Photo by Beth Kanter
Wednesday was a big day at the Boston NonProfit Center; Laura Quinn of Idealware gave a workshop on content management systems for nonprofit organizations.
It was the last in a cycle of information systems workshops that are open only to Third Sector New England's affiliates: members of the Immigrant Organizers' Information Technology Network, tenants of the Boston NonProfit Center, and organizations that participate in TSNE's Fiscal Sponsorship program. However, we decided to make an exception on this occasion; when an expert with a national (or even international) reputation for candid and unbiased reports on nonprofit software offers her services, it was an opportunity that we just had to share with the wider nonprofit community.
Within an hour of offering workshop seats to non-TSNE affiliates, we had doubled the list of registrants. Within 24 hours, we were booked to capacity, and maintaining a waiting list.
It turns out that a lot of small nonprofits in the Boston area need to go to the next level with their web sites, but lack the knowledge or experience to make decisions. In many cases, they do not have an in-house technology professional, which means that the process must be guided by executive directors and other accidental techies. These folks tend to be masters in their own areas of expertise, but lack confidence when vendors start using terms such as CMS and CRM, and have trouble remembering what each abbreviation stands for.
When I put the word out that we were looking for someone in the Boston area who could present an even-handed, unbiased, introductory workshop on the range of options in content management systems, I heard from a lot of folks that I would affectionately describe as religious zealots. These good folks and fine colleagues were ready and willing to donate their services any time someone wanted a workshop on the only reasonable choice for a small nonprofit: Joomla. Or CivicSpace. Or Plone. Each of the volunteers was a devout believer in one platform, and we needed someone who could give a candid comparison of all the options. I was very touched that they wanted to volunteer their services, and could easily foresee the possibility of follow-up workshops that are devoted to single platforms, but it wasn't addressing the need expressed by our affiliate organizations.
And then Laura offered to come to Massachusetts and present the workshop. This appeared to me to be a great way to cut the Gordian knot, since her Idealware overviews are more like bulletins from "Consumer Reports" than denominational newsletters.
Laura's workshop 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. Many information systems geeks, myself included, have a tendency to go off on tangents and explain details that are inherently interesting to us, but which don't move nonprofit professional forward in solving their problems, but Laura is diligent about asking what her audience needs to know and sticking with information that they can use.
And now, a word about financial relationships: Laura Quinn and Idealware don't pay me to say nice things about them, raise money for them, or promote their services. That said, I'd like to point out that Idealware is a start-up nonprofit project that is fiscally sponsored by another nonprofit organization, Aspiration. Laura and her team do great work, especially with the reports on nonprofit software that they disseminate free of charge, but they still have to pay rent, eat, and meet all the usual expenses of doing business. I'd really like to encourage grantmakers and donors to give them a significant chunk of money so that can they continue to deliver their highly effective services.
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