I had the opportunity to facilitate a discussion on Social Media Return on Engagement last week at an Executive Director Roundtable hosted by the Alliance for Nonprofits and 501 Commons. In the ED Roundtable format, participants rotate between three topics, so I saw three different groups for 1/2 hour each. In those 30 minutes the Executive Directors expressed diverse feelings about social media, including confusion ("What is the difference between Facebook and Twitter?") and delight at the possibility of reaching new audiences. I was impressed by the high rate of adoption of social media across different types and sizes of organizations, and also by the outright courage nonprofit leaders are showing by trying it out.

I shared some tips from my own experience and from NPower's Knowledge Center, including a new flier on Return on Engagement. One of the key differences between social media and traditional media is the shift from monologue to conversation. That means giving up a little bit of control over your organization's message, in trade for a chance to better engage with and learn from your clients, donors and other "constituents". It's the difference between posting a carefully crafted summary of your fundraising event on your website (a one-way broadcast), and giving a shout out to event volunteers on Facebook and tagging them to encourage comments back. Both communications have their uses, but without the Facebook update you miss giving your volunteers a chance to appreciate you back, and to share their enthusiasm with all of their friends.

The ED's I met with on Friday were not worried about control in the same way that nonprofit leaders were just a few years ago. I credit these leaders with "getting it" that the advantages outweigh the discomfort, and with being willing to bravely enter a new world of figuring out how to use the tools in service of their missions. One participant shared that she keeps a list of "Twitter mavens" to whom she feeds updates and news. They in turn share the information with their followers, increasing the chance for donations and volunteer engagement for her organization. Now that's smart and brave!

Thanks to the Alliance for Nonprofits and 501 Commons for the opportunity to share some tips and to learn from the group on Friday. For more conversation about technology for mission impact, check out the brown bag sessions listed on our Training Calendar. Our brown bags are free and chock full of useful info. We offer a brief presentation and plenty of time to learn from your peers, with cookies and coffee to fuel the conversation. Next up on social media: Social Media Intermediate on March 7, and Social Media Content Curation on March 28th.

Our AmeriCorps VISTA team is excited to announce the launch of our Tech Assessment Project. This pilot program gives small nonprofits working in the area of poverty alleviation a chance to assess their technology, receive tech training and create a strategy map to guide their operations planning, grant-writing and volunteer recruitment.

As newcomers to Seattle, our VISTA team is excited to have this opportunity to get to know many of the amazing nonprofits in the area who are doing great work everyday to help alleviate poverty. If your nonprofit is interested in this free program, here are all the details about about eligibility and project outcomes, and a link to the application form.

Applications are due by March 23rd, so if you're interested let us know soon!

NTEN's Nonprofit Technology Conference is just weeks away: April 3-5 in San Francisco. There's so much to love about NTC 2012. The networking opportunities alone are worth the trip, but the schedule of sessions is enough to set even the most accidental of techies swooning.

Did we mention that our very own Alison Carl White and Peg Giffels will be presenting? It's true! In their session "Taking Action, Making Change" Alison and Peg will introduce the NPower Northwest Technology Theory of Change and how it helped us envision the capacity, people and processes we need in order to reach our goals.

Check out this post from NTEN's blog featuring videos from Alison and Peg, as well as a few other NTC presenters sharing what they love about the conference. Register before February 17th and you'll save a hundred bucks! What's not to love?

See you there!

- Mandi Moshay

Being an NPower client comes with lots of perks – friendly consultants, reliable support, and the peace of mind from having a trusted technology partner. And we're happy to highlight yet another benefit from working with us – discounts from Microsoft!

Through the Microsoft Direct Donations Program (MSDDP), NPower clients receive a code that allows them to request Microsoft products through TechSoup without paying administrative fees. This includes Windows PC operating system upgrades, server software licenses, Microsoft Office, and more. That’s not all - because of the long-standing partnership between NPower and Microsoft, we’re also able to facilitate discounts of up to 75% for our clients on Office 365 and Dynamics CRM hosted licensing.

You can learn more about MSDDP and the related products and information on techsoup.org. All of the aforementioned discounts are available for NPower consulting clients.

If you have any questions or would like to take advantage of these killer deals, contact us at consulting@npowernw.org.

- Mandi Moshay

NPower is pleased to welcome the newest member of our staff, Dennis Henderson. Dennis joined our team earlier this week and his work will be focused on providing fast, effective help desk service for our Managed Service clients.

Dennis will be with us for six months as part of his work with Year Up, a fabulous technical and professional training program based here in Seattle. He’ll be helping triage support requests as they come in and learning the tech ropes with our consulting team.

Welcome, Dennis!

This is a guest post from Matt Fikejs, Information & Referral Program Manager at 501 Commons. Matt writes periodically writes for the NPower Northwest blog to share updates from the Statewide Nonprofit Resource Directory.

In the age of Internet search engines, what could be simpler than typing in the services your nonprofit needs and combing the results? The problem is, with traditional search engines, the results can be overwhelming or biased toward those that appear on the first page. Worse, what you’re really looking for may not be there at all or buried so far down the list that you never see it. And then there’s the issue of quality. When it comes to consultants and other service providers that appear, what would their clients say about them?

All due respect to Bing, Google, and others, there’s a better way to find nonprofit resources and referrals, especially here in Washington State. 501 Commons’ Statewide Nonprofit Resource Directory takes the hunt for nonprofit help to a whole new level with a nonprofit topic-based search tool and webpages specific to nonprofit issues. We also require that listed providers who offer consulting services or products have at least three years experience serving nonprofits and come recommended by at least three nonprofit clients. And we do reference checks to ensure this standard.

In future posts, I’ll describe the carefully curated resources and original content you can find through the Directory. Today, though, the focus is on the many types of nonprofit specialists who are listed…that is, approved, then listed:

• Consultants and consulting firms, like fundraisers and accountants
• Other providers/companies, such as graphic designers and technology services
• Nonprofit capacity-building organizations (e.g., NPower Northwest)
• Associations, networks, and volunteer centers
• Educational programs and resource centers

So the next time you’re looking for help from experienced, skilled, and recommended service providers – or seeking valuable online resources – start with the Directory. Better yet, bookmark it now and jot down my contact info (matt@501commons.org, 206-682-6704) in case you still have questions.

We all know that time is precious and time is money. Here’s to quick and successful searches!

- Matt Fikejs, Information & Referral Program Manager, 501 Commons

After watching the documentary together, we discussed many of the difficult issues raised by the film including the challenging balancing act of teacher’s unions, the achievement gap, and the high number of high school drop-outs who end up in prison. It was a good evening and chance to talk and think with friends about ways we can work toward improving public education and making it possible for every and any student to their fullest capacity.

- Abby Nafziger

Thankfully the crazy winter weather is behind us and we were able to get back to normal last week and hold the next brown bag workshop in our free series: Choosing a Database. The brown bag conversation centered around the processes that are most crucial to selecting new database software. The focus was on assessing organizational needs and identifying technology goals in order to better serve your organization's mission. This means that the tool you select should support existing processes, not the other way around.

Attendees received worksheets to assist with organizational process mapping, developing an outline of functional requirements, and software feature prioritization. We'll be hosting another brown bag on this topic on April 11. In the meantime, the slides and resources from the presentation are available in the knowledge center on our website.

Thanks to representatives from the Church Council of Greater Seattle, Washington State Child Care Resources & Referral Network, Page Ahead Children's Literacy Program, and the League of Women Voters of Washington for your thoughtful questions and active participation!

The next installment of our free brown bag series takes place this Wednesday, February 1, with Twitter 101 (rescheduled from February 18 due to snow and ice). For information about other upcoming trainings, check out the online training calendar and the 'new in 2012' training flier for details.

- Elissa Thomas

Have you ever found yourself entering donation data into your database, and then having to enter it again into your financial management software? Duplicative data entry is not only frustrating, but it creates a higher risk of human error, and takes you away from doing more important, mission-focused work. That is exactly why NPower designed the CRM to QB Link app. Thanks to generous funding from Microsoft, CRM to QB Link was created as part of Tech Soup's App It Up program.

You might be asking, what is an app? Short for “application,” an app is essentially a piece of software with limited functionality, usually developed for a special purpose. Most of us think of mobile apps when we hear the term, bringing to mind games like Angry Birds or mobile music apps such as Spotify. Apps can also be plug-ins that add functionality to existing technology.

TechSoup and Microsoft set out to learn more about nonprofit app use to determine what it would take for nonprofits to utilize apps, and what apps would be most useful for the average organization. TechSoup kicked off the process by conducting a survey to determine how many nonprofits are using apps, what the barriers to use are, and what sort of apps organizations would like to see developed.

In response to an expressed need, TechSoup and Microsoft worked with NPower to develop the CRM to QB Link app. The app converts and integrates data from Microsoft Dynamics CRM into QuickBooks financial management. Data can be entered into Dynamics CRM (or other software) and quickly imported into QuickBooks. The app is available for $100 with a low $10/mo support fee that includes standard upgrades and up to three incidents per month. Visit the database consulting page of our website to learn more about app pricing and availability.

Be sure to check out TechSoup’s App It Up Showcase to learn about the latest and greatest apps by and for nonprofits. And stay tuned with the App It Up program as TechSoup continues to explore their role in supporting app use.

- Mandi Moshay