Tag Archives: Nonprofits

Stay Out of Excel Hell: 7 Tips for Working with Spreadsheets

Anyone who regularly works with spreadsheets knows the anguish of screwing up said spreadsheets.

It usually goes like this. You’re powering through – filtering, sorting, formulating – until you notice that one row of data looks off. After frantically checking a few more rows, it hits you. Something went wrong in your manipulations, and now you need to start from scratch.

Maybe.

Spreadsheets are great, but they have also destroyed many a nonprofit worker’s day. Fortunately, we can do things to reduce the chance of this happening…and keep calm when it inevitably does.

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My team doesn’t know what I do.

I sort of got in trouble at work recently.

Don’t worry – nothing actually offensive took place on my part. My job isn’t in jeopardy, I’m not on probation, or anything like that! But I had an exchange with one of my directors, and as far as I’m concerned, I’ve definitely made a mistake in my role. Let’s dive in.

Anyone who manages a database knows that the job has it’s less-than-glamorous moments. Not that anyone would call this work glamorous…which is precisely why I love it.

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5 Reasons To Start Documenting Your Work Today

If you won the lottery and left your job tomorrow, would your org be able to pick up where you left off?

If you’re thinking HECK NOPE, then this one’s for you. Let’s get into it.

Whenever we talk about doing mission-driven, passion-fueled work, we never talk about documenting it. That’s cause when you’re already so busy, this can be a drag! To some, documentation is the grunt work of event-planning with all the thrill of watching paint dry.

Writing this post, I was skeptical that this could even make for an interesting topic.

But as a blog centered on nonprofit worker productivity, we can’t not talk about it! Documentation is key to how we make a lasting impact at work, drudgery and all.

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