Technology Innovation Award Satisfies Nonprofit's Hunger for Solutions
Atlanta Community Food Bank and TechBridge

TechBridge is announcing call for entries for the fifth annual Technology Innovation Award (TIA). To help illustrate the value of participating in the award program, TechBridge caught up with Bill Bolling, Executive Director of the Atlanta Community Food Bank to get his perspective on the role technology plays in supporting ACFB's mission and what it has meant to be a TIA award recipient.

As a nonprofit leader, how do you influence the technology strategy for your organization?

I’m a great example of an executive director who is not technology oriented, although I’m a big supporter of it.  Technology can be intimidating when you need to show progress in developing capabilities but you’re not the one leading the charge.  The key is to find the right people and empower them to do that work, and to not be intimidated by the fact that you aren’t a technical expert.

How did you come to embrace technology planning at the Food Bank?

As we began to plan the permanent structure for the Food Bank facility, we realized that we needed to make major technology upgrades that paralleled both our structural plan and our business plan.  It was a great incentive to move on technology planning because if we didn’t do it at the planning stage, we would miss the window of opportunity to design and build a system that would work for us into the future.

How did you get into a relationship with TechBridge?

When we were planning the Food Bank facility, our systems were not aligned.  It was like building a house without a blueprint; over time, it started to look odd.  Nonprofits often have to use what people will give us – software, computers and consulting. You piece it together, but as you grow you find that the pieces don’t fit.  Systems don’t talk to each other and you can’t move list data around if they reside on different systems.

We wanted to learn what our options were in designing the system.  We were looking for an organization that could help us with a technology plan.  We had donor companies that were providing consulting services, but these were larger corporations that could only provide help on the side.  When we met TechBridge it felt very natural for us because of their mission and orientation towards helping nonprofits build technology capacity.  Another important factor is being sensitive to the nonprofit culture.  That’s an advantage TechBridge brings because their mission is to work in the sector and over time they’ve gained sensitivity to working in this culture. 

What has been your greatest technology challenge?

We’re a mid-sized org with 75 staff and interface with 750 member agencies. We also use more than 1000 volunteers and have 400 food companies that donate.  In a sense we’re a switching station and there’s a lot of activity.  One of our key goals was to upgrade our technology and make it easier for our members to access our services.  To do this, we had to help our member agencies build the capacity to use our systems.  We have 750 members - big, medium and small - some running out of small church pantries.  We couldn’t assume that everyone had the same technical knowledge or capacity, so we had to start from square one. 

Our first step was to survey members to determine their technology capacity. Then we had to determine the best way for them to learn and build capacity. It wasn’t a one-size fits all approach and we had to create technology implementation and training that was in step with each agency’s capacity. This is where TechBridge helped us plan and think about how we would achieve our goals.   We spent two years working up to the big system, which we implemented last December – a year ago this month.

What has ACFB accomplished in terms of using technology that are noteworthy?

I’m happy to say that with TechBridge’s help and a lot of hard work, we have made some measurable advances both in our network and our system.  I say measurable because as we have used technology, we have saved the agencies valuable time - time that can be applied back to their missions.  For example, it used to take 2-3 hours on average to come to the FB and go through the facility.  This was because the agencies couldn’t see what was in stock – they had to come down every day– like going to the grocery store.  Today, the average time for our members is 20 minutes, because agencies can check inventories online in real time and they can order online.  So, I suppose the greatest impact from our technology is the thousands of hours that we have given back to the community. 

ACFB was the first recipient of the Technology Innovation Award (TIA) – back when it was called the Advancing Communities Through Technology Award. What has this recognition meant to ACFB?

We were very happy to receive the grant.  It meant new equipment, software and consulting services.  We were equally happy to be in front of a sizeable technology community at the TechBridge Digital Ball.  Being recognized in front of several thousand people in the tech community gave us credibility.  It sent a message the ACFB could interface and work with other organizations on technology initiatives. Quite frankly it opened a lot of doors.

So there has been an ongoing lift from the early recognition?

That’s absolutely true, but it’s important not to be lead down the wrong path. The recognition merely gives you the opportunity to be in front of people. It’s up to you to do something with it. It also doesn’t give you a blank check – what it does is give you an opportunity to walk through the door.

What’s next on the horizon for ACFB with regards to tech?

Internally we want to leverage our Intranet to make it easier to communicate and get work done making resources more readily available.  We are continually upgrading our tools so that everyone in the organization from the truck driver and warehouse person to the development director has access and that everyone is empowered to use the tools.

Do you have a long-range tech plan?

Technology is an important element of our five-year strategic plan.  Any strategic plan needs to have a technology element.  You have to build it in.  We’re clear one-to-two years out where we need to go in terms of equipment, training and people. 

Are there any new applications that you’re looking at favorably?

We are very interested in doing more with online fundraising; to do it more creatively and to make it easier for the donor.  We’re also experimenting with streaming video.  It’s not really new technology, but it’s new in the sense of being affordable and accessible, and it allows you to communicate succinctly, clearly and personally.

For example, we used it to communicate with agencies and evacuees after Hurricane Katrina. After the disaster, it was hard for people who wanted to help to find out where to go.  We were able to use video to communicate very clearly what ACFB was doing and how people could become involved.  We also were able to communicate to agencies about how they could access our services.  We spent the entire Labor Day weekend upgrading our Website.  I was very proud of it.

What advice can you give other nonprofits to improve how they use technology?

There is always fear around change even change that we know is good. That’s human nature. There’s also fear around technology because it’s always changing.  When you first get into it you have an assumption that you’re going to create something and then you have it.  That’s not the case with technology.  It’s self-organizing and self-changing.  The technology planning process teaches you that change is normal and good – so you don’t have to fear it.

Read more about the Technology Innovation Award.

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