Not so long ago, nonprofit organizations had software tools, that dealt with specific parts of their organizational process. They had fundraising tools, client management tools, volunteer management tools, HR tools, accounting tools, etc. And the data in these varied tools were siloed – there was no way for one tool to talk to another without:
painstaking manual entry
painstaking export/import processes
tools written by the same vendor designed to talk to each other (which meant that they were generally exceedingly expensive)
Although many nonprofit organizations still find themselves in this situation, there are increasing numbers of tools available to help them out of it. And as more and more organizational processes become web-based (whether “in the cloud” or self-hosted), and as more and more nonprofit-focused software includes open APIs (with some unfortunate exceptions,) nonprofit data is looking less and less siloed, and more and more like an ecosystem – many different software parts talking to others.
I’m very much looking forward to the result – looking to see where this new set of tools that can talk freely to each other is working … and where it isn’t – where there is still work to be done. Please take time to fill it out!
NTC is coming, and I don’t have to pack! That’s a good thing. But I will be BARTing my way into SF everyday, from Saturday for Penguin Day, Sunday through Tuesday for NTC, and Wed and Thursday for CiviCRM Developer Camp. I’m very much looking forward to all of it, even though it seems like it’s going to be an exhausting 6 days.
I’d love to meet new folks and see as many old friends as possible, so I figured I’d share where I’ll be during these days, and perhaps we can meet up. You can email me, @pearbear on twitter, or give me a text message or call … if you know my cell, that is. :-)
Tuesday 10:30: Open Source CMS (Laura Quinn’s got that one. I’m just going to be in the peanut gallery. Update: She roped me in to participate, so I’ll be answering questions…)
I love NTC (NTEN’s Nonprofit Technology Conference). I would be dishonest if I said I didn’t have a sweet reminiscence for the Circiut Rider Roundups of old. But they are long gone. As fields often do, ours grew up and professionalized. And what has taken it’s place is valuable to a much wider audience (and a much larger one!) And, this year, for the very first time, I live in the same city in which NTC is taking place. Hurrah!
So, a few things to say about what I’m looking forward to from April 25th to April 30th:
April 25: Penguin Day SF! It’s happening the day before NTC this year, not the day after. Gather with folks and spend an exciting day peer-sharing about free and open source software in nonprofit organizations. Any level of background in the topic is welcome, and everyone learns.
April 26-28: NTC. Another jam packed year full of great panels and expertise sharing. I’ll be involved in two panels this year. (And lots of conversations on the side.)
April 29-30: Hopefully, there will be a CiviCRM developer camp. Yay! I’ve been using CiviCRM for a year or so, and have begun to get involved in implementation. Looking forward to digging deeper in.
And email me if you want to have coffee, or lunch, or a side conversation in the Science Fair.
