Wow, September already? First I’d like to congratulate my colleague Marco Ramirez on his one-year anniversary with Idealistics.  Marco joined us from the Los Angeles Children’s Planning Council, where he was the Earned Income Tax Credit coordinator one year ago in August of 2007.  

August was a great month for us and we are lining up several projects with some outstanding organizations which we will be launching in the coming months.  I don’t like to announce anything until it’s up and running, so be on the look out in coming entries as we update you on some of the exciting agencies we are privileged to be working with.

Back in the beginning of the summer, it was clear we were growing out of our old office (it was like a clown car in there!).  As I was looking for new office space, I got to thinking that perhapsIdealistics was that special type of organization where we could actually benefit from having everyone work from home.  Our employees are scattered across Southern California from Los Angeles to Highland, so there was no ideal place for an office.  Plus, as we are fortunate to be growing so rapidly, I was afraid that we would quickly outgrow any new place we moved into.

So instead we went to a remote office model, and I’m pleased to report it has worked out really well!  For any of you looking to possibly work remotely also, I recommend the following tool which we use at Idealisitcs to better facilitate communication:

• Skype (Voice chat)
• Mebeam (Video conferencing)
• Basecamp (Project management)
• Google Apps (Suite of hosted services for office collaboration)

Working remotely has offered another advantage.  Since August I have been splitting my time between Southern California and the Bay Area in Northern California.  Having a presence in Northern California gives us the opportunity to network and work with more organizations but also, as we grow our company, allows us to benefit from the technological innovation and vast software engineering talent that is ubiquitous in the Bay Area.

As we look forward to September, and the work we are lucky to have with our outstanding new community partners, it’s important to all of us at Idealistics to keep ourselves focused on our core mission of enhancing the social service sector by building custom information systems that communities need to resolve crises.  September looks to be a month in which we will have plenty opportunity to work with new and existing community partners to help improves the lives of people in various communities.

Have a great September!