Project - MacGyver, not really!

Welcome - I'm not Johnny Depp, too bad - but I am Michael Sola and for the past 8 years I have been the Director of Information Technology for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Before I start, a few disclaimers. 

• My first blog - be patient
• Not a writer - love to read, not the next Hemingway and I'm not really a pirate, sorry to say I don't even own a boat - that's why I have friends with boats!
• This is not a sales pitch - trying to document what we are up against on the Tech side in a non profit environment
• Stones knives and bearskin rugs - speaking of money, or lack there of - this is a shoe string budget IT operation and something you will here over and over
• None of what is submitted has been proofed, reviewed or sanctioned by the Communications department or the Executive Management Team.  Meaning this is strictly the view of the project team members while working the various IT projects and one anxious Director of IT.
• "Blackbaud did not approve this message" - they do like the picture and while Blackbaud will undoubtedly have their own blogs about the project we are doing this independently of them.  They are our partners and have been since 1998 - more on that in later posts.
• I have a sense of humor - not Seinfeld like but at least a dry one, well not all dry, I am after all wearing a pirates hat, gotta tell you something!   

Ok - so now what?  Let's talk about the Bullseye / BBDM project and why a blog.

With so many non profits struggling to find solutions and then what to do in getting started I thought this being a new product and CBF being part of the Blackbaud "early adopter" program, this could be an opportunity to share our experience.

We are fortunate to have implemented many tech related projects that are closely tied to the programmatic plans of the organization and we try hard to utilize those systems to best promote our message and engage people at all levels.  Technology plays a big part in most of what we do and fast becoming as important as electricity itself - there's no going back!

So what is MacGyver have to do with this?  If you recall,  Mac always managed to build these elaborate concoctions out of a paper towel dispenser and then would ultimately save the world.  Well, this whole Direct Marketing process we have used to manage our mailings, eAppeals, Appeals - has been a very manual process.  In fact for most organizations there hasn't been an integrated tool set that could address the combination of project management, data integration, reporting and tracking the costs and progress unless you were at a fortune 500 level.  Welcome BBDM!

This new Direct Marketing system from Blackbaud (BBDM) is the first step into the "lions den" of managing our marketing efforts for CBF.  The fact that Blackbaud is developing the process and set up around the procedures which CBF utilizes will hopefully mean the days of "MacGyver'ing" the process are over!

Stay tuned for progress, background, obstacles, triumphs - you name it.  Thanks for following along . . .