How are YOU Working Smarter Not Harder? Let's Learn Together!
Hi Compass Community!
My name is Rachel Myers and I have been working with the great team at Foundant to create a new learning series in response to this critical question: How can you release some pressure and create more space to work on what is most important to you and your organization? SPOILER ALERT: It is NOT about doing more; it is actually about doing less—to allow you to focus on what matters most.
Our Work Smarter, Not Harder series will launch with a webinar on January 18th. Please join us by registering here:
In January, February, and March we will share podcasts and blogs that dive deeper into: Prioritization 📋️, Having Great Meetings 👩💻, Leveraging Technology 🖥️, Time Management ⏱️ and Getting Work Done 🗂️. If you are interested in being featured as a guest speaker on any of these topics, please email Foundant Marketing Content Manager Kristin Laird (kristin.laird@foundant.com).
We want to learn from you! This series is designed to help us all learn from each other so that we can take back our time—and take on our biggest priorities! To kick off this conversation, I'm curious to know what new idea 💡, system, tool, or approach you have implemented in the past year that is saving you time and energy? What is working well for you? Please share below!
I'm looking forward to learning with you!
😁 Rachel
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Here are a few things to that come to mind:
- We did a major cleanup of our funds - fund groups (types), subgroups and divisions. This was worth the effort because now the FUND SUMMARY report works beautifully for us!
- We did finally implement STRIPE and e-receipts - this has gone really smoothly for us. We were nervous about it but definitely has improved our processes and efficiencies.
- We are using CAMPAIGNS to manage a fund that is membership based - seems to be working well and should be much easier to track membership (who has paid, who hasn't, etc.).
- We have a small competitive grant program, and we utilize opportunities to manage the steps of this program. (We do not use GLM and we are not big enough to justify the cost).
- We manage our BOARD TERMS through CSuite a couple ways to track and use the information easily.
- We try to use parent/child organization, profile links, etc. We are not consistent, but this is helpful to understand relationships and to find information easily.
- I created a custom report to monitor FUND ACTIVITY (basically a report to find inactive funds based on our criteria). This makes the annual review of these much easier.
- I created a custom field for FUNDS to manage endowments and their distribution directions (is it automatic distribution, need to make a request, is it DAF directed, is it BOARD directed, etc.). Every year that same question came up and we were spending time trying to locate what was what - now I have a custom report so I can easily get this information!
- We learned recently about the tool to assign a specific letter template to a fund - this is AMAZING and reduces errors and is a value added service for our fiscal sponsors! I didn't know this existed before.
- We have used BULK UPDATE for profile changes - I think this is a good tool but intimidating to use. I'm sure many Foundations would love to know more about it for cleanup projects.
- We hope to move toward e-receipts for cash/check donations - would love to hear others process/success with this.
- We hope to move toward e-notifications for fund statements (or at least move SOME fund advisors on this). Would love to hear how others handle this.
- I would love to know how others successfully manage duplicate profiles.
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Mandi - that is an impressive list! Sounds like you are leveraging CommunitySuite in all kinds of helpful ways to save time and energy. Thanks for sharing!
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One of the most important lessons I have learned during my career is the importance of being intentional about everything that I say "yes" to and to everything that I say "no" to. This has been a hard one for me to master - and I'm still working on it! Maybe you can relate? 😉 The key thing to remember that every time you say "yes" to something new, you are unintentionally saying "no" to something else on your plate - which is okay, as long as you do it with intention.
This terrific article, "Saying Yes to Saying No", from the Harvard Business Review shares some helpful insight into this strategy:
One of my favorite takeaways is to "Make 'no' your default answer." The author suggests creating a few criteria that a new opportunity or invitation must meet in order to move from a 'no' to a 'yes'. Two other key ideas from the articles are to set your intentions and prioritize your commitments. It sounds like a good way to start off 2023, doesn't it?
How do you say "yes" to saying "no"?
#worksmarternotharder
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Mandi these are some excellent ideas! I particularly like #8,
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Hey Compass community!
I wanted to share this short summary video with some tips about how you can leverage your technology to work smarter, not harder. Click here if you would like to listen to the whole podcast, or read more about how to make technology, your friend, not foe:
I'd love to hear what technology or software you and your team are loving right now. The software tools that I've been leveraging lately are Canva and Loom (I made the video above with Loom!). I'm also a fan of Jamboard, which is a simple online whiteboard by Google.
I'm so curious to hear what technology others are using and loving!
:) Rachel
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Hi Compass community! We just posted a short video summary and blog post on how to use Prioritization to work smarter, not harder. Both the video and the blog post are based on a wonderful conversation that I had with @AndreaStevenson on a recent Connected Philanthropy podcast. Andrea and I have both worked as Executive Directors and staff members at nonprofit organizations, so we know firsthand how many different priorities and opportunities you are juggling! I hope these resources - including a sample strategy screen - will help you to make more time for the work that matters most!
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Hello Compass Community!
I wanted to share a link to the podcast we just posted featuring a conversation I had with @SammieHolzwarth about Time Management and how to avoid (or at least reduce) something I call "calendar panic". You may have experienced "calendar panic" when you open up your calendar for the day and realize that there is little to no room in your day to move your priorities forward! 😯 We've all been there. Here is a short video summary with some of the highlights from the podcast:
We would LOVE to hear how you all are taking back your calendars and making the most of your precious time!
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Hello Compass community!
I wanted to make sure that you all saw the recent blog post about Planning & Facilitating Great Meetings. As a consultant, I have spent a lot of time working with clients to plan and facilitate meetings that identify their organizational values, evaluate their strengths, challenges, opportunities and threats, and bring together staff members and board members to work collaboratively towards important goals. Through these experiences, and the hundreds of meetings that I have facilitated, I have found a few tools and frameworks that are extremely useful in designing more effective and engaging meetings. I shared some of my learnings, in the recent podcast about Having Great Meetings, and you can get a sense of what we discussed in this short video summary:
As you know, meetings are essential to moving projects forward, discovering new solutions, and creating clarity and momentum. I also believe that most meetings can be more effective and satisfying for all of the attendees. One of my most important tips is to become clear about the purpose of your meeting before you do anything else. I have started to write a "Meeting Purpose Statement" at the top of every agenda to make sure that I have clarity around why we are coming together for this meeting.
What tools have YOU used to create more effective meetings?
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Hey there! I know that all of you have a lot to do and limited time to get it done. You might be interested in checking out the recent podcast I recorded with Aarron Szsalscinski about Agile—a collaborative project management framework that enables creativity, flexibility, and efficiency. We discussed the different techniques and advantages that Agile can provide to help you work smarter, not harder. I learned a ton - and I hope you do, too! Here is a short summary video with some takeaways:
Don't miss this blog article as well! I'm curious if any of you have tried using Agile and how it has worked for you? Share your insights!
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