2021: The Year of Sharing

Last year (as in, about 2 weeks ago), I wrote about the kind of loneliness that can be felt when there is a gap between how you want your tech to work for you, and how it is actually working (or not working). That is all about your relationship with your tech. This year, I want to talk about our relationships with each other, and how those relationships can be a driving force for how well our organizations will use data & technology for our missions.

I got a little excited about this when I mentioned in it my Tech Talk in the Woods video: Everything I know about nonprofits, data, and technology is a direct result of someone else making a decision to share. In the brightest and most hopeful of moments during a dark year, we saw organizations and people share what they had with each other knowing that it is worth the investment of time and capacity to do that sharing. 

This year we should focus on building a sharing culture into the very fabric of our organizations and ourselves to keep these bright and shiny moments happening frequently and consistently going forward.

Sharing in the world of nonprofit data & technology is essential and comes from an abundance mindset. There is no person in the world who can know everything about every technology available now and all the new ones coming out daily. But more importantly there is no single one right answer to how to best use data & technology for your mission. From the most beginner user of a technology to the most advanced and experienced, we all need to lean on each other for knowledge and skill.

Sharing our successes and failures helps others learn faster and spend more time building on what already exists within and outside of the organization.

There is no work that we do that will be diminished if someone else learns from it and maybe even tries it, too. Knowledge is abundant, so we should share it. And let’s be honest, nonprofits don’t have the money and change-makers don’t have the time to re-invent anything. Starting from scratch can be scary, and there is always a to-do list that is longer than what any of us have capacity for. Having a sharing culture that can emphasize and “operationalize” sharing as much as possible will save time, money, and capacity that might otherwise have been spent on how data & technology is used in your organization. 

When I think about sharing, I think of how the poet Ross Gay has said that “...it's a negligence if people don't take the time to honor the things that they take delight in, but more importantly, that they share the things that they take delight in. And if you don't do that, there's a loss there. You have to do it to achieve humanity. You have to share delight.”

My question is, how are you delighted with the use of data & technology for yourself and at your organization?

If that seems like an odd question, don’t worry. Delight isn’t most people’s first association with data & technology. But it should be. The use of data & technology for mission-driven work needs to be delightful. Because honestly when it isn’t it is such a shit show. It can derail change-makers, waste hours of work that should be spent elsewhere, sap confidence and security from people who are used to making bold change in their communities, and undermine or at the least slow down the achievement of an organization’s impact. Fuck that.

Make your data & technology delightful. Then, share it.

How?

We’re in luck. The more that we share our skills, knowledge, and examples, the more our data & technology becomes delightful. That is because people in your organization will understand it better and feel more confident engaging with it. That is key to having a great Data & Technology culture at your orgs, but that thought is for a whole different article.

You and the organizations you work with may already have a great sharing culture - and if you do, please share it with the rest of us in the comments or by sending me an email so that I can highlight your awesome work for everyone to be inspired by. I’ve picked a few ways of nurturing a sharing culture for nonprofit organizations with their data & technology, and would love to add yours to the list. 

If you want your organization to have a sharing culture with data & technology, you should embrace these internal and external actions and resources, and support your staff in embracing them as well. Click on each resource below for the full infographic:

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I’m making sharing a focus of my work this year. Here are a few ways that I plan on sharing about nonprofit data & technology in 2021:

WORKSHOPS		EXPERIENCES
Every person working in a nonprofit has to use Excel (or Google Sheets) at some point. It is such a common tool to support mission-driven work - and everyone using it should feel confident that they are in charge of their spreadsheets, not the other way around. Every 3rd Wednesday of the month I’ll be hosting a confidence building interactive skills workshop called “Beginner To Advanced: Counting in Spreadsheets”. During this session you’ll start with counting on your fingers and end with using PivotTables, but the journey from beginner to advanced in spreadsheets is about much more than any technical skills. This workshop is designed to build your confidence and give you the mindsets and processes you can use to do anything with Excel or Google Sheets. Use this link to register for any of the upcoming workshops.		There are many parts of our digital lives that we work with every day, and can either be supporting our work or slowing it down. Email, browser tabs, handfuls of applications to sign into, endless to-do lists and places to keep them...these technological miracles are supposed to be helping us move faster and more efficiently in our change-making. But too often they are slowing us down or overwhelming us, keeping us away from the far more important work that we are meant to be doing. NOT ANYMORE. You can have control over your digital life. The last week of each month I’ll be running the 5-Day Shut Down Your Computer at Night Challenge. Having your digital life under control means you can shut down your computer at the end of the day and feel good about starting it up again the next day. Use this link to learn more and register for any of the upcoming sessions.

NEWSLETTER		BLOG
A monthly newsletter sharing thoughts, musings, resources, and inspiration for making data & technology work for you. Sign up to get it here.Use this link to register for any of the upcoming workshops.		You are here!

VIDEO SERIES		EXAMPLES/CASE STUDIES
Two video series for quick info and skills sharing. Subscribe to Tech Talk in the Woods and Tech Tips in the Car to know when new videos are released.		Examples and case studies of the successes and missteps of nonprofit organizations using data & technology - and what they learned along the way.