1. Very little technical knowledge is required in order for nonprofit CEOs to participate actively in strategic IT planning.
As long as you thoroughly understand your organization's overall mission, strategy, and tactics and (are willing to learn a little bit about the technology), you can keep your information technology infrastructure on target... more »
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Friday, May 23
Ten things (just ten!) that every nonprofit executive needs to know about information technology
by
Deborah Elizabeth Finn
on Fri 23 May 2008 01:02 PM EDT
Tuesday, February 19
Search engine optimization for nervous nonprofit novices
by
Deborah Elizabeth Finn
on Tue 19 Feb 2008 10:55 AM EST
Some colleagues of mine, fellow nonprofit technology assistance providers, recently asked me to draft a guide to search engine optimization strategy for their clients. They very kindly granted me permission to publish a version of it to my blog. I am eager to elicit feedback from SEO mavens, and would like to encourage readers to post comments here... more » Thursday, September 20
Technology assistance for people who are smart about other things
by
Deborah Elizabeth Finn
on Thu 20 Sep 2007 03:56 PM EDT
 We often deal with executive directors who cope with technology by groveling and apologizing for their ignorance, or by developing elaborate rationales for why they shouldn't need to know this stuff. My sympathies are entirely with them. Nobody is born knowing this stuff, and executive directors are often busy figuring out entirely other stuff. I laughingly suggested that we need a series of technical reference books that are titled, "...For People Who Are Smart About Other Things"... more » Monday, September 10
Chatting about e-philanthropy with the monks of the 21st century
by
Deborah Elizabeth Finn
on Mon 10 Sep 2007 05:40 PM EDT
Monday, April 23
Karen Schneider gets it right about "free" technology: that's "free, as in free kittens"
by
Deborah Elizabeth Finn
on Mon 23 Apr 2007 07:28 PM EDT
 In the realm of information and communications technology, "free" is one of those difficult words. Fortunately, Karen Schneider, the fabulous Free Range Librarian, has summed it up perfectly: free as in free kittens!... more » Sunday, March 25
We need to mobilize a league of tech-friendly executive directors
by
Deborah Elizabeth Finn
on Sun 25 Mar 2007 03:47 PM EDT
  A buddy and I recently discussed the huge difference it makes for an IT manager at a nonprofit to have an executive director who is curious and even enthusiastic about what technology can do for the organization, even if he or she is not an expert in the field... more » Saturday, March 24
Laura Quinn delivers the news on content management systems for nonprofits
by
Deborah Elizabeth Finn
on Sat 24 Mar 2007 02:14 PM EDT
 Photo by Beth Kanter Laura's workshop on content management systems easily fulfilled and exceeded expectations. She has the great gift of being able to identify what nonprofit profit decision-makers need to know, and of being able to explain it vividly and usefully... more » Sunday, January 28
Social networking and nonprofit technology resources: Why I love Social Source Commons
by
Deborah Elizabeth Finn
on Sun 28 Jan 2007 05:27 PM EST
 There's a vast array of technology tools, widgets, products, and services available out there to nonprofit organizations. Some of them were designed specifically for our sector, and many of them are available online for free. However, not all of them are plausible choices for nonprofits that have modest budgets and no one on staff who serves as a full time chief technology officer... more » Thursday, November 2
The Short Short List
by
Deborah Elizabeth Finn
on Thu 02 Nov 2006 02:58 PM EST
 Photo by Arthur Prokosch, Third Sector New England I maintain a lengthy annotated list of resources on my blog but my purpose in this workshop was to offer something that was brief and not scary... more »  1 AttachmentsMonday, October 16
Stress management and the killer app
by
Deborah Elizabeth Finn
on Mon 16 Oct 2006 07:18 PM EDT
 It's a running joke: ninety percent of the task of training nonprofit professionals to use computers consists of stress management. Incredibly smart and sensible people can freeze up when confronted with a new technology... more » Saturday, October 7
Finding the least mediocre hosting service
by
Deborah Elizabeth Finn
on Sat 07 Oct 2006 08:28 AM EDT
 One of my highly esteemed clients is a small nonprofit organization that is in search of email and web hosting services. It breaks my heart to say that the best we can hope for is to find the least mediocre option and live with it... more » Thursday, September 14
Is there a nightmare waiting to happen in your sock drawer?
by
Deborah Elizabeth Finn
on Thu 14 Sep 2006 09:42 AM EDT
 Accidental Techie: As you can see, we have a tape drive. We do an incremental back-up every weekday, and a full back-up once a week. Cyber-Yenta: That's great. Where do you store the latest full back-up? Accidental Techie: Well, I think it's important to take it off-site, in case there's a disaster. So I take it home with me on Fridays and stick it in a drawer. On Mondays I bring the previous week's full back-up to the office. Cyber-Yenta: Uh oh.... more » Friday, August 11
A good manual is hard to find
by
Deborah Elizabeth Finn
on Fri 11 Aug 2006 07:07 AM EDT
 I cautioned them against the plan of having the database administrator do all the documentation singlehandedly - though not because of any weakness on his part! On the contrary, the problem is that he's far too knowledgeable and experienced... more » Sunday, July 9
Mixed Reality for Nervous Nonprofit Novices
by
Deborah Elizabeth Finn
on Sun 09 Jul 2006 08:04 AM EDT
 Image by Beth Kanter On July 18th, TechSoup will be hosting a mixed-reality mash-up that should be fascinating for all of us who are interested in technology for the nonprofit sector... more » Thursday, June 22
Consumer Reports for nonprofit techies
by
Deborah Elizabeth Finn
on Thu 22 Jun 2006 09:38 PM EDT
Thursday, June 15
Jayne Cravens teaches nonprofit organizations how to handle online criticism
by
Deborah Elizabeth Finn
on Thu 15 Jun 2006 09:46 PM EDT
 "How a nonprofit organization handles online criticism is going to speak volumes about that organization, for weeks, months, and maybe even years to come...." more » Saturday, February 4
Buying a laptop the boring way
by
Deborah Elizabeth Finn
on Sat 04 Feb 2006 04:51 PM EST
 As readers of this blog know, I bought a refurbished Sony VAIO laptop last year, and it died within nine months. So I decided to go with the hypothesis that buying refurbished laptops online is too exciting. This time I want to try something boring. So after conferring with various colleagues and other mavens, I took a serious look at buying a laptop directly from Dell... more » Wednesday, February 1
Elegy for a refurbished laptop
by
Deborah Elizabeth Finn
on Wed 01 Feb 2006 04:42 PM EST
 I've already written extensively in this blog about my adventures in purchasing a refurbished Sony VAIO laptop. Unfortunately, the laptop in question has crashed and died. Since I purchased it in April 2005, and it spent some time in transit, and then I had to do without while waiting for a replacement, I calculate that I netted about seven months of use from a laptop that cost me a total of $366.55 USD, which included shipping and extended warranty... more » Monday, January 23
Document management systems for nervous novices
by
Deborah Elizabeth Finn
on Mon 23 Jan 2006 04:38 PM EST
 My clients get the benefit of my hand-tailored advice, but here are a few generic pointers for nervous novices in the nonprofit sector... more » Saturday, January 21
Expanding the nonprofit technology bookshelf
by
Deborah Elizabeth Finn
on Sat 21 Jan 2006 03:59 PM EST
Jonathan Peizer has just published a book on The Dynamics of Technology for Social Change, and I'm having a good time digging into it. It's encouraging to see that the field of nonprofit technology is developing its own literature... more » |
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