I haven't vacuumed my house in months. As anyone who has little children can testify that floors can get messy in a hurry. Dirt, fruit snacks, hair, all sort of garbage can clutter your living area in a matter of hours minutes seconds!

Vacuuming my floor use to be a part of my daily routine until last Christmas when I received a robot to do the vacuuming for me. You've probably seen commercials for a Roomba or another brand of self-driving vacuums. Now each night, my favorite robot cruises around my house doing the work that I use to do. It has been one of the best gifts I've ever received, all for one single reason:  Life gets better when technology does the work for you.

Most people at the nonprofits I talk with aren't spending a lot of time vacuuming, but they are doing other tasks that could easily be offloaded and handled by technology. These range from keeping track of volunteers' hours on paper signup sheets to having stacks of paper surveys sitting on their desks that will eventually (no really) get put into a spreadsheet.

Below you will find three quick examples of technology that can improve your life by doing the work for you.

Putting the fun back in fundraising with Classy:

Fundraising is the lifeblood of nonprofits, and making this task more leisurely can really decrease your workload. Dealing with donations, events, and crowdfunding can take up all of your time.

Using a modern fundraising platform like the one provided by our friends at Classy can open up your calendar and help you address other needs in your organization.

Classy can help you run events, handle website donations and even help you raise money internationally.

Modernizing your fundraising can help you gain more time and help you mobilize your most passionate supporters by empowering them to raise money from their peers for your organization.

A modernized fundraising platform will also reap benefits when dealing with your accountant, as things are instantly and correctly documented, saving everyone the headache of tracking down suitable recipes.

Making communication easy with Slack

No matter the size of the organization communicating with everyone can be a daunting challenge. Emails and text messages can fly back and forth at blinding speeds, and it can be complicated to keep everyone up to speed, especially when your team keeps growing.

Thankfully, communicating as a group has been revolutionized by the emergence of Slack and its numerous competitors. No longer do you have to keep track of everyone's cell phone and email; instead, have them download the application and toss them a quick invite, and they'll never be out of the loop again.

Communicate in groups, one on one, or even invite guests outside of your organization to participate in the conversations. Utilize Slacks video calling, group voice huddles, and classic text chat to communicate how and when you need.

Eliminate paper surveys with Pulse For Good

Easy to use self-service kiosks, anonymous toll-free phone hotlines, and beautiful automated dashboards - what is not to love?

Seriously though, the need to collect high-quality feedback as a nonprofit has never been more pronounced. Spending valuable staff time gathering and tabulating feedback by hand isn't just inefficient; it's wasteful in this day and age.

Even some supposedly modern survey platforms still only provide a single channel for gathering feedback. These tools, which are tailor-made for for-profit groups, might work in a pinch, but if you want to reduce your workload, increase your productivity and make a more significant impact, a human-centered feedback platform is the only way to go.

Whether via anonymous touch screen kiosks, online survey systems, or our toll-free phone hotlines, the Pulse For Good feedback platform reaches your clients in the best way for your client instead of the way that is most convenient for your survey company.

The promise of technology

Since the early 1980s, society has been discussing the various 'promises' that technology has in store for us. While we might not have the flying cars or technological-powered utopia many had wished would come from technology, the true promise of technology is slowly being realized.

We can do more with less; your life can be easier, your work can be more impactful. All by choosing the right technological platforms that can help reduce the busy work and get your back to doing what you do best - Helping people lead better lives.

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