A challenge to calculate "Returning Volunteers" has me waxing poetic about re-gifting, digging deep into the Meme Stache, and writing some gnarly formulas. Join me!
encountering a real, live Excel bug
I think I stumbled upon an Excel "bug" (gasp!!) when I was combining SUMIF formulas plus sorting alphabetically. @___@ This is a new one, grasshoppers and honeybees! Sit down, buckle in, and enjoy the ride - we're gonna get technical with some formulas and explore what to do when you get real confused.
If only
Slicers, Subtotals, Tables, Ranges, Sort criteria, OH MY. We've got it all in this post about dealing with frustration, solutions, and spreadsheet empowerment.
validation rules!
Ahh, nothing like a good pep talk to make you feel validated. When I can't cheer you on, try data validation tools to add "dropdown menus" inside of your spreadsheets. Google Sheets and Excel users will both find something of value here. Read more for useful tips and tutorial videos.
Year end fundraising! Now what?
It's 2019... do you know who your donors are? You have new data about your donors... and a LOT of it. But how do you take a list of hundreds or even thousands of donations and turn them into helpful statistics and meaningful insights? Here's my top tips for donation spreadsheets, served with a smile and side of puns and gifs.
festival of lights (or, sequentially numbering rows in your spreadsheet)
How to use spreadsheets to sequentially number your rows (x+1 or date +1) OR undo it! Come for the gifs, stay for the puns!
Ifs, Ands, AND Buts
Here's a recipe for how to use Pivot Tables, VLOOKUPs, If Statements, and the Concatenate function to take bigger data sets and manipulate them, saving you TONS of time so you can get back to organizing or putting your feet up. Plus, some lessons on segmentation. And some puns!
Do you learn from your mistakes?
What is a mistake? Let's use the etymology to learn some lessons about mistakes and spreadsheets. Plus, puns and a recommendation for learning more.
mixed messages
On one hand, data skills are impossible to learn (and we blame the individual). On the other hand, companies tell us that advanced coding skills are easy to develop, 1, 2, 3! How can these be true at the same time? Who benefits from these messages? It's classic capitalism doublespeak: make non-data people feel insignificant and intimidated, then sell us a solution to our problem.
I call BULLSHIT on these dynamics and offer 8 tips for wrangling a sloppy spreadsheet that you can use right away!
how spreadsheets can make you a better mentee
There's certainly plenty of resources about how to be a mentor, how to pick a mentor, or why to seek out mentorship in the first place, but what about tips about how to be a good mentee? Here's a spreadsheet I use to keep track of mentorship commitments and make sure I show up as a good mentee!
