National Charity Jumps on Web 2.0 Collaboration Bandwagon
April 11, 2008
Free for charities Huddle.net brings Care for the Family together
3 April, 2008 – “Care for the Family“http://www.careforthefamily.org.uk/ has chosen Huddle.net, an online collaboration application to improve teamwork across the organisation. Huddle combines online collaboration, project management and document sharing using social networking principles.
With more than 100 employees, Care for the Family is one of the UK’s key charities promoting strong family life and helping those suffering from family breakdowns. Staff across four offices UK-wide and community representatives in Greater Manchester and the Isle of Man are using Huddle to work on projects together and exchange research and statistics.
With Huddle, Care for the Family’s employees can instantly create a network of collaborative team workspaces, each time bringing together the right team for the right project. Huddle is secure, easy to use and free to charities.
The senior management team is already taking advantage of Huddle’s document sharing tools to distribute teams’ quarterly reporting on best practice. They also collaborate to create a survey template for use at the Care for the Family seminars. In addition, Huddle is used to facilitate training and plan workshops.
“Charities cannot afford to ignore Web 2.0. It solves many of our common problems: constant need for keeping costs low, improving communication between staff in various locations and bringing volunteers together,” said Jon Mason, Executive Development Officer, Care for the Family. “There are many collaboration applications available on the web, so proper evaluation is a must. We couldn’t fault Huddle – it offers a special package for charities, which is completely free and offers all necessary training and customer support.”
Care for the Family has already discovered some of the biggest benefits of Huddle – eliminating ‘email storm’. Traditionally exchanging up to 100 emails a day between various members of the team, the charity stopped sending any emails that involve ‘action’. All documents that require review or approval are now posted online in the charity’s huddle. Those responsible for action are tasked with review deadlines. Additionally, online editing means the staff can work from any computer, PC or Mac, not worrying about downloading and converting files.
In the future, Care for the Family is hoping to use Huddle to collaborate with similar interest groups in New Zealand and South Africa.
