He has taught Digital Marketing at George Brown College and loves to speak and write about digital strategies, marketing and fundraising, online youth engagement, website analytics, and digital currency. He has been recognized by the NTEN Award for contributions to the nonprofit technology community. He has also been awarded Young Alumnus of the Year by the Wilfrid Laurier University Alumni Association, which recognizes the outstanding achievements by a young alumnus. Jason has been involved with The Fastest Donation Form in the World Project and Roo.io, a mobile-optimized system that provides a streamlined and cost-effective way to record telephone interviews for content producers and journalists.

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Jason started his volunteer work in 7th grade when he asked a local senior’s residence if he could support in any way. After being taken aback by his age, they agreed and he was trained to work as a switchboard call taker for the organization. His eyes were opened to social issues like aging, emotional intelligence, and care-giving. He realized early on that he was clearly drawn to helping others realize their dreams and that guided his education and career choices from the beginning, including time in Ghana as a youth ambassador. He saw the impact of education, relationships, and access to resources and what a game changer they are.

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“There’s a very strong connection between education and relationships. I generally think that one can’t exist without the other.”

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These early experiences led Jason to a career in technology and non-profit because he saw the power of tech resources to make education and other big impact opportunities available to the masses. He believes the best time for a non-profit to invest in their tech is right from the beginning. Instead of only thinking about the technical part of an organization, however, he also coaches new non-profits to think through the staff that will be needed to maintain and leverage the tech they invest in.

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The top considerations an organization needs to think of before launching a tech product or project are the purpose of the organization and the journey that the customer or donor will take when using the tech. This applies to something as foundational as how a phone call or message is received as well as more evolved projects like a website. The north star needs to be the purpose of the organization but every piece of the customer experience should also be paid attention to.

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“If you can’t be a venture capitalist with your money, you should be a venture capitalist with your time.”

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When it comes to contributing to organizations in a meaningful way, Jason suggests thinking of your time as one of the most valuable resources you can offer, even more than money. By taking the time to sit down with an individual or team and look at their goals and concept to vet it for viability, you can sometimes see a tech solution that could have a massive impact if it was funded and supported. That is the value of offering your time and insight if you have more of that available than money.

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When evaluating the risk/reward of investing in a new tech idea, Jason suggests thinking of the simple formula: 1 to the power of 365 is still 1. If you do nothing and maintain the status quo, you are taking a different kind of risk – one that will likely keep you static. But if you decide to take a risk and make a 1% gain, every day, with the vision of how many more people you could help if it works out, it’s easier to see the impact of what you are capable of. When getting buy in from a board or team to take a risk, Jason suggests focusing on disruptive innovation rather than leaning on just impact data. Rather than showing the obvious options and returns, use the power of disruptive innovation to show the possibility of what a risk could positively create.

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“If there was no risk to anything, everyone would be doing it.”

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