Every year, Fíonta exhibits and speaks at the Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC). Presentation proposals are collected online and voted on by registered users – voting is simple and we’d love any support. Additionally, check out all of the great proposals and help make ’18 NTC the very best!
Voting is open from 8/23 – 9/1 and you must be logged in to vote.
Proposed Sessions
Best Practices in Managing Email
When Enron Corporation was indicted in 2001, the legal proceeding produced the largest collection of email ever made publicly available for research. This dataset contains over 600,000 emails generated by 158 employees. This spawned many research papers on the use of email, and fascinating observations on the various methods of foldering, tagging, managing and using surfaced. In this engaging presentation, we will provide an overview of the various highly individualized methods in use by users of both Gmail and Outlook to manage email, and what tends to work and not work. Pros and cons of the various approaches will be presented and tips to reduce the time in processing / responding to / looking for email. Anyone / everyone who uses email will find at least one nugget to take back to the office with!
Learning Objectives
- The variety of ways to manage email
- Be more efficient / reduce time looking for email
- Best Practices in having email work for you, not against you
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How Machine Learning Hardcodes Bias
Cathy O’Neil’s seminal book “Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy” (9/6/2016) brought the issue of algorithms run amok to national attention. With Artificial Intelligence entering the mainstream, this technical presentation is timely. We will cover how machine learning encodes bias — from the selection of the training materials to the method of training and evaluation / feedback.
New machine learning algorithms automatically decide what factors to use to make automated decisions. For example, credit card spending limits may be set based on if the applicant shopped at certain stores – because the algorithms and training data may have identified this as a correlation, independent of if there is a causative relationship.
Algorithms are touted as being able to predict the quality of a school teacher, how likely a past criminal offender is to re-enter prison, or the creditworthiness of a person — however left to their own devices, these algorithms can entrench bias as clearly as redlining does. All the algorithms are opaque, operate on a large scale, and cause real humans real damage.
This presentation will combine hard technology with societal implications and raise everyone’s consciousness.
Learning Objectives
- To understand how machine learning algorithms hardcode bias
- To learn how to recognize this bias
- Methods for reducing the risk that algorithms provide biased results
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NAMI Case Study: How One National Nonprofit Improved Outcomes with Integrated, State-of-the-art Systems
This session is a case study on how the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) uses multiple, integrated technologies to manage programs, measure outcomes, and increase impact. The session will provide audiences with a “behind the curtains” view of the technology that supports three of NAMI’s major programs: (1) the NAMI HelpLine, a national call center for those impacted by mental illness; (2) NAMI Family & Friends, a small classroom style educational pilot program; and (3) Ending the Silence, a presentation style program delivered nationally to middle and high school students. Attendees will learn how NAMI’s forward-looking approach to exploiting state of the art systems (such as learning management systems for both volunteers and instructors, automated evaluation feedback loops, data visualization, social media feedback, and volunteer/instructor management) provided a scalable environment with greater impact at constant staff levels.
Learning Objectives
- Learn about a national nonprofit’s strategic technology vision and implementation, focused on integration between systems to improve performance
- Understand the trade offs within this strategic vision—for example, cost vs. staff time
- Explore how smart automation and design for scalability can increase productivity and save time and money
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What’s the Difference between a $5K Implementation and a $50K Implementation?
We all know that many nonprofits dont want to spend a penny more than they have to for a new website, fundraising database, advocacy system or technical support. When getting quotes from vendors, it is often hard to know what the difference is between the lower costs estimates and the higher priced proposal. This presentation, based on work with over 1,000 nonprofits over a 17 year period, will present clear and understandable information to understand what the difference in pricing can be due to, how to evaluate whether it is worth paying more to get more, and when paying less ends up costing more. We will present real market data on the range of what things cost — from websites to CRM system implementation, fundraising systems — and highlight the key contributors to the sometimes wide variation in pricing.
Learning Objectives
- Educate participants on what extra money buys you in a technology project
- Provide real life examples of what costs what
- Include tips for reducing risk when going with the low-cost consultant
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Thinking About Building Your Next Website on Drupal 8?
Are you on point for your non-profit’s new website? Then this workshop is for you! Learn how one national nonprofit settled on a vendor, chose a CMS, went mobile, landed on a user-tested URL, navigated a mid-course correction to Drupal 8, and managed the under-appreciated post launch “burn in” period. With fresh lessons learned on how to support agile development, and avoid getting caught in a waterfall, two marketing leaders from Enterprise Community Partners and a representative from their Implementation Vendor will bring this case study full of success and pitfalls, sharing what worked and what to consider in a major transition to your next-generation website.
Learning Objectives
- Vendor Selection, Technical Discovery, CMS selection, Drupal 8, RACI Model Project Management, Modified-Agile.
- Better communicate, manage and work together with an implementation partner on a big or small website migration to Drupal 8.
- Learn strategies and tactics to help manage internal teams throughout the process, and to survive the post-launch phase.
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