Tech Round-Up: Tools for Going From Good to Great

From organizing tasks to coordinating social media, the team here at Cause Communications takes advantage of a vast array of resources and technologies – while also helping our clients adopt relevant tools in their own day-to-day. As an intern, I get to see and experience this firsthand, but I grew curious about what tech resources really make a difference in their lives. So I recently sat down with a few of my colleagues to see how they’re keeping up with the ever-evolving landscape of technology, better understand what applications they are using to make our work more effective and efficient, and gather some tips that you might want to try. I also learned about their favorite apps outside of the office; from getting good deals to creative inspiration to interacting with the world around us. Here are some highlights from those conversations.

Jessica Truex

For many nonprofits, the thought of adopting new technologies can be daunting – especially due to the upfront costs and time required to become proficient. Jessica, our project manager, believes that investing the effort into researching and training in the appropriate applications for the specific needs of an organization pays off in the long-run. For example, Raiser’s Edge, one of the nonprofit sector’s most popular and comprehensive fundraising tools, might require 18+ hours of training to become proficient; but it can save hundreds of hours of writing thank you notes, keeping track of funder information, and managing various campaigns.

In the mornings, Jessica checks What the Forecast?!! to give her a heads-up on the weather and a little laugh to start her day.

Jennifer Archie

As our Operations Director, Jennifer makes sure office operations run like a well-oiled machine, so that we can focus our attention on helping our clients use communications for good. One of the primary tools Jennifer relies on is a database suite called QuickBase, which helps the entire team manage our time, stay organized, and assess our efforts. Similar to the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or project management software you may be using in your own organization, our database allows our team to be more synchronized, productive, and adaptable to the needs of our organization – and to the clients we serve.

When she’s not leading operations, Jennifer likes to take advantage of an ensemble of applications that help her get great deals on food and drinks like Cartwheel and OpenTable. After a heavily discounted dinner out, Jennifer enjoys chatting with her best-friends and husband by sending video messages using Marco Polo.

Jenna Schweitzer

Jenna is our Senior Designer here at Cause, so she utilizes a variety of programs to create compelling designs and presentations. The Adobe Suite is her bread-and-butter where she takes advantage of the powerful and interconnected tools at her disposal. While they can all ultimately can produce similar results, picking the right tool for the job allows her to work efficiently and effectively. So she uses Illustrator for logos, Experience Design for website layouts, and InDesign for printed materials. She also prefers to work in Keynote over Powerpoint, citing that Keynote’s interface is more intuitive, the styles are crisper, and the program offers her more freedom to craft the overall aesthetic of the presentation she’s creating.

Jenna is always looking for creative inspiration, so she browses DesignInspiration.net and Instagram for designers like the crazy Mr. Doodle!

Vanessa Schnaidt

Our Group Account Director, Vanessa, oversees our accounts and often helps clients assess what tech tools are right for them. When nonprofits are looking to incorporate new resources into their work, Vanessa encourages them to do their research to make sure the specific platform aligns with their organization’s goals and needs, while also being clear on what features and functionality are a “must-have” versus a “nice-to-have.” Her advice to anyone looking at adopting new technologies: these tools are meant to assist your organization’s efforts and support your larger goals, but are never a replacement for communications strategy and building real relationships.

In the evenings, Vanessa enjoys listening to podcasts on the KCRW app. Check out a couple of her favorites: Good Food or Art Talk.

Chris Alves

Chris leads branding, marketing, and campaign projects for our clients, so tools that support innovative thinking and creative solutions are key for him. Chris complements his use of the Adobe Suite with various smaller programs to streamline his tasks. Especially when working with others outside of the office, he uses Google Drive to share design assets and takes advantage of it’s built in version control. He can quickly and easily create website mockups using the online platform InVision or the Mac-based Sketch. FontExplorer Pro helps him manage the many different fonts used by our clients while making sure his computer doesn’t slow down.

Chris is sort of a hippie really enjoys nature, so in his spare time he uses PlantNet and iNaturalist to identify the local flora and fauna and share his observations with other naturalists.

Chris Hershey

Our founder Chris is constantly connecting people, causes, and even communities to each other so do-gooders can do better. To do that, Chris complements her natural charisma with her networking tools, LinkedIn and Facebook. She believes having a strong LinkedIn profile is vitally important for those who are networking online, not to mention one of the most important online tools for professional personal branding. And what about when she’s not networking? Well, anyone who knows her, knows that Chris is pretty chill: but she gets some help slowing things down using the Calm and Headspace apps.

Did I mention Chris is the best pokemon trainer in the office? She has a 1454 CP Arcanine on PokemonGo.