The Neon One Academy Elite: Summer 2019

Last spring, we introduced The Neon One Academy Elite Series, where we acknowledge and celebrate top performers in our training and certification program, Neon One Academy.

Update: We’ve rebranded! Our Neon Ecosystem is now Neon One. Same great products, new cohesive names.

Now, summer is here and it’s officially time for our second installment. Congrats to these hard-working nonprofit professionals from Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, Sweet Cheeks Diaper Bank, San Gabriel Valley LGBTQ Center, and the Leadership Institute of Acadiana.

Madeleine Hall

Madeleine is the Development Coordinator at the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture. Their goal is to present, preserve, and celebrate excellence in the art, history, and culture of African-Americans and people of African descent.

What prompted you to sign up for a learning path?

I was prompted to take the Nebula Learning path first because it was said to truly dive deep in the tools beneficial for a development coordinator, which is what my role is here at The Gantt. Nebula went much further by emphasizing the importance of acknowledging donors, as a part of an essential communication strategy in any development department.

I see you were hoping to learn how to use NeonCRM – especially running reports – and to share that knowledge with others. Did you meet those goals? Did you learn other things too?

Nebula also concentrated on reporting, which is another highly important component of my role, it highlighted the convenient ways in which Neon facilitates reports. One being the customizable formatting for each report and the ability to save those formats for future reports.

Most importantly, it has allowed me to find more efficient ways to analyze our data and configure it to fit the needs of a multi faceted non-profit organization. In a few weeks, I am confident I will be able to spearhead our staffs Neon database training.

What was your favorite part of the Academy?

I enjoyed the interactive pieces of some of the modules. I feel as though that was the most beneficial for me, being able to put the knowledge I was learning and actually use it while navigating the database.

Matt Rodriguez

Matt is an intern at Sweet Cheeks Diaper Bank. They partner with local social service agencies to provide free diapers to low-income families while raising awareness on the basic health need for diapers.

What prompted you to sign up for a learning path?

I signed up for a learning path because I found that was the easiest way to get digestible material to learn about NeonCRM. In addition, part of my job regarding NeonCRM is being able to teach co-workers how to use the software and I found the academy useful because it already came in a teaching-friendly format.

I see you were hoping to learn how to use Neon and be able to teach others. Did you meet those goals? Did you learn other things too?

I was able to meet my goals in regards to teaching others how to use the system. The main obstacle was figuring out what system learning path applied to the objectives of our organization.

What was your favorite part of the Academy? 

I liked the Iorad system walkthroughs. For me, this was the easiest way to get comfortable with the system and the various ways to access applications through NeonCRM.

Dylan Lizarraga

Dylan is the Vice President of the San Gabriel Valley LGBTQ Center. Their goal is to promote a safe and inclusive San Gabriel Valley for people of all orientations and gender identities.

What prompted you to sign up for a learning path? 

Our nonprofit has had and has slightly utilized NeonCRM to aid us in our efforts, but I felt we were not taking advantage of the full potential.

I see you were hoping to learn how to collect data, leverage that data to better serve members, and integrate Neon into your fundraising efforts. Did you meet those goals? Did you learn other things too? 

Working with and through a CRM has definitely been a new experience for us.

What was your favorite part of the Academy?  

Ultimately, I believe it is all worth the effort. Each of us developing and improving skills to bring back to the organization and, more importantly, the people we serve.

Ashley Mudd

Ashley Mudd is the Executive Director of the Leadership Institute of Acadiana, where they provide leadership training programs that aid in the development of their community.

What prompted you to sign up for a learning path?

I have experience working with other CRMs with other nonprofits and wanted to gain that same level of expertise with Neon. The learning path provided a way to move through a series of modules and build on the knowledge I had already gained.

I see you were hoping to learn to track financial activities in Neon and use the integration with Quickbooks. Did you meet those goals? Did you learn other things too?

I definitely did. We are using the integration with QuickBooks Online to streamline our membership process. I learned how to set up different automations to reduce the amount of manual entry we’ve done in the past. The integration also takes the payments through the entire account process allowing us to have more accurate accounting information for our board finance committee.

What was your favorite part of the Academy? 

I enjoyed how easy it was to access. I committed to completing at least one module a day. It was easy to keep track of my progress and to return to past modules for a refresher once I was applying what I learned in Neon.

Congratulations to Madeleine, Matt, Dylan, and Ashley on all their accomplishments in Neon One Academy. We’re excited to see how you use your new skills to make even more good happen.