hidef

The 2010 Nonprofit Technology Conference provided me a wealth of wisdom and friendships. It also gave me a sense of urgency regarding how nonprofits operate on the Internet, which is where I want to focus in this reflective, trend-defining post.

For quite some time nonprofits have focused on having a web site and making sure information is kept up to date. However, the web is no longer a platform for displaying electronic brochures; it is a platform for live interactions and relationships.

Here, then, are five ways the "Version 1.0" understandings of what the web offers are being replaced by the new roles technology plays in great causes.

1. Marketing 2.0: Relational Engagement

Nonprofits have heard the social media nag for some time: "You should be active on Facebook and Twitter. Now." However, some of those who have begun to use social networking treat it only as one of the many ways to promote a press release. Others, in tune with the fundamental shifts now at hand, are seeing that what we have in social networking isn't another syndication tool, but the manifestations of a new way of thinking about the Internet's purpose: relationships.

Engaging a constituent is not a matter of getting them back to a web site via a link on a "tweet" or status update or blog post. Rather, marketing is now a matter of establishing a relationship using the most appropriate tools, then employing whatever means necessary to help that relationship become a partnership. Web sites are now just one of many avenues through which this partnership can happen, with commercial social networks, mobile applications, and other word-of-mouth conduits serving as liaison.

The picture of marketing is no longer one-to-many. Instead, interactions on the web end up looking more like a cloud of interconnected nodes in which the node that started it all may or may not be readily visible. Many fear this transition means the loss of control of their organization's message, and the fear is well-founded. However, the solution is not to hold fast to the old way of sending out formal press releases to ensure every word adheres to a corporate style guide. Instead, the emphasis is on finding the right people who can start and monitor the nebulous conversations that will eventually lead to action on behalf of the cause, which is, in the end, the goal.

2. Content 2.0: Interactive Storytelling

One thread that found its way into many sessions is the subtle yet profound statement that in this new web of relational engagement, your strategy is your story. I stated this in my reflections on day one, but I need to go deeper. As social media tools become common place and the calls to action an organization once had custom built are readily available to all, the way one nonprofit stands out from another (or from anything, for that matter), is through its story.

It's important to note that story here doesn't mean that blurb that gets buried under the About Us -> History page of a web site. I'm talking about an interactive story told in real time that turns the people who experience it into the very heroes it needs to come true. The story unfolds on the web site, on social networks, on forums, and campaigns. It places the organization itself in the background and paints in intimate detail the portrait of the people the organization is serving.

Best of all, when the story is told the right way, we are all engaged and want to play a role. Relational engagement and storytelling go hand in hand, of course. Hence, organizations will need to find and support great storytellers rather than simply create and publish great stories.

3. Data 2.0: Turnkey Wisdom

Social media certainly presents new opportunities to engage constituents, and each opportunity signifies another point of data that must be captured. Nonprofits must be sure to go beyond capturing the data into a single database and move to provide immediate analysis of it and hold it up to the measuring stick of their overall.

Nonprofits, though many are just getting used to using even the simplest of tools such as Google Analytics, will need to react more quickly to events and the way their constituents react to them. Content needs to come out more quickly, responses to the community more frequently, and full analyses of activity more clearly. There will be no time to wait for a report to be generated over a 24 to 48 hour period; the chance to capitalize on an opportunity--and money--may be lost.

I don't want to paint the picture that all nonprofits should have a staffer manning a futuristic data kiosk 24/7 (and certainly no one entering a code into it every 108 minutes). Rather, "work smarter, not harder," is the key. Nonprofits will build and use a new breed of software systems that collect and analyze key data in a central database with minimal reentry needed. What was once complex will appear simple, so long as organizations choose the right solution for their needs.

4. Activism 2.0: Meaningful Gaming

Think on this: one of only two plenary speakers spent over an hour commanding the attention of 1,400 nonprofit technologists by demoing his video game. A video game. Everyone's attention was rapt, and folks couldn't stop talking about the possibilities afterwards. The focus was not just on gaming, but on the power of gaming for social change. Gaming is transitioning from that thing that teens and 35-year-olds-still-living-at-home do, to a way that many people meet and interact on a daily basis.

The powerful mechanics of games will continue to find their way into social applications, and social applications will start looking more like games by adopting winning strategies. The convergence will be seamless but important. It may not be long before high scores, badges, and virtual goods inspire folks to collaborate and compete not to beat the boss or claim new virtual territory, but to fight disease and promote freedom.

5. Collaboration 2.0: Micro-Coordination

This theme is not so much what I picked up from the conference, where each nonprofit came to understand how its mission could be furthered using technology, but rather a theme that i brought with me and saw was readily applicable to all nonprofits there.

Nonprofits need to coordinate better with each other. I don't just mean setting up knowledge sharing repositories or planning quarterly meetings in which ideas flow for some short hours. I envision collaboration at the database level, where key anonymized information can flow freely between nonprofits in real time, allowing the activity of one nonprofit's constituency to inform the actions of another, or where a member of the public who enters one nonprofit's headquarters will be redirected to the correct location immediately thanks to up-to-date information provided in the centralized nonprofit extranet.

Much as academia has sought ways to ensure that one researcher's findings are not the duplicated efforts of another researcher's half way around the world, so all organizations will need to share each other's insights and data in real time down to the level of individual constituents (respecting privacy, of course).

The Final Word

Much more can be said about the development of technology on the web and how it relates to great causes (mobile, anyone?), but we do covet your thoughts on what has been can discussed here, and we're excited to help more organizations take full advantage of these emerging trends.

Is your organization 2.0 ready? Contact us today to install the upgrade and rejuvenate your operating system.