Who I want to work with.
I want to work with small non-profits or businesses because of my familiarity with their needs.
In my experience, they are also a group for whom a little tweaking and organizing things can go a long way.
Often times, the systems that are used most by small non-profits and businesses are pretty piecemeal and the specific tools that they are using to keep track of certain information are being used in ways that the tools were never intended for, and that do not fit well with one another.
When they have spent money creating a data management system for their organization, this system will typically become out of date before they have a chance to finish testing it. This is partially because of the nature of funding and expenditures in smaller organizations, and also because of the level of expectations and requirements gathering processes they have had with contractors who have performed work for them. These arrangements are generally plagued by poor communications of needs, and then poor follow through with respect to the final implementation/design. This results in a proliferation of databases and similar information infrastructures out there that organizations have either: 1) grown out of or 2) that has been accidentally broken or modified by a string of well intentioned employees or 3) that never suited their needs. Often times small modifications can be made to these custom systems that can make a huge difference.
What I get out of the work I want to do.
Small non-profits and businesses, because of a lack of funding and the scale in which they work, often have a small group of relatively intelligent people doing a combination of work that they love and administrative work that they do not love. In my estimation, the best way to free these workers up to become very effective at doing the work they are up to (often the good work of changing the world) is to teach them how to work smart, and to give them systems that will work smartly with them.
In doing so, not only do you free them up to do more of the the kinds of work they love, but you make their personal experiences of work, and their work lives, much much more pleasant. So it is a form of service in both senses.
What is the strength of jellobrain?
The strength of jellobrain is that I have a wide breadth of experience functionally using a lot of different systems, as well as having a lot of practical experience doing the administrative work necessary for a non-profit. As a result, I am uniquely positioned to be able to listen for the unique and common needs of a particular organization and understand enough about systems that exist for doing this type of work that I can make recommendations that will best serve the needs of the organization while at the same time living with the constraints of budget.
In addition, I have a whole community of experts and skills that I have available to me. If I do not know something about a particular system or option, there is someone I am in contact with who will, and who can steer me in the right direction.
Because I am not tied to using specific tools or methods for accomplishing a given task, I can give an unbiased opinion about technologies and ways of doing things that someone with more specific experience using a particular tool would not have the ability to do in the same way.
And lastly, I love to learn. It is something I enjoy immensely. So if there is a new solution that needs to be explored or technology that I am not at the present familiar with, I have the skills and the desire to learn new things.
What different systems and tools do I work with?
Types of Database and Information Architectures
Contact + Records Management Systems
Matriculation + Registration Systems
Sales, Inventory and Ordering Systems
Conference Management Systems
Intake + Client Statistics Management Systems
Platforms Experience
Microsoft Access
FileMaker
CiviCRM
Plone
Drupal
Joomla
Oracle
ACT!
Crystal Reports
BlackBaud
SQL/MySQL Database Administration + Querying
Types of Expertise
Performing Information Audits
Requirements Gathering and Writing
Design of Information Architectures
Configuring and Implementing Content Management Systems
Managing Conversions between different Legacy Platforms and Data Management Systems
Querying Existing Systems for Information Retrieval
Project Management
Conducting Trainings and Creating Effective Training Materials
