Northern California Grantmakers

Spent the morning with funders and thought leaders thinking about the role of technology in advocacy organizations. ZeroDivide and Mitchell Kapor Foundation have a new report out and are attempting to kickstart a community of practice among grantmakers.

The session focused on lessons learned the technology integration of 16 advocacy organizations, with first-person insights  from Raven Brooks (Netroots Nation) and Rashad Robinson (ColorofChange), moderated throughout by ZeroDivide’s Jeff Perlstein (indymedia.org, Media Alliance and Grantmakers in Film + Electronic Media) standing in for Mobilizing report author Tina Lee who stepped away from the program a couple days early to welcome a truly new edition: Baby Lexie: 6 lbs, 14 oz 20 inches long.

After a quick primer on technology tools trending in the nonprofit sector, Jeff led the room through a series of real-time polling and analysis that revealed our collective organizational characteristics, relative familiarity and appetite for funder tech. Some of our stats made headlines in twitterdom.

We went through the high-level report findings (my emphasis):

• Organizations most successful at integrating technology into advocacy work weave technology practices throughout all aspects of the organization.
• Increasing social impact technology capacity is a leadership development issue, both for advocacy nonprofits and the funders dedicated to helping them succeed.
• There are specific ways  funders can support advocacy funders in their efforts to increase the use of technology for amplifying social impact.

The last bullet surfaced repeatedly throughout the program presentations and small group discussions, with funders investigating the challenges both for grantees leveraging technology for greater social impact and for themselves, with calls for guidance around evaluating effectiveness of technology initiatives, identification of a network of funders with skills and understanding to bolster peer learning, and ways to connect professionals who do know how to navigate the tech space with funders and nonprofits.

POST
[people, outcomes, strategy, technology]

With that much tech expertise in the room there was an implicit risk of intoxication with the technology tools, but the very opposite happened: each presenter reminded us how technology was the means, not the end, and the essential ideas that drive the sector –mission, theory of change, engagement, impact– are at the heart of technology integration. The most oft-repeated idea? People first [and many references to POST].

Other Cool Thing

How did I manage to live without piratepad.net and wordle? Scribes at the tables took notes in realtime, scrolling on the main program screen as they contemplated these questions (and so should you!)

1. What are the biggest challenges for your grantees/nonprofits in implementing technology for greater social impact?
2. What challenges do you face in helping grantees to leverage technology?
3. What do we, as a philanthropic community, need to address these challenges?

More to come on this discussion, I’m sure.

Entitled “Amplifying Social Impact in a Connected Age: A Survey of Technology-Related Grantmaking for Social Benefit,”  this newly released report focuses on recommendations to funders, and is being supported by a set of activities designed to spark and strengthen discussion on this topic amongst the philanthropic sector.

The report highlights recommendations to increase philanthropic support for nonprofits’ use of technology for social change. The results are based on a survey of 41 funders and 13 nonprofit technology service providers to identify the key barriers to investment and surface suggestions that could help the sector in surmounting these barriers.

There is an upcoming opportunity to learn more at a funder-only webinar, hosted by ZeroDivide on Tuesday, April 5th at 11:00 a.m. PST, to discuss the findings of the survey.

*   Please RSVP by sending me an email at jeff@zerodivide.org.

*   Download the report at http://zerodivide.org/funder_report

For those on Twitter, ZeroDivide is encouraging the use of three hashtags: #fundertech #nptech #zerodivideorg.

We’re back with Twitter Thursday after an unexpected hiatus (due to staff illness/vacation). Did you miss us?

As you’ll recall Twitter Thursday is our blog feature where we highlight members, philanthropic organizations and thought leaders we’re following on Twitter.

And you can always follow NCG on Twitter at twitter.com/NorCalGrant.

Here’s Who We’re Following

diaviv
daviv is the Twitter handle of Independent Sector President and CEO Diana Aviv. Independent Sector is a “forum for charities, foundations, and corporate giving programs” that works to create a “just and inclusive society and a healthy democracy of active citizens, effective institutions, and vibrant communities.”

Naturally Diana uses her Twitter feed to promote the goals of her organization, as well as include her own personal voice in online dialogues about the field of philanthropy. Here’s a sampling of her tweets:

Please go vote early tomorrow and encourage others to vote. I grew up in a country where 94% of the people did not have the right to vote.

Did you know we have a blog for NGen-ers (under 40 professionals)? Ck it out: http://bit.ly/9QXf44 #ISNGEN

My latest thinking on midterm elections: http://bit.ly/aYVZ8y Welcome your thoughts.

TCCGROUP
TCCGROUP is a obviously TCC Group, just more crammed together and louder (that’s an all-caps joke). This NCG member uses their Twitter feed to announce their upcoming events, share interesting bits of information they hear from peers, and share research.

Take a gander at some of their recent tweets:

5 questions to ask before considering a nonprofit career – Case Foundation http://t.co/V69QMnI

Amid Downturn, Regional Arts Groups Reap Benefits of Capacity-Building Support http://t.co/Sni6E1O via @AddThis

Check out our new briefing paper: Mobilizing Resources: A Unified Business Approach to Corporate Community Involvement http://bit.ly/b6ppCo

tmguillermo
tmguillermo is the Twitter handle of Tessie Guillermo, the President and CEO of NCG member ZeroDivide. Since ZeroDivide has its own organizational Twitter account, Tessie’s Twitter feed is her own personal perspective on issues she cares about.

Here are some of those issues:

RT @WestWingReport: Obama points out that 15 year olds in America rank 21st in science & 25th in math – future jobs & competitiveness are at stake

Wake up!! Why Broadband Service in the U.S. Is So Awful: Scientific American: http://bit.ly/bPVKdW via @addthis

“Funders supporting the use of tech tools have 2 consider supporting & moving tech policy also for long term impact” #tech4si #zerodivide

geofunders
Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO) uses the much more concise moniker geofunders on Twitter. GEO is a “coalition of more than 2,000 individual members representing 350 grantmaking organizations committed to building strong and effective nonprofit organizations.”

In keeping with their mission, GEO’s uses Twitter to promote organizational learning research and tools. Here are some of their latest tweets:

GEO & @BridgespanGroup want to break “the #nonprofit starvation cycle.” What successes have you seen?

RT @CEP_CambSanFran: CEP is proud to announce our partnership with Monitor Institute to scale the Strategy Landscape Tool! http://ow.ly/313n8

The Goodman Center’s new scholarship helps nonprofits improve communications. Foundations can nominate candidates here http://bit.ly/a0KZUO

Have any Twitter recommendations for us? Let us know who you think we should be following.