Even if I don’t always incorporate the tips or applications into my life, I enjoy learning about how others keep themselves focused. You can never have too many ideas! I figured I would share some great apps with our readers!

1. F.lux: Designed to change the lighting on your computer screen according to the time of day. Your computer screen will look warm at night and bluer during the day. The big perk for me is that it could possibly help you sleep better. We all know we should power down an hour or two before we hit the sack, but how many of us are guilty of using our laptops, tablets or smartphones in bed? (Yep, I’m raising my hand too.)

2. Dropbox: I already use Dropbox and I can vouch for how great it is. I prefer to work on my personal MacBook, so to keep my work files from taking up space on my hard drive, I can just store them in my Dropbox folder and access them from anywhere. This came in handy when my MacBook had to be shipped off for a few weeks to get the display fixed. All of my work files were easily accessed from my loaner laptop.

3. Lastpass: I will definitely be downloading this one asap. Obviously it’s extremely important to have unique passwords with numbers and special characters, but it can be so difficult to remember each and every one of them! Lastpass is a password management system that can be accessed from any computer as long as you provide one ultra-secure and hard-to-crack password. It will remember every other password, credit card info, etc. So useful!

4. KeyText: If you’re constantly typing the same phrases, addresses, boilerplates, what-have-you, KeyText is for you. Just enter a few keystrokes and the corresponding common phrase will be automatically inserted into whatever you’re typing. This is Windows-only, but TextExpander is a similar Mac app.

What are some of your favorite apps to help you stay productive?

Small staff associations: now’s your chance to get recognized by YouTube! For the third year in a row, the online video giant is awarding prizes – including grants – to the best in nonprofit videos as part of the Do Gooder Nonprofit Awards.

If you’re a member of YouTube’s Nonprofit Program, submit your video by February 29! This is a great opportunity to spread the word about your organization and get some awesome publicity! Keep in mind: it doesn’t matter how small or big your organization is. Great videos deserve the recognition!

Check out the video (above) and get even more info about the contest here!

I hope everyone had an exciting weekend! (I know I did, but I realize not everyone is a Super Bowl fan…)

We wanted to kick off the week by sharing a few cool slideshows that we recently discovered. The first is especially interesting because it covers gamification in nonprofits – something that is not always widely talked about in the nonprofit sector. Let us know what you think!

There’s more to a (seemingly) simple e-mail campaign than you might think. Avoiding spam filters, including the right keywords in your message and striking the right tone are each important factors.

I’m willing to bet a lot of associations rely on e-mail as a main form of communication. But did you know that a 25 percent open rate is actually a good percentage in an e-mail campaign? So many people just delete e-mails without reading them (I’m guilty of it, as well), and there are a few things to keep in mind when designing an e-mail campaign.

For one thing, what’s the definition of spam? If you think spam is anything that gets automatically filtered to your junk folder, or an e-mail from a long-lost uncle in Africa who needs money immediately, think again. Spam is anything unwanted in your subscribers’ inboxes. If they don’t want it, it’s spam to them – even if it’s a perfectly legitimate newsletter or update from your organization.

Send e-mail on a regular schedule. If your members are expecting a newsletter on a certain day or at a certain time, they won’t be caught off guard and delete it without reading. Establish some sort of schedule for all your marketing e-mail.

Write from your recipients’ perspectives. When I see an unexpected e-mail in my inbox, I immediately want to know if it has information that will save me money or time, or if it offers some other benefit. With the amount of e-mail we all receive each day, there’s no room for your e-mails to contain a message that won’t get noticed.

For example, if you’re writing about your annual conference or meeting, be sure to include how it will help your members’ professional development, rather than just writing about how amazing your keynote speakers are. Include tangible examples of what benefits attendees will receive.

This should go without saying, but proofread, proofread, proofread. There’s nothing more off-putting to me than a beautifully designed e-mail riddled with typos and grammatical errors. (This may be the grammar geek in me, but I hope we can all agree that professional e-mails should be grammatically correct.) (And yes, I make mistakes as often as the next person; everyone is human!) A second set of eyes is always helpful.

Don’t be discouraged by a seemingly low open rate. E-mail, when used correctly, can be one of the most effective ways to reach people – both members and non-members.

Your organization’s data can be extremely powerful if you know how to properly harness it. Be sure you’re only keeping track of fields and guidelines you actually need. Not only create, but also executive data integrity reports. Formal trainingis absolutely necessary to be sure your organization knows how to properly use its database.

For training purposes, create a test environment. Many association management software companies will do this if they offer implementation and training. Additionally, integrating your AMS with your e-mail client (such as Outlook) can be extremely beneficial and save you a lot of time. Create one “source of truth” for your organization by eliminating shadow systems and redundant databases. Having to sort through duplicate information will only lead to frustration, and if you’re a small staff association professional, you need your AMS to save you time, not create more headaches.

Many organizations find it useful to track all volunteer activity — even non-financial and non-volunteer activity and interactions. You can use your “Notes” field to track all of your interactions with individuals, whether on a formal volunteer basis or not.

Be sure to properly utilize the tags feature. If you tag everything by topic, you should have little to no trouble finding data at a later date. By setting realistic benchmarks for data accuracy (such as performing an integrity report at regular intervals), you will ensure that your database continues to be as powerful as possible. It truly can be the backbone of your organization, if you’ll let it.

One major thing that stuck with Elyse was “Pursue success, not perception.” A database can be deceptively organized and almost tidy-looking, but if you can’t find information easily, or if you’re not tracking the right things, it can be a huge mess and a lot to sort through. And as a small staff association professional, you need your database to save you time, money and frustration.