SYNAPS PRO BONO

Knowledge transfers

Involve us in your own development

Synaps continually seeks new ways to connect with and contribute to our surroundings. We investigate crucial topics out of pocket, precisely when they fail to garner enough attention. We disseminate knowledge on underreported problems and, whenever possible, promote new voices in doing so. In addition to our publications, we routinely host or participate in events through which we share unpublished findings. We also circulate our know-how through mentoring manuals that help others learn from the challenges we face and the solutions we’ve found.

In the same spirit, we also channel some of our resources into supporting unfunded activities, projects, and events that we believe serve a valuable social purpose. This may involve training or mentoring for likeminded organizations or individuals eager to make progress in one of our areas of expertise. Until now, we have provided support in fields including: research methods, analyzing and visualizing data, communication strategies, editing processes, public speaking, event facilitation, and best practices in project management and accounting.

Here is a more complete list of areas in which we feel confident that our own experience can help others with their “organisational development” efforts.

• Financial management: building realistic budgets, advanced Excel skills for budgeting, cash flow projections, NGO accounting systems and best practices, auditing financial processes, financial reporting and grant management, “business plans” and “business models” for non-profits, and crowdfunding campaigns
• Information management: document legibility and readability, the visual layout of quantitative data, document management systems, tagging systems and “thesauri”, dashboard development, knowledge base or “wiki” development, and cybersecurity made practical for small organizations
• Marketing techniques: communication strategies, writing copy for social media, editorial policies for social media, search engine optimization, and audience feedback mechanisms
• Publishing techniques: clear and accurate writing, storytelling applied to analytic output, drafting an editorial policy, building an editorial process, training editors, website design geared toward ease of reading, and open source visual material for illustrations
• Research techniques: interview-based fieldwork, note taking and filing, research design, as well as physical and digital security in the field

We welcome any collaboration request that comes our way. Nonetheless, even discussing a collaboration entails an expenditure of time and energy. Thus we expect pro bono collaborators to be highly committed and eager to learn something new.