Weak Websites? Dull Databases? Let ESCH and UH Help Your Organization

Since 2004, ESCH has collaborated with the University of Houston to provide nonprofits with the opportunity to receive free assistance with their information technology projects. The program provides the students with the opportunity to work to solve real life problems and lets the nonprofits gain valuable improvements to their infrastructure.

Opportunity
For the Spring 2011 semester, the University will have around 80 students who, when teamed with an ESCH mentor, can work on about 16 projects covering such items as:

• Creating or improving your web presence and e-commerce capabilities
• Establishing your organization on social media such as Facebook
• Increasing web traffic by optimizing your site for search engines such as Google
  
• Creating or improving your database capabilities to manage donors, clients, etc.
• Selecting and installing new hardware and software
• Implementing accounting tools such as Quickbooks

The teams, typically made up of 5 students, have about two months to understand, design, develop and implement a solution and are expected to support and maintain it for a month after that. Consequently successful projects are small, focused deployments.

Action
We invite you to take advantage of this opportunity and submit a project for consideration.
To receive an application, please email our offices. If you are interested please either email or fax the form to the ESCH offices no later than Friday, January 14, 2011.

There are some constraints on what projects will be accepted:

• The project has to be of a sufficient size to be completed in two months. You may consider breaking a project into phases.
• You must have the people available to support the project. The teams will perform the analysis, design and development but they will need folks who can answer questions, make decisions, review the design and sign-off the deliverables for the life of the project.
  
• Students are not available to enter information or setup data in the systems. They cannot enter legal transactions and will not be part of a financial audit

Two additional things to be aware of is that we normally get more requests than available places, and the students are the ones that pick the projects so the more appealing they sound the more chance of being chosen!

Again, forms should be emailed to esch@eschouston.org or faxed to ESCH at 713-780-7764 before January 14, 2011.

Save the Date to Bid Farewell

Dr. Jane Harding, Executive Director, Executive Service Corps of Houston, has announced her retirement effective at year end.

Please join us on Thursday, December 9, 2010 for an Open House between 1:30 – 3:00 pm. We want all to take this opportunity to honor Jane and offer her best wishes upon her retirement.

We hope you can join us anytime between these hours. The Open House will be held at the ESCH office at 2630 Fountain View Dr., Suite 428.

If you plan to attend, please RSVP to Yeiry at 713-780-2208 or send an email to yguevara@eschouston.org.

2010 Power Tools for Nonprofits Conference

Join ESCH and the nonprofit community to this year's Power Tools for Nonprofit conference on Wednesday, November 17, 2010 from 8:45 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Power Tools is one of the biggest conferences for nonprofits in the city.

You do not want to miss it!

The mission of the conference is: "To provide an educational forum for nonprofit professionals, volunteers, and board members on ways to leverage resources, strengthen organizational effectiveness and improve the quality of life for all."

This educational forum offers a cornucopia of sessions including topics as donor management database, form 990 guidance, how to submit a grant proposal, nonprofit career mapping, and many more. Our own ESCH consultants will also present sessions on reaching out to your donors and making meetings effective.

This year's keynote speaker is the talented Angela Blanchard, President and CEO of Neighborhood Centers, Inc.

For more information and registration, see the Power Tools webpage.

The online brochure detailing the events of the day is available on the webpage.

*Note: you need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the brochure.

Mark Your Calendar - Super Seminar Series Is Here

Marathon Oil & ESCH Present: Super Seminar Series

Fund Development

Day 1 - Tuesday, September 14, 2010

8:30 – 9:00 a.m.
Complimentary Breakfast

9:00 – 10:30 a.m.
Fund Development II

Presented by Ed Benyon, ESCH Consultant and Manager, Principal Gifts at Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas

10:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
New Donor Cultivation

Presented by Ed Benyon, ESCH Consultant and Manager, Principal Gifts at Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas

12:30 – 1:00 p.m.
Complimentary Lunch

1:00 – 1:45 p.m.
The Status of Philathropic Giving in Houston
Presented by Ronnie Hagerty, Assistant Vice President of Community Relations for United Way of Greater Houston

2:00 – 3:30 p.m.
Grant Writing Basics
Presented by Jane T. Harding, Ph.D., Executive Director of ESCH

Where: Marathon Oil Conference Center
5555 San Felipe
Houston, TX 77056

Cost: $20 per person per day
$35 per person for both days
(An organization may send different people to each day and still receive the benefit but the same number of people from an organization attending each day must be the same to qualify for the 2-day discount)

To Register: Call Yeiry at 713-780-2208. Space is limited; prepayment must be received to guarantee a seat. All major credit cards except American Express can be taken over the phone.

To receive Super Seminar Series Day 2: Focus on Communication details, join our email list

Weak Website? Difficult Database? Let ESCH & UH help you!

ESCH and the University of Houston have established a cooperative program where Management Information Systems students enrolled at the University of Houston C. T. Bauer School of Business provide project assistance for non-profit client projects. Graduate and undergraduate students of U of H Professors Carl Scott and Janna Porra have successfully provided this valuable client service since 2004. ESCH identifies the projects and provides consultant mentors to the student teams. The program also provides students:

1. The opportunity to learn the value of volunteer work while completing their course work
2. Experience in proposing and executing a project and developing communication skills
3. The opportunity to work with an experienced ESCH professional
   

ESCH is now soliciting MIS (computer oriented) projects from our clients for the fall 2010 semester.

Typical projects that students have worked on are:

• Web site development and improvements
• Internet search engine optimization (to increase traffic to your web site)
• Database development and implementation
• Network Development
• Hardware selection and installation
• Software selection and installation
• ISP (internet service provider) selection and implementation
• Office automation & integration
• Accounting (e.g., QuickBooks) design and implementation

Constraints on the selection of projects include the following:

• project scope must be able to be designed and implemented in two months elapsed time
• in the accounting area, students cannot enter financial transactions or participate in an audit
• client must have staff available to provide requirements, answer questions, & test the final result
• client must provide all content for systems (e.g., actual information for a web site)

Please read the “Roles” document included with the application.

ESCH and the Bauer professors will review the client project requests to determine if they are appropriate candidates for student projects. Projects will be assigned to student teams soon after the semester start on Monday, August 23, 2010. If your project is selected, students will meet with you to organize the project and with your input, develop and implement the project. You should be prepared to have initial discussions with the student team within a few days of the semester start.

Past experience indicates we will receive more requests for projects than we can accommodate. Ensuring that your project request is well thought out and the project accurately described will increase your chances of being selected. If you have multiple potential projects, you are welcome to submit more than one. If you have questions or need assistance in preparation of your request, contact ESCH for assistance.

If you are interested in submitting a project for consideration, email the ESCH offices with your interest in the program and you will be sent an application. You should submit the completed project Request Form and MIS Assessment Form to the ESCH office no later than Friday July 30, 2010.

If you’re able to complete the forms electronically and submit them via email, that would be appreciated since it will simplify the sharing of the forms with the multiple people who need to review and use them. The email address is esch@eschouston.org. If you prefer paper, you can fax the forms to ESCH at 713-780-7764.

How YOUR Donation Can Help A Nonprofit

It costs ESCH only $40 to deliver an hour of professional consultation worth $160! Your $40 donation will be combined with other donations to provide:

12 hours of management consultation for 1 nonprofit: $500
Marketing plan development for 2 nonprofits: $1,000
Business plan development for 3 nonprofits: $2,500
Strategic plan development and implementation for 5 nonprofits: $5,000
Financial management systems and policies for 4 nonprofits: $7,500
Executive leadership coaching for 5 executive directors: $10,000

Every donation helps a nonprofit deliver new, more or better services. To make a donation, click here

eschouston.org and then click on the Donate Now button

Groceries, Shopping and Online Search: Ways to Help ESCH

Who knew that buying groceries could help the local nonprofit community? As of recently, ESCH has teamed up with Kroger’s and Randalls’ community outreach programs to bring you more opportunities to support ESCH. The following breaks down the different programs available to you for your shopping convenience.

To participate in Kroger’s program, you’ll need ESCH’s Customer Letter, which you can find on Kroger’s website at http://www.krogerneighbortoneighbor.com/search.php.
The next time you’re at Kroger’s, take the letter with you to link ESCH to your Kroger Plus Card. Every time you shop at Kroger and use your Kroger Plus Card, ESCH will earn a percentage of your eligible purchases. For more information about Kroger’s programs, please consult http://www.krogerneighbortoneighbor.com/qanda.html

If you have a Randalls Remarkable card, visit the Courtesy Booth to link your Remarkable Card to ESCH’s account. ESCH’s account number is 12159. Randalls will then pay ESCH a percentage of our account total. Download a form to link the account at:
http://shop.safeway.com/corporate/randalls/GN_HOUSTON_AUSTIN.pdf
Randalls also offers an opportunity to support ESCH through their Community Bucks program. For more information about Randalls’ programs, please visit their website at:
http://www.randalls.com/IFL/Grocery/Good-Neighbor.

Give to ESCH while searching the Internet or shopping online by using goodsearch.com at
www.goodsearch.com . Select ESCH as your Goodsearch charity and then enter your search criteria or go shopping. ESCH receives $0.01 for every search made. The pennies add up!
For more information about these programs, please contact ESCH Development Director Jennifer Hansen at 713.780.2208 or jennifer.hansen@eschouston.org.

Weak Website? Dull Database? Let ESCH and University of Houston Help!

ESCH and the University of Houston have established a cooperative program where Management Information Systems (MIS) students enrolled at the University of Houston C. T. Bauer School of Business provide project assistance for non-profit client projects. Graduate and undergraduate students of U of H Professors Carl Scott and Janna Porra have successfully provided this valuable client service since 2004. ESCH identifies the projects and provides consultant mentors to the student teams. The program also provides students:

• the opportunity to learn the value of volunteer work while completing their course work
• experience in proposing and executing a project and developing communication skills
• the opportunity to work with an experienced ESCH professional

ESCH is now soliciting MIS (computer oriented) projects from our clients for the spring 2010 semester.

Typical projects that students have worked on are:

• Web site development and improvements
• Internet search engine optimization (to increase traffic to your web site)
• Database development and implementation
• Network Development
• Hardware selection and installation
• Software selection and installation
• ISP (internet service provider) selection and implementation
• Office automation & integration
• Accounting (e.g., QuickBooks) design and implementation
  

Constraints on the selection of projects include the following:

• project scope must be able to be designed and implemented in one semester (16 weeks)
• in the accounting area, students cannot enter financial transactions or participate in an audit
• client must have staff available to provide requirements, answer questions, & test the final result
• client must provide all content for systems (e.g., actual information for a web site)
  

ESCH and the Bauer professors will review the client project requests to determine if they are appropriate candidates for student projects. Projects will be assigned to student teams on Thursday, January 21, 2010. If your project is selected, students will meet with you to organize the project and with your input, develop and implement the project. You should be prepared to have the initial meeting with the student team within five days after notification of project selection.

Past experience indicates we will receive more requests for projects than we can accommodate. Therefore, it is important that each project request is well thought out and the project accurately described. If you have multiple potential projects, you are welcome to submit more than one. If you have questions or need assistance in preparation of your request, contact ESCH for assistance.

If you are interested in submitting a project for consideration, you should submit a completed project Request Form and MIS Assessment Form to the ESCH office before Friday January 8, 2010. Completed electronic applications are preferred. The email address is esch@eschouston.org . If you prefer paper, you can fax the forms to ESCH at 713-780-7764.

Please email our offices for the application.