Starting Out at Conservancy
by on September 15, 2016
With a title like Director of Strategic Initiatives, you might think I started at Conservancy with big plans for new programs. I hope I'll have that kind of impact in the long run, but the truth is that I joined Conservancy because I believe the work that it already does, from the high-level mission to the day-to-day tasks, is critically important to advance many FLOSS projects. That range of vision is what makes Conservancy unique. Because the organization supports FLOSS projects that use a wide variety of licenses and technology, it has a very broad view of the challenges those projects face. And Conservancy's mission calls on us to tackle those larger problems, instead of providing a limited set of services.
Because of that, I'm taking my time to learn about how Conservancy runs today. While I do that, I've been keeping an eye out for ways to improve our systems and processes. My personal overarching priority right now is to help the organization work more effectively, so we can provide more of this critical support to more projects, and help other organizations do the same.
The first major improvement I'm leading is a web system to file reimbursement requests, as the first tool in our NPO Accounting system. Fiscal sponsorship is one of Conservancy's core activities, and we spend a lot of time on it. Today it can take a few manual e-mails back and forth to get a reimbursement request complete, and all of this handling can get backlogged around the peak conference season. The first release will provide a web form that guides users through the process of submitting a complete request, and organize the result so it's easy to add to a project's books. This will save time and hassle for everyone involved in the process, and help shorten response times too.
Of course, Conservancy isn't the only NPO that handles reimbursement requests, and a long-term goal of the NPO Accounting system is to provide software that lots of organizations can use. I've already spoken with some early adopters about what they would like in a reimbursement system, and we're building it with those requirements in mind. Even if it's not all in the first release, knowing them now should help make sure we're building something that can be broadly useful.
I've already had the chance to work with several member projects and Conservancy supporters over these first few weeks. If you ideas about what Conservancy can improve, whether it's handling reimbursements or anything else, feel free to get in touch. You can reach me by e-mail or on Twitter. I look forward to meeting even more of you over the coming months!
Please email any comments on this entry to info@sfconservancy.org.
