NONPROFITS: HOW TO USE ASANA TO GET ORGANIZED
We all have our preferences but one thing I pride myself on as a provider for NPO’s is helping you find cost effective (*cough*) FREE options where you can that make your life easier. You should be organized, streamlined, automated and as stress-free as possible in the tech sense so YOU can get back to changing the world.
You likely have tons of emails, items you are juggling and just chaos. Let’s get things sorted and quickly, with one of my favorite FREE tools.
One of my favorite task management tools is ASANA. And this week, I cant wait to show you how a charity can set this up to get your nonprofit grooving like a Trevor Hall jam.
Getting signed up is the first step, you can do that here.
STEP 1. OVERVIEW
Asana will help streamline your tasks, create recurring tasks that you wont forget again, create conversation threads that are concise and bring a team together in all the best ways.
Many users get confused by the “teams” term but think of these as areas that need management in your organization. For my example, I created a FINANCE, DEVELOPMENT, MANAGEMENT & SPECIAL EVENTS/ MARKETING categories.
The sub sections are the projects or sub categories that you need to also track. There are numerous templates included in your FREE version that are super helpful.
STEP 2. CREATING A TEAM
Teams are simple and easy to create. Asana walks you thru the steps but check out this quick gif on how to get a “team” or category set up with a GRANT TRACKING template.
These templates are great because sometimes it’s hard to fully flesh out and brainstorm in the moment EVERYTHING that you need to do. Its helpful to see what others needed, and to add/subtract from there for your unique set up.
Make sure when setting up your categories and sub cats that you utilize the templates as much as you can. Even google other task lists online and copy + paste them into your task list. It will help you not miss a beat.
Guys, now listen to this… this is one of the best parts! You can then even duplicate a project. So say you do the same steps for all of your special events. Create a special events board… then leave it alone and duplicate it whenever you need to start tracking a new event. No reason to reinvent the wheel & now… you wont forget anything.
STEP 3. ADDING TEAM MEMBERS
Team members are super fun and easy to add on ASANA. The best part, you can add one to one “team”/ category and not to another. So say, you dont need Tina in Finance to worry over what is going on with Special Events until the checks come in.. just leave her off that board.
To add a TEAM MEMBER, you simply click on the + INVITE POEPLE to the category you want and type in their email. The email you send it to will be how they sign in and mange their account with Asana… so to keep things streamlined and neat, try to use organizational emails.
STEP 4. ASSIGNING TASKS
Now that you have a team set up, you can assign tasks. Say, as the Director of Development, you need your Marketing person to be ready to design the annual report. You can have it on their calendar in 3 clicks.
Its a click on the “Assignee” and select from your dropdown on any task, new or previously created. You can even add when its due + set a time you need it by.
Now, the recurring settings make “let it go” sing in my head. It allows me to focus and trust that when I need to bring that back into focus, I will.
In your recurring settings, you can set, weekly, by day, yearly, custom etc. So say a task is monthly to send a board report, put it in and forget about it. Say you need to annually send donor giving reports, set it and move on.
I often times have clients ask how I stay on top of ALL my tasks… this is my secret… set it and forget it.
STEP 5. MY FAVORITE “VIEW”
Getting a 10,000 ft view of your week and your tasks helps you prioritize what you need to do and when. This is why I LOVE my calendar view in ASANA.
This calendar view can even be customized to NOT show the weekend if you want to set some healthy boundaries (hint hint). You can directly add items here and save them for a later date… a brain dump if you will. You can set assignee, project, team, all of it here. Even recurring, add notes on a project, leave a comment, drop in an image or document.
STEP 5. OTHER “VIEWS”
Now, not everyone thinks and is organized like me so look around, click and see what clicks in your brain as the best method for you.
This is one of the best ways to really enjoy ASANA, you can have your dashboard exactly how you want it and Tina in Finance can have her view the way she needs. Customization, personalization, communication and organization for FREE for your charity.
THINGS TO NOTE
Asana will give you a 30 trial of their premium features before the FREE version will be fully engaged. BE CAREFUL. Do not get attached to the bougie upgrades + note when you are adding premium items to your set up. The sneakiest place they might get you is “Rules”. Just be mindful.
CONFUSED ABOUT HOW TO BYPASS THEIR PAYWALL WHEN YOUR TRIAL IS UP?!? WATCH THIS VIDEO
