Project Management SaaS for Non Profit

[RobertFisher]

While attending a STEM conference I met the Chief Strategy Officer for a program that works with disadvantaged high school students to provide both counseling and financial assistance to allow them to go to college. Many students from lower socio economic backgrounds grow up believing college is not something they will be able to do for a myriad of reasons. 
From this we are working with them to improve their database management and general functionality of systems so that they can increase the number of students they assist and improve their delivery system.  To now they have had an archaic paper plus database that they must call the developer to run reports etc plus various CRM programs like SalesForce. Needless to say it is a massive time suck for those who work very hard to serve this group of kids. The cool thing is that in spite of innumerable hurdles, they have gotten 1000's of kids into college who otherwise would never have gone.

I believe they would be much better served with a Project Management System like a BaseCamp, Active Collab, etc. I am curious if anyone has used a program like that in this way and more importantly, I am wondering if any of you know someone at one of the major Proj. Mgmt. companies that I might be able to persuade to assist this group? I would be willing to offer free services to the software company, etc. if that would help. So, I am really hoping some of you in the Moz Universe will do a bit of digging and checking and offer me (really the program) some assistance with this.

Thanks

[RobertFisher]

Thomas,

I did not get something from him but got something from BaseCamp along the lines we spoke of earlier. As to Mr. Fried's comment, " ...if you would contemplate writing off the expenses for his business as this would be something he is doing for charity."

Translated that is, "Why don't you guys pay us to provide it to them and write it off yourselves?" Frankly, If he will take on the CodeCamps and other STEM activities we do, I will do just that. So, I will handle this charity for him. All he has to agree to is taking on all that we do for charity.

Now, where before I could take, "No," I today say why not take BaseCamp and place it ....

I actually find that to be rude. His justification for not offering something to them is to act as if we are asking and we do not do things for various charitable causes. What an ass.

Best

[BlueprintMarketing]

I noticed another thing that might be interesting a similar product teamwork.com has a history of helping out schools or students.

I realize if the client is happy with salesforce I will definitely stop looking for project management tools however this one might be More project focused like base camp.

https://www.teamwork.com/

Sincerely,

Thomas

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[BlueprintMarketing]

Hi Robert,

I got an e-mail from base camp's CEO I am assuming you spoke to him as well?

That is fantastic that salesforce has put their foot forward. I asked Jason Fred in the e-mail he asked me to reply to if you would contemplate writing off the expenses for his business as this would be something he is doing for charity.

I know in manufacturing we are able to do this in software as a service I assume you can do the same.

Hopefully, we will get some better news.

If not I am very happy to hear that salesforce stepped up that is awesome.

Sincerely,

Thomas

[RobertFisher]

Thanks Thomas, I did get it and the client went with a better alternative through SalesForce. I still think the BaseCamp app would have been better, but they liked SalesForce and BaseCamp offered little to assist them.

Best,

Robert

[BlueprintMarketing]

Robert,

I got an e-mail back from an executive at  a basecamp I wanted to be certain that you received the same e-mail? If not I will forward it on to you.

All the best,

Thomas

[RobertFisher]

Thank You Ray-pp

I will give it a try. I really appreciate the help.

Robert

[Ray-pp]

If you want to get people started with Project Management and see how effective it be for your scenario, it may be good to start out with something Free; www.freedcamp.com.

Freedcamp replicates many of the Basecamp PM functions, it's free, and very flexible.

[RobertFisher]

Thanks Travis, 
I don't think any "out of the box" program will ever provide "full" functionality. My gut says that PM software would work much closer with having multiple disciplines involved over time. Obviously, BaseCamp has the reputation and it is deserved, but I need to find them something that they do not have to spend a lot on as they really try to ensure the money gets to the kids. (That is one of the reasons I like them so much.) 
Again, thank you for your assistance.

Robert

[RobertFisher]

Thanks Malcolm,

As an agency we use more SaaS than God some days! Our head of Local uses it and loves it. Several years ago we installed a different system and often I wish we had gone the BaseCamp root. We are giving that one a hard look. 
SalesForce as a CRM, etc. tool gives licenses for free to non profit agencies and these guys have it, but need much different functionality. I thought that every student is really a project over time and Proj. Man. would be better...I think. So, if we can find a solution that would be willing to give them 15 or 20 licenses, I could certainly find ways to make sure the world knew they were being a positive force in the lives of kids.

Best

[RobertFisher]

Thanks for the help Thomas, but let me be clear that it is the people who work with this non profit who are changing the lives. My team and I are just trying to assist them with doing CodeCamps, etc.

I really appreciate your help.

Robert

[Travis_Bailey]

I'm not really sure exactly what type of functionality they need, though Wrike could be adapted to a lot of use cases. Though for all of those project management goodies, there's kind of a steep learning curve in comparison to Basecamp. I've used Smartsheet, Basecamp and Wrike.

I didn't care for Smartsheet - something just seemed to be missing. Anyone can pick up Basecamp in about 10 minutes and run with it, but things can get lost in the simplicity. Wrike, again, has a steep learning curve in comparison and it's easy to get lost in the features. But Wrike is a PMs dream.

Wish I could help out with The In, but I don't know anyone in that business.

[PrintPlace.com]

I can't think of a better solution than basecamp. hands down it does everything a company could ask it to do and more. I have used it for years and have also set it up for many clients to use for their companies. I hope this helps.

Cheers,

Malcom Chakery

[BlueprintMarketing]

Hi Robert,

That is awesome the fact that you are changing people's lives like that is amazing. You are literally taking somebody's entire life and change it for the better. That is a fantastic thing you are doing. I want to help.

I have been using Basecamp for a long time now I cannot speak on the other products but I believe it is one of the best project management tools in the world. Not only does it allow you to keep everything in one place making the project infinitely easier to stay on the same page with developers, designers clients you name it. Basecamp allows you to upload any type of file you can think of it also can work with Google Drive if people want to save space. It has an amazing ability to render photographs, Videos and now PDFs on the screen by simply placing the link into the text area will show up as a photograph.

This makes it very easy to illustrate what is happening and really give you something special in my opinion. including photos, e-mails can be replied to or forwarded this is just the tip of the iceberg that comes to base camp's abilities.

I have attached this link and sent it to some people at base camp I hope that they will see what a wonderful thing you are doing.

I will also cc you Robert.

Thomas