Nonprofits spend most of their time doing good. But have you ever wondered how nonprofits became so good at doing good? Good, because we have the answer – it’s in part because of consultants like Marc Baizman of My Computer Guy Nonprofit Technology Consulting. The folks over at nonprofits like Marc’s client Root Capital are busy helping farmers and other grassroots businesses in Latin America and Africa get the funding they need to grow and thrive, so Marc comes in and gets them set up with applications such as SalesForce, Google Apps and Outright so that they can more quickly and accurately manage donors, constituents and the farmers and other entrepreneurs they serve.
Like many entrepreneur’s here at Outright, Marc’s career path was anything but linear. A few years ago, Marc was working as a corporate trainer at Pfizer and had never even contemplated being his own boss. Then a fortuitous chain of events led him to leave Pfizer for something more fulfilling. Before he could get on a plane for a second stint teaching English in Japan, a friend recommended NPower, a nonprofit consulting service, where Marc excelled as a project manager.
But NPower was based in New York and soon enough Marc had to make a decision – stay with NPower or move to Boston with his soon-to-be wife. Marc made the move for love and not long after that, My Computer Guy was born. Now, in addition to working with Root Capital, Marc works with many other nonprofits, including BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life), a Boston based nonprofit that recognizes underserved at-risk kids for the scholars that they truly are by organizing after-school and summer programs.
How does a nonprofit technology consultant use Outright?
“I discovered Outright 3-4 months ago and as soon as I signed up, I was totally hooked. Before I had been using Freshbooks, which really doesn’t do the full accounting and tax management. I was thinking of using other apps, and I have an accountant, but I didn’t want to buy Quickbooks because that seemed like overkill for what I was doing. And I still wasn’t sure what I was going to do at the end of the year – hand a bunch of Freshbooks info to the accountant and see what happened?”
According to Marc, Outright has saved him at least 3-4 hours per month in data entry, and a few hundred bucks that would have gone to his accountant for a monthly one-on-one meeting.
“The single sign-on capability is really handy, and I put the tax calendar on my Google calendar so now I’m more aware,” said Marc.
At Outright, we’re proud to help Outrighteous Users like Marc Baizman make it easier to do what he loves, so that he can help nonprofits make it easier to do what they love!
Visit his website for more about Marc Baizman and his company My Computer Guy Nonprofit Technology Consulting. If you are interested in donating or investing in small businesses around the world, visit Root Capital. If you want to get involved with educating at-risk scholars, visit BELL.