12.16.

09 Chapter Technology Analysis 2009

Overview:
The appointment of an executive director in April 2009, along with the chapter‟s desire to move to a more strategic Board and
expand the organization in a sustainable manner, has made it necessary to evaluate the Chapter's current technologies, its
related needs and identify potential solutions. In order to increase efficiencies, reduce costs, generate revenues, and better
utilize volunteer and staff time, it seems to be necessary to integrate existing technologies and processes as much as possible.

Currently, the Chapter is using and paying for (in most cases) more than ten different technology services and programs. The
absence of a customer relationship management system combining the various databases and the lack of integration between
the software programs used has reduced the amount of targeted marketing and communication that the chapter is able to do. In
addition, it has resulted in a loss of revenues through limited tracking of sponsors and management of membership through a
third party (USGBC National), which has made business continuity a challenge. Use of the various technologies has also been
somewhat time consuming and cumbersome for Board and Committee leadership, adding a greater workload to this highly
motivated and proactive group.

The key areas in which technology is employed or is needed are (see chart following):

 Administration
 Communication
 Development
 Membership
 Programs & Events

The goals are to:

 Reduce the workload for the Board and Committee leadership by consolidating the number of services and tools used
and enable them to collaborate more easily
 Increase revenues by consolidating ways of collecting and tracking money
 Reduce costs and time spent
 Enhance communications, both internally with members and externally with potential partners, sponsors and the media
by coordinating outreach through one central database system
 Make membership and event registration more user friendly to encourage greater participation and increase revenues
 Increase membership and retention rates, grow sponsorship, and improve effectiveness of the chapter‟s volunteer and
committee process by introducing a customer relationship management system that enables effective tracking.
JBL/JK
The immediate focus needs to be on obtaining a customer relationship management system to track contacts, membership,
USGBC Central Texas - Balcones
volunteers, committee leadership, sponsorships and other fundraising, as well as partnerships with other related
organizations. This document attempts to present the chapter’s needs and challenges, evaluates the existing technologies, 12/16/2009
and suggests some potential solutions.
 USGBC CT-B Technology Analysis
y

Operations Needs Issues Solutions

Administration Document archiving and exchange Lack of easy accessibility to documents & not up-to-date Greater use of Webex or Extranet
Business continuity Systems and protocols not in place for easy transition Provide guidelines and reference materials
Meeting management:
 Webinars  Current free service ends Dec. 31 (EFrisch)  GoToMeetings or Webex
 Conference calls  Current conference call service is costly  2 services – one free to callers and
other paid for by callers
 Shared internal calendar  Webex shared calendar is not user-friendly  Webex or Wild Apricot
 Meeting scheduling  Doodle.com a separate program, not integrated  Wild Apricot has/will have a voting
Nominations – election process Through Nat‟l until now – have to use 3rd party now function in 2010
Member outreach Lack of ability to target and build relationships Constant Contact or Wild Apricot
Communication Event publicity Lack of targeting abilities Constant Contact or Wild Apricot
Website event calendar Too many steps to learn more and register Wild Apricot
Targeted mailings Labor intensive and time consuming Constant Contact or Wild Apricot
Social media management Lacks continuity and connectivity Web developer for ad-hoc programming
Website stats and tracking No tracking history as it was not activated until Oct. 09 Being tracked now on Bluehost or Wild Apricot
Website development Currently need someone who understands code Web developer or Wild Apricot
Development Sponsor tracking Manual tracking and no coordinated process for Wild Apricot
following up with and tracking sponsors Wild Apricot
Pitching process Need more efficient means of sharing who is pitching Webex or Extranet
whom
Grant development and reports
Membership Data management No existing member nor contact management system Wild Apricot
Bench-marking and tracking Manual processes, so limited or not happening Wild Apricot
Member registration process Onerous process to join and delayed payment from Nat‟l Wild Apricot
Volunteer tracking Manual and ad-hoc Wild Apricot
Committee management Manual spreadsheet, not easily updated and shared Wild Apricot
Membership directory Lack of a membership directory Wild Apricot
Member surveys Currently not integrated with contacts so manual process Survey Monkey
Programs and Event registration Lack of an integrated event registration system – Wild Apricot with Google Checkout or acquire a
Events currently three steps and not used for CRM or follow up merchant acct.
Workshop enrollment Through National; currently no attendee follow up poss. Depends on proposed Education mgt. process
Program and event tracking No one central place for tracking, updating and Webex or Extranet
referencing schedule of upcoming programs & events

JBL/JK 12.16.09
 USGBC CT-B Technology Analysis
Cost and time comparison for current and proposed integrated technologies, focused on Customer Relationship Management
(other costs include conference calls, webinars, Extranet vs. Webex for document sharing )

Current Time Spent Time Spent

Utility Current Cost Time explanation Forecast Cost
Hours Hours

For uploading and managing data files for website – 15-50 minutes $6.95 per
Bluehost $6.95 per month 0.5 hr 0.5
each time month
For updating current pages: 1-3 hours
For adding new material: 1-3 hours
$323 One time Flat
Adobe Dreamweaver 20 For adding new web pages: 4-7 hours 0 0
Fee
For existing webpage redesign: 8-10 hours
For site redesign: currently unable to do this without web developer
With Dreamweaver, we have been able to do away with regular
involvement of a web developer for day to day administration, thanks $500 - $1,000
Web Developer $250 per month 10 primarily to an intern who has some html experience; since fee based One time flat 5
developer was discontinued a professional developer has been used to fee
show us how to do certain updates and make changes
For e-mail creation: 1-3 hours per e-mail
For uploading and managing contacts: 1 hour (however, we are not
Constant Contact $53 per month 10 0 5
currently doing targeted mailings for general e-blasts, which would take
substantially longer as would have to create separate group
For creating event: 15-30 minutes per event depending on level of
Avg. $100 per month knowledge of person creating it
Eventbrite 3 3
2.5% ticket value 0
+$.99/ per ticket

No time involved unless there is an issue with it

2.9% + $.30
2.9% + $.30
Google Checkout 0 /Per 1
/Per Transaction
Transaction
N/A $200 per
Wild Apricot 0 0 20
month

Total $410 43.5 $207 34.5

*See explanations of programs following

JBL/JK 12.16.09
CURRENT
TECHNOLOGIES
Utility: What it does? Benefits Drawbacks Analysis Current Cost
Bluehost (Website) Currently hosts our Bluehost has been a reliable With Bluehost the web content Bluehost has been a great $6.95 per month
website and usgbc- hosting service that is currently has to be created by the Chapter web hosting service that has
centraltexas.org e-mails. hosting over 700mb worth of either with the help of a web provided efficient hosting with
It also hosts any data information for our Chapter. designer (Costing between $65 - no major problems over the
files such as PDFs, Bluehost also has the capability to $85/hour) or with more limited past two years. However our
PowerPoint, excel monitor all web traffic and to capabilities of Adobe account expires in April 2,
sheets, word docs linked maintain our domain name for an Dreamweaver 2010 and we will need to
to the website postings inexpensive price recommit to a 3 year contract
and website archives to maintain same cost *Note:
Domain name expires May 3,
2010

Adobe A software that allows Possible for tech savvy web
Dreamweaver the chapter to make day beginners to make minor changes
to day updates to the quickly and easily. It is currently
website, host content, being used by the Chapter to
and create new web create new web pages, update
pages text on current web pages, add
pdf fliers for events, post
sponsorship logos and LEED
registered projects – work is done
by a communications intern with
code experience
Constant Contact Email marketing tool that Content has been set up so that
is easy to use and all emails sent have a uniform and
enables messages to be distinct look. There are no
sent out on a template limitations to the number of emails
that reflects the we can send on a monthly basis.
Chapter‟s image; The database is populated directly
newsletters can also be through individual sign up for e-
created and sent out mail communications on our
using this tool website (anyone can do this) and
manually by uploading excel
sheets of members provided by
National on a monthly basis
Because it is still code based, it
has limited capabilities without
someone who knows how to use
code. Creating new pages,
changing style sheets, enhancing
visual aesthetics and site layout
require previous web experience
and/or the paid guidance of a web
developer at $65-$85 an hour
Difficult to easily target segmented
recipients; it costs $50/month no
matter how many emails we send.
It is HTML based which means
any visual changes to the
template would require the help of
a web developer. Templates are
not completely user friendly and at
times there have been errors
caused by the templates lack of
compatibility with web browsers
like internet explorer. Database is
maintained by manually
While this utility was a great $323 (one time
investment for keeping our cost)
website up to date in the short
term, it will be very limiting for
longer term site
enhancements, as well as any
major changes to the site‟s
visual look and feel. It is also
very cumbersome if a major
error or mistake is made
Overall a good value for an $50/monthly fee
email marketing utility. for 2,501-5,000
However if we go for a more contacts (our
integrated system we will be current list size is
able to do what Constant +3,400)
Contact is capable of doing,
as well as integrate the lists
for easy use on other activities $75 per month for
and vice versa 5,001-10,000

JBL/JK 12.16.09

Utility What it does? Benefits
Eventbrite Event registration and Easy to create and monitor
management, with events; offers different ticket
payment through Google pricing and discount options;
Checkout capability to customize URL for
each specific event, as well as to
determine what type of information
we want to capture e.g. contacts,
member/non-member etc. Able to
monitor who has registered, as
well as failed registrations and
allows direct follow up with
registrants. Use of the service is
free if there is no charge for the
event. It has more capability than
we‟re using it for e.g. can use it for
surveys and marketing after an
event
Google checkout Provides means of Offers a program called Google
payment for event Grants for non-profits giving up to
registration through $10,000 per month of free online
Eventbrite and can be advertising plus one year of free
used for donations and transactions
sponsorship payments
Microsoft Outlook Email management and Good for ED‟s individual contact
contact database on management and email data for
executive director‟s individuals and groups with limited
computer number of members; ability to
categorize contacts is useful;; can
be exported into excel for use
elsewhere
JBL/JK 12.16.09
downloading different
spreadsheets
Drawbacks
Entails three or four steps for
registrants; takes people away
from our website and does not
have the chapter „look‟ on the
registration page; does not
automatically provide contacts to
central database nor Constant
Contact, although it can be done
manually by exporting into Excel;
as we create and host more
events and the number of people
attending increases, the cost for
registration via Eventbrite will
increase and time required to
capture info in a useable format
will increase
Difficult to identify purpose of
transaction. Customer service
challenging, especially when
checking a statement or why a
payment was rejected
The number of emails and
contacts is steadily increasing as
the ED and volunteers ramp up
their outreach, to the point that the
outlook address book now
contains around 1,000 qualified
contacts. However, it is difficult to
Analysis Current Cost
A great registration application 2.5% of ticket
for small events. However, value + $0.99/per
when we host large events, ticket not including
Eventbrite becomes an fee that Google
expensive investment and the takes
manual contacts management automatically
increases workload
($1,209 since
June 2007)
Seems to be the most 2.9% + $.30
effective and reliable at this /Per Transaction
time, although an alternative For < $3,000 per
might be a merchant account month
in the future. Recommend
continue to use Google
Checkout if switch to Wild
Apricot and apply for the grant
Great for individual emails and None
personal contact management
but it is not being used to its
full potential as there is no
easy and efficient way of
using the valuable contacts
accumulated through direct

Microsoft Excel Database management Has become a common exchange
for all sorts of tracking including
membership, volunteers,
attendance sheets, email sign-up
sheets, sponsors and the like.
Utility What it does? Benefits
Webex Document archiving, Excellent document exchange
sharing & management platform. Serves as a hub for all
Webinars Chapter documents including fact
sheets, presentations, and bylaws
and guidelines. Files are sorted
into folders and can be accessed
by several different users and is
password protected.
Extranet Information exchange The ability to collaborate with
platform for Chapter other Chapters and their
Leadership processes. Extranet also serves
as a databank for National
documents.
JBL/JK 12.16.09
manage and use emails for e-
blasts and other outreach without
downloading them into excel and
uploading them into Constant
Contact. They also should not
necessarily receive all e-mail
communications. The time
involved in data entry of new
contacts is about an hour per 20
contacts
Using Excel is very limited in
terms of sorting capabilities and
profile management, especially in
regards to membership, sponsor
and volunteer tracking – we
currently have to merge a variety
of different contact lists manually
Drawbacks
It is only an office service with a
maximum of 800 mb of storage
space. And is relatively expensive
for what it offers. If we were an
organization that used thousands
of form and documents for legal
work and official tracking, Webex
would be a more useful utility.
However we currently do not use
thousands of different documents
and thus Webex does not provide
a equitable return for its costly
monthly investment.
The Extranet is intended for only a
few Chapter Leaders and cannot
be used for widespread
collaboration throughout the entire
Chapter.
outreach at events, trade
shows and so forth, short of
manually sorting them and
adding them to Constant
Contact
Useful tool for transferring None
data from one system to
another. However, it should
not be the final product; one
central database, which
collects information from
memberships, development,
programs and so forth would
make communication and
tracking more efficient
Analysis Current Cost
Webex is a utility with $45/month
widespread usage amongst ($540 annually)
USGBC Chapters. Its value
lies in its abilities for web-
conferencing. However that is
a tool we are currently not
paying for.
The Extranet is a tool valuable None
for our Chapter‟s leadership
but is not useful to Chapter
Committees and other
members.
Budget Conference calls “Toll Free” option provides We are paying 5.9 cents a minute Does not provide cheapest $0.059/Minute/
conferencing participants with free call in per caller, which is apparently the solution for conference calling. Per Caller
best non-profit price available from
them
Doodle Meeting scheduling A free online utility that is very There is no link between the Wild Apricot is embedded with None
simple and intuitive, enabling service and Outlook so requires a Outlook utilities so we can
invited guests to confirm the times separate step for scheduling either use doodle or create a
that suit them meetings hidden event (including
registration) in Wild Apricot
Survey Monkey Membership and Easy to use Any surveys over 100 participants This year we have been Free: basic
programs surveys: (our membership is currently fortunate to use our Chapter package
 Free – limit of 100 around 500 and growing) requires Growth Consultant‟s account. Monthly charge:
participants per monthly or annual financial However, this will not be $19.95
survey with max.10 commitments available going forward. Wild Annual charge:
questions and 15 Apricot currently does not $200
pre-built templates provide this service and
to use Survey Monkey should
 Monthly plan – limit continue to be used.
of 1,000 responders
per survey with
unlimited number of
questions and
unlimited custom
themes
 Annual plan –
unlimited number of
responders,
unlimited number of
questions and
unlimited custom
themes

JBL/JK 12.16.09
PROPOSED
TECHNOLOGIES
Utility What it does?
Wild Apricot This is an integrated utility that
provides:
 Membership sign up,
renewals and member
profiles
 Fundraising tracking
 Payment of sponsorships
and donations on-line
 Event publicity, on-line
registrations and payment
 E-mail and newsletter
distributions
 Website development,
content management and
hosting.
JBL/JK 12.16.09
Benefits Drawbacks Analysis Cost
As a consolidated technology Potentially limited in Based on the research $200/Month (No
platform, it is easy to use, easy regards to web design, done, both on-line and Contract
to set up and manage, and although WA has assured through the USGBC Required – no
simple for chapter leadership us that a web designer can executive directors registration nor
and members to use and implement any design that network, Wild Apricot is one cancellation fees)
access. we provide – we do not of the most highly
 Has membership have to use one of their recommended programs,
management function templates. with minimal initial
enabling us to:  Web design function is investment of time.
o Handle membership simple, but possibly
applications directly and lacks the design While it might be easier to
not through National, capabilities of Adobe transfer from Blue Host to
allowing for immediate Photoshop, HTML, Wild Apricot from the
access to membership PHP, and other more beginning, it is not
numbers etc. intricate Website necessary to do so. We
o Initiate automatic Utilities. However, if we can transfer what we really
renewal and use a web designer to need (back of house) while
acknowledgement e- create the initial site keeping the existing
mails generated for new they will implement it; website, although it may
and renewing members would also need to use mean that the look of the
o Keep a current web developer to make various pages on the site
membership database, major changes. are not consistent (an
which tracks what  Event registration still example of this is the
events members attend requires external Houston Chapter‟s
and other useful payment services like membership section).
marketing information Google Checkout,
o Survey members unless we get a An alternative to Google
 Track individual donors and merchant account. Checkout might be
how much they contribute  Set up process will authorized.net with a
 Communications made require a time merchant account from
easier and more targeted: commitment, although Flagship merchant, which is
o Has same email the general consensus how Houston chapter does
distribution capability as is that it should not take it.
Constant Contact more than 30 days
o Has a membership  Integration with current Once and if we are ready to
search function so that website is available but enhance the website
we can email select may not be able to capability and improve
groups provide the same look ease of administration, we

Utility What it does?
GoToMeetings A Web conferencing tool for
organizing and attending online
meetings. One flat rate allows one
to host unlimited online meetings in
collaboration with up to 15
attendees. Also gives ability to
perform live demonstrations in real
time, collaborate on documents and
provide training. The application
JBL/JK 12.16.09
 Removes one step from the and feel for the new would use a web designer
event registration process as pages as the existing and/or web developer to
has the same features as site. create the new look and
Eventbrite plus automatically develop the structure based
adds contacts into the on our needs.
database
 Allows for importing events
directly into Outlook
calendar
 Free and constant software
upgrades; if one asks them
to change or add something
they will apparently do it
 Has a web design
application which enables a
non-highly technical person
to administer and make
changes to the site,
removing the need for a web
administrator after initial
design and setup. Web
design changes will still
require a professional web
developer
 Can transfer domain name
and all hosting capabilities
from Bluehost if necessary
 They back-up the system in
3 different places around the
country
Benefits Drawbacks Analysis Cost
 Attendees can join easily  Total audio conference This is an excellent Monthly plan:
without having to set up call has no extra costs, utility and it was $49/month
video feeds, Webcams, or but participants are recently noted that even $588 in total
registering for an account charged a standard Wild Apricot facilitators annual costs
 Presenters can easily take long distance charge use this company for
turns and have the ability to  VoIP is only free when their online interactive Annual plan:
share the keyboard and it is toll based webinars. $39/month
mouse control  Only allows for up to $468 in total
 Integrated audio includes 15 participants, but annual costs
 Includes free phone conferencing,
VoIP, or both.
WebEx Meeting Allows for:
Center  Sharing PowerPoint
presentations
 Showing website navigation
 Transferring files
 Integrated audio controls
 Document sharing
 Support for Microsoft
PowerPoint and Outlook
 Multimedia content sharing
 Application viewing,
application sharing and
desktop collaboration
 Polling
 Ability to record, edit and play
back meetings
 Free VoIP
CorporateConference Has both per call per minute Toll
Calls.com Free plan and a flat rate monthly
calling plan with:
 Unlimited monthly usage
 Ability to cancel anytime
 Conference 24/7
 No reservations needed
 On-Demand fully automated
service
 Free call recordings
 Ability to mute or remove
callers from web and view all
participants on call
JBL/JK 12.16.09
phone conferencing they do offer another
numbers in email invitations application,
and on the Control Panel GoToWebinar, that
 Free VoIP begins instantly allows for up to 1,000
when the session starts and attendees (30 day free
gives attendees the ability trial of GoToWebinar
to transmit and receive available)
audio at no cost by working
through the participants
speakers and microphones
It also allows for unlimited Expensive
online meetings with up to 25
participants and comes with
integrated phone conferencing
You only pay for what you use Pricing is complicated.
and there are no contracts or For a Toll Free call, this
hidden fees. The flat-rate plan company charges 5.9
would allow us to forecast our cents per minute if we stay
monthly budget under 500 minutes. If we
use more than 500, then
they only charge 3.9 cents
per minute. They do have
an unlimited plan for
$59.99 a month, but it is
not Toll Free and
participants would also
have to pay.
Save 20% with
this deal
N/A Monthly plan:
$69/month per
host (no
commitment,
cancel any time,
renews month to
month)
Annual plan:
$59/month per
host
Save $120 a year
After comparing and 2 cents per caller
contrasting other per minute
conference call Toll free if we use
applications, this one more than 500
proves to be the best minutes/month
choice is we use Toll Free
calling and use more than $14.95/month for
500 minutes per month, unlimited non
which is likely Toll-free calls
  Ability to record playback for
missed called
Z2Neon Provides integrated web solutions for
non-profit organizations, including
Constituent Relationship
Management, donations &
Fundraising; Event management,
membership management, e-
newsletters mailings;
offers substantial donor-
management features
Also – specific campaign widgets
can be created for raising money
Wealth screening – zip code relates
income info for contacts
Requires merchant account set up -
3rd party card/check processor of
choice
Started in 2003 – NEON 1.0 issued
2004
Used by Design-Build-Live group in
Austin
Authorize.net Customer payment option that is
very similar to Google Checkout or
PayPal. The key different is that it is
a merchant account and is integrated
into the current website and is not
linked.
JBL/JK 12.16.09
Includes a full suite of
fundraising and donation tools
enabling one to manage all
donations, whether from the
website, by phone, mail or in
person, in one database in one
place
Duplicate back-up
Vol/empl/activity tracking - incl
Online store – 1-5 items free, 6-
20 add $20/month
Online forum
This would keep visitors on our
page. It would allow for a more
seamless payment experience.
They offer recurring payments
option for donors/sponsors;
something not currently offered
by Google Checkout, PayPal or
Wild Apricot.
Pricing seems complicated
with all the different add-
on Modules instead of all
included in one price – e.g.
Social fundraising-$20/mo
Doc management -
$9.95/mo
Store items (5-20 ) -
$20/mo
Web Hosting – 15 GB and
15GB bandwidth -
$50.00/mo plus $1500
setup
Online survey and form
buildr - $20/mo
1-5 users – included
6-10 users - $15
11+ users - $10
Because of the web
integration, a web
developer will be needed
to implement the system.
The services offered are
also not free as our
Google Checkout and
PayPal.
Currently used by Design 1001-5000
Build Live – constituents
After comparing and $99/mo with $649
contrasting the capability of setup
several other systems Incl 5000
evaluated – this seems to emails/mo
be more oriented to the
CRM aspects while other 5001-10000
things such as webhosting, increases to
surveys, and doc $150/mo
management are extra
features at extra costs Full tech support -
which make the overall $99/mo
costs less competitive than Basic tech
other systems evaluated. support - $15/mo
This system also has little Incl training video
flexibility with regard to and 2 emails/mo
aesthetic design and some
functionality.
The services offered are
something of interest for
long term donor/sponsor
implications, however with
current budget and
technical situation, it may
need time and further
research to implement.