Archive for the 'issues' CategoryPage 2 of 2

Nonprofits in the online attention economy

Published
by
amysampleward
on April 10, 2008
in issues
. 0 Comments

There is a great question for the Net2ThinkTank right now: “How can nonprofits and NGOs succeed in the online attention economy?”

First, what IS the attention economy, you may be asking. Well, Britt has a great post describing it, here is an excerpt of the definition:

Wikipedia defines attention economics as, “an approach to the management of information that treats human attention as a scarce commodity, and applies economic theory to solve various information management problems.”

Here is a more clarifying question:

As more nonprofits, businesses and individuals create blogs, podcasts, rss news feeds, wikis, social networks, YouTube accounts, Twitter feeds, fundraising widgets, mashups, etc. what do you think nonprofits need to do to attract and maintain people’s attention online?

And my answer? Being the best resource for yourself AND your community.

First, you need to gauge what kind of resource you need/want as an organization. Is it staying on top of research or news in you sector? Is it providing a space for question and answer or collaboration? Or is it to create a space for collecting stories, media (photos, videos, etc.), or goals/progress in a public forum?

Whatever resource best fits with the organization’s work, probably also fits with how you want to interact with your community. If you need to be on top of breaking news and the latest research, you probably want your constituents to be up-to-date as well.

Next, now that you know WHAT resource is best, you need to decide HOW to provide it. Does it make the best sense to transform part of your website into an information aggregator? Or instead to provide a wiki for staff, members, visitors to contribute to? Maybe it’s designing parts of your website that can host videos and photos people upload and ways to collect feedback/comments and share stories?

Whichever path best fits your resource needs of the organization and the community, it is best that it is given dedicated staff time and attention for building, nurturing, and monitoring AND you have agreed on avenues for outreach (making sure the community knows the resource is available and that it is the best one for them). You are going to need to prove that, for example, instead of your constituents reading five different newspapers online and subscribing to updates from ten different organizations to stay informed of happenings in your sector, that they can instead just watch your news section to aggregate all the best information they need.

Last, you need to be sure you are constantly gaging the usefulness of your resource to be sure to stay on top (both on top of information competitors and on top of the potential of providing for your community). Are you seeing new blogs or news sites emerging with different and relevant information? - Add them to your aggregator! Are you seeing other communities popping up with discussions on your topic areas? - Invite them to your wiki/forum/community space! Are you finding that groups prefer to post their media on other sites? - Go where they are and create a dedicated community that supports them AND your organization!

Let’s have an example: Let’s say that you work for an environmental organization that works partly on climate change legislation, you are located in Lane county and besides the community of interest you serve you are also partnered with a student-run climate change organization at University of Oregon. In the climate change and environmental defense sector that is a bounty of resources, news outlets and other organizations all vying for your community’s attention. There is a plethora of other places they could be going for information.

You probably want to become a resource of news, information, legislation changes, etc. This would be incredibly beneficial for your organization’s staff, but by becoming the one-stop-shop for all the industry information with the added value of local/specific legislative information added in, you become incredibly beneficial for your community as well.

You could create a news section on your website that is separate from the press section—keep press releases, press packets, team bios/pictures, etc. in a separate place of your website to avoid confusion. Next, create an aggregator of RSS feeds (what are RSS feeds?) of traditional news outlets like the Oregonian, the New York Times, and so on, as well as ‘new media news outlets’ or blogs that have strong, sustained communities and value like It’s Getting Hot in Here and the Huffington Post. Because of your legislative interest, you are going to also want to incorporate press releases and legislative updates into your aggregator. You should include a ’suggest a resource’ link in the news section so that readers can let you know of other blogs or sites that they think are valuable to be included, keeping you on top of the market for information. Lastly, you will want to be sure that you have an RSS feed for that news page as well so people that want to stay on top of your updates can do so from your website or in their preferred RSS reader.

Now that it is built, you need to advertise it to your community. Include a link and a call to action (like, Check out your new resource for climate change news and legislation!) in the footer of your emails, in the side bar or call-out box of your e-newsletters, and on the home page of your website. It is important that you also notify your community when it is built with a specific email only about the new resource. This message should be tailored differently when sent to the partners at the University so that it stresses the usefulness of the resource to their campus work and to encourage them to spread the news of its availability to students outside the organization as well.

There is so much possibility that it is easy to get lost in the information overload yourself! Remember to:

1. Gauge the best needs for your organization AND your community.
2. Find the best (interactive) way to build and provide that resource.
3. Measure your success and keep improving the resource you are/provide.

Good luck - and keep me posted on how you do!

Reflections on NTC: Lost in [tech] conversation

Published
by
amysampleward
on March 30, 2008
in issues
. 1 Comment

Something that should be obvious about a conference for nonprofit technologists is that there was no lack of geeky conversation, ever, anywhere.  It was wonderful!  But, one thing that I thought was important to bring up and great that it was brought up in some of the sessions, was that we have to remember these few days of utopia are numbered, and normally we aren’t able to have the same kinds of conversations with the same kinds of vocabulary and assumed knowledge.

When we are working in offices at nonprofits or other philanthropic organizations, or consulting with these groups, we need to approach conversations in a different way, to avoiding losing people in our techie conversation.  How do you do that?

  • Don’t worry about avoiding conversations! Instead of agonizing over a conversation to leadership about needing $10k, find a way to start a conversation about how that investment can make the staff’s work more effective or efficient, or save money elsewhere.
  • Recognize the differences!  Talking to a fellow techie about new software, platforms, products, etc. can be great but so can conversations about those things with staff so long as you recognize the difference between features and benefits—tech people care about features, no one else does.  This goes for conversations with leadership, buy-in, training, etc.
  • Express what you want clearly! It is fine to ask for or recommend new budget items, upgrades, uses, or strategies; it’s more than fine, it’s your job!  But know your strengths and how to work within them so that what you are asking for and why is clear.
  • Don’t be a cheerleader for the accomplishment! You should, of course, always recognize accomplishments throughout your organization, including the technology department.  But, as a leader (and not just a techie) you should work to cheer on the people, the work and the tools instead of just the end accomplishments.  After all, it was the people, their hard work, and the tools chosen that got to that goal!

What kinds of conversations have you had as the “techie” (accidental or not!) and what results did you have?  How were you able to have the most “successful” conversations with your leadership or staff when dealing with technical matters?

Reflections on NTC: From techie to leader

Published
by
amysampleward
on March 30, 2008
in events and issues
. 1 Comment

One of the sessions I attended at NTEN’s NTC last week was about moving from the position as “the techie” in your organization to being a real “leader.” It was an interesting topic and I thought a very valuable issue. Linda Widdop, Dir. of Tech Services/Consulting, and Dean Graham, Manager of App. Services, both from NPower Pennsylvania, were the presenters and general motivators for the session.  Here are notes I jotted down from the session…

The true measure of leadership is influence - nothing more nothing less. - Maxwell

Large org = CIO
Medium org = someone in charge of tech
Small = accidental techie

Ineffective CIO: ED has business background; new position created (CIO), CIO attends executive meetings, no improvements seen by management, staff frustrated by tech

Ineffective IT manager: top management comprised of promoted social workers, advocates; IT manager not invited/included in exec meetings; budget developed and managed by CFO

Ineffective accidental techie: volunteer or overworked case worker who knows how to use a computer; few or minimal resources; react to crisis or programmatic changes

Understanding IT leadership: what was missing in our 3 examples? leadership. To be effective, you need to understand how to be a leader, no matter what role.

The NMA leadership model:
you can apply leadership principles to tech
set direction (tech planning), demonstrate personal character, engender organization capability (build teams), mobilize individual commitment for change (inspire teams)

5 key areas of tech leadership:
1 understand strategic tech planning
2 developing a vision for the org
3 building the team
4 communication
5 role models

1: Understand strategic tech planning
roadmap that aligns tech with mission and business goals
process to build buy in from stakeholders
a framework for decision making
tool for budgeting and fundraising
living evolving document

Where does IT leadership fit in? Broach the subject with management; understand and communicate the benefits; lead the effort; look to the future

2: Developing a vision for the org
What are your organization’s key strategic business goals over the next 3-5 years (increase services by 25%, start an after school program, double earned revenue, improve…)
THEN add tech

Where does IT leadership fit in? Get involved in developing your org’s business goals; fully understand all programs; ask about the big picture; share your ideas with other

3: Building the team
gain support and user adoption
budgets make more sense
input from all angles
smarter solutions
holistic approach

Where does IT leadership fit in? Ask for volunteers to join the effort; elicit input from all members; include other leaders; be open to many ideas; foster team communication; don’t let your expertise drive the process (it’s not all about the hardware side of technology!)

Relationships are the fertile soil from which all advancement, all success, all achievement in real life grows. -Ben Stein

4: Communication
all meetings must be attended by the team
share the team’s deliverables with other staff - execs or full staff
develop solid documentation
share your enthusiasm for the project with everyone

5: Role models
use your headquarters
investigate other ors that provide the same services
investigate other orgs that communicate in the same way
research and adopt tech best practices

It is easy to be a leader to those “under” you but it is very hard to be a leader for your peers.

Role model - be one:
continue to provide thought leadership within the organization
keep up the communications
join and attend nonprofit technology groups
provide info to other orgs
collaborate when possible

So, are you being a techie or a leader in your organization right now?  What are you going to do tomorrow to become more of a leader?  What are you going to work on over the next month to become more of a leader?

How to close the gaps: leadership and social media

Published
by
amysampleward
on March 12, 2008
in issues and socialmedia
. 4 Comments

Recently, Inside Philanthropy, the blog for the Philanthropy Journal, posted about a fairly popular conversation topic: The nonprofit leadership gap. Research is coming out that predicts a large depression of leaders in the nonprofit sector as the baby boomers go into retirement. There have been many confirmations of this and less strong, concrete ideas for “fixing” it. What does the leadership gap mean for technology and social media adoption and usage for organizations?

As has been discussed online and offline, the perception (for better or worse, true or false, etc.) is that youth are the ones using social media tools personally and that if an organization wants to incorporate some of those tools in its outreach, fundraising, events, or communications strategy, they need to hire a young person to do it. I think we all know, though, that people are not dogs and we can all learn new tricks.

Often, “young people” are the ones with exposure and experience using these tools because they are at a college campus with easy access nearly 24/7 to computers and friends and friends on computers. They also have had much less of their life away from computers compared to older generations/peer groups. They don’t know the tools because they are the only ones who can understand them; they just happen to have had a great opportunity to play around with a lot of them already.

So, as I see it, there is the leadership gap which is a top down direction and the technology gap which is a bottom up direction. How can these two hands hold on to each other?

Social media tools need to become integrated, slowly and logically, into organizations’ communication/outreach/development strategies AND into the internal staff processes that are shared with all staff. This means strategies like choosing a set of tags for your organization and getting everyone using del.icio.us for sharing news, reports, information, etc. Say you work for the “Portland Children’s Affairs Counsel” (I don’t think that exisits, I’m just making it up), and you want to have tags for your staff, your board, and for general news that you could link to on your website. So, you use PCACstaff, PCACboard, and PCACnews to tag organizations, news articles, reports, or anything else you come across on the web. Then, board members know to keep an eye on items tagged with PCACboard to see interesting things happening in the field or with organizations relevant to the organization’s work, etc. Staff know to watch for items tagged by other staff instead of keeping track of so many emails with one link to a news story, etc.

Staff can begin to upload photos from events or around the office to Flickr as a way to get familiar with the tool and then publicize the group or tag for the organization on the site, encouraging others to post photos they take at events or with the staff.

Slowly integrating these kinds of tools will make for better adoption because people will have personal experience and familiarity with each tool as it is integrated instead of throwing many tools at the organization at once and causing a sink or swim atmosphere.

But, back to the original question, how do these two issues come together? It’s simple. If social media tools are introduced that enable more sharing of information across the organization and build a cohesive team around projects and campaigns, then it can be easier to train and foster staff into leadership positions. Using technology tools to streamline work and to integrate online and offline parts of campaigns/projects (which usually involve completely separate teams of staff) means that staff will be integrated and really facilitating each other’s work instead of working autonomously.

I hope to write more about this later but wanted to get the thoughts out before I forgot them. :) I would love to hear what you think and how the two “gaps” have shown themselves or not in your organization. How have you seen it play out?

How can nonprofits use twitter?

Published
by
amysampleward
on January 10, 2008
in issues and socialmedia
. 1 Comment

NetSquared’s monthly Net2ThinkTank question this month is: How can nonprofits use twitter? Should they even bother?

My first response is, “Sure! Totally! Maybe!” :)
So, my second thought is really the more important one. I have said it before and I will probably say it a million more times, but, nonprofits need to use the tools that will best help them reach goals for projects and the organization. Not everyone needs a facebook profile. Just because of that though, not everyone needs a facebook group. Some organizations don’t need some tools at all but could benefit a great deal from others.

How do you know if it is right? Use the POST method!
I blogged about POST before and still think that it is one of the best ways to approach new media planning (thanks, Forrester!). If you have identified your goals and hoped-for outcomes and Twitter is then identified as something to use to meet those goals, then dive right in!

How could Twitter help? By helping you listen and learn!
Twitter is a terrific tool for listening to and gauging the conversation of your audience (and with Twitter, you can sprawl out to hear voices beyond the community you may think you are in). You can ask questions, make comments, and otherwise participate with Twitter in the conversation like anyone else, of course. But it offers a window into live conversation about your industry, organization, or niche that you would probably miss if you weren’t using it.

Still nervous about jumping in? Use it yourself!
Twitter is just like all of the other available tools online when it comes to getting started: You should really use it yourself, in a non-organization-realted way first. This will let you feel out how it works, how to make connections and participate in conversations. Figure out areas you don’t understand and how to get answers down the road when new things come up that you may not understand. Most of all, using the tool personally will let you better visualize how it can be used most effectively and efficiently for the organization, and who at the organization would be the best to handle it (maybe you!).

Thanks to NetSquared for the great question this month! Are you using Twitter personally or is your organization tweeting away? You can also follow me to get started!

More on ethics - Thanks, Amy Gahran!

Published
by
amysampleward
on November 13, 2007
in issues
. 1 Comment

A great comment from Amy Gahran at www.contentious.com to my post on ethical standards last week brings up great issues. The best questions really bring up more questions and not specific answers. The only way to truly answer the questions Amy poses is to sit down with your organization and discuss as a group where the comfort level is with the tools, the community, and service area you provide.

1. What ethical standards should nonprofits have when using new media tools, like blogs?

Amy also says that, “many nonprofits have the self-identified standard of working for the good and not for the man,” which can be applied to focus on the answer. As a nonprofit, working for the good, what elements of new media tools stand taller than the rest for ethical standards? How about: Raising community awareness and involvement. To do so would mean that your nonprofit’s website, blog, even videos are shared in a way that is available to the public and include features for commenting and connecting with you and others interested in your organization. Providing a safe environment for people seeking out information and services from your organization. This would require that your organization decides what kind of language and content is allowed in comments and other user generated content areas of your website, blog, etc. If you are an organization that deals with children, your guidelines for appropriate content could much more strict than an organization dealing with single adults. The limits are fine, wherever they fall, so long as they meet the goal of creating a quality environment for community.

2. Is the community you’re serving proud of the way it is represented online?

Terrific question! How best do you identify if you are serving your community well or not: Ask them, of course! There is a plethora of free surveying tools online that your organization could use to build a survey to send to your volunteers, clients, funders, etc. You can ask questions to identify if people know about your website, blog, forums, videos, online fundraising, or any other new media tool currently at use; ask about the current state of those tools and the frequency that the users reads or participates; most importantly, ask what can be done to improve services and community online both by improving the tools already in use and implementing new needed tools. Investigate what other organizations in your field are doing online. There are many organization working toward the same end; find an organization in another part of the state, the country, or even the world and talk about how it is using new media tools to connect and represent the service community online. You should also talk to organizations in your local physical community about how to better represent and serve the groups online, maybe even by connecting the organizations’ tools online. If an organization is having trouble successfully representing its service community online, getting the support of other area organizations can help bring its standards and tools up to a more appropriate level to garner more support and quality for its users.

These were two great questions, but I’m sure there are many more. What do you think?

NPTech Survey from NTEN

Published
by
amysampleward
on November 9, 2007
in issues
. 0 Comments

Nonprofit Technology Education Network (NTEN) is conducting a survey on nonprofit technology staffing. NTEN is the membership organization of nonprofit professionals who put technology to use for their causes. It provides webinars (online conferences), trainings, and additional services and community building for those working with technology in the nonprofit sector.

If you are involved with technology for your nonprofit, you should take this survey and help NTEN identify patterns in the field, issues to address in the future, and areas of interest and concern.

So, if you have a couple quick minutes, click here to take the survey!

Who’s standards are yours?

Published
by
amysampleward
on November 8, 2007
in Uncategorized and issues
. 2 Comments

I’m here at the blogworld & new media expo and just participated in the breakout session on blogging ethics. There was some lively conversation between panel members and audience members about experiences and thoughts on the ethics field for bloggers, mostly asking questions and not answering them.

Should bloggers align with journalists and the standards they (are supposed to) adhere to in order to gain the reputation that journalists have in the media and news realm? I think it can be a slippery slope in trying to answer questions like this one definitely for bloggers because the sphere covers such dynamic areas and niches that can’t be grouped together.

One of the greatest features of blogs is the ability for citizens to be journalists, organizations to have a voice, and people interested in similar things to connect. Blogging has opened up the communications avenues for nonprofits, especially small grassroots organizations, to garner supporters that are outside of the physical service area or who can help the organization grow and succeed who may have never found the group.

All right, so let’s really get to the nonprofit issue here: what standards should nonprofits have when using new media tools, like blogs?

Many nonprofits have the self-identified standard of working for the good and not for the man. The answer to the standards/ethics questions is pretty much summed up in that. Nonprofits, in blog posts, videos, and social networking profiles should always keep the community they are serving in mind. Is that community proud to be served by your organization by the way it is represented online? Are the issues you raise in posts, news you write about, and stories you relate to the world at large representative of the mission of the community and the community served (and often featured in that material)?

When creating your new media plan for your nonprofit organization, answers to those questions are important to consider. AND, if you are ever scrounging for material for a blog entry or video story for compelling new funders and supporters, staying true to your mission is an easy and ethical source for material!

Nonprofits on the honor roll or dropping out?

Published
by
amysampleward
on November 2, 2007
in issues
. 0 Comments

I remember when I was in school, if students complained about being bored in class the teacher would respond that a class can only move as quickly as its slowest student.  (I’m ignoring the fact that I went to school in the boonies of Oregon with very limited resources and staff, at least for sake of argument here.)

Is this the same concept at work in the nonprofit sector with new media?  Yes, there are terrific examples out there of nonprofits making videos to tell their stories for them, enabling their websites to become go-to news and information portals, producing messages/causes that get picked up by individuals all around the world to fundraise for them.  BUT, many of the nonprofits that I work with are still struggling with the idea that a website is not a parking lot of information that only needs updating maybe once a year.

Is the struggle facing the nonprofit tech community the one of getting everyone up to a certain competency, or to move as fast as the most gifted and see where we can go?

Maybe it’s the day job calling, but I feel a lot of responsibility to get down to basics with those that will more rapidly be left behind, than push the limits with the few straight A kids in the class.

What do you think?