Technology for the Nonprofit and Philanthropic Sector

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Monday, September 28

What if? A thought experiment for Beacon Hill

by Deborah Elizabeth Finn on Mon 28 Sep 2009 09:50 PM EDT

When Joseph Porcelli volunteered for my eHope crew, it became well-nigh inevitable that I would inexorably be drawn into a position as a volunteer evangelist for his online nonprofit social network, Neighbors For Neighbors... more »

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Thursday, May 21

eHope: I'm not just a fan!

by Deborah Elizabeth Finn on Thu 21 May 2009 03:06 PM EDT

When I first heard about eHope, over a year ago, I was excited! Here was yet another great example of how face-to-face relationships, online networking, and heightened awareness of the importance of social capital could be combined in powerful ways. Jeffrey Wood, eHope's founder, is a visionary who is bringing all this together to help communities support people who are facing life-threatening illnesses. I lost no time in calling him up and arranging for him to be a featured guest at the Ethos Roundtable. He came down from Maine to Cambridge for the Ethos session, and impressed us all not only with the wisdom of the eHope model, but with his own spiritual depth.

As many readers of my blog know, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 1999. There was no such thing as eHope at that time, so I got by with a lot of help from my wonderful and supportive friends, but the coordination involved was an extra source of stress.

For ten years, there's been no recurrence of cancer, but recently tests confirmed that I have a minor malignancy, and will need surgery. I'm one of the lucky ones - my condition is not at all life-threatening. However, I've been worrying about all the logistics involved in surgery and after care. Yesterday, it occurred to me that I should ask my buddy Jeffrey for some coaching about how I could set up an eHope "Lite" version for myself, so that I could do some of the coordination online. He very graciously called me up today, and offered to work with me to set up a full-fledged eHope community; it turns out that I'm eligible, even though I'm not based in Maine and am not facing a terminal illness.

So now, I'm not just a fan - I'm going to be a client! This is not just a boon for me, but an opportunity to bring eHope to the greater Boston area and raise a wider awareness of what it offers.

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Monday, May 11

Thanks to Yves Dehnel, Easy Peasy provides a solution, although not as easily as I would have thought

by Deborah Elizabeth Finn on Mon 11 May 2009 04:29 PM EDT

Yves Dehnel of Tech Networks of Boston is my new hero.

As readers of my blog know, I bought an Asus Eee PC 900 in July, but have run into obstacles in trying to use it in my habitual way.

After Twittering about it, blogging about it, going online to various nonprofit technology communities, posting a plaintive request for help to GetSatisfaction, and - yes - even after checking with Asus customer support, I still couldn't install any new drivers or applications on my Asus netbook, and therefore I couldn't use my AT&T mobile broadband with it.

Several people suggested that the version of Linux that comes installed on the Asus Eee PCs as an operating system (Linux Eee PC 1.1.0.66) is very tightly locked down, and that I should replace it with a version of Ubuntu for netbooks called Easy Peasy.

Well, I tried, but I couldn't figure out how to do it. I'm one of those folks who thinks that "computer literacy" in any generic form is a myth, and I try to be brave and admit it when an IT-related task is beyond me.

Having admitted that I couldn't get Easy Peasy installed on my Asus, I took the radical step of mentioning my problem in a face to face conversation. The ever-helpful Tuan Pham of Tech Networks opined that he could probably find someone, and that someone turned out to be my buddy Yves Dehnel, also of Tech Networks.

It turns out that installing Easy Peasy is a three-step simple process, albeit a slight different one than what is described on the download page:

Drop off your Asus at Yves's shop.

Take a phone call from Yves a couple of hours later, so that he can inform you that he's done it. (Don't forget to thank him profusely.)

Return to his shop, and spend a few minutes with him, tweaking the settings so that your Sierra 881 USB connector card works with the Asus. (Don't forget to thank him profusely, once again.)

For me, the real work began at that point: settling down to the effort of acclimating myself to the Easy Peasy operating system and an Asus keyboard.

Now that I'm using that Asus Eee PC 900 for extended periods (and not just for fun), I find that it really does take some acclimation. The Easy Peasy operating system is not much of challenge, but the physical set up of the Asus is. As a touch typist, I have to acquire a new kinesthetic sense of where each key is, and there's something about the touchpad action that's very different.

When I first wrote about my Asus notebook, I said:

"If I had to make the purchase from scratch today, I'd probably choose a newer, cheaper model in the Asus Eee PC line, and I'd opt for Windows XP as the operating system, just to ensure ease of connectivity ."

This is still true. I would never recommend an Asus with a Linux operating system for use in a nonprofit where the staff members weren't burning with curiousity to see for themselves what open source platforms are all about. It's too much trouble for folks who have enough to do with nonprofit programs and operations. An Asus loaded with XP as an operating system would do the job.

But speaking just for myself, I'm glad to have the opportunity to live and work with an open source operating system, especially if colleagues and buddies such as Yves are willing to get my back.

(Full disclosure of financial relationship: TechNetworks of Boston is a client of mine, and I bartered my services in exchange for Yves's. Had I been a paying customer, I would have been charged about $150, which I consider very reasonable.)

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Friday, May 8

Online capacity mapping and resource matching for nonprofits

by Deborah Elizabeth Finn on Fri 08 May 2009 01:26 PM EDT

Having served as a co-convener of the Ethos Roundtable since 2006, I have finally scheduled myself as a presenter for June 2009:

Tuesday, June 16th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Featured guest: (yours truly)

I was first inspired to think about one giant web-based tool for capacity mapping and resource matching for nonprofits by a conversation in 2003 with my buddy Tim Gassert. Since then, I've looked for ways to make it happen. Within the last year, some sort of tipping point occurred, and all sorts of esteemed clients and colleagues started pulling me into conversations about pet projects that were closely related to the pipedream that Tim and I had.

I've been actively working on the big picture, and bringing together these folks who are converging on the concept, for about six months. It's clear that this could be a tremendous asset to nonprofits, philanthropies, and communities in the region - at a time when money is tight, it's important to ensure that surplus assets, capacities, and resources do not go unused. It's also clear that this could be many separate projects with clever mash-ups and data interchanges. In the age of XML, it does not have to be a monolith with one owner, one web host, and one platform.

This session will not be a nuts-and-bolts discussion of technical specifications or organizational arrangements, but an exploration of the big picture. Hard times can give us an incentive to collaborate and consolidate in new ways. What if we had web-based tools to help mission-based organizations use every possible resource and meet every possible need? If you're interested in this question, please come and brainstorm with us.

(Full information about the session and directions to the Charles Hotel are available at the Ethos Roundtable's blog.)

Here are some organizations and projects that bear a really strong spiritual affinity to what I'm envisioning:

Here are some other blog articles related to this topic:

In the nonprofit sector, we need better knowledge management...of our knowledge management

Online social networking and knowledge management for nonprofits: How about a mash-up?

Is the Internet the New Social Welfare Delivery System?

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Tuesday, April 21

Not that I am bitter

by Deborah Elizabeth Finn on Tue 21 Apr 2009 01:10 PM EDT

That headline is a lie. I'm not going to be able to attend NTEN's Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC) next week, and I'm feeling pretty grumpy about it.

Fortunately, NTEN is doing a good job of providing channels for remote participation:

We can follow the NTC's Twitter feed, and look for tweets that are tagged #09NTC

We can follow the NTC Flickr photo stream

We can listen to NTC podcasts

There are also plans for offering conference sessions through webinars, live streaming, and live blogging. Kudos to the NTEN team, and to all the other folks who are collaborating to make that possible.

Still, it hurts to miss the conference, because not being there in person means that I can't engage in my favorite activity, which is standing around in the hallways and persuading people to talk to each other. When 1,000 or more of my favorite colleagues get together, I'm overwhelmed by some sort of inspiration or compulsion to introduce them to each other and to point out how it would practically be a crime if they failed to collaborate with each other.

Perhaps next year there will be a special Altruistic Busybody traveling fellowship for people like me. We do have our uses. I'm tempted to grumble "Hey, just try to have a successful conference without me. When you all go home this year, having failed to forge new professional relationships that permanently transform your lives, that's when you'll really miss me." However, I'm not that bitter. I really do wish NTEN and all the attendees a wonderful conference experience.

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Sunday, April 19

Your mileage may vary: Birthday etiquette and online fundraising

by Deborah Elizabeth Finn on Sun 19 Apr 2009 02:46 PM EDT

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about online fundraising campaigns tied to birthday gifts, and have been inviting my nptech colleagues to discuss the topic.

Lately, I've received at least one online solicitation a week from a colleague or acquaintance who would like to invite me to make a donation to a nonprofit in lieu of giving him/her a birthday gift. In almost every case, it's someone for whom I feel respect or even affection, and a cause that is extremely worthwhile. Oddly enough, I've never received one of these requests from any members of my circle of intimates, i.e., folks for whom I routinely buy birthday gifts.

This has led me to wonder how these online solicitations are received in cultures and sub-cultures where asking for a birthday gift is not customary. Are they seen as offensive and presumptuous? This is something that we need to think through, when we plan online fundraising campaigns, especially now that the internet allows us to communicate across national and cultural boundaries. If we encourage our organization's stakeholders and friends to use their birthdays as an occasion to go online to raise money, are we doing more harm than good? By going online to make these pitches for donations to our organizations, our friends and stakeholders may be inadvertently offending others with different cultural norms about gift-giving, and those others may end up blaming our nonprofit organizations as the instigators.

These reflections have also led me to inquire about the norms for the culture in which I live (i.e., English-speaking residents of the U.S.A.), but I am hardly the best person to adjudicate what's appropriate. Indeed, for years now, I've been marking my birthday by going on a silent retreat at a monastery. This only shows how out of step I am.

However, I consider Judith Martin (a/k/a Miss Manners) an excellent arbiter of gift-giving etiquette in this part of the world. Poking around her books and an online index of her columns, this is what I infer about American gift-giving traditions:

o Gift-giving is never obligatory on any occasion

o It is unacceptable for me to imply that I expect a birthday gift

o It is unacceptable for me to ask for cash (or anything at all) as a birthday gift, unless the giver asks what I would prefer

o Gift registries are acceptable, but potential gift-givers must not be directed to them unless they ask me about them

o A charitable cause is not an excuse for me to break any of the aforementioned conventions of etiquette

Now, I might decide to defy the conventions, or I might decide that Miss Manners is not a valid authority on these matters, but these do seem to be norms that I need to consider.

In my own case, I think it's a tremendous challenge to show ample courtesy and consideration for those with whom I interact face to face and who belong to my most intimate circle. When it comes to relationships that are conducted mostly - or entirely - online, I think it's etiquettically impossible for me to ask them for a cash gift to a nonprofit organization in lieu of a present to me. It's too much of a presumption on my part. I might go online to say, "I know that you care passionately about this cause, so I'm letting you know about an opportunity to support it financially," but I wouldn't tie it to my birthday or any other personal celebration. It's far too easy for me to give inadvertent offense in online communications.

I'm just sayin'. YMMV.

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Monday, April 13

Perhaps there's no such thing as a free lunch - but thanks to the Data Collaborative, your nonprofit could have a free strategic technology consultation

by Deborah Elizabeth Finn on Mon 13 Apr 2009 03:11 PM EDT

The Data Collaborative, a database and web development firm in Massachusetts that serves a lot of mission-based organizations in the area, is a firm that consists of real mensches.

Earlier this year, they started underwriting a few free technology consultations by yours truly, so that small nonprofits in the Boston area could have some much-needed strategic assistance. I love doing these consultations, and am very grateful to Data Collaborative for making them a part of their service to the community. Organizations I have worked with at the behest of the Data Collaborative include Leadership Metrowest, the Parents Forum, and Chelsea Neighborhood Developers.

The Data Collaborative is now open to applications from more small nonprofits in the area that are interested in free strategic consultations. There are a limited number of slots available, so there are no guarantees that you will be selected, but the application process is very simple. It consists of three questions:

1. What does your non-profit do?

2. What are your technological challenges?

3. How do you think a consultation with Deborah could help?

Here's how the consultations themselves work:

A typical session kind consists of sitting down with me for an hour or two, alone or with key members of your nonprofit's team. If you prepare a list of strategic technology problems, concerns, or questions in advance, I'm often able to make recommendations on the spot. During these sessions, I can also walk you through a discussion that will help clarify how to subordinate your technology infrastructure to your mission.

In many cases, I can recommend products, services, and vendors that would be a good match for your needs. I do not ever take a commission on any products and services that I recommend, and will not make any sales pitches. In every case, my concern will be to ensure that your information and communications technology is helping you achieve your organization's programmatic goals.

Please note that I cannot provide hands-on tech support in these sessions.

After your consultation, I will be available to you by email and telephone for brief follow up questions. In some cases, I may do follow up research for you, and report back via email with additional information and recommendations.

Our goal is to provide you with the greatest possible benefit from a single session on a pro bono basis, and in almost every case a one or two hour consultation is all that a small nonprofit needs.

If your nonprofit organization is small, based in the Boston area, and in need of some strategic technology assistance, please call Eric Segal, the Data Collaborative's point mensch for this initiative, at 781-777-1119.

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Friday, April 10

Twitter "follow cost," IPPNW, and the "anti-nuclear follow cost"

by Deborah Elizabeth Finn on Fri 10 Apr 2009 01:16 PM EDT

My esteemed client, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), has turned a geeky social media joke into an opportunity to educate the Twitterati about abolishing nuclear weapons.

In order to get the joke, you need to know that Twitter is a free social media application that allows anyone to communicate in text messages of 140 characters or fewer. Some folks have many others following them; some folks are very prolific in sending and replying to Twitter messages. (The messages are known as "tweets.") The Follow Cost web site is a project by Luke Francl and Barry Hess that provides a whimsical rating of tweeters. You can input the Twitter account name of any individual or organization, and find out the average number of messages that he/she/they send in a typical day. The unit of measurement is the milliscoble, which is named after the prominent blogger and tweeter, Robert Scoble.

The highest rating - i.e., the one reserved for the most prolific tweeters - is nuclear follow cost. "Follow cost" rhymes with "holocaust." Get it?

As International Physicians for Nuclear War started to use Twitter as a tool to engage with potential allies, I kept an eye on its follow cost rating. Eventually, IPPNW had a nuclear follow cost.

This led to a series of conversations with Dan Karp, IPPNW's director of development. Was it right to have the an international medical organization dedicated to the abolition of nuclear weapons associated with nuclear holocaust on a web page that displayed a photo of a mushroom cloud? Was it funny, in the great tradition of grisly medical student humor? Could this macabre joke be turned into an opportunity for IPPNW to gain visibility with social media users, and offer them information about the campaign to abolish nuclear weapons?

And that's how we dreamed up the "anti-nuclear follow cost."

After some brainstorming, we went to Barry and Luke, and suggested that IPPNW be given a unique follow cost page, replacing the mushroom cloud with IPPNW's logo, and that they add a link to IPPNW's web site, along with the words, "Learn more about nuclear weapons."

Here's what Dan says about it:

"The Follow Cost team was enthusiastic about the partnership not least because they appreciated IPPNW's willingness to collaborate on a project with a coincidental connection to IPPNW's mission. All of our recomendations for Follow Cost were adopted with the condition that IPPNW mention the partnership on twitter, which is in IPPNW's interest anyway."

For me, this seems interesting and important - but not because their Follow Cost tool offers a serious analysis of Twitter traffic. It really doesn't. As near as I can tell, they created it for two reasons that are very valid in the hacker universe: because they could, and because it was fun.

Barry and Luke's Follow Cost tool has managed to get traction among Twitter users, and IPPNW, as it became more sophisticated about social media, was willing to use it for outreach to a cohort that might not actively seek opportunities to support the movement for nuclear disarmament. It's refreshing to see IPPNW - that deadly serious, high-minded, Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization - is willing to deploy social media to engage with potential allies and friends in a manner that is lighthearted, informal, and perhaps a little edgy.

As readers of my blog know, my office is co-located with IPPNW's international headquarters. This means that my office mates are the aforementioned high-minded folks who get up every morning and do their best to prevent nuclear war and advocate for peace through health. On a day to day basis, they are also warm, funny, and much more astute than I will ever be about global politics. It's a quite a perk to chat with them informally. While not everyone can share office space with the central office's staff, social media in general and Twitter in particular makes it possible for people all over the world to engage in informal dialogue with these folks. Since they started tweeting in August 2008, IPPNW has attracted more than 1,300 followers, most of whom had no prior awareness of the organization, and who would not necessarily have been motivated to seek informal dialogue with a group of physicians who are concerned about war as a public health issue. But that's social media for you. The experience should be interactive, it should be educational, and it should be a good for a few laughs, even if the mission is very serious. The idea of "anti-nuclear follow cost" cracks me up, and if it helps other people connect with the nuclear disarmament movement, then I'm all for it.

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Monday, April 6

Participatory journalism goes mobile

by Deborah Elizabeth Finn on Mon 06 Apr 2009 08:20 PM EDT

CNC recently launched the "Ask Your Lawmaker" widget, and I am very enthusiastic about this mash-up of new era geekiness with a fine old American tradition. The basic equation is: Populism + Professional Journalism + Web 2.0 = Ask Your Lawmaker In other words, everyone in the United States should have a role in holding our elected officials accountable, and professional journalists should make use of interactive web-based tools to enlist all of us in this enterprise. Fortunately, CNC's founder and bureau chief, Melinda Wittstock, has the experience, the credentials, and the vision to make an outpost of any computer that has internet access... more »

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Sunday, April 5

It was an inside job!

by Deborah Elizabeth Finn on Sun 05 Apr 2009 10:03 PM EDT

Every so often, I just have to boast. One of my much-loved clients just launched a new web site, and I had hardly anything to do with it!

The Public Conversations Project (PCP) decided to develop their own Drupal web site in house, and they launched it last week. I gave them a little strategic coaching last summer, and then dropped out of rotation. They had outside help from Steve Backman of Database Designs Associates (who provided technical coaching), and from Rachel Stark, librarian extrordinaire (who catalogued the content of the previous site and provided invaluable guidance about usability and navigation). However, most of the development work was done by Andrew Park, their IT coordinator, with input from other members of the PCP team.

It's very satisfying and yet a little bit sad to work with PCP, because I keep rendering myself obsolete. I enjoy working with them so much that I'm sad when it's time to stand back and watch them go forward on a project without me. On the other hand, there's great joy in seeing clients really learn what they need to know in order to make strategic decisions and manage their projects. That's when I become obsolete, for the best of reasons. If I'm really lucky, they bring me back in when they're ready to go to the next level or take on a different challenge.

In the case of the Public Conversations Project, one of the next challenges is social media. We've already kicked off a PCP Facebook page, and I can hardly wait for them to try Twitter. In some ways, this is an organization with the potential to be a powerhouse and a force for good in the world of Web 2.0. Their mission is to foster constructive dialogue about difficult issues, and to uphold civil society by helping folks who have different world views build relationships with each other. This is the kind of skill set that is needed just about everywhere in the world right now. They can help netizens go far beyond flamewars, and can in turn be helped by the internet's ability to minimize (some) geographic barriers to effectiveness.*

* Oh, and just by the way, the PCP team can serve as role models to staff members in relatively small nonprofit organizations that want to develop their own CMS-based web sites using open source platforms . How cool is that?

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