Working remotely presents many challenges to organizations in the charitable and non-profit sector - especially large national organizations. With limited funds it has become increasingly complex to work with funders, partners, volunteers and other telecommuting co-workers. For example, on any given day you may need to collaborate with someone in Vancouver and then hours later in Halifax. Email and voicemail is always an option, but the quality of the communication can suffer.

Luckily, many free remote working and collaborative tools to help make your job easier. Here are what a few people are using to be more productive and efficient.

Erin Kuhns, Professional Development Coordinator, Canadian Association of Gift Planners (CAGP)

CAGP is a national, community-based organization with 19 local chapters across the country.

“When working remotely, I use Skype and Dropbox frequently. I use Skype to communicate quickly and easily with my colleagues and Dropbox for my documents. I happen to be set up on my home laptop with a hosted server so I can have access to everything I have access to at work, however my home internet is not as fast as it is in the city, so it is much faster and easier to use Dropbox. 

Chris Baylis, Director, Corporate Partnerships, Health Partners
Health Partners is a collaboration of 16 of Canada's most trusted health charities.

“I manage a team across Canada in a mid-sized organization. Honestly, with the tools below, I am able to manage from Calgary to PEI without issue (aside from managing time zones!). Skype plus GoToMeeting or Google Hangouts covers me for everything I need. We all have access to a server and we use the Microsoft CRM tool for our sales so we don’t actually need Google Docs but failing that Google Docs is a go-to for committees and boards across Canada (as ours is).

Here are my top tools:

• Skype (an absolute must) along with the video feature means I can have face time with my team no matter where we are.
• GoToMeeting/Webinar, not free and not cheap but awesome for presentations and meetings.
• Google On Air/Google Hangouts is a great alternative to Skype and GoToMeeting and lets me have meetings digitally.
• Google Docs is the best for live updates to forms and to work off something together.”

Holly Wagg, CFRE, Philanthropic Counsel, Good Works 

Good Works is a full-service, integrated fundraising and communications agency that builds human connections between donors, causes and charities across Canada. 

“Sometimes I am on the road a lot or decide to work from home. These three tools are my go to tools for getting stuff done.

• Google hangouts for meetings
• Slack for working to get out of email
• And Dropbox for file sharing/working on shared documents.”

Savanah Ashton, Project Coordinator, Advance Care Planning and International Development Office, Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association

CHPCA is the national voice for Hospice Palliative Care in Canada.

"We used to send Word Docs back and forth via email and inevitably something would get missed. Now when communicating updates for our website, a group shared Google Doc makes things much easier for us to collaborate and we never worry if we are using the correct version."

Todd Jamieson, President, EnvisionUP 

Web design and development for businesses, charities and non-profits across Canada.

“To save on my daily commute and get more focused, I like to work from home at least one day a week. I’ve experimented with lots of tools to get my perfect mix of tools that work for me. Here are some that I use on a regular basis:

• Pocket - I love reading, but sometimes my thirst for knowledge gets in the way of getting work done, so I save anything I want to read to Pocket and then listen to it or read it later.
• Evernote - This is a great tool to keep track of everything in your life. I use it to store everything from client contracts to warranty information to future business ideas.
• Box.com - We have become big fans of this tool. It is similar to DropBox or GoogleDrive but we find the interface is easier to work with and allows us to view PDFs within the program which saves us extra time.
• Jing.com - With an estimated 65% of the population being visual learners, I sometimes find it much easier to do a video versus type instructions for clients on how to manage their website. This free tools allows me to record videos.”

The Tools That Will Help You Work Smarter

 Here are our tools that will help you work smarter and how to get access to them:

• Skype: A free video calling tool with handy screen sharing functionality.
• Slack: A handy tool for chatting back and forth about projects. It is much more effective than email.
• Google Hangouts: This allows you to do video conference calls for free
• Google Docs & Drive: With Google for Non-profits, you can get all Google Apps for free. This provides you access to Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Google Drive (for saving any type of file).
• Jing: A free video screen casting software.
• DropBox: A useful free file storage.
• Box.com: Another free file storage provider.
• Pocket: A useful tool for saving articles. It also has a handy feature to read out loud your articles, so you can listen on your morning commute.
• Evernote: A free tool to save and tag any digital information or file.

Adapting to Remote Working

It seems inevitable (at least for us) that organizations must embrace and use collaborative and time-saving tools to become more productive. But remote-working may not be for everyone. Robert Moskowitz has a handy checklist to see if your organization is ready for remote working: http://www.yoyow.com/rmoskowitz/telecommuting155.html

Another good read (while a little dated) may be Jacob Griscom’s article on How Telecommunications Is Changing Work for Nonprofits. Most organizations don’t realize it, but most see increased productivity and creativity. There is some good practical advice especially around the differences in shifting from a traditional to an open work environment.

What are your favourite tools? Are there any I missed? Reach out to me at @envisiontodd.

A tireless explorer of new developments on the web, Todd Jamieson has been keeping pace with its constant changes since 1996. Through EnvisionUP.com, Todd and his firm have worked with over 100 non-profits and charities. He lives in Ottawa with his wife and two young boys. Follow him via twitter.