[Allison L.]

We're a small org (about 1200 donors in our RE database). We currently keep paper copies of all checks, proposals, handwritten notes, etc. in filing cabinets. My ED has asked a couple times if we could digitize everything and get rid of the paper files. We do keep everything on our backed-up server (like proposals in Word/Excel and acknowledgment letters) but I also like the paper files because I can go back and see the note that someone wrote on the thank-you letter, the date that was on the check vs. the date that was on the envelope it came in... stuff like that. I like that things are stapled together in logical packets--check stub, copy of check, envelope, and acknowledgment letter copy.

So--I am not against having everything in PDF in addition to paper, but I don't want to get rid of the paper files altogether! Our ED is against adding extra work for no reason, so I told him I was wondering what the "added value" would be of having all the files PDF'd. If we're not going to throw out our paper files which contain envelopes, newspaper clippings and ephemera, and we already have Word copies of ack. letters on the server... what's really the point of having PDFs in addition to all that?

I used to work in the accounting dept. of a large university where all the paper files were imaged and then shredded, so I have seen this "everything in PDF" system in action and it worked OK in that setting. But in a small nonprofit I don't think we have the capacity (human-hours or a good scanner) to be scanning things on a regular basis and saving them to the server. I can just see it becoming a mess and a time-waster for little or no "added value." I fear that a volunteer will not be able to keep things organized logically. And I don't want this to become an extra task for me! But maybe I'm just being a Luddite!!

So my ED suggested we find out what the best nonprofits do and do that. So I'm asking you guys what you do at your best nonprofits.

[paulmorriss]

We thought about scanning some forms, because our photocopier can also scan. However then there's the extra work with associating each document with a constituent, so we decided against. It may make finding documents fractionally quicker, but we don't often go back to them, so the time saved isn't worth the time spent scanning.

I think the question for you is "what is the benefit?". Are you really short of space for the paper? If not, then, what's the reason to go that way. Another question to ask is, if there's a fire, and all you've got is your offsite backup (you do have an offsite backup don't you?), then could you carry on functioning?

[Allison L.]

Thanks, Paul! Our server and RE server are both backed up offsite, so we could carry on functioning if we lost the paper files. You hit the nail on the head... I keep wondering what's the benefit of scanning? But I thought maybe there are some great benefits I hadn't thought of!

[Foundation]

Hi Allison –
I’ll describe what we do …


We’re a community foundation so we have files on all of our donors (approx 450 files). Each file has financial info, fund agreement, grants info… etc. We decided to start here with our scanning. All current info was outsourced for scanning (we happen to have a company across the street for that) and future info is scanned in by our receptionist. We’re keeping both PDFs and paper for now until we get comfortable with this system. I was looking at SharePoint for storage, but we are starting with keeping our documents on the shared drive. All PDFs are searchable, so staff can do a keyword search.



I would start with a document retention policy for your org. You may find you’re holding on to stuff that isn’t legally required and no one ever uses. This sounds simple, but also encourage staff to ask themselves why they are printing certain documents? With our news articles, if they are available online, we can save it directly to a shared drive and not bother printing.


So –
1) 1. Do a policy first and determine length of time to keep documents.
2) 2. Have staff take responsibility for documents they print or hold onto
3)3. Start with on piece of your office paperwork, don’t aim to scan everything.


Hope that helps…
Tina

[andrea.bbbs]

We don't scan anything. What I keep is the batches - copies of each check with the batch log on top. I have had some instances where I have had to go back a few months (or longer) and look at the check copy. I think the CFO also keeps that same paper, plus he has the finance report page on the top that shows which campaign everything was posted to. (We do not POST - I just couldn't think of another word there.....)

In addition, I keep a loose file of all the acknowledgement/thank you letter requests, with the date of when I sent the letter. I do not keep copies of the letters sent - although I know that some people would like that. Since I can go into RE and see which date and which letter went out, i really don't see the need to be drowning in paper. I am sure that will come back and bite me somewhere eventually, but it hasn't happened in over 2 years. My predecessor kept copies of all the letters, but I think that is a ridiculous waste of paper, space and time.

[nisaac]

We scan all of our gifts coming in the daily mail into pdf. This takes no more time then it does to copy the mail as we used to do. This scanned mail file is balanced against a tape run of the donations. This file is passed to our database specialist who enters all event info into our event module. It then makes its way to our gift processors who enter the gifts directly from pdf. They use two monitors - batch in one - pdf in other. Along the way, each person annotates on the pdf what they have accomplished or any notes necessary. It then passes to our finance department. After the gifts are posted from RE to FE, the person in charge of finance can review the gift pdf if there are questions about any of the gifts. This file is archived. It surely helped us during our audit, as we save each pdf by mail date. When we needed to pull the backup for gifts, we could easily do so.

Also, at the time the daily mail is scanned any mail that should be reviewed by staff (large donations, other special mail that should be addressed immediately) is emailed to the appropriate person. We used to have to copy this special mail and make sure all people who needed to see it immediately got copies.

We are not paperless - but we are definitely 'less papered'.

[greyman]

We just started scanning gifts (instead of photocopying) as others have described. We use a high-speed document scanner that I love: Fujitsu's ScanSnap s510. It costs about $470 USD. In addition to saving time (it can run checks, envelopes, even business cards through it), going the PDF route also saves us space that used to be occupied by bulky metal file cabinets. I don't think there will ever be a paperless office, but electronic filing cabinets of PDFs, yes. Another great benefit is that the Fujitsu can make all scanned documents searchable PDFs so you can simply use Windows Search or Google Desktop search to look inside all of your scanned documents or folders -- very handy when you can't remember if the Doe Family Gift Agreement was put in John Doe's File, Jane Doe's file or the Doe Family Foundation File.

[michellejmg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nisaac

We scan all of our gifts coming in the daily mail into pdf. This takes no more time then it does to copy the mail as we used to do. This scanned mail file is balanced against a tape run of the donations. This file is passed to our database specialist who enters all event info into our event module. It then makes its way to our gift processors who enter the gifts directly from pdf. They use two monitors - batch in one - pdf in other. Along the way, each person annotates on the pdf what they have accomplished or any notes necessary. It then passes to our finance department. After the gifts are posted from RE to FE, the person in charge of finance can review the gift pdf if there are questions about any of the gifts. This file is archived. It surely helped us during our audit, as we save each pdf by mail date. When we needed to pull the backup for gifts, we could easily do so.

Also, at the time the daily mail is scanned any mail that should be reviewed by staff (large donations, other special mail that should be addressed immediately) is emailed to the appropriate person. We used to have to copy this special mail and make sure all people who needed to see it immediately got copies.

We are not paperless - but we are definitely 'less papered'.

What software do you use to achive this? We are looking at going paperless because of PCI - do you know if the software is PCI compliant? Anyone have experience with a paperless office and PCI compliancy?

Thanks!

[vsiegel]

I think you already have some great answers from colleagues about what other nonprofits do - but I did want to give you a different perspective on why it might be a good idea to scan and have PDFs for the future:

You, and many of us, do like things stapled into logical packets... but we won't be around forever! As the world digitizes, new development officers are going to come along that will be able to access something scanned into a PDF and stored on a network 10x faster than going through a paper file - and may understand and comprehend it better on a screen than on paper.

[Allison L.]

I'm grateful for everyone's input. You've convinced me that having files (all or certain documents) digitized will be a good thing... which is actually cool because I like to save paper. But I definitely see that we'll need to go about it with a plan. None of this "Whooo! We have a scanner now! Let's scan stuff!"

Thanks!!