We recently released the first in our series of online learning modules designed specifically to meet the needs of Canadian non-profit organizations. The response to them has been very positive. We thought we would take a closer look at how specific non-profits are getting value from the courses. We spoke to Canon Ho, Lawyer and Privacy Officer for Praxis Spinal Cord Institute (formerly the Rick Hansen Institute) about his experience with “CASL for Non-Profits.”

Our courses are designed by our team of top-notch learning design experts, who have carefully crafted an enjoyable and engaging learning experience. Each easy-to-follow course has just the right amount of content, brand new for 2020, created by Canadians for Canadians.

“In the pre-COVID days, lawyer-oriented webinars often cost up to $200 per person,” says Canon. Speaking of the pandemic in question, it has also made it difficult for non- profits to engage with and train their teams and volunteers. Remote learning opportunities that are designed specifically for Canadian non-profit organizations are few and far between. Of the content that does exist, much of it is out of date, siloed, or costly.

Our first three courses, including the Canadian Anti-SPAM Legislation module that Canon completed, were designed to meet this urgent need, allowing organizations to continue training team members in these new circumstances.

​We try to create our online courses to be interactive and diverse. The format of the content and interactions change from section-to-section. The goal is to help the learner to better absorb and retain the information.

“The simplicity and easy-to-understand language was the best part,” says Canon. “Additionally, the interactive nature of the content allows for good knowledge retention. I think that because this course requires a great deal of interaction from the user (relatively for an online course), it allows for greater engagement. This also includes the variety in types of interactions that require the user to stay alert while going through the modules.”

​One of the decisions we made with our courses is to give them transparent, affordable pricing. Each user pays a small individual fee for each course. “The price range may allow organizations to have multiple members take this course,” says Canon. “This training can help educate board members and senior executives to understand the types of resources available and needed to comply with CASL. This will help the communication personnel to obtain the tools necessary to maintain compliance.”

​As the laws and best practices of email communication evolve, non-profits need to remain compliant—not simply with letter of the law, but also with the trust of their subscriber and donor networks. “The individuals who are responsible for sending out CEMs (commercial electronic messages) and outreach can use the course as a practical guide for obtaining and recording consent, as well as reviewing CEMs before sending them out,” says Ho. “Online communication is a necessity in today’s world. This course provides material for the leaders of charities and non-profits to immediately apply to their digital outreach strategy in order to ensure compliance with CASL. Even for seasoned privacy professionals, this will be a good refresher.”

We recently sat down with certified leadership coach, Magdalena Blasiak for the very first webinar in our Learning & Development webinar series!

In episode 1, we discuss evidence-based strategies for leaders to build capacity on your non-profit team with 5 simple metaphors. As you’ll see in the recording, metaphors and analogies are an excellent learning tool at any stage of your leadership development, but especially helpful now in these crazy times!

Watch this jam-packed, 30-minute webinar for a frank discussion about concrete strategies you can easily leverage with your non-profit employees, volunteers, board members and other teams.

Some highlights you won’t want to miss:

• 4:05 Why analogies are so useful—and how they help connect new information to something we already know
• 6:58 Why leadership is like a vine growing through a trellis and how your non-profit can inspire leadership with impactful learning
• 10:30 How the brain learns and how your organization can take advantage of it
• 17:50 Why the cadence of learning is critical—and the best learning opportunities to maintain a good rhythm of learning
• 20:00 What the hospital ER teaches us about teaming for innovation
• 24:30 Why “The Campsite Rule” is everything you need to know about leadership and learning and development

The technology adoption process can be overwhelming for non-profit organizations. Where do you start? How can you implement new systems and keep volunteers, staff and donors up to date? And once you pick the right tool, how do you get staff to adopt it?

Below are 5 tried-and-true tactics that I use when working with non-profit organizations on their long-term model for system adoption, whether it’s for a Learning Management System (LMS) or a Constituent Relationship Management system (CRM).

Explain what an LMS or CRM is in clear and simple terms

Recently, I was working with the executive director of an organization who was certain they needed an LMS.

But it turned out they didn’t actually know what an LMS did or how it could be used! So I started asking questions like, are you sure? What do you want to do with it? 

As an Instructional Designer and Learning Technologist, it’s critical to explain what an LMS or CRM system does for non-profit organizations. They might need someone to translate the tech speak so they can figure out how they can make use of the system. Remember, these are employees who were hired for their community outreach skills—they haven’t been hired for their digital know-how.

Employees will be more receptive to adopting a new system if they understand how it helps them be more impactful and efficient.

Make non-profit learning sticky

Learning something new is hard work. For many non-profit organizations, the idea that information should be living, breathing and on something called the Cloud can be a brand new concept (especially for smaller ones or those run by an older generation). 

Here are a few ways to introduce new CRM or LMS technology to non-profit organizations so that it sticks:

• Don’t use the “T word”. The word training can be daunting, so I stay away from it. Instead, call training sessions “working meetings” or “enablement sessions.” People take it very differently. 
• Use fun learning formats. With one of my clients, we played Lingo Bingo. Why? Because there's so much jargon when you work with different LMS systems! What’s a course? What’s a module? What’s a unit? There are ways to make learning new terms fun and interactive.
• Give your system a name. This sounds basic—but it’s one of the most powerful things I’ve done. Work with the organization to crowdsource names that tap into their organizational culture. Let employees vote for their favourite. Help them make the system their own—because unless they call it something they can resonate with, they won’t really care. 

Start non-profit employee learning sooner—not later

Do not wait until the end of an implementation project to start enabling non-profit employees! Achieving adoption for new technology requires communicating with staff early and often. 

Start by giving staff or internal users an idea of what the CRM or LMS is. Bring them into the conversations. Get their input. Show them what it looks like. 

Employees who feel that their voices are heard will be more engaged with the roll-out than those who feel that they aren’t valued throughout the adoption process.

Be sure to incorporate enablement throughout the duration of the implementation and build that learning into employee onboarding.

Get direct access to the executive director or key knowledge holder

Download as much information as you can from the executive director. Because they know everything—they just haven't had time to enter that information.

However, this is usually the biggest barrier to a smooth implementation process. Executive directors have a million things in their head, but it’s not documented anywhere. 

You’ll be far better equipped if you gather answers from the executive director early on. Here are a couple tips for doing so:

• Adapt to their schedule. If you can't get them in regular meetings because they’re too busy or they aren't responding to you, follow them around! This might mean shadowing them, grabbing coffee together, or doing quick interviews in between meetings. Adapting to their schedule will mean you get valuable chunks of time to gather important information.
• Choose your questions wisely. Do not overwhelm them with a laundry list of questions. Draft or build them 2 different options and let them choose what to answer.

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Bonus points if you can arrange “brain download” sessions with not only the executive director/key knowledge holder, but also together with employees. With everyone part of the same session, it will encourage knowledge transfer between staff.

Adapt corporate resources for non-profit learning

Yes, you can use corporate learning resources and materials for non-profits—but you have to make the translation for them. Otherwise it just doesn't make sense.

There are tons of videos that corporations use that talk about the "bottom line" and “knowing your sales funnel.” But if you show those to a non-profit crowd, it doesn't sit well. But the concepts are good, right?

So use translation pieces. Explain that CRMs come from the world of sales and retail. Explain how they can use it for community outreach. Make the connection. This will really help get buy-in. 

If non-profit employees understand how the CRM or LMS will help them be more productive, they will inevitably feel more open to adopting the technology.

Have more questions about implementing an LMS or CRM at your non profit? Click the button below to contact us today!