CEO Stacey Yudin l Fostering Innovation and the Digital Tech Transformation of Nonprofits

CEO Stacey Yudin has experienced the full arc of digital technology, leading NEP Services' Union and Non-profit clients from legacy processes and structure to specialized digital technology platforms. Stacey shares how NEP learned about their customers' pain points and established collaborative working relationships---that is ongoing with new technology such as AI. Stacey also delves into the excitement of building an innovative company as part of Industrial 4.0 and her commitment to fostering a dynamic culture of teamwork.

Transcript

Jeanne Gray: I'm Jean Gray, publisher of American Entrepreneurship Today and host of the podcast series, Experienced Voices, where I talk with highly accomplished people who share the critical elements that led to their success.

Digital technology is now all around us, thanks to innovative companies introducing new ways to serve their customers. Our guest on Experienced Voices is Stacey Uden of NEP Services, who shares a CEO's perspective on innovation, and how her company successfully introduced digital technology to their union and non profit clients by being attuned to their needs.

Stacy, welcome to Experience Voices.

Stacy Yudin: Thank you. Thank you very much for having me. 

Jeanne Gray: I am really interested in hearing about the innovation arc that NEP Services has gone through. Can you give us an overview of your products and services, which I know are digitally based? 

Stacy Yudin: Yes. NEP Services is a best in class software firm building solutions for non profit and labor organizations around the world.

We primarily work in the markets of non profits, 501c3s, of course. Unions, education, law enforcement, firefighters, and other essential labor workers. We primarily focus on building the platforms that connect non profits to change makers and connect non profits to donors. That's a space that we operate in and we've Done I would say a very good job at, uniting those two groups of supporters.

Jeanne Gray: , let's step back a few years. When digital was really making its big transformation, what was the circumstances under which you went in full throttle into nonprofits? Where were they an opportunity for NEP? 

Stacy Yudin: Oh gosh about a decade ago we were as a company we were already working with nonprofits across the country helping them fundraise and it was primarily back then I should say before the real tech revolution in the nonprofit sector.

A lot of fundraising was operating by mail, receiving a lot of checks. There's very few solutions for a really robust presence for nonprofits online and a way for nonprofits to grow their fundraising through the digital space. So our first step in our first solution was to provide a robust CMS and nonprofit donation platform that nonprofits could use to raise money more efficiently in the digital space, connect with new, potentially younger online donors.

Jeanne Gray: So, Stacey, take us through the arc that NEP has gone through, where digital was, or not, 10 years ago, and where you saw the opportunity with non profits.

Stacy Yudin: You know, 10 years ago, there wasn't a lot of solutions in this space that provided a robust platform for non profits to not only collect donations online, but also manage their nonprofit. So having already worked with nonprofits in the fundraising capacity, I saw an opportunity to expand a solution set.

Of communication software that would transforms not a nonprofit's ability to not only communicate with their donors But communicate with their volunteers allowing them to streamline operations Engage their members more effectively as well as expand their reach whether that be their volunteer work The impact they make in their community or even the fundraising dollars that they raise the industry had You A few piecemeal solutions, but there wasn't really one, a comprehensive solution set with a thought out strategy as to how do you provide a cost efficient set of tools that can really help nonprofits hit their goals.

Jeanne Gray: When you were making this transformation, let's say, you know, 10 years ago there's first adopters with technology. You're out there proposing things that are innovative, that are very forward looking? So how did your clients, first think about this?

Did you need a first testimonial client then to run around and show others or, build something in house and do demos? 

Stacy Yudin: It's a great question. Of course, when, you know, you're dreaming of something and you whiteboard it in your office with some of your co workers. At that point, it seems just like a dream and an idea.

And my focus has always been that you've got to build it and they will come. So we engage with key stakeholders within our client base of nonprofit leaders. I spent close to a year kind of touring, asking them what their biggest pain points were, investigating, brainstorming solutions with leaders on the ground in their communities.

I thought that was the only way to get valuable feedback and insight. You know, I could go and draw anything I wanted to on a whiteboard and we could architect and dream up a really cool widget. All day long, but unless we applied the actual pain points and the actual problems that were up, that were causing these issues in the communities that, that our nonprofits served, it wasn't going to be a worthwhile build.

So, you know, for over a year, we said, We spent a lot of time working and communicating with key community stakeholders, nonprofit leaders. That was really how we architected our first communication platform. And then we worked backwards from that to build an audience. And of course, those early stakeholders in that development process became our early adopters, became our advocates were really invested into the, to the platform because it really reflected.

The needs in the set of solutions that they needed on the ground. 

Jeanne Gray: Over time how did they start to think about technology when they were seeing what was happening around them in the world. Were they coming to you and saying, Hey, can you do this? Or did it remain mostly within NEP to keep coming up with the latest technology to introduce?

Stacy Yudin: I would say NEP's journey is highly collaborative and I think that's one of the areas that I'm most proud of. We've worked hand in hand with our non profit leaders, with our clients. We have feedback constantly and consistently on our product, good, bad, and ugly. And as I talk to my co workers all the time, Tell me the bat.

Show me the ugly. Let's let's make sure that we're thinking about our solution set from within the eyes of our users. And so we I've always instilled this very much client centric focus within our development process within our customer success team and with their within our sales team. So whether it's our employees or our customers, everyone is listening.

Everyone has the same goals. How do we deliver Take care. The best results for a nonprofit. How do we build a more flexible product that serves more potential users? And how do we solve these nonprofits? Tough, toughest challenges, especially around communication platforms. We sort of take them for granted.

You know, we've all got email and we have text messaging. But as an organization executing really well communication strategies. That empower your recipients, empower your donors, and then ultimately motivate them to make a donation on your behalf. That's a very, very hard problem to solve. And so our.

Stakeholders and our employees really worked on these problems together. Over the course of our development cycle, the last 

Jeanne Gray: decade. So when they look at technology and you're, introducing something new, do they look for a way to quantify a return on investment for the money they're now spending to enhance technology?

It's sort of like there there's always, there will always be more technology. So. Can you give me some insight on how the client looks for their budget spend and how they, do they talk about some type of ROI that's measurable? 

Stacy Yudin: That's another great question. What one of the challenges unanticipated challenges of working in the nonprofit sector is that they have to be very savvy with their budget.

They don't, they don't have a dime to spare because every every single budget line item is supposed to be geared towards the cause. And of course, there are essential services and platforms that you need to do the job of running a nonprofit. So what I, what I spend a lot of time working with my clients on is, look, you need to run your nonprofit like you do a business, except at the end of the day, your business just happens to give away all of its profits to a good cause.

But that doesn't mean. Do you want to sacrifice the best in class tools? And you should look for the best in class solutions because that's going to give you a better result. So results and ROI matter much, much more than whether you're going to spend an extra 10 or 20 per month. Now, of course, You need to be careful and you need to have, you know, a fierce oversight of your budget as a nonprofit and cut waste and expenditure that's unnecessary.

But you need to invest in your tools. You need to invest in your strategy because ultimately that's what's going to dictate and drive the ROI of your, of your program, of your service. And ultimately of your fundraising, a lot of nonprofits are afraid to invest in the fundraising process. They're a little bit hesitant to invest in technology.

Of course that's changed over the last. You know, four or five years, there's been an embracing of technology in the nonprofit sector, which I'm, you know, incredibly glad to, to see. But of course there's still always the drive towards what's the KPI on this. If we build this new database platform, if we connect with our donors using this new technology, what will that return for us?

And the second point to the ROI question that I, I try to get my clients to understand is that ROI doesn't always necessarily mean dollars in the door. ROI in the nonprofit space can also mean brand strategy, can also mean that you have additional followers. That your communication is popping up to the top of their inbox and they're opening your emails and reading them All the kpis of open rates and click through rates apply So a lot of that effort on communication is geared towards building that brand So that when you send out your annual fundraising drive, you have the widest possible net To cast.

So yes, of course, there's always an ROI discussion, but I try to educate my clients and that you have to approach it, not just from a dollars and cents. It has to be about the building, the brand first

Jeanne Gray: with so much technology, you know, driving our lives and our businesses forward. Is it easier now when you've introduced a product to a particular nonprofit or union?

And the others have to fall in place to stay competitive. Is there a cycle where they can't keep falling behind because they're seeing now what, what is changing around them among their competitors. 

Stacy Yudin: Yeah, at the market space is changing very rapidly right now in the nonprofit sector.

A lot of nonprofits are feeling the pressure of being left behind by not being early or even adopters of technology. So there's a market pressure there. That's palpable. And I've noticed that going to conferences and talking with new clients that they they know they need a solution and the gap right now is that it's hard to change.

And so a lot of what any piece services have been working on with our platforms is how do we. How do we make the process of modernizing using technology easier? So the power to change is hard, but the power to do it is even harder. So how do we ease that burden? A lot of our new platform focuses on the onboarding and organization of database in a very easy user friendly way.

When you say the words database management to someone, to really anyone, You know, people's fingers can, can curl their, their palms can get sweaty because migrating a database is a, can be a quite a process. And NEP has been focused on really, how do we lower that threshold for change for nonprofits? How do we ease the burden so that they can migrate?

To best in class platforms and beyond ours. There's a variety of tools on the marketplace. But how do we make it easier for them to make that change so that they can take the next step and lead their organizations to thrive? 

Jeanne Gray: So how has that Been accomplished within NEP services. It's, it was a different world.

Like we've said 10 years ago when digital was really first emerging. We're in a totally different world now. What's the pressure on your own company to keep innovating and to. Have the talent that stays on top of, of the change we're going through. 

Stacy Yudin: Oh, great question. Oh my you know, the space that NEP services in is in is sort of a hybrid.

We're a for profit company providing best in class solutions for non profits and labor organizations. Our customers don't have the largest, most largest, widest, deepest pockets, yet they probably need our solutions. More aggressively than the private sector. So we're stuck in the middle. We are building and innovating in this space that has to do a lot of things for a little.

So it's quite, there's a lot of pressure for us to innovate. And I think what sets us apart in the industry. Is that we're focused on, we're hyper focused on being client centric, so we're not developing just to develop. We're not making assumptions of what we think the solutions are. We're out in the field on the ground with our customers, developing those solutions, iterating on our development stack as it is, and that in turn allows us to develop a real world solution that can be implemented with these non profits.

So the pressure is, is quite. You know, quite ferocious in our sense, but because we're so focused on letting the client be a part of the development process and journey, I think that gives us a leg up in comparison to other vendors who develop because it's a cool widget and it's a cool idea kind of external of really the problem in the marketplace.

Jeanne Gray: Yeah, I truly do appreciate when you're saying client centric and how important it is for them to be. Letting you come in and see their pain points and you're, you're creating a solution to a very defined problem. So in what you were also sharing, and I guess with what is going on with artificial intelligence now, does a digital company like yourself, in your, at least in your staffing, is there a CTO or is there a whole different part of your organization now that exists now?

I'll put. Didn't exist five, six, seven years ago. 

Stacy Yudin: Yeah, absolutely. When I first started, we didn't have a full tech division. You know, we had a few websites and that was about it. So now we have a full development staff with a soon to be CTO with technical directors, user, UI and UX developers, Android and Apple developers.

We have an entire team of engineers, database security specialists, and we've built those roles in alignment with our, with our platform. So it's absolutely, we've transformed from just like our nonprofits, I should say, we've transformed alongside our nonprofits as a company. We've taken the days of.

Outreaching with, with mail. And we've turned that into millions and millions of outreaches digitally. At any given time across a variety of platforms, social media, LinkedIn email, text message, we put now provide tools as well as the outreach. Not only for ourselves, for us to connect with nonprofits, but for our nonprofits as well.

Jeanne Gray: So with AI which, you know, is on fire now for the last few years. How do you go about probing a new technology? Is. You know, you referenced possibly, I think a CTO coming on board is, do you, where do you go where you're the digital CEO now, and you've got all this swirling around you, how do you approach something like AI and getting in really quick to understand its benefits?

You know, I think 

Stacy Yudin: people who work in the technology space, you have to be a little bit crazy. We, we love, we love change. And I do personally, I, I love a new challenge. I love a new set of tools for some people changes hard for a lot of my clients changes hard, but for us in the space that we're in, we, we see new opportunities like AI as just that a new, incredible opportunity laying at our feet for us to harness.

And help our customers. So I think there's a lot of possibility for AI. And so we've set up a working group and an R& D team that is playing around and sorting through what are the potential use cases, what are the solutions that AI could solve in our space. And I think some of our biggest challenges that we haven't been able to completely solve around data hygiene, around database management, A lot of labor intensive tasks that NEP still does for our clients.

I think there's a space and there's a role for AI in helping us automate and create a better, a better result quicker and more efficiently, whether it's the database or outreach communication strategies even some AI platforms. I've seen some great tools out there around content creation. That is a big hurdle for nonprofits.

Typically. How? How do you ask for a donation? You know, five different ways. Well, with a I you can harness that natural learning language model, and it can give you 100 of different ways to ask for a donation that doesn't sound as repetitive. So there's I think I'm very optimistic for the future of a I in the nonprofit sector.

Jeanne Gray: Now that you're been honored and recognized as an innovation leader, are you continually looking at your competitors who are entering the space or who entered it a few years ago to keep yourself motivated to, to You know, push the company further. 

Stacy Yudin: Well, as Anna Wintour recently said on a masterclass, you know, when you get distracted by looking at your competitors, you lose sight of your goal.

So at NEP, we're highly focused on our goal. We've been a leader innovating for nonprofits for, you know, close to a decade. And we innovate with purpose at our core, again, being client centric and focusing on key problem areas that unions and nonprofits struggle with, whether it's their fundraising, their internal communications, day to day operations, but we're always highly focused on how to innovate with purpose.

And solve their biggest problems. So I'm, I'm focused on our roadmap and our path forward. I welcome competitors in our space, of course. But I think our pathway and our trajectory is really focused on listening to our clients first and not getting distracted by. Maybe what's going on in the industry at a whole, 

Jeanne Gray: A consumer product company or mobile or , any industry in which they're embracing innovation and digital tech. I'm seeing things about client centric. Cost efficiency, easing the burden. Are there key elements of being a digital CEO that you've got a checklist now in your head about the elements of digital technology that makes you good at what you do?

And because you were, you were sharing some of the very basic ones about, you know, cost efficiency and client processes

Stacy Yudin: You know, being a CEO post covid I, and growing your company in an all digital space, we operate in 37 states. With 800 plus nonprofits and growing every week, there's a trajectory and a growth cycle there that can be challenging.

We're adding new employees every week. And I think when it comes down to it, if we stick to the basics of how do I not only empower my customers, but how do I empower my colleagues? How do I make sure that every one of our employees feels valued and feels like they're a part They're not just going to work to get a paycheck, but they're also in within their work, helping someone reinvesting back into the community.

They're making an impact with their job every single day. So I think one of the challenges I, I strive to not lose sight of is how do I keep my team motivated? How do I share the wins of our nonprofit customers back with our team? Because truly, We're a strategic partner with our non profits. We're helping, we're giving them tools, strategies, sometimes, you know, creating all of that for our clients that build communities, trust, and engagement with their supporters.

So I want to drive a company culture where no one gets left behind, that each one of our employees feels valued, and they're happy to come to work every day, and that they love their job. I think that's one of the biggest challenges that you to create in a fast moving growing company is to keep everyone moving in the same direction and everyone motivated and empowered to to to get as excited as I do when I wake up in the morning to go to work and I've been very fortunate to have an incredible team of colleagues and developers across the country who are just as excited as I am to deliver a new widget or update our mobile app because they know our customers are going to be very, very happy with the results.

Jeanne Gray: Well, thank you very much, Stacy, for coming on today and, and really deep diving into innovation that your company has been leading in, in your industry. I gained a lot of insight from what you shared and I appreciate you coming on and being one of our guests. 

Stacy Yudin: Yes. Thank you so much. I've had a wonderful afternoon and thanks for having 

me. 

Jeanne Gray: You have been listening to the podcast series, Experienced Voices. To hear more and subscribe, visit americanentrepreneurship. com forward slash podcast, where you will also find a form for listener feedback.