Nonprofit/Small Business Consulting

What I do

bring practical tech skills and system analysis together to improve how small to medium organizations, nonprofits and small businesses work toward their vision.

Background

My background aligns me to work for nonprofits and small business, where I understand needs, recognize budget limitations, and can advocate for useful change. I'm finishing up my Masters in Social Work at UNC, concentrating on human services management, and completing dual certificates in nonprofit management from both UNC and Duke. I love people and mission-based organizations, but graduated from Duke undergrad with degrees in computer science and philosophy. In order to connect those two skill bases, I worked with nonprofits since before leaving college in human services capacities but often served as a technical advisor in the background. While I've lately worked for nonprofits, my first years were working in large, corporate settings... so I'm used to professionalism and the importance of measuring nonprofit effectiveness with tools from the for-profit world. I specialize in working for mission-driven organizations, bringing a young, professional eye to tech and perspective issues that will, in the end, benefit the staff and clients involved.

Services I Offer

clear website design

• While there are a number of fancy technologies out there, and each has the occasional appropriate use, websites I design are aimed for being simple and elegant. That keeps fancy modifications to a minimum and prices affordable.

• I take technical empowerment seriously. For the majority of updates, if sites are designed properly they can be updated by staff within the organization...especially if those staff are properly trained! With a background in both computers and social work, nonprofits, and communication I can translate "how-tos" to build web skills in the organization. That leaves just the advanced stuff for webby folks like myself... and keeps me from being overpaid for routine updates!

advanced website tuning

After websites have been designed (by anyone! Not just me...), there can still be a use for an advanced webmaster. Spammers run spider programs to walk the web and collect email addresses...if they're unprotected by webmastering techniques like javascript on-the-fly creation of email of addresses. If that fails, emails can be created on the server, hidden from those techniques. Server technologies (frequently free!) like SpamAssassin can be leveraged to hunt and delete spam already connected with accounts. Websites can be optimized to come up stronger in searches by use of hidden tags on pages... there's lots of fine tuning to do on most sites. It's important to make webmasters earn their keep from time to time. :-D

Higher Altitude Visioning & advising

Sometimes technology can be a limiting factor, mentally, in envisioning work an organization wants to do or new ways to do existing work. Visioning makes a difference...by putting aside how things are being done, and reconnecting to the image of a world changed by an effective organization, actionable, new pathways of organizational change can open up. Having concentrated in facilitation at a number of nonprofits and being an effective, compassionate communicator, I can coordinate asking the right questions of staff to draw out a future technology "wish list" and then begin to implement toward it. That can work well on board or staff retreats, or happen on the side with a collection of individual interviews collected into a report.

Technology / information system analysis

Many organizations have a working system... but the system might be a few years behind the work they really want to be doing. Wouldn't it be better, if possible, to have your technology align not only with work you want to be doing now, but work you hope to transition into in a few years? I can help identify places to make key transitions. Especially for organizations that people depend on, keeping the tools up to date can translate into more time for people. And to me, that's what a lot of positive work is really about.

Miscellaneous!

And I mean miscellaneous! I've work in developing custom database applications, advanced excel macros to collect and automatically clean team data, and wired a new school for phone and ethernet through their ceiling. I've been called in to clean computers of viruses and spyware or switch phone lines. I have a wide variety of skills... and if I can't do it, I'll appraise the project, tell you I can't, and unless agreed upon before hand, NOT charge you for the time it took me to find out. Who wants to pay someone else to have them say "I can't do it," really?

An upfront payscale

Just as organizations have different needs, so too do they have different capacities. Since class and wealth access is not unrelated to other intersecting oppressions and privileges, I believe in the use of clear and negotiable pay scales. Additionally, while nowadays advanced consultants for tech issues can charge upwards of triple digits, I try to keep my rates balanced between affordable and personally sustaining.

My rates depend on both what I'm doing and who I'm doing it for. I try to be affordable without undervaluing my services, and professional without overcharging.

These rates are guidelines and somewhat flexible. I also do one-time, project-based fees (like setting up a website for an organization and then turning it over). I have done and will continue to do a limited amount of donation of my services for worthwhile causes (please inquire if appropriate). Initial consultations of an hour or two are free.

Consulting Examples:

See a selection of the work I've done for a growing number of organizations.

Contact Me!

If any of this seems up your alley, please don't hesistate to to discuss how I can be of use in helping your organization better achieve it's mission.