Having managed IT off the side of my desk (in addition to fundraising), I wanted to pass along a few nuggets of wisdom about information technology. Specifically, I was asked the other day how to hire a good “geek” for a non-profit. Seemed that all the best IT experts were either too specialized or too expensive to hire.

So I said to her, don’t just hire a geek. You need to step back and plan laterally. Here’s my two-part series on how to solve your IT woes…

July 15th, 12 Noon Eastern time, the Chronicle of Philanthropy will host an online event, Building Your Online Presence on a Tight Budget. 

Beth Kanter and Jonathon Colman will facilitate the discussion.  Here are their bios from the Chronicle of Philanthropy site:

NTEN's "Be the Media" project that we mentioned last week has been renamed, We Are Media: The Social Media Starter Kit for Nonprofits.

This week they are looking for your ideas about Thinking Strategically About Social Media.

Some of the questions they are trying to answer are:

I was given a review copy of "Getting to First Base" a social media marketing how to book by Darren Barefoot and Julia Szabo.    The books provides great advice on the following topics:

• Bring more visitors to your website
  Increase your company’s visibility online
  Engage with online influencers

 

As many of us know, or have heard, Jeremiah Owyang brought down the house with his keynote presentation at the Seattle! Yep Web Community Forum on December 5th. Special thanks go to Beth Kanter for casting a spotlight on Jeremiah’s contributions toward our better understanding & appreciation of social media.

Some of the projects were very clear about these things.  Others, sadly, were not.  Those that were best thought out were easier to understand and (therefore) easier to get behind.  I wanted to ask the others to go back and answer these questions, and THEN start asking for resources.  

1) Mission statement (short and sweet)

2) Need(s) your project addresses (from the standpoint of the population to be served and/or your organization’s gaps/requirements) [aka outcomes]. These should be specific, detailed enough to be convincing, and manageable within the scope of your budget and time frame. “Our members need a web site” does not meet these criteria.

A recent article on the Financial Times about a lack of skills and experience within the web advertsiment sector got me thinking about how the challenge is part of a wider picture in 2.0.

In a nutshell there seems to be a gap between 2.0 "real-time" and the sources of information that are meant to provide relevant players with the needed information and insights, if these are delayed then ultimately so is the development of skills and experience. I have been tracking data for a while, and noticed a widening gap as the information deepens. I believe the trend is integral to the very nature of the source and "information providers":

Yesterday I came across an interesting  piece on GigaOM about the "Fat Belly" (original piece linked here), that added on to Chris Anderson's Long Tail theory (read about it here). In a nutshell: Anderson's theory divides the power law distribution curve into two segments, a big head, a tall peak that represents things like top search queries, main current news issues, a blockbuster film, mass products etc... and rapidly drops and extends into a long tail, all the niche searches, stories, products, indie-music, B-movies etc... to put it simply, people search/buy/consume/are intereseted in "less of more". The GigaOM piece adds to the equation a middle bit, the fat belly, that gathers social networks, online communities, aggregators (like digg) etc...

When will nonprofits learn what is common knowledge to politicians? Modern political strategy stands on three pillars: message, money, machine. The entry-level campaign strategist understands that the second two won’t come until the first pillar is set up..establish the clear message (and ideally condense it into a catchy sound bite).

Let’s face it, we have an uphill battle on money and machine. If we raise too much money--unrelated business tax, if we raise tpo little--program cuts, if we spend it promoting our cause--misuse of funds, if we hire savvy leaders—excessive compensation! If we hit the streets-unallowable costs; if we use our volunteer activists? Lobbying, If we hook up with local politicians? Loose your tax-exempt status!

But Message? There are no barriers in our way here. Who are we? What do we want to be? And once we know why we are here…what do we bring to the table? The later should be in the forefront of every givers mind.

If you are seeing a nonprofit version of a monopoly game (go directly to jail do not collect $200)…you are reading my mind.

WHEN YOU’RE UNDER A CLOUD…LOOK OVER THERE!

What to do when the message is already out there and it isn’t what you were wanting? Take a hint from the message masters: Politicians. Politicians are no strangers to scandal (did I say that with a straight face?). When they want to rebound after a scandal do they set up workshops on Accountability? NO. Do they write codes of conduct? NO. Do they hire compliance officers? Not a chance. They turn to the staple of magicians everywhere—misdirection. Give the public some compelling new vision, take their minds off the past and look toward a new future.