From time to time we will profile members of the Give Lively team, revealing more about who we are, what we do and how we fit into a mix of dedicated and dynamic engineers, creatives, strategists and advocates helping nonprofits do more with digital fundraising tools.

Like the focus of this week’s profile, the full Give Lively team is passionate about using tech for social good and providing a better fundraising experience to nonprofits and donors.

Chris Franklin

What do you do at Give Lively?

I am the QA manager, or “quality assurance” manager, at Give Lively. Along with my coworker Alexandra Lunga-Ceban, I am responsible for testing new and existing code to ensure that Give Lively delivers great service to our users. Give Lively offers a wide suite of products, each of which introduces many testing scenarios. We utilize a mix of manual and automated tests to verify that none of our products is affected by new code, and we test everything multiple times before it is released for use. 

We are also responsible for implementing and improving upon a Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) workflow to test and deploy new code to our user-facing platform. Every day we aim to provide new products and bug fixes as quickly as possible employing ever-evolving technologies. It is a process that we are always iterating upon as we strive for further improvements. 

What does a day in your life at Give Lively look like?

There is always something to do! I prioritize a mixture of activities that brings the most value to our users. I attend meetings and check-ins, manually test code on its way to being released, write automated tests for features that require it, write and conduct load tests, gather metrics and data around any discovered defects and make improvements to our CI/CD workflows. I do not do all of these things in one day, but throughout a typical week I spend time on each of them.

What do you like to do outside of Give Lively?

Outside of Give Lively, I really enjoy getting active, traveling and being in nature. Those interests led me to triathlon years ago and I have been hooked ever since. I set out to finish an Ironman in each of the three North American countries and was fortunate enough to do it. Each one was a humbling, perspective-shifting experience. I really appreciated the opportunity and the journey to get there.

I also enjoy nature photography. I like that it pushes me to engage with the natural world and see things through a different lens. Right now, I am working on printing and framing a few pictures to hang in my office. I just returned from a trip to the Black Hills and the Badlands in South Dakota, where I took some photos that I had fun sharing with my coworkers here at Give Lively. 

What excites you about Give Lively?

What excites me about Give Lively is the opportunity to contribute to something positive. Being able to use my skills to help meet the needs of thousands of nonprofit organizations is a privilege I don't take for granted. Those needs are always evolving and changing, and it is an exciting challenge to satisfy them, empowering nonprofits to meet their goals. I joined the team five years ago and both the platform and the team have grown a lot since then. It has been a joy to be a part of.