Date/Time
Date(s) - 09/25/2018
10:00 am - 12:00 pm

Location
EMPath

Tech Networks of Boston (TNB) exists to provide integrated technology services to nonprofits and other mission-based organizations, and it’s our pleasure to offer you the Roundtable professional development opportunities.

We invite you to apply for a full scholarship to a two-part Roundtable on how nonprofit organizations can effectively combine storytelling with data in order to achieve their goals. Our featured guest will be Omar Rashed, director of systems and data management at Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation.

Here’s what Omar says about this pair of sessions:

“Tech Networks of Boston Roundtable: Write For Impact and Reach Your Goals”

July 17th, 10:00 am to 12:00 noon

“Stories are the most effective way to inform and influence decision makers, clients, and stakeholders. But storytelling is a difficult art to master. This session offers an effective and easy to use tool to craft powerful stories that can change the way you communicate with all people you contact – and maximize your connection with your audience and achieving your goals. You will have the opportunity to:

• Learn the effective tool
• See for yourself the power of applying these principles (and the disadvantage of neglecting them)
• Practice implementing the tool for relevant, real-life situations specific to your work,
• Collaborate with your peers and the facilitator to maximize your understanding and application of the tool
• Walk away with simple one-page references that will help you continue to use the tool on an ongoing basis.

“All nonprofit organizations can benefit from this session. Anyone who communicates with others to persuade, inform, or report outcomes will benefit from enhancing their communication techniques using the presented tool. People at various levels of the organization can benefit, whether development staff who craft messages for donors and funders; program staff who invite potential clients to participate in programs; data staff who report on outcomes; leadership staff who communicate priorities to the board, external agencies, and big donors. Communication is often cited as one of the most important skills in any walk of life and work – nonprofit, corporate, government, and beyond, and enhancing writing and speaking skills using the presented tool will help deliver impact in meaningful ways with the people you care about engaging.”

“Tech Networks of Boston Roundtable: Data For Impact With Different Audiences”

September 25, 2018: 10:00 am to 12:00 noon

“In the modern organizational landscape, quality data, metrics, and reporting are not limited to for profit or large organizations. Funders are consistently requiring more from nonprofits of every size – even small ones – to demonstrate outcomes, best practices, and to prove results to continue funding. In these shifting times, it has never been more important to implement sound data reporting practices, and to do so in a meaningful way that supports your organization, improves service for your clients, and continues funding to continue the important work you do.

“Data can be one of the most powerful ways of influencing decision makers, clients, and stakeholders. But there are two problems:

• Many people use data in ineffective ways, and so lose the opportunity to harness its power;
• Many people use data that is good for one group and expect it to be good for others, but different groups need different kinds of data.

This session provides an overview of principles and concrete examples of effective ways to use data for maximum impact. It then showcases how data can be adapted for use when communicating with different audiences. In the process, you will be able to accomplish more using data with the different stakeholders you work with and better achieve your goals. You will have the opportunity to:

• Understand the principles of effective versus ineffective data presentation approaches,
• Learn how to connect “numbers” to real stories (i.e. individuals) for maximum impact,
• Understand what “social math” is, and how you can use it to your advantage so your audience can understand and relate to the data instead of getting lost and overwhelmed by the numbers,
• See for yourself what impacts you can accomplish by telling a good story with data,
• Practice generating meaningful data presentations with relevant, real-life situations specific to your work,
• How to adjust data presentations to various audiences, including:
• Your board of directors,
• Clients,
• Funding agencies,
• Organization staff,
• Prospective donors
• Collaborate with your peers and the facilitator to maximize your understanding and application of the data principles for different audiences
• Walk away with simple one-page references that will help you continue to use these data presentation strategies and adaptations for various audiences.

“The people at the front line of data and analysis will be most helped by this training. Data staff, reporting staff, and development staff who are often tasked with presenting data will be helped. But beyond that, program managers will benefit from this training. More and more program managers are being pulled into the process and tasked with including data tracking into their systems. For those who are not data experts, this training will give insight into possibilities for data collection they can consider and implement in their programs. It also offers insight into designing programs and data tracking methods to provide needed data to continue operations and improve and deliver better results to clients. Executive leadership can also benefit from this training by gaining insight into which data is most critical, which data is optimized for various audiences, and how to communicate meaningfully using data to influence the development and continuing operations for the best. Data ultimately reflects the bottom line – outcomes for clients, continuing resources, and organizational strength.”

Here’s a little bit about Omar:

Omar Rashed is currently the director of systems and data management for Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation (CSNDC). His responsibilities include 1) using data to design systems of data capture, 2) reporting organizational outcomes and progress to major funders including Neighborworks America and United Way, 3) designing reports and visual dashboards to share outcomes with CSNDC’s board, staff, executive leadership, clients, and potential donors, and 4) optimizing staff systems to enhance ease of use, data usability, and relevance of data produced for achieving organizational goals. Omar brings a unique perspective to the data world, not only being interested in computers, data, and numbers, but being highly invested in people, relationships, and communication. Omar has also worked as a community organizer, interfaith collaborator, and neighborhood leader and advocate, and has utilized public speaking, written communication, and data to advance community and interfaith dialogue and goals. To Omar, data is a means to an end – delivering better services and outcomes to the people we care about, and simplifying and optimizing progress so data helps us reach our goals and doesn’t get in the way. Omar completed his Bachelor’s of Social Work at Rutgers University in 2007 and his Master’s of Social Work at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 2008, with a concentration in Social Policy & Evaluation and Community Organizing.

Please apply, using the link below by June 27th. Applicants will be notified of acceptance on June 29th. The application link will allow you to select if you are interested in both sessions, or just one.

Apply here.