Having had the opportunity to work with many different business types over the past 21 years, I’ve also had the chance to work alongside a number of charities and NFP. For the sake of this post I’m going to define the difference of a charity as one that solely fundraisers and has the ability to give tax credits to donors, as NFP covers every other non-profitable activities whether it be community, sport of welfare.
In saying that the types of activity might be the same and so in this article I’m looking to answer some of the questions around the benefits of geospatial and mapping for managing projects and events.
In previous blogs and articles, I may have mentioned event management, but today let’s look to dig a little deeper and answer the questions that you might have about what opportunity mapping and geospatial bring to your NFP or charity organisation.
Before I start, I would like to make it clear that the technologies discussed here can easily be used in any type of business, but reference is given to the charity sector.
Find out more about Mapsimise and NFP HERE
How can it help with your projects and what are the benefits?
So, you might ask why you would need maps or geospatial tools to manage your projects or events. First let’s look at projects.
A project can mean many things. It could be welfare support i.e. aid at ground level managing the outcome for many individuals, it could be a building project, a renovation project, and depending what type of work or project your organisation is involved with, it could mean many different factors.
For this article I’m looking at building projects and managing supply and tracking equipment for each ongoing project. As an organisation that is on the ground with teams building shelters and aiding in recovery work after a disaster or act of war, you are going to need to track and understand where equipment is. Mapsimise and geospatial tools make this very easy to do using one or multiple layers, but let’s dig a little further.
I’d imagine your projects have many different data types and information. Some of this information might relate to heavy equipment, some might relate to supply of components or material, and some might relate to people. I’m also sure equipment and resource is likely to be shared between one or more projects where possible so mapping where everything and everyone is can give you an instant view of activity.
So why would you want a single view? Well as an organisation managing such projects which may be paid for through donations or through beneficiaries, you are going to want to be effective with spend and get the best from resources to minimise outlay. Using the right tools like Mapsimise can help you manage this information geographically.
What about events, how can it help here and what are the benefits?
Firstly, let’s look at the different types of events you might attend or hold. Having worked with different organisations I’ve seen many different events organised. You might want to attend trade shows or conferences, managing these geospatial may be more about promoting awareness of the events you are attending.
Your supporters may want to also attend a presentation so creating an external map for your website giving all the locations where you might be attending and giving those that want to engage with your organisation the opportunity to see where they can attend.
Other events that you may organise might be for fundraising or to offer a given service. This might be a presentation or training. One of the great advantages of being able to geographically display events and potential attendees is twofold.
Mapsimise is great for location identification but what do I mean by this? Well if there are groups of supporters in a given location which can be easily identified on a map then the most logical thing would be to hold the event or server offering near where your participants are.
You can also analyse the effectiveness of any events, the number of participants that attend and measure distance of travel or the proximity of participants to an event location i.e. show me everyone that is within 10 km or 15 miles distance.
The main advantages of geospatial is that it helps you plan and become more efficient, saving time and potentially money.
How to get started with Mapsimise
If you are ready to get started, it's so easy! Start visualising your data on one or more maps by signing up to your own Mapsimise account and get started. Follow the steps below:
1.Firstly, visit our website Mapsimise.com
2.Click Get Started
3.Select the package that suites your organisation
4.Fill in the registration form
5.Validate and log in to your Mapsimise account (by email)
6.Add your billing information and select the connectors or upgrade from your Go Package
If you get stuck, you can sign into the Help Desk and raise a ticket with Mapsimise Support OR click here.
We look forward to working with you and helping you visualise your data, gaining location intelligence.
