Stephen Rockwell's blog

How the Economic Crisis Will and Maybe Should Change the Nonprofit Sector

Stephen Rockwell — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 10:29:08 -0500

"Most prefer the security of known misery to the misery of unfamiliar security." Sheldon Kopp

There is no doubt that a great wave of fear has fallen over the nonprofit sector and indeed the nation. The constant barrage of bad news, while tempered by the jubilation surrounding the historic inauguration in Washington, affects our psyches as we approach each day a bit more unsure than the previous. Einstein said that problems can not be solved at the level of analysis that created them and yet we try. We are attempting to solve problems in which the allusive answers seem to create their own host of other problems. Downsizing may temporarily help our organization, but how then will we continue to provide essential services? We attempt to expand our individual donor base, but if all nonprofits make the same attempt how effective will we be? The conversation about the generational shift in leadership change has shifted to a fear that the sector will lose its young and entrepreneurial talent to layoffs. In most cases there are no good answers, only better solutions.

Blogging the Economic Crisis: Why We Need A Department of Nonprofits

Stephen Rockwell — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 17:25:55 -0500

As we head for a changing of the guard in Washington DC, the Obama government will take over a country facing its toughest economic challenge since the Great Depression. Nonprofit staff and boards are worried as an impending financing challenge awaits the nonprofit sector in the coming year as donations, foundation grants and state funding are cut. Despite this perilous situation and despite having a huge role in the economy, the nonprofit sector is largely missing from the public discourse on the economic crisis. Nonprofit professionals and board members need to ask why we are not part of the conversation and how we ensure that our interests are going to be heard in public policy decisions that affect the sector.

Why the Nonprofit Sector Must Speak Up

While the Great Depression provided much of the impetus for government run safety net programs, social services are now largely delivered by the nonprofit sector. Over the last 30 years, government has devolved much of its traditional responsibilities to the sector (whether this is a good thing or not is a subject for a different blog). As the economic crisis takes hold, the demand for nonprofit human services, food from food pantries, and services in other sectors such as workforce development will increase dramatically. While demand is increasing, the supply of services will decrease as donors and state governments cut back. If our missions are to survive, we need a much stronger voice in public policy affairs.

Blogging the Economic Crisis: How Foundations Could Double Their Impact on Our Economy Now.

Stephen Rockwell — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 18:14:07 -0500

Change is in the Air: The Economic Crisis Affects Everything
The economic crisis is challenging long held assumptions in all the facets of our lives. After a lost decade in the financial markets, retirement portfolios are no higher than they were before the dot com boom and bust. The real estate market has likewise reduced wealth challenging the notion that homes are a means to middle class wealth. Higher Education is seeing significant reduction in their endowments and beginning to realize that the rate of increase of tuition over the last three decades is now putting education out of reach for many in the middle class. Similar unsustainable inflation rates in the health care industry will almost certainly require significant austerity measures in the next few years. Despite the growth of the health care industry, it fails to cover 47 million Americans with insurance (and perhaps many more as a result of the recession.) Universal health care insurance is almost assuredly on its way. The spike in oil prices and the change of consumer behavior provided what could be the final nail in the coffin for the American auto industry.

Networked Nonprofit Blog: How MCS Moved Completely to the Cloud and Why You Should Too.

Stephen Rockwell — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 10:57:11 -0400

Within the last year, MCS eliminated all of its technology infrastructure by moving our applications to “the cloud”. For those of you not familiar with cloud computing, its essentially hosted software applications and associated data on the Internet in a models. Such models are also known as “software as a service” or as IBM coined “on demand computing” (for more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing). MCS’s move is indicative of major changes underway in the technology world and could be a model for nonprofits.

Networked Nonprofit Blog: Measuring 2.0 Success

Stephen Rockwell — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 10:31:09 -0400

Nonprofit leaders are becoming more familiar with the 2.0 tools and strategies that are creating a new paradigm for constituency engagement. A simple look at a nonprofit employment website shows a proliferation in new positions with titles such as "online community manager" or "new media communications associate". Even if an organization has yet to adopt the new technology, there is a growing awareness of a brave new world in which the organization must seek to engage.

Networked Nonprofit Seminar: "Building Online Community Engagement Plans"

Stephen Rockwell — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:55:13 -0400

With all the new 2.0 technology, how do you decide what's right for your organization? A two hour strategic technology workshop will help you figure out how to engage you constituents online.

Register Now

Our Strategic Technology Practice Leader, Stephen Rockwell will present a hands-on workshop that will both teach about how nonprofits are using the latest 2.0 technologies and offer practical strategies for building online engagement for your organization.

Specifically we will cover:

Networked Nonprofit Blog: Technology Term Cheat Sheet for Nonprofit Leaders

Stephen Rockwell — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:12:14 -0400

MCS hosts leadership groups for nonprofit leaders. The group asked me to develop a list of terms for an upcoming training so that we're all starting from the same page. I figured it would make for a good blog post. Here's the cheat sheet:

Networked Nonprofit Blog: Your web and software infrastructure for less than $200 a year

Stephen Rockwell — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 12:19:49 -0500

Some funders and IT consultants claim that there is still a significant organizational gap when it comes to basic IT infrastructure. Such a story was true in the late nineties and into this decade, but it is a declining issue as a result of the amount of cheap or freely available software for nonprofits.
Much of this free software exists as software as a service on the web. The fact that the software is hosted on a website means that most of the processing for the software is happening on someone else's machine. This extends the life of your old computers since you don't need to upgrade to incorporate new software (unless you've made the mistake of upgrading to Windows VISTA).

Networked Nonprofit Seminar: Building and Managing Online Community

Stephen Rockwell — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 11:06:07 -0500

Strategies for activating your community and keeping the momentum going

Click Here to Register

Start: 12/11/2007 - 11:30am
End: 12/11/2007 - 1:30pm

As nonprofit organizations change their web presence from "brochure-ware" to a more active online community, new strategies, new staffing models and new business processes are necessary to ensure effective adoption of the technology.

This seminar is structured for organizations that are considering or currently working to build online communities. Specifically, we will cover practical strategies that you can apply today to:

Deliver value to members and website users
Find hooks for online participation for each individual and constituency

Networked Nonprofit Blog: The Online Community Manager

Stephen Rockwell — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 14:27:40 -0500

Over the last couple of months, I have seen more and more job postings from innovative nonprofits that are hiring for online community manager positions. This is a welcome sign that we are fast reaching an inflection point in the adoption of 2.0 technologies. Whether creating new positions or adjusting current positions, nonprofits are adjusting their human resources to meet the growing demands of building online community.

There a number of skill sets that one ought to look for when hiring the online community manager:

Networked Nonprofit Blog: Tagging and Social Bookmarking

Stephen Rockwell — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 15:28:32 -0400

Tagging and social bookmarking are topics that are frankly fairly new to me. I have heard a lot about this new phenomenon, but admittedly have spent relatively little time engaged in developing and executing strategies around these Web 2.0 technologies. Given my lack of knowledge I started experimenting. Here’s what I have found out so far.

Tagging

Networked Nonprofit Seminar: Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) in a 2.0 World

Stephen Rockwell — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 11:56:06 -0400

Review of CRM solutions and strategies for leveraging your data to enhance your communication strategy

Sign up for the seminar on November 14

Whether a spreadsheet with names and addresses or a sophisticated corporate CRM solution, almost all nonprofits have some mechanism to track their donors, volunteers and other stakeholders.

MCS White Paper Release: Boston Nonprofit Technology Adoption

Stephen Rockwell — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 11:55:12 -0400

MCS White Paper
Title: Why Boston-area Nonprofits Are Behind In Technology Adoption, Its Consequences, and What to Do About It
Abstract: The paper provides recommendations to nonprofit organizations, nonprofit technology intermediaries, and funders as to how to encourage more rapid technology adoption and to ensure effective use of technology. Specifically, the white paper recommends that the network of intermediaries establish a coordinating council that develops and delivers on a regional strategic plan for technology assistance.
White Paper is attached below:

Web 2.0 Radio Program/Podcast: Fundraising Success

Stephen Rockwell — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 12:12:23 -0400

I recently was on Dr. Stephen Goldstein's WXEL public radio program, "Fundraising Success." I discussed some introductory Web 2.0 items.

http://wxelpodcasts.org/2007/08/14/fundraising-success-081207.aspx

MC 2.0 Blog: Defining Social Value Through an IT Lens

Stephen Rockwell — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 10:30:55 -0400

Defining value is a difficult task within the nonprofit sector because of the double bottom line with which organizations must contend. Nonprofits must concern themselves with both financial performance and mission-related social value. As a result of the varied missions throughout the sector, the desired outcomes of nonprofits do not readily lend themselves to a standard definition of value.

The Tech-Savvy Nonprofit

Stephen Rockwell — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 15:51:12 -0400

What qualifies as a tech-savvy nonprofit? How do you know that your organization is utilizing technology at a proficient manner? Why should you even want to attain a state of tech-savvyness? These constantly evolving questions, but there is some fantastic research available on the corporate side that we can adapt to the nonprofit sector.

Reflections on Boston Nonprofit Technology Conference

Stephen Rockwell — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 18:13:09 -0400

Boston certainly has a vibrant nonprofit technology community. The Boston Nonprofit Technology Conference, put on by the good folks at TechFoundation, was made up mostly of the nonprofit technology folks from the area. While it was a little disappointing not to see more nonprofit decision makers (executive directors, program managers, board members, etc.), the conference provided a great opportunity to network and learn from leaders in the field.

Study on Nonprofit Technology Adoption Released

Stephen Rockwell — Tue, 22 May 2007 15:25:28 -0400

Discuss Here: http://www.mcsorg.org/?q=forum/16

ABSTRACT

The attached paper seeks to determine the critical factors that influence the adoption and effective use of technologies within the nonprofit sector. The analysis places a particular emphasis on the role of funders who finance technology adoption and intermediaries who play the role of catalysts, enablers, and educators in the implementation of and subsequent innovation with technology.

Nonprofit Technology Adoption Paper Executive Summary

Stephen Rockwell — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 11:00:32 -0400

I'm the process of completing my thesis for MIT Sloan. I've included the executive summary below and will be uploading various segments over the next few weeks, but if you would like to receive the full thesis, let me know and I'll get it to you sometime in May.

Reflections on Dr. Weill's Class: IT Portfolio Management

Stephen Rockwell — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 17:59:16 -0500

I daresay that most nonprofits do not view their Information Technology as a portfolio to be managed, but segmenting the types of IT investments can be helpful in order to be more beneficially use very limited resources.

The MIT Sloan Center for Information Systems Research and Dr. Peter Weill have developed the concept of an IT Portfolio with four asset classes:

read more

Reflection on Dr. Peter Weill's Class - IT Decision-Making

Stephen Rockwell — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 15:13:19 -0500

I'm taking a fantastic class at MIT Sloan with Professor Peter Weill entitled "Generating Business Value from IT". Weill primarily focuses his class on Fortune 1000 companies, but I believe there are important lessons for the nonprofit sector. I will attempt to tease out these nuggets of wisdom from his lectures and class discussions through a series of blogs this Spring.

Technological Innovation in the Nonprofit Sector

Stephen Rockwell — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 17:57:47 -0500

A growing interdependency exists between government, networks and the private sector facilitated by information and communication technologies and a networked mode of organization that encourages cross-organization and cross-organizational interdependencies. “Networks allow innovative government officials to discharge government’s important role in solving social problems, by supporting – not supplanting – functioning elements in civil society.”1