Meet Our 1st Champion: Allison Pate
Published
After weeks of watching and waiting, we have finally named our 1st champion: Allison Pate!
At 156 replies posted, you've probably already spoken with Allison in the community. Maybe she's helped you solve a problem, or answered a how to question, or collaborated with you on an idea; maybe you gave her one of those 56 (and counting!) stars for a good answer. With 16 months of Altru experience, she's proven herself to be both knowledgeable and helpful; a great resource in our community.
Allison and I chatted recently about her Altru use, as well as the details of her day to day life as Hands On Children's Museum's Database Coordinator. Get to know Allison below!
What do you like best about the Altru?
How everything is integrated; it’s much better than maintaining separate systems.
What is your favorite thing about the community?
Having a place to answer and ask questions with like-minded individuals. It’s a great sounding board.
Favorite topic to date?
Multi-Day Registration (Mostly because I’d like to see it happen, the most, ever.)
What convinced you to become so active?
I enjoy helping others and I like to see how others use Altru but, ultimately, it makes the experience/software/world a better place.
Title: Development Database Coordinator aka Make It So Fairy
Org Name: Hands On Children’s Museum
Location: Olympia, Washington
Length of Employment w. Hands On Children's Museum: 16 months
Length of Career in Current Field: 10 months
Who do you report to? Development Manager, Operations Director, Executive Director
Who do you manage? No one directly, but everyone who touches Altru indirectly and, often, an intern.
Describe the role of your position: It’s evolving, with our recent move and expansion into a new space, not to mention our conversion to Altru, my job duties are flexing regularly. I do a lot of the initial building of programs, discounts, and events which carries over from my time as Front Desk Supervisor. I also do the gift entry and acknowledgement process for the Development office, the database administration (duplicate, clean-up, best practice procedures), and run reports and queries for every department.
What was your experience prior to this position? Do you think it prepared you? I spent the previous 9 years working at Starbucks as a manager and my BA is in English Literature. So there haven’t been a lot of direct correlations, but knowing great customer service, computers, and how to handle a fast paced, ever-changing environment have been essential.
What is your day to day like? I spend a lot of time looking at Altru and Excel screens, fielding phone calls to troubleshoot Altru for staff members, responding to emails, and sitting in meetings. Typically, my afternoon is gift processing, writing acknowledgement letters, and filing.
What is the most enjoyable part of your job? Helping people. I still fill in at the Front Desk from time to time, I buzz around to different desks to “unstick” people and solve Altru problems. I love being able to give people the answer they’re looking for or making their lives a little easier. Plus, seeing all the kids enjoy the museum really makes the job worthwhile.
What are your biggest challenges? Wearing a lot of hats can be really challenging, so can advocating for the software and technology.
How do you measure success currently? I measure it in a lot of little ways, how much time I spend cleaning up a mailing list, how full my inbox is, how much time I’m at my desk, how well the staff are using Altru.
What are your goals for 2013? Well, my husband and I are expecting our first child in June, so a lot of my goals revolve around getting ready for the little one’s arrival, including how to get the Museum ready for my maternity leave.
Thank you Allison for all your contributions thus far; you're setting the standard for what a champion should be!
At 156 replies posted, you've probably already spoken with Allison in the community. Maybe she's helped you solve a problem, or answered a how to question, or collaborated with you on an idea; maybe you gave her one of those 56 (and counting!) stars for a good answer. With 16 months of Altru experience, she's proven herself to be both knowledgeable and helpful; a great resource in our community.
Allison and I chatted recently about her Altru use, as well as the details of her day to day life as Hands On Children's Museum's Database Coordinator. Get to know Allison below!
What do you like best about the Altru?
How everything is integrated; it’s much better than maintaining separate systems.
What is your favorite thing about the community?
Having a place to answer and ask questions with like-minded individuals. It’s a great sounding board.
Favorite topic to date?
Multi-Day Registration (Mostly because I’d like to see it happen, the most, ever.)
What convinced you to become so active?
I enjoy helping others and I like to see how others use Altru but, ultimately, it makes the experience/software/world a better place.
Title: Development Database Coordinator aka Make It So Fairy
Org Name: Hands On Children’s Museum
Location: Olympia, Washington
Length of Employment w. Hands On Children's Museum: 16 months
Length of Career in Current Field: 10 months
Who do you report to? Development Manager, Operations Director, Executive Director
Who do you manage? No one directly, but everyone who touches Altru indirectly and, often, an intern.
Describe the role of your position: It’s evolving, with our recent move and expansion into a new space, not to mention our conversion to Altru, my job duties are flexing regularly. I do a lot of the initial building of programs, discounts, and events which carries over from my time as Front Desk Supervisor. I also do the gift entry and acknowledgement process for the Development office, the database administration (duplicate, clean-up, best practice procedures), and run reports and queries for every department.
What was your experience prior to this position? Do you think it prepared you? I spent the previous 9 years working at Starbucks as a manager and my BA is in English Literature. So there haven’t been a lot of direct correlations, but knowing great customer service, computers, and how to handle a fast paced, ever-changing environment have been essential.
What is your day to day like? I spend a lot of time looking at Altru and Excel screens, fielding phone calls to troubleshoot Altru for staff members, responding to emails, and sitting in meetings. Typically, my afternoon is gift processing, writing acknowledgement letters, and filing.
What is the most enjoyable part of your job? Helping people. I still fill in at the Front Desk from time to time, I buzz around to different desks to “unstick” people and solve Altru problems. I love being able to give people the answer they’re looking for or making their lives a little easier. Plus, seeing all the kids enjoy the museum really makes the job worthwhile.
What are your biggest challenges? Wearing a lot of hats can be really challenging, so can advocating for the software and technology.
How do you measure success currently? I measure it in a lot of little ways, how much time I spend cleaning up a mailing list, how full my inbox is, how much time I’m at my desk, how well the staff are using Altru.
What are your goals for 2013? Well, my husband and I are expecting our first child in June, so a lot of my goals revolve around getting ready for the little one’s arrival, including how to get the Museum ready for my maternity leave.
Thank you Allison for all your contributions thus far; you're setting the standard for what a champion should be!
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03/15/2013 9:23am EDT
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