Deborah Elizabeth Finn, the Cyber-Yenta from Boston, writes a blog on the intersection between nonprofits and technology. Even though my own organization is a technology assistance provider and can provide a great deal of valuable content, I thought this post, focused as it is on Executive knowledge would be particularly valuable to an ED audience.

Deborah's blog is at
http://blog.deborah.elizabeth.finn.com/blog

1. Very little technical knowledge is required in order for nonprofit CEOs to participate actively in strategic IT planning.

As long as you thoroughly understand your organization's overall mission, strategy, and tactics and (are willing to learn a little bit about the technology), you can keep your information technology infrastructure on target.

Example: Your mission is to save the whales (not to maintain a local area network)! In order to save the whales, you need a strategy: to stay informed and inform others about the issues, lobby for policy changes, to issue action alerts, to raise money, and to maintain relationships with various legislators, constituents, communities, donors, potential friends, and allies. Keep pressing for tactics that will help you achieve your desired outcomes (saving whales); this will enable you to hold your own in most discussions with technical experts.

2. Your board of directors should be calling for and participating in your strategic information technology planning.

If they're not, it's time to recruit some board members who are techies. For example, your region probably has an internet service provider, a high-tech corporation, or a large retail firm with an extensive IT department. Perhaps you can recruit representatives from these organizations to serve on your board as part of their community benefits program.

3. A tremendous number of high-quality resources for strategic IT planning are available to nonprofits at no charge.

Free advice, products, and services make it possible for nonprofits to lower the risk of trying new technology - but in the long run you'll have to pay real money to have precisely the right tools for supporting your mission.

4. You can keep an eye on innovations in IT, and think about possible uses for them in the nonprofit sector, even if you don't have a technical background.

If you regularly read the technology columns of a good daily newspaper, and a few general interest magazines such as "PC Monthly," "MAC User," or "Network World," you will soon catch on to the basic concepts and terminology. (Don't worry if it seems over your head at first - you'll catch on! Everybody has to start somewhere.)

Example: You work for a nonprofit organization with five employees and four non-networked computers. It's time to link them up so that you and your colleagues can share information and regularly back up your work. As you read articles on wireless networking, and look at the building where you work - which is a pre-electricity Victorian house only somewhat successfully retrofitted for its current functions - you see that you may actually save money by going wireless.

You ask your IT vendors for estimates on drilling and running cables through the building, and find that the cost of labor, support, upgrades, future expansion, and maintenance for a more conventional network will exceed that of a simple wireless network.

5. Information technology, no matter how strategically you apply it, will probably never save your nonprofit organization any money.

It will, however, enable you to work more effectively. You will probably be able to do more work, of higher quality, with fewer person-hours. But don't be surprised if this raises the bar of expectations on the part of the board, the community, the clients, the constituents, and the donors!

6. You need an in-house IT committee.Convene an Information Technology team or working group, within your nonprofit, and make sure that you meet regularly to give input to the senior management on strategic IT issues.

The team should include a cross-section of staff - administration and finance, programmatic, secretarial. Be sure to include staff members who are overtly or covertly technophobic; their concerns should be addressed.

7. Secretaries and administrative assistants should be the lynchpins of your IT infrastructure. Budgeting for IT training for these employees can be one of your best investments.

Which staff members are more likely to be there when problems arise, to knowabout the technical abilities (and phobias) of their colleagues, and to know where the (paper or electronic) files are? Professional development that includes IT training is likely to increase job satisfaction and employee retention. Don't forget to revise job descriptions and job titles as your secretaries and administrative assistants move into IT management responsibilities!

8. In the long run, IT training and support (and other operating expenses) will make up about 70% of your IT budget.

The more obvious line items - such as hardware, software, and network services - will comprise about 30%. This is a highly counter-intuitive fact of nonprofit life. However, there is research on the "Total Cost of Ownership" that bears this out.

9. Donated hardware, software, and services can cost a nonprofit more than purchased products or services in the long run.

The cost in person hours of using and maintaining non-standard or sub-standard configurations is astonishingly high, and donated equipment tends to be in non-standard or sub-standard. Likewise, donated services will cost you a great deal of time in support, supervision, and ongoing maintenance. Beware of the web site design services donated by a close relative of the chair of your board! You may end up with something that you don't like, can't use, or can't easily change.

10. In a nonprofit organization, most strategic IT problems are actually organizational development problems.

Is it a CEO who is resistant to technical innovations? A board of directors that hesitates to make the commitment to raise the money need for the IT infrastructure? Line staff who are already stressed and overworked, and can't stop to learn and implement new technologies? An inability to make outsourced IT consultants or in-house IT staff understand organizational processes? All the information technology in the world won't resolve these issues, if you don't address them at the organizational level.

BONUS ITEMS: Hands-on IT skills that the CEO, CFO, and COO of every small nonprofit ought to have:

How to compose, send, read, and delete email, using the organization's standard application.

How to create and save a simple text document, using the organization's standard application.

How to do the daily back up of the system.

How to bring down and bring up the network server.

Best,

Deborah Strauss
ED
IT Resource Center
Chicago, IL
Technology and Finance Leadership for Nonprofit Excellence

Feed yourself.

Not food, heaven knows--but opportunities to learn. Experienced EDs may have trouble freeing themselves from the office for conferences and seminars, wonder how much new there is to learn that is worth the money, and believe that other staff may have a greater need for learning opportunities than themselves.

My experience is that sitting in a room with peers and decent speakers, away from the office, preferably far enough away to put aside daily concerns, is useful in and of itself. The seminar doesn't have to be great or full of new information to set my own wheels turning, and that's the value I'm recommending. that time helps me set priorities, think about what may have been neglected, and gain enthusiasm for challenges. Sometimes I'm even able to solve problems, not because the speaker told me the answer but because the environment spurred my own creative thinking.

So have a little chocolate but feed yourself in others ways as well.

Best,

Deborah Strauss
Executive Director
IT Resource Center
Chicago, Illinois
Technology Leadership for Nonprofit Excellence

If your organization concentrates on direct service, how and when does the ED find time to participate in policy activities? Most of us already manage programs, have the key responsibility for accountability, maintain board relationships, and, of course, raise money.

So how do you find the time to participate in local or national work that is intended to improve the environment for your type of nonprofits (or all nonprofits)? That means trips to the State Capital, working with other groups and attending many many meetings, representing the issues in various settings including the media, etc. Most of us do not have funding for advocacy per se.

So where does the time come from and how does the board get involved?I do squeeze time for policy, but not enough for my voice to be a big one. I inform my board of anything that is taking lots of time or may be controversial. Arguing for more state funding for a program may not sit well with a largely corporate board that disapproves of tax increases and in an organization that is designed for direct service.

However, this question remains a knotty one.
Comments would be very valuable.

Best,
Deborah Strauss
IT Resource Center
Chicago, IL

Where Most Needed is a blog by Dan Prives, a long-time observer of charitable activities. He focuses on the accountability, legal, and ethical issues among charities and regulators. He also offers his own observations which I find particularly valuable.

http://wheremostneeded.org

I've been meaning to do this for years, but it has now become my 2007 New Year's Resolution.

This blog is meant to be a sharing space for new and experienced nonprofit Executive Directors, regadless of organization size, loction, or mission. I've been at it for twenty-two years and am still learning.

To kick things off, I'd share one idea that has been important for me. While electronic sharing is fine, I recommend finding or inventing a group of local EDs that meets face to face on a regular basis. that's a place for gaining information, local recommendations, gossip, whining, and collaboration.

Newer EDs think they can never leave the office (except for calls on funders or donors!), so they discount the support they and their organizations can gain from peers. However, some external insight is extremely valuable.

I have a few more kick off items for the future,but this blog won't work without comments and input from others.

Best,

Deborah Strauss
ED
IT Resourcecenter
Chicago Illinois

Technology and Finance Assistance for Nonprofit Leadership definitely