I joined a fascinating session at today's NCVO conference examining "Are voluntary organisations relevant in a digital society?" The idea was, of course, that we would all say yes... but ... and then go on to examine changes needed to ensure that was the case. I was part of a panel helping move the discussion along, and we covered a lot of ground from the need for a higher level of tech skills to the possibility that people would increasingly bypass nonprofits if they could find information, like minds and services online from a range of sources. Fortunately I had earlier spotted an article about this by Michael C. Gilbert, entitled The Permeable Nonprofit. Michael - writing mainly from US experience - warns that new models of organisation are needed as boundaries and allegiances shift:
The simple fact is that people don't really care about nonprofit organizations per se, unless they have some personal ego identification with them. Even staff and funder loyalty to an organization is fluid, transferring from one organization to another over the years. When I taught career management workshops for people who were first entering nonprofit work, I used to teach them that strategically they should think of themselves as working for a cause, not for an organization. And that reflects a basic truth: People care about causes.
Today's session, combined with chats with some nonprofit tech people at lunchtime, gave me a chance to check my perception of the state of technical development of most nonprofits. The consensus was that many were still struggling with the equivalent of appliances and plumbing - they were having difficulty with equipment and internal networks, and smaller ones often relied on someone's techie husband for support. The bigger ones - including NCVO itself - are better served, but even so staff skills may be limited to basic email and web. Nearly all organisations have web sites, and most people at the session had participated in an online forum (though not necessarily with enthusiasm), and bought online. A few were blogging ... though "wiki" wasn't a generally understood term.
Participants included some passionate enthusiasts for the reach the Net can give to organisations, and the improved information and other services that can be offered to supporters and the public. There was sensible agreement that online services had to run hand-in-hand with phone, print, face-to-face and other means of communication. Don't expect your print bill to go down, warned one contributor - it will increase.
At the end session chair and NCVO chief executive Stuart Etherington asked the panel of Will Davies, Milica Howell, Karl Wilding and me for a bit of advice to nonprofits in the digital age. Several of us said that blogging was likely to be important in reaching from inside the organisation directly to members, supporters and service uses. If people are increasingly expecting personalised services, nonprofits need to be personable, was the way that I put it.
Fortunately NCVO is doing its bit to help nonprofits meet the challenge. The ICT Hub, funded by Government to improve the tech capability of nonprofits, is developing a nationwide programme of support and holding its first conference on March 29. The ICT Foresight team, who organised the session, are practising what they explore through their own blog. My parting thought was that it might be a good idea if NCVO hosted a few informal get-togethers for people blogging in and about nonprofits, to spread the word. You know us, blog anything for a free drink ...
I was over at the sector database conference elsewhere at the time - see my blog at www.charityblog.org.uk. The problems of lack of technical expertise of course came up - most dealing with databases appeared to be 'accidental techies'.
I've been trying to locate any charity related blogs in the UK for the last few weeks, with minimal success (other than a couple of rants giving a very poor impression of the sector). Have you any notes of where the few who said they were blogging reside? See open.charityblog.org.uk for current short list!
John Howes @V olResource
Posted by: John Howes | February 22, 2006 at 06:00 PM
John - sorry, can't offer any more bloggers. It was just a show of hands at the session. I think we need a blogging get-together, real and/or virtual, started by a small group comparing notes. I know a few other interested people, so will get started. Suggestions welcome here or on John's blog, of course
David
Posted by: David Wilcox | February 22, 2006 at 08:15 PM
Hi, I'd be interested in this discussion. I've been blogging for my charity the Drug Education Forum for the last year and a bit.
I've been using it to keep the sector (and anyone else interested) up to date with news and research that I think is of interest.
Posted by: Andrew Brown | July 12, 2006 at 02:13 PM