Three Community IT Innovators executives hold an “ask the experts” discussion and Q&A. Our executives, with decades of nonprofit IT experience between them discuss the nonprofit technology trends we expect to continue to impact our sector this year. You’ll learn how to ensure your nonprofit is up to date on the essentials in a changing landscape. 

This is always one of our most popular webinars as we take audience questions on nonprofit tech.

In part two, we turn our attention to cybersecurity and cloud computing. CEO Johan Hammerstrom discusses nonprofit IT trends with CTO and cybersecurity expert Matt Eshleman and the ways cybersecurity safeguards and training are evolving as nonprofits suffer increasing hacks, wire fraud, and ransomware. Matt answers your questions on emerging threats, prevention, and staff cybersecurity training. Does your organization need a cybersecurity assessment or cybersecurity insurance? Have you taken our free self-quiz to see where you stand in cybersecurity readiness?

We expect cloud-based tech to continue to be the ongoing story of the modern office, for nonprofits as well as everyone else. Are you migrating to the cloud? Are you in the cloud but wondering if your team is utilizing all the tools you have, or has all the tools you need? Director of IT Consulting Steve Longenecker wraps up our discussion with his experience with cloud computing platforms, migrations, and implementations, and gives will have some insights for you on the best practices of your peers and forward-thinking nonprofits.

As with all our webinars, this presentation is appropriate for an audience of varied IT experience.

_______________________________
Start a conversation :)

• Register to attend a webinar in real time, and find all past transcripts at https://communityit.com/webinars/
• email Carolyn at [email protected]
• on LinkedIn

Thanks for listening.

Three Community IT Innovators executives hold an “ask the experts” discussion and Q&A. Our executives, with decades of nonprofit IT experience between them discuss the nonprofit technology trends we expect to continue to impact our sector this year. You’ll learn how to ensure your nonprofit is up to date on the essentials in a changing landscape. 

This is always one of our most popular webinars as we take audience questions on nonprofit tech.

In part one, CEO Johan Hammerstrom shares his experience and observations on the top technology trends that nonprofits are using right now. Whether you have outsourced or in-house IT support, if you are back in the office or working remotely for the foreseeable future, Johan and our Director of IT Consulting Steve Longenecker and CTO and cybersecurity expert Matt Eshleman  have some insights for you on the best practices of your peers and forward-thinking nonprofits.

As with all our webinars, this presentation is appropriate for an audience of varied IT experience.

_______________________________
Start a conversation :)

• Register to attend a webinar in real time, and find all past transcripts at https://communityit.com/webinars/
• email Carolyn at [email protected]
• on LinkedIn

Thanks for listening.

In part 2 of this podcast, our experts jump right in where part 1 left off and answer these remaining questions.

1. What are some of the key problems with how nonprofits manage gift records that make life hard for Accounting? 
2. Our donation/membership/grants are first recorded in the Financial Edge in our accounting office, then given to development to record in Raiser’s Edge.  Is this process being done backwards? 
3. What should we be thinking about when planning a CRM to ERP integration to help make sure the data flows properly?
4. We’re thinking about changing our CRM and/or ERP system to help solve our financial data flow problems. How should we approach this process? And what systems should we consider? 
5. Have you ever had two nonprofits who needed essentially the same application share the development cost?
6. What items in the new FASB financial reporting rules have the biggest impact on nonprofit GL structures and GL feeds from the CRM system?

Nonprofit organizations often enter and manage key financial data in places other than their accounting system—and require that the data flow into the general ledger.

But getting the data from those systems—for managing fundraising, membership, grants, or service management—into the accounting system is rarely as straightforward as we would like it to be.

Do you struggle to integrate data in your Development and Accounting systems?

Many nonprofits struggle to manage the entire lifecycle of financial transactions flowing into the general ledger from other systems. All nonprofits exert too much energy and time manually manipulating financial data inside or outside of their systems, performing duplicative data entry, exporting and importing data, debugging integration tools and processes, performing reconciliations, creating and maintaining reports, and responding to auditors.

While there are clearly technical challenges, often the heart of the problem is the need to reconcile the differences in requirements between departments – for example, Development and Accounting – where both have different but equally legitimate needs to view financial data in different ways.

We’ve assembled a panel of three experts with more than 60 combined years of experience solving just these sorts of problems for nonprofit organizations. As they’ve worked with the World Wildlife Fund, Bread for the World, the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, the Meridian Institute, and hundreds of other organizations, they’ve picked up a few things about how to establish leadership and operational practices, business processes, data models, and technology environments that work together in solving our clients’ challenges.

This webinar is appropriate for nonprofit executives, managers, accounting, development, and nonprofit IT personnel – and as with all our webinars, it is appropriate for a varied audience.

_______________________________
Start a conversation :)

• Register to attend a webinar in real time, and find all past transcripts at https://communityit.com/webinars/
• email Carolyn at [email protected]
• on LinkedIn

Thanks for listening.

Nonprofit organizations often enter and manage key financial data in places other than their accounting system—and require that the data flow into the general ledger.

But getting the data from those systems—for managing fundraising, membership, grants, or service management—into the accounting system is rarely as straightforward as we would like it to be.

In part 1 of this podcast, our experts shared our thoughts in answer to the following questions:

1. What are the differing viewpoints or priorities of Development and Accounting when it comes to managing financial data? 
2. How can we resolve misunderstanding between Development and Accounting about how to categorize gift records? 
3. Our chart of accounts is currently very complex and confusing, which makes it very difficult to map gift records to the GL for integration. Is there a solution? 

Do you struggle to integrate data in your Development and Accounting systems?

Many nonprofits struggle to manage the entire lifecycle of financial transactions flowing into the general ledger from other systems. All nonprofits exert too much energy and time manually manipulating financial data inside or outside of their systems, performing duplicative data entry, exporting and importing data, debugging integration tools and processes, performing reconciliations, creating and maintaining reports, and responding to auditors.

While there are clearly technical challenges, often the heart of the problem is the need to reconcile the differences in requirements between departments – for example, Development and Accounting – where both have different but equally legitimate needs to view financial data in different ways.

We’ve assembled a panel of three experts with more than 60 combined years of experience solving just these sorts of problems for nonprofit organizations. As they’ve worked with the World Wildlife Fund, Bread for the World, the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, the Meridian Institute, and hundreds of other organizations, they’ve picked up a few things about how to establish leadership and operational practices, business processes, data models, and technology environments that work together in solving our clients’ challenges.

This webinar is appropriate for nonprofit executives, managers, accounting, development, and nonprofit IT personnel – and as with all our webinars, it is appropriate for a varied audience.

_______________________________
Start a conversation :)

• Register to attend a webinar in real time, and find all past transcripts at https://communityit.com/webinars/
• email Carolyn at [email protected]
• on LinkedIn

Thanks for listening.

In today’s interview, Galen Wenger talks about leaving Community IT and our support during this transition, as he takes on a really big and really exciting new endeavor, starting a start-up. This new business developed software for Meals on Wheels and other meal and food delivery nonprofits to manage their kitchen, dietary specifics, routes, volunteers, and mapping. 

After volunteering for over a decade and serving on the board of his local Meals on Wheels in Lancaster PA, Galen stepped in to help with a software selection that turned up a real and pressing need for mapping and management tools for local meal delivery nonprofits. Galen Wenger's new endeavor hopes to serve that need with affordable software that is easy to implement. We couldn't be prouder. We will miss you Galen but we know from your work at Community IT that you will put your total effort into everything you do and we know meal-delivery nonprofits will be putting this software to work to deliver on their missions through effective use of IT.

Listen to the podcast to learn about Galen's new company, and hear from Johan Hammerstrom about this successful transition.

_______________________________
Start a conversation :)

• Register to attend a webinar in real time, and find all past transcripts at https://communityit.com/webinars/
• email Carolyn at [email protected]
• on LinkedIn

Thanks for listening.

In today’s Community IT Voices podcast, Carolyn asked several senior staff to reflect on the biggest nonprofit tech stories of 2022, and some of the undervalued or under-reported stories as well. You’ll hear from Carolyn, David Dawson, Senior Engineer; Saba Gebru, Director of Service Operations; Matt Eshleman, CTO and Cybersecurity Expert; Steve Longenecker, Director of IT Consulting; Johanny Torrico, COO; Nuradeen Aboki, Senior Engineer and IT Business Manager Consultant; and Johan Hammerstrom, CEO.

Join us for our series featuring interviews with Community IT employees. In this series, we talk about nonprofit technology career paths, career resources, skills, and certifications. We will also touch on mentoring opportunities as you start out on your career and ways to give back if you are further along. If you are wondering what it is like to work at a place like Community IT, you can learn about what our staff are thinking about and working on here.

We hope you enjoyed hearing Community IT Voices throughout 2022 and this podcast episode on the biggest nonprofit tech stories of 2022. Community IT is the right place for you if you find fulfillment in helping others succeed and love mastering new technologies.

Our employees stay and grow with us, and over half of our staff have been with us for over a decade. Community IT is an employee-owned company with a positive, sustainable workplace that promotes professional development and a healthy work/life balance. We have been 100% employee-owned since 2012. Check out careers with us here.

_______________________________
Start a conversation :)

• Register to attend a webinar in real time, and find all past transcripts at https://communityit.com/webinars/
• email Carolyn at [email protected]
• on LinkedIn

Thanks for listening.

Join us for our series featuring interviews with Community IT employees. In this series, we talk about nonprofit technology career paths, career resources, skills, and certifications. We will also touch on mentoring opportunities as you start out on your career and ways to give back if you are further along. If you are wondering what it is like to work at a place like Community IT, you can learn about it here.

In today’s interview, Carolyn talks with Rivel Koulle, Help Desk Analyst, who has been with Community IT over three years, about how he found this job and what attracted him to Community IT. Rivel answers the help desk phones, emails, and live chat and is the first person many people talk to when they have to get in touch for help. He was getting his Comptia A+ certification at Carlos Rosario International School in DC, where he met our CEO, Johan Hammerstrom, and knew he wanted to work at Community IT. 

Originally from Cameroun, Rivel has found community in DC and lots of support. His advice for aspiring IT techs is to get the certifications and find people to learn from who will help you grow confidence in yourself. 

_______________________________
Start a conversation :)

• Register to attend a webinar in real time, and find all past transcripts at https://communityit.com/webinars/
• email Carolyn at [email protected]
• on LinkedIn

Thanks for listening.

In pt 3 of this interview series on high tech and nonprofits, we wrap up our discussion about cutting edge technology with 3 nonprofit tech experts with decades of experience and a deep interest in tech innovations; Johan Hammerstrom, CEO of Community IT Innovators, Steve Longenecker, our Director of IT Consulting, and Nura Aboki, Senior IT Business Manager and Consultant. 

Johan, Nura, and Steve look into applications of Artificial Intelligence for nonprofits, from a chatbot who can answer questions while taking donations to on-demand images created by AI for your website or brochure, crafted to appeal to universal emotions. Nura also explores machine based learning and how forward looking nonprofits may be able to use this tech to save people from repetitive tasks in the future.

Is your nonprofit forward looking? Are you wondering what tech changes your nonprofit will be facing in the next 3-5 years and how embracing new technologies could enhance and support your nonprofit mission and goals?

Join us for a quick preview of where we think these technologies are going and how we expect this trendy tech to impact the nonprofit sector. 

In parts 1 and 2 of this series our experts discussed Virtual Reality and Crypto. You can find those episodes in your subscription feed or on our website.

_______________________________
Start a conversation :)

• Register to attend a webinar in real time, and find all past transcripts at https://communityit.com/webinars/
• email Carolyn at [email protected]
• on LinkedIn

Thanks for listening.

In pt 2 of this interview series, learn about cutting edge technology from 3 nonprofit tech experts with decades of experience and a deep interest in tech innovations. Johan Hammerstrom, CEO of Community IT Innovators, Steve Longenecker, our Director of IT Consulting, and Nura Aboki, Senior IT Business Manager and Consultant. 

We start by exploring the way offices are working today and the changes that modern nonprofit offices have gone through to work remotely or with hybrid set ups or hoteling desks. We then discuss a topic that all nonprofits have to pay attention to: Cybersecurity protections. We also delve into crypto, touching on how nonprofits want to be able to accept donations, and also discuss blockchain applications for financial transparency and transactions. What is the future of Docusign? When will we go entirely paperless and what will documents look like then?

Is your nonprofit forward looking? Are you wondering what tech changes your nonprofit will be facing in the next 3-5 years and how our offices will keep changing to address cybersecurity and financial risks? Are you conflicted about crypto's impact on the environment, but interested in the financial transparency behind the hype?

Join us for a quick preview of where we think these technologies are going and how we expect this trendy tech to impact the nonprofit sector. 

In part 3 of this series our experts will discuss Artificial Intelligence for nonprofits (AI) and Machine Based Learning innovations. Stay tuned! 

_______________________________
Start a conversation :)

• Register to attend a webinar in real time, and find all past transcripts at https://communityit.com/webinars/
• email Carolyn at [email protected]
• on LinkedIn

Thanks for listening.

Learn about cutting edge technology from 3 nonprofit tech experts with decades of experience and a deep interest in tech innovations. Johan Hammerstrom, CEO of Community IT Innovators, Steve Longenecker, our Director of IT Consulting, and Nura Aboki, Senior IT Business Manager and Consultant, discuss a topic that is getting a lot of buzz - Virtual Reality.

Is your nonprofit forward looking? Are you thinking about ways to use VR outside of the games you play at home? Wondering what VR is going to look like 3-5 years from now and how we might all be using it for meetings and trainings? Wondering if VR is a smart investment for your nonprofit or whether you should hold tight and wait for the technology to develop for the market?

Join us for a quick preview of where we think VR and Augmented Reality are going and how we expect this trendy tech to impact the nonprofit sector. 

In part 2 of this series our experts discuss Cyber, Crypto, and Blockchain, and in part 3 we'll talk about Artificial Intelligence for nonprofits (AI) and Machine Based Learning innovations. Stay tuned! 

_______________________________
Start a conversation :)

• Register to attend a webinar in real time, and find all past transcripts at https://communityit.com/webinars/
• email Carolyn at [email protected]
• on LinkedIn

Thanks for listening.