Nantucket Historical Association's Michelle Soverino: Featured Member, Blogger, and Champion!

When we created the Altru community, the idea was (mainly) two-fold. We wanted our customers to have a place to connect with support. You can ask us questions, report problems, and submit ideas to product management. But another giant part of the community is connecting you with each other. Some users have embraced this wholeheartedly, reaching out to the community for opinions on not just how to use Altru, but also how to interact with constituents, how to schedule and train your internal staff, where to post your membership signage, and so on. Because of her Altru knowledge and outgoing personality, we've selected Michelle Soverino of the Nantucket Historical Association to be an Altru champion. She's making this community feel like a real community! Get to know her below:



What do you like best about Altru?

I love Altru. The whole entire package. It’s hard to pinpoint one or two specific things, but I’ve a few recent examples that validate my all-encompassing Altru admiration.

Two weeks ago I was flying to Nashville. I received an urgent message from my Department of Visitor Experience who needed a role change for one of her users in preparation for a program that would be happening in 2.5 hours. With Altru being cloud based, I was able to make the role adjustments from seat 12C as I flew over the mid-Atlantic. That mobile functionality is priceless.

The reporting capabilities: before Altru came to the NHA, I would spend hours working with the NHA’s controller—and fellow NHA Altru Power User, Tracy—combing through every gift transaction, calculating totals against goals, and taking that a step further to report on specific appeals and initiatives. Yesterday, with a simple sequence of clicks, I was able to pull a report on an appeal mailing with average gift, total number of gifts, total revenue, and percentage of goal raised already there … be still my beating heart!

The support and resources: I've never asked a question that wasn't answered in a timely and kind manner. It’s incredible.

Altru keeps evolving, and that means the NHA keeps evolving too. There is always a new trick to learn; a new module to spend some time in—with new functionality to implement; a new report to run and strategize how we might be able to use it to track the NHA’s successes and trials. Altru—by just being Altru—keeps me motivated and active.

What is your favorite thing about the community?

The feedback and input from other users and like-minded organizations is wonderful. I never feel like I’m flying solo with Altru—stuck in a place with no solutions and no fixes. Some days I wish there was an actual, physical Altru community where we could all meet with a cool breeze and chilled drink to have these great conversations in person (is that what BBConn is like?).

Additionally, Altru tech support is right there—ready to interact with (and I've become a huge fan of chats—thanks Jessica, Sarah, and David for answering my questions and walking me through solutions and scenarios). The Community is better than a user’s guide—it’s a bunch of users ready to help you out and discuss.

Favorite topic to date? Or Best Idea so far?

This is an impossible question to answer. From web forms to wish lists, membership mailing processes to internal training, it’s all splendid content.

Best idea so far? Well, I stand alone on this one—which is all good, but I really wish the membership card process would send to seasonal addresses—not just primary. The majority of my NHA members are seasonal Nantucket residents and it’s silly to send their cards to the continent when they are on the island and anxious to come to the Whaling Museum. We've got a work around, but the process is a bit cumbersome. I've dreams of it happening automatically (wink, wink) when I process from the membership program page.

What convinced you to become so active?

I entered the community at the shallow end. It took me a while to get in and really start communicating—it was a bit daunting at first. But once I was in and discovering the feedback, the solutions, partaking in discussions, and asking questions it became crystal clear how valuable an active presence in the community is. Now I’m swimming in the deep end and loving every second of it.



 

Michelle is the Senior Advancement Associate at Nantucket Historical Association. Get to know her in her Member Monday interview and be on the lookout for her upcoming change management blog!