NTEN: The Nonprofit Technology Network

2008 IT Staffing & Spending Report Now Available for Download

Brett — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:23:48 -0400

The nonprofit sector works hard to use technology effectively, but it's an uphill battle. Financial resources are limited. Technology changes quickly, and there's a lot of it out there doing lots of different things — even within the same areas. What should your organization budget for IT expenditures? How do you know if the solutions you’re getting are the right fit — for both your budget and your needs?

NTEN partnered with the NonProfit Times on this survey to offer a closer look at the current state of nonprofit IT staffing in general, and to give organizations the information they need to evaluate and improve their own IT staffing. We began this effort with the 2006 survey, the first of its kind. We repeated the survey in 2007, and plan to continue doing so annually to provide a long-term view of nonprofit IT staffing.

Our hope is that this survey will help nonprofits answer the challenging questions by providing greater context of what similar — and possibly more successful — organizations are doing.

> Get the Report. It's Free!

10 Disruptive Technologies You Need to Think About

Holly — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:35:25 -0400

Every Wednesday, Gartner does a free webinar on a variety of topics. This week, they presented "Technology Trends You Can't Afford to Ignore." I tweeted my way through the one hour call, but here are some notes with a little more clarity and reflection.

Disruptive Technology #1: Virtualization.

There are lots of benefits to virtualization, chief among them, the power savings. According to Gartner, the average server uses 65% of its power just sitting idle. Virtualization helps reduce the number of servers used, decreasing power consumption. If you're a small nonprofit, you won't see a ton of cost savings, but it will add up for larger organizations. AND, it's the green thing to do. Make Al Gore proud!

The real fun begins with desktop virtualization. When all your desktop users are working in a virtualized environment, supporting your staff becomes a whole different ballgame. Now, patches, upgrades, and other tweaks happen in one place. And no more downloading terrible software and kludging up your machines. Network administration and help desk tasks are going to be a LOT easier. Gartner noted that client virtualization is still pretty new, though, and there are kinks to work out.

(Warning: there's a lot of server talk here, which I don't consider disruptive. But there are still some fantastically great points. I encourage you to forge ahead.)

Disruptive Technology #2: Data Deluge

You know how I feel about data. If you ask me, it's THE most important thing we should be thinking about in the sector. Data, when handled properly, becomes intelligence -- and intelligence makes us better at our jobs, which makes the world a better place!

Gartner agrees. They see the same big black cloud headed our way: too much of a good thing! According to Gartner, the amount of data produced around the world will grow by 650% over the next few years, and 80% of it will be unstructured. Making sense of it all is going to be a challenge, to say the least.

IT managers will have to respond to this in a couple of ways. First, they need to focus on data storage. We're going to need more server space, and databases that can handle more of that data. IT managers will also have to figure out data de-duplication. By that, I don't mean cleaner data in your databases. Rather, we're talking about those places where data redundancies happen: the five people that have emailed the large spreadsheet to each other, or are saving it all on their desktops.

Disruptive Technology #3: Energy & Green IT

The EU is currently coming up with regulations for tech and power consumption. The US may not be far behind. This isn't likely to trickle down to the little guys, but it could impact larger organizations.

Disruptive Technology #4: Consumerization & Social Software

We've talked ad infinitum about how social media is changing the way nonprofits do their work, but it's also changing the way your staff are embracing technology. As technology moves from the realm of the geek programmer into the hands of laymen, your staff are going to want to do more and more with it. Your staff will increasingly demand the technology solutions they want from you. The upside is that they will be more eager and capable adopters of the technology you give them.

Outside of the actual tech, you will also need to pay closer attention to policies. As the line between personal and professional use of technology tools like Facebook blurs, your organization needs to know how it will respond and set clear guidelines and policies for staff.

You should also be thinking about what this means for your stakeholders. As IT manager at your organization, you need to think about how your organization can best use technology to meet your mission. If every one of your clients will have a smart phone in the next 2 years, what can your organization do to take advantage?

Disruptive Technology #5: Unified Communications

I'll confess, this took me a minute to get. But think about how you personally send and receive communications every day. It used to be that all we had to deal with was the phone and fax. Then came email. Then Instant Messenger. And now there's VOIP, SMS, Twitter, and more. These services don't integrate right now, which makes managing them difficult -- and makes dealing with them a big waste of time for your staff.

Fortunately, more and more communications vendors get it. We're moving to a place where a phone call can become an email and an IM can become a phone call. Unifying communications so that users can route communications to their preferred device -- and change that device preference whenever they need to -- is going to save us all a lot of time and headaches. You need to start talking to your vendors now to see what they are doing and explore some of the options.

Disruptive Technology #6: Mobile

It's not a phone anymore, it's a little computer. It may be tiny, but it's getting more powerful! You're probably already busy trying to support email and calendaring on these devices, but you're going to have to start thinking about creating and deploying applications that allow your staff to use their phone as a mobile office. What data and applications can and should you give them access to via their phones?

That's a tall order for most nonprofits. Most of us couldn't consider the kind of custom programming required to create mobile apps (especially if the apps are going to work on more than one kind of phone). But there are plenty of apps out there we can repurpose for our needs. And, if you consider another disruptive trend -- cloud computing -- the possibilities get bigger: many cloud-based applications have mobile versions for a variety of phone types already.

Disruptive Technology #7: Complex Resource Tracking

As we're forced to decrease energy consumption and increase access to data and critical applications, we will have to manage our networks more efficiently. This means creating more automated systems for managing network resources. Of course, this isn't going to apply to many nonprofits, but again, the big guys should be doing some thinking here.

Disruptive Technology #8: System Density

As we use servers for an increasing array of things -- storage, memory, I/O - -we're going to need more of them. That's going to increase power and cooling requirements, even as the price of the hardware continues to drop.

Disruptive Technology #9: Mashups and Enterprise Portals

In other words, data sharing. You're going to be in the business of putting data into the hands of your staff so that they can mix it up with partners or web services and make cool new things. That means you're going to have to be well versed in data sharing in two ways: the geek stuff and the lawyer stuff.

On the geek side, you're going to work on systems that make it easy to push and pull data from your various data silos. (I think I'm giving up the word database this year and calling a spade a spade.) On the lawyer side, you're going to need to develop policies that protect the various KINDS of data your staff are working with. Is it OK to put client home address information into a public mapping website? The questions are big.

You will also increasingly be looking at putting the data into the hands of our stakeholders. The same rules apply. Opportunities for greatness multiply at the same rate that the opportunity for foul play does.

Disruptive Technology #10: Cloud Computing.

Cloud-based software is not going away. Making the switch can certainly save you a lot of time and money, but the change is really hard for organizations switching from desktop software to the cloud. It will cost a lot of time to make the change happen. You also have to really know your vendors, your service level agreements with those vendors, and explore the privacy and security questions.

That's Gartner's take on the most important IT trends of today. What are you seeing?

We Can't Make Summer Last Forever, But We Can Make Membership Last Longer

Annaliese — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:59:29 -0400

It's summertime, for real now: I've been having breakfast with Wimbledon, the mosquitoes are biting, and I can't walk down the street in the evening without smelling someone cooking out on a grill.

Here at NTEN, another tell-tale sign of summer is our Summer Membership Offer: Become a member of NTEN (or renew your membership) this summer, and get member benefits from now until the end of 2010!

> Learn more and join us

That means all the connecting, learning, and saving that comes with membership lasts an extra 6 months.

If you're new to NTEN or have been meaning to return as a member, check out the benefits of membership and then take advantage of this limited time opportunity.

Thanks for being part of this community!

All About NTEN in 5 Minutes

Holly — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:11:28 -0400

Last week, I was fortunate enough to present a session on social media with Marnie Webb of TechSoup Global, Laura Norvig of ETR Associates, Matt Sharp from the Packard Foundation, and Matt Dunne at Google. I think it's fair to say that we rocked!

While there, I was interviewed for the live stream of the event, which was run by Business Boomer:

I want to note that the setup for the live stream was wicked simple: a decent camera with wired mics, all plugged into a laptop sitting on a folding chair. The most complicated thing about it was the scheduling.

Consider this a reminder that you, too, can be your own media outlet. It doesn't take much.

NTEN Member Buzz Round-Up: June 29th

Annaliese — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:05:50 -0400

From the interwebs this week, I've heard about these NTEN members doing their nptechie-thing:

Amy Sample Ward reports on the new opportunity on YouTube to connect nonprofits with video volunteers, with the help of allforgood.org. Nonprofits can submit needs; video-savvy volunteers can connect with a cause.

Natural Resources Defense Council's Apollo Gonzales is interviewed by Eric Kuhn of the Huffington Post about NRDC's Social Media strategy. (BTW, NRDC was recently listed as a top Green Org to Follow on Twitter, so they must know what they're talking about ;)

Missoula Tech Club is on Facebook, thanks to the organizing of Jeanette Russell.

Speaking of Tech Club organizers, our Austin Tech Club rock star, David Neff, went homeless for 48 hours with the Austin Mobile Loaves and Fishes guide. The only tech he took with him was his flip camera to document.

Looks like members FreeCause and Charity Dynamics have teamed up to combine fundraising and web 2.0 solutions for nonprofit orgs.

As Brett mentioned earlier, Nancy Schwartz is ready to hear your nonprofit's tagline. Submit by July 31st to be considered for the 2nd Annual Nonprofit Tagline Awards!

And last, but not least, the Bayer Center for Nonprofits transformed their summer tech camp messaging into a song and shared it via video. Apparently their marketing manager didn't like it. What do y'all think?

Documenting the Digital Divide

Annaliese — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:32:11 -0400

Flickr: ThomasBrandtFrom the number of "out of office" replies I get anytime I send an email to the NTEN community, it looks like we're well into vacation season. If you're one of the lucky ones taking some vacation time to get out and about this summer, the folks at iwith.org have an assignment for you:

Take your camera and shoot some pics that demonstrate the digital divide.

It's the third season for this Barcelona and Switzerland-based organization's digital divide photo contest, and you're invited to participate. They'll be accepting submissions all summer -- through September 20th -- and they'll publish the selected photos on their site starting September 27th.

Read full contest details here, and you can see the 2008 photos here.

Things We Like (June 2009)

Brett — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:37:41 -0400

A monthly roundup of our favorite nonprofit tech resources. Read more posts on our blog.

Clay Shirky thinks the Iranian election protests are "the big one" for social media.
Notice how we used quotation marks to, you know, quote somebody? That's what they're for. Everything else ends up on the "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks.
Someday soon, you'll be able to type ON your hand, not just with it. And figure out if a brand of toilet paper matches your green ideals -- by pointing at it. The folks at MIT are up to some crazy stuff.
What the heck is this thing? It looks like a giant face with feet. Sure is cute, though.
Ever wonder what the Cloud everybody keeps talking about actually looks like? Turns out it's really heavy -- and consumes more electricity than Sweden.
Michelle Murrain's up to something interesting: she defriended all of her nptech acquaintences on Facebook. She doesn't mention whether she installed Whopper Sacrifice first.
The underground comedy movement on Amazon.com. Check this out. No, not the shirt (though it is quite splendid): the reviews of the shirt. They're hilarious. Then, go to the "Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed" section to follow the writers to other products. One guy wrote a complete parody of Poe's "The Raven" to review a gallon of milk!
Speaking of putting your excess free time to "good" use [Ed. note: Don't provoke me...], here's the Google Analytics interface laid out in wireframe on a single page, with links to descriptions of each report.
Network for Good just came out with a new guide, "7 Steps to Better Email Fundraising and Communications". And Wired has the "Top 10 Ways to Provoke a Geek Argument". Bonus points to the first person to combine those memes. (Bonus points may be redeemed for one of our free webinars.)
Two animal-themed links in one month? You lucky readers! There was just no way we could not link to video of apes laughing. If you don't feel good after watching that, you may be a curmudgeon.

2009 Nonprofit Tagline Awards

Brett — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:14:08 -0400

Ah, summer movie season, when studios try to cover up bad movies with even worse taglines. In the running for worst of the year so far (and this works better if you think in gravelly movie trailer announcer voice):

Terminator Salvation: The End Begins
The Crypt: Some Things Are Better Left Buried
Life Is Hot in Cracktown: Be cool. Life is cool. You're so cool in Cracktown.

Yes, that last one is a real movie. But none of them rival Crank: High Voltage: "He was dead... but he got better."

And these are taglines from companies with millions of marketing dollars. Clearly, writing a good tagline is hard. How can nonprofits compete?

Pretty well, according to Nancy Schwartz. Last year, she found that 72% of nonprofit organizations don't even have a tagline or rate theirs as performing poorly. But she's trying to change that with her annual Nonprofit Tagline Awards.

You should take just a few minutes to enter your nonprofit's tagline today. (The deadline is July 31st.) Come on -- it's gotta be better than Crank's.

Google Grants Workshop

Brett — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:28:47 -0400

The Google Grants team has announced their very first grantee conference, to be held in early August at Google HQ in Mountain View. That's right: you'll get to learn how to maximize your AdWords account while visiting the mothership.

From the Google Grants blog:

During the event, grantees will have an opportunity to learn tips and tricks from successful grantees, attend AdWords seminars taught by in-house experts, and learn how to maximize Google for Non-Profits products. Our goal is to provide content for a diverse mix of attendees with different interest areas, locales, sizes, and levels of AdWords experience. In the typical Google spirit of making information accessible and useful, we will record this event and post the videos online after. So, even if you aren't able to attend, you won't miss a thing.

But are they running an AdWords campaign to promote the event?

Due to limited space, they're going to hold a lottery to select the invitees. You need to enter the lottery by June 30th, so I give you permission to hurt our bounce rate by going to sign up right now.

Lights, Camera, VOLUNTEER!

Holly — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:15:23 -0400

I'm in sunny San Francisco for the National Conference on Volunteering and Service this week. It's one of those events I'm delighted to speak at because volunteers are at the center of social change: It's the folks who pick up paintbrushes, organize community meetings, and meet with their elected officials who make so much good stuff happen.

The last few administrations have begun their terms by issuing calls to service, but it's never felt more real than now. Obama's call for service is being met with enthusiasm and engagement like I've never seen. I think they're doing a bang-up job of using media to drive the message home, leveraging media outlets from the TV networks to YouTube.

In fact, leveraging media is something many nonprofits need help with. The costs of video production and distribution are so low at this point, every nonprofit could become its own media channel -- if it knew how.

That's where you come in.

If you have a video camera and some know how, YouTube and the administration want you to become a Video Volunteer:

Video Volunteers is YouTube's version of a new platform that Google has launched called All for Good, which helps match citizens with volunteer opportunities in their local communities. Built in partnership with the White House, All for Good is sort of like a Craigslist for community service. But you don't just have to show up at your local soup kitchen or animal shelter to give back - volunteering in the 21st century can be done entirely online.

If you're a nonprofit in need of help with video, visit the Video Volunteer channel to add your volunteer opportunity to the list.