Welcome to Colorado, Ben!

Ben's dog Hunter, saving up energy for the dog park!

We are happy to announce that our PHP Developer, Ben Phelps, has joined us in the beautiful state of Colorado!

Ben moved here from Muskogee, Oklahoma last week.  With a population 71,000, Muskogee is a bit smaller than Denver's size of 604,000!  Ben also brings another addition to our geographic region - his dog, Hunter.  We asked Ben a few questions about his experiences and arrival.

How did you get started in coding?
"My uncle gave me my first computer, but I really didn't do anything with it until my Grandpa showed me an Apache web server.  He was an embedded micro-controller engineer.  That's pretty much what got me interested in it.  I started playing around with it and making simple websites - my very first was on Webs.com.  At the time, you couldn't make anything dynamic or host a form, so I started looking for how to create one.  This is what got me interested in PHP.  I wondered how it worked.  To learn PHP, I went to Tizag.com and that's where I learned it, basically."

What are some of your favorite coding projects?
"I really like stuff that I don't know how to do.  On one project, I had to teach myself C/C++.  I liked that challenge."

What made you want to come to Colorado?
"I just like Colorado in general.  The mountains are beautiful and awesome.  It's a really good place to be for developers; the demand for software developers is really high out here."

How would you describe Hunter?
"He's my dog and my best friend.  He follows me everywhere - even around the house - and is afraid of everything."

What is Hunter looking forward to doing in Colorado?
"Hopefully going to some dog parks (if he doesn't freak out because of all the dogs)."


Welcome, Hunter and Ben!  We're looking forward to seeing you on more than just a webcam!

A Drop in the Bias

What's a perfect survey?  A Vulcan mind-meld.

Not kidding.  Basically, survey perfection doesn't exist because there is no perfect way to get people's opinions about a thing in a way that perfectly compensates for their mood, their environment, their vocabulary, and all the other factors that influence survey response.

We call these variables that distort the response from the true value (what's inside their heads) Measurement Errors.  Survey methodologists live life in the pursuit of reducing the risk of measurement errors as much as possible.  

Although it would be pretty difficult to eradicate them all, by knowing more about what Measurement Errors could be affecting your results, you'll have a better understanding of your results in general.

So let's look at one big category of Measurement Error - Bias.  There are a couple of different kinds of bias in surveys:  

(1) Response Bias

This kind of bias occurs when there is a systematic distortion of response.  What does this mean?  That some part of the way the survey is structured (delivery, question phrasing, topic) is consistently affecting the way people are answering the questions.

A classic example is surveys on illicit substances (topic).  People consistently (systematically) underreport illicit substance use.  So no matter how many results you collect, because everybody underreports, your totals will be lower than the true value.

(2) Sampling Bias

This happens when members of your Sample (the folks you invited to take your survey) have a reduced chance of being able to respond.  

A good example is sending surveys out over email (a popular strategy in the survey industry these days).  For folks who don't really use computers much, they'll miss out on the survey.  Ergo, your survey may be woefully lacking on folks who aren't computer savvy - and the particular opinions that this group may have.

(3) Nonresponse Bias

This is a close cousin of #1, but rather than Bias in the way respondents are answering your questions (systematically), this has more to do with the folks who did not respond to your survey.  Nonresponse bias is the difference in opinion between the people who did respond versus those that didn't.

For example, let's say everyone who responded is very happy with their experience.  And everyone who did not respond is not happy.  This could have a big impact on your results - they won't correctly reflect the portion of the sample that's unhappy.

In Summary

There are entire graduate courses on these topics, so hopefully you're taking this abbreviated version lightly.  However, if you keep these things in mind as you look at your survey results you can ask important questions like:

 - Does everyone who responds soften their answers because they love nonprofits (Response Bias)?

 - Are there people in our sample who can't access our online survey (Sampling Bias)?

 - Could our respondents be more/less happy than the people who didn't respond? (Nonresponse Bias)

You probably will never have clear answers to these questions - but taking the time to consider them will help you to better understand your feedback trends.

And...we'll keep working on the mind-meld.

Live long and prosper.

Using Feedback for Praise

It's really easy to "go negative" with feedback.

When I sit down with clients to review their results, very often I've seen them ignore positive comments, go straight to the criticisms and brood over what respondents didn't like.  In one case, it didn't matter that their campaign score was .7 points shy of perfect; they were concerned and frustrated by the two negative comments in the mix.

For whatever reason (and the reasons could fill tomes), this is part of our nature.  So I think it's something we'll continued talk about over the years with our feedback reviews - how to balance the negative with the positive.

Here's one way to keep your hand on the positive responses:  Look for reasons to reward.

Rewards and praise are great, right?  Everybody loves meaningful praise.  But in order to make it meaningful, you need valuable examples to point to.

Feedback can offer many of those examples.  So try looking at feedback as a pile of evidence of where your team is performing well.

For example, I recently reviewed volunteer feedback with a client.  As we talked, it was easy to focus on their volunteer program and how they could manage their volunteers better.  Yet, their respondents repeatedly mentioned the candor of the staff - their politeness, enthusiasm, consideration, etc.

Yes, there were things that the volunteer program could improve.  But there were also things that staff were doing really well - amazingly well!

A valuable way of using the feedback would be to share these positive examples at the next staff meeting with a, "hey guys - our volunteers love working with you!  Here's what dozens of them had to say!"  As a staff person, that's some praise I'd love to hear.  I'd probably even be more  energized and considerate the next time I interacted with volunteers.

So if you're tending to focus on feedback criticisms, take a moment to look for who you can praise.  Your team will appreciate the morale boost - and you will, too!

The Sun Always Shines in Beta

In a recent coffee meeting with Scott McDaniel of Survey Gizmo, he wisely cautioned me, "Katie, the sun always shines in Beta."

He's right.  To Scott's point, Beta can be a sun shining, happy, poppy-filled sort of place where it's tempting to stay a little too long to continue perfecting things.

Sure, Beta is full of the struggle of trying to nail down the application and get it launched.

But really, your Beta customers know you're in "Beta", so they don't mind the defects.  Your team of hardworking contractors or part-timers aren't completely reliant on the success or failure of the biz (yet).  Potentially, a start-up could remain in Beta for as long as the budget allows - continually tweaking behind the curtain of "we're not quite done yet!"

So what are good reasons to exit Beta other than budget?  Money alone has typically been a lame reason to do most things in my mind.  I'd rather strategize something before our bank account tells me I need to (as motivating as that often is...)

I'll give you a few of our reasons that have bumped up our timeline to launch:

(1) Defining does not = Improving

In start-up land, there's a big difference between defining your application and improving it.  Defining it is on the safe side of starting up - you're not quite sure what you'll be yet.  But improving is definitely on the launch side, a standard process that every company should engage in.  I realized we were beginning to discuss ways to iterate the MRP.  No bueno.

(2)  The big question is Sales

Given that we are pretty set on our functionality for launch, the larger questions we kept coming back to were related to sales.  How much?  How fast?  How many?  These are questions that can only be answered by exiting Beta.


(3)  Beta Customers are really happy.

Since we already have a set of contented customers, we're no longer exploring what it is they want out of the application, but how to deliver it better...which really gets back to #1.  If we already have happy customers, it's time to get more.


Thanks, Scott.

Unknown.  Us.  Leap.

The SMART Model for Setting Goals

Guest Blogger, Amy Maranowicz:  How to set valuable goals for the New Year head

It is a new year and time to think about the goals for your organization, yourself and your team.


Myth: We think our employees are high performers and intelligent enough to identify and achieve their goals without any input from me.


Reality: Survey’s consistently tell us they want their manager to:

• Assign the right work, aligned with their capabilities
• Provide clarity about work and goal expectations
• Set workable goals
• Provide time to achieve their goals
• Provide feedback/motivation on their progress

Creating SMART Goals is one way to meet both employee needs and accomplish your objectives for your non-profit.

What is a SMART Goal: Smart Goals describe what is to be accomplished - the value the effort of the goal will achieve. They are concrete statements that refer to the deliverables or outcomes as well as the timeframes to accomplish them. 

Flow of Goal Formation: Goals should be cascaded down throughout the organization. Employee goals should flow into the broader goal for the department/organization. Your employee’s goals should be different from your goals. 

Examples of Goal Categories:

•       Efficiency

•       Cost-Savings

•       Value-added

•       Process

•       New Opportunity

•       New Program

•       Evaluation of Existing Programs/Practices to an Enhanced Level  

Factors to Consider:

•       Typically 3 – 5 goals per year

•       Value the goal provides

•       Level of effort required to meet the goals

•       Amount of day-to-day work the employee already has

•       Scope of work they are currently doing

•       Potentially breaking down into sub-goals

•       Goals should be equivalent across your team

Testing the Goal You Wrote: Use the SMART process to confirm that the goal you wrote for your employee fits all the criteria.

 - Amy Maranowicz, Organizational Development and Training Manager

The Future of Doing More with Less

Guest Blogger, Cindy Willard: A tough decision may lie ahead - to do more with less, or less with less?

For years the Nonprofit Sector has lived by the mantra – Doing More with Less. In order to achieve this, we have paid staff below-market wages for their education and experience, short-changed capacity and administration, and gone without professional development. Amazingly, organizations and programs have continued to meet community needs and attract new employees. We have become strangely efficient in delivering services and programs.


Unfortunately, we are now in the midst of the Great Recession. Businesses now must make the kinds of cuts the nonprofit sector was asked to make long ago. They are reducing corporate entertainment, cutting staff and wages and consolidating offices. For the Nonprofit Sector, there are very few cuts left to make, and the needs are growing at a newly alarming pace. The world will not return to the same state as in 2007.  Many things will be different moving forward and the sector will need to adapt, not remain the same.


The old ways of doing things most probably will not work as society and the economy readjust to new realities. So how do we move forward? By letting go.


Think of it as a rock climber. For each move up the rock, one point of connection with the wall must be given up in order to advance. A hand or a foot must release and move. A choice must be made to leave the safety of a secure connection in order to gain a better hold, move upward and reach the ultimate goal. If a climber never wanted to let something go, she would never get to the top.


In order to adapt and embrace the new future, some programs, business models and even some workers, will need to change. We will need to release one foothold in order to gain a new stance.


Making tough choices has not traditionally been a “strength” for a sector based in compassion and service to others. After all, we serve customers with no obvious revenue model. However, in order to survive and eventually thrive, there may be a time for doing less with less. We cannot expect that staff can continue to take on more and more tasks each year. Or that we can continue to achieve efficiencies and reach program excellence while cheating support systems.


There are a couple of styles in decision making. I have a friend who made all his big decisions for an entire year using a Magic 8-Ball. He would ask the ball a question – such as, should I take a job in Paris? – and wait for fate to decide with responses such as “outlook good” or “ask again later.” If you’re trying to decide what to serve for lunch at your next board meeting, the Magic 8-Ball might be the right approach. However, if your organization needs to decide which programs to keep or whether to build a new facility, the Magic 8-Ball is a not a practical solution. 


Another alternative is a clearly defined decision-making model to help make choices that are in the best interests of an entity and that meet the organizational and ethical considerations to move the group forward. Agreeing to leave all options on the table, no matter how unsavory, must be a starting point. There are many models out there, and each organization needs to define and incorporate its own. But delaying decisions, or deciding not to decide, will be more damaging than making a tough choice and moving forward. Even if you discover another alternative as time moves forward, you can always alter course and take what the decision provided in terms of learning.


There are people involved in all of our work and lives are at stake. That makes making solid, good, tough decisions even more imperative.


"People don’t resist change, they resist being changed." – Peter Drucker


- Cindy Willard, Private Foundation Sr. Program Officer

Blues Buster!: Pamela Hawley adds a little levity

This installment is part of our weekly Blues Buster! series - funny, inspirational and real-life stories from within the nonprofit sector.  You can see all of our Blues Busters! on our website.

Pamela energetically answers the phone at 8:30am on a Monday morning. As she describes her most memorable moments in nonprofit work, she shares her views on life and leadership. In a nutshell; keep it in perspective, and don’t forget to laugh.

As Pamela relates, this view was shaped in part by her Father. She vividly recalls a painful time when her Dad turned to her and asked, “Pamela, what will it matter in 10 years?”

In 10 years, she thought? In 10 years we will have forgotten most of these small challenges, in 10 years what I’m working on today may not even be an issue.

Her father wisely reminded her that the significance of a current problem can suddenly be dwarfed by taking the long view. Focusing on doing our best and loving others are the main areas he recommended she focus on. Too often these important values are forgotten in the stress of a single moment.

It was in another tense moment, that Pamela brought her team out of the trenches with this perspective.

“We were in a team meeting, talking about a big marketing issue we’d been facing for months, and the team started to get really low,” Pamela describes.

Team members were exhausted and starting to become hopeless. Pamela describes how the marketing arrangment had been plaguing them for months and – point was – there was nothing they could do. They had done all they could, and it was time to patiently wait. The talking grew more and more frustrated, more and more down.

Pamela took some time to think about this situation and the low tone. In the afternoon, she asked the team for some time. As they turned her desks towards her, she thought of her father’s wise words…and the voice of Mitza Ditz.

Who’s Mitza?

A former inspirational boss? No. A spiritual guru? No.

Mitza Ditz is one of many characters Pamela recreates on stage. That’s right, this go-get-em CEO is also a Groundlings trained improviser. This particular character is a somewhat empty-headed administrative assistant who is gunning for a CEO position.

You can imagine the momentary shock the team felt when the high-pitched, squeaky and slightly New York voice of Mitza cut into the tension, coming out of their CEO, “You know guys, what will it matter in 10 years? Cuz you know there’s only so much you can do…and then you can’t do anymore!” A few smiles and chuckles filled the room.

Mitza continued through a rip-roaring pep-talk and then started bringing in friends, too. Pamela switched to another character – a 60 year old rough and tough truck driver named Shel Morgut.

“All right team,” Pamela chortled in a rough, baritone trucker voice, “we gotta keep driving…the most important thing is that donut at the next rest stop. Keep it in perspective!” Soon enough, the team had broken through their hopelessness and was, in fact, laughing out loud.

Pamela describes her motivations in that moment, “You know a good leader is someone who can focus on the team. They have a pulse, a read on how they are feeling. It’s someone who can implement the vision while looking internally at what’s going on inside people. You need to bring levity – both inside and outside.”

Unfortunately for me, I don’t have a boss who does stand-up in the middle of team meetings. And I’m thinking you might not either. But Pamela has offered a solution.

A special delivery just for Blues Buster readers, here’s an inspirational message from Pamela…I mean Ditza…I mean Mitza. May this help you to keep it in perspective…and have a laugh.












Pamela Hawley is the founder and CEO of UniversalGiving™, a web-based marketplace that helps people give and volunteer with the top-performing, vetted organizations all over the world. You can learn more about UniversalGiving at http://www.universalgiving.org/, and more about Pamela Hawley on her blog, Living and Giving.

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