Experience Papers

Experience Papers with original release dates

  1. Swag: Best, Worst, and Why, August 2023
  2. Effective Partner Program Services, December 2022
  3. Sharing Success Stories, September 2019
  4. An Experience with Learning Circles February 2018
  5. The Experience of Fundraising June 2017
  6. Computer Refurbishing Process December 2016
  7. Lessons from Starting a Bridging Agency March 2016
  8. Anatomy of Best-in-class Bridging Agencies, July 2015

Swag: Best, Worst, and Why was published in August of 2023 and gives useful information about swag based on the experiences of nine partners.

Published in December of 2022, Effective Partner Program Services, provides information about a number of successful programs including how they were started, challenges and the impact of them on the community served.

Published in September of 2019, Sharing Success Stories, helps put a human face on the work we do, touching the emotions of the reader/listener in a way that numbers and measurable impacts do not.

An Experience with Learning Circles, published in February 2018, documents PBDD’s experience with hosting a learning circle following the excellent model from P2PU. Highlights include:

  1. Four to six weeks was a good class duration, less than four weeks would have been too short to bond. More than six and people might not have been willing to commit.
  2. Using the week by week material from P2PU worked well, with skipping things that didn’t apply and not being rigid about it.
  3. We finished our five-week session with all seven original participants having completed all of the course material. The majority said that it was the weekly class get-togethers that helped motivate them to keep doing the course material and practicing.

The Experience of Fundraising, published in June 2017, was based on a series of questions with phone interviews. Recommendations include:

  1. Take advantage of region-specific opportunities at the city or state level.
  2. Tell stories to get free advertising and more donations.
  3. Cultivate relationships with donors, volunteers, and potential donors. Thank you is more important than please, but say both.
  4. Remember, your situation is unique so experiment to determine what works best for you.

Computer Refurbishing Process, published in December 2016, presents an overview of the steps to refurbish computers based on the People’s Resource Center process.

Lessons from Starting a Bridging Agency, published in March 2016, extracts some key practices learned from our partner agencies.

The experience paper Anatomy of Best In Class Bridging Agencies, published in July 2015, describes the characteristics of an agency working to bridge the digital divide and how it works together with clients, donors and volunteers to function effectively.