\u201cI like to think of myself as one of the chief social business advocates within Microsoft. I try to find ways to combine technology and commercial models, so they have a social impact,\u201d he said in a recent interview during a visit to Singapore. \u201cBoth my parents worked in nonprofits and social services, so duty has always been in my DNA. I couldn\u2019t be happier. This is exactly what I want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Spelhaug\u2019s starting point is this: Digital transformation can boost the impact, performance, and viability of any organization \u2013 from major corporations to small and medium enterprises, to government departments, and even the leanest and most humble of nonprofits. And, while nonprofits are in the business of doing good, he says, innovating how they manage donors, volunteers and beneficiaries can unlock tremendous value and impact<\/p>\n The reality, though, is often different. Many nonprofits struggle to get by. They are revenue-stretched, and paper-bound \u2013 structurally and technologically. With limited capability to generate meaningful data, they lack a firm understanding of how they are performing or what their costs really are. They aren\u2019t sure what programs are doing well and what could be done better. Security around record-keeping can be patchy and vulnerable. Arcane and laborious administrative tasks, as well as the pressure of constant fundraising, can tie up skilled specialists and volunteers \u2013 keeping them from focusing on their real mission: helping others.<\/p>\n This can mean that beneficiaries might not be getting the assistance they need, while many donors are too often left in the dark.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the commercial world, a company must keep their investors informed,\u201d Spelhaug explains. \u201cIn the nonprofit world, donors are key stakeholders, and many are demanding greater optics before their commit funds to a cause.\u201d<\/p>\n A significant part of the solution lies in digital transformation that is centered on data. \u201cJust as the new currency in private enterprise is data, the new currency in the nonprofit industry is data.\u201d<\/p>\n Moving from disorganized mountains of paperwork to streams of coordinated and secure data, not only transforms the inner workings of a nonprofit, it can save its reputation with donors and government agencies.<\/p>\n Thailand\u2019s Social Innovation Foundation<\/a>, for instance, helps people with disabilities to find jobs. But for years it struggled to meet their targets as its staff grappled with the challenges of collating thousands of paper documents and ensuring piles of forms were filled out accurately. Now they have moved ahead with digital transformation. Using Dynamics 365, they aim to scale from completing a few hundred cases annually to more than 10,000 in the future.<\/p>\n The power of data through digital transformation can also create new ways of doing things. In a company that might mean launching a new service or product line. In a nonprofit, it could lead to entirely new ways of delivering aid.<\/p>\n \u201cData is key to really understanding where you can have an impact. It tells you the cost per program of delivering that impact, and how can you scale that impact in completely different ways. With that, a nonprofit\u2019s leadership team can adopt a different mindset on how they can innovate and produce new digital models within their social mission.\u201d<\/p>\n Take, for example, Medical Teams International<\/a> \u2013 a US-based global aid organization, which is currently working around the world, including in Asia on projects like the protracted Rohingya refugee crisis in Myanmar and Bangladesh.<\/p>\n It began as a largely paper-based operation that provided basic medical services for displaced people. But once it started digitizing its patient and other records, it realized it had real-time data that, with advanced analytics on the cloud, could help identify disease trends.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cFrom the data they can see malaria starting to peak. From that, they can act and get ahead of an outbreak. They can go into a village or a camp and talk with the people about prevention \u2013 fogging, dumping stagnant water pools, supplying mosquito nets, and so on. They use data as a primary tool to drive their programming and data is saving lives.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, new digital technologies are leading to the creation of practical and potentially life-changing solutions for the disadvantaged. During his Singapore visit, Spelhaug toured the city-state\u2019s Enabling Village<\/a>, which, among many things, is exploring how technology and new devices can empower people with disabilities and provide satisfying careers and more independent lifestyles. Recently, Microsoft volunteers helped \u201cmap\u201d around 700 objects and features on its campus on a community-generated platform, called OpenStreetMap<\/a>. It acts as a data source that feeds apps such as SoundScape<\/a>, which makes it easier for the visually impaired to get around independently using 3D audio cues.<\/p>\n Digital transformation has also helped the Thai Red Cross Society become a more inclusive employer<\/a>. After moving its operations to the cloud with help from Microsoft, it was able to take on 100 workers with disabilities. Also in Thailand, the Social Innovation Foundation<\/a> is using digital technology to better help people with disabilities find jobs. Before they faced a massive paperwork challenge. Now they are using Microsoft Dynamics 365 which they expect will dramatically raise their case handling rates from a few hundred a year to more than 10,000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The fast pace of technology is changing how we live, work, and play. But can it also change how we give, donate, and help others? Justin Spelhaug thinks so \u2026 it\u2019s his mission. After years of working with commercial customers in the United States and Asia, he now leads Technology for Social Impact (TSI): a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53833,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[79,50],"class_list":["post-53832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-microsoft-news","tag-microsoft-philanthropies","tag-recent-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/digital-transformation-for-nonprofits-the-business-of-doing-good-with-data.jpg\"){kind=spacer}
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