Streamlining: Best Practices for Non-Profits
Director of Administration and Finance Dan Sterenchuk has managed to reduce institutional costs AND employee stress at the Center at the same time.
No! He’s not a magician. But he is technically savvy, curious and both a terrific systems manager and organizational leader. Dan asked staff to identify the inefficiencies, grey areas, and repeat problems that slow down the production of training programs and then explored solutions to these challenges.
Dan selected innovative and cost saving ways to automate routine processes, increase staff productivity, and reduce waste. These included new web-based software, outsourcing to new vendors, and something as simple (and complicated!) as organizational paradigm shifts. IT Coordinator and Webmaster Jay Knecht has been instrumental in customizing selected software to meet the Center’s needs.
“Staff at the Center are change-oriented leaders, driven to keep costs low and wisely use limited resources,” Dan noted, “and innovations at the Center would not have been possible without the strong support and teamwork of all staff.”
Presto! The Center has joined the 21st Century, cut costs significantly, and simultaneously increased staff job satisfaction.
Some of Dan’s most successful changes include:
Airline Ticketing and Travel Management
Challenge: Staff and program faculty used multiple travel agents to buy airline tickets. Process was time intensive as it required back and forth communication among faculty, staff, and travel agents before a ticket could be purchased.
Solution: Consolidated travel management into one corporate travel solution that is easy to use and requires minimal staff time to manage.
Cost: Minimal fee per ticket.
Savings: Hundreds of hours of staff times annually.
Vendor: Egencia (www.egencia.com)
Customer Relationship Management
Challenge: Contact information stored in multiple spreadsheets and databases that were not synchronized and extensive staff time required to keep information up-to-date.
Solution: Consolidated all contacts into one secure online system.
Cost: Free! (Applied for and received in-kind donation from Salesforce.com Foundation).
Savings: Dozens of hours of staff time weekly.
Vendor: Salesforce (www.salesforce.com/foundation )
Meeting Site Selection and Contracting
Challenge: Staff searched independently for hotel venues and deals and often had difficulty finding affordable and available options.
Solution: Use a site selection and RFP contractor.
Cost: Free (no cost to CMBM or participants).
Savings: Program participants get better hotel deals; staff spend minimal time on hotel selection; and CMBM benefits further from more favorable contract terms.
Vendor: Helms Briscoe (www.helmsbrisco.com);
Contact is Chad Sanschagrin (csanschagrin@helmsbriscoe.com)
Program Registration
Challenge: Registration process was cumbersome and relied on using phone, fax, and regular mail to register participants and information needed to be input manually into databases and spreadsheets.
Solution: Online registration vendor.
Cost: Minimal fee per registration.
Savings: More convenient (open 24 hours per day) for participants to register and hundreds of hours of staff time saved per program.
Vendor: Regonline (www.regonline.com)
Printed Marketing Material and Mailing List
Challenge: Program information brochures were frequently distributed via regular mail and the process was time intensive for staff to add postage and mailing labels. Also, requests to join Center mailing list needed to be input manually into a database.
Solution: Minimize distribution of printed material and use online electronic mailing list system.
Cost: Minimal fee per bulk emailing and substantially reduced cost for printed material.
Savings: Participants find out about Center programs more quickly. Center saves thousands of dollars annually and dozens of reams of paper. Staff saves dozens of hours monthly.
Vendor: Vertical Response (www.verticalresponse.com)
Scheduling Meetings and Phone Calls
Challenge: Finding suitable dates and times for in-person or phone meetings with faculty or staff was time intensive and required substantial e-mail and phone follow-up.
Solution: Online poll service.
Cost: Free!
Savings: Several hours of staff time per week.
Vendor: Doodle (www.doodle.ch)
Project and Task Management
Challenge: Coordinating tasks among faculty and staff in multiple locations was challenging and involved multiple e-mails, spreadsheets, and paper lists.
Solution: Online project and task management.
Cost: Google Apps is free and Basecamp offers one project free or a minimal monthly fee for more.
Savings: Dozens of hours of staff time per month.
Vendor: Google Apps (https://www.google.com/a/) and Basecamp (http://www.basecamphq.com)
Office Space and Staffing
Challenge: Office space organized inefficiently.
Solution: Technological changes and office reorganization made it possible to reduce office space by over 40% and decrease number full-time staff and strategically use part-time contractors to keep staffing costs low. Some staffers now telecommute part time.
Cost: Free!
Savings: Thousands of dollars annually.
Office Printing / Photocopying
Challenge: Cost of maintaining multiple inkjet printers and office copiers was expensive.
Solution: Eliminated office inkjet printers and cartridges and now use only office copiers. Staff changed work processes to minimize need for printing (view documents online and distribute documents electronically).
Cost: Free!
Savings: Dozens of reams of paper annually and thousands of dollars saved.
Program Course Material
Challenge: Course binders were expensive to produce and utilized substantial amount of paper.
Solution: Distribute USB “flash” drives containing the digital version of the binder.
Cost: Minimal fee per flash drive.
Savings: CMBM is able to keep tuition costs affordable for participants and save hundreds of reams of paper annually.
These steps have brought the Center in-line with minimizing overhead and maximizing resources to meet our goals of professional education and global trauma relief. We’re working better, more effectively, and more enjoyably. It feels good!
© 2008 The Center for Mind-Body Medicine