establishing grant eligibility.
<h2>Demonstrate Donor Impact</h2>
Funders increasingly demand more transparency when it comes to understanding the impact of their contributions. <a href="https://www.networkforgood.com/nonprofitblog/7-reasons-why-donors-give/#:~:text=They%20trust%20your%20organization.&amp;text=Donors%20come%20to%20your%20nonprofit,be%20true%20to%20your%20word.">Network for Good,</a> a PR consultancy for nonprofits, captures this sentiment, observing, &#8220;Donors come to your nonprofit because they believe in your mission. They stay with you because you prove yourself worthy of their trust and commitment.&#8221;
Similarly, a <a href="https://www.campaignnow.com/blog/what-nonprofit-donors-want-to-see-from-their-contributions">survey on donor behavior</a> found that nearly 70% of funders want insights into a nonprofit&#8217;s overhead costs. More than half want a list of specific projects supported by the nonprofit before they contribute.
With an expansive and expanding ecosystem of nonprofit rating systems, <a href="/yes-impact-measurement-is-your-job/">nonprofits are often competing against one another to demonstrate their efficiency and effectiveness</a>.
Time and expense management best practices equip nonprofits to demonstrate value at every level, leading to more and ongoing funding opportunities. With the right solutions in place, nonprofits can convey:
<ul>
<li>Resource allocation for nonprofit initiatives.</li>
<li>Overhead projections.</li>
<li>Transparency in record keeping.</li>
<li>Professionalism in financial literacy &amp; intentionality.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
Nonprofit work is more important than ever before. Unfortunately, too many face financial strain and operational constraints as the novel Coronavirus disrupts fundraising and outreach opportunities.
Simply put, to continue helping others, nonprofits will need to take care of themselves first by taking steps to keep them operational both during and after the pandemic.
Time and expense management solutions allow nonprofits to streamline their records, empower them to make insight-driven decisions, operate with greater efficiency, and attract future donors. They verify value through simple, comprehensive records and optimize operations to maximize impact and outreach capabilities.

Close-up of a pen lying on a clipboard holding a weekly timesheet form

Time & expense best practices for nonprofits looking to thrive in 2021

I&#8217;m sure you&#8217;re watching the news with a mix of anger, disgust, and perhaps even a little fear that domestic terrorists easily stormed the halls of the Capitol today.
President Trump incited an angry mob as part of his ongoing attempt to undo President-elect Biden&#8217;s election. NTEN supports the calls for the House of Representatives to impeach President Trump. We also support calls for the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove him from office immediately.
Meanwhile, our immediate challenges continue to need our combined efforts. Even during a coup, nonprofits across the U.S. are providing community members with food, shelter, and health care. It&#8217;s alright to feel exhausted and overwhelmed. But you&#8217;re not alone in the struggle. We see you. We support you. And we&#8217;re here with you.
There is so much work ahead of us to create a just and racially equitable world, made even more visible with today&#8217;s attempted coup. Please take care of yourself, your family, and your team. We are still amidst a global pandemic. We will not reach that new world in one day. Rest as you can tonight. Tomorrow we can and will pick up this work together.

NTEN’s Statement on January 6 Insurrection

One of the clearest trends in the nonprofit sector over the past several years has been <a href="https://nonprofitquarterly.org/where-have-all-the-donors-gone-the-continued-decline-of-the-small-donor-and-the-growth-of-megadonors/">the decline of small- and medium-sized donations</a>. While this is an issue the sector needs to address, nonprofits can&#8217;t wait to adapt. If an organization has to invest a comparable amount of effort in soliciting a $10,000 donation versus a $100,000 donation, it will pursue the latter — but this comes with certain requirements.
With the increase in large-scale giving, transparency and accountability are more important than ever before. Large grantors are on the lookout for evidence of effectiveness, the ability to communicate clearly and frequently with stakeholders, and internal capacities that allow organizations to scale sustainably. In other words, nonprofits need to keep pace with changes in the giving landscape.
This is where technology comes in. Although grantors are increasingly <a href="https://www.salesforce.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2nd-edition-nonprofit-trends-report-2020.pdf">demanding transparency about how their investments are being used</a>, many nonprofits aren&#8217;t tracking concrete performance indicators and relaying that information. They often fail to do so because they think they lack access to the digital resources necessary to measure and report impact, but this isn&#8217;t the case — these resources are more available than ever.
<h2>Nonprofits Are Behind on Tech Adoption</h2>
Nonprofits have to work harder than ever to earn ongoing support from grantors — especially when those grantors invest significant sums into their organization.
Large grantors want to work with nonprofits that can provide access to information about programs and outcomes whenever they need it. According to a 2019 study in Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, &#8220;<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0899764019868843">donors value outcome and impact indicators more than output information</a>.&#8221; In other words, they want to know if their contributions are making a measurable difference in their communities.
But <a href="https://www.netsuite.com/portal/assets/pdf/wp-connecting-dollars-to-outcomes.pdf">62% of nonprofits don&#8217;t fully communicate the impact of their programs</a>. According to a NetChange survey, <a href="https://netchange.co/digital-teams">just 11% of nonprofits say they manage digital resources in a &#8220;highly effective&#8221; way</a>, while a report published by NTEN found that <a href="/your-guide-to-nonprofit-it-investment/">a mere 20% of nonprofits consider themselves leaders and innovators in tech adoption</a>.
These are the reasons why it&#8217;s no surprise that, <a href="https://www.bdo.com/getattachment/fe5604e8-0d66-42de-a463-bbb2e6a800d4/attachment.aspx?2017-Nonprofit-Survey-Report_WEB.pdf">according to a study conducted by BDO</a>, nonprofits report that their top three challenges to reporting outcomes are: &#8220;No consistent framework for measurement and recording&#8221;; &#8220;Not enough human resources to gather data&#8221;; and an &#8220;inability to gather statistics on [the] impact of programs.&#8221; These are major impediments to the cultivation of strong relationships with large grantors, but nonprofits need to recognize that they&#8217;re self-imposed.
<a href="https://www.resilia.com/research/resource-allocation">Resilia recently interviewed Philip Hackney, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law</a> who focuses on the nonprofit sector, and he pointed out that &#8220;Nonprofits often don&#8217;t imagine that they should have the same capacities as for-profits, like the latest tech. But as nonprofits take on more and more responsibility in communities, they need to reimagine their roles and what they can accomplish.&#8221;
<h2>Technology Can Facilitate Accountability</h2>
The shift toward larger and more consolidated donations is consistent with the greater demand for transparency and accountability. Large grantors don&#8217;t support organizations based on their missions and goals alone — <a href="https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/tools-resources/evaluation-and-measurement-of-outcomes">they expect concrete evidence of impact</a>.
There are affordable and accessible digital platforms that allow organizations to gather and share data on their effectiveness, communicate and collaborate with grantors and other stakeholders, and address a wide range of logistical challenges. Cloud-based data storage can give everyone in your organization access to the same information at the press of a button; digital reporting tools provide grantors with real-time access to data on projects, operations, etc.; and digital accounting services help nonprofits track regulatory and legal compliance.
Despite the slow rate of tech adoption among nonprofits, there are some encouraging signs that the sector is moving in the right direction. <a href="https://www.bwf.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/2020-Digital-Survey-Report.pdf">According to a report by BWF and Groundwork Digital</a>, 87% of organizations plan to increase their investments in digital donor engagement. Nonprofits are also recognizing that they should look to grantors for assistance in tracking and reporting outcomes — <a href="https://www.geofunders.org/resources/is-grantmaking-getting-smarter-968">a survey conducted by Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO)</a> found that more and more grantors are offering capacity-building support. The capacity to better track and report outcomes should be at the top of the list.
Technology is a powerful tool for accountability because it can help organizations gather data on their programs&#8217; effectiveness while streamlining the process of reporting those data to grantors and other stakeholders. When nonprofits are under more pressure than ever to demonstrate their effectiveness, it&#8217;s time for them to make tech adoption a top priority.

Unseen people use a phone and laptop displaying colorful analytics.

Why Tech Adoption Is Crucial for Accountability in the Nonprofit Sector

Technology has been a blessing in many ways throughout this experience of the pandemic. As a long-time consultant to and employee of nonprofit organizations, I have been extremely pleased with the technology use levels I&#8217;ve seen this year. Nonprofits and individuals have adopted technology to communicate, deliver programming, and maintain operations like never before. At the same time, I have been very sorry that it took such a tragic worldwide event to spur technological embracement in our sector.
I recently re-read &#8220;The Poisonwood Bible&#8221; by Barbara Kingsolver, a novel in which a missionary family moves unknowingly into the Belgian Congo of 1959 and escapes barely, if not entirely, intact. Several chapter headings of that book keep springing to my mind when I think about the pandemic, chaos, technology, and nonprofit organizations: &#8220;The Things We Carried,&#8221; &#8220;The Things We Learned,&#8221; &#8220;The Things We Didn&#8217;t Know,&#8221; &#8220;What We Lost,&#8221; and &#8220;What We Carried Out.&#8221;
I believe the things that nonprofit organizations have carried into the pandemic, learned, didn&#8217;t know, and lost are fairly obvious and will leave it to others to analyze those bits of our shared experience. For this article, let&#8217;s talk about what nonprofits will &#8220;carry out&#8221; of the pandemic. In other words, <a href="/equity-guide-for-nonprofit-technology/">what will our sector do as we move forward</a>? Will we revert entirely to our previous ways of doing business, or will we keep the best lessons and efficiencies that we have learned?
From my own observations and experiences, here is what I hope we will carry out:
<ol>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">Proactive technology planning and budgeting. I have observed much progress in this area over the past two decades. However, many small and medium-sized nonprofits still manage technology reactively, only addressing technology issues or spending money on solutions when a problem arises. Deliberately planning and budgeting for technology, much like we do with overall strategy, is a less stressful and costly approach. Convene a committee, meet at least quarterly, <a href="/accelerate/">benchmark your technology usage and spending, and make a technology plan that supports your overall strategic plan</a>. Continue to update the plan even more often than you update your strategic plan since new technology and advances occur regularly. Your committee need not be a group of tech-savvy folks. More importantly, it should be made up of people who are deeply familiar with the organization&#8217;s programs, workflows, and operations. (Remember to include disaster recovery and business continuity in your planning — that would have come in handy for many organizations going into this pandemic.)</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">Increased technology skills training for staff. Between questions I have received from nonprofit leaders and staff and from conversations with my clients, colleagues, and friends, I have sensed that the amount of technology pain caused by a lack of training and skills has become much more noticeable. Some nonprofit leaders, especially those who have relied heavily on administrative assistance and task delegation, have significantly struggled. All nonprofits should endeavor to find and track staff members&#8217; technology skills and skill gaps and insist upon training, being sure to match learning to each individual&#8217;s learning style. There are many options available — <a href="/education/online-education/">online video tutorials, continuing education classes, on-demand digital courses</a>, etc. Many are free or low cost. Training increases comfort and efficiency, thereby increasing staff confidence and technology adoption rates.</li>
<li>Creative digital and virtual program delivery. While this area has caused much suffering for organizations this year, it&#8217;s also the area in which I have had the most delight for the creative solutions I have witnessed. The creativity I have seen this year is unprecedented and has genuinely displayed the resourcefulness and fortitude in our sector. For example, I am a resident of the Pittsburgh region and cannot travel frequently due to personal circumstances. Still, this year I took a 360o immersive, self-guided, virtual tour of the Winchester Mystery House in California and donated one of my oil paintings to an online fundraising auction to help people experiencing homelessness. I will watch The Nutcracker Ballet by the Pittsburgh Ballet and the New York Ballet for the first time from my own living room. While some programmatic experiences and services cannot be wholly replaced by digitized versions, we continue gaining efficiencies of scale and cost savings by using technology in appropriate ways. We can also expand our services beyond our typical reach.</li>
</ol>
Most of all, in both our professional and personal lives, this year has been about identifying and paring down to the essentials. What do I absolutely need to do? What can I do without? Which failing programs have we permitted to operate for too long and need to scale back, change, or eliminate? With even more limited resources than usual, all nonprofits have been forced to examine all areas of operations and programs and make hard decisions this year. I believe this practice should have been happening long before now and hope that we will continue after the pandemic ends. Let us focus on what is most important, impactful, and not be afraid to let go of the things that no longer work for us.
What lessons and practices will your nonprofit organization carry out from the pandemic?

Closeup on a pair of hands resting on a laptop.

What Technology Lessons Will Nonprofits “Carry Out” From The Pandemic?

Reflections from the 2020 State of Philanthropy Tech Survey by TAG
It&#8217;s often said that philanthropy moves like a bear in hibernation, slowly and only when forced to do so. And yet, I am convinced that 2021 will be anything but torpid for the role of technology in philanthropy and the social sector more broadly. The social crises of 2020 have prompted extraordinary reflection for most organizations. I&#8217;m already seeing important behavioral changes in the way grantmakers leverage technology both internally and externally with nonprofit partners. A recent survey by the Technology Association of Grantmakers, which I serve as Executive Director, provides data on these changes and sets a course for 2021.
Every two years, philanthropy pauses to reflect on the state of technology in <a href="http://tagtech.org/philanthropytech2020">the biennial &#8220;State of Philanthropy Tech&#8221; survey by the Technology Association of Grantmakers (TAG)</a>. This year&#8217;s survey builds on past surveys, which explored IT tools; management; security; diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); integration between IT and program teams; and more. TAG has also added questions about COVID-19 and how emerging societal challenges affect how foundations support grantees and nonprofit partners. 233 foundations in North America and beyond responded to this year&#8217;s survey, and their experiences provide insight into the future of philanthropy tech.
Three key trends emerge from this year&#8217;s survey that set a course for 2021. In the coming year, foundations and their nonprofit partners will see the following themes loom large:
<ol>
<li>The &#8220;Grantee Experience&#8221; Matters</li>
<li>Tech Is Foundational To Modern Philanthropy</li>
<li>Equity Is A Priority For Tech Teams Too</li>
</ol>
<h2>The &#8220;Grantee Experience&#8221; Matters</h2>
The social sector&#8217;s rapid adaptation to the constraints of COVID-19 as well as the increased need for services form the basis of an overdue recognition: The grantee experience of systems, tools, and tech required by a funder enhances or alternately detracts from that nonprofit&#8217;s ability to deliver on their mission. Put more simply, the grantee experience of philanthropy can make or break their mission.
In 2020, this &#8220;make or break&#8221; reality became a clarion call for philanthropy to streamline and support the grantee experience in 2020. As shown in the chart below, 61% of responding foundations report streamlining the grant application process in response to COVID-19, while 47% report streamlining the reporting process this year. Recognizing and rapidly reducing the burden on grantees of onerous application and reporting is a heartening change in philanthropy. However, some funders went even further. According to our survey, 28% of responding foundations in 2020 provided training and technical assistance directly to grantees, while 22% report providing tools and tech.
<figure id="attachment_154111" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-154111" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-covidresponse.png"><img loading="lazy" class="img-responsive wp-image-154111 size-large" src="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-covidresponse-1024x392.png" alt="Column chart showing New Ways That Foundations Supported Grantees/ Nonprofit Partners In Response To Society's Challenges In 2020." width="640" height="245" srcset="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-covidresponse-1024x392.png 1024w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-covidresponse-300x115.png 300w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-covidresponse-768x294.png 768w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-covidresponse-800x307.png 800w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-covidresponse.png 1062w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-154111" class="wp-caption-text">(Click image to enlarge) The top three responses are 1) 61% streamlining applications, 2) 51% moving to paperless payments, and 3) 47% streamlining reporting.</figcaption></figure>
Such a sudden focus on the grantee experience mirrors the increasing centrality of the &#8220;customer experience&#8221; in the private sector, where the customer journey, viewpoint, and experiences are managed with an eye toward satisfaction and efficiency. Will 2021 see the rise of a &#8220;Customer [or Grantee] Experience Officer&#8221; in philanthropy? The changes seen in 2020 portend an increasing significance of the grantee experience in philanthropy operations.
<h2>Tech Is Foundational To Modern Philanthropy</h2>
Like many nonprofits, grantmakers historically have underfunded technology. According to a 2017 study of NetHope members<a href="#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1">[1]</a>, the average IT spending ratio at global nonprofits is just 2% and ranges from 0.08% to 4.89%. In contrast, Harvey Nash / KPMG reported in 2019 that the percentage of private-sector organizations&#8217; revenue spent on IT varies between 4.8% (manufacturing/automotive, retail/consumer goods) and 22.5% (technology)<a href="#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2">[2]</a>. In summary: Private sector spending on technology, regardless of industry, is likely to be at least four times that of the social sector.
2020 laid bare existing gaps in infrastructure funding as philanthropy (and many of their nonprofit partners) transitioned quickly to remote work. The mass closure of offices helped crystalize conversations that organizations were having about how they work and the technology they need to do it. One survey respondent said, &#8220;The pandemic brought [our organization] to more holistically integrate technology into the mission of the foundation.&#8221;
As a result, foundations are now investing for more robust operations in the future. According to the State of Philanthropy Tech survey, 51% of respondents expect their IT budget to increase in 2021. Only 12% indicated that they would moderately or significantly decrease their technology budget.
Community foundations, in particular, are choosing to invest more heavily in IT. More than half (58%) said they expect to moderately or significantly increase their technology budgets.
<figure id="attachment_154110" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-154110" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-budgets.png"><img loading="lazy" class="img-responsive wp-image-154110 size-large" src="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-budgets-1024x425.png" alt="Column chart showing How Foundations' Technology Budgets Will Change in 2021" width="640" height="266" srcset="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-budgets-1024x425.png 1024w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-budgets-300x124.png 300w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-budgets-768x319.png 768w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-budgets-800x332.png 800w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-budgets.png 1063w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-154110" class="wp-caption-text">(Click image to enlarge) Moderately increase: Community foundation: 53%. Family foundation: 34%. Independent (private) foundation: 45%. Remain the same: Community foundation: 31%. Family foundation: 42%. Independent (private) foundation: 31%.</figcaption></figure>
While private sector investment in technology continues to outpace the social sector, the foundation budgets planned for 2021 manifest an awareness that, in the digital age, investing in technology infrastructure is an investment in social impact. You can expect this awareness to further stimulate growth in nonprofit tech investment as well.
<h2>Equity Is A Priority For Tech Teams Too</h2>
With increasing focus and funding, philanthropy continues to prioritize the work of racial equity; however, IT departments are often left behind. This gap is longstanding. In 2019, I made the case in <a href="https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2019/8/26/as-foundations-reimagine-themselves-they-should-give-attention-to-dei-in-operations">Inside Philanthropy</a> with Satonya Fair, now CEO of PEAK Grantmaking, that the consequences of biases in technology systems unwittingly undermine the work of philanthropy:
<blockquote>&#8220;Operations staff shape not only the infrastructure for every interaction with a foundation but also the experience or the &#8220;how&#8221; of those interactions. Hence, when it comes to achieving the best outcomes in communities, operations and programming staff must have an equally strong awareness of DEI principles and best practices. Not striving toward this goal would be a missed opportunity for philanthropic leaders, one that could undermine progress and even create new barriers to success.&#8221; <a href="#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3">[3]</a></blockquote>
As shown in TAG&#8217;s 2020 survey, this gap continues. Internal training or programs are often provided to &#8220;front-facing&#8221; program staff, excluding technology staff and vendors. In fact, 40% of survey respondents in 2020 said &#8220;none of the above&#8221; when asked which diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs their organizations have in place for technology departments. When offered to IT teams, such programs often focus on diversity in hiring only, excluding professional development and leadership cultivation.
<figure id="attachment_154113" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-154113" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-DEIprograms.png"><img loading="lazy" class="img-responsive wp-image-154113 size-large" src="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-DEIprograms-1024x336.png" alt="Column chart showing Departments Responsible For Technology Have Programs In Place To: " width="640" height="210" srcset="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-DEIprograms-1024x336.png 1024w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-DEIprograms-300x98.png 300w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-DEIprograms-768x252.png 768w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-DEIprograms-800x262.png 800w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-DEIprograms.png 1062w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-154113" class="wp-caption-text">(Click image to enlarge) 37% Demonstrate fairness in performance and compensation decisions. 33% Recruit diverse candidates. 12% Develop a pipeline of diverse leaders. 11% Provide targeted development opportunities for diverse employees. 51% say they don&#8217;t have any of these or don&#8217;t know (not knowing is the same as not having.)</figcaption></figure>
There&#8217;s room for optimism: The 2020 survey results reflect an 11% improvement over 2018 when 51% of respondents indicated that technology teams had no DEI programs in place. When coupled with this year&#8217;s increased focus on social justice and the role of technology in exacerbating bias, this momentum serves to forecast a watershed moment.
2021 promises to be the year when foundations address the gap in equity programs and training for operations staff such as IT. Already among the TAG membership, I&#8217;m seeing organizations commit to providing DEI training not only for IT staff but contractors and vendors as well. I&#8217;m seeing organizations recognize that they need to move beyond a &#8220;check the box&#8221; approach to hiring diverse staff and also provide development and leadership cultivation. This deeper understanding of equity and inclusion offers a maturity model worth emulating. As shown below, organizations that recognize developing diverse leadership is key to culture change tend to offer more programs and training for IT teams than their peers.
<figure id="attachment_154112" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-154112" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-DEImaturity.png"><img loading="lazy" class="img-responsive wp-image-154112 size-large" src="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-DEImaturity-1024x402.png" alt="Bubble chart showing DEI Programs And Trainings Offered By: Respondents Who &quot;Develop A Pipeline Of Diverse Leaders&quot;" width="640" height="251" srcset="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-DEImaturity-1024x402.png 1024w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-DEImaturity-300x118.png 300w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-DEImaturity-768x301.png 768w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-DEImaturity-800x314.png 800w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020philtech-DEImaturity.png 1065w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-154112" class="wp-caption-text">(Click image to enlarge) The data shows an emerging maturity model for the work of DEI in foundations.</figcaption></figure>
Such mature organizations are worth examining further. Have these organizations responded to internal forces of change, or have the events of 2020 stimulated a new commitment to equity? What lessons have they learned? What strategies have been most effective? Leveraging the momentum of 2020 will require lamp-posts to inspire and guide. I look forward to elevating these success stories further in 2021 as we evolve together toward a just and sustainable future.
<a href="http://tagtech.org/philanthropytech2020">Learn more about the 2020 State of Philanthropy Tech survey and download the summary of findings</a>.
&nbsp;
<a href="#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1">[1]</a> The 2017 NetHope study was conducted internally and shared only with NetHope members.
<a href="#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2">[2]</a> https://www.hnkpmgciosurvey.com/press-release.php
<a href="#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3">[3]</a> https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2019/8/26/as-foundations-reimagine-themselves-they-should-give-attention-to-dei-in-operations

White text on a blue-grey background: 2020 State Of Philanthropy Tech. A Survey Of Foundations In North America.

3 Ways Philanthropy Tech Will Change In 2021

During this month&#8217;s NTEN board and staff virtual retreat, we shared some of the stories that brought us to this work, favorite examples from NTEN&#8217;s programs, and what we hear in the community as so many organizations navigate the many layers of challenges right now. We also talked about advocacy, our theory of change, and what it could look like to monitor our work towards huge goals. There will be many ways that these conversations move into the programs, content, and conversations we have with the whole community.
We are excited to share that we&#8217;ve also gained four new board members who will be part of these conversations! <a href="/about-nten/board-of-directors/">You can see the full board and everyone&#8217;s biographies on the website</a>, but below, we&#8217;ve included comments from Dee, Nejeed, Praan, and Raj. We are thrilled they&#8217;ve joined the board!
<h2>Dee Baskin</h2>
From the moment I stepped into my first NTC in 2018, I found a family. In my day-to-day life (even two years later), I usually don’t run into techie people who are also LGBTQ+ or BIPOC. To attend a conference where I could meet people with those identities (and then some) meant that I’d truly found my home here. I am so grateful to join the NTEN board because boards serve a unique and special role in an organization. We’re not steeped in the day-to-day, which allows space to envision an organization far beyond what’s currently in front of us. And during this dynamic moment of our history, clear vision is the way of the new world. I am honored to bring my passion and prowess to this talented team. And I look forward to what’s next for NTEN.
<h2>Nejeed Kassam</h2>
I am incredibly honored and excited to be joining the NTEN Board of Directors because I am a passionate advocate for the role accessible, powerful technology plays in building civil society and transforming communities.
<h2>Praan Misir</h2>
I’m thrilled to be joining the NTEN board. I owe a lot of my growth and development as a nonprofit technology professional to my first NTC back in 2014. Whenever I’ve needed advice or guidance, the NTEN community has always steered me on the right path. I have also appreciated NTEN’s leadership in ensuring that our sector and our society work for all of us. I’m excited to join the NTEN board and support NTEN as they continue to inspire and engage nonprofit tech professionals worldwide to continue building the nonprofit sector we need.
<h2>Rajneesh Aggarwal</h2>
I am really excited to join the NTEN board! NTEN is critically leveraging its collective power to dismantle inequities in many forms in both the technology and nonprofit sectors. I am deeply inspired by the team&#8217;s leadership and commitment to walk the talk and hope I can be of the greatest service to their vision.

Welcome to NTEN’s newest board members!

NTEN recently published the first version of the <a href="/equity-guide-for-nonprofit-technology/">Equity Guide for Nonprofit Technology</a>. Guide contributor Rubin Singh shares his perspective on why the nonprofit sector needs to continually ask the questions posed by the guide.
At the peak of this summer&#8217;s protests across the country demanding racial justice, companies came forward expressing their support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Many organizations stood in solidarity with racial justice advocates by making public statements committing to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The nonprofit community, however, and the ecosystem that supports them, remained mostly quiet.
Perhaps it&#8217;s the belief that we are part of the solution because our work is in the nonprofit sector; therefore, we can&#8217;t be part of the problem. <a href="https://ssir.org/articles/entry/nonprofits_dont_really_care_about_diversity">History, however, proves otherwise</a>. The nonprofit technology space has a dual struggle in that both sectors (technology and nonprofit) have <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2014/10/21/170679/technology-and-inequality/">historically perpetuated inequities</a>. In particular, for the nonprofit sector, research tells us that the lack of diversity has created such a disconnect between programs and the communities they serve that the result can create more significant problems than the ones they intended to solve.
Reflecting on this and my role as a nonprofit technologist, I&#8217;ve never been more sure that the challenges we face in this dual-sector will not be solved by hashtags, diversity statements, or workshops. If organizations are serious about equity and racial justice, then solutions must be embedded in everything they do — from the partners they work with, to how their products are priced and sold, to the way impact is measured. Equity is not a checkbox to achieve success. It has to be the lens through which success is defined.
Anyone who has worked for a nonprofit knows, &#8220;it&#8217;s different.&#8221; The terminology, practices, challenges, and what motivates staff — there&#8217;s just a nuance in this sector that you &#8220;get&#8221; or don&#8217;t. It makes people want to stay in the sector forever or turn and run immediately 🙂 But when I started consulting with nonprofits, I was surprised that technology vendors and implementers used all the same methods and techniques in selling, pricing, and implementing technology as they did with for-profit corporations. Foolishly, they thought they would be equally successful. I&#8217;ve watched well-respected consulting companies fail project after project. They simply didn&#8217;t understand the nuance.
<ul>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">I&#8217;ve seen system implementers lead elaborate strategic visioning sessions without knowing basic nonprofit business functions, roles, or data. These implementers would build out inflated project schedules with a team of resources to &#8220;learn the industry&#8221; while on the job, billing top dollar for their most junior resources because, after all, &#8220;how hard can it be?&#8221; I&#8217;ve seen this &#8220;one-size-fits-all&#8221; approach to consulting leave nonprofits not only with their annual budget blown-away but also with over-architected half-solutions that keep them reliant on consultants for years to come. I am not arguing that implementers should shortcut their processes for mission-driven organizations, but as nonprofits are forced to be nimble and make the most out of every dollar, consultants and vendors who work in this sector should be expected to do the same.</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">Nonprofits are often the recipients of pro bono services by well-meaning corporations, funders, and technology vendors. Of course, these organizations offer their time and expertise generously to advance mission-driven organizations at no charge. And with most nonprofits strapped for cash and grant money tightly restricted, funding for technology projects is minimal. &#8220;Free&#8221; is a compelling alternative. So we should only be thankful, right? But for every pro bono project I&#8217;ve seen run successfully, I&#8217;ve seen twice as many utter disasters. My team has personally cleaned up a lot of them. And while nonprofits think they may be saving money with the pro bono option, a project gone wrong can cost twice as much (if not more) to undo and untangle. Such projects often have no work statement, no defined project schedule, and are implemented without the right expertise. Vendors don&#8217;t feel an obligation to put in the extra work, because after all, they&#8217;re &#8220;doing it for free.&#8221; And nonprofits are hesitant to speak up because they don&#8217;t want to appear ungrateful. Too often, this leaves nonprofits waiting around with half-solutions until the vendor completes higher-priority projects. To be fair, pro bono projects can have a tremendous positive impact. I have been both a recipient and implementer of such services, but the vendor must be the right fit, and it <a href="https://onetenth.consulting/blog/2020/4/26/to-pro-bono-or-not-pro-bono-a-nonprofit-technology-managers-conundrum">must be planned right</a>.</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">Fair and transparent pricing continues to be a challenge in this industry. There is a growing trend of technology vendors that offer flat discounts to nonprofits. So whether you&#8217;re a local food pantry or a National Cancer Research Center, your discount is the same. In such cases, a sliding scale pricing model based on annual revenue may be more reasonable. Other vendors offer nonprofit discounts that come with limited features and customer service. Or some vendors do not publish pricing at all, leaving it to the Account Executives to &#8220;wheel and deal&#8221; individually with operations managers on their overly complex pricing scenarios and long-term contracts to maximize return. To be fair, I understand that technology vendors, system implementers, and consultants who work in this sector are not just doing this out of the goodness of their hearts. They are looking to make a profit, as they should. As a consultant in this space, my livelihood depends on it. And if your products or services focus solely on the nonprofit sector, I want you to continue investing in your products and services to better the communities we serve. But here&#8217;s the thing. Every nonprofit leader knows that they will be scrutinized for every penny spent on &#8220;overhead,&#8221; so they have learned to be mindful and deliberate in how each dollar is spent. The ecosystem that supports nonprofits must respect this by doing the same. So my advice? Do your research, publish a fair price that is mutually beneficial and that everyone can understand.</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">Over the years, I&#8217;ve worked with many organizations that have made bold and public claims to increase diversity and inclusion in their work, only to ask for automation and customizations in their CRM that bypass diversity and inclusivity altogether. From automated assignments of volunteer matches to automated scoring of candidates to receive grant disbursements. It is not that these organizations are disingenuous about their commitment to diversity. It&#8217;s just their blindspots prohibit them from connecting their principle to practice.</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">In every CRM implementation I&#8217;ve worked with, I have requested a cross-functional team across the user base to participate in requirements and design to keep it as inclusive as possible. And in the case where there is an external-facing component, having a small set of donors or program participants engage in the interface design. Too often, I&#8217;m told that IT (or sometimes leadership) will drive the design instead. Sometimes this is viewed as the quickest solution to saving money or avoiding philosophical debate over the process. Still, the end result is a system that is not inclusive, and the staff is not happy with it. And public-facing forms or portals that don&#8217;t consider end-user feedback only lead to form abandonment, data integrity issues, or low usage altogether.</li>
</ul>
The challenges are many, but the sector&#8217;s power dynamics give smaller to medium-sized nonprofits little voice to surface such concerns. And for nonprofit staff, there are limited resources to take to leadership to articulate industry-wide benchmarks. To this end, I hope this guide educates and empowers organizations while also holding parties accountable.
I would love to see every grant application and RFP include a question asking organizations, &#8220;What have you adopted from the NTEN Equity Guide to create a fairer, inclusive, and equitable product or service?&#8221; I&#8217;m excited for the day I see nonprofits, vendors, and implementers proudly share their pledge toward committing to the equity guide on their websites and share their experiences of what they&#8217;ve accomplished to the broader sector.
Despite my concerns about the inequities in our sector, I am hopeful. I know the vast majority of nonprofit and technology leaders understand the challenges that face us and genuinely want to take positive steps, but the lack of diversity in both sectors often lead to &#8220;blind spots&#8221; which prevent leaders from knowing what steps to take. The tech equity guide is a great place to start, And while it may be overwhelming, my advice is, pick something. Meet with your team and find something that will be easy to adopt. Once you make advances in that area, choose something else, make it part of your annual goals and strategic plan.
In today&#8217;s climate, there are no shortages of problems, and they are very daunting. Let&#8217;s use our privilege, platform, and collective strength to be part of the solution.
<a href="/equity-guide-for-nonprofit-technology/">Download the Equity Guide for Nonprofit Technology</a>.

"Nonprofit" on a green button on a computer keyboard

A consultant’s take on tech equity

<h2>A Guide for Nonprofits to Move into the Political Space</h2>



How can your nonprofit get more engaged in advocacy and politics?



Now is a time when many nonprofits are rethinking their goals and value, as well as engagement strategies. No matter what work you do as a nonprofit, you want to make sure you are giving real value to your community. Sometimes, that means being aggressive in advocating for change.



Many organizations see the next step as taking direct action in a community, specifically, advocacy on issues through a 501c3. Others go a step further and do more political work or <a href="https://www.thecampaignworkshop.com/blog/advocacy/issue-advocacy">advocacy work</a> through a 501c4. Getting involved in advocacy and politics can benefit your nonprofit by building engagement and growing audiences and fundraising.



What is your organization allowed to do? 



501c3 status allows your organization to do considerable communication advocacy and lobbying. A 501c4 has even more freedom to engage in advocacy on issues and lobbying. A 501c4 can also engage in politics — or &#8220;partisan intervention&#8221; in the IRS&#8217; lingo — which a 501c3 cannot. However, no matter which category your nonprofit falls in, there are legal limits and limits self-imposed by boards and bylaws, so it&#8217;s essential to work closely with your attorney.



Advocating for community change is a core objective for many nonprofits and a good way to build an organization. Nonprofits can use a portion of their time and money for direct lobbying and advocacy and can raise money around these efforts. A straightforward option for 501c3s is nonpartisan voter turnout. A c3 can register voters, tell them where to vote, and educate folks about the process and importance of voting as long as there is not political engagement. To take partisan electoral action, you will need a separate 501c4 organization.



Why should an organization build an advocacy program or a separate political program through a 501c4? 



Building advocacy or political programs can be advantageous for your nonprofit even in aspects beyond effecting change in the advocacy or political space you are moving into. Those advantages include, but are not limited to, the following.



<ul>
<li>Leadership development — Being more active in advocacy and politics can help your organization build real leadership and political power for the long term by building a reputation as action-takers.</li>
<li>Future planning — Having advocacy and political goals can allow you to take an active role in what your community&#8217;s future looks like. It will force you to develop specific plans and goals to grow in the long term. This should be a good thing. Don&#8217;t go into greater advocacy or 501c4 work without a plan for what you want to do.</li>
<li>Build capacity — Advocacy and political action can allow you to build greater capacity than you started with. That could be new donors, new staff, a new board, and an increased ability to get things done.</li>
<li>Real engagement — Advocacy and political action can allow you to build audiences and create grassroots and grass-tops engagement for the long term.</li>
<li>Increased fundraising — Your advocacy or political efforts can grow your fundraising by developing contact lists and reaching donors who can help fund future programs.</li>
<li>Coalition growth — A stronger focus on advocacy or politics can open the door for many potential coalition partners with similar goals you may not have considered before. Growing your coalition will strengthen your nonprofit moving forward.</li>
<li>Long term assets — Advocacy or political action can mean assets for the long term such as lists, web pages, donors, etc.</li>
</ul>



Advocacy Pit falls 



Building a robust advocacy program or a separate 501c4 takes some planning and comes with its own set of challenges. Make sure you the following in mind:



<ul>
<li>Don&#8217;t drift from your mission — Just because you can be more active does not mean you need to move away from your core mission. </li>
<li>Don&#8217;t chase funding — By doing issue work that won&#8217;t help your organization&#8217;s goals, you will likely drain resources and hurt your long-term mission. Make sure the work you are doing fits within your nonprofit&#8217;s goals and what your supporters expect from you.</li>
<li>Understand the risks — Advocacy and political work have legal risks. Engaging in greater advocacy or political work may be the right call for your organization, but make sure you get your team, board, and legal help together to do this in a way that moves your organization forward. You will need to plan out how to create specific goals to ensure this will be a successful effort. It is imperative you have legal guidance on building advocacy and political outreach from an attorney who understands 501c4s.</li>
</ul>



The bottom line



Advocacy and political action can help grow your organization and make a big difference if you plan and build for it. For a deeper dive, The Campaign Workshop has published <a href="https://www.thecampaignworkshop.com/complete-guide-digital-advocacy">a new e-book, Complete Guide to Digital Advocacy</a>.

Advocacy and politics: how your nonprofit can get more involved

I want to state up front that I work at Mighty Citizen, a branding and digital agency for mission-driven organizations based in Austin, TX. We are on a diversity and inclusion journey. We&#8217;re doing some things right, including establishing an agency goal last year to increase our staff diversity in 2020 and changing our hiring practices to accomplish that. But we still have work to do and are learning more each day about how to do it better.
As an organization, your content speaks volumes about who you are and whom you serve. And if you didn&#8217;t know, <a href="https://www.mightycitizen.com/insights/articles/how-to-make-your-content-work-harder-for-you">EVERYTHING you put out in the world is content</a>. The stories you tell? Content. Your tools and resources? Content. Your website? Your biggest piece of content! Your direct mail, SEO, display ads, polls, infographics, memes, voicemail messages, events, and press releases?? It&#8217;s all content!
The makeup of our country is becoming more diverse, and people want to be represented. Not just represented, but represented authentically. As marketing and communications professionals, our jobs are to tell stories. We depict value through words and imagery, and we segment groups of people to do it. Marketing has become so fine-tuned, using demographics and psychographics to create entire user personas to drive engagement. It&#8217;s necessary to question the intention and authenticity behind how you&#8217;re marketing your brand, and how you could be doing it better.
<h2>Disparity in the Industry</h2>
Diversity in the marketing and communications industry is a multi-faceted conversation. Many of the marketing and communications teams running campaigns simply don&#8217;t reflect the people and cultures that they&#8217;re trying to reach. <a href="https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat11.htm">According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics</a>, only 8.9% of marketing and sales managers are Hispanic or Latino, 6.1% are Black or African American, and 5.6% are Asian. These percentages do not align with national demographics.
And that&#8217;s just the tip of the iceberg, as the dimensions of diversity span across identities like ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, physical ability, and many more. Often, the demographic makeup of the communications industry doesn&#8217;t even come close to reflecting the demographic makeup of the communities in which we work.
With a lack of in-house diversity, your marketing strategies aren&#8217;t informed by perspective. It&#8217;s a big blind spot that has affected the image of some of the most prominent players across various industries. That perspective lives on the right side of the fine line between authentic representation and pandering — and far from plain ignorance. It&#8217;s the difference between talking the talk and walking the walk. There is power in cultural competency, especially in marketing. Getting it right shouldn&#8217;t be a bottom-line issue, but it just so happens that authentic representation is great for engagement, too.
You don&#8217;t have to take my word for it, though. In partnership with The Femail Quotient and Ipsos, <a href="https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/thought-leadership-marketing-diversity-inclusion/">Google&#8217;s Consumer Insights surveyed nearly 3,000 consumers</a> from various backgrounds: gender identity, age, body type, race/ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, skin tone, language, religious/spiritual affiliation, physical ability, and socioeconomic status. 64% of those consumers took some sort of action after seeing an ad that they deemed to be diverse, inclusive, and representative. For some groups, that percentage spikes even higher. For example, an overwhelming 85% of Hispanics and Latinos, 85% of members of the LGBTQ+ community, and 79% of Black consumers surveyed said they took a specific action on ads featuring this diversity.
<h2>Implicit Bias</h2>
You just can&#8217;t expect to accurately represent or market to a group of people if there&#8217;s no representation from that group in the room. It&#8217;s because <a href="/course/unconscious-bias-in-nonprofit-work/">we all have something called implicit bias</a>. It refers to how we internalize attitudes and stereotypes about the world around us. In terms of diversity, implicit bias is a social cognition that informs how we view other groups of people. It&#8217;s why we&#8217;re less prone to understand different cultures and experiences, or worse, why we assign certain stereotypes to those groups.
Think about how this might be playing out on your team. If you work on a homogenous team — where everyone looks like you, comes from similar backgrounds and experiences, etc. — then implicit bias is at play at an organizational level. It&#8217;s on all of us to do the work to dismantle those systems of thought and actively work to cross lines, leading with a willingness to understand.
<h2>What You Can Do as a Communicator</h2>
Real, actionable change in issues like diversity and representation doesn&#8217;t happen overnight. Most realistically, these things take a shift in culture. It&#8217;s a matter of recognizing a comfortable status quo and wanting to be better. A lack of diversity isn&#8217;t an indictment on your organization, but rather a symptom of that implicit bias. Here are some internal practices you can consider:
<h3>Your hiring practices</h3>
There&#8217;s diversity, and then there&#8217;s inclusion. The distinction is made in considering who is invited to the table, and who feels comfortable actually contributing to the discussion. Many organizations have language in their job listings about diversity or even full-fledged diversity programs, but that&#8217;s the bare minimum. It&#8217;s easy to get a member of a marginalized community in the door. However, studies indicate that retention of those employees is low when they aren&#8217;t supported within the organization&#8217;s culture. For a homogenous organization, that creates a cycle. It may be time to start thinking about hiring less in terms of who is a good culture fit and more along the idea of expanding who you are.
Implicit bias rears its head in nearly every step of the hiring process. You could ask any type of minority about their experiences applying for jobs and get a million different stories.
A great place to start evaluating your internal practices is within your job descriptions. Are you focusing more on experience or skills? The former is more limiting to those from different backgrounds and potentially less opportunity. And why not focus on the candidate&#8217;s skills? Of course, practical application matters, but there&#8217;s going to be some learning curve no matter whom you hire. We&#8217;re conditioned to value past successes and experiences, so much so that larger organizations have reduced the entire process down to an automated resume scan for keywords.
<a href="https://editorsofcolor.com/diverse-databases/">Where are you sourcing your pools of candidates</a>? Try refreshing the way you market your job openings to reach different groups of people. Do some research locally — you can start with professional groups that exist to serve different communities, many of which have online forums and job boards.
To help attract diverse candidates, <a href="/about-nten/working-at-nten/">include a statement of inclusion</a> in each of your job postings. For example, Mighty Citizen&#8217;s says:
Mighty Citizen is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes everyone to our team. We strongly encourage people of color, LGBTQ and non-binary people, veterans, parents, and individuals with disabilities to apply. If you need reasonable accommodation at any point in the application or interview process, please let us know.
You could also outline the exact expectations you have for the role beforehand to help promote objectivity across your interviews. Keep yourself honest and challenge what you may be inclined to believe about an individual candidate.
<h3>Your content</h3>
Representation in your content goes a long way. Imagine someone coming to your website interested in donating, volunteering, or learning more about your organization, and they don&#8217;t see anyone that looks like them or anything that reflects their experiences. It&#8217;s a turn-off and begs the question of who the work is really for.
Your thought leadership and content should showcase diverse perspectives. If they don&#8217;t exist internally, then the best place to start is to amplify those voices that exist outside of your organization. That demonstrates a clear commitment to representation, and it&#8217;s an actionable step you can immediately start implementing.
Be intentional about your photos and illustrations. Another manifestation of implicit bias is a lack of importance around diversity in imagery and design. <a href="https://www.blackillustrations.com/">Black Illustrations is a company that recognized the lack of representation of Black people</a> and other people of color across the internet. They set out to create a resource depicting people of color in various tasks, FREE to download in all formats.
<h3>Your people</h3>
Changing your culture comes with ongoing education internally. For some organizations, concepts like representation, implicit bias, diversity, and inclusion are foreign — and even uncomfortable. A commitment to diversity and inclusion as an organization means a commitment to organizational shifts in perspectives and practices. Those shifts require personal introspection and cognizance of the ways our social cognition appears in systems around us. The work is ongoing, but it&#8217;s necessary for a more inclusive and equitable industry.

Two women sit across from each other at a small round table against a large office window.

Diversity and Inclusion: An Industry of Disparity

In the days following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, our Twin Cities region was ground zero for community outrage, grief, despair, and fear related to the systemic racism that is woven within Minnesota and throughout our country. The brutal murder of George Floyd at the hands and knee of a white police officer was a tipping point that brought all of these long-held emotions to the fore. As a property owner in Minneapolis, I watched our community in grief and turmoil, and felt more strongly than ever that question of &#8220;What can I do to fix this? What is my part?&#8221;
Someone close to me often shares a perspective related to addressing difficult problems. His posit is that if the problem were easy, it would have been solved already. The problem of racism is not one problem, but a complex set of beliefs, values, and systems. So to address racism, we must bring change to our thoughts and views, as well as to our actions. And this is not easy.
Yet, there are actions we can take today. We can, for example, look at the language we use in all of our industries, including Information Technology.
<a href="/article/fostering-lgbtq-inclusivity-in-digital-spaces/">All words are not equal. Some words uplift, others degrade</a>. They invoke in us a feeling, a memory, or a desire. Language carries with it our intent. It is our most direct method of expression. Language carries our narrative. It is one of many systems in our world, and it can be used, like all the other systems, for inclusion or for exclusion. The words we use matter. IT has had a bad habit of using inappropriate labels for important things. We spend our time thinking about how to design and build technology systems, but when it comes down to giving those things names, we slap on careless labels that provide little or no meaning. And some of those careless labels reflect serious longstanding institutional racism.
In particular, I am calling on our partners who provide security products such as anti-virus and spam filter tools, and my colleagues who use these tools. The old labels of &#8220;whitelist&#8221; for something that is approved and &#8220;blacklist&#8221; for something that must be blocked or banished are hurtful. And they do nothing to describe their purpose for the user. I can think of many more descriptive label pairs, and I know you can, too:
<ul>
<li>&#8220;Approved/Unapproved&#8221;</li>
<li>&#8220;Allowed/Blocked&#8221;</li>
<li>&#8220;Go/Stop&#8221;</li>
<li>&#8220;OK/Spam&#8221;</li>
</ul>
This racist language appears in data structures as well. &#8220;Master&#8221; was a common label that we still use today. &#8220;Parent&#8221; is better, and &#8220;Primary&#8221; is better yet. We use the term &#8220;white label&#8221; to describe software that can be configured for use by several institutions. Isn&#8217;t &#8220;custom label&#8221; more descriptive?
In testing, &#8220;white box&#8221; indicates the presence of knowns and clear view, and &#8220;black box&#8221; indicates unknowns or lack of visibility. These labels can be easily changed, as well. How about one of the following?
<ul>
<li>&#8220;Clear/Opaque&#8221;</li>
<li>&#8220;Viewed/Hidden&#8221;</li>
<li>&#8220;Visible/Invisible&#8221;</li>
</ul>
Where else do you see the use of non-descriptive damaging terms? What other labels can you use instead that are meaningful and not derivative of racist tropes?
As workers and leaders and partners and customers in the technology sector, what can we do to unwind centuries of narrative that says Black is less than white? We can start by looking for this narrative, noting its prevalence, and really seeing it. Then we can replace it with the truth we believe. I&#8217;ll suggest that the hardest part of this is the seeing. Once we have really looked at the language we use, and the story it evokes and can admit the flaw in what it represents, the action of changing it is easy.
Yes, easy. So why wouldn&#8217;t we do the easy parts, while we continue to dig in to address the difficult parts?
Here at Saint Paul &amp; Minnesota Foundation, we believe there is no hierarchy in human value. Our mission is to inspire generosity, advocate for equity, and invest in community-led solutions. We, the community of non-profit technology providers, can do our part to advance equity not only by serving our colleagues who lead the way in the community every day but by cleaning up our own community.
IT, the time to change is now. These labels must be replaced. Technology as an industry is a bringer of change, we do this for a living, so I know we can do it. Here are more suggestions for action:
Technology Vendors &amp; Developers: Change the labels you use. Remove the references to &#8220;black&#8221; and &#8220;white&#8221; and other damaging labels. Spread the word in your own community. Educate your staff on why these new words are necessary. Reward the use of language that removes racist labels and makes applications, security practices, and data more usable for your customers. Use real, meaningful labels so your end customers have a better jump start on learning the language of IT.
Customers of Technology: Hold your partners accountable. Tell them why this is important to you. Demand this change in the next technology release. Hire and reward providers who make the change we seek.
There is something in this for all of us. We achieve many things by requiring technology practitioners to use real, meaningful labels in code, data, testing, security, and other related practices:
<ol>
<li>Stop the narrative of white supremacy.</li>
<li>Create code and related technology practices that are considerably more descriptive for the end-user and the development community.</li>
<li>Reduce the number of meaningless terms that must be learned to speak the language of information technology fluently. Acronyms and terminology will always be part of the language, but we can only help ourselves, our community, and our users by minimizing them.</li>
<li>Bring mindfulness to the technology and user community about the prevalence of these poorly used terms, creating awareness of other places where they lurk and spring up action for making a change there, too.</li>
</ol>
Amidst the removal of statues and renaming of streets and buildings, we can also change our language and labels in technology. Words matter, Black Lives Matter, and the time for this change is now.

WORDS MATTER with each letter written in a different color and on a black background

Words matter. Remove racist labels used in technology

Dive deeper with Meico into how mindfulness can help your career. <a href="/course/mindful-leadership-in-trying-times/">Register for Mindful Leadership in Trying Times</a>.
As a nonprofit leader, you work hard to make a difference in the world. But chances are while you love what you do, you have too many things on your plate, are continually putting out fires, and never have enough time and resources to get everything done.
To top it all off, COVID-19 has disrupted your personal and professional life. And your role has likely changed dramatically as you grapple with how to provide essential services with little to no human contact.
If this sounds like you, you may be experiencing a classic example of mindless leadership or the application of yesterday&#8217;s routines, processes, and technology to today&#8217;s challenges. And given everything happening in the world right now, we can all think of examples of how that&#8217;s a recipe for disaster.
The good news is you&#8217;re not alone. I know because I used to be like you, and I&#8217;ve helped countless professionals just like you over the years.
During my previous career, I was often on the edge of burnout, trying to do my part to fulfill my organization&#8217;s vision of ending the HIV and hepatitis epidemics. There was never quite enough time and resources to get everything done.
Things eventually became so out of control that I was depressed, gained a ton of weight, and wasn&#8217;t eating or sleeping right. I spent many of my days moving through life on autopilot and being perpetually stressed and exhausted.
<h2>The Problem with Mindless Leadership</h2>
When we are mindless, we get comfortable and move out of alignment with our core values. We are paralyzed by change, uncertainty, and disruption. More importantly, we lose sight of the reason we do the work.
That&#8217;s why mindfulness, the mental state of non-judgemental self-awareness, is more critical than ever for leading with excellence in today&#8217;s world — both at home and at work.
<h2>Why Mindful Leadership Matters</h2>
<a href="https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic/mindfulness/definition#why-practice-mindfulness">More than two decades of research</a> show that mindfulness is more than &#8220;woo-woo&#8221; or &#8220;nice to have.&#8221; It&#8217;s a critical organizational competency with proven long-term benefits.
When things get tough, mindful leaders are better able to take a step back, shift from being reactive to responsive, and take decisive action.
<a href="https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_state_of_mindfulness_science">According to the Greater Good Science Center</a>, mindfulness is scientifically proven to:
<ul>
<li>Sharpen attention</li>
<li>Increase resilience in the face of stress and conflict</li>
<li>Increase compassion</li>
<li>Improve mental health</li>
<li>Reduce psychological biases</li>
</ul>
<a href="https://www.slideshare.net/ERCC2013/mindful-leadership-87061738">Emily Rogers</a> and <a href="https://instituteformindfulleadership.org/transforming-leaders-into-mindful-leaders/">Institute of Mindful Leadership</a> also note that leaders who undergo mindful leadership training report:
<ul>
<li>They are better decision-makers, more engaged and productive, and more compassionate</li>
<li>Mindful leadership training positively impacted their ability to innovate (93%)</li>
<li>It made a difference in their ability to think strategically (70%)</li>
<li>They were more likely to respond with clarity, even under pressure (34%)</li>
</ul>
When leveraged in the leadership context, mindfulness is a powerful tool that allows us as leaders to bring our whole selves to our work and to make space for others to do the same. The result is more effective leaders who make a greater positive impact in the world. These qualities are even more critical when navigating through a crisis.
<h2>How to Get Started</h2>
While there are many frameworks for cultivating mindful leadership, here&#8217;s what I know to be the basics based on my experience training professionals from around the world:
<ol>
<li>Know your intention — A mindful leader leads with the end in mind. Having a clear intention, whether for the direction of an organization or for a staff meeting, makes it easier to lead others and to stay on track when distractions arise.</li>
<li>Have a vision — A mindful leader has a vision for how to get to the end in mind while remaining flexible with how things unfold.</li>
<li>Communicate mindfully — A mindful leader listens deeply to what is and isn&#8217;t said with openness, curiosity, and nonjudgement and speaks with kindness, attention, compassion, and awareness.</li>
<li>Be fully present — A mindful leader is present, self-aware, socially intelligent, and knows how to show up for their team.</li>
</ol>
Start your journey to being a more mindful leader by <a href="/course/mindful-leadership-in-trying-times/">signing-up for my new course on Mindful Leadership in Trying Times</a>. No matter your level or role in your organization, if you want to take your leadership to the next level, this course is for you.
See you in class!

The words "Here" and Now" in white on a splotch of blue set against a white background.

Mindful leadership in trying times

Creative strategies for fundraising are crucial now more than ever, as physical storefronts are shuttered, and large in-person events are banned. Yet, don&#8217;t let these uncertain times discourage you from continuing your organization&#8217;s work. Raising money from donors remains key to completing important, mission-critical work in the nonprofit sector. Fortunately, there are still ways to attract and excite donors, even in this period of monumental social, cultural, and economic change.
Three leaders in the nonprofit sector recently shared how they&#8217;re winning and retaining donors during COVID-19. The panel, <a href="https://pantheon.io/resources/how-attract-and-retain-donors-virtual-world-webinar">How to Attract and Retain Donors in Virtual World</a>, was <a href="https://pantheon.io">hosted by the WebOps platform, Pantheon</a>, and moderated by NTEN CEO Amy Sample Ward. During the virtual event, we learned how transparency and honest communication are key to bolstering your fundraising efforts in today&#8217;s market.
The panel included:
<ul>
<li>Heather Small, Vice Chair Board of Directors, F.P. YouthOutCry</li>
<li>Tessa Atkinson-Adams, Communications Services Manager, <a href="https://www.leadingage.org">LeadingAge</a></li>
<li>Jessica N. Butler, Chief Fundraising Strategist, <a href="https://www.nlen.org">North Lawndale Employment Network</a></li>
</ul>
Here are five helpful takeaways from the event, to help you increase transparent and honest communication with donors and implement this messaging across various mediums:
<h2>Transparency</h2>
Be transparent on how you&#8217;ve pivoted your goals and mission in the last couple of months. By communicating the changes you&#8217;ve made, and why you are giving donors all the information they need to make an informed decision, you&#8217;re instilling confidence in your process and your ability to respond to an evolving situation.
Where and how this message is communicated with your audience should also be taken into consideration. We recommend having a message about your organization&#8217;s response to COVID-19 as the first thing your donors see when visiting your website. Having it on your homepage emphasizes that you are making an effort to be more transparent and ensuring that the information is readily available and easy to find.
<h2>Accessibility and Demos</h2>
Accessibility should be top of mind when you think of donors. It&#8217;s important to show that you are making a conscious effort to ensure everyone has an equal opportunity to receive information, get involved, and support your cause. Here are some ways to ensure accessibility across your donor base:
<ul>
<li>Test for accessibility and ask your donor base what method of donating works best for them. Then use the data you&#8217;ve gathered to implement those changes in how people can donate to your organization. In doing so, you are not only showing that you care but that you also value their feedback.</li>
<li>Utilize mobile applications and other payment platforms such as PayPal. Using these platforms includes those in your donor base who don&#8217;t feel comfortable inputting their credit card number directly on your site. Additionally, if you want to reach out to millennials and Gen Z, integrating Venmo (nonprofit integration is still in the private beta phase) or other popular mobile payment platforms can help reach this audience.</li>
<li>Demo how to donate. Panelist Heather Smalls recommended doing a walk-through with your donor showing them via Zoom how to donate on your website. Zoom gives you the ability to share your screen and gives you face-to-face time with your donors, making the call more personal. If doing a Zoom call with donors is too time-consuming, we recommend doing a video tutorial and posting that on your website.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Option to Opt-Out</h2>
In the past months, people have landed in social and financial situations that they could never have imagined or planned for. Empathizing with donors on their fiscal situation, and recognizing that some people are unable to donate at this time, is key to keeping the conversation open and honest.
Give donors the option to opt-out and make sure to communicate this option across all platforms — on the donation page, in emails, and in newsletters. We&#8217;ve also seen multiple subscription-based models give readers the option to pause their subscriptions during COVID-19. Ultimately, giving donors the option to opt-out will help to maintain your relationship with them, and they will be more likely to give when they are in a more financially stable position.
<h2>Going Personal</h2>
In today&#8217;s environment, we can&#8217;t just invite major or potential donors out to coffee or dinner. Instead, <a href="/article/recruit-new-supporters-and-advocates-using-facebook-messenger/">you have to be creative in the ways you interact with donors</a>. It&#8217;s time to leverage the old traditional methods of communicating with people. This goes beyond digital — it&#8217;s time to pick up the phone and start writing letters.
Although video calls are a popular and useful tool to enjoy face time with donors, some people might also be tired or overwhelmed by looking at the screen all day. Phone calls give those people a break from their screens. Taking the time to write out thank you cards to donors is another way to show your sentiment and really demonstrates that you genuinely care.
<h2>Don&#8217;t Be Afraid to Ask — BE BOLD</h2>
Despite the ongoing changes that are taking place in our world, the time to act is now.
Be bold, and don&#8217;t let these recent events hinder you from working toward your organization&#8217;s mission. While many people have been hit fiscally hard as a result of COVID-19, <a href="/article/leveraging-generation-z-3-engaging-fundraising-trends/">we&#8217;ve also seen people rise up and take action</a>. People still want to give back, they want to donate, and most importantly, they want to be a part of the change that you and your organization are trying to achieve. The first step in getting that donation is by communicating that ask.

A woman in a blazer and wearing glasses talks on a mobile phone while appearing to take notes as during the conversation

Winning and retaining donors through honest communication

Last week, I shared the following message in our monthly newsletter:
Do you remember when Mitt Romney famously declared, &#8220;Corporations are people&#8221;? Well, when it comes to Facebook, that person is a big jerk. One that individuals and organizations have a complicated relationship with.
Whether it&#8217;s the Cambridge Analytica data leak, election interference by foreign powers, or an unwillingness to stop the spread of conspiracy theories and hate speech, Facebook seems to consistently pick the wrong side of history.
On a personal level, I acknowledge that Facebook is the primary channel for staying connected to friends and family members for many folks. And as we&#8217;ve quarantined these last few months, that connection may have been a lifeline for many.
On a business level, Facebook&#8217;s advertising platform is unparalleled. Sure there are other digital platforms, but they lack Facebook&#8217;s reach and efficiency. For small businesses struggling to survive the pandemic, advertising is a crucial connection to customers.
But some corporate advertisers have decided that Facebook&#8217;s unwillingness to deal with the racism and calls for violence by its users warrant a boycott. <a href="https://www.stophateforprofit.org">They&#8217;ve pulled their advertising through July</a>. It&#8217;s an attempt to force Facebook to change its hands-off approach, but realistically, does anyone believe Facebook — specifically Mark Zuckerberg — will make any meaningful change?
NTEN doesn&#8217;t. That&#8217;s why we&#8217;ve already pulled our ads from Facebook and Instagram. We&#8217;ve also stopped posting to both sites. This is, admittedly, symbolic. I doubt Facebook noticed when our tiny ad budget was pulled. It also doesn&#8217;t cost us anything. NTEN can not only survive but continue to grow without Facebook&#8217;s assistance. That&#8217;s an organizational privilege I know not every organization shares.
We may return to posting (but not advertising) eventually, but the truth is, we&#8217;re not sure what the point would be. By the very nature of Facebook&#8217;s intentional design, organic reach has declined over the years, necessitating spending money on advertising. NTEN has many great things to offer, but none of it generates funny or moving videos that go viral. Why should we spend our limited time and resources chasing diminishing engagement? And why should we provide Facebook with more content and dollars?
Besides, Facebook has never been all that beneficial for nonprofits. What it cares about is business advertising. Whatever it offers nonprofits is just a slapdash paint job on the business offerings. I&#8217;m sure its employees care about philanthropy. Still, it&#8217;s clear that as a company, Facebook cares only as far as public relations go.
While it doesn&#8217;t cost us anything to leave, it would cost us a great deal to stay. Probably like your organization, NTEN spent a lot of time identifying and articulating our values. Supporting Facebook would not only be antithetical to our values, but it would also actively undermine them.
So that&#8217;s where NTEN stands. What about you and your organization?
That wasn&#8217;t an empty question. Many folks responded to say that it started a really important conversation among their communications team.
Community members shared how important Facebook is for their organization:
<ul>
<li>&#8220;We raised close to $280k in April alone.&#8221;</li>
<li>&#8220;I came from that part of the world, where for so many of us, the internet means Facebook.&#8221;</li>
</ul>
Folks shared some of the reality they are in:
<ul>
<li>&#8220;How can someone whose job requires a constant social media presence also balance a personal life that is begging for less?&#8221;</li>
<li>&#8220;Plus there&#8217;s the reality that, for nonprofits, when donors give via the FB platform they remain anonymous to the charity — making stewardship and ongoing cultivation impossible. So fundraising that way becomes transactional, never transformational.&#8221;</li>
<li>&#8220;This is a good reminder that not only do we need to evaluate our technology use because this space changes more and more rapidly each day (as technology tends to do); but that some of these platforms are more than just tools and have become the infrastructure for influencing culture and institutions alike in our larger community.&#8221;</li>
</ul>
And comments about what else to use:
<ul>
<li>&#8220;Are you putting the attention that went to Facebook into particular other services which you feel better about?&#8221;</li>
<li>&#8220;Is there another option that provides instant connections to our supporters?&#8221;</li>
</ul>
And, of course, one of the big questions regarding our decision: &#8220;Do you really think that nonprofits pulling their ad revenue would even make a blip on their balance sheet?&#8221;
As I said at the beginning, this is complicated! For organizations that do a lot of community mobilization, offline event organizing, or community fundraising, Facebook likely has been — and may continue to be — an essential part of your digital toolkit. And, using Facebook to advance your mission is certainly something I respect.
But being easy to use means it&#8217;s also easy to overlook the data and privacy implications for those you serve, the policy impacts on your content and community, and the opportunity cost on your resources. Whether you&#8217;re advertising your programs, organizing your community, or raising money for your work, I hope your organization will have an informed conversation about Facebook&#8217;s benefits and drawbacks.
Because many folks want to continue this conversation, and because many factors may influence how an organization chooses to use Facebook, we&#8217;re organizing a discussion for later this month. We&#8217;ll post registration details for the free event in the coming days and hope you&#8217;ll join us then to raise more questions and add to the conversation. Once the call is scheduled, we&#8217;ll share the details on <a href="https://twitter.com/ntenorg">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/nten/">LinkedIn</a>, so please follow us there.

"facebook" typed on a grainy sheet of shadowed paper

NTEN says goodbye to Facebook

Maybe like you, the last three months of COVID-19 have been incredibly hard to wrap my mind around. Maybe unlike you, it&#8217;s for a different reason. I am biracial. My father is Black, and my mother is Navajo. I, a Black Man as well as a Navajo man, represent two communities that are enduring the continual systemic oppression that white supremacy has forged upon the backs of communities I am forever a part of. It&#8217;s been a lot to take in.&nbsp;



Recently, the Navajo Nation surpassed New York state as having the highest infection rate in the country. This is heartbreaking as I have family who lives in the Navajo Nation. My mother was born and raised there, as was her mother and her mother before her. We&#8217;ve seen the devastation that COVID-19 has unleashed on the Navajo Nation also pummel the Black community. Black folks are three times more likely to die from COVID-19 than white folks. Access to and the quality of healthcare for Black communities are woefully inadequate as compared to white communities. It&#8217;s clear that the fruits of centuries-old systems of racial oppression are in full bloom, and the country continues to take bite after wicked bite.



If that wasn&#8217;t enough, we have witnessed the senseless and horrific deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. And the story of Christian Cooper, a black man who had the police called on him because he asked a white woman to leash her dog, highlights the awareness and savviness that white folks use when they weaponize calling the police on black people. This incident and the murders (two of which were from police brutality) of Ahmaud, Breonna, and George have shaken me to the core and rekindled past experiences where I was profiled, discriminated against, and marginalized as a Black Man and a Navajo man, both personally and professionally. So yes, it has been a long three months for me, but it&#8217;s been an even longer 400 years for the country.&nbsp;



While these feelings and thoughts I have been grappling with are incredibly tough, my determination and focus as it pertains to my role as Community Engagement and Equity Manager at NTEN have been galvanized. This work is vital to the success of not only the nonprofit sector but to the overall success of society.&nbsp;



To my fellow people of color in the NTEN community: I am here. I have also endured the methods of systemic oppression you have endured while at work and in life. I have been tokenized, I have been passed over for promotions in favor of white colleagues, I have had to be the only Black voice in a room full of white folks, I have been subjected to performative anti-racism commitments, and I have been played against other colleagues of color to maintain the &#8220;status quo,&#8221; among other countless methods of institutionalized racism. It is horrible, and the anxiety and stress that comes with it are immeasurable. I want you to know that I am doing my part in dismantling these systems in all its forms for all of us. To be clear, I am certainly not asking you to do the same. Your existence is an act of protest against white supremacy, and I thank you for breathing beautiful breaths of black and brown life into the world. But I am extending my hand to you if you need validation, support, or ways to identify and dismantle white supremacy in your world. I am here.



To my white community members (specifically those who have C-suite roles): don&#8217;t wait for an invitation from a black or brown person to start this work of dismantling racist structures. You don&#8217;t have to wait until you have a black or brown employee or friend to start caring. Start now. Educate yourself, listen, and don&#8217;t rely on people of color to do the work for you. Being &#8220;not racist&#8221; isn&#8217;t good enough. You must be anti-racist and call others out when they propagate institutionalized racism (and yes, that includes calling yourself out). And repeat after me: Black Lives Matter.



So yes, it has been a rough few months. However, I&#8217;m emboldened and steadied by a Navajo saying:&nbsp;T&#8217;áá hwó&#8217; ají t&#8217; éego&nbsp;(It&#8217;s up to you).&nbsp;

Joyce at a Black Lives Matter protest near the White House, holds a sign reading, "The Problem Is the Misuse of Power Not the Color of My Skin"

It’s been rough

Black lives matter.



And to be explicit, that includes black queer and trans folks.



George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade — they should be here with us. Instead, they are names many people have learned because of their brutal murders.&nbsp;



This is not new for our country. We&#8217;ve had 400 years of action, policy, and legal support claiming that Black lives — along with Indigenous folks and other folks of color — are not valued equally with white lives. In many cases, not even valued equally with property. A protest is the least we can do at this point.&nbsp;



I have had more conversations, both personal or professional, in the last two weeks that have included discussions of white supremacy, police brutality, and abolition than I have maybe ever. I&#8217;m disappointed it&#8217;s taken 400 years to get to a point where these conversations are happening at this frequency, but I&#8217;m also disappointed that most of those conversations have included friends and colleagues of color.&nbsp;



I want to talk about race.



I want to talk about dismantling white supremacy.



I want to talk about defunding the police, investing in thriving communities, and living in racial equity.&nbsp;



I want to talk about it with white folks.&nbsp;



I especially want to talk about it with other white folks leading nonprofits. In my experience, when white supremacy gets mentioned on a call with white nonprofit leaders, there&#8217;s careful sidestepping and a quick topic change. If the folks who lead the&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" href="https://nonprofitquarterly.org/a-moment-of-choice-racial-equity-cdfis-and-the-ppp-lending-fiasco/">organizations receiving more funding and resources</a>, who receive more attention and visibility, who receive the credit for impact, can&#8217;t or won&#8217;t engage in these hard — they should be hard — conversations, I don&#8217;t know how we will get to where we need to be fast enough.&nbsp;



More Black and Brown folks have died at the hands of police in the last four days in the riots. People are dying because of the inaction of white leaders. This is not about a hashtag. This is about your staff, your program and service beneficiaries, your communities, and your missions. The entire sector moved to deep, thoughtful conversation coupled with direct calls for policy and financial support when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down our country. The same level of complete engagement across the sector is needed now. And we don&#8217;t need to convene white leaders to help identify what the proposals or needs are. Black activists and community leaders have been clearly calling for the divestment in the police, an end to &#8220;wars&#8221; on crime and drugs, and the investment in their communities for many years.&nbsp;



Do you need resources? I always recommend <a rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.equityinthecenter.org/our-research/">Equity in the Center&#8217;s Awake to Woke to Work</a> for equity work inside an organization. And next week NTEN has a week-long online course on <a href="/course/racial-equity-tech-planning/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Racial Equity &amp; Tech Planning</a>, led by Tristan Penn, NTEN&#8217;s community engagement and equity manager. 



But really, the best learning I&#8217;ve done is by talking and trying and messing up and sitting with that and then trying again. What&#8217;s the alternative? Silence? Silence is killing people.&nbsp;&nbsp;



As an example of how to have a straightforward conversation, I offer the same template that I use with my 4-year-old. &#8220;I am feeling sad and mad that a member of our community has been killed by both a police offer and by the systems and laws we have in our country. And I want to talk about it.&#8221; Just start.&nbsp;



Connect with the organizations in your community that are led by folks of color, whether they are 501(c)3 organizations or not. Support their missions, partner with them, amplify their calls for action and change, support their access to resources. Don&#8217;t just use your white privilege as an individual but also your organization&#8217;s privilege to make a difference.&nbsp;



At NTEN, our commitment in our mission to supporting organizations using technology in racially equitable ways, as well as our commitment to racial equity in our work at all levels, urges us to talk about race, racism, and white supremacy all the time. And I want to talk about it with you, too. Honestly, wherever you&#8217;re at on your journey, if you want to connect with me, I will make that time available.&nbsp;



Because Black Lives Matter.&nbsp;

Women at a Peaceful vigil for George Floyd at the Lincoln Memorial. They hold signs reading, "SAY THEIR NAMES" and "BLACK LIVES MATTER!"

Stop being silent

In the COVID-19 emergency, I&#8217;m watching lots of organizations and groups go through technology adjustments to maintain operations, aka &#8220;get stuff done.&#8221; It would be a struggle, especially if their online life was minimal before. If their technology was focused on the web, social media, and CRM, moving to real-time conferencing can be a challenge.



It&#8217;s a perfect storm of solemnity: (1) COVID-19 is somber, (2) their operations are too jeopardized for joking, (3) implementing new tech in a rush is a heavy lift, and (4) some of their most important participants are some of the least tech-confident.



In that serious, stressful environment, it can be hard to see that one of the most transformative elements is fun. It lightens the mood and makes learning easier. (We already knew that!) It also increases engagement. Deviating from a script or slideshow is a signal to all that what&#8217;s going on is a human encounter, albeit heavily intermediated. Meetings are more mutual when meeting leaders are seen as more warm and direct.



I&#8217;m encouraging the groups I work with to manage their videoconferences with elements that will restore a bit of the humanity of face-to-face meetings, and to help their members to do likewise:



<ul><li>Dress up. I&#8217;m not just talking about wearing pants (which I genuinely believe are optional). Dig down into that Halloween costume tub. Don&#8217;t have one? It&#8217;s never too late to start collecting masks, hats, beads, and bangles. Clown makeup may be going too far, but hey.</li><li>Use props. Take the cover page of that report you&#8217;re going over and make a hat out of it. Creatively remake the sign on the office door with your name and title. Use a slide whistle for good news (sliding up) and bad news (sliding down). Kazoos for important announcements (ta-da!).</li><li>Have ready-made response signs (e.g., &#8220;I agree!&#8221;) and materials to make signs in real-time. Yes, there are built-in tools for this, but they tend to be limited (handclap, thumbs up), and holding up a sign along with an amplifying expression on your face tells a lot more.</li><li>Be lively in chat windows. I&#8217;m telling people to think of them as thought bubbles ( &#8220;Hm, I wonder …&#8221;) as well as places for text &amp; links. In terms of the user interface, this is easier if people are on a desktop, where keeping the chat window visible while seeing the video faces is more feasible.</li><li>Move content from dense slides to faster, rich media. Listening to someone read the words on a 4-paragraph slide in person is terrible. But having someone do it online is toxic because folks will wander or drop off. Replace anything static with anything that moves. Even an animated arrow will draw some attention back; an animated cow or startled baby is so much better. Search for the right GIF or video snippet and add it to the presentation.</li><li>Use green screens. This is not only fun, but it can also be closely related to session content, of course. It takes a bit of learning and preparation, but not that much. I&#8217;ve heard people say that they went on to use it in calls with their families and friends, so there you go. We&#8217;re building a powerfully expressive technological culture in record time, under pressure, and as far as I can see, we&#8217;re doing great!</li></ul>



I&#8217;ll give you an example of something I&#8217;m doing.



I log in on a second device, usually my phone, with a macro lens (for closeup magnification) clipped onto the camera. It&#8217;s aimed at little dioramas that I make and put on a lazy susan. One is &#8220;nuts &amp; bolts&#8221; which has actual figurines you can get at a craft store. (Yes, I know that there are stock images of this kind of message, but playing with tiny figurines is much more fun than picking out one of those images with those bulbous critters.) I have customized several of these with Lego, fast food toys, and whatnot. The macro lens provides a great image, and the lazy susan shows it off from different angles, plus you can assemble several dioramas on the same rotating platform.



These ideas tend to move the session towards being a show rather than a meeting. That&#8217;s the right mindset, not a mistake. It can be overdone, but all in all, a show is more engaging and more memorable. Think of the best documentary TV show you ever saw — was it a recitation, or a skillful aggregation of facts underscored by dramatic video, emphatic narration, and even music?



To me, it&#8217;s undeniable, but there may be pushback from the organizational culture. So hit it with an efficiency argument: a show is tight, never wasting a second. That&#8217;s what we love about shows, be it a movie, TV, or stage performance. Time itself is enriched, so attention is offered freely, and enthusiastic commitment is easier to achieve. Isn&#8217;t that what an efficient meeting tries to do?



This does not in any way rule out very democratic participation. It just puts participants on notice that their contribution should be useful and concise and even lyrical if they can pull it off. (I was once in an organization whose recording secretary put some of our meeting minutes into verse. Unlike every other organization I&#8217;ve been in since everyone read the minutes every month.)



<h2>A word on what’s tough</h2>



So far, I&#8217;ve focused on the upside, it&#8217;s only fair to look at the other side. In no way is it easy to transform a culture in this direction. In a way, it&#8217;s similar to what happened as organizations struggled over the role of the technology itself. If you&#8217;re old enough (I am), you will remember executive officers who refused to use email directly but had their assistants print everything out. Those deserving of replies got hand-written notes on the printouts, sent on by corporate mail. Every migration has its holdouts and friction points.



<ul><li>Leadership. As we already know, discrepancies between technical leadership and organization leadership can be … unwholesome. And this new approach would add another dimension: showmanship, or even comedic talent. Some got it and some ain&#8217;t (although it is learnable). That super-serious executive is going to have to lighten up, permit others to lighten up, and recognize others for their showmanship. That recognition has to be visible to all. One organization pretty far along this path has chosen to add the role of Producer to the list of roles working to pull together its monthly webinar to its board members. Note: this is not a full-time job! If you think about it, there is probably someone already on staff who would enjoy a chance to show off some of her drama school chops, long lurking beneath tons of accounting reports.</li><li>Preparation. It&#8217;s ironic but obvious: it takes some extra time and sweat to make something fun. Rarely in terms of money — that&#8217;s a relief — but no doubt someone is going to have to work on graphics, videos, music, props, jokes, etc. in advance. Sometimes you&#8217;ll be pushing the limits of the platform you use, so there may need to be consultations with IT or communications.</li><li>Managing calls. Running the actual call gets more complicated than deciding whether you&#8217;ll take questions after each slide show or only at the end. (And perhaps waiting through the silence.) The person doing the management is now, in TV terms, the Director, picking shots and letting them run their course while getting others lined up. It can be hard to manage broad input when all of a sudden, everyone&#8217;s got something to say, but that&#8217;s a good problem to have, right? To me, the key is firm but warm facilitation. People appreciate that they will get their chance in the spotlight if they are willing to wait in line, like a talent show.</li></ul>



I&#8217;m sure many are already using humor and creativity. I certainly see it on the many online Happy Hours that have popped up from workplaces where folks used to go to a bar after work on Fridays. Why not incorporate some of that fun and camaraderie into your workday?

A woman sits in her kitchen and waves to her laptop camera

Making Videoconferencing Sessions Fun

When thinking about an update to your website, many decisions have to be made early on.&nbsp;



One of the most important (but easily overlooked) decisions is determining exactly how the project will be implemented from a project management perspective,&nbsp;especially&nbsp;if you&#8217;re working with an outside agency.&nbsp;



There are plenty of methodologies, but two are well known in the world of project management: The&nbsp;waterfall&nbsp;approach, and the&nbsp;agile&nbsp;approach. Both are comprehensive methodologies that come with their own legions of fans, yet each method has its own pros and cons. Which method you choose depends on many things, but foremost, is how your organization functions best. Let&#8217;s analyze both of these options before we dive into our suggested approach.



<h2>The Waterfall Methodology</h2>



<h3>What It Is</h3>



Compared to the agile method, waterfall may be considered more traditional. The waterfall method can best be thought of as a linear approach. You don&#8217;t start a new phase of the project until the previous phase is signed off on. If you&#8217;re working on functional specifications for your website, developers won&#8217;t start a line of code until specifications are locked down and approved for every piece of the site. You try to solve all the questions on the front end, so you know what to do when you move into development.&nbsp;



<h3>The Upside</h3>



Waterfall is desirable for organizations with a set budget and timeline. Not only do you know where you are in the process at all times, but you know what you&#8217;re getting and at what cost.



<h3>The Downside</h3>



The downside to this approach is that it can be limiting and can feel rigid. There isn&#8217;t a lot of room to make iterations if new information emerges. For example, if you find out in the web development stage that you left something out in the design phase, it can be time-consuming and costly to go back to the design phase. You also don&#8217;t see the fruits of your labor as quickly. With waterfall, the entire project is built front end to back end, put through quality assurance, and launched. If it&#8217;s a big website project, that process can take at least six months. That&#8217;s not always a position you want to be in.



<h2>The Agile Methodology</h2>



<h3>What It Is</h3>



With this approach, you start with your general goal (a website build). You know the end game, and you break up the process into iterations along the way. You&#8217;re implementing the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) as you go, which is essentially the most basic level build that doesn&#8217;t have all the bells and whistles, but functions to provide you with learning and user behavior. The iterations in agile are called&nbsp;sprints, and they traditionally last two weeks. Sprints are the guide map for this approach, and they are the absolute priority. In each sprint, everything that is completed is published to the live website, and everything that isn&#8217;t completed is pushed to the next sprint.



<h3>The Upside</h3>



The benefit here is that <a href="/article/how-to-systemize-improvement-for-your-nonprofit-website/">you&#8217;re seeing continual progress</a>, and you can be more flexible along the way. It&#8217;s ideal for startups or innovative companies that need to get a product out the door quickly, or for an organization that doesn&#8217;t know what they want the final product to look like.&nbsp;



<h3>The Downside</h3>



This approach can be difficult if you&#8217;re working with an outside agency because from a contract standpoint, you&#8217;re never really done. You may hear that it makes the project go faster, but in reality, it can make the project longer due to the starting and stopping between pushing live and the planning phase. You see more progress, but it&#8217;s a longer end game. This approach can be more expensive too. With the agile method, your organization is paying for a team of people rather than a set of deliverables. There has to be a constant stream of communication to continually get through each sprint. Some organizations may not be able to handle the amount of time and effort agile takes.



<h2>Mighty Citizen&#8217;s Suggestion: A Hybrid Approach</h2>



May we suggest the …&nbsp;wagile&nbsp;methodology? Hey, it&#8217;s easy off the tongue!



<h3>What It Is</h3>



Here, you get the best of both worlds. Your organization typically has a set budget. You don&#8217;t have the flexibility to get more funding if you want to add a new feature in sprint 17. Grants require exact estimates, so you need parameters upfront.&nbsp;



With the wagile approach, you work in phases. When scoping and contracting with an outside agency, aim for Discovery-First projects.&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.mightycitizen.com/insights/articles/why-discovery-is-a-worthy-investment">Discovery</a>&nbsp;typically includes&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.mightycitizen.com/insights/articles/homegrown-user-research">audience surveys and stakeholder interviews</a>&nbsp;to better understand audience needs so you can build the functionality they need and not waste money on the functionality they don&#8217;t. Discovery can also include&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.mightycitizen.com/insights/articles/how-to-choose-the-right-cms-for-your-organization">tech audits</a>,&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.mightycitizen.com/insights/articles/what-is-a-content-audit-and-how-can-i-conduct-one">content audits</a>, or other research that helps you <a href="/article/five-common-mistakes-in-website-request-for-proposals/">better understand your website requirements</a>. By doing Discovery at the beginning of the project, you can build a comprehensive contract to better understand what you&#8217;re paying for and exactly what you&#8217;ll get in the end. Or, if you&#8217;re producing the new website within your nonprofit, you can build a website plan that clarifies exactly what work is to be completed.



<h3>The Upside</h3>



The success of the wagile method is that it marries the linear nature of waterfall with the sprints of agile. For example, if your website includes&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.mightycitizen.com/insights/tools-and-training/how-to-write-effective-web-copy" rel="noreferrer noopener">the creation of 50 pages of content</a>, you&#8217;d have a set Content phase to accomplish that. But, you&#8217;d also employ the sprint mentality to allow for some flexibility within that phase. The phase is broken up into groups, or &#8220;batches,&#8221; because it&#8217;s easier to write 10 pages of content where you can see progress and give feedback while working on the next 10. Each phase happens in a loop: creation, presentation, feedback, then iteration — and everyone is involved in the process.



With the hybrid approach, you know exactly what is to be accomplished, and the timeline and expectations needed to get there. You&#8217;re following a clear path from the beginning of the project. Still, it provides more involvement and collaboration than traditional waterfall. The wagile method helps you plan your resources better because you know where in the process you&#8217;ll be next week, and you can create space in your schedule as needed. It also helps teams to be more self-sufficient because the marching orders are in place. This makes your project leader&#8217;s job much easier, and any sense of ease is important in the middle of a website build!&nbsp;



<h3>The Downside</h3>



Because the wagile method is not a standard project management method, you might need to educate your team and your leadership about why this option is the best for your organization.&nbsp;



No matter which project management methodology your nonprofit chooses, you&#8217;ll be better off after considering your options. Remember — your best option is the one that is most compatible with how your organization functions.



Interested in learning more about project management? <a href="/course/project-management-fundamentals/">Enroll in our online, week-long project management course</a>.

A hand holds a sticky note in front of a whiteboard filled with sticky notes arranged in phases of a sprint like planned, in progress, and done.

Agile vs. Waterfall Website Design: Why a Hybrid Approach is Best

Given the inequitable impacts of the current crisis surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, it&#8217;s more important than ever that we communicate with vulnerable populations. In particular, we need to reach folks who are at high risk for contracting COVID-19, those who come into contact regularly with high-risk populations, and those who are often overlooked in public health messages. Specifically, we need messages targeted to:



<ul>
<li>Older adults</li>
<li>People of color</li>
<li>Low-income people</li>
<li>The uninsured</li>
<li>Lower literacy adults</li>
<li>Caregivers.</li>
</ul>



How do we reach these audiences when in-person contact isn&#8217;t possible?



At Provoc, we&#8217;ve learned it&#8217;s not just a question of finding people online — we also need to build lasting relationships to sustain their engagement attention over time. In our work building message frameworks to recruit 340k+ older adults to health programs, we&#8217;ve learned several lessons that can help with this challenge. We applied the science of narrative to engage regular people in the fight to end a major disease and have tested health-related messages with diverse populations 55 and over.



Our goal with this post is to be of service to the NTEN community, knowing that many organizations are working hard to respond to the pandemic with communications that reach broad audiences. Here, we&#8217;re sharing some of those lessons about how to communicate with older adults on any topic, and about how to communicate about ending disease. Some points to keep in mind:



<ul>
<li><a href="https://provoc.me/clinical-trial-recruitment-flowing-stuck/">Minimize the number of steps involved</a>
<ul>
<li>Simplify visual complexity as much as possible</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Provide all necessary knowledge and resources about each step in the process (e.g., if asking for sensitive information, let people know why they are being asked to provide it)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Put <a href="https://provoc.me/drive-recruitment-put-researchers-front/">credible people</a> out front with affiliations to well-known institutions.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Craft language for the <a href="https://provoc.me/using-persuasive-copy-to-pull-reluctant-people-into-your-studies/">&#8220;head and heart&#8221;</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Make sure to include <a href="https://provoc.me/designing-low-literacy-users-double-prospects-improving-everyones-experience/">lower-literacy populations</a> in your communications. Forty-three percent of adult Americans are &#8220;lower literacy,&#8221; according to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy. Many people fear &#8220;dumbing down&#8221; their content, but that fear is misguided. In fact, improving the accessibility of your comms for lower literacy readers improves access for everyone.</li>
<li>Think about moving from a transactional to a relational to a transformational dynamic with your audiences. Be prepared to build trust over time, so that when your audience is ready to take action, you&#8217;re ready and waiting.
<ul>
<li>Transactional: Users interact with your content to fulfill a specific need, and they immediately leave after they&#8217;ve found what they want</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Relational: Users see you as a trusted source of high-quality content, which they seek out repeatedly over time. You&#8217;ve established an ongoing, durable relationship with your audience.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Transformational: Your audience has committed to your cause and are your partners in an ongoing effort to make a significant change. Like you, they know it won&#8217;t be easy, and there will be challenges and uncertainty along the way. But they&#8217;re ready to be part of the solution and see you as leading the way.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Despite its challenges, Facebook remains the most successful platform for reaching older adults — <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/FT_19.07.25_ConstantlyOnline_Topline_Methodology.pdf">46% of Americans 65 and older use the platform regularly</a>. Our success in running health-related ad campaigns targeted at older adults bears this out.</li>
<li>Older adults see themselves as younger than they may appear to others. Whatever the age demographic of your target audience, use photos of people at a younger age than you might have expected.</li>
<li>Scientists and researchers can be compelling storytellers. <a href="https://provoc.me/drive-recruitment-put-researchers-front/">Consider putting them at the front and center of your messages</a>.</li>
<li>Coronavirus is scary. Language can help us overcome our fears and confront the challenge. Read more about language that can help bring people into health programs <a href="https://provoc.me/using-persuasive-copy-to-pull-reluctant-people-into-your-studies/">here</a>. Some highlights:
<ul>
<li>Adopt clarity and transparency to achieve trust.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Emphasize action and create a sense of momentum.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Use language that cues hope and optimism.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>



One of the most remarkable aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic is the overwhelming uncertainty and bewilderment forced upon us by this mysterious, havoc-wreaking virus. The things we don&#8217;t know far, far outnumber the things we DO know. Yet what we DO know — that a communications approach focused on building relationships of trust with audiences can succeed in getting broad audiences to do hard things — is itself quite significant.



To move forward through this crisis, we have to just keep putting one foot in front of the other, training our eyes and minds to the space directly before us. Think of the insights we&#8217;ve shared here as a flashlight, or maybe a rope line you can hold to steady yourself along the way.



Thanks for reading, and <a href="https://provoc.me/contact/">please contact me with questions</a> or to learn more about how we can help

Apply the Science of Narrative to Reach Underserved Populations

We are thrilled to see ICANN’s leadership reject the sale of Public Interest Registry (PIR) and the .ORG top-level domain.
For 20 years, .ORG has been the online home for nonprofits, NGOs, and community-based groups around the world. It serves both those organizations and the public, helping navigate and support trust, information and resource sharing, and advocacy.
The current global pandemic has further illustrated the importance of nonprofit websites, as most of the world’s leading scientific and research institutions, health and safety resources, and educational services are on .ORG websites. The need for reliability and security of the .ORG domain is as high as it ever has been, and the proposal to convert PIR from a nonprofit to a for-profit entity and then sell it to private equity firm Ethos Capital would have jeopardized both.
We want to thank the nearly 900 organizations and the 64,000* individuals from all over the world who joined us in calling for the sale to be stopped. The collective voices made a difference.
This is not the final step needed for protecting the .ORG domain. ICANN must now open a public process for bids to find a new home for the .ORG domain. ICANN has established processes and criteria that outline how to hold a reassignment process. We look forward to seeing a competitive process and are eager to support the participation in that process by the global nonprofit community.
The .ORG domain, the third-largest top-level domain, needs a secure and reliable steward that can prove it has the public and nonprofit sector’s interests at its core.
*The combined signatures from petitions hosted by EFF, Fight for the Future, and Open Media
Joint statement by NTEN and Electronic Frontier Foundation, April 30, 2020

SaveDotOrg campaign succeeds, ICANN rejects sale

The COVID-19 pandemic underscores an urgent reality: The baseline of digital preparedness at global nonprofits is lower than we imagined and requires new funding and support.
<a href="https://www.tagtech.org/resource/resmgr/COVID19-TechSupportBriefing.pdf">In this call to philanthropy</a>, NTEN, NetHope, and the Technology Association of Grantmakers (TAG) identify the most pressing technology needs for nonprofits worldwide today as they cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and tomorrow as recovery begins. Additionally, we provide inspiring examples of grantmaker responses and provide suggestions for additional investment in digital infrastructure for civil society. Through this appeal, we aim to begin bridging the digital divide exacerbated during today&#8217;s crisis and to continue furthering social good.
Now more than ever, nonprofits need support from funders that recognizes the entire cost of their work — work that is critical for communities across the globe right now. The full cost of digital infrastructure is significant. It includes not only the hardware and software to shift virtual teams and program delivery, but also the skills and training to select, implement, and use these tools, as well as the long-term need to make strategic decisions about their technology roadmap.
<h2>Nonprofit Tech Needs During COVID-19</h2>
According to research by NTEN, TAG, and NetHope, the greatest technology needs for nonprofits throughout the COVID-19 crisis are the following:
<ol>
<li>Reliable internet access</li>
<li>Hardware, such as laptops, mobile devices, connectivity, and reliable power in vulnerable countries</li>
<li>Software for remote work, paperless billing, virtual events, process approvals, fundraising, etc.</li>
<li>Funding to enable program continuity in their transition from in-person to remote service delivery</li>
<li>One-on-one support for tool selection, implementation, remote training strategy</li>
<li>Training resources</li>
<li>Flexible funding for reallocation according to needs</li>
</ol>
<h2>How Funders Can Respond</h2>
What can your foundation do, both in the short-term and long-term? <a href="https://www.tagtech.org/resource/resmgr/COVID19-TechSupportBriefing.pdf">This briefing by NetHope, NTEN, and TAG</a> outlines ways to equip the humanitarian sector during the immediate response phase of COVID-19. For the longer-term recovery phase, we offer ways to engage in strategic efforts toward funding and building a digital infrastructure for the nonprofit sector.
<a href="https://www.tagtech.org/resource/resmgr/COVID19-TechSupportBriefing.pdf">Learn how some foundations are already answering the call in this joint briefing</a>.

"The COVID-19 pandemic underscores an urgent reality: The baseline of digital preparedness at global nonprofits is lower than we imagined and requires new funding and support." above logos from TAG, NetHope, and NTEN.

Call for nonprofit tech support during COVID-19

Over the past couple of years, there has been an obvious, and sometimes extreme, decrease in organic reach across all social media platforms. If you are following best practices by monitoring your performance on a monthly basis (<a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59ed82c72278e7362b3d9376/t/5c94ef2ff9619ad63ca69e0b/1553264442164/%23Make_It_Social_guide.pdf">read our #MakeItSocial publication</a> if not), this will not be news to you. To be clear, organic reach is NOT dead, but newsfeeds are prioritizing content from family and friends, and those that spark conversations as opposed to &#8216;reactions&#8217; such as likes and loves. In this article, we take a look at why you should be paying attention to paid media and making it part of your overall social media strategy.
<h2>Benefits</h2>
Social media success starts and ends with your community — they are your organization&#8217;s biggest asset. If you&#8217;re not reaching the right people, you&#8217;re not going to see the engagement you&#8217;re looking for.
As social media managers, we need to put an increased focus on our social media community; learn from them, and understand what&#8217;s resonating with them to ultimately mobilize them to take the desired action. Social paid media can help you do exactly that. Here a number of the benefits you&#8217;ll see by allocating some budget to your social media activity.
You can reach more of your following and people beyond your following
According to recent research by <a href="https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/10-need-to-know-facebook-marketing-stats-for-2019/547488/">Social Media Today</a>, organically, your content is going to reach roughly around 6% of your following. With paid media, you can reach a much larger percentage of your following, as well as people outside of your following. This will increase awareness of your organization and will help to increase the engagement rate on your content.
You have greater control over who sees your content and when
Newsfeeds are no longer in chronological order, and they haven&#8217;t been for a while now, so while you are posting relevant and timely content, it may not reach your audience&#8217;s newsfeed when you want them to see it. With paid media, you can target the right audiences and schedule it so that they see the content on the day you would like them to see it.
You can deliver the right message to the right people at the right time
If you have multiple audiences that you need to speak to for different purposes, you&#8217;ll be creating multiple posts in order to get your message or ask across. With paid media, you don&#8217;t need to put all of this content on your social feeds; you can make sure that the right posts get to the right audience through strategic targeting.
You can learn more from your audience
The data pulled from social paid media allows you to learn a lot from your audience and the actions they take with your content. This information goes beyond the best time of day to post, or the number of clicks your link had. You can look at the devices they were using, the number of landing page views, whether it resulted in a Page follow. Paid media allows you to carry out tests to further understand what messages work best for different audiences, whether they are more receptive to video content or stills, what calls-to-action drive the best performance, and much more.
You can track traffic to your website
If you have implemented a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/business/learn/facebook-ads-pixel">Facebook pixel</a> and <a href="https://business.twitter.com/en/help/campaign-measurement-and-analytics/conversion-tracking-for-websites.html">Twitter tracking</a> onto your website (a small piece of code that lets you track clicks through to your website), you will be able to report how your social media content is driving traffic to your website. If you get very technical, you can also report on whether this converts into a donation or sign up – which is great for measuring ROI and impact. This will help you to report more meaningfully on the impact social media has on supporting your organization&#8217;s overall goals. With pixel tracking, you are also able to create audiences for retargeting based on certain actions they take on your website. To learn more about this, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/business/help/164749007013531?id=401668390442328">here&#8217;s a guide on creating Lookalike audiences</a>.
Increasing engagement on your page through paid should also help with organic reach
If you are continuously increasing the engagement rate of your content by reaching the right people with strategic paid media targeting, you are essentially increasing the overall engagement with your page, and therefore (technically), you should see an increase in your organic reach as a result. As we mentioned, organic reach is not dead, you just need to pay a little more attention to what your audience wants to see from you to get that engagement rate up!
Paid media works in real-time
Unlike other advertising platforms, social paid media is real-time, so if something is working really well, you can put more budget behind it. At the same time, if something just really isn&#8217;t working, and it is far too expensive, you can turn it off straight away. You pay for what you get, and you don&#8217;t have to commit to the full budget if your learnings tell you it&#8217;s not driving the results you need. This is extremely useful if your budgets are limited.
<h2>Budget tips</h2>
As an agency, we are often asked what our recommended paid budget is for social media campaigns. Our answer to that will always be the same: how long is a piece of string? Just kidding, it&#8217;s actually — what are your goals?
In order to work out what budget you need, you should first understand what it is you are trying to achieve and work backward from there. You&#8217;ll be pleased to hear that you don&#8217;t need to have a huge budget to start increasing your reach or engagement rates. By this, we mean you can put as little as $15 on a post, and you should start to see a lift.
We understand that budgets can be limited, and more often than not, you&#8217;re expected to deliver a lot with very little. So, we&#8217;ve put together our top tips for a successful paid media strategy on a budget.
Understand your goals (objectives)
As with any strategy, understanding what you are trying to achieve is the first step. If you are trying to increase video views, make sure you select video views as your paid objective. If you are trying to drive traffic to your website, make sure you select traffic as your objective. Social media can do a lot for your organization, but when budgets are tight, you need to prioritize your goals.
Consider your calls-to-action
As with any ask, making your call-to-action clear and concise will drive better results. If you are asking your community to watch a video and share and visit your website, the likelihood of them taking any of these actions decreases dramatically. Make one ask per post and make it clear to your audience what you would like them to do.
Consider if you have had interaction with your audience before
Most of us wouldn&#8217;t walk up to a stranger in the street and ask them a favor. You should think about your paid media activity in the same way. With paid media, you are reaching a person&#8217;s newsfeed because you have paid to be there, not because they have asked you to be there (that is unless you are targeting your followers).
Therefore, this could be the first time you have interacted with this audience. Think about how you would approach this in person — introduce your organization, tell them a little bit about who you are, and why they should pay attention. Make sure your content is eye-catching, engaging, and gets your message across quickly.
Post with a purpose
If your content isn&#8217;t relevant for your audience, paid media will not be able to make it a success. Ensure that every post has a purpose and that your audience can relate to it – think quality over quantity. Make sure that your content follows best practice; that your tone of voice is on brand, your copy is short, and your message is clear.
Make sure your assets are fit-for-purpose (social-first)
Make sure the asset you are using in your post is in the correct dimensions for the platform (Facebook, Twitter, <a href="/article/what-to-know-advertising-linkedin/">LinkedIn</a>., etc.) and ad format (Video, Carousel, Instant Experience, etc.) Our sister company, Lightful, has a great article on <a href="https://www.lightful.com/blog/social-media/social-media-image-sizes-2020-guide-to-all-social-media-platforms/">image guidelines for social media platforms</a>.
Don&#8217;t be afraid to test
Test, test, optimize, and test again — trust us when we say this is the way to get more for your money. Don&#8217;t be afraid to try new objectives, new formats, new copy, new creative, and new audiences. You&#8217;ll get to know your audience better and to understand what mobilizes them to take action. This will ultimately drive lower cost-per-action, meaning more results and therefore stretch your budgets further.
And it&#8217;s ok if you mess up
The best way to succeed in paid media is to test, test, and test some more. It&#8217;s ok if you don&#8217;t get it right the first time. The second time you try it, results will be slightly better, and by the fifth time, you&#8217;ll be well on your way to being an expert. Remember, it&#8217;s not always the numbers the count – it&#8217;s the learning that you get along the way.
So, in summary, there are lots of opportunities with paid media, and you don&#8217;t need bottomless pockets to see success — from easily (and cheaply) increasing your reach and engagement to enhanced reporting, understanding your audience better, and having greater transparency on your social media ROI.
Don&#8217;t be afraid of it; start with small budgets to test the opportunities and continuously learn from the performance.
&nbsp;
Want to learn more about digital advertising on a budget? Enroll in our week-long online course, P<a href="/course/pay-to-play-digital-advertising-to-drive-impact/">ay-to-Play: Digital Advertising to Drive Impact</a>. NTEN members always save 50% on all courses.

Letter titles on a white background spelling, "DIGITAL MARKETING." A keyboard and phone peek out of opposite corners.

Paid Social on A Budget

As more nonprofit employees work from home, scammers can seize this time of crisis to manipulate your technology to target your donors and your team.
With the COVID-19 crisis putting tremendous pressure on nonprofits to adapt and respond across multiple fronts – and fast – now is not the time to tackle complex and expensive technical rollouts. However, from team use of security settings to strategic switches, from analog to digital processes, to heightened vigilance when sending and receiving email, there are many opportunities for nonprofits to close the worst of the security gaps.
The best safeguards against a cyberattack lie at the intersection of your technology and your team. All efforts should start with educating all staff members about potential risks, creating shared ownership of both the problems and the solutions.
Here are a few ways to prevent or foil cyberattacks proactively—as a team. As Stanford University nonprofit data security expert Lucy Bernholz says: “Tools matter. People matter more.”
Urge teams to redouble their email vigilance — both sending and receiving.
When receiving email, caution is always warranted, especially with messages from unknown or unexpected sources. Common ploys include relying on fear-inducing subject lines — think “New Coronavirus Cases Confirmed in Your City” — from sources claiming to be reputable government agencies. Emails asking for “urgent donations” of any kind, which may include detailed wire instructions, are also highly suspect. But even benign requests for the recipient to click a link or share detailed information should always be viewed with caution.
Employees should also use caution when sending an email, whether to internal or external audiences. Some sites purporting to provide COVID-19 news updates can contain malware and adware. When possible, it’s better not to attach documents to external emails, as this is a common phishing ploy. Instead, your employees can direct recipients to trusted login portals to obtain information.
Take stock of the protections offered by your digital tools, and use them as a team.
The shift to working from home means many organizations are considering shifts to digital tools to help with day-to-day necessities, like tracking grants or donor activity.
If you haven’t already, it’s worth considering where your organization can switch to all-digital: How about replacing check handling with electronic funds transfer? Or leveraging grant tracking tools instead of spreadsheets? Tools such as Quicken, Salesforce, Zoom, or Skype are just some of the options in this space, and good examples of where to start.
Then, consider how your new and existing digital toolsets protect your organization’s data. Can the team quickly place hands on the organization’s existing vendor contracts to review terms of use? Is the entire team using the latest version of the tool itself? Are there administrative defaults that can be imposed to increase protective integrity?
These tools typically provide protective capabilities such as data encryption, workflow, and usage tracking. One great first step to creating a team culture with a secure mindset: host a meeting where your team navigates together to the security features already existing on your digital tools — then switch them on as a group.
Protect your financial transactions, and keep a close eye on any money movement.
Going with digital options for financial activities requires extra vigilance. Any money movement should be guarded by layers of security, like multi-factor authentication or donor validation. To activate these options, just ask your financial institution and check in with the makers of any of your digital fundraising tools.
For day-to-day monitoring, consider signing up for digital statements from your financial institution. Set aside extra time for monitoring those statements for suspicious activity. If your institution offers instant notifications on account activity, even better.
Know where your organization’s data is stored and who has access.
Organizations often assume that anything to do with data storage and access is relegated to “the tech team.” This is not the case. Anyone within an organization can help ferret out weaknesses in data stores and access points.
Anyone on your team can start by looking at the information most often referenced when engaging with donors — names, donation history, addresses, email, and more. From there, they can ask some basic questions — the same questions you ask yourself at home when thinking about your bank transactions:
<ul>
<li>Where is this information stored?</li>
<li>Which vendors am I trusting to keep this information safe?</li>
<li>How might untrusted entities obtain access to this data?</li>
<li>How could they manipulate existing donor relationships or processes?</li>
</ul>
It may feel overwhelming to read this right now, with so many needs requiring fast action by your organization to help the world during an unprecedented time of crisis. However, the team energy and trust needed to build and maintain a secure mindset may be closer than you think. When your goal is to protect the integrity of your nonprofit’s mission and ability to help, you will often find your team ready to step up so you can all focus on your primary mission: helping the world.
For more assistance, <a href="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Four-Things-You-Can-Do-To-Protect-Against-Cyber-Threats_Fidelity-Charitable.pdf">check out our Cybersecurity Guidance for NPOs</a>.

Illustration of a web connected by padlocks against a blurred blue background of people and buildings

Four things you need to know to protect against cyber threats

A lot has happened this quarter at NTEN. Obviously, COVID-19 has changed how we live our lives, both personally and professionally. The world has turned its collective life upside down to accommodate and combat this unforeseen global threat. As we enter into a new spring season filled with change and transition, NTEN recognizes that this pandemic has sadly highlighted and reinforced why diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work is vitally important to not only our sector but the global community.
While how we work and connect with one another has definitely changed, our commitment to DEI has not. I&#8217;m writing today with the latest update in our commitment to regularly share with the community about work, changes, and <a href="/about-nten/equity-commitment/">actions taken as a team towards our commitment</a>.
<a href="https://word.nten.org/article/update-to-the-community-on-ntens-dei-work/">Since our last update to the community</a>, we expanded the group of folks supporting accountability of this work as well as made changes in programs. Here&#8217;s a recap of some of our recent work:
<ul>
<li>DEI spans all areas of our organization, and we made some important updates to our Employee Handbook last year to implement equitable practices and policies for staff. (<a href="/about-nten/working-at-nten/">Our staff benefits are public on our website</a>.)
<ul>
<li>Bereavement Leave — Allowing for an extended family definition for the policy as well as allowing for bereavement leave to include miscarriage, so staff are not forced to use PTO for the care necessary in these circumstances.</li>
<li>Payroll Advances — Expanding our policy to provide a template process for the requests and management oversight, so it is used consistently.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>To provide a similar level of focus on DEI outside of staff, we created a community committee comprised of community members as well as a standing DEI committee on the board, named in the bylaws. We wanted to make sure that the work of DEI was existing across all levels of the organization. Recommendations and ideas from any of the three committees can be directed to the others for review, helping limit the impact of hierarchy and access issues in this work.</li>
<li>We did a full review of the policies stated in our Commitment to Equity. This included staff DEI taskforce review, as well as review and feedback from the community and board committees. We identified changes needed to some of the policies to make them clearer and provide more guidance on what we hope to evaluate. For example, in many policies, we said that we&#8217;d review annually, and now have committed to the mechanism and steps for what that review entails. We will be making the changes identified and starting on the evaluations in the coming quarter.</li>
<li>We worked with the DEI committees of staff, board, and community to develop and define what an equitable definition of quorum was for the board of directors. This change was to ensure that all voices and committees on the board are heard and given the opportunity to be part of decision making. The new quorum definition in NTEN&#8217;s bylaws specifies 75% of the board with at least one member from each committee present.</li>
<li>We worked with the DEI committees of staff, board, and community to shape and create a process to check-in with, and review the work, strengths, and areas of growth for board members that are inclusive of DEI commitments and personal work.</li>
<li>The Board recruitment process for new board members was changed in the fall, and the board DEI committee is working with the governance committee to ensure it is well documented and understood by all board members and staff.</li>
<li>To better connect the board and staff, and to support more inclusive strategic conversations, the board adopted a meeting schedule that combines the fall board meeting with the fall staff planning meetings. This is an excellent opportunity for us to work together collectively on NTEN goals and projects.</li>
<li>The intersection of DEI and our Digital Inclusion Fellowship has never been more important, and the Fellows in our fifth cohort just concluded their year addressing digital equity in their communities. The next cohort will be announced soon.</li>
<li>The Digital Equity Certificate is now officially underway. This is our second professional certificate and is a direct outgrowth of the goal to make the training associated with our Digital Inclusion Fellowship more accessible to nonprofit staff outside of the fellowship.</li>
<li>The intersection of DEI and <a href="/about-nten/values-and-beliefs/">our core belief that the internet needs to be available and accessible to all</a> continues to fuel our leadership of the SaveDotOrg.org campaign, urging ICANN to stop the sale of the .Org top-level domain to private equity. If you haven&#8217;t yet signed on to the campaign, you are invited to join as an individual or add your organization to the list.</li>
<li>We are thrilled to have live captioning on all of our events now. NTEN understands the need to make all of our content as accessible as possible, and we are happy to have found solutions that enable captioning live and across our various online event platforms.</li>
<li>Lastly, Amy and I have been asked to share feedback and experiences with many organizations in the community looking for support into how they may start implementing DEI work in their culture and technology practices. It has been great to hear from these folks about the progress they&#8217;ve helped push forward in their own organization.</li>
</ul>
We recognize that this is an incredibly uncertain time for the community and for those of us who are new to working at home and have the privilege of having a flexible job during this crisis. Despite that privilege, the number of transitions can be quite overwhelming. Please take more than enough time for yourself in whatever form that may look like.
There is no &#8220;normal&#8221; or &#8220;right&#8221; way to cope with something of this magnitude. The systems we are all impacted by — capitalism and white supremacy, especially — might make you believe that the grief or discomfort you&#8217;re feeling is not normal. It is. Of course we are not going to be productivity machines during a global emergency. Amy said it best recently when referring to the range of emotions and feelings everyone might be feeling regarding their work, &#8220;Productivity is a tool of capitalism, of white supremacy, and the patriarchy.&#8221; Please take care of and be kind to yourselves and those close to you.

Blue paper torn back in the middle to reveal the word "Update."

An update on NTEN’s DEI work

Donor retention is a pervasive issue in the world of nonprofit fundraising. Just last year, <a href="http://afpfep.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018-Fundraising-Effectiveness-Survey-Report.pdf">the Fundraising Effectiveness Project’s yearly study</a> revealed a 45% overall donor retention rate. This means that while 45% of donors give again in the following year, there is also another 55% that doesn’t!
In this post, we’ll examine a tool you’re probably already working with — your donation software — and how you can use it to retain donors. Whether <a href="/article/could-dominos-pizza-change-how-you-design-your-website/">addressing accessibility concerns</a> or refining your payment processing, there are many considerations when it comes to optimizing your online giving page to boost donor experience.
We’ll explore optimizing your giving form to better retain donors with the following key strategies:
<ol>
<li>Make your page easily discoverable and shareable.</li>
<li>Accept a variety of giving methods.</li>
<li>Use donor data to your advantage.</li>
<li>Inform donors about matching gift opportunities.</li>
<li>Remember, content is king.</li>
</ol>
Follow along as we explore <a href="https://blog.donately.com/donation-page-best-practices/">5 donation page best practices</a> that will help your donor retention numbers.
<h2>Make your page easily discoverable and shareable</h2>
One of the biggest draws of an online donation page is the ease with which donors are now able to give. At any time, from any place, they’re now able to give to your cause with the click of a button. However, this convenience is moot if it’s difficult to find your page, to begin with.
From prominently displaying a link to your online giving form directly on your website’s homepage to prioritizing the mobile-friendliness of your website and giving page, you want to make your digital giving processes as easy to locate (and navigate!) as possible.
Next, look at the shareability of your page. Shareability can be a gamechanger for your fundraising, both in allowing donors to show off their contribution, and in<a href="/article/how-to-create-lasting-relationships-with-your-advocates-online/"> introducing you to new donors</a> you may not have reached otherwise.
Ultimately, you want donors to associate positive feelings with giving to your cause, so they’ll return to do so again. An easily discoverable and shareable page contributes to this.
<h2>Accept a variety of giving methods</h2>
Further enforce this idea that giving to your organization provides a positive experience by accepting a wide variety of payment types through your online giving tool.
Just as donors should be able to give through your online form via any device, they should also be able to do so using whichever type of digital giving process they prefer. This includes credit/debit cards, direct deposit/ACH payments, and even a secure payment processor such as PayPal.
Be mindful of giving types when choosing your donation software, as this isn’t something you’ll likely have the power to change if your donation software doesn’t offer a particular payment processing method.
The logistics behind these processes can be confusing, so <a href="https://www.soapboxengage.com/blog/1808-nonprofit-payment-processing">reference this article on nonprofit payment processing</a> if you need more clarification.
<h2>Use donor data to your advantage</h2>
Your donor data provides valuable insights on how much donors are giving and why. Choose an online donation tool that offers integrations with your CRM and see what insights that partnership offers.
There are two ways you can use this data to retain donors:
<ol>
<li>Send quarterly or bi-annual reports to donors, showing a breakdown of the donations you received and what they benefitted. Seeing their impact on paper can be very motivating for donors!</li>
<li>Create customized suggested gift amount buttons on your giving form reflecting popular donation amounts, so donors can give with the click of a button.</li>
</ol>
<a href="https://blog.donately.com/online-donation-tools/">Not only can your digital donation tools collect gifts</a>, but they can also provide valuable information that you can use in your quest to retain donors.
Bonus! <a href="/article/how-to-collect-donor-data-without-being-annoying/">Include a lead capture form on your thank-you page</a> to gather further information from donors regarding how they found you cause and what motivated them to give.
<h2>Inform donors about matching gift opportunities</h2>
One look at these <a href="https://doublethedonation.com/tips/matching-grant-resources/matching-gift-statistics/">matching gift statistics provided by Double the Donation</a> shows that matching gift programs are a serious force for social good. For example, 84% of donors said they’re more likely to donate if a matching gift program is in place, and 1 in 3 said they’re likely to donate more if their gift is being matched as well!
Matching gift programs allow your nonprofit to collect twice the donation without having to solicit any more from the donor. This occurs when an employer pledges to match the gifts made by their employees to specific nonprofit organizations, so your organization receives two donations for the price of one.
Inform donors of the matching gift process and the potential impact their donation can have. Donors are more likely to return (and give more initially) if they’re aware of the positive effect they can have on your organization, and matching gifts are the perfect way to illustrate that.
<h2>Remember, content is king</h2>
One thing that’s never going to change is that content is king when encouraging donors to give to your cause. The easiest way to retain donors is by demonstrating the impact of their donations on your organization’s work.
Throughout your website, and especially on your online donation page, <a href="/article/want-compelling-stories-make-friends-with-the-people-on-your-front-line/">display compelling stories</a> of both the people doing the work for your cause and those benefiting from it.
If you check out these <a href="https://blog.donately.com/best-online-fundraising-campaigns/">successful online fundraising campaigns highlighted by Donately</a>, you’ll notice they all have two things in common: they’re using their online fundraising page to its fullest, and they’re providing gripping stories to encourage donors to give.
Donors will be more motivated to return to your organization if they feel they’re actually making a difference. The easiest way to convince them of this is to clearly display this impact on your giving page and website.
<hr />
Donor retention is a problem in the nonprofit world, with a low percentage of donors returning to causes they gave to in the previous year.
Retaining a donor is significantly more efficient than attracting a new one, so you want to maintain as many donor relationships as possible. Luckily, you can use a tool you’re probably already utilizing to do so—your donation software!
With the above tips, you’ll optimize your donation software in a way that’s attractive to repeat donors.

"DONATE" appears in white on a blue phone screen. An index finger hovers above the phone.

Use Your Donation Software to Retain Donors: Top 5 Tips

The post originally appeared in the March issue of Connect, NTEN&#8217;s monthly e-newsletter.
Last month, I opened my introduction to this newsletter by writing, &#8220;We all knew that 2020 would be a tough year for many reasons, but here we are at the end of February, and it feels like we&#8217;ve been at it for six months already. Who else is tired?&#8221;
Well, I miss last month when weariness was the worst problem at hand.
In the weeks since I wrote that, the world has seemingly shrunk. Or perhaps we have simply become aware of how small it always was. COVID-19 has affected every aspect of life, but we are still at the start of this pandemic.
Most of us in the U.S. and Canada went from our typical day-to-day to quarantine, with organizations having to transform to virtual teams quite literally overnight. Nonprofits have had to make incredibly difficult decisions when government leaders were not stepping in to lead.
We are hearing from nonprofit staff of all sizes and types of organizations that their teams are filled with panic, anxiety, and fear. It&#8217;s not without reason. Organizations are trying to figure out how to maintain operations while continuing to serve communities who share their worries.
Meanwhile, it seems every technology company out there has promoted offers, resources, or special discounts for nonprofits who are trying to find ways that staff can shift to working from home and delivering programs digitally.
I&#8217;m here today to remind you that technology is not going to save us. That may surprise you coming from the people who organize the biggest nonprofit technology conference around. But technology has never been the center of our work. The truth is, technology isn&#8217;t going to save our organizations, our budgets, our events, our programs, or our communities.
My primary rule of change management and technology planning is this: technology is never first. Technology is last. And now, more than ever, I want organizations to remember this.
So what&#8217;s first? People. Always, first and foremost, people.
I know things are scary right now. I know because I&#8217;m also scared. But we are less afraid when we can be together and can work together, even if it is over the phone or a video. Before you do anything else, center your people. Prioritize your staff. Without your staff, it doesn&#8217;t matter what your mission is because it doesn&#8217;t have anyone to carry it forward. Gather them, talk to them, be honest with them, create space for solution finding from them, and be together in the muckiness for a while. Whether you are facing hard decisions about having to cut hours, cut programs, or otherwise change plans, don&#8217;t make those hard decisions alone. Even if it feels like the right thing to do as the leader, manager, or project owner. Center your staff and do as much as you can together.
Then, when you are ready, move to process. Are there ways of working, ways of engaging your community, ways of asking for help that are doable with your capacity, and the completely new settings you&#8217;re in? Where can you eliminate processes that aren&#8217;t serving you now? If ever there was an opportunity to get rid of white dominant culture in your organization, this is it! There&#8217;s no need for a focus on written documents, or perfection, or anything else.
Only then, after you&#8217;ve focused on your people and your processes, should you add in new technologies. If you do this first, you won&#8217;t have the appropriate goals or ideas in view. And if you do add in new technologies, look for opportunities to give staff the power to identify what they need and decentralize a traditional hierarchy of decision making. You aren&#8217;t in one office anymore — if you even ever were — and there&#8217;s truly no way to know what each of your staff may be feeling or experiencing or needing as they work from home in very different settings, with very different supports and comforts around them.
I know the world is going to be different on the other side of this. I know that our sector will be hugely impacted in many ways. Before any of us think that technology is here to save us, let&#8217;s focus on our people first and adopt new technology last.

Reminder written on a chalkboard and underlined

Technology will not save us

If you’re in communications, you’ve been hearing about content strategy for years now. <a href="https://www.mightycitizen.com/insights/tools-and-training/how-to-write-effective-web-copy">How to write it</a>, structure it, optimize it, and <a href="https://www.mightycitizen.com/insights/articles/how-to-make-your-content-work-harder-for-you">make it work harder for you</a>.
“Create more content!”
“Think <a href="/article/longform-content-not/">long-form</a> and short-form!”
“<a href="/article/how-to-tell-compelling-stories-while-avoiding-exploitation/">Tell stories</a> to foster authentic connections!”
You get it. Lots of exclamation points! It may not feel this way, but in reality, content strategy is so last decade. The new movement in content is content governance — and you should welcome it with open arms.
What is Content Governance?
Simply put, it’s a collection of rules for publishing. Not only that, but it also identifies how you maintain and eventually archive your content. It involves a few different elements, like an editorial calendar, workflows, a content audit, style guides, and more. Together, these elements make up a content governance plan.
<a href="https://www.mightycitizen.com/insights/articles/what-is-content-governance-and-why-does-it-matter">Content governance is a culture shift</a>. It puts importance on the structure and governance of the content your team is working so hard to create. And you are creating content. <a href="https://blog.microfocus.com/how-much-data-is-created-on-the-internet-each-day/">According to Micro Focus</a>, there are now over 4.4 billion internet users — up 83% in just five years! Between those users, there are:
<ul>
<li>1.2 million new data-producing social media users every day</li>
<li>4 million hours of content uploaded to YouTube every day</li>
<li>Over 3.5 billion Google searches conducted every minute</li>
<li>293 million emails sent every day</li>
</ul>
Think about your organization’s content. If you’re like most, you have an abundance of content at this point and need some way to evaluate it, guide it, maintain it, and archive it. If you’ve ever launched a big, beautiful new website, you know how hard it is. But launching it is far easier than keeping it big and beautiful. That’s why the idea of content management is in trend. It’s a necessary process if you want to continue providing value.
To get started with content governance, you need to conduct these four activities:
Foster a Culture of Content
So much of creating and maintaining content is wrapped into a culture of content. One where content isn’t just created for the sake of creation, but one where content is created strategically with goals in mind. This starts at the top.
Some things to know upfront about content governance:
It will be messy at times.
Implementing a governance component into your content strategy isn’t a walk in the park. Being forced to evaluate and break down your content processes to identify a more efficient system can be taxing. Expect that going in.
Buy-in to content governance should start as high up on the organizational chart as possible.
Content governance involves the whole content team. The idea of content management isn’t a hard sell when your case includes consistent messaging, optimized content lifecycle, and increased online traffic. When everyone is executing on their designated roles, it creates a well-oiled machine. But everyone has to be on the same page, and it has to be a top priority.
Your organization will need to increase its investment in people to do the work.
The efficacy of your content will always come down to the content team that produces and manages it. <a href="https://www.mightycitizen.com/insights/articles/who-should-be-on-your-content-squad">There are three vital roles for every content team</a>: a managing editor, a writer, and a designer.
Your managing editor is at the helm, armed with your style guide. They run point on every piece of content and manage content creation from inception to publication. A managing editor moves the needle by connecting content creators with subject matter experts, keeping the organization’s content strategy top of mind.
Your writer is curious, flexible, and can take edits in stride. It’s not enough to hire a technically good writer. You need someone who can tell a story about your organization. You’re looking for someone who can bring your content to life and make people want to read it.
Then, there’s your designer. Having a designer on the team helps extend what you’re able to do with your content, which is important considering that <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=587201">65% of people are visual learners</a>. Design is not always a high priority for budgeting (and not having a designer won’t break you), but giving your organization a unique visual identity is ideal.
Culture must be reinforced through proper onboarding and regular training.
There’s just no point in putting in the time, effort, and other resources to create a content governance plan if every fiber of your organization isn’t drenched in it. Sure, your content creator may know the plan like the back of their hand, but what about those involved in other aspects of content production? The rules, workflows, and policies you set up must be transparent and easy to access. Make sure your content management policies are communicated and accessible to everyone on your team. It should be a commonly-referenced document.
In a way, content governance is branding. It’s a curated message that you support with every piece of content you publish, all supporting your content strategy. You will only benefit from having everyone in-the-know.
Conduct a Content Audit
A content audit is an accounting and analysis of content, usually in the form of a spreadsheet containing specific metrics and evaluations. It provides the current landscape of your content and can make your life much easier. Not only will it give you a strategic view of your content, but it will significantly improve the conversations your organization has around your content. The purpose of a content audit is simply to have eyes on where your content is and what your content is doing. It helps you evaluate how your content is performing so you can tweak it, prioritize it, or start archiving it.
Your website is your biggest repository of content that often ties other content types together in an integrated way. Having a spreadsheet of your web content is almost like looking at the circulatory system. You can see the forest from the trees, which helps inform your content strategy as a whole.
Build Your Editorial Calendar
Everything you publish should be part of a greater content strategy — from your articles, webinars, and downloads down to your tweets, PDFs, and infographics.
An editorial calendar is often an Excel spreadsheet that keeps you on top of important dates and deadlines so you can drive your content marketing goals. It’ll help you plan digital marketing and events. It can help you structure your social media marketing. Really, it can organize any type of content that your organization is publishing (or wants to publish).
Here are a few best practices for maintaining your editorial calendar:
<ul>
<li>Guard the brand: not every content suggestion must be implemented, especially if it doesn’t fit your mission or your brand.</li>
<li>Make it your own: <a href="https://www.mightycitizen.com/insights/tools-and-training/editorial-content-calendar-template">Our editorial calendar template</a> is a guide to get you started, but there are lots of additional content you can add to make it uniquely yours. Maybe you want to add a column that lists the audience for each piece of content or what the main call to action should be.</li>
<li>Whatever you do, always update the calendar: One person should be in charge of the calendar, and the upkeep of the calendar should be in their job description. They must set aside time to keep it updated.</li>
</ul>
Outline a Content Governance Plan
Your content governance model is laid out via a content governance plan. It guides how your content will be created, published, maintained, and archived. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all template for a content governance plan because the needs between organizations vary widely, but these sections are typically included:
<ul>
<li>Executive Introduction: Shares high-level information for those who are not familiar with the plan.</li>
<li>Standards &amp; Policies: Outlines the policies your content will adhere to, typically includes your content style guide, privacy and security policies, and any accessibility guidelines.</li>
<li>Governance Structure &amp; Rules: Establishes who sits on your governance committee as well as their roles and responsibilities.</li>
<li>Workflows: Determines the workflows by which content is requested, produced, approved, and published. It outlines how content moves through the organization.</li>
<li>Templates &amp; Architectural Guidelines: Outlines standards for how content is entered into the CMS. For example, a list of available page layouts, standards around what page layouts are used, etc.</li>
<li>Content Evaluation &amp; Refresh: Lays out how content is tracked and how it is analyzed and updated. Typically includes your content audit and editorial calendar.</li>
<li>Training: Establishes how and when staff will be trained as well as ongoing training.</li>
</ul>
<a href="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Mighty-Citizen-Governance-Plan.jpg"><img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-150294 img-responsive" src="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Mighty-Citizen-Governance-Plan-1024x230.jpg" alt="A screenshot of five documents highlighting different aspects of content governance." width="640" height="144" srcset="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Mighty-Citizen-Governance-Plan-1024x230.jpg 1024w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Mighty-Citizen-Governance-Plan-300x68.jpg 300w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Mighty-Citizen-Governance-Plan-768x173.jpg 768w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Mighty-Citizen-Governance-Plan-800x180.jpg 800w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Mighty-Citizen-Governance-Plan.jpg 1600w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></a>
Content governance isn’t easy, but it’s worth it to start surfacing better, accurate, and useful content. The way you manage your content is just as important as the content itself and done wisely and intentionally, it will set you apart.

"CONTENT" spelled out in colorful letter magnets

The key elements of a content governance model

As an organization that has had virtual teams for 12 years, NTEN is often asked how we keep staff connected, maintain high communication, and support collaboration across time zones and locations. Now that organizations are forced to move to a virtual set up, we&#8217;re fielding even more of those questions. My number one recommendation: a daily stand up meeting.
I know, I know. Before you complain that this is &#8220;one more meeting,&#8221; hear me out because this one short meeting may let you cancel a few of the others.
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand-up_meeting">The &#8220;stand up meeting&#8221; is not new and wasn&#8217;t created specifically for virtual teams</a>. The ableist name comes from the idea that the meeting would be guaranteed to remain fast if everyone had to stand. Call it whatever you want. This is a full team daily check-in. There are several ways you can adapt it to your organization or team, but here&#8217;s how we do it at NTEN.
<h2>Every day, every person</h2>
Unless someone is on vacation, out sick, or otherwise unable to join — they are presenting at a conference, hosting an event, or so on — the expectation is that wherever you are in the world, everyone dials in together. This ensures that everyone in our organization sees each other at least once a day. For a staff that is distributed and has smaller teams, it&#8217;s important to me that folks see each other across the organization, hear what others are working on, and can ask for help beyond their own team.
We hold these meetings for a few important reasons:
<ol>
<li>Regardless of what team you are on or what priorities may be on your list, everyone has a chance to hear the biggest challenges and priorities for the organization every day.</li>
<li>Priorities, support, and decisions may need to change but can do so with all staff being part of the process and allowing us to adapt nimbly as a full organization.</li>
<li>Folks with capacity and flexibility in their day can support other staff who need help on timely deadlines or priorities.</li>
</ol>
I think it is difficult for staff to make assumptions about who might be interested in something they are working on, know who would have the best insights, or even gauge when best to ask for help if there aren&#8217;t explicit opportunities for folks to make those requests. A daily meeting like this allows staff to share what they are working on and others to indicate their interest, or for folks to ask for help and others to offer support.
<h2>Keep it focused</h2>
This is not an open agenda staff meeting. And this isn&#8217;t just for casual chit chat. Of course, keeping space for more personal comments, jokes, and updates on our lives is a meaningful way to contribute to a close-knit culture and build relationships across the staff. It just isn&#8217;t the focus of the meeting. We have the following guidelines for what folks should say during the meeting:
<ul>
<li>BE SPECIFIC!</li>
<li>No calendar repeating</li>
<li>&#8220;I need help with __.&#8221;</li>
<li>Your deadlines</li>
<li>Progress and/or roadblocks</li>
<li>What is your capacity?</li>
</ul>
<a href="/about-nten/staff/">With 15 staff, our daily meeting takes between 10-20 minutes</a>. It often includes staff volunteering to take the lead on something that before the meeting wasn&#8217;t on their list or a few staff shifting priorities to match organizational needs. It almost always includes laughter, jokes, and personal notes as folks share what&#8217;s going on in their lives.
Ultimately, this one quick meeting represents and reinforces so much of our culture as a team. And it allows us to operate in relationship to each other and be agile to meet the needs of our community.
As you look for ways to stay connected across your team, consider a daily meeting that gets everyone united.

An open spiral-bound pad with "Today" written on it, followed by a blank list of four items.

The most important meeting of my day, every day

We&#8217;ve heard from community members making the sudden shift to remote working that they are trying to quickly navigate a lot of unknowns. For many, it feels overwhelming to review a massive list of tools they could possibly adopt during this time. As always, though, it&#8217;s crucial to remember the context when deciding upon using a new tool, especially if it is only to help you through what will hopefully be a temporary period.
With this in mind, here&#8217;s a post examining the various strategies of using a few suggested tools.
<h2>Tactics &amp; Tools</h2>
<h3>Instant Messaging/Chat</h3>
One of the first things you miss transitioning to remote is all those impromptu interactions you have when you share a physical space. Those questions, comments, and nonverbal exchanges help build relationships with your coworkers. Chat tools (individual or group) are a great way to allow for those interactions in digital space while keeping them out of other spaces such as email and project management tools. There&#8217;s nothing worse than training your team to ignore internal emails in general because they&#8217;re often filled with social content. That&#8217;s how important communications get missed.
<a href="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Instant-Message-Example.gif"><img loading="lazy" class="img-responsive aligncenter wp-image-150216 size-full" src="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Instant-Message-Example.gif" alt="Example of a chat between Ash and Jeremy using a GIF from the animated Adams Family movie." width="720" height="368" /></a>
Why Helpful: Quick interactions help fill those gaps between distributed teams to keep work moving forward, offer support, and interject a more personal feel into digital communications.
A Few Tools: <a href="https://slack.com/">Slack</a>, <a href="https://products.office.com/en-US/microsoft-teams/group-chat-software">Microsoft Teams</a>, <a href="https://flock.com/">Flock</a>
<h3>Screenshots</h3>
Screenshots are an easy way to visually show something in a quick, effective way. At it&#8217;s most basic, a screenshot is a static image of something on your machine. However, by adding a few additional elements, it can become a powerful way to communicate. Little additions such as an arrow to highlight something on a webpage or numbers to show a sequence of actions to work through a process can help clarify what needs to be done. Consider the following comparison.
To access the NTEN course, you will first need to login, then go to the Education tab in the navigation, select the Learning Dashboard item. From there, look for the button under &#8220;Access Your Courses.&#8221;
VS.
<a href="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Screenshot-Example.jpg"><img loading="lazy" class="img-responsive aligncenter wp-image-150217 size-large" src="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Screenshot-Example-1024x641.jpg" alt="A screenshot explaining how to access an NTEN course with sequential numbering and a big read arrow." width="640" height="401" srcset="https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Screenshot-Example-1024x641.jpg 1024w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Screenshot-Example-300x188.jpg 300w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Screenshot-Example-768x481.jpg 768w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Screenshot-Example-800x501.jpg 800w, https://word.nten.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Screenshot-Example.jpg 1504w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></a>
Why Helpful: As more of your communication passes via digital channels, it&#8217;s helpful to take a few minutes to ensure communications are complete. The time spent up front dramatically reduces the back and forth needed later to answer questions.
A Few Tools: Most machines have a basic free option already, <a href="https://www.techsmith.com/screen-capture.html">Snagit</a>, <a href="https://app.prntscr.com/en/index.html">Lightshot</a>
<h3>Screencasting</h3>
Screencasts are short videos of either just your screen or a combination of screen and webcam. As with most tools, the options range from very simple to complex, with a heavy focus on production efforts around editing and effects. If you&#8217;re new to this, cut yourself some slack and don&#8217;t try to get overly fancy. Any attempts made to communicate in better and more effective ways will be appreciated even if the finished product lacks an original soundtrack and Hollywood effects.
<div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 60.70826306913997%; height: 0;"><iframe style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;" src="https://www.loom.com/embed/a1bfde9179e0442ebf126e1e3b8cb37e" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>
&nbsp;
Why Helpful: Greater clarification if what you are trying to say or show moves between tabs, applications, or is more complex then what can be captured in a static image. The added bonus of being able to speak over the video adds that human element much of your digital communications may otherwise be missing. The combination of saying and showing also allows you to convey a lot of information quickly.
A Few Tools: <a href="https://www.loom.com/">Loom</a> (App and Browser), <a href="https://www.techsmith.com/screen-capture.html">Snagit</a> (App), <a href="https://www.screencastify.com/">Screencastify</a> (Browser)
<h3>Match The Message To The Channel</h3>
With a sudden increase in your reliance on digital tools to communicate across your team (including a few tools new to the mix), the importance of sharing the right message on the right channel will be critical.
Why Helpful: There are some general rules about what is a good fit for an email, instant message, group chat, etc. but what matters most is that your team is on the same page. Take the time to openly discuss what the expectations are and then hold each other to those agreed-upon terms. Action items sent through chat? Ask them to move it over to your project management tool.
<h3>Virtual Check-Ins (1:1)</h3>
Many of the same tools you might use for larger groups in a virtual meeting will also work for one-on-one calls. One thing that can be helpful though is recognizing that if your 1:1 video calls can happen in the same tool where your other direct communications occur, it can help it feel more integrated, rather then &#8220;another barrier&#8221; to making something a face-to-face call vs. a long chat message or email.
At NTEN, we do our meetings in Google Hangouts Meet. It&#8217;s automatically integrated with our calendars, which we use to remember we need to be in a meeting in the first place. But for 1:1 calls, we mainly use Slack video calls because we&#8217;re already in that tool, having the direct message conversation that preceded the need to jump into a full-on conversation.
Why Helpful: Taking time to ensure there are some face-to-face interactions will help keep your human connections alive. When folks share a physical space, it is nothing to stop by and ask a coworker a quick question rather than send a message. For virtual coworkers, it&#8217;s an easy trap to keep everything in messages and skip the video. In the end, the extra time it takes to jump into a video call is often made up for by eliminating the back and forth needed to answer follow-up questions that stem from a lengthy text-based conversation.
A Few Tools: <a href="https://gsuite.google.com/products/meet/">Google Hangouts Meet</a>, <a href="https://products.office.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/group-chat-software">Microsoft Teams</a>, <a href="https://www.skype.com/">Skype</a>, <a href="https://slack.com/">Slack</a>, <a href="https://zoom.us/">Zoom</a>
<h3>Password Sharing/Management</h3>
Granted, <a href="/article/the-basics-of-multi-factor-authentication-and-single-sign-on/">managing passwords in a secure way is something you should be considering no matter where you work</a>. However, during this particular period of adjustment, having a solution in place that allows you to share passwords across teams, between select individuals, etc. will be particularly helpful. You don&#8217;t want to be stuck without passwords when you cover various tasks that you might not normally do as coworkers adjust their schedules to take time off due to illness or to support others.
Why Helpful: Because time is vital to moving things forward, especially if you are working asynchronously. Not being able to log in somewhere because someone else changed the password, or you never had it in the first place, can bring project work to a grinding halt.
A Few Tools: <a href="https://www.lastpass.com/">LastPass</a>, <a href="https://1password.com/teams/">1Password Teams (ios)</a>, <a href="https://www.teampassword.com/">TeamPassword</a>
<h3>Project Management</h3>
This is perhaps the area I see the most potential risk for teams making a sudden and possibly short-term shift to remote teams during this time. The reality is if a significant shift to a remote and distributed team is only expected to be temporary (4–6 weeks), then I wouldn&#8217;t throw a new tool into the mix. It will only add confusion and frustration for your users during a time that will already be testing their limits. Instead, focus on how you can adapt and evolve the tools folks are already familiar with to be used robustly.
If it looks like your team really does need a new way to stay coordinated across tasks, then I suggest investing time into identifying what a project management tool could do for you.
Why Helpful: In general, the effective use of a project management tool can be a great way to improve transparency, accountability, and clarity as individuals and teams work through projects big and small.
A Few Tools: <a href="https://casual.pm/">Casual PM</a>, <a href="https://asana.com/">Asana</a>, <a href="https://monday.com/">Monday</a>, <a href="https://trello.com/">Trello</a>, <a href="https://basecamp.com/">Basecamp</a>
<h3>New Tool Adoption</h3>
<a href="/article/staff-feelings-nonprofit-technology/">Transitioning folks into new tools and ways of doing things isn&#8217;t always easy</a>, even under the best of conditions. When that change happens under forced and unexpected circumstances, it can be challenging. There are a couple things you can do to help yourself and the broader team make these adjustments more successfully. As you have likely seen, there is no shortage of tools out there, but just throwing tools at people rarely makes them feel more comfortable.
Dedicate time to understand how exactly a new tool works, ideally before selecting it. But when that isn&#8217;t an option, just pick one and go. Reinforce that learning how to use a new tool effectively is not time wasted. It&#8217;s a sort of mini-capacity building activity that will allow folks time to get up to speed quickly.
Agree on how you will use a new tool as a team. Most tools can do a lot more than you will ever need. Especially if it is a new tool or a shift in how your team has been working. Giving folks permission to only need to understand how to do a few specific things now as a first step can free them up from feeling anxious about not knowing how to make every feature in the new tool work.
If you have colleagues who are particularly comfortable learning new tech, put them in a sort of MVP role. They can jump in, figure out what is most useful for how your team needs to use the tool, and then share the distilled version to everyone else.
<h2>Self-Care</h2>
<h3>Work Space</h3>
Short-Term 
No one needs to tell you things are different during this time. Rushing out to buy new office furniture for what is an unknown amount of time or when many of us are feeling financial strains may not be realistic. However, if you are physically uncomfortable, you will not be able to do the vital work your community needs, either. Look for simple solutions using what&#8217;s already around you. Use that $10 cushion from the couch to turn a hard wooden chair into something more comfortable. A dog food bin can double as a part-time standing desk on top of your kitchen table. A cheap TV tray gives you a working surface while sitting on the couch. These are all things I&#8217;ve done, by the way. Allow yourself to get creative.
Long-Term 
If what you are looking at is a more long-term shift, then you will want to look at more sustainable solutions. This doesn&#8217;t have to mean moving to a new house so you can have an extra room to dedicate to an office. But you will want to think about a desk, second monitor, and small things that help you be at your best. You&#8217;ll also need to think about ways you can separate your work sphere from your personal sphere when they physically overlap. For me, I roll a small standing desk into a closet and physically shut the door on work.
<h3>Schedule</h3>
Short-Term 
There&#8217;s no need to pretend your work schedule is the same as usual, it&#8217;s just in your home now. The sooner you accept this and start identifying ways to still get work done while attending to the other essential needs in your life, the less stressful your new situation will feel. Maybe you work for a few hours before everyone else wakes up. Maybe lunches and breaks take longer as you are now also preparing meals for kids, or caring for others who are ill. Allow yourself the flexibility that is needed, and be sure to recognize and support these needs for others on your team.
This heightened overlap of spheres may bring each of us into the personal lives of our coworkers, and it might not be something that comes easily for everyone. Empathy for yourself and others is more important than ever.
Long-Term 
On a long-term basis, you will need to find a routine that works for both you and your organization. Specifically, what that looks like will depend on the particular context of those two elements unique to each situation. All those tips of dress for work, get up and move (often), and deliberately seek connection all still apply. They just need to be implemented more systematically.
<h3>Boundaries &amp; Expectations</h3>
Short-Term 
When you make a sudden shift to working from home, it&#8217;s clear that whomever you share your living space with has to also adjust to spending more time with you. Be it partners, kids, extended family members, or pets, this is likely new and challenging for everyone.
<a href="/course/how-to-find-nonprofit-work-life-balance/">Setting clear boundaries can help everyone understand how to be supportive of each other</a> and still interact to get needs met. Simple things like, &#8220;When the door is closed, it means I am on a call. When it is open, I can chat.&#8221; Or what your schedule is for the day. &#8220;I have a call for the next hour, but then after that am doing project work, so I can swap locations so you can do your call in the quiet space.&#8221; Don&#8217;t bother explaining to the pets. They&#8217;re more than okay with the change.
Long-Term 
Longer-term, this becomes easier as it actually becomes more of a norm than something unusual. However, helping friends and family understand the difference between &#8220;I am freelance and am totally able to drop everything in the middle of the day vs. I am remote and still work a set schedule,&#8221; can be helpful.
<h2>Managing Remotely</h2>
Short-Term 
There are three elements that I think can be helpful for folks suddenly managing others remotely to focus on: Support, Connection, and Communication.
Support in terms of making sure folks have what they need (devices, new tools, or increased flexibility) to continue being successful at their job. This doesn&#8217;t have to mean buying everyone a new computer, but you may need to invest in licenses for some new software or smaller things like that.
Connection in terms of being deliberately about giving time and attention to individuals. How many times a day would you usually have a quick in-person interaction in the office? I am not saying jump on a video chat just to make passing eye contact five times a day. But do take the time to make sure they are getting the right amount of human connection they need.
Communication in terms that folks want to know what is expected of them and what things are changing. Leaving space for conversation to flow both ways helps you understand your team&#8217;s changing needs.
Long-Term 
<a href="/course/foundations-for-successful-remote-and-distributed-teams/">If you&#8217;re making a permanent shift</a>, there is a wide range of tips and strategies you can use to effectively manage remote and distributed teams. These often require larger-scale changes in policy, organization culture, and other elements than this post can cover.
<h2>Open Office Hours</h2>
Looking for an opportunity to share a few of your own tips and tools or ask specific questions? <a href="/article/bring-your-questions-on-remote-working-to-our-next-open-office-hours/">Join us at one of our upcoming open office hours</a> to keep the conversation going. Drop by for the whole time or just a few minutes to get your questions answered.

An open spiral-bound pad with, "WORK FROM HOME" on the page. Around it is a keyboard, a plant, glasses, and a cup of coffee.

We’re all working from home. How do we do that effectively?

The coronavirus is putting unprecedented strain on our communities to move everything online, including college classes, our jobs, social dates with friends, and medical appointments. And while this is the go-to solution for many institutions, the reality is that around 60 million Americans continue to lack access to the internet. As many of our nonprofit programs and events move online, we need to be mindful of the effect of these transitions on our most vulnerable communities. For many of us, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/22/some-americans-dont-use-the-internet-who-are-they/">the most marginalized communities that we seek to serve are also those who are disproportionately affected by the digital divide</a>. For rural Americans, communities of color, individuals with disabilities, senior citizens, and many others, internet access, the devices to use it, and basic digital literacy training continue to be unattainable.
Before you move your programming online, there are several questions you should ask to ensure your approach is equitable and thoughtful:
<ul>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">What does internet access look like for the communities we serve? Who are we including or leaving out? Ideally, as part of your intake process, you’ve surveyed your community and understand what kind of access and skills folks have if you were to move programs online. If you don’t have this data available, a great tool to understand the level of connectivity in your community is <a href="https://www.pcrd.purdue.edu/signature-programs/digital-divide-index.php">the Digital Divide Index, produced by NTEN instructor Roberto Gallardo</a>. The <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/reports-research/maps/residential-fixed-internet-access-service-connections-per-1000-households-by-census-tract/">FCC also provides a mapping tool</a>, but with a slightly bigger learning curve. This can help you visualize who you may be including or leaving out by offering your programs online.</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">How can we make sure everyone has an opportunity to participate? If this question makes you realize that some of your community members won’t be able to access your online offers, it’s time to think of additional ways to include them. In this case, newer and more cutting edge isn’t always better! One option is to communicate with clients through a mass text message. This can be very cost-effective for organizations, easy to set up, accessible to those without smartphones, and avoids data cap issues. More traditional options to get out the word include flyers and snail mail. Find opportunities for people to respond using pen and paper to provide their information. You may also consider conference calls to share program information. They tend to be more accessible since they don’t require an internet connection. And this is a great time to lean on partnerships: collaborate with organizations that do lots of on-the-ground work, and can help you spread the word locally.</li>
<li style="padding-bottom: 16px;">Does our staff have the resources and training to move our programs online in an effective manner? Your staff is also part of your community, and it’s critical to know whether they have the internet access and training needed to run online programs. And resources, capacity, and training are only part of the puzzle. Many programs are built on personal relationships and the trust that comes with being face to face. Are you in a position to recreate that same experience in an online setting? Do you have enough of a trust reservoir to effectively bring these relationships and connections online?</li>
<li>What are our community’s current priorities, and how do we support them? None of us are immune from getting wrapped up in plans and timelines. Perhaps you were going to launch a program right now or celebrate the wrap up of another one. But does that REALLY need to happen now, or are you just trying to cling to some normalcy? This is the time to be more adaptive and responsive to your community than ever and to evaluate what is actually an urgent need. It’s challenging to have equitable processes when you are rushing, your communication is limited to online, and folks are already feeling stressed and strapped for resources. If you can wait to enroll folks in your new program, do. If you can hold on your grant reporting, do. Prioritize what is urgent and necessary right now for the people you’re serving. Access is going to be a significant priority for many individuals and families in the coming months. See below for tips on how you can provide some resources.</li>
</ul>
If you decide to move some of your programs online, it’s likely your community will need support in identifying ways to get internet access, devices, and the skills to use them. We’ve put together a short list of resources you can use to help your communities gain access to the necessary tools to engage online.
<h2>Internet Access</h2>
Earlier this week, <a href="https://twitter.com/AjitPaiFCC/status/1238491015239131151">FCC Chair Ajit Pai asked internet service providers (ISPs)</a> to take the <a href="https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-363033A1.pdf">Keep Americans Connected Pledge</a> for the next 60 days. The pledge includes not terminating service customers because of their inability to pay their bills due to the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, waiving late fees that are a result of the pandemic, and opening their Wi-Fi hotspots to any American who needs them. Many ISPs (<a href="https://www.benton.org/headlines/more-providers-take-chairman-pais-keep-americans-connected-pledge">185 as of March 16</a>) have signed on to the pledge and extended the parameters of their existing low-cost internet offers as well.
<a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xOP3PQiChB6N60p5f0zfw8nipUk70BL8789h0BXLBFw/edit#gid=0">Digital Charlotte created an open-source spreadsheet</a> to help track and collect offers extended by these ISPs, as well as which of them have signed on. As a crowdsourced document, it is full of information and constantly changing. Individuals aware of local offers that are not yet in the spreadsheet are encouraged to support the effort by adding them.
<a href="https://www.everyoneon.org/find-offers">EveryoneOn is a great online tool</a> that helps individuals find low-cost internet offers as well as devices in their zip code. The resource allows individuals to specify their own eligibility criteria and has been updated with special offers provided by ISPs in the face of the COVID-19 crisis.
<h2>Devices</h2>
<a href="https://www.pcsforpeople.org/">PCs for People provides refurbished computers and hotspots</a> to both individuals and nonprofits, along with training classes in limited cities across the US. Devices are available for purchase both in-person and online. They also offer 4G LTE service for their hotspot program.
<a href="http://www.aftrr.org">AFTRR (Alliance for Technology Refurbishing and Reuse)</a>, a network of refurbishers across the United States, <a href="https://www.aftrr.org/map-locator/">offers a map locator of their partners</a>. The map provides contact information of local organizations that may offer low-cost devices to individuals and families.
<h2>Training</h2>
While there’s no national database of digital literacy training, <a href="https://www.digitalinclusion.org/">the National Digital Inclusion Alliance</a> list of <a href="https://www.digitalinclusion.org/affiliates/">local affiliates</a> provides a great starting place for identifying organizations offering training locally. Keep in mind that while libraries tend to be on the front lines of this work, many have closed due to health concerns.
<h2>News</h2>
<a href="http://www.benton.org">Benton</a> provides an excellent Weekly Digest of information related to broadband access and policy. <a href="https://www.benton.org/blog/us-broadband-response-coronavirus">Last week’s update</a> covers top headlines around the intersection of digital inclusion and the ongoing pandemic.
Digidivide has put together <a href="https://digivide.org/c/news/covid-19/27">a list of COVID-19 news stories</a> and its implications on the digital divide.

A closeup of a road sign with two arrows pointing in opposite directions. One is labeled, "Online," and the other is labeled, "OFFLINE."

Digital divide resources during the pandemic

We all know that <a href="/article/best-practices-for-a-successful-nonprofit-survey/">conducting surveys and soliciting feedback</a> is an essential part of building something that works for the communities we serve. We&#8217;re here for them, after all.
But we also know that attempting to gather, weigh, and honor survey feedback can be challenging. We live in a world of budgets, work plans, and funding cycles. How do we take feedback on the things the community wants and needs even as we know for sure that we won&#8217;t be able to give everyone what they want? How do we take feedback from community members who have generational trauma without re-traumatizing them and ourselves along the way?
As nonprofit workers, we are here to make a difference. To do so, we must work with our service populations hand in hand. No amount of training or education will be able to take the place of lived experience, which is why it is such an essential ingredient in lasting success.
Here are some tips on getting feedback from your community while meeting its needs and the needs of your staff:
<ol>
<li>Be selective. In a perfect world, we would have the resources to survey every community member. But this world is far from perfect, and some data is better than no data. So make a decision: Determine the most important people or groups you need feedback from. Make sure you spend the time resources you have on getting the word out to them first. In-person is twice as effective as a call, and a call is at least twice as effective as an email for getting people to take action and participate in your survey.</li>
<li>Be objective. When collecting data, remember the acronym JADE: don&#8217;t justify, argue, defend, or explain yourself to community members. Answer questions if the answer is easy, but think of yourself as a documentarian only. This way, you don&#8217;t influence your members&#8217; feedback unduly with your own thoughts and opinions. When you get the data back, read it as if you were a third party. Or, if you possibly can, get a third party volunteer, co-worker, or contractor to read and synthesize the data for you. Try to keep your own biases forefront in your mind so you can avoid them as much as possible.</li>
<li>Reciprocate. You&#8217;ve taken something from your community: its feedback. Now it&#8217;s time to show what you did with it. Write a blog post, have a share-out, make a video, or somehow make sure the community sees the return of the information they gave to you in its new, improved synthesized form. Make sure to budget time and money to ensure that the priority community members you identified in step 1 are informed of what you did with their data.</li>
<li>Communicate. Use this data to determine your next steps and then tell people that those are your choices. Be clear about what you will and what you won&#8217;t do and why. It is okay to tell someone that while their idea is good, it&#8217;s not in line with your values as an organization. Or maybe it is, but it&#8217;s not as urgent as other things that are getting funded before it. It can be hard to tell people no. Still, it&#8217;s kinder to say something isn&#8217;t happening than it is to be vague and let them continue to use their time and energy thinking it might be possible.</li>
<li>Be kind. Firstly, be kind to yourself. You are doing hard work, and if you&#8217;re taking surveys in person or on the phone, you might be hearing hard things. That means you will be more tired at the end of the day, and you may not have the emotional bandwidth that you&#8217;re used to. It&#8217;s okay to take breaks. It&#8217;s okay to have feelings. It&#8217;s okay to ask for support from your network. Secondly, be kind to your community members. When they tell you the truth about their identities and experiences, even when they are negative, they are giving you a gift and trusting you enough to be vulnerable with you. Invest in whatever you need to help you keep kindness at the center of your survey taking.</li>
</ol>
As you embark on your feedback journey, remember that no matter which part of the nonprofit world you come from, no matter what your organizational mission is, this is the work of generations. We&#8217;re all doing the best we can with what we have. Making the decision to invest in <a href="/article/three-steps-to-speaking-your-communitys-language/">collecting feedback from your community</a> will have far-reaching positive effects on your experience as a person and as an organization. Remembering to be selective, be objective, reciprocate, communicate, and be kind will help you with this as well as other journeys you may take on.

"feedback" written in cursive on a chalkboard

Feedback and You: 5 Tips for Growing Trust Strategically

If you&#8217;re a nonprofit professional, <a href="/article/millennial-research/">you&#8217;re likely already familiar with millenials</a> and how to target your fundraising marketing to attract them. However, Generation Z has now established itself as the next wave of donors.
Born around 1996 and later, Gen Z youth are known to be socially conscious. <a href="https://www.classy.org/blog/infographic-generational-giving/">According to this infographic on generational giving</a>, Gen Z is one of the most philanthropic generations to date. Gen Z-ers have grown up in a more diverse world than ever with access to a seemingly endless amount of social networking channels. Subsequently, they tend to be attracted to charitable acts that also might beef up their public social persona and resume.
Gen Z-ers have less disposable income and are likely more loyal to a cause than a specific organization. That&#8217;s why your nonprofit should take some time to research various engaging fundraising trends and ideas which attract this up-and-coming generation.
<a href="https://blog.circuitree.com/top-5-fun-and-effective-youth-fundraising-strategies">Coming up with effective youth fundraising strategies</a> can be tough, especially when targeting a specific group. Here are some tips to help you engage with Gen Z:
<ol>
<li>Keep your marketing content concise</li>
<li>Leverage social media</li>
<li>Offer unique experiences</li>
</ol>
The most crucial part of fundraising to Generation Z is communicating that their involvement makes a genuine impact. Even if they don&#8217;t have the largest resource of disposable income, leveraging their support will get your nonprofit ready for the future. Let&#8217;s begin!
<h2>Keep your marketing content concise</h2>
Gen Z donors are the most technologically savvy individuals you&#8217;ll be engaging with. Though this may seem like a positive perk in regards to your online marketing campaign, it can also create some challenges.
For one thing, younger donors use their mobile phones constantly. Gen Z-ers are continually getting a flood of information from multiple apps throughout their devices and they&#8217;ve learned how to filter them out as well. This is why to <a href="/article/how-to-create-lasting-relationships-with-your-advocates-online/">create lasting relationships with your donors,</a> you need to attract them to your content while making sure your content stays straight to the point.
Though it&#8217;s important and normal to send communications soliciting donations, you have to <a href="/article/7-emails-to-send-that-arent-fundraising-asks/">consider sending content and updates that aren&#8217;t fundraising asks</a> also. While content is straight-forward, it should also be varied from one message to the next. What is the type of content you should be sending?
<ul>
<li>Relevant updates to your nonprofit. This can include milestones you&#8217;ve reached or highlighting a personal story of how some you&#8217;ve deeply impacted. This reminds donors of the significant difference their contributions make for your programming.</li>
<li>Upcoming fundraising events, campaigns, or volunteer activities. Gen Z-ers want to be actively engaged with the organizations they support. They love having physical proof of their philanthropy, and helping out at a charity event is a great thing to put on the resume and to post about it on social media.</li>
<li>Images and videos. Take advantage of online communication with the use of multimedia. A great way to tell your nonprofit story is through photos and videos, and it is not an overwhelmingly big block of text.</li>
</ul>
Gen Z-ers don&#8217;t always have relationships with the specific organizations they support, as they&#8217;re likely to care more about the cause than the nonprofit itself. So, make sure always to use their name in communications to form a personal connection with them and continue to remind them of the good work your nonprofit is doing.
<h2>Leverage social media</h2>
The vast majority of social media users are younger, so don&#8217;t be afraid to announce events and important updates on <a href="/article/recruit-new-supporters-and-advocates-using-facebook-messenger/">various social media platforms</a>. Encourage past Gen Z donors to share your fundraiser with their own circle of friends. This then creates a ripple effect, as those friends will share with their own social network, spreading the word of your cause quickly and efficiently.
The wide reach of social media has created an excellent base for certain fundraising events. If your nonprofit has a large Gen Z donor base, it can prove to be extremely profitable to invest in crowdfunding and peer-to-peer fundraising platforms.
<h3>Crowdfunding</h3>
Social media is a great starting point for a crowdfunding campaign. Crowdfunding is a fundraising event that utilizes the efforts of the personal network of family, friends, and colleagues. To better explain how easy a crowdfunding event is to plan, let&#8217;s break it down:
<ol>
<li>Create an online campaign webpage. Your nonprofit should find a reliable crowdfunding platform in which to host your online crowdfunding donation page. Use this page to explain your mission and your current fundraiser. This is an opportunity to make your nonprofit story both approachable and emotionally compelling.</li>
<li>Set a fundraising goal and campaign deadline. Once your campaign has a revenue goal and time limit, this will create a sense of urgency and encourage people to keep donating. As the deadline comes up, your supporters will share the crowdfunding page to help you reach your goal.</li>
<li>Use social media channels. Encourage your supporters to share your crowdfunding page on their social media pages. This way, their own personal network can check out the fundraiser and get a sense of your nonprofit&#8217;s mission. Supporters and donors can even put the link in their account bios so that any of their &#8220;friends&#8221; or &#8220;followers&#8221; can access easily.</li>
</ol>
If your nonprofit doesn&#8217;t have a go-to crowdfunding platform to use, check out DonorSearch&#8217;s guide to pick the best one for your organization&#8217;s unique needs.
<h3>Peer-to-Peer Fundraising</h3>
Similar to a crowdfunding campaign, peer-to-peer (P2P) fundraising also utilizes your supporters&#8217; social network channels. However, P2P requires a little more planning but can also have an even wider reach. Here&#8217;s how it works:
<ol>
<li>Recruit a group of volunteers. Reach out to past donors or supporters to find those who are willing to fundraise on behalf of your nonprofit. Youth and other Gen Z-ers will love to participate because it showcases their philanthropy while also getting to engage with other like-minded young fundraisers.</li>
<li>Set up individual P2P pages. Each fundraiser will have their own dedicated online peer-to-peer donation page. On this page, volunteers can describe your nonprofit and your current fundraiser, as well as their personal connection with your cause. That way, when friends and family check out the P2P page, they see exactly why your nonprofit is vital to their sibling/friend/etc.</li>
<li>Set a fundraising goal and deadline. Similar to crowdfunding, setting up a goal and time-limit is a considerable incentive for volunteers to continue sharing their page and for their personal networks to donate!</li>
</ol>
If you want to learn more about how your nonprofit can take advantage of peer-to-peer fundraising, <a href="https://blog.fundly.com/peer-to-peer-fundraising/">Fundly has a helpful guide</a>.
Crowdfunding and peer-to-peer campaigns are selling points to Generation Z donors and supporters. These unique fundraisers actively engage youth while letting them express their charitable side on networks they are already proficient in.
Additionally, it&#8217;s likely that youth and other Gen Z-ers have some of the most established social networks of all users. Don&#8217;t miss out on this great opportunity and empower Gen Z donors!
<h2>Offer unique experiences</h2>
A great way to leverage your Generation Z supporters and donors is to offer unique experiences. What does this mean? Because this generation is more socially conscious, they appreciate experiences that allow them to express their philanthropy in engaging and convenient ways.
Your nonprofit should offer unique experiences that not only encourage Gen Z support but also gives something back to them. Whether it&#8217;s something they can post on their social media to publicly showcase their charitable spirit or an event that they can add to their resume, youth and other Gen Z-ers are attracted to the world of fundraising.
What are some experiences your nonprofit can offer? Consider these ideas to attract Gen Z:
<ol>
<li>Volunteer events. Create engaging volunteer opportunities for youth and other Gen Z-ers. For example, depending on your nonprofit&#8217;s cause, you can encourage Gen Z to come out and help with a project. Additionally, offer some sort of volunteer credit so they can put it on their resumes or school applications!</li>
<li>Crowdfunding/P2P supplemental events. <a href="/article/five-ways-events-can-help-you-find-new-donors/">Events can be a great way to help find new donors</a>, especially events that go along with a crowdfunding or P2P campaign. For example, it&#8217;s common for nonprofits to host a marathon or race which their P2P campaign is leading up to. Each fundraising volunteer won&#8217;t have trouble soliciting donations from friends and family because they&#8217;re going to want to support the volunteer for the marathon.</li>
<li>Text-to-give. There is now technology that lets individuals donate to a nonprofit with a simple text of a keyword. Nonprofits and other charitable organizations will receive a phone number that donors can text whenever they want to make a gift. If they&#8217;ve given before, their financial information can also be saved, making donating a quick and easy action. Youth and other Gen Z donors will love the convenience of using their mobile phones, wherever they are and whenever they want.</li>
<li>Branded merchandise. Youth continue to buy merchandise. Whether you&#8217;re selling merchandise for your nonprofit or for a more specific fundraising event, young supporters will love the chance to support your organization as well as show off their philanthropy. For example, if your nonprofit also runs a summer camp, selling custom camp t-shirts is a great way to raise revenue while also promoting your cause. For more on branded merchandise, <a href="https://blog.circuitree.com/custom-camp-t-shirts">CircuiTree&#8217;s article can help explain more of the benefits</a>.</li>
</ol>
Youth and other Generation Z individuals are already interested in the fundraising world. All your nonprofit has to do is facilitate those interests into active actions with the above unique experiences.
Gen Z may be the next generation of donors, but they also want to give now. Provide them with ample opportunities and take advantage of these fundraising trends. Good luck!

Leveraging Generation Z: 3 engaging fundraising trends

In 2018, <a href="https://bashpolesoftware.com/">Bashpole Software</a>, secured a grant from the National Science Foundation to study the marketing challenges and strategies of nonprofit organizations. We&#8217;ve sat down with over 300 nonprofit executives and are continuing to do so. As our study continues, we&#8217;re looking for deeper answers. As a service to our participants, we would offer a preliminary audit of your analytics and content by our specialists to provide direction and feedback. <a href="mailto:bashpole@bashpole.com">Email Ben Ashpole</a> if you&#8217;re interested.
&#8220;We need to build a strategy, but we don&#8217;t know where to start.&#8221;
&#8220;How do we know if what we do is working?&#8221;
In the last year-and-a-half, more than 300 nonprofit executives and marketers sat down with us in one-on-one interviews and shared their marketing approaches and obstacles.
Their biggest pain points? How to reach people on the internet and how to know if they&#8217;re actually succeeding at it.
<h2>The dream is to grow. The question is, how?</h2>
When we believe in what we are doing, we definitely want to do as much as we can. Our respondents want to do good in this world and want to increase awareness of their causes.
<ul>
<li>72% want to grow their organizations (growth goal)</li>
<li>94% who prioritize growth believe digital advertising is critical to achieving the goal.</li>
<li>The full potential of using email newsletters, online ads, and social media is often beyond available resources and staff time — or it feels like it due to lack of knowledge or training.</li>
</ul>
<h2>What does a good strategy look like?</h2>
Blogs, social media, email lists, paid digital advertising, your website. They all have different purposes. How do you know which is the one to really go for? You want them to believe in your cause and trust you.
Every method you choose should work to get you to that goal. For most organizations, the end goal is to get people to subscribe to your email list. Every piece of your strategy should lead them to that point, whether it&#8217;s a Facebook Live, a Google Ad, a blog post, and especially your website.
<h3>Make your website work hard for you</h3>
In our research, we saw websites that worked hard to educate and build trust. We also saw websites that functioned as little more than a &#8220;Yellow Page Ad&#8221; for their organization. It proved that the organization existed, but didn&#8217;t do much else. 
Your website can lead people on a journey and present your story. It also can add to that story through changing content like blogs, videos, or case studies that share your passion and showcase your work.
By the way, this also helps your Google rankings. Google doesn&#8217;t like websites that just sit there. Active sites rank higher on Google searches over time.
<h4>Get their email address</h4>
You might not get someone to volunteer or donate on their first online encounter with you. But they are aware of you. Now that you have their attention, you want to keep it. 
They may have been introduced to you through an ad or a search, but you don&#8217;t want to trust Google or Facebook algorithms to maintain that connection. You don&#8217;t even want to trust them to remember to come back to your website.
If you have their email, you can reach out to them directly and tell them more about what your organization does. You can build trust. Occasionally, you can ask for what you need: a donation or volunteers. But the more your readers trust you, the more likely they are to partner with you.
<h4>What&#8217;s the work involved?</h4>
<ol>
<li>If you want to increase awareness, go where they are using various methods such as ads, podcasts, guest blog posts.</li>
<li>Ask for their email. Have your content drive them to your website and put forms on your website that encourages more contact.</li>
<li>Once you have that precious email address, regularly send them information about what you&#8217;re doing. Keep them informed and excited.</li>
</ol>
When they agree to be on your email list, they care at least a little. You can use the email list to build that relationship and encourage them to care more.
<h2>Return on investment: how do we know it&#8217;s worth it?</h2>
&#8220;It is difficult to get meaningful metrics … for example, how do we measure the impact from each platform we use to decide where to focus?&#8221; — respondent
&#8220;Why didn&#8217;t [we] do more with Facebook? Lack of trust in the ROI, because we didn&#8217;t understand the measurement tool.&#8221; — respondent
Return on investment is a business term that is becoming prominent in nonprofit circles, too. It means, &#8220;What did we get out of this effort compared to what we put in?&#8221;
There&#8217;s a formula for computing it: ROI=(net profit/cost of investment) x 100.
So if you spent $1,000 on a Facebook ad campaign and received $1,500 in donations, your net profit is $500. ($500/$1,000) x 100= 50%
<h3>ROI can&#8217;t formulate the intangibles</h3>
Sitting down with nonprofit C-level executives, we not only heard the answers they gave, but we could hear the tone in their voices and see the expressions on their faces. They looked puzzled when they talked about online marketing — even troubled. They knew that it was important, but they had no idea how to know if it was working and if they were doing it right.
When they described getting out there and talking with people at speaking events, their eyes shone. They knew immediately when that worked. Just like we could see our respondents&#8217; faces, they could read the responses in the faces of others. They could shake their hands. They could hear them give their support.
<h3>Metrics make the intangible tangible</h3>
The hard part about doing things online is you don&#8217;t get those responses. What we have are metrics. We can know, &#8220;Does a person click on our ad?&#8221; and with pixels (small bits of code that are added to the website) we can follow exactly what they do after that:
<ul>
<li>What pages do they read?</li>
<li>Do they give us their email address?</li>
<li>How long do they stay?</li>
<li>Do they donate?</li>
</ul>
Metrics take the unknown and make them known. All of a sudden, you know what pages they read, you know how long they stay, you know if they take a look at your donation page, or if they walk in the door and walk right out.
What questions do you have about what they do? You can set up metrics to tell you.
<h4>How much is it worth to know?</h4>
Over and over again, our respondents told us that they didn&#8217;t know key pieces of information because they didn&#8217;t have the metrics set up. They don&#8217;t have the time to learn Google Analytics. They did Facebook boosts instead of full ad campaigns that provide a pixel. They only have a small glimmer of the full information they need.
Our respondents expressed, &#8220;We want to build a strategy, but we need to know if it works.&#8221; They also said they don&#8217;t have the manpower or the training to do it.
The fact is, the term &#8220;ROI&#8221; means Return of INVESTMENT, and without investment, there is no return.
<h4>For nonprofits, ROI isn&#8217;t always about money</h4>
The people we talked to said their top priority was building awareness. They know donations don&#8217;t come right away, but they want people to know about their cause. Without setting up analytics, you&#8217;re in the dark. That&#8217;s not an easy place to be for you or your team.
Whatever strategy you decide on, and there are many things you can do inexpensively, if you don&#8217;t have the analytics set up to measure it, you don&#8217;t know. You&#8217;re too committed to following it through to the end without tweaking, or you may not be committed enough even to start. You can&#8217;t compare whether a YouTube video works better than a blog post for leading someone to your website.
<h2>Setting up your analytics is the key to everything</h2>
If you&#8217;re a typical nonprofit, everyone on your team is doing multiple jobs to keep on top of the daily work. There aren&#8217;t enough hours in the day. Money is tight. The board doesn&#8217;t see why it&#8217;s important.
But whether it&#8217;s bringing on an intern, hiring an agency, or having one or more of your staff <a href="/course/advanced-google-analytics/">take an NTEN course</a> or Udemy, getting your analytics worked out is the first step in developing a strategy for reaching Millennials, GenZ, and even good ole GenX.
<h3>Metrics shine the light on your potential partners</h3>
Knowing your metrics is like being able to look someone in the eye, shake their hand, and telling from their smile that they are on board or to gauge what may be holding them up. It makes the people who are online as real as the people who are in the room.
<h3>Metrics open up a whole world for you and your organization</h3>
Metrics let you know what&#8217;s working and what&#8217;s not before you&#8217;re at the point of no return. It not only turning the lights on for your potential partners, but it also turns the light on for you. You don&#8217;t have to be &#8220;all in or not at all&#8221; with a marketing campaign. You can test, monitor, and adjust, and even abandon if something isn&#8217;t working. 
Metrics minimize your risk because they minimize your guesswork.
<h2>Before you move forward with anything else, invest in your analytics</h2>
We may be preaching to the choir here on NTEN, but in our research study, our respondents overwhelmingly expressed concern over how to create a solid strategy and how to know whether their efforts were effective. Every other business that is competing for the same space is already doing this. To be heard in this ever-increasing world of online advertising, our organizations must know whether their efforts are effective. It&#8217;s crucial.
<h2>There are big differences between nonprofit and for-profit perspectives</h2>
It was clear from our interviews that there are key differences between the nonprofit marketing sphere and the for-profit marketing sphere. You use a different vocabulary and have different goals.
Nonprofit goals: build awareness, recruit volunteers, and encourage donations.
And you need to know whether your efforts are going to reach these goals successfully. The widely-available marketing resources aren&#8217;t focused on those goals, so what do you do?
With these tips in mind, we&#8217;re extending an invitation for nonprofit professionals to participate in the ongoing research. Based upon the preview of the types of tips above, we would appreciate hearing from the NTEN readership what you would find to be most useful for the upcoming articles. Would you like to participate in an interview or learn more about the research project? Do you have any areas of interest you want us to focus on that you feel would most benefit the nonprofit sector? <a href="https://promotermotor.com/thank-you-for-your-interest-in-bashpole-softwares-research/">Vote on the upcoming topics</a>!

"RETURN ON INVESTMENT" is in block letters on a chalkboard and a hand is drawing a dollar sign.

Building a strategy and gauging return on investment (ROI): two huge roadblocks for nonprofits

"Fellowship" spelled out in lettered dice.

Catching up with the 2019 Digital Inclusion Fellows

Update April 30. 2020: Success! ICANN rejected the sale of .ORG. <a href="/article/savedotorg-campaign-succeeds-icann-rejects-sale/">Read NTEN&#8217;s joint statement with EFF</a>.
Update December 5. 2019: <a href="https://vimeo.com/377655043">watch a recording of a community call NTEN organized</a> between Andrew Sullivan from Internet Society, Electronic Frontier Foundation, The National Council of Nonprofits, and Internet Society chapter leaders, as well as Jon Nevett from Public Interest Registry, and Erik Brooks and Nora Abusitta from Ethos Capital.
In an outrageous betrayal of its responsibility to steward the .ORG domain, the Internet Society (ISOC) has announced it will sell the Public Interest Registry (PIR) to private equity firm Ethos Capital. NTEN has signed a public letter with 26 other organizations in protest. I urge you to read the letter below and then <a href="https://savedotorg.org/">visit SaveDotOrg.org to join us by signing and sending the letter yourself</a>.
Earlier this year Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) eliminated price caps on purchasing a .org domain and changed the rules to make it easier for a nonprofit&#8217;s site to censored. Handing control of the .ORG domain to a for-profit entity has made the reality of those changes chillingly clear.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
I&#39;m very concerned about the sale of .org to a private company. If the Public Interest Registry ends up not being required to act in the public interest, it would be a travesty. We need an urgent explanation. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SaveDotOrg?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SaveDotOrg</a>
&mdash; Tim Berners-Lee (@timberners_lee) <a href="https://twitter.com/timberners_lee/status/1199752059534413824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 27, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Promoting the noncommercial use of the Internet was an inspiration for the .ORG domain. And when ISOC spun off PIR it with the promise that the management of .ORG would be driven by the needs of the nonprofit sector. Instead, we&#8217;ve seen decisions made will richly benefit a handful of individuals at the expense of nonprofits.
<a href="https://word.nten.org/about-nten/values-and-beliefs/">One of NTEN&#8217;s core beliefs is that &#8220;The internet is a powerful and necessary tool.</a> It’s vital that it is affordable and accessible to all people.&#8221; When we wrote that, we weren&#8217;t envisioning nonprofits like ourselves, but here we are. But we also believe that each of us has a role to play in building, sustaining, and powering our community. <a href="https://savedotorg.org/">I&#8217;m asking you to do your part. Sign the letter now</a>.
<h2>News Coverage</h2>
<ul>
<li>11/14/19 <a href="https://gizmodo.com/private-equity-ghouls-buy-non-profit-that-handles-org-1839860118">Private Equity Ghouls Buy Non-Profit That Handles .Org Domains</a> | Gizmodo</li>
<li>11/20/19 <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/11/20/org_registry_sale_shambles/">Internet world despairs as non-profit .org sold for $$$$ to private equity firm, price caps axed</a> | The Register</li>
<li>11/20/19 <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/nonprofits-fear-cost-of-org-domain-names-will-rise-sharply-11574283751">Nonprofits Fear Cost of .org Domain Names Will Rise Sharply</a> | The Wall Street Journal</li>
<li>11/23/19 <a href="http://blogs.harvard.edu/sj/2019/11/23/a-tale-of-icann-and-regulatory-capture-the-dot-org-heist/">ICANN Races Towards Regulatory Capture: The Great .ORG Heist</a> | The Longest Now</li>
<li>11/24/19 <a href="https://www.wholewhale.com/podcast/152-why-we-should-save-org-domains/">Why we should save .ORG domains</a> | Whole Whale podcast</li>
<li>11/25/19 <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-50515786">Girl Scouts join protest over sale of .org domain</a> | BBC</li>
<li>11/25/19 <a href="https://www.internetgovernance.org/2019/11/25/what-to-do-about-org/">What to do about .ORG</a> | Internet Governance Project</li>
<li>11/26/19 <a href="https://youtu.be/qwtErWWzaxY">Associations and the .ORG Controversy</a> | Association Chat</li>
<li>11/27/19 <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/11/27/isoc_icann_dot_org_vint_cerf/">Internet Society&#8217;s Vint &#8216;father of the &#8216;net&#8217; Cerf dodges dot-org sell-off during public Q&amp;A</a> | The Register</li>
<li>11/27/19 <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/27/tech/org-domain-sale/index.html">A private equity firm is buying all of the .org domains. Here&#8217;s what that means</a> | CNN Business</li>
<li>11/27/19 <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-63-the-current/clip/15748621-national-affairs-panel-on-scheers-leadership-the-fight-to-save-.org-dayna-spiring-the-first-woman-on-the-grey-cup-hiv-activist-ruth-awori">The Current with Laura Lynch</a> | CBC Listen (jump to 22:15)</li>
<li>11/27/19 <a href="https://www.icdsoft.com/blog/the-org-controversy/">The .ORG Controversy, or How a Private Equity Company Will Manage a Nonprofit TLD</a> | ICDSoft</li>
<li>11/29/19 <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/11/29/isoc_ceo_dot_org_sale/">Internet Society CEO: Most people don&#8217;t care about the .org sell-off – and nothing short of a court order will stop it</a> | The Register</li>
<li>12/2/19 <a href="http://blogs.harvard.edu/sj/2019/12/02/the-dot-org-fire-sale-sold-for-half-its-valuation/">The .ORG Fire Sale: How It Sold For Less Than Half Its Valuation</a> | The Longest Now</li>
<li>12/2/19 <a href="http://domainincite.com/25023-are-isocs-claims-about-orgs-history-bogus">Are ISOC’s claims about .org’s history bogus?</a> | Domain Incite</li>
<li>12/2/19 <a href="https://mashable.com/article/dot-org-private-equity-sale-icann-update/">Powerful internet authority says it’s powerless to stop billion dollar .org takeover</a> | Mashable</li>
<li>12/3/19 <a href="https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2019/12/03/questions-about-org/">Questions About .org</a> | The Mozilla Blog</li>
<li>12/3/19 <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ne8agb/the-quest-to-save-org-from-being-ruined-by-private-equity">The Quest To Save .Org From Being Ruined By Private Equity</a> | VICE</li>
<li>12/6/19 <a href="https://easydns.com/blog/2019/12/06/its-called-f-you-money-for-a-reason-why-isoc-sold-org-to-vcs/">It’s called “F-You Money” for a reason: Why ISOC sold .ORG to VCs</a> | easyDNS</li>
<li>12/8/19 <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/473537-save-the-org-domain-and-all-it-symbolizes">Save the .ORG domain and all it symbolizes</a> | The Hill</li>
<li>12/10/19 <a href="https://isoc.nl/nieuws/erik-huizer-isoc-and-the-sale-of-org/">Erik Huizer: ISOC and the Sale of .ORG</a> | Internet Society, Netherlands Chapter</li>
<li>12/11/19 <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/12/11/icann_transparency_org/">ICANN demands transparency from others over .org deal. As for itself… well, not so much</a> | The Register</li>
<li>12/12/19 <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-12-12/dot-org-sale-outrage-internet-society-ethos-capital">The internet’s .org registry is snatched up by a private equity firm, provoking outrage</a> | Los Angeles Times</li>
<li>12/13/19 <a href="https://www.philanthropy.com/article/Nonprofits-Prepare-for-Fight/247715">Nonprofits Prepare for Fight Over Future of Dot-Org Domain</a> | The Chronicle of Philanthropy</li>
<li>12/18/19 <a href="https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2019/12/18/dot-org-sale-nonprofits">Nonprofits Fight Sale Of .Org Registry To Private Equity Firm</a> | Here &amp; Now, WBUR</li>
<li>12/19/19 <a href="https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2019/12/19/more-questions-about-org/">More Questions About .org</a> | The Mozilla Blog</li>
<li>1/7/20 <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/internet-domain-sale/internet-nonprofit-leaders-fight-deal-to-sell-control-of-org-domain-idUSL1N29C066">Internet nonprofit leaders fight deal to sell control of .org domain</a> | Reuters</li>
<li>1/7/20 <a href="https://www.thenonprofittimes.com/technology/breaking-co-op-aims-to-block-pir-sale-to-venture-firm/">Co-op aims to block PIR sale to venture firm</a> | The NonProfit Times</li>
<li>1/7/20 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/07/technology/dot-org-private-equity-battle.html">Inside the Billion-Dollar Battle Over .Org</a> | The New York Times</li>
<li>1/7/20 <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/7/21056029/dot-org-icann-chairman-nonprofit-cooperative-ethos-capital">ICANN’s founding chairman joins the battle to keep .org out of private hands</a> | The Verge</li>
<li>1/8/20 <a href="https://www.mic.com/p/private-equity-seeks-org-domain-control-via-purchase-of-the-public-interest-registry-19776437">Private equity seeks .org domain control via purchase of the Public Interest Registry</a> | Mic</li>
<li>1/9/20 <a href="https://gizmodo.com/senators-still-skeptical-org-sale-to-private-equity-fi-1840903833">Senators Still Skeptical .ORG Sale to Private Equity Firm Won&#8217;t Harm Nonprofits</a> | Gizmodo</li>
<li>1/16/20 <a href="http://www.circleid.com/posts/20200116_part_i_who_pays_when_dot_org_prices_rise/">Part I: Who Pays When .Org Prices Rise?</a> | CircleID</li>
<li>1/20/20 <a href="https://www.thenonprofittimes.com/news/state-charities-officials-want-stalling-of-org-sale/">State Charities Officials Want Stalling Of .ORG Sale</a> | The NonProfit Times</li>
<li>1/22/20 <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-davos-meeting-internet/domain-sale-could-do-irreparable-harm-to-millions-of-charities-ngos-warn-idUSKBN1ZL2DO">Domain sale could do &#8216;irreparable harm&#8217; to millions of charities, NGOs warn</a> | Reuters</li>
<li>1/22/20 <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2020/01/what-to-know-about-the-controversy-over-the-sale-of-org.html">Everything You Need to Know About the Potential Sale of .ORG</a> | Slate</li>
<li>1/22/20 <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/01/22/stop-sale-11-ngo-leaders-davos-warn-against-pending-private-equity-takeover-org">&#8216;Stop This Sale&#8217;: 11 NGO Leaders at Davos Warn Against Pending Private Equity Takeover of .Org Domain</a> | Common Dreams</li>
<li>1/22/20 <a href="http://www.circleid.com/posts/20200122_how_the_sale_of_dot_org_could_hurt_non_profits_irl/">How the Sale of .ORG Could Hurt Non-Profits IRL</a> | CircleID</li>
<li>1/23/20 <a href="https://www.philanthropy.com/article/Lawmakers-Regulators-and/247897">Sale of Dot-Org to Venture Capital Firm Draws Ire From Lawmakers, Charity Regulators, and Nonprofit Leaders</a> | The Chronicle of Philanthropy</li>
<li>1/24/20 <a href="http://www.circleid.com/posts/20200124_dot_org_icann_betrayals_opportunity_to_act_now_in_public_interest/">.Org: ICANN&#8217;s Betrayals and its Opportunity to Act Now in the Public Interest</a> | CircleID</li>
<li>1/24/20 <a href="https://www.scpr.org/programs/airtalk/2020/01/24/65259/why-nonprofits-are-concerned-about-the-sale-of-the/">Why Nonprofits Are Concerned About The Sale Of The Dot-Org Domain</a> | AirTalk</li>
<li>1/24/20 <a href="https://www.thenonprofittimes.com/news/savedotorg-supporters-protested-outside-icann/">SaveDotOrg Supporters Protested Outside ICANN</a> | The Nonprofit Times</li>
<li>1/24/20 <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/01/25/icann_board_org/">Protestors in Los Angeles force ICANN board out of hiding over .org sale – for a brief moment, at least</a> | The Register</li>
<li>1/24/20 <a href="https://thepublicsradio.org/article/protesters-fear-rising-costs-if-firm-buys-dot-org-universe">Protesters fear rising costs if firm buys dot-org universe</a> | The Public&#8217;s Radio</li>
<li>1/24/20 <a href="http://www.circleid.com/posts/20200124_dot_org_icann_betrayals_opportunity_to_act_now_in_public_interest/">.Org: ICANN&#8217;s Betrayals and its Opportunity to Act Now in the Public Interest</a> | CircleID</li>
<li>1/27/20 <a href="https://nyti.ms/2RsPYti">The Shaky Future of .org Domains</a> | The New York Times</li>
<li>1/29/20 <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90454827/a-symbol-of-public-good-on-the-internet-is-under-attack">A ‘symbol of public good’ on the internet is under attack</a> | Fast Company</li>
<li>1/31/20 <a href="https://www.thenonprofittimes.com/technology/california-ag-questioning-the-sale-of-org/">California AG Questioning The Sale of .ORG</a> | The NonProfit Times</li>
<li>2/19/20 <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/02/19/internet_society_org_sale/">Revolution, comrades: Internet Society told to halt .org sale… by its own advisory council</a> | The Register</li>
<li>2/21/20 <a href="https://gizmodo.com/private-equity-firm-trying-to-take-over-org-registry-p-1841835506">Private Equity Firm Trying to Take Over .Org Registry Pinkie Swears to Only Be Sort of Evil for a Limited Time</a> | Gizmodo</li>
<li>2/25/20 <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/02/25/org_purchaser_promises/">Would-be .org gobbler Ethos Capital promises to keep prices down in last-ditch effort to keep $1.1bn deal alive</a> | The Register</li>
<li>4/13/20 <a href="https://www.philanthropy.com/article/Private-Equity-Company-Offers/248502">Private-Equity Company Offers Changes Designed to Quell Criticism of Its Dot-Org Purchase</a> | The Chronicle of Philanthropy</li>
<li>4/17/20 <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/04/17/icann_california_org_sale_delay/">ICANN delays .org sell off after California&#8217;s attorney general intervenes at last minute, tears non-profit a new one over sale</a> | The Register</li>
<li>4/17/20 <a href="https://gizmodo.com/sale-of-org-registry-to-private-equity-vampires-stalle-1842921935">Sale of .Org Registry to Private Equity Vampires Stalled After California AG Warning</a> | Gizmodo</li>
<li>4/24/20 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/apr/23/org-sale-nonprofits-censorship-fears">&#8216;Selling censorship&#8217;: proposed sale of .org web registry sparks fears for non-profits</a> | The Guardian</li>
<li>5/1/20 <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/01/icann_stops_dot_org_sale/">ICANN finally halts $1.1bn sale of .org registry, says it&#8217;s &#8216;the right thing to do&#8217; after months of controversy</a> | The Register</li>
<li>5/1/20 P<a href="https://mashable.com/article/ethos-capital-org-domain-nonprofit/">rivate equity firm won&#8217;t get to control the .org domain after all</a> | Mashable</li>
<li>5/1/20 <a href="https://nyti.ms/3dhybxp">A Private Equity Firm Is Blocked From Buying .Org</a> | The New York Times</li>
<li>5/1/20 <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-icann-org-sale-idUSKBN22D4FV">ICANN rejects sale of .org registry to for-profit investor group</a> | Reuters</li>
<li>5/1/20 <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/05/icann-blocks-controversial-sale-of-org-domain-to-a-private-equity-firm/">ICANN blocks controversial sale of .org domain to a private equity firm</a> | Ars Technica</li>
<li>5/1/20 <a href="http://domainincite.com/25497-dangerous-precedent-as-icann-rejects-1-13-billion-org-buyout">“Dangerous precedent” as ICANN rejects $1.13 billion .org buyout</a> | Domain Incite</li>
<li>5/1/20 <a href="https://www.thenonprofittimes.com/npt_articles/1-billion-sale-of-dot-org-domain-blocked/">$1 Billion Sale Of Dot-Org Domain Blocked</a> | The NonProfit Times</li>
<li>5/4/20 <a href="https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/pes-11b-battle-for-the-org-domain-may-not-be-over">PE&#8217;s $1.1B battle for the .org domain may not be over</a> | PitchBook</li>
</ul>
<h2>Letter</h2>
<blockquote>November 22, 2019 
Internet Society 
Attn: Andrew Sullivan, President and CEO 
11710 Plaza America Drive, Suite 400 
Reston, VA 20190
Dear Mr. Sullivan,
We urge you to stop the sale of the Public Interest Registry (PIR) to Ethos Capital.
Non-governmental organizations all over the world rely on the .ORG top-level 
domain. Decisions affecting .ORG must be made with the consultation of the NGO 
community, overseen by a trusted community leader. If the Internet Society (ISOC) 
can no longer be that leader, it should work with the NGO community and the 
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to find an 
appropriate replacement.
The 2019 .ORG Registry Agreement represents a significant departure from .ORG’s 
34-year history. It gives the registry the power to make several policy decisions that 
would be detrimental to the .ORG community:
<ul>
<li>The power to raise .ORG registration fees without the approval of ICANN or 
the .ORG community. A .ORG price hike would put many cash-strapped 
NGOs in the difficult position of either paying the increased fees or losing the 
legitimacy and brand recognition of a .ORG domain.</li>
<li>The power to develop and implement Rights Protection Mechanisms 
unilaterally, without consulting the .ORG community . If such mechanisms 
are not carefully crafted in collaboration with the NGO community, they risk 
censoring completely legal nonprofit activities.</li>
<li>The power to implement processes to suspend domain names based on 
accusations of “activity contrary to applicable law.” The .ORG registry 
should not implement such processes without understanding how state 
actors frequently target NGOs with allegations of illegal activity.</li>
</ul>
A registry could abuse these powers to do significant harm to the global NGO sector, 
intentionally or not. We cannot afford to put them into the hands of a private equity 
firm that has not earned the trust of the NGO community. .ORG must be managed 
by a leader that puts the needs of NGOs over profits.
When ISOC originally proposed transferring management of .ORG to PIR in 2002, 
ISOC’s then President and CEO Lynn St. Amour promised that .ORG would continue 
to be driven by the NGO community—in her words, PIR would “draw upon the 
resources of ISOC’s extended global network to drive policy and management.” As 
long-time members of that global network, we insist that you keep that promise.
American Alliance of Museums 
American Society of Association Executives 
Aspiration 
Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc. 
Creative Commons 
Crisis Text Line 
Demand Progress Education Fund 
DoSomething.org 
Electronic Frontier Foundation 
European Climate Foundation 
Free Software Foundation 
Girl Scouts of the USA 
Independent Sector 
Internet Archive 
Meals on Wheels America 
National Council of Nonprofits 
National Human Services Assembly 
NTEN 
Palante Technology Cooperative 
Public Knowledge 
R Street Institute 
TechSoup 
VolunteerMatch 
Volunteers of America 
Wikimedia Foundation 
YMCA of the USA 
YWCA USA</blockquote>

The digital home of nonprofits is under attack

<a href="/jobs">The NTEN job board is a popular destination for job seekers</a>. It&#8217;s consistently one of the most popular pages on our website. So <a href="/about-nten#Equity">when we created our DEI strategy</a> we knew that the job board had a role to play in furthering our commitment to equity, particularly racial equity.



And so in September, we made it a requirement that every posting must include a salary or salary range. The salary may seem like an obvious thing to state in a job opening, but it&#8217;s actually quite common for organizations to advertise an open position without listing it. When we recently commemorated the first time that all the board postings included a salary, we were asked to share how we arrived at our decision to make salary inclusion a requirement.



<a href="https://nonprofitaf.com/2015/06/when-you-dont-disclose-salary-range-on-a-job-posting-a-unicorn-loses-its-wings/">We&#8217;ve long pointed job board users to the Nonprofit AF blog post by Vu Lee</a> because it&#8217;s an awesome post. It highlights many reasons why this practice is wrong, and sharing it means we&#8217;re highlighting a leader of color that we support and respect. We&#8217;ll continue sharing Vu&#8217;s awesome post, but only linking and not writing our own post was taking the easy way out. We perpetuated a harmful practice of waiting for those with more marginalized identities to do the work of naming oppression. We want to do better than that, so we are adding our voice alongside Vu&#8217;s to echo and amplify the message.



So, what&#8217;s the big deal about posting salaries? There are lots of big deals, actually. First, if you haven&#8217;t already, go read that post by Vu.



Second, posting salaries in job descriptions signals much about what an employee can expect at their organization — trust, transparency, and respect. It also means that as an organization, there&#8217;s more likely to be parity in salaries across staff since they are made public when open.



Third, the burden to &#8220;prove&#8221; a potential employee&#8217;s worth to negotiate an appropriate salary is removed. This is a gender equity, racial equity, and intersectional identity equity issue. I don&#8217;t have to link to a study that shows straight cis white men are the most likely to negotiate for salaries or to win those negotiations. You can do a quick search and find a whole lot of that evidence. Instead, let&#8217;s acknowledge that basically everyone else lives in a world where they systemically have not been supported in learning to negotiate or given positive responses to their attempts. So let&#8217;s remove the stress of negotiation for everyone.



Fourth, people can&#8217;t decide whether or not to apply for a job if they have no idea if it will provide the necessary income to cover their household costs. Don&#8217;t make them go through a laborious interview process only to reveal a lower salary than the rest of the market.



Fifth, job responsibilities vary across organizations, so you can&#8217;t make assumptions about what a manager, associate, or director title means. Salaries tell potential employees if the job is right for them regardless of the unique title structure your organization may have in place.



And, though it isn&#8217;t part of our requirement for the salary listing, I encourage every organization to share the benefits associated with employment publicly. This full picture of compensation helps you make a case for why applicants should want to work there. It respects that applicants need this information to make a confident decision about whether the job is right for them. <a href="/about-nten">NTEN lists our employee benefits publicly</a> so that even if we don&#8217;t have an opening, people can always review the benefits and decide if they would want to apply when there is one. You can do the same!



The bottom line is this. When you&#8217;re not willing to post salaries, you&#8217;re telling potential applicants that you&#8217;re not committed to equity and that you don&#8217;t respect their time. Why would you want to start the relationship this way? And more importantly, why should anyone want to work for you?

The word SALARY written on a chalkboard above a pink piggy bank.

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