Twitter, Cloud Computing and Sustainability

Two training sessions yesterday opened my eyes to the power of some of the new technologies available on our desktops. I've been dabbling in Twitter for a few years now and a training course from our Communications rep in how we can use Twitter to amplify the voice of the foundation was illuminating. Later the same day I attended a training on our new cloud computing based file sharing platform based on Windows 365. I'd seen the various square buttons that appear when I accidentally click in the top corner of the screen but had no idea what they were for or how to use them. Now I know - these are apps that let you access and work on your documents on any device (phone, iPad) without needing a local copy of either the file or the software. Very exciting. It was so helpful to have someone explain all this new technology rather than try and fail to figure it out on your own.

I had another 'aha' moment after participating in a couple of meetings related to grants. Part of our role is to encourage our grantees to diversify their funding sources so that they can sustain their work longer term without being dependent on the foundation for a majority of their funding. It's part of our mission to catalyze change to maximize and amplify the impact if our funding which I've seen described several times recently as 'a drop in the bucket' compared with the needs out there.