Tools for Teams

Explore below to find tools and resources to support your project. 

Digital Marketing Guides

Stanford Alumni Consulting Team volunteers Thao Le, MBA ‘00, Jonathan Lu, Sloan Fellow ‘17, and Celine Teoh, MBA ‘00 have curated a guide to digital marketing that aims to give nonprofit marketing teams a quick overview of the topic and the resources that are available. These guides might be helpful to ACT teams as well.

1. What is digital marketing and why is it important?

2. Overall digital marketing strategy

3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

4. Paid and earned social media

5. Content marketing: what it is and why it’s important

6. Email marketing

7. Analytics / Metrics

8. Case studies & how tos

9. Digital Transformation

10. General Resources

Project Checklists

The Project Checklists contain process-oriented recommendations for team members, based on the successful practices of experienced ACT project leaders. The recommendations are grouped by Checkpoints corresponding to the phases of a typical project.

The recommendations are not meant to be rules, and they may not apply to every project, every team or every client. There are two checklists, one for members of Full Team projects and one for members of Fast Track projects.

Tools

Google Drive and Google Docs for ACT Teams

Each project team gets the use of Google Drive and Google Docs to help create, organize, and exchange project documents without the constant use of emails. Google Drive is Google’s cloud-based file storage service that enables users to upload, store, share, print and download documents, photos, music, videos and other file types. It also allows users to set up folders to organize their files. With Google Drive, users can access their files with nearly any type of device — PCs, tablets, smartphones, etc. — that supports a web browser and an active Internet connection. Within Google Drive you can use Google Docs, a “software as a service” office suite, to create word processing documents, spreadsheets and presentations. You can easily edit them, and they also can be edited collaboratively by multiple users at the same time, with each user’s edits identified and all changes tracked. The combination of Google Docs and Google Drive provides a powerful document creation, management, collaboration, storage and search tool for use by ACT project teams.

The ACT staff sets up each team’s Google Drive, complete with all the client documents for the project, a team roster, and various folders to organize the documents developed during the project. For more information and instructions, see the ACT guide to Google Drive and Google Docs.

Zoom Technology for Meetings

ACT offers your team a Zoom conference line (audio or video) to accommodate multiple callers, which can be reserved for team meetings, interviews with stakeholders, and more. Request to reserve the line via email to info@stanfordact.org at least one business day in advance. Include your team’s name, the date you’re requesting use of the line, and the start and end times of the call. Since the conference line is shared by multiple programs, advance reservations are required for every call.

Holding Team Meetings at the GSB 

If your team would like to meet on campus during regular business hours, you may request that ACT staff reserve a Stanford GSB conference room for your team’s use by emailing us at info@stanfordact.org and letting us know the day, time, and length of your meeting.  GSB conference rooms are limited in number and often scheduled well in advance, so send your meeting request to ACT staff as soon as possible.

Caveat: Paid visitor parking is scarce  during weekday hours.

Market Research Support (in collaboration with Pacific Consulting Group)

ACT has partnered with Pete Webb, Tom Cooper, and Marnie Carson (all former employees of Pacific Consulting Group, www.pcgfirm.com) to provide free-of-charge market research support for our teams. PCG can help ACT volunteers with both qualitative and quantitative research (interviews, focus groups, surveys, secondary data analysis, etc.). Pete, Tom and Marnie are available to assist ACT Consultants with anything ranging from the initial planning of the research process, to actually carrying out some (or all) of the steps it entails. Please see the attached flyer for a full description of PCG’s services.

Business Library 

GSB Library staff are available to assist with library-related questions or to discuss possible research strategies. GSB alumni have remote access to several subscription databases including ABI/Inform, D&B Hoover's, BMI Research, EBSCO Business Source Alumni Edition, Reference USA and TableBase. The contractual allowable-use for these databases is for non-commercial endeavors. A few of the databases available in the GSB Library are licensed for current GSB student teaching and research but many others may be used by alumni who visit the library in person. See the list of these databases, with access restrictions listed. Contact the library for library-related questions or to discuss possible research strategies. 

See the library's GSB alumni page for an overview on Stanford GSB alumni resources and services.

Stanford Social Innovation Review

The Stanford Social Innovation Review is an exciting source of ideas relating to strategy and leadership in nonprofit management, corporate social responsibility, and philanthropy. Select articles are available online. Of particular interest is the Summer 2012 article, Local Forces for Good, in which the authors of the influential book Forces for Good examine how their framework for creating high-impact nonprofits applies to local and smaller organizations.

Stanford's Social Entrepreneurship Hub 

Stanford's Social Entrepreneurship Hub is a free GSB resource that is helpful for anyone designing and building a social venture. It can be valuable to ACT volunteers engaged with clients launching or operating social ventures. 

More Online Social Media Resources

For more resources on how to effectively harness social media, online sources can provide great information and ideas. 50 Social Media Tactics to Help Nonprofits Meet Their Mission gives fifty specific tactics to use when setting up social media sites for nonprofits. Social Technology for Social Good is a slide presentation with information on how nonprofits can utilize social media.