Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

MARCH 27, 2008

But I help them plan their technology initiatives (a new database, a new website, etc.,) I’ll be the project manager on their big new client database project, and help them think about how far to dip their toes into Web 2.0. help them find the vendors that will do the work by helping them craft good RFPs. OK, enough of that.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

SEPTEMBER 13, 2007

I wrote an article on OpenOffice.org for LASA’s knowledgebase, and I wrote another one on Base specifically (Base is the database component to OOo, new in 2.0, Of course, like all open source software, it is “free as in kittens&# – but this particular kitten is pretty grown up, and already spayed and litter trained.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

FEBRUARY 14, 2008

This is not only cool from the perspective of the integration of two great open source web apps, but it also is a very interesting business model. Matt Asay, blogger of all things in open source biz models, thinks Google Code may have overtaken Sourceforge. Setup of all three has a one time fee. Be Helpful.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

APRIL 17, 2008

It’s actually a pretty interesting resource, and worth a read. They have released two studies, one on the “wired wealthy&# and another which is a “nonprofit benchmark index&# study – basically providing some benchmarks for organizations to measure themselves against, traffic, email newsletter click through rates, etc.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JUNE 25, 2008

It leveled the playing field, so that an organization without many resources could do what at that time, required a lot of resources. I could easily argue that for the overwhelming majority of places you need an operating system, the free and open source alternatives are better (if you count the BSD core of the Mac OS.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JULY 27, 2008

I think one of the biggest mistakes that an organization can make with its website is to promise more than it can deliver – make sure that the resources to create that blog, or podcast, or photo gallery, or whatever bells and whistles that you promise on your website, are there when the website goes live. Be Helpful.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JANUARY 19, 2007

On the other hand, perhaps it means that these new, larger entities can provide services and resources that the smaller ones could not. And, it’s still clear that CRM/Fundraising software is where the money and resources are going in nonprofit software development. It doesn’t really change anything. Be Helpful.

Open Source 100

Open Source Convio Nonprofit Hype 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JANUARY 19, 2007

On the other hand, perhaps it means that these new, larger entities can provide services and resources that the smaller ones could not. And, it’s still clear that CRM/Fundraising software is where the money and resources are going in nonprofit software development. It doesn’t really change anything. Be Helpful.

Open Source 100

Open Source Convio Nonprofit Hype 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

MARCH 12, 2007

My favorite quote: “A mutual understanding between the nonprofit organization and the database implementer that converting a database involves organizational change, and this can be stressful and threatening for employees. I wish all nonprofits understood this! I wish all nonprofits understood this! Be Helpful.

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Consultant Data Management Open Source 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

MARCH 12, 2007

My favorite quote: “A mutual understanding between the nonprofit organization and the database implementer that converting a database involves organizational change, and this can be stressful and threatening for employees. I wish all nonprofits understood this! I wish all nonprofits understood this! Be Helpful.

Consultant 100

Consultant Data Management Open Source 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

AUGUST 7, 2007

NTEN is, to my mind, a critically important organization in the ecosystem that is the Nonprofit Technology field, as the convener of the gathering that anchors the community, as well as a unique and necessary multi-dimensional resource at the regional and national levels for all sorts of constituents in the nptech world. Be Helpful.

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NTEN Open Source RSS Director 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JUNE 10, 2008

I actually thought this could be quite useful for organizations to figure out how to allocate sparse resources in the Web 2.0 An interesting conversation ensued on the list – with some arguing that this was a problematic thing. But that’s not the point of this post. Be Helpful.

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Public Widget Open Source Demographics 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

NOVEMBER 16, 2006

I’m reading this book at the same time as I’ve been working on the Nonprofit Open Source Initiative. I’m realizing that all of the justifications for why I am so into open source and free software is right here in this book! It gets chewy, for sure, but it feels like every chew is worth it. Be Helpful.

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Chapter Network Open Source Wikipedia 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JULY 27, 2007

The first article, on Mac database options , just got published last week. One on Open Office, and FOSS on the Mac are forthcoming. It’s enjoyable writing them, and also writing them for a non-US audience (although I’m sure plenty of US folks take advantage of their amazing resource.) Be Helpful.

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Open Source Massachusetts Consultant Tech 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

MARCH 19, 2007

We were talking about whether or not this certain nonprofit, who had mondo resources, should help facilitate web development for their client organizations. at 5:14 pm That’s a pretty sad story, Michelle, and interesting that it was coming from a nonprofit that based on resources shouldn’t have been thinking that way.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JUNE 11, 2007

I think part of the answer has to be to provide the resources for people to become better providers – whether it be to help budding accidental techies get off the ground to become great IT staff or independent consultants, or helping individual and small consulting firms learn what makes really good nonprofit support. Be Helpful.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

MARCH 9, 2008

And, as Dustin pointed out in the comments to my venting post earlier, a lot of this is not the fault of open source desktop software developers. And, of course, there has been a lot of resources and money poured into server software for Linux, but not as much for tools for the desktop. This is my dilemma. Be Helpful.

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Open Source Ubuntu Music Course 111

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

OCTOBER 20, 2006

The other vendors either supply their paying customers with APIs, or, in the case of civicspace, the APIs are, well, free and open, like everything else about open source. From his perspective (and mine, too) one of the big issues (as he put it, the elephant in the room) is how open APIs impacts the business model of vendors.

Web 100

Web API Open Source NTEN 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JANUARY 14, 2009

Forms sent go to email, or a separate database, and someone manually enters that data into the CRM. Even if they do, it takes developer time to write the code to do the integration, and that may be resources that a nonprofit doesn’t have. All of these strategies take time and resources, but of different kinds.

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Integration API Drupal Open Source 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

MARCH 13, 2007

It will use up server resources at some server farm which uses electricity (which means, probably burning dirty coal, or natural gas). But, for the most part, I really don’t want to know what they are doing right now. I need less, and better data, not more. And there is more: it might keep me at my computer longer. Be Helpful.

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Channel Twitter Data Open Source 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

MARCH 2, 2007

I like the wide variety of resources he brings to bear – he’s introduced me to a lot of great writers and thinkers in varied areas. What I like: I like reading Ed’s perspectives on organizations, how they work, and the kinds of strategies and approaches that are around to work within organizations. Be Helpful.

Open Source 100

Open Source RSS Massachusetts Comment 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

APRIL 10, 2008

But should the organization as a whole put resources into a “twitter strategy&# ? I’d be really hard pressed to suggest that they spend much of their meager resources on that. Should they spend a bit of time tying their RSS feed (if they have one) to a twitter account? Sure, why not. Or even a social network strategy?

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Twitter Nonprofit Demographics Open Source 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

AUGUST 17, 2007

Home About Me Subscribe Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology Thoughtful and sometimes snarky perspectives on nonprofit technology The search for good web conferencing August 17, 2007 I decided, perhaps rashly, that one way of exposing people to, and training people on, open source software, was by doing web conferencing.

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Search Web Open Source Audio 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

AUGUST 12, 2007

I’m really interested in helping technology providers get up to speed, so that the amount of support available for nonprofits using Linux (and open source in general) increases. If you are a provider, please feel free to email me if you want more info or help and support in moving forward. Be Helpful.

Ubuntu 100

Ubuntu Technology Open Source Course 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

SEPTEMBER 17, 2007

Just because organization 1 gets 45,000 unique visits per month, and organization 2 gets 3,000 means nothing in relationship to the impact that organization has in the world, or in relationship to how it uses its resources. And the mission of the organization matters too. That dog won’t hunt. 2 admin 09.18.07

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

AUGUST 6, 2007

If nonprofits want to have a good fundraising platform that they can know won’t be bought and swallowed and changed so that they’ll have to shell out more, it’s time to invest money and effort in an open source platform. We have power and options in using open source solutions. We will fill the void.

Open Source 100

Open Source Blackbaud Time Fundraising 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

MARCH 16, 2009

There is a Plone/Salesforce.com Integration group , that keeps working on this, and a number of organization, including ONE/Northwest , have invested huge amounts of time and resources to working on this integration. Freelance Switch Gavin’s Digital Diner Idealware Jon Stahl’s Journal Lifehacker LinuxChix – Be Polite.

Integration 100

Integration Drupal Module Open Source 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

FEBRUARY 18, 2008

As the author of a custom CMS (it did have the advantage that it was released as open source, but it never caught on, so it still counts as custom) I know what it is like to put my heart and soul (and time) into a CMS, and want my clients to get what they want. But, that was then, and this is now. But, that was then, and this is now.

Drupal 100

Drupal Module Open Source WordPress 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

SEPTEMBER 1, 2007

How about some community-owned, community-driven free and open source options? at 9:47 am Actually, the truth with free and open source software is that it is indeed possible to get very good software without shareholder investment. OK, so I’m going to sound like a broken record. But, hey, why not? Be Helpful.

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Kintera Convio Public Companies 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

APRIL 7, 2007

The new journal, the Journal of Information Technology in Social Change , is, I think, a needed part of our landscape of resources for the sector. These resources and tools thus improve equality of opportunity. Those are generally the larger nonprofits – the ones that have some resources to spend. But then I looked deeper.

Journal 100

Journal Change License Model 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

OCTOBER 10, 2006

A nonrival good is something that both of us can have at the same time, without any additional labor or resources. A rival good is something that if you have it, I can’t – if I want one, someone has to work to get/make it. Food items are rival. Cars are rival. Be Helpful.

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Network Chapter Copyright Open Source 100