Upic Solutions: Non Profit Technology Blog

Top 10 passwords to avoid

2010-02-03T20:02:00.003-05:00

Have you ever lost your keys and searched everywhere only to find them still in the open door?

House keys are just like network passwords. They protect your valuable files and organizational information.

But according to a recent study by Impervia, too many computer users today have passwords which are easily compromised. Here are the top 10 passwords on a recently hacked social networking website.

1. 123456
2. 12345
3. 123456789
4. Password
5. iloveyou
6. princess
7. rockyou
8. 1234567
9. 12345678
10. abc123

To protect your data, Impervia recommends the following when creating or changing your password:

A. Avoid names, slang words, dictionary words or trivial passwords (consecutive digits, adjacent keyboard keys. etc)
B. Choose a password with eight or more characters. 50% of all passwords are seven characters or less.
C. Your password should contain a mix of four different types of characters—upper case letters, lower case letters, numbers and special characters such as !@#$%^&.
D. Take a sentence and turn it into a password…something like “This little piggy went to market” might become “tlpWENT2m”

Don’t leave your keys (passwords) in the door for just anyone to walk in and steal your intellectual property.

New Upic website on the way

2009-08-18T11:04:00.003-04:00

Hey gang, sorry for the lack of posts lately. We're working on our new Upic Solutions website and blogging platform which will launch around September 1st. If you are a subscriber, you will receive instructions on how to get the new content.

In the meantime, here's one really cool news item. Cincinnati is hosting a Virtual Kickoff that is going to be the coolest event ever. Go to this website to enroll and be part of the online community. www.liveunitedgc.org

List of Change Blogroll

2009-06-10T08:09:00.005-04:00

There is a new destination on the web for the best in non-profit blogs called the List of Change. Here you can find the most authoritative charity blogs/writers on the web in one easy to use location.

I love this site because it is one stop on the web where I can take the pulse of our non-pforit community. You can subscribe via your RSS reader to individual blogs or the entire site. There is also a Twitter stream to follow some of the best postings each day.

For more information about the List of Change, visit this blog post.

Joining Forces in the Back Office

2009-05-29T11:54:00.004-04:00

The Chronicle of Philanthropy is sponsoring a webinar next Wednesday, June 3rd featuring several successful back office collaborations like Upic Solutions.

Earlier today, I spoke with Nicole Wallace, senior writer with the Chronicle, who is moderating the webinar next week to share our experience as collaborative. Upic may be mentioned in next week's webinar as another successful example of non-profit collaboration.

Presenters include:

MACC CommonWealth Services, an organization in Minneapolis created by five social-services groups to provide their finance, human-resources, and technology operations. The new group was formed in January 2007 by putting the administrative employees of the five charities together in one office. The result has been that each group can draw on the expertise of a staff of 20 employees.

Chattanooga Museum Collaboration which started out in 2001 as a fee-for-service arrangement in which the Tennessee Aquarium provided finance, human-resources, and technology services for the Hunter Museum of American Art and the Creative Discovery Museum. But over time, it has expanded. The organizations now work together on programs, like exhibits and summer camps, and with the city of Chattanooga conducted a joint capital campaign.

Lodestar Foundation, in Phoenix AZ whose mission is to expand the growth and impact of philanthropy by supporting long-term collaborations among nonprofit groups working in the same area in order to increase efficiency and impact and eliminate duplication of efforts, and programs that promote philanthropy, volunteerism and public service. The Lodestar Foundation created and funded the wildly successful The Collaboration Prize.

For more information and to register, please click here.

How about FREE training on Inbound Marketing?

2009-05-21T20:14:00.004-04:00

One of my favorite social media resources is the weekly webcast (4:00 pm Eastern on Fridays) from HubSpot, also available as a free download on i-Tunes.

Earlier today, HubSpot announced a series of free webcasts for Inbound Marketing University the week of June 15-19, which provides the foundation for a certification program after one week of study.

I believe the United Way system would benefit greatly from a change in marketing philosophy from herding people into rallies to permission-based, personal communications. I've watched every HubSpot TV podcast and I am very impressed by the folks there.

Make sure to follow HubSpot on Twitter and read the blog post on Inbound Marketing University for more details.

New Andar enhancements

2009-05-19T11:35:00.003-04:00

Upic has just published a new newsletter on the Andar 360 enhancements. Upic members who wish to subscribe to this periodic newsletter, should click here to subscribe.

Also, please follow us on Twitter. Winston Faircloth and Upic Solutions both have accounts.

Upic starts a Twibe

2009-04-30T12:09:00.005-04:00

You may know that I went to the College at William & Mary, whose nickname is the Tribe. So, when I saw the opportunity to start a Upic Twibe, I couldn't resist the play on words.

What's a Twibe? A twibe is a group of Twitter users interested in a common topic who would like to be able to communicate with each other. On each twibe's page, there is a list of twibe members. There is also a tweet stream that lists tweets from twibe members which contain key word tags. Tags are set by the twibe founder and are listed just above the tweet stream. You can browse through twibes that have already been created by going to www.twibes.com/twitter-groups.

In our case, the Upic Twibe will include member's tweets that include the keyword upic somewhere in the text. For the growing number of Upic members and United Ways on Twitter, we can filter down to just our comments.

To join the Upic Twibe, first make sure you are on Twitter and then click on this link: http://twibes.com/upic

Upic bids on 2010 Andar conference

2009-04-20T08:39:00.006-04:00

It's been a month since the last post. We've been working on many new projects, including bringing affordable training opportunities to our members.

Upic selected Andar 360 as our standard campaign management application in 2001 and was one of the early adopters of this platform. Today, Andar has nearly 70% market share of the United Way in the U.S. Each year, Andar's United Way user community meets to review and propose product enhancements.

Upic's headquarters location in Cincinnati, OH is one of five finalists to host the Andar 2010 conference. We have secured the region's premiere technology conference center and several hotel options at $99/less per night to bring this conference to Cincinnati next April.

For more information on the Cincinnati 2010 Andar Conference, please visit www.upicsolutions.org/2010andar. Voting begins soon, so when you or your organization receives a ballot, please select Cincinnati.

10 Twitter Tips for Non-Profit Organizations

2009-03-18T20:05:00.004-04:00

Thanks to Heather Mansfield at Change.org for this article http://nonprofits.change.org/

Newsweek said it best: "Suddenly, all the world is a-Twitter." Simple and powerful, Twitter is a must for nonprofit organizations. I (Heather) created and manage a portal to nonprofits on Twitter @nonprofitorgs and based on my experience using site, I have crafted ten of my favorite Twitter Tips for beginners:

1. Authenticity before marketing. Have personality. Build community.
Those nonprofits who are most successful at utilizing social networking Web sites like Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace know from trial, error, and experience that a “marketing and development approach” on social networking sites does not work. Simply put, it comes across as lame. Traditional marketing and development content is perfectly fine for your Web site and e-mail newsletters, but Web 2.0 is much more about having personality, inspiring conversation, and building online community. Nowhere is this more true than on Twitter. Relax, experiment, let go a bit… find your voice. Be authentic.

2. Be nice. Be thankful. Reply and Retweet!
Twitter functions much like Karma. The nicer you are to people in the Twitterverse, they nicer they are to you in return. The more you ReTweet (RT) others, the more they will RT your Tweets in return. And whether it’s Twitter, MySpace, Facebook or YouTube, if someone does something nice for you in the public commons of Web 2.0, it is always a good practice to send them a message of “Thanks… much appreciated!”. Kindness and appreciation will make you stand out from the others and makes an excellent impression.

3. Follow everyone who follows you.
This is a hard one for a lot of nonprofits. They want to keep their “Home” view clutter free and controlled and only follow a select few. Honestly, they only want to follow those whose Tweets that they are really interested in reading. But I say this often… “This time it is not about you, it is about them.” Web 1.0 communications is all about us and our messaging i.e, your Web site and e-mail newsletter. Web 2.0 is all about your supporters and their messaging. It’s better to create a personal Twitter profile in order to only follow those select few you are interested in reading, but if you are going out on Twitter behind your organization’s logo a.k.a. avatar, it is a mistake to not follow all your followers in return. Why?

Twitter is about conversation. You can’t have a conversation on Twitter if you are not following your followers. It is a one-sided relationship. They can’t message you on Twitter if you are not following them. It’s a snub. Let’s face it… people on Twitter want to be followed. That’s what the site is about! How can you build community on Twitter if you won’t even participate with your followers? Have a look around Twitter… you will see the most successful, ReTweeted nonprofits follow everyone who follows them.

4. Use “Favorites” to organize the chaos and feature your most important Tweets!
So, if you are going to follow everyone who follows your organization (which is hopefully thousands of people) then “favorite” Tweets by those who you are most interested in reading and favorite your most important Tweets. The favorites option on Twitter is a simple, excellent tool to help you organize the chaos.

5. Don’t tweet about your coffee (unless it is fair trade), the weather, or how tired you are. Provide value to your followers, not chit-chat!

Winston's comment: AMEN!!
It’s one thing to chit-chat about the weather, your headache, or how you need coffee to wake up in the morning on your personal profile on Twitter, but it’s quite another if you are active on the Twitterverse via your organizational profile. The messages you send reflect upon your organization. Example of what not to Tweet: “Such-and-such Nonprofit got stuck in traffic this morning. Ugh! I need coffee and a vacation… and I think I am getting a headache!” No one likes a whiner and this just makes it sound like Such-and-Such Nonprofit is not a fun place to work. People follow you because they want good content from your organization on subjects relevant to your mission. Make sure your Tweets provide value and are Re-Tweetable.

6. Don’t only Tweet your own content.
Twitter is a news source. Participate in news. Tweet articles or blog posts by your favorite newspapers, bloggers, or other nonprofits (yes... other nonprofits! Find allies, build relationships). If it is a good read or a good resource, it reflects well upon your organization that you Tweeted it. There is also a good chance you might get ReTweeted if the article is deemed timely and worthy by the Twitterverse.

7. Send messages, but not via auto-responders.
There are tools out there that will automatically message your new followers. Don’t use them. It’s Spam. It’s not authentic. It’s not human. It's lazy marketing. I think this cartoon sums up auto-responders perfectly.

8. Don’t worry about those that “unfollow” you.
It’s easy to feel slighted when someone stops following you. What did I say? Did I do something wrong? Let it go. Who knows why they followed you in the first place. Give it no more than 3 seconds thought and then move on.

9. Limit your Tweets to 5 per day, and no more than 6!
I have been polling on Twitter and the Twitterverse has revealed that less is more when it comes to Tweeting. See poll results.

10. Twitter is what you make of it. You get out of Twitter what you put into it. This is the same of all Web 2.0 social networking sites.
Twitter is a fun, valuable tool that can drive significant traffic to your Web site (start watching your Web site referral logs!) and help build and strengthen your brand in the online world of Web 2.0, but just like Facebook and MySpace, Twitter requires time and energy to produce results. You get out of it what you put into it. If you do one Tweet a week, you will get the results of one Tweet. But if you Tweet 4times daily Monday through Friday… you will get the results of 20 Tweets weekly.

Again, it’s about community building around your mission and programs. Just having profile on Twitter (or MySpace, or Facebook) does not magically produce any results. You have to work these profiles. Find the person on your staff who loves Web 2.0 and enjoys working the sites and/or find a marketing/pr intern from your local university that needs to do a senior project! If they are getting college credit, then you know they have to stay around for at least a semester.

Source: Change.org's Guide to Nonprofit 2.0 - nonprofits.change.org/

Is it wise to post your pledge card online?

2009-03-11T16:29:00.003-04:00

Rochester NY is unique in all of the United Way because it runs a spring public campaign which is kicking off this month.

Just in time for the Rochester kickoff is this Blog post from a local ministry group seeking designated giving by promoting step by step instructions and linking to the United Way website for a designation card.

Over the years, I've seen neighboring United Ways post these same types of instructions on their websites trying to get people to designate their gifts back home.

With the advent of Web 2.0's many free tools (blogs, social networking, etc) anyone can post a pledge form onto the web and campaign among their social connections to promote their cause and potentially damage the unrestricted giving that United Ways need to fulfill community priorities.

In the past, I've felt it unwise to post pledge cards online. Now, I'm not so sure. Comments?

Doing, Not Dining

2009-03-10T12:41:00.006-04:00

Your intrepid reporter has been asbsent lately, trying to catch up from last week's NC caravan--more to follow on that front.

Got this great Twitter message today from United Way in Nashville, TN. "RT @JoyHaynes United Way Nashville changed celebration luncheon to volunteer event. Today we are Doing, not Dining!"

Instead of hosting an annual campaign luncheon today, this United Way is hosting a volunteer event and asking attendees to contribute the normal costs of the lunch to many basic need agencies in their community.

Check out this link for the full story. http://tinyurl.com/2liveunited

60 million spam emails blocked

2009-03-03T13:42:00.011-05:00

Sometime in the next week, Upic's dual spam filters will block our 60 millionth spam email for our email hosted members.

On average, we block 400 spam emails per day per hosted mailbox. Almost 88% of all emails that come into the Upic data center are SPAM...a figure that is hard to imagine.

For real time reporting, check out this link. http://tinyurl.com/bkpwy9

Upic Caravan 2: Tuesday noon

2009-03-03T12:19:00.006-05:00

Greetings from snowy North Carolina (unfortunately, no snow pics here).

Last night, we arrived at the hotel around 8:00 pm (just in time for the reception that ended an hour earlier). Our US Airways flight (our third of the day) arrived at the Charlotte airport on time, but we were delayed 45 minutes because there was no arrival gates available.

We planned on spending Monday visiting with all of the Andar User Group attendees, but ended up just seeing a few of our friends. The "buzz" at day one of the conference surrounded many of the new Andar features in the most recent release. Many of our members are anxious to start playing with the new content management options built into Andar.

This morning, we met with the IT team from Charlotte. This team has managed to keep their United Way running during a very difficult campaign season with 50% fewer technology staff than a year ago. We presented the Upic story in hopes that we may be able to supplement their team sometime in the future.

Our next stop is Greensboro, which is slated to be the newest Andar customer very soon. We're going to discuss e-pledge and paper processing services today with their IT committee.

Upic Caravan 2: Monday am

2009-02-28T13:01:00.012-05:00

Greetings from Cincinnati: During our last caravan trip we were able to dodge the snow, but not this time. Charlotte was snowed in this morning, so our noon flight is cancelled.

Upic's job fair for potential members of our Andar Service Bureau is also cancelled today.

We're trying to rebook flights for later today. Tonight's post will recap Monday's travel adventure. (I guess this will teach me not to brag about higher temperatures in a blog post).

"Carolina on my mind"- Upic Caravan 2

2009-02-28T12:28:00.007-05:00

This week, the Upic management team is off to North Carolina to visit several current and prospective Upic members.

North Carolina is the state with the largest number of Upic members and the host of the Andar User Group conference this year. Here is our schedule for the week:

Monday: Andar User Group
Tuesday: Charlotte & Greensboro
Wednesday: Greensboro & High Point
Thursday: Asheville & Burlington
Friday: Research Triangle & State Campaign

Fortunately, the distance between locations is somewhat shorter and we're expecting temperatures about 30-40 degrees warmer than the last caravan trip about a month ago. We will keep you posted from the road on all that we learn from our members.

Andar User Group survey results

2009-02-25T15:53:00.008-05:00

The results are in for last week's Andar User Group survey. Twenty three people responded. Upic staff will attend the following sessions, based upon the survey results and other sessions of note:

Community Building Track: Speakers, Tours & Fairs Management (M-9:45a); MIG General Features (M-2:30p); Volunteer Management (M-4:00p); Subscriptions, Mass Email & Tracking (T-8:00a); Agency Training Best Practices (T-(9:45a); Andar Standards & Protocols (T-1:45p); Andar Surveys (T-3:00p); MIG Prospect Plans, Communications & Surveys (W-9:45a); Communications Log & Andar Connector (W-1:00p); Event Management (W-2:15p)

Resource Development Track: Intro to Campaign (M-9:45a); MIG Special Campaigns & Gift Relationships (M-12:45p); Intro to Campaign Reporting (M-2:30p); Hot Topics for Campaigners (M-4:00p); Campaign Reporting (T-8am); MIG Prospecting (T-9:45a); DB2 (T-1:15p); Campaign Rollover (T-3:00p); Leadership Functionality (W-8:00a); Demographics vs. Techniques (W-1:00p); Andar Connector (W-4:00p)

IT/Other Track: Core Enhancements (M-9:45a); CB Enhancements (M-12:45p); Andar 2020 (M-4:00p); IT-Training Best Practices (W-8:00a); Leadership Best Practices (W-2:15p); CB-Best Practices, Standards & Protocols (W-4:00p)

Modules Track: Content Management (M-12:45p); MIG Module (T-1:15p); CRM New Features (T-3:00p)

Training Lab Track: Data Mining Basics (T-8:00a); Mailing Lists (T-9:45a); CB Data Mining (T-1:45p)

Finance Track: Intro to Finance (M-8:45a); Processing (M-10:00a); Credit Card/ACH Module (M-2:30p); Patriot Act Compliance Tracking (M-4:00p); DC Master Accounts (T-9:45a)

ePledge/eCommunity Track: CB Budgets & Demographics (M-21:30p); Logic Module & Outcomes (T-8:00a); epledge Notes & Options (W-8:00a); ePledge Training for Companies (W-1:00p); CB Dashboard & Custom Bio Tabs (T-3:00p); Campaign Managers Online review (W-4:00p)

See this link for the full survey results: http://tinyurl.com/dgbml9

How to use Twitter & online tools

2009-02-16T08:59:00.004-05:00

The Chronicle of Philanthropy is hosting a live chat on Tuesday, Feb 17th at noon eastern titled: "Social-Media Workshop: How Nonprofit Groups Can Use Online Tools to Build Awareness and Raise Money".

What's the difference between sites like Digg, Facebook, and Twitter? How do they work? How can your organization use these tools to connect with potential donors or supporters? What lessons can be learned from the recent Twestival -- a massive fund-raising event for the group Charity: Water that was organized on Twitter?

Join the social-media experts Chris Garrett and John Haydon for a discussion of these and other questions.

Click on this link at noon eastern time for the live chat session: http://tinyurl.com/c3djcp

Also, here is a handy link for Web 2.0 & social media definitions: http://tinyurl.com/d9yvwm

Andar Users Group survey

2009-02-13T15:59:00.006-05:00

With the tough economic conditions, many Upic members have reduced the number of staff travelling to the Andar User group next month in Charlotte, NC.

Upic is sending several of our staff to the conference to obtain training information/materials from the most important sessions. We are committed to attending the top 2 sessions per time slot as voted by our members in this survey. We will develop future Upic web-based training options from the information we gather via this survey.

Please use this schedule to determine your priority sessions as the survey does not list individual sessions, just time slots and categories.

This survey will close at 5:00 pm Eastern time on Friday, February 20th and is limited to the first 100 responses.

Click here for the one page survey: http://tinyurl.com/as5bf7

Give5Now Minneapolis update

2009-02-09T15:37:00.004-05:00

Minneapolis provided an update today on their Give5Now campaign.

"Give5Now was born organically in response to feedback we’d been hearing from donors, media, etc (I know times are tough, and I wish there was something bite-sized I could do to respond). So, we...put up a very simple website and created the referral tool that you saw if you gave. In all, we spent probably 10-12 hours in development and then another 25-30 in promotion (setting up facebook cause, twittering, preparing staff and volunteer email template."

"We raised just over $18,000 online and got a $20,000 check from a random donor. Of the 900+ donors, over 80% were new to United Way (or at least not in our database as current donors). 1 in 4 people that viewed the video on the www.give5now.org website proceeded to give a gift, and the average gift was a little over $20. More importantly, we got picked up by all 4 major newscasts locally, were written up in both dailies and had 3 radio stations talk about the campaign."

--Andy Goldman-Gray, United Way Twin Cities

For less than 40 hours of work, United Way Twin Cities gained almost $40,000 in donations and increased their public profile as a responsive, engaged organization.

We are also tracking similar United Way efforts and will post their results here as they become available.

Upic Caravan Day 5: Columbus

2009-02-06T14:44:00.009-05:00

Jim, David & Winston are now heading down I-71 now that we have completed our fifth site visit in five days.

Our day five location is the "Arch City", the relatively obscure nickname for Columbus, OH! The United Way of Central Ohio (UWCO) hosted us for a recap of 2008 and a look ahead to the upcoming year.

The primary topic of discussion was the pending implementation of Microsoft CRM 4.0 later this year. UWCO is one of a dozen United Ways in the country who are preparing their culture and processes for a successful implementation of this solution.

Upic is contributing to the national CRM pilot by providing the hosting for the learning circle's test of the UW-CRM prototype later this spring. Upic is well positioned as a hosting provider for United Ways with our commercial grade, SAS70 audited data center. Our staff recently attended MS CRM 4.0 training so that we can begin to understand the potential of this tool for our members.

It's been a long and rewarding week...probably one of the best weeks of my career. More to follow.

Philanthropy 2.0 survey

2009-02-06T07:48:00.003-05:00

If your United Way is active in Web 2.0 or social media, please make sure to fill out this short survey that is making the rounds on a number of non-profit technology blogs. http://ping.fm/VYxyL .

Thanks, you will be glad you did. Winston

Upic Caravan Day 4: Toledo

2009-02-05T22:11:00.004-05:00

Day four of our five day, five city, 1200 mile road trip brought us to the "Glass City" otherwise known as Toledo, OH!

There is much excitement at the United Way of Greater Toledo (UWGT) these days. As we pulled up to their building, we saw a massive construction crane signalling the beginning of work on UWGT's new headquarters adjacent to their current location. I'm looking forward to joining Upic's Board at our December meeting to see the finished product in person.

There were a number of very good discussions today with the staff members at UWGT. My overall impression: there is a deep desire by the UWGT staff to have the ability to share and obtain best practices from other Upic member United Ways. We discussed several examples of sharing Upic's community knowledge: USL reports & tips, paper processing pre-audit steps, CBDB training & agency support, resource development reports, etc.

Later this year, Upic will launch our new member's only web community that will facilitate the sharing and searching for best practices within our membership. Our discussions today certainly got my wheels turning on lots of different ways we can provide even more value to our membership.

After three plus days on the road, it certainly was nice to have some "home cooking" during our visit. The staff at UWGT hosted a pot luck lunch for us and the UWGT participants--hopefully we will get that recipe for crock pot cake. The lunch was a powerful symbol that even during tough times the best ideals remain-- hospitality, team work, and cooperation always produces wonderful results.

So, we have made the turn and are heading towards home. Friday is day five of our tour. We are heading to the "Arch City" for our final stop on this week's tour. (And no, we're not circling back to our Day 2 tour stop). Where are we?

Upic Caravan Day 3: Indianapolis

2009-02-05T16:50:00.004-05:00

It's Day 3 of the Upic customer caravan-- a five day, five city, 1200 mile road trip visiting Upic's customers here in the Midwest. Today, we're in the "Crossroads of America"--Indianapolis, IN.

United Way of Central Indiana (UWCI) has a "Upic/Andar team" which is includes cross-functional representation from the various departments. This team serves as Upic advocates and ambassadors providing early intelligence about service issues and potential future needs. Among our Upic members, UWCI raises the largest dollar amount using electronic pledging hosted/supported by Upic...nearly $27 million.

Overall, our conversations focused on improving the speed and reliability of the Virtual Office platform within the UWCI offices. Our customer satisfaction survey from December reported higher satisfaction results outside the office with our platform. We are going to engage a local networking company to repair their issues as we prepare for an expansion of Internet bandwidth.

On our drive to our next caravan stop, the three of us (Jim, David and I) started rethinking our approach to membership relationship management. With two lines of business (infrastructure & application support) we are not as proactive as we need to be especially with projects that cross business lines. Having the ability to look holistically at our response to an individual member across all of our interactions would be a great benefit to Upic. Hmmm...I see an internal Upic CRM project on the horizon.

Our next caravan stop will be "transparent" shortly...can you guess where we will be?

Web 2.0 Seminar @ NKU

2009-02-04T06:01:00.003-05:00

Northern Ky University is hosting a FREE follow-up to last fall's Web 2.0 conference, this time featuring mobility applications.

Web 2.0 visionary Dion Hinchcliffe returns to the METS Center to discuss the use and implementation of Web 2.0 in a mobile world.

A lunch presentation from Dell discusses PC Mobility topics. Last, but not least, Apple shares their unique insights on mobile application development and deployment.

To register for this FREE conference, please visit http://imi.nku.edu/imimobility/

Upic Caravan Day 2: St. Louis

2009-02-02T18:18:00.011-05:00

It's day two of our five day, five city, 1200 mile road trip visiting Upic customers in the mid-West.

Yesterday, we started the caravan in Louisville. Today, we are in the "Gateway to the West"--St. Louis.

The United Way here joined Upic as a full service customer during 2008. We provide hosting for Andar and MS Office/Email, help desks for technical and application support, along with Andar e-pledge configuration and custom reporting services.

We had great sessions with resource development, community investment and with members of the management team. It was wonderful to hear direct customer feedback and ideas to improve Upic services. There were times I wished we had recorded some of the positive comments for prospective members.

We're learning that we need to blend the use of our on-site staff with the specific expertise of the staff at Upic headquarters. This blended approach could be especially helpful in delivering training and for requirements gathering, for example. We're also seeing an increasing need for import/export functionality using Upic staff resources.

We're now on the road to our next "pit stop" where checkered flags salute the winners. That's our hint to our next location...

Upic Caravan Day 1: Louisville

2009-02-02T16:45:00.009-05:00

Upic's management team (Winston, Jim & David) are on a 5 day, 5 city, 1200 mile customer caravan this week visiting some of our major United Way customers in the mid-West.

Our first stop: Louisville, home of Metro United Way. I began my United Way career here in 1982. Those first two years, we did not have any personal computers in the office. Our 1984 campaign chair donated the first two PC's ever used by this United Way to help prototype a company campaign tracking system they had developed in-house.

Times have really changed. I'm writing this blog post in the back seat of our rental car going 70 mph using a laptop with wireless Internet connection. Amazing!

We had a great visit today with about a dozen Metro United Way staff from a variety of departments. Louisville, along with High Point, were the original Virtual Office customers almost four years ago. We will be back in Louisville in a few weeks to replace the original site server which will significantly improve system speed and reliability.

Among the topics discussed: CRM, Qbase, USL-Andar integration, Internet filters, agency designation reporting portal, and the need for more advance planning/communication. We heard rave reviews for the Upic help desk and of our local CSR, Charlene at nearly every session.

Today was also the launch of our newest service, the live Andar help desk. Members calling our toll free help desk number now have the option of selecting 1 for Andar help which routes the call into Andar services group to quickly respond to Andar reporting and performance issues.

We're now on the road to our 2nd destination. Any guesses?

Hint: Meet me in ____ _______!

United Way Super Bowl ad -sneak peak

2009-01-30T17:43:00.002-05:00

Just posted on You Tube is this weekend's United Way Super Bowl commerical...it's 15 seconds long...

Welcome to Live United Y'All

2009-01-21T12:11:00.006-05:00

As a person born and raised in the south, when I saw the title of Louisville United Way's new blog Live United Y'All, I couldn't resist checking it out. I encourage you to do the same. It's well written and engaging.

Speaking of Louisville, the Derby City is also the feature on tonight's American Idol. I hope there is a Metro United Way connection on the show tonight.

Live United & social media

2009-01-16T13:23:00.005-05:00

The firm behind United Way's Live United program have just posted some additional information on their blog at the following link: http://bit.ly/YUzy

I'm really excited to see the strategic direction that comes from this engagement. It will be interesting to see how local United Ways work together to leverage one another's influence in the larger online community. Imagine the overall impact if local United Ways would work together in a collaborative way.

Upic team gathers in Cincinnati

2009-01-15T17:16:00.007-05:00

Earlier this week, Upic's customer service team gathered in Cincinnati to review our progress over 2008 and to initiate new service improvements for the upcoming year. Watch this blog for exciting new services over the next few weeks from ideas generated at this meeting.

Upic staff members pictured above (left to right):
Front: Dan Zix, Jim Mead, Pat Daugherty, Charlene Hoffman, Winston Faircloth.
Middle: Craig Irvin, Tim Witham, Jan Atterson, Patti Sperry, Debbie Jacob, Brian Miller.
Back: Kyle Sweeney, Andrew Woten, David Poe, Lisa Cotton, Nancy Abbott.

Upic assists winner of Truist promotion

2009-01-15T16:30:00.004-05:00

Upic congratulates the United Way of Central Maryland (Baltimore) in winning the recent Truist promotion for the greatest increase in transactions for the 2008 calendar year among all United Way affiliates.

Upic is pleased to have played a small part in their victory. When UWCM faced a need for experienced Truist configuration resources, they turned to Upic to supplement their staff. Over a few short weeks, Upic executed 18 campaign accounts raising over $660,000 in employee donations.

We see this as a growing opportunity for United Ways who need to supplement their existing staff with experienced, certified Upic resources. If your United Way could use this help, or if you are an experienced Truist configuration resource, please contact Winston Faircloth.

My favorite time saver: Google Reader

2009-01-09T15:55:00.004-05:00

With personal time at a premium, I no longer go to my favorite web pages to know what's going on, I let the web pages come to me with Google Reader. For me this has replaced traditional newspaper and magazine subscriptions and many of my internet "favorites" on my web browser. With Google Reader, when any of my sites change or update, it shows up on a single web page.

Here at Upic, I track news articles and social media mentions of both "United Way" and "Upic Solutions". Earlier this week, I was able to pass along a service compliant that was posted on Twitter to a United Way in South Carolina just by seeing it pop up in Google Reader.

Overall, this is a BIG time saver for me, allowing me to focus on the most relevant news and social media postings without having to visit multiple websites or publications. Below are two You Tube videos that describe the benefits of Google's reader technology.

Google Reader in Plain English

Getting Started with Google Reader

New Year's Eve visitor gives $100,000

2008-12-31T15:11:00.007-05:00

On a New Year's Eve nearly a decade ago, a stranger taught me a lesson I will never forget.

Like most executives, I tend to work during the holiday season. Phone calls and daily interruptions are at a minimum. It is usually a week where I can catch up on a number of smaller projects around the office. My office was just off the lobby, so I could also serve as a greeter and receptionist during the holidays.

On this particular New Year's Eve, a visitor came into our lobby looking to make a contribution. He had been to several other charities that day, but none were open. After a little small talk, I was stunned to see his first time gift of $10,000. It was the single largest personal gift in our history (at the time). He and his wife became good friends of our organization, later giving us the deed to one of his houses which netted the organization well over $100,000.

From that experience, I made it a point to emphasize year-end giving. One year, we even encouraged our largest local bank to keep their drive through lanes open downtown until midnight for any last minute gifts. While we did not get another $100,000 through that effort, we did increase the awareness about our organization through significant media coverage that holiday season.

That experience will always remind me that New Year's Eve can be one of the best giving days of the year.

Happy New Year 2009

2008-12-30T12:58:00.004-05:00

Wishing you a Happy New Year 2009 from your friends at Upic Solutions!

7 steps to managing in tough times

2008-12-30T12:09:00.011-05:00

With a New Year and a new administration in Washington, our fellow United Ways are facing the perfect storm of uncertain contributions and unprecedented demands for basic human care services.

My friend and Upic Board member, Joe Tolan at Metro United Way (Louisville) shared this recent article from www.Bridgespan.org titled "Managing in Tough Times: 7 Steps" which contains several timely reminders about what is important in our current economic situation.

1. Act quickly, but not reflexively and plan contingencies
2. Protect the core
3. Identify the people who matter most and keep that group strong
4. Stay very close to your key funders
5. Shape up your organization
6. Involve your board
7. Communicate openly and often

Over the upcoming holiday weekend, let's all make a resolution to reconsider these seven steps to be prepared for the New Year.

Best United Way blogs?

2008-12-29T12:01:00.004-05:00

I'm on the lookout for the best United Way blogs around the nation.

I currently follow a dozen or so blogs created in the field. Here are three that I've been reading lately.

Boston, MA

Denver, CO

Austin, TX

If you have some United Way blogs you'd recommend, please comment below.

Using technology to track Santa tonight

2008-12-23T16:33:00.007-05:00

Growing up in the 1960's, tracking Santa's progress from the North Pole involved watching the Channel 10 TV news with breathless updates from the weather reporter...usually involving a Santa cutout on the national weather map.

In the 1980's when my son was young, the weather reporters used their new (pre-Doppler) radar setups and would scare us with the news that Santa was just across the river, so we had to scurry to bed fast before he got to our house.

Now, thanks to Google, tracking Santa is high tech with Norad Santa.

With Google Maps for mobile, anyone can keep tabs on him from their mobile phones (just activate GMM and search for "norad santa").

You can also receive updates from "Bitz the Elf" on Twitter by following @noradsanta.

And of course, be sure to visit www.noradsanta.org starting December 24th at 6:00 am EST when Santa's journey begins.

Upic Holiday Hours

2008-12-23T12:39:00.005-05:00

Upic Solutions will be closed on December 24th & 25th for the Christmas holiday and on January 1st for New Years Day.

Upic's help desk will be open on December 24th until 4:00 pm Eastern.

We will monitor all Upic hosted systems on a 24x7 basis for any system-wide issue.

For the complete Upic Holiday schedule, please go to www.upicsolutions.org/holiday.

United Ways responding to the economy

2008-12-23T10:16:00.010-05:00

United Ways are responding in new and creative ways to drive more assistance to families in need throughout the nation, by increasing fundraising, decreasing costs and providing more direct assistance.

In previous posts we've introduced new micro-campaigns which ask for small gifts from residents and their friends via social media like You Tube.

Yesterday, the United Way of the National Capital Area (Washington, DC region) announced that they were cutting their fundraising fees by 50% to recipient organizations who participate in their fundraising campaign. The net effect of this move is an immediate $1.5 million in program funding for their region.

Interim CEO, Angela Woods reports that these fees will be offset by a prudent use of reserves, increased organizational efficiencies and aggressive expansion into new campaign markets. UWNCA is looking to Upic as a possible strategic partner to assist in this endeavor for 2009 and beyond.

Finally, the United Way of Greater Cincinnati updated their "Where to Turn Guide" with a focus on resources people need when facing unemployment, including legal services, consumer credit counseling and public assistance.

Tough times call for bold action in all three areas. As we discover more of these innovative ideas, we will share them with you.

Give 5/10 updates

2008-12-22T13:48:00.005-05:00

Since the Twin Cities United Way launched its Give5Now campaign last week, several United Ways have added this micro-campaign to their websites.

Chicago United Way launched the Give5Here campaign on You Tube and this website.

Nashville United Way launched the Give10Now campaign on You Tube and this website.

We'll check in with all three cities after the holidays to see how they fare.

Gift card winners announced

2008-12-18T15:11:00.006-05:00

Announcing to our $25 gift card winners for participating in our December 2008 customer satisfaction survey:

Darris Ely (Cincinnati)
Guy Hayes (Indianapolis)
Hilda Burkhead (Louisville)
Kevin Montgomery (Asheville)
Janet Ravneberg (Columbus)
Jessica Stoner (Toledo)
LaTonya Springs (HOME)
Linda Todd (Cincinnati)
Michelle Patterson (St. Louis)
Phyllis Bowser (Indianapolis)
Sarah Barker (High Point)
Shelle Austin (Sarasota)
Susan Grosse (Cincinnati)
Tyler Benack (Columbus)

THANK YOU to everyone who participated. We'll post the survey results in an upcoming article.

Give5Now campaign-Twin Cities

2008-12-18T13:05:00.007-05:00

United Way of the Twin Cities (Minneapolis, MN) is now experimenting with an new a viral campaign called Give5Now encouraging residents to contribute $5 and encourage five others to give $5 now with a focus of helping with basic needs given the current economic climate.

Check out the short You Tube video below. The campaign launched on Monday with the following article.

According to the local newspaper article, over $12,500 was raised in the first 48 hours with an average gift of $23 per person. We'll keep in touch with the organizers to see how it turns out for them.

Managing your online reputation

2008-12-11T13:04:00.008-05:00

Monitoring your organization's online reputation is more challenging than ever before with the hundreds of new Web 2.0/social media tools now on the scene.

This week, we started monitoring "United Way" and "Upic Solutions" mentions on the web and in blogs using several of the free tools mentioned in this article from last year.

As we started monitoring Twitter feeds, we were surprised with the number of tweets coming from United Way board meetings, including this one in Charlotte earlier this week. If you would like email alerts of Twitter feeds, we really like this free service as well.

Listening to the blogosphere is more important than ever and you can do it easily with Web 2.0 and social media.

Customer Satisfaction

2008-12-05T14:37:00.006-05:00

Twice a year, Upic asks every end user of our member organizations to complete a brief Customer Satisfaction survey to provide service feedback and suggestions for improvement.

During our March 2008 survey (see results), we had a 50% participation rate with dozens of great ideas. We discovered which Upic services are used most frequently, which services provided the most value and established benchmark approval ratings which we will measure again in late 2008.

Congratulations to our March 2008 survey gift certificate drawing winners:

Jan Sherrell (Louisville)
Lori Terwilliger (Toledo)
Melissa Lohman (Cincinnati)
Marcy Wagener (Columbus)
Mary Jones (Indianapolis)
Phyllis Lile (Louisville)
Tiffany Baker (Cincinnati)

As a result of the survey feedback, Upic has developed the following service responses:

1. Created the Upic newsletter/blog to provide regular updates on Upic services and technology news
2. Replaced our Spam Filter with a new system which allows individual members to create their own settings
3. Launched Upic University on-demand webinar series providing 5-10 minute training sessions on your schedule
4. Started a new live telephone response for Andar "how to questions" using our toll-free help desk number
5. Secured discounted AT&T internet circuit rates to permit expanded internet bandwidth options for members

Our next survey is now underway until 5:00 pm on December 10, 2008. Once again, we will have drawings for $25 gift certificates (one per 50 responses). Results will be published the week of December 15th.

United Way's transforming power-PSA

2008-11-24T12:16:00.007-05:00

Two new PSA's from United Way in Toronto show in a very vivid and creative manner, the transformations that are possible when you support United Way. If you know of other great examples, please pass along those links in our comments section.

Homelessness PSA

Youth PSA

Google search made easy

2008-11-20T13:49:00.012-05:00

As loyal members of Upic's blog community, you are among the most tech savvy staff at your United Way.

Now, just in time for the holiday shopping season comes a free service designed to assist your friends/family harness the power of Google for their Internet searches.

"Let me Google that for you" is the latest tool to help your friends. Just enter their search item and the site produces a link that you can send back to your friend showing them step by step how to find it on Google.

This site is "for all of those people that find it more convenient to bother you with their question rather than google it for themselves".

Try it and prepare to smile. Now was that so hard?

Credit: CNET

Live United Flash Mob

2008-11-18T14:33:00.004-05:00

What would you do if you saw people taking off their clothes in a busy train station? On November 13th, a "flash mob" from United Way of America struck Union Station in Washington DC for the Live United campaign. Below are the original PSA and a passerby video shot and posted on "You Tube". Very interesting concept to get the community involved. Check out the videos and the crowd reaction.

PSA:

Passerby video:

Upic Video Newsletter Nov 2008

2008-11-14T12:43:00.013-05:00

Here's a short video newsletter (less than 10 minutes) on activities at Upic Solutions. Included in this presentation is an overview of Upic and our growth, our 2008 customer satisfaction rankings and initiatives currently underway to improve your experience as members of Upic.

Please click to view the video newsletter and please comment below with any ideas you have to improve our services to you. To update Adobe Acrobat, click here.

60,000 hits and growing

2008-10-29T16:52:00.009-04:00

Thanks to you, Upic Solutions website (http://www.upicsolutions.org/) continues to grow in popularity. By the end of October, we'll exceed 60,000 hits for the year (compared to 40,000 in 2007 and 24,000 in 2006).

An October survey of our website visitors say that 90% have been able to meet their objectives in visiting our site. Top rated objectives include: checking messages/working remotely, obtaining company information and attending training events. We appreciate your feedback and your support of our website.

Since it's the end of October, let's check out a fun 3 minute Halloween video (rated G) from our friends at Common Craft. Everyone should know how to spot a Zombie, especially when Halloween is on a weekend! Now that's a hit everyone can enjoy.

MS Office tips-now at Upic University

2008-10-29T16:28:00.007-04:00

Looking for tips on how to do a mail merge or perhaps how to set up your out of office message in Outlook?

Upic University's on-demand training sessions now include several Microsoft Office tips as an optional menu item.

Each Upic member has access to a growing list of on-demand webinars, based upon your organization's membership profile.

To instructions on how to enroll, visit www.upicsolutions.org/ondemand.

Wikis in Plain English-Video

2008-10-26T16:56:00.009-04:00

Wonder whether wiki writing would work well for United Way? (Try saying that three times fast).

Maybe you are wondering what is a wiki? The following Common Craft video explains all in about 4 minutes.

Upic is reviewing potential wiki platforms as a forum for our members to share best practices with one another. We believe that a wiki will assist all of our members in learning more about technology and ways we can all be more effective in our work. Watch this space for more on Upic's wiki community.

P.S. We're looking for a creative name for our community's wiki, please submit a comment below. We'll provide a gift card for the winning submission.

Passionate about community building?

2008-10-25T16:03:00.007-04:00

Today, Upic provides technical/application support to over 1000 United Way and non-profit staff members. We believe there is tremendous knowledge within our Upic member community and we're looking for the right person to lead this effort.

While the position is called Technical Writer/Online Trainer, the most important attributes are having the heart of a teacher and the organizing skills of a community builder. With emerging Web 2.0 technologies, we believe the right person can help us energize and harness the power of our Upic community to support one another's growth.

If this is you or someone you know, we need to meet. We have a big opportunity ahead that requires passion, heart and technical skills.

You can apply by emailing us or by checking out our posting on Career Builder.

New notifications service: Irgent

2008-10-25T15:34:00.006-04:00

Upic's new notification service "Irgent" can reach you by one of four contact methods: phone, fax, SMS or email. With each contact method, you can choose either a personal or business contact.

With Irgent, you are in control of how you want to be contacted, depending upon the urgency of the notification. And since this service is housed outside of Upic's data center, we can contact you in the event of a data center outage when traditional email notification processes are not available.

Notifications as a service have many other uses for United Ways. Instead of relying upon a staff "phone tree" in the event of a weather event, Irgent can contact and confirm receipt of the message. Also, Irgent could be used to confirm volunteer participation in upcoming meetings, including meal responses.

Upic members who would like to be added to the Upic notification process (in the event of a data center situation) are asked to contact Winston Faircloth by email. Irgent is available as a monthly subscription service via our partnership with Premiere Global. Contact Jay Young and mention the Upic discount program.

Urgent Windows update

2008-10-24T19:02:00.014-04:00

(Sat 8:00 am update) Over the past 36 hours, Microsoft issued a critical security warning for all Windows operating systems. This required Upic Solutions to perform emergency maintenance on all data center servers and Upic member personal computers covered by our Technical Help Desk (Adagio).

Microsoft and Upic management believed that the severity of this issue warranted immediate action and therefore we are conducted an emergency shutdown of data center servers on Friday, October 24th starting at 8:00 pm Eastern. As of 7:00 am on Saturday morning, all Upic hosted services were completely patched and were fully operational.

Upic member PC systems (with the help desk A icon loaded)will also receive this Microsoft security patch via our remote control capability the next time they are powered on. All systems will require a short reboot cycle once the patch is applied, so this means that system startup will have this extra step on Monday.

You do not need to take action to receive and initiate this patch. Upic's remote management services will deploy and reboot all workstations to activate the solution and secure your systems covered by our technical help desk service.

Microsoft recommends that ALL Windows PC's receive this patch as soon as possible. For home PC's, please run the Windows update by going to Start> All Programs> Windows Update.

Technical details for Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-067 are documented here.

For ongoing news coverage (in non-technical language), please see the following links.
Microsoft's urgent security update: What it means
Microsoft Bug: Patch Now, Patch Fast
Time to patch Windows again ASAP
New Worm feeds on latest Microsoft bug

Our Help Desk technicians will be available to assist you or answer any questions starting at 7:00 am on Monday.

Live United thank you video

2008-10-24T13:01:00.003-04:00

The Live United thank you video is now available on You Tube. It needs something. Maybe a laundry detergent product placement (Tide, anyone)?

60 miles in three days

2008-10-24T10:32:00.004-04:00

Please allow me a small personal favor.

My wife Susie is participating in this weekend's 3 day/ 60 mile Breast Cancer walk in Atlanta, GA.

Breast cancer has hit our family twice. Susie's mother died at age 37 when Susie was a freshman at OSU. Susie's sister once had a 20% survival chance, but is a cancer survivor for the past 14 years.

It's cold (temps 46-50) and rainy (what drought?) in Atlanta. Despite these conditions, thousands of participants will be walking 20 miles Friday, and again Saturday and Sunday.

If you'd like to help, please click here for more information.

The Streisand Effect

2008-10-14T18:24:00.011-04:00

Want to become famous on the Internet? Object to something you read and ask it to be removed from the web.

A few years ago, pilot Gabrielle Adelman and photographer Kenneth Adelman decided to photograph the entire California coastline (see http://www.californiacoastline.com/).

Singer Barbara Streisand objected and insisted that photos of her home be removed from the site, which set off a firestorm of publicity for the photography project. Soon, hundreds of others copied and posted the photos on their websites & blogs, resulting in Google Image Search easily returning the photo searching on "Barbara Streisand House".

Despite her efforts to remove the photos, a new Internet sensation was created, costing her well over $150,000 in legal fees when she lost the case.

Blogger Mike Masnick coined the term the "Streisand Effect" for events where attempts to remove content from the Internet cause it to spread broadly instead. A popular blog of the same name now chronicles other's efforts to muffle the power of the Internet.

Some companies are doomed to repeat the lessons of history.

Top 10 computer passwords

2008-10-10T16:45:00.006-04:00

Friends don't let friends use dumb passwords. So, please, PLEASE make sure you avoid using one of Top 10 Computer Passwords for your Upic network sign-in.

It won't take a rocket scientist to guess that "letmein" or "qwerty" or "123456" are in the top 10 computer password lists. But you may be surprised what else makes the list (from the UK).

And no, "2hot4u" did not make the list in England.

Comcast gaining from Web 2.0 lessons

2008-10-10T15:48:00.012-04:00

Organizations are learning to pay attention to the voice of the customer using Web 2.0 tools. Last week, I posted the infamous video of a Comcast technician asleep at a customer's house while he (technician) waited for the help desk to respond. It seems that Comcast is no longer asleep when it comes to obtaining customer feedback.

Check out Comcast Cares on Twitter which provides customer feedback to Comcast via text, IM or cell phone. Rather than wait in a "voice mail hell," customers can reach a real person immediately and ask questions or report service issues.

Web sites like Yelp.com are popping up providing valuable customer reviews/feedback and are definitely worth monitoring. Make sure to do a Google search of your organization name from time to time and see what others are saying.

Google's answer to EWI (Emailing While Impaired)

2008-10-09T15:33:00.014-04:00

Ever come home from a long day (or night out) and plopped down in front of the computer and emailed something you immediately regretted? This syndrome is better known as EWI or "Emailing While Impaired".

Well, the folks at Google have just the answer, using their gmail service. It's called "Mail Goggles." It works by activating the gmail add-on and customizing when you want the Goggles to stop you from impaired emailing. For example, nights from 10pm-6am might be a good idea if you're a morning person like me.

When you're in that time window, you will have to answer a series of simple math problems that might not be so difficult when you're alert but if you're having trouble answering them, you get a gentle reminder from Google that perhaps it's not the best idea to press "send" after all.

Let's bring a halt to EWI. Give Mail Goggles a try.

Video: Web Search Strategies in Plain English

2008-10-07T11:34:00.008-04:00

Google is now a verb, meaning to search on the internet. After watching this video, you will be able to filter "Billy Ray Cyrus" out of your search results for a type of fish.

Now I can search with more focus and better results, thanks to the latest "You Tube" video on web searches from CommonCraft. Enjoy!

Upic on-demand training reviews

2008-10-03T15:57:00.009-04:00

The reviews are in and Upic's on-demand training series is a hit.
See what our members are saying:

"The Upic on-demand webinars are exactly what our United Way has needed. The step-by-step instructions are done at a perfect pace and the fact that no sessions are longer than 10 minutes allows you to fit it into your schedule very easily. The classes cover important subjects and no matter what level of user you are, you will certainly learn something new". --Rick Collins, AVP of Information Management, United Way of Central Ohio (Columbus, OH)

"I volunteered to be part of a "pilot program" focused on using the Upic video training course. I really didn't know what to expect and sort of thought it would just be boring. I was wrong! It's very interesting, clearly written and so easy to understand. The courses are given in plain, understandable English and you don't have to be a computer genius to understand what they are talking about. I would love it if the online college courses I'm taking right now were even HALF as clear as the Upic courses! " -- Sandy Burleson, 211 Remote Information & Referral Specialist, United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County (Asheville, NC)

Power of Social Media: Comcast video

2008-10-03T14:17:00.008-04:00

Just for fun....Google the word "Comcast". The 9th most popular entry? A "YouTube" video of a Comcast technician sleeping on my couch. The Comcast technician fell asleep waiting for their help desk to pick up the call. Their service was forever immortalized through the use of social media.

"This is why social media is so important," Charlene Li, co-author of Groundswell said, "this YouTube video recorded by 'Brian' resulted in the Comcast brand going down the toilet. You must understand that the power is now in the hands of consumers."

Source: Social Media for Business-Who's Doing It Well & How

Video: Social Media in Plain English

2008-10-01T17:07:00.011-04:00

Welcome to Scoopville. Big Ice Cream Company is facing a big challenge from a new invention.

This very entertaining video focuses on basics of social media: the new technology that makes everyone a producer and easy to use tools that give everyone a chance to have a say.

"YouTube" video and transcript of CommonCraft's Social Media in Plain English. Enjoy!

"Email is kind of...the eight track player"

2008-10-01T15:36:00.014-04:00

Well, that quote from Peter Droege of the Daniels Fund (a foundation in Denver) really got my attention. This comes from a new report on Foundations and Web 2.0.

Droege was referring to his organization's efforts to communicate with young people who receive college scholarships from the foundation and to foster a sense of community and camaraderie between the students.

The fund set up a Facebook group (log-in required) after it realized that their students were not using its Web site or responding to numerous email messages.

I wonder how many young professionals find United Way websites and email newsletters as valuable as that Saturday Nite Fever eight track cassette?

Source: Chronicle of Philanthrophy 10/2/2008

The Machine is Us...Web 2.0 video

2008-09-24T10:51:00.019-04:00

This "YouTube" video shows the how much Web 2.0 is changing the way we use the Internet in a short and entertaining way.

The title of this is "The Machine is Us/ing Us".

From the opening of the Web 2.0 University session yesterday.

Let me know what you think...

Web 2.0. Is the United Way ready?

2008-09-24T09:19:00.015-04:00

Greetings from the NKU Web 2.0 conference. Over the next several weeks, I will be unpacking their content into multiple blog entries and prevocative thoughts for our United Way system. I encourage you to help us by submitting your questions and comments directly on this blog so that we can all share in the conversation. All Web 2.0 posts are tagged so that you can quickly reference all of these topics.

So, the big question today...is the United Way ready to exist in the new world of Web 2.0? I submit for your review an example of why I say we are not.

Today, many people use the web for research before making purchasing decisions. One of the largest references on the web is Wikipedia. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia written collaboratively by many of its readers. Independent studies confirm that Wikipedia content is just as accurate as commercial encyclopedias, but has vastly more information available for research.

The challenge: Look up United Way. You will get four related articles. Check out the United Way of America entry. I submit that United Way is largely absent in the community of Wikipedia writers.

Isn't it interesting that United Way is defined with nearly 25% of the article devoted to "criticism and scandals"? Note that the recent events in Charlotte are referenced. Where are the third party examples of local United Way results?

This article represents the contemporary view of the community of Wikipedia writers. Verifiable sources are preferred to PR or marketing postings. The community of Wikipedia writers is self-managing and the power of the community is greater than any individual or organization.

United Way has a long and proud tradition in building communities. So how are we doing in building community online? Discuss...

Emergency Plan in Action

2008-09-17T07:13:00.013-04:00

Last weekend when the remnants of Hurricane Ike roared through the Ohio Valley, many of us expected torrential rain and wind gusts for a brief period of time. Our hearts and prayers were with our sister Upic members in Galveston, TX as they began the cleanup from a devastating blow. But then the unexpected happened.

We were notified by our commercial data center provider that they were switching to their auxiliary power supply. In the seven years of being in this location, this was the first time this had occurred. Then over the course of the evening, we learned that 90% of the Cincinnati region was without electric power.

Fortunately, Upic had prepared for just such an occasion. All of our staff associates are equipped with mobile technology that permits them to work from any location with electric power and broadband Internet connections. Using this mobile technology, our staff members could attend to their personal situation and monitor our customer's needs via our web-based help desk portal. Our VOIP phone system allowed us to redirect calls to home phones or other landlines. And our Virtual Office platform allowed us (and our Cincinnati & Louisville members without power) to access work email and other business files from any broadband Internet access point.

On Monday, we put our Upic emergency plan into action. Some staff members had power and others did not. Three of our associates went to Patti's house to staff our e-pledge support line and to monitor help desk tickets. One went to work at his wife's office. Still another went to a public wi-fi hot spot. We notified executive sponsors at each of our hosted customer locations about our emergency plan and to let them know that their Upic hosted data was safe and accessible. We also communicated to our members and customers through regular updates on our website and blog pages.

Today, it's Wednesday and our office park remains without power. But, our situation is very different from our friends in the Gulf Coast. We're inconvenienced but safe. Our emergency plan was tested this week and it worked.

Having family in a hurricane zone (the photo above is our neighbor from a prior storm), I've seen first hand the shock and disbelief that such destruction brings. It takes months to fully grasp the magnitude of nature's fury and destruction. But, there is something in the human spirit that stirs when faced with insurmountable odds. We pray for our friends in Galveston, Houston and those along the Gulf Coast still meeting these challenges from previous storms.

History of Power Restoration (Cincinnati region)

Sunday, 6 p.m. --more than 720,000 out

Tuesday, 10 a.m. --546,155 out

Thursday, 6 pm --168,335 out

State of Emergency in our region

2008-09-15T10:03:00.006-04:00

On Sunday, the remnants of Hurricane Ike came through our region with winds gusts of 78 MPH over several hours. Nearly 500,000 businesses and households are without power.

For the latest on Upic operations, please visit www.upicsolutions.org/systemupdate.

At this time, the Upic office in Fort Mitchell, KY (near the Cincinnati airport) remains without power. Upic personnel in this region are working from remote locations where power exists. The Upic Data Center is fully operational. Please contact the help desk to request service at 866-588-8742.

The value of being in a commercial data center was apparent on Sunday. During the High Wind Warning, the data center operated on backup generators from 4:54 to 8:52 pm ET. Our data center has been fully operational during the course of this event. The Upic data center at Cincinnati Bell is the #2 priority on the local power grid as the primary telephone operation center for the region. Our data center's backup generators include two GE jet engines with enough fuel for 72 hours of backup power.

Verizon Wireless discounts now available

2008-09-12T11:53:00.009-04:00

Upic has teamed with Verizon Wireless to offer 12% discounts on voice/data plans for staff of member organizations. Certain restrictions apply*. For more information about the Upic-Verizon Wireless discount plan visit www.upicsolutions.org/wireless and click on the family discount link. * See Upic's website for the full program details.

Upic members in the news

2008-09-10T13:19:00.009-04:00

A quick review of recent headlines from Upic member United Ways...

United Way anounces $40M campaign (Indianapolis)

United Way looks beyond furniture (High Point, NC)

1600 volunteers show up for Day of Caring effort (Asheville, NC)

Seven local United Ways band together (Burlington, NC)

Let's LIVE UNITED to serve greatest needs (Indianapolis, IN)

United Way announces $15M goal (Toledo, OH)

Tough economy is tough on United Way (St. Louis, MO)

United Way kicks off 2008 campaign with $63M goal (Cincinnati, OH)

Metro United Way looks to surpass 2007 total (Louisville, KY)

United Way starts campaign (Sarasota, FL)

Andar e-pledge upgrades

2008-09-06T10:19:00.005-04:00

Over the past week, we've seen some intermittent issues with the Andar e-pledge application hosted by Upic. The WebPages would load slowly (or not at all) during certain periods of the day. We believe that the issue may be related to the recent upgrade of the Andar software package and are working diligently with the provider to isolate any issues.

In the meantime, we're putting additional hardware in place to handle the current and expected load. By this weekend, we will have 4 to 5 times the server capacity dedicated to Andar e-pledge than we did at the start of this week through re-allocation of existing server resources.

As an insurance policy against additional issues, we have purchased four additional Dell servers (approximately $20,000) and expect to have them in the data center within 10 days. We believe the combination of additional hardware and the work we're doing with software provider will resolve any issues for the remainder of the campaign season.

We will continue to monitor server performance and make additional investments as needed to ensure a successful campaign season for your United Way. Please let us know immediately via the e-pledge Help Desk (866-583-3742) if you experience issues with Andar e-pledge.

Quick news updates

2008-09-04T10:08:00.007-04:00

Virtual Kickoff: Louisville's web-based kickoff is Friday (9/5) morning at 9:00 am Eastern at http://www.metrounitedway.org/ Prior post: Louisville's Virtual Kickoff 9/5/08

System Maintenance: Virtual Office systems will be down on Thursday night (9/4) 10:00-11:00 pm Eastern for system updates. For information anytime on system status, click on the red System Update tab on the top of our home page at http://www.upicsolutions.org/.

Andar Report reminder: With the start of e-pledge season (350 accounts scheduled this fall), our Andar servers are in their highest demand period of the year. When running large reports, please schedule these reports to run after hours whenever possible. Your fellow Andar users and your e-pledge customers will thank you.

SAS 70 Audit of the Upic Data Center

2008-09-04T09:50:00.008-04:00

How does your data center stack up? If your applications are hosted by Upic Solutions, your data is in a commercial data center which receives an annual SAS70 audit.

This audit assures that the proper procedures are in place and are being followed as validated by the auditors. Our data center provider, Cincinnati Bell Technology Solutions (CBTS) annually completes this audit and provides this to Upic Solutions. We've posted the highlights of the June 30, 2008 audit on our web site at www.upicsolutions.org/sas70.

In addition, Upic will be pursuing our own SAS70 audit with respect to our internal procedures during the next 12 months. Later this fall, we will complete a Type 1 audit (definition of controls). Our Type 2 audit (review of those controls) will occur six months later.

United Way newsfeed on blog

2008-09-03T11:24:00.005-04:00

Check out our newest feature on the Upic News blog...real-time updates about United Way from Google News. Look below the subscription section for this newsfeed.

We list the five most recent headlines from around the nation on our blog page, so check here for the latest United Way headlines throughout the day.

If you have any suggestions for what you'd like to see on the Upic News blog, please submit a comment below.

Staples discount program update

2008-09-02T14:30:00.003-04:00

UPDATE: The Staples Business Advantage program provides discounts for organizational purchasing by local United Ways or affiliated non-profits. Unfortunately, this is not an individual discount program. The previous post has been corrected. I apologize for the confusion. --Winston

Web 2.0 Seminar @ NKU

2008-09-02T12:00:00.006-04:00

Many United Ways are interested in the next generation of web tools to help them build and maintain relationships with their constituents. This next generation of interactive tools are dubbed Web 2.0.

Northern Kentucky University is hosting two separate Web 2.0 seminars on September 23 and 24 for the low price of $99 per session. The sessions will be at the NKU METS Center which is located adjacent to the Cincinnati airport.

NKU recently published more information about the seminars via the following links.

9/23: Enterprise 2.0 (Executive Overview)
9/24: Implementing Enterprise 2.0 (Technical Overview)
Registration link
Nearby hotel options (see Airport grouping of hotels)
Web 2.0 seminar at greatly reduced prices (prior posting)

Louisville's Virtual Kickoff 9/5/08

2008-08-29T16:28:00.003-04:00

On Friday, September 5, 2008 from 9:00-9:15 a.m. ET, supporters of the Metro United Way in Louisville will join forces in a Virtual Kickoff via the web, Business First of Louisville reports.

“As responsible stewards of the community’s generous donations, and with the current high fuel and food prices, Metro United Way is ‘going green’ ” with its campaign kick-off, the organization said in a news release.

To participate, visit their website at http://www.metrounitedway.org/ on Friday, September 5, 2008 at 9:00 am ET.

On-Demand Training Sample

2008-08-28T08:59:00.010-04:00

Introducing training on your schedule. Upic is now offering short, topic-specific training opportunities on a variety of Upic Solutions services. Check out the Upic Solutions On-Demand Training series by watching this 2 minute video.

When you are ready to enroll, either submit a help desk ticket or email our Upic University staff. Our On-Demand Training series is free for all Upic Solutions members based upon the Upic service levels purchased by your organization.

Prior posting: On Demand training webinars (part 1)

New Staples discount program

2008-08-27T10:54:00.012-04:00

UPDATED: Upic member organizations now have access to the Staples Business Advantage program. This program is not for personal use. Our program provides the simplicity of online ordering and substantial discounts compared to your local Staples retail location. To enroll in the program, please email our dedicated Staples account manager.

See updated post above.

On Demand training webinars (part 1)

2008-08-21T22:06:00.018-04:00

Introducing Upic Solutions On-Demand Training Series!

We know that your time is valuable...that's why we've developed 5-8 minute mini-webinars on various Upic services.

These sessions are free to all Upic members and may be viewed at any time from any broadband internet location. We even provide completion certificates after each track.

To sign up for our pilot of the on-demand classes, please contact the Upic University registrar. You will be enrolled in classes that correspond to your United Way's service level.

Orientation Track (All Upic members)
Designed to assist new Upic members with the basics of Upic University, our Help Desk, and Virtual Office navigation. Each class is approximately five minutes in length.
1. Welcome to Upic University
2. Creating a Help Desk Ticket
3. Logging into Virtual Office

Virtual Office Track (Virtual Office service members)
Designed to assist Upic members with the basics of Upic Virtual Office (VO) system. Each class is approximately five minutes in length.
1. Logging into Virtual Office
2. Options & Settings
3. Spam Filter overview
4. Web Filter overview (in production)
5. Printing in Virtual Office (in production)

Watch this space for more information on additional on-demand webinars.

Join our growing team at Upic

2008-08-20T20:36:00.008-04:00

We need fun and enthusistic people to join our team at Upic Solutions. We have created the following new positions to assist us in a growth phase:

Webinar Trainer
Programmer
Customer Service Rep
Deskside Support Tech
Senior System Admin

To see all of our new positions and to apply, please visit our website at:
www.upicsolutions.org/careers

Upic staff give over $14K to United Way

2008-08-19T14:01:00.009-04:00

We believe in supporting the communities where we live or work via our annual United Way campaign. During our 2008 pacesetter drive, our associates pledged $14, 276...and this number will continue to grow as we add several new team members over the fall. This averages over $1330 per team member in support of local human services. Live United and support your local United Way!

"Pledge Card Freedom" deadline approaching

2008-08-17T16:24:00.005-04:00

For the past two campaign seasons, Upic has been able to process almost ANY paper pledge card and is no longer limited to "scan card" formats. This new service works with any back-end campaign system as long as it can accept electronic import routines.

This year, Upic is projected to process over 400,000 cards at 99.5% character level accuracy and at a fixed fee per card--price determined based upon turn-around-time.

Our process requires about 2-4 weeks for process set-up and testing. With many United Ways starting their processing season around Labor Day, the deadline for set-up and testing is fast approaching.

We're excited to welcome a number of new processing members this year...either processing the majority of their paper pledge cards OR running an early pilot program: Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas and Phoenix are all participating this year.

Web 2.0 seminar at greatly reduced prices

2008-08-14T17:19:00.005-04:00

Many of Upic's members are looking for the next generation platform that will provide interactivity and personalized content to individual United Way supporters and volunteers. Within the technology community, these tools are commonly referred to as Web 2.0.

Upic enjoys a wonderful relationship with Northern Kentucky University's Infrastructure Management Institute who is sponsoring a national program on Web 2.0 University September 23 and 24th.

This same seminar costs nearly $900/day Chicago and Boston, but through NKU and related sponsorships only costs $99/each day via this registration link. (Thanks PRosh for the correction).

For hotel discounts, please contact us at this link.

Grand Opening!

2008-08-12T14:32:00.003-04:00

Upic Solutions joins the wonderful world of blogs with this first post. We've developed this blog to help build a stronger community with our over 1000 end users across nearly 30 United Ways and affiliated organizations.

We've got a couple of new initatives under way to improve our services to our members...

1) On-demand classroom. We're currently testing our new on-demand learning series with the United Way in High Point, NC. Each web video is less than 10 minutes in length and is focused on a particular subject of interest.

2) New Andar help desk. In a few weeks, we will begin a roll-out of our new Andar help desk, designed to assist with "how to" questions and report writing assistance. Call our dedicated toll free number and you will reach an experienced Andar customer service rep ready to assist you.

Watch this blog for more information!