tera wozniak qualls

Tera is a nonprofit professional, community member, and the original social citizen. She shares to learn, and share her stories as a young nonprofit professional and newlywed.


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Becoming the Best Possible Philanthropist | Tactical Philanthropy

The opportunity here is huge. Foundation giving makes up just 13% if US charitable giving. If you believe, as I would assume most foundations do, that their philanthropic knowledge is their key value rather than their raw capital, than the best way to leverage that value is by sharing it as a way of influencing more capital.

Having a lot of money doesn’t make you a great philanthropist nor a great investor. Knowing what to do with your money is the key to being a great philanthropist or great investor. Figuring out how to leverage your knowledge against the largest pool of capital possible is the key to being the best possible philanthropist or investor. Leveraging knowledge against the largest pool of capital possibly is exactly the approach Warren Buffett used to become the best possible investor he come become. Who is going to figure out how to apply this approach in philanthropy?

via tacticalphilanthropy.com

This is my last semester of my masters program in Nonprofit Management and I got the opportunity to study effectiveness of Community Foundation grantmaking, operations, and programming. One of the things I continue to find throughout my research and writing of my paper for this course, is that not many foundations, community foundations or not, are measuring their impact and effectiveness. Sean mentions this in his article and the impact foundations could be making if they were measuring their impact to make the greatest impact possible.

One conclusion I have found through out the research is the greater power foundations could be making through the measurement of their work. Think of all the work they could be doing, more effectively in their areas of interest.

There are foundations that are measuring their effectiveness, again as Sean has stated, but the conversation about evaluation and impact really needs to be pushed to the next level. All foundations have the opportunity to make real impact in their interest areas.

I like Sean's question of "Who is going to figure out how to apply this approach in philanthropy?" What do you all think?

What do you think? The End of the Middle Manager - Harvard Business Review

What does this mean for you? If you’re a middle manager now, you aren’t doomed to early retirement. But you must be prepared to make two crucial investments. The first is in acquiring and building knowledge or competencies that are valuable and rare—what I would call your “signature.” Without it you will become invisible, no longer propped up by the trappings of managerial life. Visibility will come not from the HR departments of the past but from the rapidly emerging guilds of the future. Some, like the virtual guilds Sermo (for U.S. physicians) and LawLink, already play the role of the medieval guilds by verifying skills and increasing knowledge.

The second investment is in developing new areas of proficiency, or moving into adjacencies, throughout your working life. But in the future not all deep knowledge will be valued the same. It is important to think hard about which competencies are rare and difficult to imitate and which careers will be most successful. My research suggests that advocacy, social and micro entrepreneurship, the life and health sciences, energy conservation, creativity and innovation, and coaching will be highly prized in the decades ahead.

via hbr.org

What does this mean for the nonprofit sector? There are organizations that have middle managers.

In my recent capstone paper for my Masters degree I discussed the flattening of organizations and the elimination of departmentalization of the sector. Through my research one of my findings was that departmentalized structures in nonprofit organizations limit strong communication about the environment and clients served through the programs the nonprofit organizations serve. Without middle management I could see a stronger communication flow growing throughout organizations and potentially increasing knowledge flow among employees who would increase their interaction with other departments.

What do you think? Is this a revelation? Will there really be an affect on the nonprofit sector if the position of the middle manager is eliminate?

Are you sold on you?

Yesterday at the YNPN of Greater Grand Rapids educational event, Personal Branding, Danny Beckett (CEO of Spearia) mentioned something that resonated with me.  He said, one of the most important aspects of establishing a strong personal brand is ensuring that YOU ARE SOLD ON YOU.  

Everything you present to the world, whether through social media or face-to-face networking (yes it does exist and will always be the most important way to develop your personal brand) you have to be sold on.  True belief in what you share with the world is important for transparency, authenticity, and building your personal brand over time. 

This made me really get to thinking about whether everything I share I am sold on.  For the most part I am. Through my blog I have made many transitions to things I am more sold on, in my career I am hunting for what really sells me, and in my personal life I seek true sales in everything I do. 

So, what are you sold on?  Are you sold on you?

Reclaim your Email Step 3: Color-coding and Action-labeling

Picture1

Over the past few weeks, if you are following the reclaim your email steps, you should have deleted and archived all that email you aren't really going to read again, and set up a good sorting system that will work for you. The next step to reclaiming your email is to set up color-coding.  

Most email softwares these days allow for color-coding, and you should be using it.  Setting different emails with colors based on your projects or sorting system allows you to pull out what you need, while working on a specific project, or take a quick glance at your email and realize which project(s) are taking up most of your email time.  This knowledge could help you retool how you are working with each project.  If you have a project where everyone's just copying everyone else in for the heck of it, maybe you need to transfer everyone over to using a project management software, where all your emails and discussions are captured in one place.  This would help you avoid getting all the emails you don't really need to read. 

This is just one example of how color-coding could change your email life.  I recommend using color-coding for the following reasons, all of which have helped me tremendously. 

Sorting emails
This has already been discussed at length above, but it's important.  When I am setting my time during the day to work on specific projects I have realized that with color-coding I can look at my email and only answer or read the emails about that project, without focusing on others.  This makes my time feel much more productive.  If you can set up emails about projects or from important individuals to be labeled a color as soon as they enter your inbox.  This will help with initial email reading as well. 

Action Items
Outside of color-coding emails, labeling emails with a bright "action" color, like red or orange, helps to keep important emails at the forefront of your inbox.  I have a label for "to-dos" and "reply soon" emails.  These labels help me to keep straight what I should be answering first.  

Quick tip: If you have read an email and answered it, add it to your sorting system where it goes immediately.  If you need to answer it later or perform an activity, label it with the needed color and leave it in your inbox. 

Find a color-coding/action-labeling system that works for you.  I can't promise 100% email ease with this system, but I can promise you are moving a step towards achieving email zen. 

Now that you have set up color-coding, the next and hardest step for me, is touching each email only once.  This isn't always possibly, but I often find myself not answering emails I could have easily answered immediately.  More to come on this in Step 4.

 

Paper vs. Computer Note Taking Update

A few weeks have passed and Evernote and I have had our ups and downs.  When I first started using Evernote I knew there would be a struggle of whether or not I could give up paper, today I can tell you I still haven't decided.  What I am using now I consider a happy medium, although I have been writing down much less.  

Throughout the last month of using Evernote I have learned a few things.

I still need to right down my thoughts and use paper in meetings.  
There are many times when I am in a meeting or waiting at the doctor's office, where I have a need to write on paper.  Putting thoughts on paper is a great way to process some of my audacious ideas and work processes. There will never be an alternative for paper in these circumstances.  

It takes a little bit for Evernote to become habit.  
When I first began using the tool, I would often forget I had the option when I was about to write a to-do or a note not to forget. Now I open Evernote every time I turn on my computer and am using it quite regularly.  Apparently the rule of using 16 days (could be more, could be less) in order to get in a habit works. 

Using a software like Evernote is great for never losing notes.  
I already use one notebook for everything [link to past blog if there is one], but having a computer version I can get from any computer, online, or on my iPod is great for bringing notes to meetings, remembering random passwords, and keeping track of ongoing lists.

Keeping track of my tasks is helping with my productivity.  
Thanks to a great comment on my last post, I have begun using Text Expander to keep track of the amount of time each task takes me. When I first started keeping track of all my work activity, I thought it might make my day go slower.  In fact, the opposite happened.  Keeping track of what I'm up to has helped me stay on task and realize regular times through out the day I need to work on certain tasks.  

Overall, Evernote has helped me with being more productive throughout the day, cleaning my email, keeping lists for projects on my to-do lists, tracking agenda items for future board meetings, and maintaining a list of some of my audacious ideas. 

I would recommend to anyone to start using it, who is looking for a more productive way to keep track of every day tasks and work items.

 

It's Official! The Nonprofit Millennials Blogger Alliance

Over the past few months 10 nonprofit millennial bloggers have been blogging on different themes.  Now it's official, we have a website!  

The Nonprofit Millennial Blogger Alliance is an alliance of just what the name says, nonprofit millennial bloggers, looking to spike conversations about the nonprofit sector and the millennials working within it.

The Alliance includes:

Colleen Dilen - www.colleendilen.com,
James Elbaor - jameselbaor.wordpress.com,
Kevin Gilnack - kgilnack.wordpress.com,
Trina Isakson - www.trinaisakson.com,
Allison Jones - www.allisonj.org,
Elisa M. Ortiz - elisamortiz.wordpress.com,
Ben Sheldon - www.island94.org,
Rosetta Thurman - www.rosettathurman.org,
Tracy Webb - www.blackgivesback.com, and
Myself.

Check out all our posts and more information about the Nonprofit Millennial Blogger Alliance at www.nonprofitmillennials.org.

The day I almost said "we've always done it this way".

from http://www.flickr.com/photos/flydime/3680511919

There have been many articles recently focused on Millennials growth into the professional sector.  Just out of college it's easy to have a skewed sense of what the work force is really like, and many Millennials have been touted as idealists and ungrateful for their careers.

There are obvious differences between Millennials and their older counterparts in the workforce, but even Millennials adapt to the workforce as time goes on.  The challenge for Millennials is going to be to keep their different ideals/values present in the workforce as they grow into it. 

This is tough.  I've even found myself talking about students or interns saying "we all have to do it" or "we all have to pay our dues".  In a stressful work environment it's easy to fall into this mantra. Give interns, students, young employees the easy tasks, right?  

This, however, is not going to help to shape the future of the sector as we would like it to be.  A sector where every individual is contributing to diverse conversations and innovation is thought of as the norm.  Everyone, no matter their age, is capable of contributing to conversations, and taking risks can pay off in the end (even if we learn from a mistake). 

Instead of giving your students/interns the easy tasks, like handling social media just because their "young and know more about technology", try providing them opportunities for growth.  Growth can take time, but will be worth it.  

Just recently I began to work with one of our students on writing some of our marketing and communications pieces.  I gave her one article to work on, we walked through do's and don'ts, and she learned from her mistakes.  Now she is writing much more.  There is still room for growth and confidence building for her to make her own decisions on things, but we will get there if I continue to provide her opportunities for growth. 

My own challenge to myself is to continue to check the things I say against my own values, and to not allow myself to fall into what is easy.  If I don't, before I know it, I'll be quoting, "we've always done it this way."  I don't even want to think about that.

 

Represent your Mission in Pictures

GOOD Magazine does an amazing job of presenting infographics of the world's biggest issues, pop culture, and other discussions in the news. 

(download)
There infographics tell strong stories through symbols, pictures, text, and numbers.  

In the nonprofit sector some of our greatest strengths is stories.  Infographics are a strong way to depict these stories and the images of our organization.  

What images could you portray about your work?

*Job seekers, what about a resume addition made completely of images about your career?

Reclaim your Email Step 2: Set up a Sorting System

Now that you have deleted and archived all your old emails, the next step to reclaiming your email is to set up a sorting system. 

If you use GMail sorting might not be an issue.  The search function is now comprehensive enough that finding old emails is rather simple.  I use GMail too, but I still set up some basic folders for easy sorting.

Sorting_labels

The one rule I like to follow for sorting is ...

Keep it broad!

Don't narrow down your folders too much.  Most email clients have some type of search function that will help you find what you need in broader folders.  If you narrow them down too much, you might lose where you put an email.  It's kind of like putting the most important paper on your desk in a place you won't forget about it, going to look for it two months later and never finding it.  If you had a bucket labeled important papers, work, or Project 1 instead of sorting them by name, date, or piece of a project you might have been able to find it.

Make a list of all the projects, people, and organizations you recieve emails from or for on a regular basis.  Group everyone/thing on list into larger groups and go from there. 

Look for step 3 on color-coding and action-labeling soon.

Confession.

I'm a Millennial and I

  • Like talking on the phone and think that sometimes making a call is easier then email.
  • Use full sentences and grammar when texting and participating in social media.

It's true!

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