Picking up the thread from Alison’s post on unplugging, I am moved to share a few observations about what it’s been like to plug back in after a significant hiatus from the office and from interaction with technology.

Defining “unplugged”

The first part of July I took three weeks of vacation and went on a road trip with my family. We drove 2,000 miles and covered parts of the OR and CA coast, the Redwoods, Sonoma wine country, Palo Alto and San Francisco. I share this not to bore you with the entire itinerary, but to give you a sense of the scale of the trip and of how unplugged I was. I didn’t check work email after the first few days, there were long gaps in cell phone coverage, and I went 2.5 solid weeks without looking at a computer monitor except for educational displays at park system exhibits, and Facebook on my phone — which is a recreational break for me from my dependency on email at my desk.

The experience of being unplugged

I had some withdrawal pangs at first, but I eventually settled in quite nicely to the long view of magnificent scenery and the joys of real time conversation. Mostly I enjoyed focusing on one thing at a time, making me a case study for the brain research that tells us multitasking is impossible for our neural circuitry, and we end up shortchanging the whole list of things we’re trying to do at the same time. Like trying to talk with my partner on the phone while sneakily typing - it never works, I always get caught, and I have to rewrite anyhow. Why not just take a moment to talk? 

Plugging back in

Now I’m back at work, digging out my inbox and re-engaging with projects I put down for 3 weeks. A few observations stand out from my reentry:

The economy is taking a toll. Headlines in three weeks worth of the Puget Sound Business Journal include the closures of  Taproot’s Puget Sound area office and of Unitus, and “Foundation grants to stay down, survey says”. It’s one thing to live with the “new normal” day to day, but coming back and seeing the accumulated evidence is sobering.

NPower does great work for nonprofits. Reading the kudos and thank you notes that came in from customers while I was gone were a reminder of our expertise and of the quality relationships we build with our community partners. It made me proud.

Exciting times are ahead. NPower Seattle is on the brink of some exciting changes to our services and our service area. Technology changes fast, but there is staying power to that 12-year-old idea that a nonprofit providing technology solutions to the nonprofit sector could change the game. I am happy to be a part of making that happen, one focused moment at a time.

Though this announcement is not directly technology related, we offer it as a service to our nonprofit partners. (Credit to The Nonprofit Center in Tacoma for a snappy recap of the issue.)

The IRS has released the list of those nonprofit groups that face losing their exempt status because they failed to file their returns for three consecutive years. Organizations who have failed to file for the last three years and were supposed to back in May (which includes groups whose fiscal year ends on December 31) have until October 15 to file, so if you are on this list be sure to get in compliance. 

Some facts about the Washington nonprofits on the list:

There are 8,128 nonprofits in the state that are at risk of losing their exempt status

• 1652  of those organizations are in Seattle
• 427 are in Tacoma
• 198 are in Olympia
• 398 are in Spokane

Finally, it feels like summer. My family is looking forward to a relaxing weekend. The kids are headed to Mimi and Gramps’ house, while Scott and I enjoy a date weekend. As we planned this weekend, we thought we’d head out of town so we wouldn’t be tempted by our weekly chores. We love spending time together, but in a life that is consumed by family and work the pull to try and stay ahead is pretty strong.

This morning, as I was checking my personal email I came across a blog post asking “Can You Unplug?” (No judgment on what I read, please.) I’m afraid my answer is often—No.
To honor date weekend, I’m inspired to turn off my email, twitter feed and facebook status checking and enjoy some old fashioned downtime—I’m sure that I’ll be more refreshed and ready to tackle the world. Maybe you’ll join me in unplugging for the weekend? I bet the work will still be there on Monday.
-Alison

P.S. Wondering why we (the collective we) can’t put down our smart phones? It’s a psychological condition (not sure if that makes me feel better or worse) called variable reinforcement scheduling —read more about it here, Vacation Unplugging.

For two days last week, the leadership team at NPower dug in deep to build our team and expand our leadership skills. We were fortunate to be facilitated by the always on point Amanda Madorno of Roam Consulting. It was a terrific couple of days capped off with good food (we love the Meydenbauer Center), great conversation and of course a team of people who are dedicated to making NPower a success.

To prepare ourselves for our time together, we read The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni—a fable about a technology team. (For real, it wasn’t about us, though each of us saw characteristics of ourselves). We conducted a self assessment on the performance of our team. Turns out “we’re not that concerned with titles and status” but we’ve got some work to do “pointing out team members unproductive behaviors”. We spent time developing our team norms (be a Tigger, not an Eyore was one of my favorites), conducting an archaeological dig of our culture and learning ways to productively deal with conflict (We all agreed that conflict is hard, but is good and we are committed to saying all that needs to be said in our team meetings)

From the moment we walked in the room, it was clear to me that our team was committed to the mission of NPower. We’ve definitely got our work cut out of ourselves as we create and innovate new ways to provide optimal technology to our community, but I’m really pleased this is my team.

-Alison

PS-I had good intentions to take lots of pictures, but alas the only pics are of one of our team challenges. See if you can figure out the challenge.

NPower Seattle staff had the good fortune to sit down this afternoon with three representatives from the services industry for a discussion about the business of consulting. Panelists Kevin Mackey (Point B), Matt Joe (POP) and Ali Piyarali (Accenture) fielded questions about how to open the door to a productive relationship with customers, how to close the door when necessary, and how to incorporate new technology or processes. Thank you Kevin, Matt and Ali for joining us and for sharing your experience and suggestions!!

In closing, each panelist was asked to share one tip or piece of advice for NPower consultants. Here are the highlights from the closing remarks:

• Remember the mission of the organization you’re serving and let that guide you. Always come back to what it is they’re trying to accomplish and remember that when your work is on target, it will contribute in some way to accomplishing the mission.
• Technology is a tool. Start with the people. Technology plays a big role, yet consulting is essentially a people business.
• Trust your instincts.

NPower colleagues, please add your comments to fill in the details and share the highlights for you from today’s discussion.

A wild weather day in Seattle is the perfect time to be thinking about the other Cloud… the one that according to the folks at NTEN  “is much more than a different way of getting software; it will transform the way we create social change.” If you’d like to find out more about what that means, Holly Ross will be hosting NTEN’s March Ask the Expert Session with guest George Durham, Program Manager of Global Community Affairs at Microsoft.

Some of you will remember George from the brown bag NPower hosted earlier this month about Windows 7. Here’s another chance to hear what’s ahead and ask questions about how it affects you.

Learn more and register here. (FREE for NTEN Members)
When: Wednesday, March 31st, 11 am PT / 2 PM ET
Presented By: George Durham, Microsoft

NPower Seattle welcomes Alison Carl White as Executive Director, effective March 10. Alison has a proven history of successfully directing teams in the areas of program expansion and implementation, operational management, and diversifying funding support – all in an effort to address critical community needs.

Alison has served for the past six years as the Executive Director for Seattle Works, a nonprofit that helps people in their 20s and 30s get involved in the community. During her tenure at Seattle Works she led teams of Board members, staff and volunteers who positioned Seattle Works as a thought leader in the areas of volunteerism and generational leadership. She also revamped programs to achieve 20% growth and created a new fee for service program to leverage staff expertise that raised over $300,000 in 5 years.

A graduate of Leadership Tomorrow, Alison currently serves on the board of directors for United Way of King County and City Club.  In 2007, she was appointed by Governor Gregoire to serve on the Washington Commission for National and Community Service and by Secretary of State Sam Reed to serve on his Seattle Advisory Board. She was selected by the Puget Sound Business Journal as a 2005, 40 under 40 award winner.

Alison has the talent, skills and passion to lead NPower through its strategic refocus and into the future. She brings solid nonprofit management experience in program management and fundraising. Alison also understands the contribution that NPower makes. As a client of NPower Seattle while at Seattle Works, Alison appreciated the dedication and support that NPower’s team provided. She understands capacity building and how to describe the role that NPower Seattle plays in advancing our customers’ abilities to meet their missions.

As we welcome Alison, we bid farewell to Gregg Johnson, our interim ED since October. Thank you Gregg for leading us through this transition time and setting the stage for our continued success!

Last week, I linked to a study which questioned if nonprofits are using social networks to their fullest potential. Today, I came across a very informative report which shows actual statistics of how nonprofits and their fans are interacting on social networks, and it provides good advice on how to use that data for yourself. This report would be great for organizations debating which social networks to start using and to figure out how to set them up once you do.

In addition to the Nonprofit Social Media Benchmark Study, you may also be interested in this post which boasts “20 Mind Blowing Social Media Statistics“, which shows information about how many people are using Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn and how much they have grown recently.

While volunteers can be a great resource for maintaining or updating technology at nonprofits, they also can present unique challenges for nonprofit staff. We usually spend some time whenever we are helping a nonprofit set up a volunteer project to make sure that it is set up in a way attractive for modern volunteers, but that is only the beginning of making sure that the relationship works well.

Our colleagues at TechSoup recently updated their great manual for helping nonprofits use volunteers effectively on technology related projects. This is a great resource for anyone considering recruiting tech volunteers.

I wrote up a tip sheet on this theme a while back that may also be helpful for nonprofits considering volunteers for a tech project. The NPower tip sheet is something that I wrote up as I first started coordinating our volunteer program here, and is advice based around what I was seeing from the projects posted to our site.

If  you are looking to recruit a tech volunteer, consider NPower’s Volunteer Matching Service. Open to all members, this program allows nonprofits to post tech projects to our website to be reviewed by our volunteers. We do not have any opportunities currently posted, so your project will have their undivided attention. Here you can learn more about this program and post a project. Feel free to email me at volunteer@npowerseattle.org if you would like to talk about the program.

Happy New Year!  Hope that 2010 is off to a good start for everybody.

Before all the decorations are packed away and the last of the eggnog has been drunk, here are December’s most viewed posts from the NPowering: Nonprofit Technology blog:

• The Hierarchical Nature of Data: Discussion on how to take advantage of data hierarchy when using accounts and campaigns in Salesforce.
• Snow Day: Here are Suggestions for readying yourself for a work from home day due to inclement weather.
• Choosing a Future of Rejuvenation: Takeaways from Paul Light’s presentation at October’s Nonprofit Governance Conference in Tacoma.
• The Path to End of Year Fundraising Success: Resources and advice for improving the message and strategy of your end-of-year appeal.
• Windows 7 Evaluation & Upgrade Resources: Online nonprofit resources for evaluating and planning a Windows 7 upgrade for your organization, including guides from TechSoup, TechFlash, and Lifehacker.

P.S. Remember to check us out on Facebook.