Nonprofit Success - August 2008

• Ramallah Trip

  Chris Atwood Aug 6, 2008

  As we arrived in Ramallah today, the local phone network welcomed us to the land of jasmine and olives, we didn't see any jasmine, but there were a lot of olive trees.

  We received a very warm welcome, with delicious coffee, at the Birzeit University office, where we were co-hosted by the University and the United States Consulate General from Jerusalem.

  Twenty-five Palestinian NGOs attended our workshop today. Only one was an existing user, and at the end of the day, all 25 had started a trial of the nonprofit template, had learned how to add fields, manage users and find their way around the self-service resources.

  It was a great introduction to a new nonprofit sector for us and we're confident we've met some technology innovators today.

  Isabel

  Just to follow on Isabel's comments was what an interesting and unique experience the whole day was in Ramallah. Our trip to the west bank started early in the morning and we were transported safely and efficiently to Berzeit University. It was a great room, fast internet and good computers for the participants. We split up the work, Isabel on our programs, Sara on resources, and I doing the product demo and setup training.

  The participants asked great questions, with a few jumping ahead wanting to use our portal products and build custom applications. We stayed for about 6 hours and were able to cover a pretty in depth hands on demo on the product. We left feeling genuinely appreciated and feeling the excitement of opening the eyes of the NGO's on software as a service. I think a lot of Palestinian NGO's feel left out of some of the programs other nonprofits get and really valued the attention and focus on them in a classroom setting.

  Chris

  What more can I add to Chris and Isabel's comments? I hope we shared some knowledge of Salesforce with the nonprofit organizations we met today. I felt I received an education in wonderful hospitality and I am genuinely looking forward to building on the relationships started today.

  Sara

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• Israel Workshops Day 2

  Chris Atwood Aug 4, 2008

  Good Afternoon from Israel. We are back in Netanya now for Day 2 of our Workshops in Israel. This room is full! We have over fifty nonprofits in the room, full of questions, and right now Elay is going through our nonprofit in demo. Prior to lunch we walked everyone through some customer snapshots and case studies and gave a brief overview of our donation program. With just a couple exceptions everyone in the room is new to Salesforce and is interested in potentially using the application within their nonprofit organization.

  Chris

  We're really delighted that over 50 people have turned up! Fifty people registered in advance, but we never thought so many would really make it here. Our product donation program in Israel is all set to really ramp up and make a significant difference to the capacity of Israel's nonprofit and education community. Feedback at lunchtime from participants has been extremely positive. Participants are particularly delighted we've got two Hebrew speakers with us from Salesforce.

  This evening we'll be hosting a low-key drinks evening for any nonprofits who want to meet us and continue to discuss their use of Salesforce or other aspects of the Salesforce.com Foundation.

  Isabel

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• Salesforce.com Foundation in Israel Day 1

  Chris Atwood Aug 3, 2008

  Good Morning from Netanya,

  I'm with a group of Salesforce.com and Salesforce,com Foundation employees and will be live blogging today from our trip to Israel. It's a Sunday, but that is a work day here and we are located at the Cisco offices just outside of Tel Aviv. Joining this trip is a very international team, Isabel Kelly the EMEA Director of the Salesforce Foundation from London, Sara Broph y, Salesforce Foundation Program Manager, based in Dublin, Monty Hoeft, Director of Partner Success from London, Elay Cohen, VP of Product Development, from San Francisco, Max Swedlow, Account Executive for Emerging Markets, and lastly myself Chris Atwood, Regional Account Executive for Nonprofits and Education based in London. The event today and tomorrow are being graciously hosted by Cisco and also in partnership with the Pratt Foundation

  After all of that we have about 20 people here this morning that are current Salesforce.com and are receiving training based on feedback we received from survey data. It will be interesting as the day proceeds to ensure that we are meeting their needs and ensuring they get what they need from the training we are providing.

  Chris Atwood

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