I am Dr. Michael St. Pierre and I am the Executive Director of Catholic Campus Ministry Association. I manage seven people in seven states in the U.S. and use ActiveCollab for 100% of our projects, daily work and long-term planning. A team member asked me recently, “What would you do without ActiveCollab?” I knew that I had to share our story.
CCMA is a nonprofit organization that has members across the United States. Their support of college students in a time of increasing complexity and uncertainty is amazing. Our members will be benefited to the extent that our staff performs at a high standard. Students they serve will then receive the care they require. It’s as simple as that for us: if our team works well, so will our work. Our organization offers training programs, networking opportunities, professional development initiatives, and other services to college-level students. There are many details to coordinate, including Zoom events, regional in-person gatherings, live training, and other activities. We are a non-profit organization and have to coordinate many details and timelines. We have designed our weeks so that we each work at our best and set aside time to chat as a team.
ActiveCollab has been a great help to us because it allows us multiple views of each project. For example, a new member of the team can choose to work on a Full-Time or Part-Time Onboarding project. This can be done via the “Kanban”, or the “List” view. It’s satisfying to move a to-do from left to right in Kanban view when a project is complete. Each project also has the features we need. Each project has everything we need, from Tasks to Files and Notes. We can also find the information we need quickly through the Search function. Finally, the Chat feature eliminates the need to use another messaging app. ActiveCollab has everything we need, so it is easy to organize our thoughts and saves time. Donations are scanned and then deposited into the appropriate bank accounts. They are then scanned and entered into ActiveCollab. The team member is notified to follow up. We use the same protocols for mail requests that require a reply. We know that everyone can @name any member of the team so everything is easily found. We encourage asynchronous communication so messages are only answered when each person has time. ActiveCollab houses the agendas as well as follow-up items for team members’ weekly 1×1 meetings. ActiveCollab makes it easy to log in and quickly find what you are looking for. This improves productivity.
ActiveCollab makes us feel at ease, I believe. Each member of the team is aware of what they should be doing on a given day or week. As a nonprofit, the work never ends. Our tools are therefore crucial. Each tool must be simple, reliable, secure, and fun to use. ActiveCollab definitely ticks all of these boxes. It’s a great tool that we enjoy using, which is something I can’t say about email. ActiveCollab has never had a member of the team say, “I wish ActiveCollab could…” It can do all we need, keeping our processes organized and projects on track. Tha
