The haters said it wasn’t possible. But we did it anyway.
(We don’t have any haters.)
Here are a few reflections on spending the last couple of months with six of the finest nonprofits in my community.
They were hungry to learn
I’ve known for a while that software irritates nonprofit leaders, but I haven’t been sure why. One hypothesis was that maybe nonprofit leaders don’t want to learn software. Oh boy. That was a big NOPE.
I was blown away by how committed everyone was to stretching and trying things outside their comfort zone.
What I shared was new
Much of what I taught in this course is common knowledge in the tech community, so much so that I was kind of embarrassed to teach it.
I was worried that the response would be, “Yeah, duh.”
From the questions and feedback I received, that was not the case.
Each week I asked the group if they were familiar with the concepts or had done these exercises before and everyone* said this was their first time.
(*Except Anna from the KLC who has spent her whole career in nonprofit tech. She came into the cohort certified Tech-Savvy™.)
Exercises these leaders accomplished for the first time included:
- Completing a software inventory
- Diagraming their process
- Building a data model
- Creating a dashboard mockup
- Establishing a roadmap for change
They also used crayons!
What I shared was helpful
I was wary of sharing concepts that were interesting – but not actionable. I don't want nonprofit leaders to know more stuff, I want them to be empowered by software and more effective in their work!
Here are a few things people said that gave me all the feelz:
“I left this cohort feeling moved to ACTION instead of just accepting that this is the way things are when it comes to our tech stack. Thank you!"
“Ted, you’re the smartest guy I know!! We left feeling grateful and prepared to tackle it all.”
“Great cohort Ted! I really enjoyed the topics you covered and left feeling empowered and ready to tackle our tech stack. 🎉”
Take those comments with a grain of salt because those people are now my best friends. We were basically strangers two months ago.
A lot has happened.
You don't know until you try
I started cooking up this idea in February, and it feels good to finally put it out in the world.
This was an experiment. I didn’t know whether it would work, whether the content would be useful, or whether anyone would even show up. To receive this warm feedback is icing on the cake.
I’m celebrating a big win with all my new friends who took a chance on me.
It kind of makes me want to do it all over again.
So I will
In early 2025. Hop on the waitlist today.
