Inside ASI-AP

Jane Meseck, Microsoft Corporation

The technology scene today is distinguished by the growing connectivity among devices, mobile phones, the PC, and the browser, which enable people and organizations to access information, communicate, and collaborate in more powerful ways. This convergence is being driven by widespread penetration of mobile devices (up to 4 billion people now have access), advances in software innovation and powerful applications, and the maturation of the internet providing a gateway for "cloud" computing where data and applications sit and run over the web. Broadband continues to expand and become more accessible in remote places in the world -- we're not there yet, but the trends over the next 3-5 years will allow much greater access for those in the developing world.

What we will see over the next 3-5 years is a new paradigm of computing where the use of these devices will be more and more seamless. You will be able to use your phone, PC, and browser (sometimes TV) interchangeably and regardless of location.

This new paradigm offers great potential to improve how we all work. But even greater potential for nonprofits to manage their operations more effectively, deliver a broader array of services and achieve greater impact for the communities they serve.

But how can these technologies be used by social mission organizations, social entrepreneurs, NGOs and nonprofits to benefit the most vulnerable people in society?

Many nonprofits have already embraced technology to improve their productivity. But today's technologies have the potential to go much further -- the potential for "constructive disruption" that enables social mission organizations to achieve dramatically greater impact. It is a game changer, and a great opportunity to improve communication and collaboration, but also great opportunity to develop disruptive new business and delivery models.

While we may not all be ready to start working in this paradigm today (and not all the technologies are ready either), we want to keep our heads up and begin taking practical steps to prepare, so we don't get left behind, and more importantly, so we don't allow our unpreparedness to mean we leave our communities or others in need behind.

It is critical to engage in this change and lead where possible.

New Models of Social Change

We are already seeing this "constructive disruption" of traditional nonprofit business, delivery, information, and networking models already under way, as the upcoming examples illustrate.

1. New Business Models -- Innovative new ways of doing business for social change are emerging by those nonprofits embracing the cloud. Kiva.org's development of the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website is facilitating micro-transactions that were previously prohibitively expensive, thereby helping alleviate poverty and raise awareness on a different, more personalized, level.
2. New Service Delivery Models -- Organizations are finding new ways to extend their reach and reduce its costs through new service that utilize cloud-based services delivered on intelligent devices. Many communities, especially in impoverished and remote locations, lack sufficient healthcare services. A team led by the International Institute of Information Technology in Hyderabad, India, is working on a battery-powered diagnostic device, costing less than US$100, which can monitor a patient's heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen levels. This device can send the information through a cell phone to a physician hundreds of miles away who can then offer expert diagnostic and treatment advice to the local health care provider.
3. New Information Exchange Models -- the creation of new models of collecting and sharing information via the cloud resulting in more transparent, open, multi-directional, group-driven, real-time sharing. Effective collaboration is critical in emergency situations that require multiple nonprofits and development agencies to work side by side. Shortly after a Cyclone struck Myanmar in May 2008, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) created a web-based collaboration portal for aid workers in the region that enabled more than 100 relief organizations to communicate, analyze information and manage resources. Using e-mail, texting and basic Web connectivity on a mobile phone or other mobile device, aid workers in remote or heavily damaged areas were able to view content, create alerts, file reports, participate in discussion forums and update information on the portal. This portal was also launched at the onset of the Haiti earthquake and utilized by relief organizations.
4. New Networking Models -- Lastly, new networking models are starting to change the game for the community development sector. Social networks like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube keep many of us connected to a continuous stream of information. Nonprofits are also seeking to effectively use these powerful tools for social change. Removing barriers to nonprofits telling their stories, making it possible to engage new and different stakeholders who may not have traditionally been engaged without a PC. We are connecting otherwise isolated groups to share information about parenting, cancer recovery, etc.

These new models hold great promise for the social sector to transform their work and create tremendous impact. The reality is, however, that most nonprofits are not prepared to take advantage of these new models. Together, we should all take a more proactive and methodical approach to ensuring nonprofits are adopting IT effectively and planning appropriately so that they can directly engage in the solutions and platforms that will be available.

Supporting New Models of Social Change

Realizing the potential of the cloud will require attention and investment in 4 key areas -- all which require a high level of collaboration and partnership among nonprofits, foundations, governments and corporations.

1. Technology Innovation -- Nonprofits must continue advancing their technological capabilities, and technology providers need to help ensure that today's IT innovations are relevant, affordable and accessible to the sector.
2. Developers -- We must all encourage the developer community to create innovative technologies that address societal needs and help strengthen the nonprofit sector. Further, these solutions need to be built to take advantage of the cloud to replicate across the sector and scale impact.
3. Capacity Building and the Partner Ecosystem --Engage both nonprofit capacity building organizations (like NTEN, TechSoup, NPower and NetHope) as well as for profit technology service providers to deliver scalable IT services for the broader nonprofit and social mission community.
4. Social Networking - The immediacy and influence of online social networking make it a powerful tool for NGOs to use to improve services and operational capacity. Help nonprofits better understand how they can use social media to reach their constituents and beneficiaries.

We are at a crucial juncture where the business and social sector communities must act as visionaries and partners to translate the disruptive and promising opportunities offered by new technological capabilities into economic and social change. We need to work together to bring the benefits of technology to nonprofits, and by doing so, help the social sector use the cloud to drive real social change.

To learn more about Microsoft's cloud strategy and services, visit www.microsoft.com/cloud.

For information about Microsoft's investment in the community and how we work to strengthening NGOs through technology, visit www.microsoft.com/communityaffairs .

Lucy Bernholz, Blueprint R+D

Once upon a time, just a little more than a century ago, every factory that wanted to run its systems on electricity had to build its own electrical generating system. Thomas Edison and a few other entrepreneurs put an end to this by building an electrical grid - so factory owners could focus on making shirts or chairs or widgets and not on running their own electrical plant.

Cloud computing offers us all the same freedom for our information infrastructure. Most of us now host all of our applications and our data and our email systems documents/spreadsheets, etc. on our own servers or desktops. In addition to running a youth organization or a job training program or an environmental advocacy campaign, you are also running an information and technology system on which you do your work. With cloud computing, you access your software applications over the Internet using a web browser. Chances are you probably already do this with Yahoo Mail or Google Docs or Flickr or Salesforce or Twitter or Facebook.

Some of the benefits of cloud computing are obvious - many of the programs noted above are free (that's good), version upgrades are instantaneous and don't require you to contact an IT department and you can access your files from any computer.

Some of the downsides are also fairly clear -- you may lose connectivity (and not be able to get to your stuff), the hosting company could go out of business (and you won't be able to get to your stuff), and you need to really think through the security options and offerings provided (so that someone you don't want to get to your stuff gets to your stuff). Hosted applications and platforms also require equitable access pathways, so while low cost hardware are available, it is broadband and mobile divides that are important.

Cloud computing on a broad scale will also fundamentally change how we work, where we work, and with whom we work. More importantly, over time we will see that the expectations that the cloud engenders have changed how we define what is worth working on. CrisisCamps are one example of how cloud computing lets us reimagine a problem and thus develop new solutions.

CrisisCamps took off after the earthquake in Haiti. CrisisCamps are independent, disbursed, volunteer efforts to develop lightweight technology solutions to help with disaster relief. CrisisCamps first emerged from a meeting in DC in 2009 in which several dozen local engineers, nonprofit executives, disaster coordinators, and public sector executives got together to brainstorm better, faster disaster coordination possibilities. From this frame and initial thinking (which was captured on www.crisiscommons.org) a network of eager volunteers was ready to be mobilized after the earthquake hit.

In cities across America, Canada, Europe, the UK and South America, local networks of techies, marketers, project managers, storytellers, and others got together, identified problems and projects, shared those ideas across the network with other camps, assigned teams, built prototypes, shared and tested and launched several applications. These included an English-Creole dictionary phone app, tools for tagging photographs of displaced people, texting tools that could be coordinated with the Ushahidi text alert system, and several tagging and updating efforts of satellite imagery and maps.

Project teams shared their progress with each other through a wiki, volunteers were recruited through twitter and texts, and tools could be worked on by a project team in one place and then "handed off" virtually to teams in other regions. The basic protocols and roles of successful camps were documented in real time and shared in the cloud. Volunteers in one region could follow the twitter stream or hashtags from other groups and iterate off their progress almost as if they were all in one room.

By using cloud-based tools, these disbursed teams were working remotely and together on one shared system. There was one database of projects, one set of guidelines for project management and shared progress-tracking system across boundaries, time zones, and domains of expertise. The work of the CrisisCamps was indeed both global and local -- and the cloud infrastructure made it possible.

CrisisCamps is not a rogue example. At the 2009 NTEN conference session on cloud computing, we heard examples of shared evaluation tools, databases of indicators that are being shared across networks of organizations, and cloud-hosted client intake forms that allow addiction programs to store their intake documents and aggregated reporting data in one place. This doesn't just cut down on "form filling." Frontline social workers are finding that this repository of data has put them in touch with colleagues' expertise and helped them improve their work.

Even as we wrestle with questions about migrating data and applications from our servers to the cloud, the cloud is the norm for our mobile computing selves. The proliferation of smart phones and the apps they run means that we are working in the cloud more than we may even realize. The combination of these forces -- the reach of the cloud and the "anywhere access" of mobile phones -- takes us beyond boundary-shifting work spaces to fundamentally rethinking where solutions might come from. We will see more innovation along the lines of The Extraordinaries, which puts the power of volunteering into the hands of mobile phone users and reconfigures the relationships between organizations and individuals.

As we build the assumptions of the cloud and mobile apps into our work processes, we will find that we see problems differently and shape solutions in new ways. As the CrisisCamps example shows, disbursed teams of volunteers can be engaged, coordinated and productive over time zones, national borders, and several weeks of work. At the moment we are in transition from hosted applications to mobile access to the cloud. As such, what we are seeing are early experiments in new ways of working. We can't predict which experiments will work, but we can look to the new behaviors, new problem boundaries, and new sources of expertise that define these experiments, for therein we will find our path to the future.

David Geilhufe, NetSuite, Inc.

Simply put, the cloud by its very nature offers you better, more effective software solutions while saving your organization time, money and effort.

Cloud solutions increase the probability of success and reduce the costs of failure. They support and extend the larger trends that are shaping both charity and business operations -- whether those trends are flex time, impact measurement, real time data, or open APIs -- and allow you to gain the benefits of those larger trends without really having to think about it much.

My own organization (a cloud vendor) looked at our core marketing messages and settled on "where business is going." You'll notice that this marketing message presents the cloud as a fait accompli, and that is increasingly true.

The cloud refers to a number of different technical components -- from applications to databases to server virtualization to web services. If you want to geek out on that stuff, feel free to give me a call, but most folks care about what they can do with cloud solutions: what cloud solutions enable.

Cloud Basics

Every cloud solution has the following basic components:

1. The magic happens over the Internet. Generally, this means you access the solution through a web browser and are never aware of any of the computers that are behind the scenes.
2. Pay as you go. Most payments are handled by subscription, by taking a piece of financial transactions and/or charging based on usage.
3. Lower Costs. The economics of the cloud mean that the marginal cost of each new user/customer is very low. This enables free services (Google Docs) and cloud vendors can offer product donations as part of their corporate citizenship programs (NetSuite.org).
4. Reliance on third party(ies). Someone else handles making the software go.

The Big Changes the Cloud Brings Changes Culture.

Web browser based applications free employees, board members, volunteers, and other constituents from the shackles of a specific computer, fundamentally changing how an organization can operate:

• An employee can travel throughout the world without a computer and still get their work done by visiting an Internet cafe.
• A board member can log in and see, in real time and read only, exactly how much money was raised this month, without messing anything up.
• A volunteer in Iowa can enter bills into your accounting system for the 30 days they are available until the next volunteer in Florida takes over.
• An organization can save huge amounts of money by outsourcing their accounting functions without losing immediate access and control over their financial software.

Simultaneously Centralizes and Fragments. When you use a major cloud platform (NetSuite, Salesforce, Google Apps, etc.) they provide tools and plug-ins to help you access functionality that is not included in the main platform without requiring integration work of data exchange. This means all your data can be accessible and linked together in one place without you having to lift a finger.

At the same time, the cloud encourages the development of small stand alone tools that need to be knitted together into a solution. Visit the Google Apps marketplace for a good view of hundreds of applications doing a myriad of things from email to accounting to project management. This fragmentation is a boon when you are looking for a niche solution and enables charities to both develop and distribute solutions that meet unique charity business needs.

Increases Pace and Decreases Cost of Change. Cloud platforms implement "clicks not code" customization, allowing relatively unskilled users to change existing workflows and adopt new ones on the fly. Need to change the way you engage donors or implement A/B testing? Just do it. These capabilities, combined with the wealth of tools that can be plugged into a workflow, mean that staff can do in an afternoon what used to require and RFP and a paid consultant.

The Next Generation of Charity Apps are in the Cloud. The dynamics of innovation and technology mean that the next generation of charity applications are being built in the cloud. Whether those applications are impact measurement, social media, new fundraising solutions, they'll be built with cloud technologies and/or on cloud platforms.

The "Little" Benefits the Cloud Brings A vast array of little benefits are driving these big shifts. A few include:

1. Faster to get started and deploy, often allowing you to try them out before making a financial commitment. Sure you might have to pick among four different project management tools, but you can evaluate them all in an afternoon without having to get on the phone with a salesperson.
2. More modern and of a higher quality than comparable on-premise solutions. It is hard to build open APIs into software created before the invention of Open APIs.
3. Cheaper Start-Up Costs. It used to be that you needed to buy servers and systems administrator first, just to be able to buy powerful software solutions. The cloud means the infrastructure and start up costs of software are lower than ever before. Complex business processes still require a consultant, but point solutions like blogging or word processing can be up and running in seconds.
4. Power. Cloud platforms, as they start serving large enterprises, are implementing very powerful functionality. That functionality is being harnessed by partners to serve charity needs.

A Little Dose of Caution

The cloud is the technology direction where everyone is heading and virtually everyone will end up. It is so compelling that cloud technology adoption rates are unbelievably rapid -- in a few years Google has drawn 25 million active users and 2 million businesses to cloud solutions.

But we are still at the beginning of the cloud.

In the charity sector's 15 year technology adoption cycle, we're still years away from the cloud being a solid solution for everything charities do from core functions (CRM, fundraising, accounting) to specialized ones (case management, grants management, etc.). When you look for technology, look to the cloud first, but don't be surprised if your perfect solution or unique business process is still a few years away.

Technology, however, is never enough. There is an ecosystem of intermediaries, vendors, consultants, failed implementations, word of mouth and more required for a nonprofit to actually realize increased effectiveness and efficiency. Because cloud adoption is moving at such a torrid pace, that ecosystem is having trouble keeping up with the tools, meaning that though the cloud may be a no-brainer, nonprofits must be careful to select the competent vendors, applications, consultants, training, and deployment models.

Judi Sohn, C3: Colorectal Cancer Coalition

When C3: Colorectal Cancer Coalition started in 2005, cloud computing wasn't the buzz word it is today. It was simply the only way we could operate and build the organization.

I was first touched by colon cancer in 1998 when my father was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer. When he died in 1999, I connected with a community of colorectal cancer patients, caregivers, and family members online. In the years since, we were spread out across the country, working on various cancer-related projects and interests. Nancy Roach, a cancer survivor and vocal advocate living in Oregon pulled a group of us together to build a national organization focused solely on change and the needs of the colorectal cancer patient.

Shortly after the Colorectal Cancer Coalition was incorporated as an organization in March 2005 we hired an admin, bought her a laptop and gave her a desk in a tiny single room office sublet from another organization in Washington, DC. As a remotely managed organization, we relied on the cloud to help run C3 until we leased our own office space in Alexandria, Virginia in 2007.

Today, we are still a small organization with only seven staff members, five based in our Virginia office. While we're programmatically just starting to tip our toes into social media, we operate efficiently primarily using a variety of web-based services and tools.

We have never purchased a server and have no plans for one. A staff member or volunteer with access to a browser connected to the web has everything he/she needs to fight colorectal cancer with us. The services and tools we use to run and build C3 have allowed us to expand and add programs while keeping our operating expenses low, maximizing every dollar we raise.

Over the past five years of trying more web-based applications than I can count to support our infrastructure and operations and increase productivity, there have been quite a few ups and downs. There are services and processes that have worked out well for us, and others that have been less successful and have been abandoned. I know my co-workers cringed and ran every time another email from me began with "Try this..." and included yet another user name and password for them to collect. There's a tiny fine line between collaboration and distraction. I've developed a keen sense of when it's safe to cross.

While I still have the heart and spirit of an early adopter, I'm now far more strategic and measured about the services I choose to introduce to C3. In honor of C3's 5 year anniversary this month, I present to my fellow techies in young nonprofits my 5 simple lessons learned from 5 years of operating in the cloud:

1. Focus on solving problems, not adapting to solutions.

Many new web services promise features and advantages that you never knew you needed until you heard about the service. I can't even count how many shiny bells & whistles I was distracted by as we got started, only to be disappointed later down the line. Don't expect your co-workers to change their habits overnight, if at all. You know best (or should) your organization's communication style and capacity for change. Work with it. Roll out new features and services gradually, as need demands to solve a specific challenge.

Operationally, C3 has standardized around Salesforce's Force.com which we started using in 2006, and Google Apps which we started using in early 2008. Both are extensible platforms with strong nonprofit user communities. While implementation can get complex depending on the organization's requirements, both are easy for non-developer techie admins to manage and integrate with other services. We're especially excited about Convio's Common Ground, which we started using in our Salesforce environment last summer for donation and campaign management. This week, Google unveiled Google Apps Marketplace which allowed us to provide single sign on for some services we already use, such as Box.net for document storage. Even if data is repurposed across multiple services, it shouldn't feel that way to the end user. Which leads me to...

2. Create hubs and extend platforms.

Collaborative web applications that have to be loaded separately in their own environment with separate login credentials have been extremely difficult to adopt. I avoid them as much as I can now. Integration and data consistency are our top priorities, even if we have to give up potentially helpful functionality in another service. Instead we've focused on building on the platforms that have already been successful for us, repurposing the data to be most effective.

3. Keep a library of training materials.

Every web service has a "Help" button, but don't rely on it to support your colleagues. A few months ago I found Screen Steps, a fantastic desktop tool for creating step-by-step documents with screen shots or video. I don't write a manual no one will actually read. Instead, I solve a problem one step at a time. I frame every help document with "How Do I...?" and show colleagues how to perform specific tasks they need to be more productive. If someone sends me an email asking a question, I create a Screen Steps document with the answer. That way, it's now available for everyone to learn from.

I experimented with video, using Jing to produce screencasts. But those movies are harder to keep updated, as if one step changes the entire thing has to be redone. With Screen Steps, I can easily edit the file to replace an image or rewrite a step. Once I create the help document, I use the built-in tools in Screen Steps to, in a single click, upload to an internal Google Sites page we use as an intranet. Very easy. And kind of fun as only a techie will appreciate.

4. The cloud is a tool. It's not a destination (or a religious experience).

When we first rolled out Google Apps in early 2008 I had visions of a Microsoft Word burning party as everyone embraced Google Docs. Didn't happen. Truth is, there are times that a desktop tool is a better solution than an online compromise. If someone prefers to create a Word file rather than a Google Doc, that's fine. If they'd rather email a file than collaborate online, that's fine too. In the end, we just ask that no vital files are kept only on laptop hard drives. Even emailing a document is backing it up, since mail is kept online.

Another hybrid approach we take is in how we collaborate on graphic files. Documents are created in InDesign, saved to PDF and then shared for collaborative review to Acrobat.com. Team members can download the PDF, open in Adobe Reader and annotate directly on the PDF. When they save the document locally, the comment layer is automatically saved to Acrobat.com so other team members can see and comment on their comments. We've found this makes editing our quarterly newsletter a breeze.

5. Have a doomsday plan.

Thankfully, we've never suffered a digital catastrophe, although there have been some close calls. Within a span of approximately 2 months we had to replace 2 employee laptop computers, and reformat another's drive. In all cases, there was no significant loss of productivity or data. Long before we started using Google Apps and Salesforce, we kept all our data in WebEx's WebOffice, not realizing there was no functionality for exporting contact activity history. Now, we make sure that every byte of data that gets placed in the cloud can be pulled down as well.

If you're using Salesforce, did you know that you can schedule a complete backup of all your data on a weekly basis? For more frequent backups, there are third party solutions. Google Apps Marketplace lists some utilities for syncing documents to desktop computers. It's easier to be confident in the cloud if you know where your data is and how to get it out.

For us, the best part of operating using cloud services has been in how easy it has been to scale as our organization grew. I can only imagine how we'll celebrate 10 years.

Judi Sohn is Vice President of Operations of C3: Colorectal Cancer Coalition, a fancy title for someone who works barefoot a lot. Judi has always been a technology enthusiast, having served as editor of Web Worker Daily until early last year. When not trying out the latest cloud productivity app, she can be found @Judi217 or knitting.

Rob Jordan, Idealist Consulting

So you may have already heard all the great things that happen when you move your technical solutions into "The Cloud": Automated back ups; ability to forgo networks; automated upgrades; ability to intermingle hardware; lower maintenance; virtual office space, thicker hair and better dating life (well, most of those anyway.)

Idealist Consulting specializes in moving and supporting organizations that are interested in "getting into the cloud" and with over 180 clients we have a good idea of what it takes to get there. In roughly three months time you can shift your most pertinent business operations from "on-premise" solutions (a.k.a. traditional offline software) into the cloud (a.k.a. online software) without too much hassle.

Below are four steps that we recommend to prospective clients to help guide them through the process.

First, conduct an ad hoc technological assessment.

Select which elements of your business process (i.e. book keeping, telephony, database etc.) are facilitated with on-premise solutions and which of those business processes could be facilitated within the cloud. In our experience, there are five administrative processes that provide the greatest return on time and investment when considering a cloud computing solution: Accounting, Database, Email, Web Site and Telephony.

These five attributes are essential to business operations and they all have reliable and affordable cloud computing solutions that you can leverage. In addition, many of these solutions offer discounts to NPO’s allowing for even greater savings. Some of these recommended solutions include QuickBooks online (accounting), Salesforce.com/Common Ground (database/CMS), Google Apps (email), Dreamhost (website server), Ring Central/Skype (Telephony).

Second, review both objective and subjective research material.

Through the review process you should be trying to answer these three questions.

• What is the total cost of ownership (T.C.O.) of the solution?
• What capabilities do these solutions provide?
• How easy is the solution to adopt/learn?

Start your review process with objective material from sources like NTEN, Idealware, and TechSoup. These organizations provide research material and support articles to help you make informed decisions about technology. You can think of them as consumer reports for non-profit technology. Keep in mind that cloud computing has been around a long time -- it was not until it got a fun name like cloud computing that people started paying attention. That said, there is loads of information and research done on these various solutions -- take advantage of that.

Subjective material is a great supplement to objective material and is free to obtain. You can find subjective material from two common sources. The most familiar source is referral. Referrals are the most honest review of the product you will find. Find out who is using the product and talk to them about it. Direct correspondence, chat rooms (i.e. npsf@googlegroups.com) and blogs (i.e. gokubi.com) are great places to start. Look for opinions from people that have similar organizations, values, missions and tech skills to get the best comparison.

Another subjective source is the actual sales cycle. There is much more to learn than price when you engage an Account Executive (A.E.). Most A.E.’s can provide collateral and promotional material that outlines the value of their solution over on-premise options. Moreover, many of these cloud computing solutions work with "solution partners". Solution partners provide technical consulting specifically geared to ensure a proper deployment…they are usually optional and at an additional expense (more on that later). Much like the Account Executive, these solution partners offer a wealth of knowledge for you to leverage during your decision making process -- take advantage of that.

Third, conduct cost analyses.

There are two key expenses to consider when comparing prices of different cloud computing solutions -- cost of solution and cost of implementation. When considering cost of solution, keep in mind the solution you adopt will often be defined by the budget you have allocated for the project. Also keep in mind that one of the attributes of cloud computing is that you can often get a "lite" version of the solution and then graduate to something more substantial as the organization grows. Moreover, many of these cloud computing solutions offer discounts or are entirely gifted to 501 c3’s (i.e. Salesforce.com, CRM Fusion etc.). This will lower your overall T.C.O. allowing you to reroute your expenses to training or solution partner expenses.

When considering cost of implementation, some cloud computing solutions consume more project resources than others. For example, QuickBooks offline to QuickBooks online is almost seamless, whereas a move from Sage MIP to QuickBooks online would require a multi-step process (i.e. configuration, data migration and training).

For more complex cloud computing solutions you will need to decide if the deployment should be done in-house or by a solution partner. "Free is not always cheap" as they say, and having volunteer implementation of your cloud computing solution may not always be the best bet. However, paying a solution partner to support you with a deployment that could be done in-house may not be ideal either. So how do you know when it is best to deploy a solution in-house and when it is best to engage an outside solution partner?

The clearest way to make this distinction is to note whether the cloud computing solution offers a "partner program". As mentioned above, solution partners provide technical consulting specifically geared to ensure a proper deployment. Common Ground CRM, Acteva RSVP and Salesforce.com all have partner programs focused on helping non-profits with the adoption of their respective products. Utilizing partner services can help ensure a proper deployment and save months of headaches that can arise from a do-it-yourself experience. That said, a partner program does not imply that you will need help to deploy these solutions -- however, it is a good barometer of deciding whether or not you should consider getting partner support.

Fourth, plan for deployment.

It makes the most sense to move to a cloud computing solution after your existing on-premise solution has expired. Once you're ready, you may be looking at anywhere from one day to three months to move into the cloud. This will largely depend on three variables -- project scope, solution and client engagement.

The project scope is the first thing to consider. The cloud computing solution you select and the size of your organization will often define how much staff and time you need to dedicate to the process. For example, a 30 person staff with a 30 year history deploying a new database will take more time and resources than a start up 3 person organization deploying the exact same solution. The length of a deployment will typically be revealed once you answer these questions.

The solution will also be a deciding variable in project deployment. As was mentioned above, QuickBooks has a wonderful system that makes conversion from QuickBooks offline to QuickBooks online a breeze. On the other hand, a conversion from Outlook/onsite servers to Google Apps/online server would probably require more attention and support than the resources you have in-house.

Finally, and arguably most important -- client engagement. The majority of projects that Idealist Consulting deploys roll out on schedule. The projects that don't, however, are usually due to the client’s inability to be fully engaged with the project. Events, meetings and holidays all contribute to the delay of a project and often are the sole factors in not meeting projected launch dates.

Moving into the cloud is very liberating. You can expect lower costs, less maintenance and more stability. Moreover, it is not that difficult. With proper tech assessment, research and cost analyses the deployment is often straightforward. Once you make the choice to move into the cloud, keep these steps in mind and you will find the process is not nearly as daunting as you may have anticipated.

Rob Jordan is a returning business development Peace Corps volunteer and the principal of Idealist Consulting, a technical consulting firm dedicated to advancing the mission of nonprofits through the implementation of affordable technology. Idealist Consulting is an implementation partner for a number of cloud computing solutions, including but not limited to: Salesforce, Common Ground, Acteva, Click Tools, Google Apps and others.

Jacob Griscom, BetterWorld Telecom

[Ed. Note: This article was originally published in a slightly different form on TechSoup.]

Thanks to advances in communications technology, the daily commute to work for many people has transformed from a stressful car ride through heavy traffic to an easy stroll to the home office. This growing trend, often described as telecommuting or e-commuting, reflects a fundamental change from the traditional concept of work (performed in an office, on a nine-to-five schedule) to a more adaptive, results-based one.

Telecommunications -- including Internet, mobile, and radio technologies -- is allowing an increasing number of organizations to operate efficiently in ways that previously could only be accomplished in person. The potential impact of this shift in work is financial, social, cultural, and environmental. For employers this means:

• Reduced space and energy requirements, along with reduced overhead.
• Increased employee productivity and creativity.
• An average 30 percent-plus reduction in the carbon footprint per organization. (Arguably, more significant than any other single strategy. See the concept paper (PDF) BetterWorld commissioned on this topic from the Bainbridge Graduate Institute for more details.)

Here's one example, from Cisco's implementation of teleworking:

Background -- Implemented Teleworking, on average two days a week for 2000 employees

• Profits -- $277 million in saved costs
• People -- 80% of workers surveyed said teleworking improved their quality of life
• Planet -- 47,000 tons of carbon saved through teleworking, $10 million/year in saved fuel costs for employees

Yet a successful transition from a traditional work environment to an open work environment demands considerations beyond technology solutions. While technology can help enable an evolution in the workplace, a transformation in consciousness must also take place for it to be successful.

To understand the changes required by a shift from a traditional to an open work model in full, we must consider not only the technologies an organization uses to communicate across distances, but also its systems for measuring results and accountability, its culture and values, and the way its employees carry out their roles and responsibilities.

The IT and Telecom Solution Mix

An organizational telecommunications system that allows for the greatest adoption of an open work environment may look something like this:

• VoIP and PBX. Phones using VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) with a hosted PBX (private branch exchange) solution are running over the Internet connection from any location. This solution allows for unified communication among a distributed work force with features like professional call trees, extension dialing, transferring calls, conferencing, voice mail, fax to email, and so forth. It substitutes traditional local and long distance charges with a flat monthly per-account fee, and dramatically reduces international calling rates.
• Web conferencing allows audio and video interaction for a dialogue that seems more face-to-face with shared desktop viewing for reviewing documents and training.
• A virtual private network solution allows company data to be accessed by employees from numerous locations, while keeping it entirely secure.
• Instant messaging software allows file transfers and quick one-on-one text, audio, or video dialogue across large distances between employees. Examples include AOL Instant Messenger, Skype, Google Talk, and many others.

Systems for Measuring Results and Accountability

When employees don't work in one central location, most meetings can be scheduled and conducted via web conferencing, phone, or even IM. Yet even in the most optimal open work environments, certain tasks, meetings, trainings, and creative processes are either impossible or severely limited if employees can't meet face-to-face. To address this, an open work organization might consider a regular schedule for use of office space that you own and lease out for additional revenue, or utilizing on-demand conference space that's rented as needed.

The systems shift can be called a move toward a "results-only" work environment, a transformation prioritizing and rewarding productivity and job requirements, not time at work or scheduling, a solution that can be customized at the work-group level or across the organization.

A Shift from a Traditional to an Open Work Environment

 

From:

To:

A focus on work hours (just being there or "face-time").

A focus on job requirements (doing work well and on-time).

Supervisor sets hours, schedules.

Individual and team set hours, work times, schedules.

Meetings are a regular part of work routine.

Meetings held only as needed.

Reliance on face-to-face interaction.

Varied methods of virtual and transparent communication.

A "reactive" orientation, dealing with crises as they occur.

Proactive, early planning to avoid crises where possible.

Flexibility arrangements negotiated between individual and supervisor.

Flexibility is the "norm." Team members cross-train to cover for one another and set schedules.

If work needs are met, presence still required.

Customized work time and schedules aimed at achieving goals.

Essential ingredient: Tracking employees' time spent working.

Essential ingredient: Define specific nature of job and expectations.

Problematic: Absenteeism, tardiness,
"presenteeism" (when employees come to work even when they are sick).

Problematic: Not meeting job deadlines, expectations.

[This chart is from Learning from a Natural Environment: Study a Corporate Work-Time Policy Initiative. University of Minnesota, 2007]

Individual Roles and Company Culture and Values

Individuals in management must be able to think and lead differently in an open work environment. While any work environment benefits from people who have been encouraged to take an honest inventory of their strengths and weaknesses, this is essential in an open work environment. An employee who thrives in a results-oriented open work environment will have or cultivate a great deal of personal accountability, organizational skills, and the initiative to seek out the support and resources necessary to achieving his or her goals.

Open work environments, when adopted, can quicken the development of democratic values in the workplace: transparency, dialogue and listening, fairness and dignity, purpose and vision, accountability, collective goals, choice, integrity, reflection and evaluation, and decentralization of power.

Why Nonprofit Organizations Benefit

Nonprofit organizations tend to value environmental sustainability and social justice. Moreover, they need to budget effectively and keep their overhead low to be successful. Adopting open work through the use of telecom solutions allows an organization to operate with greater efficiency, reduce costs, and create a more flexible and productive work experience for its team.

In short, telecom can allow organizations to create work environments more in alignment with their social and environmental values, while freeing more capital to accomplish their goals.

Jacob Griscom is the Western Regional Manager for BetterWorld Telecom, which offers sustainable voice and data telecom solutions worldwide. The company is based in Virginia with democratic and distributed workforce located in many communities around the United States. Griscom lives in Nevada City, California with his wife and two boys. Contact him at jgriscom@betterworldtelecom.com.

The 2nd Annual International Fundraising eConference is coming up May 11-13, and simply because you're reading this blog, you qualify for 25% off. Register by April 13th to attend for just $199!

> Register for the 2010 IFC Online here

"Why should I attend", you ask? Because you -- and everybody at your organization, for that matter -- can learn the latest and greatest fundraising techniques from some world-class speakers without leaving the comforts of your own office, beachhouse, or bedroom. That's right: the registration fee is for a site license, so your entire staff can attend.

Sessions include:

• Haiti: How to Raise a Billion Dollars in a Hurry 
• Understanding Online Donors: Their Demographics, Attitudes, and Behavior 
• Beyond the Myth of Integrated Fundraising: How We Combine Email, Social _Media, and Phones to Reach Our 1.3 Million Online Supporters 
• Trends in Online Fundraising: What We Can Learn From the Data 
• The Hype and the Potential of Social Network Fundraising 

You can view video from 2 of last year's sessions and learn more about the IFC online on their web site. Then, you'll probably want to:

> Register for the 2010 IFC Online at our discounted rate today!

The IFC Online is brought to you by the Resource Alliance (organizers of the International Fundraising Congress) webinar provider Forum for Fundraising, and NTEN, with underwriting from Blackbaud.

And, while attending in your pajamas just to say you did is probably not a good reason to do so, we'll totally understand.

I'm still chest-deep in all the Great Ideas Conference stuff. I read each of the 1,682 Tweets that used the #Ideas10 hashtag during the three days of the conference; I've read a couple dozen blog posts on the conference; and... Scott Briscoe

Being the nerd that I am, nothing tickles me quite like data moving around magically (unless it's a bacon chocolate bar or the sound of my kid & hubby laughing). By now, you've all heard me say that data and our ability to manage, manipulate, visualize, and generally tame it will be the greatest challenge for our sector in the coming decade.

So I was delighted to get to SXSWi and discover QR Codes.

Think of a QR Code as a bar code on steroids. The acronym stands for "Quick Response" Code and the great thing about them is that they can store almost any kind of data -- and are meant to be read by mobile phones, so no special hardware is required to use them.

At SXSWi, every name badge has a QR Code printed on it with the individual's contact information. If you meet someone you like and have reader software installed on your phone, you can scan the badge, and add that info to your address book.

I'm really excited to see this in play for more than networking. Already, QR codes are used for inventory tracking all over the world, something that's highly important to our sector.

I can imagine a dozen other uses, especially for social service agencies. Because the data is highly transportable -- you can print a QR code on ANYTHING -- it would be a great way for clients to take information about a set of services received to another service provider so that a complete record of care can be amassed.

I also think there's the potential for lots of fun with QR codes. Get ready for some QR Code Scavenger Hunts at the 2010 NTC. 

Want to get ready now? Download a reader to your phone. You can practice on the QR Code in this post. (David Krumlauf sent it to me while I was writing this!) If you want to have more fun, make your own QR Codes!

Tad Druart, Convio

Anecdotally and intuitively, you know that changing demographics and technology are driving a shift in your engagement with donors, volunteers, event participants and other people your organization relies on to fulfill your mission. That's one of the reasons you soak up all NTEN has to offer about technology and engagement. Do a Google search and you can find a great deal of research on virtually all aspects of interests, attitudes and aptitudes for Gen Y, Gen X, Boomers and the Matures.

What has been missing is information that how different generations learn about, engage with and donate to charitable organizations -- until now.

Convio, SeaChange Strategies and Edge Research (the team the brought you insight into the online habits of major- and mid-level donors in the "Wired Wealthy" research) have produced a first-of-its-kind national research study into the charitable giving behaviors and attitudes across Gen Y, Gen X, Boomers and Matures.

"The report of my death was an exaggeration." Mark Twain

Like Mark Twain's famous quote, there is good news in the data -- the death of direct mail by some has been exaggerated -- but, when one looks at the data direct mail will not remain the dominate channel for soliciting and collecting gifts that it is today. Chart 1 below shows that the next generation of donors, Gen X and Boomers are truly multi-channel. And while they still give through direct mail it is not the dominate channel that it is for the Mature donor. It is not a coincidence that direct mail acquisitions have been declining steadily in recent years, a phenomenon which pre-dates the current recession. While direct mail remains viable the impact over the long-term will diminish, particularly without integration with other communications, marketing and fundraising channels. Unfortunately for fundraising professionals, the data suggests that unlike direct mail's domination as a fundraising channel today, no one channel is likely to dominate in the future -- it will probably remain the primary (not dominate) channel for several more years, but start preparing for changes in the future.

Chart 1

"Duh," Tad Druart's daughter

For many of you reading this article, like one of my teenage daughter's favorite responses, this will be a big "duh" moment... Multi-channel integration is more important than ever. Duh. As you can see in chart one, the channels for giving are broad for the next generations of donor (note that even Matures report giving through many channels, but at 77%, "check by mail" is dominate for Matures). While there are modern database products like Common Ground that can help you manage the multi-channel engagement of the future, the biggest obstacle for many organizations might be organizational and operational more than the systems they use. The internal silos must be broken down to reflect the multiple channels and need for message consistency across those channels.

As you can see in chart 2, that's a lot of channels that people use and are important, so start breaking down those walls today. How many of you know that the message in tomorrow's direct mail piece is consistent with what the donor/prospect will find on your website? Is the message in next week's email consistent with the direct mail and the website -- and what the heck are people saying about us on Facebook and Twitter? Is it all consistent?

Chart 2 

Yeah, more people to do fundraising solicitations!

The study suggests that peers will play a bigger role in influencing donations. As the next generation of donors age they plan to give more and but are also more likely to currently volunteer to organize an event, become a participant fundraiser or help promote their favorite nonprofits via social media and their personal networks. Give these people and their peers the right tools and you can exponentially expand your development "staff." As you can see in chart 3 the future generations believe being asked by friends is most appropriate (note than Matures also believe this to be valid, but that direct mail piece still places a tad higher). Are you giving your supporters the tools and messages to influence peers?

You can see in the chart that direct mail is still appropriate. But understand that while the ask might come from a direct mail piece, the response might not come through that channel. This is going to make the response rates and causality that we can measure today become more difficult in the future. It is also very important to note that in our focus groups we learned that Boomers to an extent, but very strongly with Gen X and Gen Y, report that they feel more manipulated by direct mail than other channels. In the study data we see practices of the charities accepted by donors of all ages, but not necessarily embraced. The coming years will be very interesting to see -- will younger donors adopt more of the practices of the Matures or will organizations that embrace the preferred channels of Gen X and Boomers "out compete" peer organizations that do not shift investment and focal points?

Also keep in mind (Chart 2) where they are going to get information. It reinforces the need for consistency. If a friend asks and they go to your website, but find nothing about the program, or the email newsletter does not relate you might have lost the opportunity.

Chart 3

Does X+Y+Boomer equal fundraising success?

The Gen Y donor reports that she/he gives an average of $341 a year or close to $11 billion in total to charity. They report having more time to give than money. The study shows that they also like to support programs that provide a promotional give-away or support their social involvement such as runs, parties, etc. This generation also solicits parents and others older generations to support them in with their causes -- we know this as Boomers and Matures report sponsoring family or friends in runs and walks, but not participating, while Gen X and Gen Y report participating but doing less sponsorship. One can argue that the dollars available from Gen Y do not warrant investment in programs to acquire and cultivate them. However, data shows you can and will reach them through multi-channel programs designed to reach Boomers and Gen X; and they will find you if they are interested -- assuming you have a good website, social media presence and a compelling message.

Gen X and Boomers though are worth the time and effort:

Gen X (b.1965-1980)

39.53 million Americans; 52% give

Avg. $796/year to 4.2 charities

Estimated $16.4 billion to charity

Baby Boomers (b. 1946-1964)

45.17 million Americans; 66% give

Avg. $901 to 5.2 charities

Estimated $22.8 billion to charity

"I knew it was getting harder!"

The data shows that it is not just the economy that is making fundraising harder. Throw the economy on top of the changing demographics, accelerating technological change and adoption by prospects, increased competition, and reliance by most nonprofits on antiquated donor databases that never anticipated the needs of a modern development office, then mix in inertia and it is no wonder we often hear, "it's getting harder to raise a dollar."

The good news is that organizations like NTEN are helping nonprofit professionals learn about, evaluate and adopt technology that can make you more efficient and effective. More research on the habits and needs of donors and prospects is making its way to the market. Organizations and vendors are sharing best practices and lessons learned to help improve the performance of the entire industry. And ,as the data shows, Americans are willing to engage and support the causes they believe in and they will remain accepting of your appeals. As members of NTEN you can have the satisfaction of being part of the generation of nonprofit professionals and an organization that help will build a modern and lasting approach to connecting people and causes in ways that change the world.

A white paper related to the study is available at www.convio.com/nextgen

Ed. Note: As we prepare for the 2010 Nonprofit Technology Conference, we wanted share a wee bit of the wisdom our speakers will be serving up, so as not to overwhelm you when you get to Atlanta. We're asking them all to share their answers to five very important questions.

Speaker: Marissa Goldsmith, Beaconfire Consulting

Session: Data Data Everywhere: Drowning in a sea of Analytics

1. What's the most important trend in nonprofit technology for 2010?

Analytics integration and interpretation. A web site is no longer your only (and in some cases, primary) presence on the Internet. To measure success, you need to see big picture data from every corner of the Internet, and know how to interpret all these numbers, even if they seem all over the map.

2. Why do you think your session topic is important for nonprofits to address?

Many nonprofits consider analytics an afterthought, and when they do have data, they get bogged down in visits, pageviews, and other minutiae. For a nonprofit, it’s important to make the implementation of an analytics package part of implementing a web presence, and the know-how to read the numbers, identify trends, and take specific actions to ensure success.

3. What's the one thing you want attendees to remember from your session?

There is more to analytics than copying and pasting the code at the bottom of the page.

4. Which Muppet do you most identify with and why?

Bunsen Honeydew -- I love experimenting and testing, whether it be for a web site or which tomato seeds work best in my garden.

5. Where can people follow you online (twitter, blog, etc.)? 

You can follow me and the work of Beaconfire on the Beaconfire wire at www.beaconfirewire.com. 

Ed. Note: As we prepare for the 2010 Nonprofit Technology Conference, we wanted share a wee bit of the wisdom our speakers will be serving up, so as not to overwhelm you when you get to Atlanta. We're asking them all to share their answers to five very important questions.

Speaker: Dan Michel, Feeding America

Session: Data Data Everywhere: Drowning in a sea of Analytics

1. What's the most important trend in nonprofit technology for 2010?

Integration. All nonprofits have had presences in many different tools serving different audiences. The next step is to integrate all tools and strategies together.

2. Why do you think your session topic is important for nonprofits to address?

My session is about measurement, and one of the ways to get management to “buy-in” to technology initiatives is with understanding what the general public is doing with  technology.

3. What's the one thing you want attendees to remember from your session?

How to approach analytics smartly and thoughtfully to benefit your job and your colleagues.

4. Which Muppet do you most identify with and why?

I always liked Scooter the stage manager.

5. Where can people follow you online (twitter, blog, etc.)? 

Individually:       

• twitter.com/dpmichel 
• facebook.com/danmichel   
• http://foursquare.com/user/dpmichel
• http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/metromix-last-call/  (The blog is my other life as a Chicago bartender)        

Feeding America:

• twitter.com/feedingamerica 
• facebook.com/feedingamerica
• http://blog.feedingamerica.org

A few recent posts in the association blogosphere have the idea of "content curation" on my mind. I love this idea, but the term also bugs me a bit. Before I explain why, let's get up to speed: What is... Joe Rominiecki

Flickr Photo: h.koppdelaneyTransparent. Participatory. Collaborative.

Those are the values President Obama cited last December in his Open Government Initiative. Are those words you usually associate with your government? Even non-conspiracy theorists would likely have a hard time summoning up "transparent" as one of the top three adjectives to describe our government. We would all likely agree that it's a shame: our government should be transparent.

Now let's think about our sector. 

Transparent. Participatory. Collaborative.

What do you think? Do those words describe the nonprofit sector? How about your nonprofit? 

If I'm not mistaken, a somewhat famous social activist once said, "You must be the change you want to see in the world." I think our sector has a long way to go before we live up to that.

I attended "In Code We Trust: Open Government Awesomeness" at SXSWi on Friday. Panelists Noel Hidalgo, Alissa Black and Dmitry Kachaev shared what their governments -- the cities and states they work for -- are doing to live up to that presidential mandate. What they're doing, and how they're doing it, are great lessons for our sector.

• The New York State Senate has a Twitter feed. They post everything, including links to live streams of sessions, statements, and legislative updates.
• The New York State Senate website is built on Drupal. Their theory is that anything they build has to be built open source, so that the taxpayers can access and use any innovations.
• All of the content produced and published by the New York State Senate is published under a Creative Commons license. Again, if it's built with public money, the public has the right to use it.
• In San Francisco, datasf.org aggregates raw data from over 140 city departments, making it available to any member of the public, for any reason.
• Since transparency is only one leg of the stool, San Francisco also sponsored an app development contest to get people involved in using the data for the public good.
• San Francisco and Washington DC are collaborating around API accessiblity for their 311 phone lines.

Two city governments, on opposite sides of the country are going to better serve their citizens transparently, to ignite participation through collaboration. Will it be problem free? No. Is it worth striving for? Of course

One of my favorite moments of the session came when someone asked about the barriers to this kind of openness. Dmitry responded:

"Don't wait for all the data, or for the data to be perfect. If the data can contribute to the conversation, share it. The public will help you get it the rest of the way."

Let go and share -- with your stakeholders, your clients, your fellow organizations. Good things will follow

That said, it's fine for me to sit here and write this. It's another thing for NTEN to lead in this area. Although I think we're a fairly open organization, we have a long way to go. Look for a new "About Us" page on this site soon. We'll be posting all sorts of information about us, and we'll make all that data as open as possible. (If you're a Drupal wiz looking for a challenge, give us a call. We want to rock the sector.)

Ed. Note: As we prepare for the 2010 Nonprofit Technology Conference, we wanted share a wee bit of the wisdom our speakers will be serving up, so as not to overwhelm you when you get to Atlanta. We're asking them all to share their answers to five very important questions.

Speaker: Michael Hoffman, See3

Session: Anatomy of a Video: Confessions From Organizations Big and Small 

1. What's the most important trend in nonprofit technology for 2010?

The widespread adoption of social media is clearly the most important trend for nonprofit technology in 2010. While there are still complications about measuring ROI, and best practices are still being developed, we are seeing clear signals that web traffic is being driven from Twitter and Facebook, fundraising and advocacy outreach through social media is having impact, and a smart strategy of using YouTube contributes greatly to search engine optimization.

2. Why do you think your session topic is important for nonprofits to address?

The web is changing and becoming a much more media rich place. People are comfortable watching short videos online, and even full-length TV shows and movies. There is an expectation that people have that they can easily SEE the issue, and not just read about it. At the same time, video has become an important piece of the search engine optimization puzzle, and programs such as YouTube for Nonprofits, allow organizations to drive traffic directly from a video to an action. With all of this benefit, you would think nonprofits would be investing heavily in online video. Some are, but for many they just don’t know where to start and how to get it done given budget challenges.

This is what our session is about. What makes up an online video and how can we, whatever our circumstances, do one.

3. What's the one thing you want attendees to remember from your session?

That there is no reason not to do a lot more video in 2010 than they did in 2009. Budgets, time, and staff priorities can’t be an excuse because there are always ways to get it done if you have the road map.

4. Which Muppet do you most identify with and why?

Animal. Not really, I love him, but I am not quite so wild. I am more of a Kermit kind-of-guy, trying to hold things together amidst the chaos.

5. Where can people follow you online (twitter, blog, etc.)?

• Twitter: @michael_hoffman

Ed. Note: As we prepare for the 2010 Nonprofit Technology Conference, we wanted share a wee bit of the wisdom our speakers will be serving up, so as not to overwhelm you when you get to Atlanta. We're asking them all to share their answers to five very important questions.

Speaker: Debra Askanase, Community Organizing 2.0

Session: Bringing Community Organizing Into Online Campaigns

1. What's the most important trend in nonprofit technology for 2010?

To sum it up: the rise of mobile technology. I think that the rate of smartphone adoption worldwide will continue to grow tremendously, and with that, the rise of smartphone mobile apps and use. I believe that nonprofit organizations should begin to plan now for how they will utilize the mobile web for good (such as smartphone apps, mobile text campaigns, mobile fundraising strategy, and so much more). Understanding the implications and opportunities in the areas of mobile search, use, and technology will be important for nonprofit organizations in 2010, and beyond.

2. Why do you think your session topic is important for nonprofits to address?

No one is talking about the relationship between community organizing and online organizing, and yet they are absolutely interrelated. If you work at a nonprofit, or are running an upcoming cause or fundraising online campaign, our session will help you understand how to leverage community organizing principles for your campaign, and use them to inform campaign design. All three session designers (myself, Ivan Boothe, Amy Sample Ward) have a background in community organizing, have run successful community organizing campaigns, and offer expertise in the field of social media. 

3. What's the one thing you want attendees to remember from your session?

How to design your online campaign using the five basic principles of community organizing.

4. Which Muppet do you most identify with and why?

Doesn't everyone identify with Kermit? He's the cute green frog you just want to hug. He loves to talk to people, and he's always working so hard to bring the gang together to accomplish things. That about sums up my life  as a social media consultant!

5. Where can people follow you online (twitter, blog, etc.)? 

• I blog about the intersection of social media, nonprofits and technology at Community Organizer 2.0
• I love chatting on twitter: @askdebra
• I have a Google profile, if you want to connect on Google Buzz
• You can follow my slide decks at www.slideshare.net/debask

So, apparently, there are a whole host of new tools available through YouTube that can help you engage your audience.

You can drive sign-ups and donations straight from your videos, find skilled video-makers through the Video Volunteers program, and even create choose-your-own-adventure style videos. (Just imagine: "You see a polar bear balancing on a small iceberg. Do you: a) Offer it a ride to the South Pole, b) enter the two of you in the pairs figure skating competition at the 2014 winter games, or c) step up the fight against global climate change.")

In partnership with YouTube and ReadyTalk, we've enlisted Ramya Raghavan, Nonprofits and Activism Manager at YouTube, to run you through the possibilities at our (free for everybody!) 2010 NTC preview session, "Activating Your YouTube Audience". You should join us!

> You should register for this FREE workshop here.

When: Thursday, March 18th, 11 am Pacific Time / 2 pm Eastern Time

Cost: FREE!

Presenter: Ramya Raghavan, YouTube

Incidentally, the correct answer is, of course, c). Given the lack of drive-thrus in South America, the polar bear would devour you before you reached the South Pole -- and no way could a polar bear land a triple lutz,

Okay, I'll admit it, I am not an expert. But I have to set the record straight, as I have participated in enough interviews from both sides to know that many interviewers/interviewees are spending too much time googling "interview questions"... Brian Birch

I can't believe Great Ideas is over already! But even though the physical conference is over, there's still a ton of good stuff to read on Twitter and elsewhere. There was a veritable flood of tweets yesterday during Dan Pink's... Lisa Junker

Allyson Kapin       Jocelyn HarmonYes, the iPad is small, lightweight and slim. But can you swim with it?

You remember the flap over the iPad, right? Most women certainly do. It's a clear reminder that technology is a man's world.

Of course, it shouldn't be, especially in the nonprofit sector. Our workplaces should reflect the values we're working for -- because it's the right thing to do. It's also the sensible thing to do. Diversity in your teams will ensure you're not alienating the very people you're trying to include.

What's the right way to approach diversity in our tech teams? Lucky for us, Allyson Kapin and Jocelyn Harmon put together a great session for the 2010 Nonprofit Technology Conference: "Diversifying Your Tech and Online Communications Teams". I had a great chat with them where we covered everything from "the masses" to "quotas."

Take a listen:

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