Sheeraz Haji is the co-founder and CEO of Get Active Software, which was acquired last year by its longtime competitor, Convio. Haji initially stayed on, as Convio's president, but stepped down from that role last month, although he remains a member of Convio's board of directors. The successful-but-humble thirtysomething entrepreneur has not yet revealed what he plans to do next in his career. Recently, Haji sat down with Care2's Clint O'Brien to reflect on lessons learned over the years, including simple life lessons, as well as more complex lessons about how technology is revolutionizing the way that charities advance their missions, not to mention how nonprofits interact with their donors and supporters.
Clint O'Brien: You have been in the nonprofit sector for many years now, and you've had a bird's eye view of the whole sector -- because of your position as a leader at GetActive and then Convio, which have worked with a wide array of institutions. As you look back on your early days of working with nonprofits, how did the reality compare to your expectations?
Sheeraz Haji: Back then I had the naïve view that all nonprofits were alike. I have learned that there is an enormous diversity within the sector – higher education institutions, advocacy groups, public broadcasting stations, health organizations, unions, associations and relief organizations are distinct from each other. They differ in many ways – how they raise funds, their approach to technology, the events they attend, whether or not they engage in advocacy, just to name a few. The needs, budgets, and staffing of smaller organizations are very different from those of big organizations.
From a market perspective, I expected that some of the big software companies (e.g. Oracle, SAP, or Microsoft) would enter the nonprofit market aggressively. I have not yet observed this. Also, while I always believed Software as a Service (SaaS) is the ideal way to deliver software, especially to nonprofits, I have been surprised by how quickly and broadly the on-demand model has been accepted.
I kept worrying that email would be replaced by something else – RSS feeds, mobile, IM or some other form of communication we had not yet experienced. While spam is worse than it’s ever been, email continues to be the key to successful online fundraising programs – that’s a bit of surprise.
And what are the major changes you have witnessed in those years?
Attitudes of executive directors towards the Internet – ED’s have gone from “why should I pay attention to the web” to spending a significant amount of time worrying if their web site is interactive, if they are doing all they can to effectively engage donors, and how they can raise more dollars online.
There’s been a significant shift as nonprofits go from thinking of the Internet as a stand-alone project to a core part of their fundraising and marketing programs. All of a sudden, I’m starting to see nonprofits create organizational and budget structures that encourage multi-channel marketing and fundraising. Nonprofit professionals are paying close attention to how their databases, staff, and agencies integrate across programs and how to best leverage data to optimize across all communication channels.
The emergence of social networking sites like Facebook and user-generated content sites like MapBuzz represents a major change that has yet to play itself out.
Seven years ago, it was hard to convince nonprofits to hire web professionals, and today every nonprofit seems to be searching for online talent.
During your time working in the nonprofit industry, what was one of your greatest accomplishments?
Putting together a team of incredibly talented, committed and fun professionals. It took leaving my job for me to fully appreciate how amazing my colleagues were.
Also, any regrets -- major or minor?
Biggest regret is obvious - I never made it to Web of Change (an annual event held in BC, Canada), and I am sure that was a big mistake.
Seriously, I try to live life without any regrets, but I definitely have a long list of mistakes I made and things I wish I had been able to do more effectively. How much time do we have? OK – here are a couple:
1) Hiring - even though I am very proud of the team I ended up with, I was not always good at hiring. It often took me a couple of tries to recruit the right person. Or, I would hire a great person into the wrong job and have to sort it out later.
2) I would have liked to better serve very small nonprofits.
I could go on…
Of the changes that are starting to occur right now, which ones seem as if they are going to have the greatest impact on nonprofits and their causes? And why? For example: Mobile devices? Peer-to-peer fundraising? Online social networks in general? Video? Cause marketing?
Well, I think my editor (Wiley) would be upset if I did not use this as an opportunity to make a quick plug for my new book: People-to-People Fundraising (which you can buy on Amazon, by the way). Seriously, I think the current internet landscape presents a unique opportunity for creative nonprofits to radically shift the balance of power. The growth of peer-to-peer social networks like Facebook enables a new model – a constituent-driven model - for giving and volunteering. The willingness of individuals to contribute personal content across the web has already had a big impact on our society and will enable innovative nonprofits to build vibrant and powerful online communities. I don’t believe the nonprofit technology community has figured out how to deliver on this vision yet, but I can’t wait to see what changes the next couple of years will bring.
API’s and web services have had and will continue to have a large and positive impact on nonprofits. I would like to acknowledge NTEN’s leadership in this area. A couple of years ago, NTEN articulated how broad adoption of open API’s could help nonprofits spend more time on their missions and less time de-duping their databases. I think the industry has moved significantly in the right direction, but it’s still difficult to get databases and software systems to talk to each other. We have more work to do in this area.
Of the people you've met or worked with in your years working in the nonprofit sector, are there any who have made an especially profound impression on your thinking, or who have served as an especially valuable mentor or friend to you?
While I have learned so much from so many of my colleagues, clients, and partners, three of my cofounders – Bill Pease, Bob Epstein, and Tom Krackeler – have had a profound impact on me.
What is the most valuable lesson that you have learned during your career so far, and how did you learn it?
A brilliant leader – Chris Krackeler – taught me one of the most valuable lessons: to stay positive and balanced through the ups and downs of a startup. When things were going well, there are often a number of blind spots that could lead to trouble. And when everything seems to be falling apart, the situation is rarely as bad as it appears in that moment.
Your mother is French, and you've had a lot of international exposure. Has this given you a sense of the way that nonprofit organizations work in other countries -- and if so, how are they different from nonprofits here in the USA?
Actually, I'm embarrassed by how little I know about how nonprofit organizations work overseas. However, lack of data never stopped me from commenting, so here are a couple of thoughts:
First of all, I suspect nonprofits play a different role in many countries. For example, in France, the government plays a much bigger role in education and healthcare.
Second, the US is the significantly wealthier than most nations. So, most of the world does not have as strong a culture of individual and corporate giving. In countries where individual giving exists, there are major differences. For example, the UK does not allow tax deductions for nonprofit giving but does have a government credit system called GiftAid.
My last thought on this is that we Americans are too focused on the US. The needs are far greater in Africa and other parts of the world, and we need to find ways to inspire global giving to help alleviate poverty and save the environment all over the world, not just in our local communities.
Thanks for talking with Frogloop -- and here's wishing you all the best in your already successful career!