“What is a project you are proud of?”

Jonathan: In my position at Foundation House supporting CERIC, I was asked to support the request for proposals and research for a new webinar platform. With changing CRA requirements, CERIC had become obligated to begin charging tax on webinar registrations, and their existing registration platform didn’t offer such an ability. After reviewing many platforms and services and finding none that could support the requirement, I spent time on FormAssembly, which was already in use by the organization and discovered powerful, under-the-hood options for calculations. After testing and iterating, we were able to put FormAssembly in place as the new registration platform, offering attendees a solution that supported registrations from individuals and groups (that also offered discounts based on the number of registrations) from any Canadian province or territory, other countries, and tax-exempt individuals, groups, and organizations. With Zapier, attendees were automatically sent receipts via Stripe, webinar information from GoTo Webinar, and could opt-in to CERIC’s various Mailchimp newsletters.

The project was an excellent way of leveraging an organization’s existing resources (and budget) in ways that other staff were unaware of, and empowered them to find other uses for FormAssembly as well.

Swati: I have extensive experience in project management and implementation. During my tenure with the United Nations, I was responsible for program implementation in rural India. I managed over 100 small-scale projects, each valued at under $50,000, which focused on addressing the challenges of forest-dependent communities and promoting sustainable living. In this role, I provided critical consultation to grassroots organizations, helping them develop and design projects that aligned with funder requirements. This guidance was instrumental in the successful completion of the projects, resulting in the prevention of over 100,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions. Additionally, I supported the formation of over 1,000 women’s self-help groups, benefiting more than 25,000 women through awareness campaigns and income-generation activities.

Effective project management skills and on-field experience with over 1000 community members helped deliver and scale up the program impactfully.

Other Examples of Work

Formal Project Management:

Swati with support from Jonathan, Setting up a Project Management Office (PMO) (Mid-size Impact Driven Organization)

1. Organizations that scale – fast, slow, or in-between – invariably reach a point where projects grow too disparate as staff with varying experiences and expertise join and grow the team. Swati’s initial, and ongoing, role at this organization was to improve the methodologies, approaches, and mindsets of staff toward formal project management in a way that worked for both individuals and the organization’s mission and values. 
2. The technology used by an organization greatly informs how it approaches projects: Google Docs works in the early stages for a small team, but not for complex projects with internal and external stakeholders with varying timelines, budgets, and priorities. 
3. During her tenure, Swati created and disseminated formal project management processes, project documents/collaterals/resources and guidelines to help ensure that goals were met efficiently & effectively, and built a new and improved approach to project management on Monday.com after the cost and lack of usage of Teamwork indicated it needed replacement.
4. Working under Swati, the PMO team worked with IT to support a migration of data from Teamwork to Monday.com, and Jonathan and Swati delivered training to each department to ensure that old issues saw improvement, all projects were represented, and staff felt comfortable and empowered to use the new platform.
5. The migration prompted verbal appreciation of the ease of use of the new platform from staff and also saw a dramatic increase from 40% to 90% in overall staff usage.

Program Tech Platforms:

Swati and Jonathan, Mid-Size Impact Driven Organization, Job Board Project

1. One of their first times working together, Swati and Jonathan were tasked with assessing the existing job board platform and processes around it, used by an organization in the delivery of its Program. 
2. Issues cited with the platform were its difficulty of use, low engagement with stakeholders, and high cost. 
3. Issues cited with removing the platform from the organization’s tech stack included the lack of a suitable replacement platform and the risk of not being able to deliver the program effectively.
4. HubSpot was already in use as the organization’s CRM (customer relationship management) platform and collected leads from HubSpot forms. 
5. Via increased HubSpot usage and by leveraging the Zapier platform’s HubSpot and Google Docs abilities, the operation of the InP program was shifted off Riipen and entirely onto HubSpot, Zapier, Google Docs, and Gmail, vastly reducing friction in the admissions process and leading to increased satisfaction scores from students and partner employers.

Organizational Tech Platforms:

Swati and Jonathan, Website Project (Mid-size Impact Driven Organization)

1. A collaboration between the PMO, IT, marketing, and executive team, this project aimed to align the marketing team’s reliance on an external/outsourced marketing agency for website updates, improve project management with the agency, and shift maintenance tasks performed by the agency to the organization’s IT team. 
2. This resulted in decreased reliance on the agency, lower spending, and improved communication lines with the agency and the organization’s executive team.

Google Workspace and Office 365 Migration

Jonathan, (Small, Impact Driven Organization)

1. After completing an initial cybersecurity audit for the Organization that highlighted nonprofit tech discounts, the Organization approached Jonathan regarding migrating from Google Workspace and Docs to Office 365.
2. Working with the team, Jonathan performed the migration, ensuring email and calendar items were shifted to Office, and Office autodiscovery worked for all Organization accounts.

Change Management:

Every change or process pivot, whether major or minor, challenges the status quo. Effective change management is crucial for understanding, onboarding, and helping teams adapt comfortably to the change. It helps organizations navigate transitions smoothly, minimizes disruptions, and increases the likelihood of successful outcomes. It ensures that changes are implemented in a way that aligns with organizational goals while addressing the needs and concerns of employees.

1. Swati led the ‘Reporting Management’ for key government and corporate funders and stakeholders, a role that required effective project management skills. This involved implementing changes in processes and accountabilities, ensuring success through efficient change management practices.
2. Smaller or newer organizations often struggle with a clear structure of accountabilities. Teams frequently have to wear multiple hats while delivering programs and projects, leading to overburdening, confusion, and mistakes. To address this, Swati drafted a clear RASCI (Responsible, Accountable, Supportive, Consulted, Informed) model for organizations and teams facing accountability challenges. This model provided a clear demarcation of responsibilities, added new roles, and streamlined existing ones. Through structured processes and guidance, this change was embraced, resulting in increased efficiencies.
3. Changes to existing tech platforms can be overwhelming for organizations struggling with limited resources, funding, or capacity. As technology constantly evolves, it’s essential to conduct audits to understand the cost-benefit analysis. Jonathan spearheaded these tech stack audits, which led to changes in the tech platforms. This process was accompanied by change management practices, including:

• Understanding the change
• Assessing the impact
• Leading with a clear vision
• Involving and supporting teams
• Creating a structured plan
• Managing resistance
• Ensuring effective communication and support

Data Management:

1. Swati led the formalization of the data management portfolio by creating systems and processes to keep the organization’s leaders informed with regular data collection, analysis and survey management for programs and projects.
2. Jonathan led the platform audit and launched a more efficient  data platform- Typeform