Back from Nicaragua January 31, 2006 By Steve Fafel

On Friday I spent some time at a music store and bought some instruments for the kids--a few guitars and some rhythm intruments, then spent the rest of the day at Casa Alianza. The kids gathered in the courtyard and we played a few Beatles tunes (the kids asked for Nirvana but I couldn't bring myself to play it).

Later I played basketball with a number of the kid. I'm in no shape to play anything at the moment, but we played for over an hour and I made it through with merely a sprained ankle and some cuts.

Nicaragua is in a little better shape than my last visit; it's a little cleaner, has better roads and more chain stores, and it seems there are a lot of new cars on the road. But the poverty is just better hidden, and the number of street kids has increased. There's hope, of course, as always.

On the way down I ran into some people volunteering for Operation Smile, and some others working on an orphanage in Matagalpa. As I left I remembered why I started Mission Research in the first place--it was after spending a ton of time in Central America and New York trying to help with human rights issues, trying to help nonprofits but not really finding where I fit.

I think this is it. Mission Research. Our mission is to support your mission. We make the tools for your work. And we make them affordable and easy to use so you can spend more of your precious resources on your mission, and less on technology. It's a great fit, and a fulfilling one.

NGOs in Nicaragua January 27, 2006 By Steve Fafel

Nonprofits outside the US are typically called non-governemntal organizations, or NGOs. About 5 years ago, I attended the groundbreaking of a building here for Casa alianza, a nonprofit that works with street children. My friend Andrea Campbell and I were there working on our documentary called Children in a Jar, about the plight of street kids (naturallightfilms.com) in Central America.

The building is fantastic. It was built from donations, but the biggest was from the Hilton Foundation, which has done a lot of great work around human rights and poverty in the third world. Nicaragua seems cleaner than before, less congested in a way, more orderly. The poverty is still here, just better hidden. Out of sight, but not out of mind.

In a few minutes I´m going to a music store to get a guitar for the weekend, and while I´m there I´m picking up a range of instruments for the kids staying at Casa Alianza. They could use the light that music brings. So can I--I usually play every day, but didn´t bring a guitar.

Anyway, I´m happy to say things have improved a little, but there´s a ton of work to be done. I´ve left a copy of GiftWorks and have offered it free to any NGO in Nicaragua. We don´t have a Spanish version yet--we`ll do that sometime in the next year. I`m looking forward to GiftWorks and our other products serving a broader audience. And I think it´s ok to make it free for the poorest of countries. What do you think?

Vacation January 25, 2006 By Steve Fafel

I've tried taking vacations several times over the past year, but none have really panned out. I always end up working--fun! This time I'm heading to Nicaragua and not taking a computer. I'm about to get on the plane in Houston...looks like a 3 hour flight. I've spent a lot of time there in the past, but never for vacation. This was a last-minute decision--got the tix on Saturday.

While I'm in Managua I'm spending some time at an NGO that works with street kids, then heading to the Pacific coast for a few days of surfing. In the meantime, check out the blogs over on the upper right. Lots of new articles going up.

Wish me luck!

The GiftWorks Community: Our Own GiftWorks Geeks Blog January 24, 2006 By Steve Fafel

To the right of this posting is a new category of links--GiftWorks Blogs. For Megan, Sarah, Chris, and Russ, it's their first time blogging, and they're getting the hang of it. Steve and Dave's tech blogs can be found toward lower right of the page under Developers.

I've been blogging since 1999, when I left Chilisoft, built a web log, and drove across the country, blogging all the way. I uploaded pictures, posted links--the whole 9. I didn't realize anyone else would want to do it. And I wasn't the first, by any means.

We're pretty focused over in the Community, talking about things that matter to us with respect to nonprofits, fundraising practices, and GiftWorks. I'd have to say we all love GiftWorks, but it's like any relationship--it can be a pain at times and there's always room for growth. We hope you click over to the community and participate in what's now the fastest growing software company for nonprofits.

Tags: nptech   blogs   giftworks   fundraising  

New Product Announcement? January 23, 2006 By Steve Fafel

I'd like to say I can give details, but I can't. Here's what I can say: GiftWorks Online will launch this Spring. What it includes is Online Donations (almost ready), Online Printing integrated with GiftWorks, Address Validation (convenient!), and some really cool Web 2.0 stuff. There's a lot going on...Sit tight!

That Necessary Techie January 17, 2006 By Steve Fafel

Yesterday I played tech support for a few customers. I can code a little, I know the software pretty well, and I can do anything from building PCs to using any application. But sometimes, I'm really not a good tech support guy.

So I was pleased when Chris and most of the rest of the company got back from the holiday! Now, fortunately for me, he hadn't put me on the support email list--unfortunately for him.

Most of the issues we get in support email are already answered over at help.missionresearch.com--that's the first place you should go to get answers. The discussion groups have a lot of customer input on issues they come across--another great place to go for answers. And you can send email to use from there, and we'll get back to you within a day if you dont' have paid support and less than a day if you do.

Some of GiftWorks isn't as obvious as it should be, and we're working on that. There will be a substantial update in the next few weeks. But we haven't improved everything. Next week we'll post some articles on the non-obvious stuff and try to make it more obvious. GiftWorks is really easy in most cases; there's nothing like tough customer use to point out the shortcomings. And thanks for that--it helps us be better for everyone when you give us feedback.

As for me, I'm going to finish my popcorn dinner and go home...so do you have a favorite techie?

nptech

Martin Luther King Memorial January 16, 2006 By Steve Fafel

Last year I had the honor of attending a performance of Kerry Kennedy's Speak Truth to Power at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. The performance is a collection of stories about human rights leaders around the world, some of whom were in the audience like of Rigoberta Menchu of Guatemala and Bobby Muller of the United States. Corretta Scott King was there, among other of the King family.

After the performance, everyone crossed the street to the Martin Luther King Memorial. People mingled with the celebrities who gave the performance along with the human rights workers who were honored. I took some time to walk around the memorial, refreshing my memory about the King legacy.

I was born in 1967; King was killed in '68. Since then, the country has gone through some significant transitions--some for the better, some for the worse. So many of our nonprofit customers are dedicated to working with the poor. America doesn't like its poor. Some among us villify the poor, denying the country has anything to do with its own poverty and that of the world. Katrina made it obvious, but there's so much more to it than that. Too much to go into here.

King stood for more than civil rights, he stood for economic, social, and human rights. Today is a good day to ask some questions as well as celebrate the man and his mission. Sometimes I wish many of our nonprofits had no purpose in this world, but this world demands their help, attention, and sacrifice. I'm thankful for your dedication to your missions;  at the same time, I hope they become unnecessary someday, because those problems will have been solved. Someday.

When the Power Goes Out January 15, 2006 By Steve Fafel

Last night fierce winds knocked the power out a few times. While my heat is oil (biodiesel!), my furnace needs electricity so it started to get cold really fast. My backup system kicked in--lots of blankets.

At Mission Research HQ over in our old tobacco warehouse, the power has gone out a few times during the year. While our production servers are hosted at a solid ISP, our internal systems are managed by us. We have a few UPS's (uninterruptible power supplies) that last for maybe 15 minutes if we're lucky. Half of us use notebooks, which switch to battery when power goes out.

The main problem with power outages can be lost data--losing your current work because it hasn't been saved, or because the data got corrupted when the hard drive shut down during a write operation--in GiftWorks, Excel--anything. That can be a real pain to recover from--it's worth getting the UPS.

Develop a backup plan. Backup your data regularly. Get an UPS for your work computers (you might need more than one). You don't need one with a lot of backup power--just enough to save your work and shut down safely. And don't forget the blankets!

backup  nptech  giftworks 

Tag this Tag January 13, 2006 By Steve Fafel

You know, I really haven't kept up on tagging. I should mention giftworks more and tag it more. I should tag every post with nptech. I'm not a very responsible blogger if I don't mention fundraising software, Raiser's Edge, and nonprofit software.

Tagging is starting to hit the early mainstream. The problem with tagging is you have to think about doing it--it's not automatic. Now THAT would be a nice feature--autotagging based on context.

For those of you wondering what I'm prattling on about, it's techie stuff. Web 2.0, sugar. It's the Next Big Thing. Tagging gives context to the web--your context. The community's context. It's a way for us to organize the web based on what we care about, not just on what we're presented with. So click on the tags, and see what comes up :)

Ugh...4:30 am already!

"Resistance is Pain" January 12, 2006 By Steve Fafel

Last year (2004) at the Social Venture Network fall conference, I spilled my guts about how tough it can be building a company, leading a mission--a classic feeling-sorry-for-myself moment. One of the folks I was hanging out with grabbed be by the shoulders, looked intently into my eyes and said, "Charlie, resistance is pain", and then smiled and patted me on the back. Indeed.

What is resistance in our nonprofits?

• Resistance to change--change is bad. "People don't know what they like, the like what they know", as they say in the music business. Change is good when it's good, and the challenge is recognizing when change is good. Invite change--not for the sake of change itself, but for your own mind to explore the value therein. Because resistance is pain.
• Resistance to others--we're sometimes threatened by others. We resist their instincts, their thoughts about our vision of the world, their own talent and how it might effect us. Invite others in; they come in because they want to, and that is generosity. And resistance is pain.
• Resistance to difficulty--facing up to difficult problems is hard. Firing loyal employees is hard. Hiring unknowns is hard. Asking volunteers to change or leave is hard. Taking risks is hard. Often I find relief in facing the hard choices sooner than later. I find relief in the resolutions. I find some peace in the clarity that follows the tough decisions. And some of the toughest decisions I have to make are about dropping my resistance. Until I remember: resistance is pain.

So stop resisting so much, resolve the tough stuff, and enjoy your days. I'm learning how.