The Ryan's Solution Foundation Success with Mircosoft 2007 software

Mission Statement: To prevent teens from abusing prescription drugs through education. To help families afflicted with the disease of addiction with support.

Question 1: The Before: What was the challenge, issue or problem your organization was facing? Or, what was the opportunity you were not able to take advantage of before you put a technology solution in place?; Answer: In 2008 we lost our 17 year old son Ryan to and accidental overdose of prescription and over the counter medications. When we began our lectures and interactive discussions in schools we had difficulty updating our PowerPoint presentation as new statistics came in. We had different computers with different versions of windows and we are a very small foundation. We are so small that purchasing the new software would have been out of the question at the retail rate. Thanks to Microsoft and Techsoup we were able to purchase the software needed to help our foundation run better.

Question 2: What Microsoft software have you used/are you using in your organization to more effectively engage your beneficiaries, donors and/or volunteers and/or to make a difference in your community?; Answer: Microsoft Office 2007 or 2010 (Includes any of the following: Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, OneNote, Outlook, and Word); Other:

Question 3: The After: How have these Microsoft products allowed you to engage your stakeholders more efficiently or effectively to make a difference in your community?; Answer: I will be the first one to tell you I am not technologically savvy so there may have been a way to get the different PowerPoint programs to work but getting our computers updated and all on the same page was not in my arena. In addition I found out that the software I was using and the purpose I was using it for were not legal. Now we are using the right software appropriately and it is a huge improvement to our presentations to the many high schools and middle schools we go to.

Question 4: What about these products (the features or the way you used them) made them particularly helpful in enabling your organization to expand and improve upon its community impact?; Answer: Getting these products at a reduced rate and getting our computers up to date with the new software we can help schools that have seen their budgets cut, and one of the first things cut is drug and alcohol prevention. In many cases if not all prevention interventionist work at more than one school and only has the time to work with teens that already are in trouble with drugs. Prevention is a thing of the past in many cases. With the help of your software we are able to talk to people about or program and help the prevention/interventionist collect the data they need to do their jobs. We help collect data that the D&A counselors need to get their message out.Updates to data and additions were never so easy.

Question 5: Please provide any examples, stories or data that illustrate the difference the use of Microsoft software has enabled you to make (i.e., # of new clients reached, new program added, increased dollars raised, increased volunteers, etc.; Answer: As I said previously we are a small foundation trying to help school districts with shrinking budgets in the area of drug and alcohol prevention. When I say small I mean my wife and myself working full-time jobs in addition to the foundation. Any and all shortcuts we are able to use so that we can be more effective and efficient in the delivery of our message to teens and adults about the dangers for prescription and over the counter drug abuse is greatly appreciated. We are tireless in our work and hope to expand to more school districts and possibly even states in the future because of your product and help.

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Microsoft Technology For Good Contest