This past week, Aspiration put on the 2009 Nonprofit Software Development Summit in Oakland, CA. It was pretty incredible. 80+ people involved in social change, nonprofit tech and software development coming to one place to not just listen to a couple of keynoters speak, but to listen to each other. Thought-provoking conversation, new tool showcasing and massive group hugging in an atmosphere that is, dare I say, like no other.
Aspiration events are all about the resources existing in the people around you rather than just a few “experts.” Sessions are kept small and designed as discussions around topics rather than lectures. We hope that people will get relevant information from the sessions, but perhaps more importantly, connections to others that are working on the same issues, having the same problems and coming to different conclusions. Analog social networking. đ
Also, check out our Flickr photo feed for the #devsummit tag and the corresponding #devsummit Twitter feed. For more information on Aspiration Events, check out the Event Methodology Page. Finally, thanks to all the amazing participants who came out to Oakland to share, connect and learn. It wouldn’t be anything without you.
As is required of every blogger from time to time, I want to push you all (or “y’all” if you prefer) to some posts that popped up in our Twitter stream. Check it:
Is Your Nonprofit Too Social Media Dependent? Interesting points and questions are raised in this post from Allyson Kapin at frogloop especially when considering how much pressure is on nonprofits to get involved in the green social media pastures. From @Network4Good
Frontline SMS in Agriculture Frontline SMS is a great tool that allows Nonprofits to take advantage of group text messaging. While, to many in the United States, mass text messaging seems like a strange sort of outreach, mobile phones are becoming the ubiquitous communication device in countries where widespread computer ownership or internet access is limited. As you can imagine, the idea has a lot of potential and in this post, Kiwanja highlights Frontline’s intersection with agriculture. From @kiwanja
From Twitter to mass text-messaging, social action groups all around the world are taking advantage of new technology. What tools is your org taking advantage of? Let us post your story!
At Aspiration, we’ve been trying to smooth some of the rough edges that we have with regard to ensuring that we have our data secure. This both means having a reliable and trusted service into which we put that data but also being responsible for backing it up ourselves, because it takes one server meltdown to take a “reliable” service to a “you lost all of my data and are now on my blacklist for life” service. In honor of these thoughts of terrifying data apocalypse, (as well as a great resource tweet from @pearlbear) here are a few resources for getting a more secure hold on your data:
Backing Up Your Google Universe The people behind The Data Liberation Front say that they “intend for this site to be a central location for information on how to move your data in and out of Google products” and they definitely hit the nail on the head. Every Google product from Gmail to Docs to Orkut is covered with ways in which to export your data out.
Exporting Your Tweets Twitter, with all of its popularity and good intentions, still goes down ALL the time (as evidenced by this Fail Whale Fan Club). Needless to say, backing up Twitter should be something of a priority if you care about what you tweet or who is following you. Tweetake is a simple, easy, web-based tool that spits out a .csv file of your followers, their websites, their names, their screen names, their descriptions, their last tweet, ALL of your tweets (get ready), direct messages, etc. It’s all in the simplicity. Tweetake does what it says it will do and gives you that magical standard of data export, the csv file. PS, did you know that Twitter only archives your tweets up to 3,200?
Smuggling Your Data Out of Facebook When looking to back up Facebook, there are a couple options that have popped up to help you out. SocialSafe is an Adobe Air application that allows you to download data from your Facebook account, however, at present, it costs $2.99. Kind of lame. Another option is the Firefox Addon called ArchiveFacebook. This extension to the Firefox web browser downloads a user’s Facebook data as well. This add-on is still experimental but its development into a fully fledged add-on will be a welcome addition because while Twitter backup tools abound, Facebook options are sorely lacking.
These are only a few of the tools that are out there for getting the data from your social media presence back in your hands.
We nonprofit geeks over at Aspiration, the mama organization for Social Source Commons have recently begun working in Social Media for our organization. While this new world can be big, scary, haphazard, constantly changing and full of scary critters, there is a lot of potential value that nonprofits can gain by engaging the different audiences that frequent the newly emerged social media avenues. But the big problem is, not only are there a ton of them, but they sprout up every day like Steve Gutenberg movies in the ’80s. How is anyone supposed to keep track? Well, we like to use what we call Aspiration’s Online Communications Matrix. (But for those who are morally opposed to excessive syllables, “Publishing Matrix” works for short.)
The idea behind a Publishing Matrix is that your organization has many different channels in which to communicate with its constituency. Each of these channels has a slightly (or dramatically) different audience, tone and purpose. But very few organizations have an intentional model for when to use specific online tools for specific purposes, or how to coordinate their use of different online channels to greater effect. A âpublishing matrixâ offers an integrated way for deciding which messages go to which online channels: what’s tweet-worthy, what is âjustâ web content.
Creating one involves the following steps using a spreadsheet tool:
Each online channel (web site, email list, blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc) is labeled as a column in a spreadsheet.
Each type of online content an organization publishes (eNewsletters, press releases, event announcements, blog posts, etc) are allocated a row in the spreadsheet.
For each content type, an âXâ is placed in each cell in that row corresponding to a channel where that type of content is publicized. For instance, an org might tweet about a blog post, but not tell their mailing list. eNewsletters may be mentioned on the web site, but perhaps not on the blog. And it’s certainly the case that most tweets won’t ever find their way into the more traditional web and email channels.
Organizations can then use their matrix to drive publishing process. Whenever any online content is published, the matrix provides a simple deterministic guide on where to cross-reference it to maximize distribution and drive traffic. Having a document and process that dictates these patterns removes pressure to âfigure it outâ every time, and creates consistent messaging patterns and process. In other words, bringing the organization together on the same page.
To the right, I’ve embedded a toolbox that I’ve made containing tools that we use for online communications. That is, my Publishing Matrix Tools. You can also read the ways in which we take advantage of each in my custom descriptions. (Don’t you just LOVE internal linking…?)
What techniques do you use for communicating content to a wide variety of channels? What channels do you use that aren’t in our matrix?
Because every organization is different, every organization will have different messages they want to communicate as well as different ways in which to do it. Some nonprofits we work with take advantage of mass SMS for contacting people without email. Some use Craigslist as their primary place to post new positions. It all depends on your audience assessment and the messages that you are trying to get across.
I wanted you all to check out a new toolbox one of our users put together to the right. Kathryn Benedicto recently created a toolbox of Drupal modules that she finds particularly useful.
What is a “module” you ask? Modules are small programs that add additional functionality to a tool. In this case, Drupal, a Content Management System that many people use to create websites, uses modules to add different features and content to a website.
This kind of program that adds on new functions to a tool can go by many names. In Firefox, they are called “add-ons” while in Drupal some are called “modules” and in Joomla they are “extensions” and “components.” While they might come in a variety of monikers, the basics of what they do is the same. These add-ons make the tool you are using do more.
One of the benefits of using open source software with an active community behind it (such as Firefox or Drupal) is that creating modules and add-ons is open to anyone who wants to give it a shot. The code of these programs is there for the examining (and for that matter, taking or changing) so a developer can easily see the guts of the program that they want to extend. This is in contrast to proprietary software whose owners don’t want you to know how it works because making money becomes a little harder when anyone can copy how your program works and then post it for less or, God forbid, nothing.
So these add-ons aren’t just an extra function for a tool, but also a way to build community through contribution. Anyone who’s an ardent Firebug fan will tell you that they’re married to Firefox because of it. Add-ons and modules and the communities that create them make tools better and in turn help the people that are using them. In the case of Social Source Commons, we hope that we can help you find software to make the world a better place *insert Bette Midler music here*
Check out some Firefox add-ons on SSC also. So what are your thoughts? What’s your favorite module or add-on? What’s missing in our lists? Let me know.
An innovative project from Skip Cole out of the United States Institute of Peace, OSP is an open source program that allows organizations, diplomats and other agencies to train people in negotiating tactics and situations. As international disputes become increasingly common in an ever-more connected world, Open Sim Platform allows people and organizations to use open source technology for change. Sweet!
A fully featured open source GIS program, uDig stands for User friendly, Desktop located, Internet oriented, GIS ready. Designed to be both a working platform and a foundation for other programs, uDig provides a framework for geographical information systems without the proprietary lockdown of other GIS programs. Give it a whirl!
Creating and blasting email is Mad Mimi’s M.O. They feature an easy email creation tool as well as different pricing plans based on the amount of emails you send. One of many Email Blast tools, Mad Mimi is another choice to consider. With a tool like an email blaster, you want to make sure you are comfortable with the interface because as a nonprofit, you’ll be using it often if doing any outreach online. Plus, I mean that icon is pretty slick. Doesn’t look too mad though…
These are some great tools added by users just like yourself. What are the tools that YOU use at your nonprofit? Let us know what they are and what you think! You’re not just giving us interesting stuff to read but also informing other nonprofits like your own. Let them know what’s in YOUR toolbox.
I’ve run across a few articles around the interwebs recently that I thought some of you might find interesting. They all have to do with social media best practices and taking advantage of the conversation that results from tools like Twitter and Facebook.
Sometimes (read: all times) there’s a million different opinions about the million different social media options, but I personally believe that having a process in place to handle the different social media mediums (however flash-in-the-pan) is important in order to use them effectively. These articles seem like they can help shape that process for many people so check them out and let me know what you think.
We all love to add tools to Social Source Commons and now we know that we can edit our toolbox tool descriptions so that they tell a specific story. But did you know that you can also leave your thoughts about a tool on its individual tool listing? Yes! Yes, you can. Drum roll, please.
For every tool listed in SSC, there is a section of comments where users can not only leave their thoughts about a tool, but also read what other users have said about that same tool. The comments link is located near the top of the Tool listing next to the number of toolboxes that the tool is included in:
When you click on a tool’s comments link, you’re taken to a listing of all the comments left for that tool as well as a field to leave a comment yourself:
Leaving comments for tools is easy and a great way to let others know what you think of an individual tool. So, find your favorite (or most hated) tool and let us know what you think!
Robert Weiner, nonprofit technology consultant, recently put together a toolbox on Social Source Commons of Donor Databases and I was able to steal a few minutes of his time to get his opinion on donor databases for nonprofits. Check it out:
What do you do? How are you involved in the nonprofit sector?
The vast majority of my work is helping nonprofits assess whether they have the right donor database, and whether theyâre using it correctly. If they donât have the right database, I help them select a new one. Assessments include asking questions like: Does the tool have the proper support? Are people getting their work done with it? Most of my projects revolve around donor management, and about 80% are focused on selecting donor database tools.
How did this list come into existence and why do you maintain it?
The list came about from a 2008 NTEN customer satisfaction survey on donor databases and Idealwareâs 2009 low-cost database guide. Those surveys built on earlier vendor lists and some Campbell Research customer satisfaction surveys. I kept getting requests for a comprehensive donor database list so I put them all together and posted it on my web site. Once it was up on my website, people requested additional interactivity for the listings, which Social Source Commons added (links to the product pages, other useful links, areas to comment, etc.).
Has putting it into SSC changed the way you see it being used in the future?
The interactivity that SSC lends to the Donor Database Toolbox will help ensure that the listing is actively maintained and actually used as a collaborative resource.
What trends are you seeing in the Donor Database field?
One trend that is definitely on the upswing is more integration within products. For example, there is a lot more demand for database tools that also do mass email, online donations, online event registration, etc. Email marketing especially has become a core feature over the last few years, but recently online giving and registration have also increasingly started popping up. On top of integration within a single tool, more donor database tools have started featuring integration with other products (whereas before they would be closed systems). More and more applications are publishing their APIs making it easier for different products to talk to each other.
Also, more products are moving to a web interface (not necessarily SAASâsome can be installed locally).
Speaking of Software As A Service, how do you see it as a competing offering in the donor database world?
More products than ever are offering a hosted option alongside their download-able (local) option so that people have the choice. Usually the decision whether to go SAAS or local is very client-specific with regard to donor databases. Some clients canât keep their information local because they simply donât have the internal IT support to maintain it. Others donât want to devote their resources to managing their own data. On the other hand, political organizations and universities insist that they manage their data themselves. So there are a lot of considerations for an organization to make when looking at using a hosted option for their data.
As far as security goes, most of the vulnerabilities of SAAS exist for hosting your own data as well (vulnerabilities to hackers on the internet, or a disgruntled IT staffer). So there are risks on both sides. Sometimes managing data in house could be less secure. For example, if an org isnât taking proper security measures (backing up, proper password procedures, etc.). On the hosting side, best practices call for the assumption that the night before your biggest event of the year, your hosting goes down. Whether itâs hosted or local, you need to have access to backups of your data. Some people assume that when they have their data hosted, that they donât have a responsibility for backing up, but itâs just as critical as when you host the data locally yourself. Because even if your host is backing up your site, it doesnât help you much if the host goes down.
I donât think that âgaining onâ is the right phrase to use. I would say that programs like Salesforce are definitely forcing more established vendors to rethink their sustainability and their strategy in general. Programs like Salesforce arenât running them out of business but rather leading the way and spurring more open integration. It will be interesting to see where it goes.
How do you feel about Salesforce for nonprofits, in general?
Salesforce is always a special case. When using it, you’re getting a toolkit that someone needs to configure for you. Almost always, an organization’s success using Salesforce comes down to who configures it for you and if they can put it together to do what you want, and, perhaps more importantly, maintain if for you as you use it.
Many nonprofits come to me saying “Let’s do Salesforce!” because they’ve heard a lot about it and know that it’s free for nonprofits. The problem is that it looks free, but it isn’t. Even after setting it up, you have to get your data out of your old system and into Salesforce as well as generate new reports and get training and support. Many nonprofits forget about the support aspect of IT. I’ll often see nonprofits that get Salesforce and even get someone set it up for them in a way that they can use but then they don’t have any ongoing support. So they have no one to call when things go wrong. Not the position you want to be in. There is a HUGE risk in not having software support. Many think that annual support is just gouging them for money but it’s really a form of insurance.
The other day, I sat down with Michelle Murrain, an SSC user who put together the OpenIssue Tools Toolbox (seen at right), to chat about what she does, how she uses SSC and why Redmine can convert any Basecamp user over to the dark side.
What do you do? How are you involved in the nonprofit sector?
I work for OpenIssue, which is a business that implements web services for nonprofits and social enterprises using open platforms as well as offering strategic consulting. So, for example, OpenIssue may develop an organization’s website using Drupal (an open source CMS) or put together their CRM using CiviCRM (an open source CRM).
How’d the OpenIssue Tools Toolbox come into existence and why do you maintain it?
I put together this list, on the fly, of tools that we use a lot in our daily work. Whether they’re tools we develop on, like Drupal, or simply tools that we work with day to day like the project management tool, Redmine. The idea is that we can show our clients and other interested parties the tools that we work with as well as keep a conscious list for ourselves.
Can you tell us a little about how and why you use some of the tools in the OpenIssue Tools Toolbox?
Looking at the various options in CMSes, we felt that Drupal was the best option for developing the kinds of sites that we needed to produce for our clients. Certain things, like the ease in which Drupal can develop large and complex sites and the fact that organizations can relatively easily pick up on content editing made Drupal seem like the best choice. Also, the fact that we have experience working with it meant we didn’t have to learn an entirely new platform or language. So a lot of our decision came down to practicality.
OpenIssue is currently two partners: Michelle and Thomas (with various independent contractors) and Thomas is the people person. He’s into knowing who is out there and how we can collaborate. LinkedIn is a perfect place for seeing who is in the field, available, what experience that they have etc.
We were using Intervals for a while and outgrew it pretty quickly. We were about to use Trac but then ran into a wall because Trac is single-project only. There is a multi-project Trac version but when looking into it in a forum, someone suggested Redmine as a better alternative and the rest was kismet. Redmine is an open source project-management tool based on Ruby on Rails. While Basecamp is sort of a standard among many in the sector, Redmine does everything Basecamp do and more in an easier and free interface. As someone who has used many project management tools and tested even more, Redmine has continually impressed me with how it meets my needs.
SSC Tool Comments
By Matt on September 17, 2009We all love to add tools to Social Source Commons and now we know that we can edit our toolbox tool descriptions so that they tell a specific story. But did you know that you can also leave your thoughts about a tool on its individual tool listing? Yes! Yes, you can. Drum roll, please.
For every tool listed in SSC, there is a section of comments where users can not only leave their thoughts about a tool, but also read what other users have said about that same tool. The comments link is located near the top of the Tool listing next to the number of toolboxes that the tool is included in:
When you click on a tool’s comments link, you’re taken to a listing of all the comments left for that tool as well as a field to leave a comment yourself:
Leaving comments for tools is easy and a great way to let others know what you think of an individual tool. So, find your favorite (or most hated) tool and let us know what you think!