Then today could be your lucky day! We’re hiring for three positions in our Seattle office. We know we’re a little biased, but we think NPower is a pretty great place to work. And, if you’ll recall, we recently won the Alfred P. Sloan Award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility.

Here’s a little more about the open positions to tickle your interest. Full job descriptions can be found on our website or by clicking the links below.

Director of Client Engagement

We’re looking for a self-starter who’s passionate about the role technology plays in creating the greater good. The Director of Client Engagement will work to build the capacity of nonprofit organizations by helping them utilize technology to meet their missions. This position is responsible for leadership of the NPower services team and will be a contributing member on the leadership team of NPower. Get more details on the role and requirements.

Project Manager & Strategist

Are you a pro at motivating people to meet deadlines? Do project plans, schedules, scopes, and budgets really float your boat? Then we want to talk to you. The role of the Project Manager & Strategist will be to lead clients through NPower’s client life cycle and assist with aligning all projects to NPower’s Best Practices. Read more about it and see if you’ve got the skills we’re looking for.

Executive Assistant

Are you an early riser who would be motivated by working for a dynamic and fast-paced leader? This position will be responsible for providing high-level administrative support for the Executive Director and leadership team related to community engagement activities and board, staff, and funder relationships. They’ll also provide general office, bookkeeping, and IT support. Could it be you?

If you're interested in any of the positions, please email your resume and cover letter to jobs@npowernw.org with the position title in the subject line. We'll be accepting applications through December 9, 2011.

- Mandi Moshay

In November, the AmeriCorps team has been hard at work on two big projects.  We have already written about the Best Practices initiative. The second project is the NPower Client Inventory, a comprehensive survey of current practices in the sector. Creating a list of technology recommendations for nonprofit organizations calls for having a solid idea of where nonprofits are right now including the technology they use and their current pain points.

In this time of Thanksgiving, we thought it would be appropriate to share a little NPower love with the executive directors, directors of operations, database administrators, and others who have helped get our client inventory off the ground. We're so grateful to the pilot group of nonprofits who have contributed their time and energy to help us complete our initial test of our survey and methodology. Each of us VISTAs had the opportunity to interview representatives from separate groups of nonprofits:

Abby had the pleasure of speaking with Bridgett Chandler, from Camp Fire USA Central Puget Sound Council, Karen Fitton from Friends of the Orphans, and Cheryl Frizzell from Philanthropy Northwest. Each of these individuals answered a long list of technology-related questions, and also gave solid feedback to improve the survey itself. All of these organizations came from the larger organizational size category and have long histories of serving the Pacific Northwest, so it was fascinating to have a chance to learn about the technology that is helping them achieve their missions.

NPower will be closed on Thursday, November 24 and Friday, November 25 in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. We'll be returning messages on Monday, November 28. We hope you all enjoy the long weekend and take advantage of the excuse to overindulge!

Yesterday NPower hosted another free brown bag workshop. The topic was Preventing Online Communication Overload. The tips and tricks covered were not necessarily revolutionary. Rather, they were things we need to regularly remind ourselves of in order to keep from being overwhelmed by email, social media, and even our smartphones.

NPower’s Ash Shepherd covered strategies to set priorities, remain focused, and, ultimately, be more efficient and effective in our work. And, since it was an NPower training, we naturally shared some great technology tools that can help you to organize and manage information. As always, the slide deck and resources from the presentation are posted in the knowledge center on our website.

I encourage you to check them out and select just one strategy to implement and see if it helps you stay focused and avoid distraction. Starting next week, I will be utilizing the tip to try using a pen and paper. For next week's writing projects, I will be kicking it old school and actually writing instead of typing. I hope this strategy will enable me to bring a new level of focus to my writing and avoid being taken out of “the zone” by incoming email and the desire to check Facebook.

If you couldn’t make it to the brown bag, we’ll be offering an extended version of this presentation as a low-cost webinar on December 15. The final free brown bag of 2011 will be Pre-Planning a Website Project, and takes place on December 8. Bring your lunch and we’ll provide the coffee and dessert. We’ll be continuing to offer free brown bags throughout 2012 with lots of interesting new topics, so check out our online training calendar for more info.

- Mandi Moshay

2011 has been a big year for NPower in terms of our community education offerings. We’ve been excited to bring so many free and low cost trainings to nonprofit staff members in the community, and we’re energized to ramp up our education efforts in 2012. But before the year is out, we’ve got a few more opportunities you can take advantage of:

• Before you check out for the Thanksgiving holiday, join us for a FREE brown bag on November 22 where we’ll be discussing strategies to Prevent Online Communication Overload. As always, NPower provides the dessert!
• Looking to go pro with your InDesign skills? Join our InDesign Advanced two-part training on December 1 and 8. It’s the final offering of this class as we are retiring our lab-based Adobe application classes at the end of this year.
• Website feeling a little stale? Our Web Content Maintenance class on December 5 will teach you simple strategies to keep your content fresh and engaging.
• Considering a website project in 2012? Join our FREE brown bag on December 8 on Pre-Planning a Website Project and learn how to articulate your needs in web terminology and save some serious dough.
• Want to learn more about the potential of a Salesforce CRM for your organization? Join our final Salesforce Foundations training of 2011 on December 13.
• Can’t make the Pre-Planning a Website brown bag? Register for the webinar on the same topic scheduled for December 14.
• Looking to take your Photoshop skills to the next level? Check out our two-part Photoshop Intermediate training on December 14 and 21. It’s your last chance to get Adobe training at NPower as we’ll be retiring our Adobe application classes at the end of 2011.
• Can’t make the Prevent Online Communication Overload brown bag? You’re in luck! We’ve got a webinar on the same topic scheduled for December 15.

All that before the end of 2011! And we couldn’t be more excited about the topics we’re offering next year. In just the first two months of 2012 we’ve got FREE brown bags on Google Analytics, Twitter 101, Choosing a Database, and Search Engine Optimization. Check out our website’s training calendar for more information and to register. We hope to see you soon!

- Mandi Moshay

No, this is not a book on baseball strategy but a manifesto for a successful business model. Business development consultant Blair Enns defines pitch in the preface: “to attempt to sell or win approval for one’s ideas by giving them away for free, usually within a competitive, buyer-driven process.” Enns, a veteran of creative agencies, rejects the industry standard of clients soliciting free products from graphic design or other creative firms in the initial bid to secure a work contract. Creative professionals strive to come up with a design solution without much knowledge of the problem to be solved and are coerced into giving away work for free for a chance at the job.  The pitch process wastes time, devalues the firms’ artistic efforts, and does not result in the highest quality work for the clients.

How to break out of this no-win cycle?  Enns insists that artists, to truly step-up and own their place as professionals in the workforce, must assume a similar role as doctors or other professionals who would never be expected to perform work before conducting a thorough assessment. Enns is calling for the expertization of the creative agencies. Once viewed as an expert in the field, the designers can engage in a dialogue with clients to diagnose what is needed and determine an appropriate solution.

The twelve chapters of the book detail the manifesto, providing clear direction on how to carve out an alternate path from business as usual. Chapter titles are bold declarations such as “We Will Rethink What it Means to Sell” (chapter 4), “We Will Be Selective” (chapter 6), and “We Will Refuse to Work at a Loss” (chapter 10).  The emphasis is on differentiating yourself from the rest of the pack, building a solid product, setting yourself up to be an expert, and acting from a position of strength and confidence instead of fear.

What application does the text have for nonprofits?  If you agree with Enns that we are living in an increasingly specialized society but not one that assigns value to ALL experts, then his advice on how to inhabit the role of the esteemed professional is just as valuable for nonprofit staff as it is for his target audience. Nonprofits are also striving to find their niche in a complicated and ever-shifting society. Like creative firms, nonprofits are not always valued sufficiently for the high-caliber skills, capabilities, and processes that they have developed. Nonprofits, like any business, need to take pride in the quality of their services and learn how to maximize accomplishments. Enns’ twelve-point manifesto contains useful, timely advice for many types of organizations.

- Elissa Thomas

Due to increased demand, NPower has been facilitating a series of brown bags and webinars on social media. Today we hosted a Social Media 301 brown bag - the third installment of the free lunchtime workshop series. We were joined by friends from Humanities Washington, Explorations in Math, MRW Web Design, George Pockock Rowing Foundation, Wedgwood Community Council, and the Seattle Public Library.

Today's discussion centered around keeping the momentum with your social media efforts by finding ways to increase efficiency and more effectively utilize the various communication channels to develop an engaged online community. The slide deck and handout from today's session can be downloaded from the knowledge center on our website. A recording from a webinar on the same topic is also available in case you want to hear the talking points that go along with the slides.

What's more, we've added pages to the knowledge center that house the resources from our Social Media 101 and Social Media 201 workshops, so be sure to check out those materials as well. We'll be continuing to offer free and low-cost community education opportunities through the remainder of the year and we're introducing several interesting new topic areas in 2012. Check our training calendar for a full listing, and sign up to receive our eNews to stay up-to-date with our latest educational offerings. Here's what we've got coming up:

November 22nd: Prevent Online Communication Overload - FREE Brown Bag

December 5th: Web Content Maintenance Training - $35/members - $50/non-members

January 11th: Google Analytics - FREE Brown Bag

January 18th: Twitter 101 - FREE Brown Bag

January 25th: Choosing a Database - FREE Brown Bag.

- Mandi Moshay

Last week marked the launch of HomeKeeper at the National Community Land Trust Conference here in Seattle. HomeKeeper is an innovative Salesforce-based system that allows affordable home ownership organizations to track important program data. The project is a great example of both sector resource-sharing and building sustainable systems.

This project began over two years ago when NPower Northwest was approached by the forward thinking folks from the Northwest Community Land Trust Coalition, OPAL Community Land Trust on Orcas Island, Homestead Community Land Trust in Seattle, and Kulshan Community Land Trust in Bellingham. These organizations were struggling with management of the complex data required to run their programs. With such similar programs, the organizations recognized their common needs and wanted to build a system they could all use.

NPower worked to build the system for these three initial organizations with the shared long-term goal of expanding it to a wider scale. That goal became a reality with the involvement of NCB Capital Impact and the Cornerstone Partnership. With their support and leadership what started as system for three Washington state organizations has grown to be utilized by over a dozen organizations across the country. In 2012, there are plans to triple the number of organizations using the system.

A key benefit of having many organizations collecting the same core information is that a subset of the information is seamlessly transferred to a national sector performance database developed by Exponent Partners. This enables programs to compare themselves to their peers and contribute to the larger effort to measure the impact of the affordable home ownership program model. To ensure the program continues to grow, an affordable social enterprise funding model is in the final stages of development so that there continues to be user support and system enhancements. One key to this affordability is, of course, the generous 10 license donation that the Salesforce.com Foundation provides to qualified nonprofits.

Here’s a three minute video highlighting the system:

NPower is excited to be part of the development of this system. This project clearly demonstrates what a pivotal role technology can play in creating and advancing the greater good.

We’ll share more details in the coming months about the project process, the social enterprise model that will sustain it, and the positive impact it’s having on the organizations involved.

- Brad Struss

We all know that nothing is truly private anymore, and social media profiles can be career boosters or killers. As this Mashable Infographic depicts, 1 in 5 employers use social media sites to research job candidates. It's not always easy to figure out how, when, and what to share socially. Having a well-crafted and professionally applicable Twitter account can be a boon as you look to find a new job, make contacts in a new field, or educate yourself about various topics. However Twitter, Facebook, and other sites might also be the way you connect and communicate with friends on a personal level. How does one find the right balance between snarky updates about the most recent episode of “Project Runway” as opposed to great resource links, relevant news, and tips/tricks? Do you risk losing professional credibility if you tweet about meeting with friends at a bar for happy hour, or does that help provide a human connection point? When does the personal side of social media overwhelm the professional, or vice versa?

Ever wish your website and database would work together? At Humanities Washington that dream became a reality after engaging with NPower's web and database teams to integrate their technology tools for maximum efficiency.

The Humanities Washington team reports that staff efficiency has increased three to five times since their project wrapped up, and they continue to enjoy peace of mind knowing their technology is supported by the NPower team:

“NPower’s expertise and support have made a huge difference for Humanities Washington. With our technical problems resolved, we can focus on bringing outstanding humanities programs to the people of Washington State.”

–Julie Ziegler, Executive Director, Humanities Washington

You can read more about what we did for Humanities Washington and the impact it’s had on their work by viewing the full case study on our website. For more information on our web consulting and database consulting services, visit Our Services page on our website.

- Mandi Moshay