Innovation or "unnovation?"

If you look into the future of our sector with a hopeful but cautious eye on what the digital age will help us accomplish, you’re not alone. I read a chapter on innovation from David Neff and Randall Moss’ book, The Future of Nonprofits: Innovate and Thrive in a Digital Age, and now I’m anxious to read the whole book.

Authors David Neff and Randal Moss say the social sector won’t be the same in five years, thanks to the digital age. Nonprofit leaders must think and act like a start-up in order to deliver relevant services and capture scarce funding. Successful start-up behavior is characterized by a dedication to the innovative process and constantly incubating ideas and testing them with passion, enthusiasm, patience and persistence.

Before you get daunted by the idea of behaving like a start-up, the authors suggest starting with simple steps, such as their Innovation Quiz located in the appendix of their book.

Neff and Moss draw you in by taking a fascinating look at innovation and how our definition has drifted by misuse and “unnovation,” or ideas that don’t actually advance a purpose or financial status. They explain that real innovation in their view aligns with Harvard Business Review blogger, Umair Haque: creativity can only be described as an innovation if the new process, product, service, or strategy results in (or is the result of) authentic, durable economic gains.

Neff and Moss further elaborate that effective innovation is divided into two parts according to Joseph Schumpeter: 1) invention or an idea executed into being and 2) innovation or the ability to successfully apply the idea in practice.

So the real question becomes, “Do you focus your energy on creativity or on execution?” Neff and Moss agree with the research that supports the idea that while creativity is essential, the meaningful leverage is in the back end of ideas—the implementation.

For example, when the authors asked Wendy Harman of the Red Cross, “What were the obstacles and opportunities discovered in your [idea] development process?”

Her answer was, “This is tricky business! There are so many people who have to agree on common solutions for us to move forward. I’ve been humbled by how enthusiastic all the parties are in looking for the opportunities here but that doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges. It’s easy to talk about this issue but not so easy to take substantive steps forward.”

Neff and Moss underscore this answer by claiming that every great idea is a lost opportunity if you don’t have a process in place to implement it.

With the authors’ definition of innovation and the understanding of its twofold process, do you feel your organization truly innovates? If not, what can you do to cultivate an environment where new ideas abound?

Watch the video, get more information or purchase the book: www.thefutureofnonprofits.com

Follow the conversation: #thefutureofnpos

by Denise McMahan

12 Thoughts for 2012

Inspired by a blog by Lucy Bernholz titled Ten for Ten: Philanthropy from 2010-2020 on Stanford Social Innovation Review, here are 12 thoughts on changes we will see in nonprofit technology and media use by the end of 2012.


1. Cloud Computing
Cloud computing makes so much sense for small nonprofit organizations and ad-hoc collaborative efforts.  Reduction of software costs, ability to work remotely and expand how you define your *staff* network, effortless information sharing, and efficiency.  I took our org to Google Apps and we are moving as much of our work as possible into online collaboration rooms.  Thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours saved per year... This is a weather vane for small nonprofits and their leadership capacity to adapt to new technology to do their jobs better.


2. Open Sourcing Social Solutions
Very few small nonprofits have the luxury of having the smartest people in the room when making important decisions.  Nonprofits are getting accustomed to interacting with donors online because often fundraisers have the most incentive to try something new.  Game changing nonprofits will learn to use networking tools to gather feedback from experts - whether that be other practitioners or end users - to make better decisions and better products.



3. Democratized Market Share
Forget the old guard - little guys can build a dynamic brand with one idea that generates viral buzz.  A broader set of nonprofits will have their moment of being *the best* at something but the amount of time you are *the best* will shrink and shrink as the marketplace flocks to the next great idea.  Sustainability of creativity and buzz will dictate success.  Look for large nonprofits to consider adding a Director of Innovation who makes sure that old ideas feel new and products jump out of the crowd year after year.


4. Text Message Giving Replaced by Phone Purchasing
Not sure this will hit by 2012 but in the near future phones will replace wallet withs and credit cards and will be used for everyday consumption needs like groceries, gas, and Starbucks.  Start thinking about how your programming or mission could fit into someone's daily life as a value add.  (e.g. American Heart Association developing a branded pedometer app.  You're welcome.)  Phones are already a primary internet access point for young people of color.  I often think about how Community Shares becomes a lifestyle value add for people and we've got some ideas in queue.


5. A Sector of Specialists
Like this blog, nonprofits will need to position themselves at the expert at *something* to compete.  A static website is not enough - nonprofits with published opinions and ongoing conversations about what they do and how they think about it will leapfrog their competitors who aren't keeping up.


6. Facebook Replaces Phone Book
It's not a toy.  Mohammad must move to the mountain.


7. Storytelling Goes to Scale
Smart phones allow anyone to become a storyteller.  We've adopted a mantra at CSC - stop reading, start watching.  When the staff is on the road they know to take our flip camera (or my droid in a pinch) and collect stories.  Our YouTube channel has exploded with content and our Facebook page is alive.  If we are going to live up to our branding goal of being a "friend in philanthropy" we have to humanize our staff and work.


8. Social Citizens

More and more talent is going to flock to the social sector.  Instead of work/life balance Millennials will want their life reflected in their work.  We've got to start ramping up to pay talent and fund innovation and ideas.


9. Google Alerts
Sadly, this should not be a 2012 prediction but nonprofits have been incredibly slow to adopt this business norm.  Nonprofits need to go back, to the future and use this easy tool to keep up to date on their industry.



10. Third Party Online Merch Stores
Next gen donors are AOK with receiving something in return for a donation and like to show off their interest to their FB fans, I mean friends.  They hate branding but love to self-brand - this contradiction of wanting to self-identify by being unique is a great opportunity to unique messaging to social citizens.


11. Seismic Shifts for the Old Guard
What's going to happen when leadership transitions at large organizations include shifts of 1-2 levels of generational perspective?  Look for CSC to partner with Sarah Fischler on this topic in 2011.


12.Super Prediction: New Michelle Obama Girl Scout Cookie!
Girl Scout cookies started improving ingredients in 2007.  Look for Michelle Obama to have a little intervention with the troops and a new cookie will debut in 2012!  She is Girl Scout In Chief - the stars are aligning for a six ingredient or less cookie!  A good lesson in changing market demands for our tiny lady entrepreneurs!

Jumo Pt. 2

One of the things Jason and I talk about often is the difference between sites created by extremely intelligent programmers versus people who work day-to-day in philanthropy.  Raising money is hard.  Inspiring people is hard.  Sites like Jumo are built to make activism as easy as possible whereas we want changemaking to be as meaningful and effective as possible.  Easy rarely works when it comes to big problems - that's why the problems exist and persist.


What is most frustrating is how much publicity and mindshare sites like Jumo receive.  I really have a hard time with a concept often repeated that I find incredibly passive and borderline bizarre - that people want to get involved but don't know how.  From the Jumo "About Us" page (bold and red added by me):

Why Jumo?

Founded in February 2010, Jumo set out to address three key challenges:

• There are millions of people working to improve the lives of others, many of whom lack the resources to have greatest impact.
• There are millions more who want to help, but don’t know how.
• Despite huge advancements in connection technologies, it’s hard to find meaningful opportunities to get involved.

We believe we can do better.

I hear this refrain - "People want to help but don't know how" - often, most frequently from upper middle class, geographically mobile, highly educated people in their 30s.  I have to admit, when I hear this statement I have to remind myself - "That person I'm talking to, he can see my face.  Keep it together."  I know that, due to my career path, I have access to resources that many don't know of but we all have access to a little something called the interwebs.  In fact, that's how you got to this post!

Say you drive by a homeless woman with her children.  You think, "That's not right.  How can I help?"  You go to your computer or phone and type these words into Google: homeless women children denver.  Top five results on 12/4/2010:

1. Denver's Road Home - Homeless Resources: Act Now box in top right corner of page including events, donation options, and other mobilization opportunities.  Relatively average resource options but certainly enough "how" to start helping.

2. Sacred Heart House of Denver: In main nav bar, "Get Involved" link including how to volunteer, make a cash donation, and a current needs list with dozens of financially accessible goods from hygiene to plastic water bottles.  Absolutely you could read this page and know how to help.

3 & 4. Denver Post stories (here and here) on homeless women falling through the cracks: Both stories mention The Delores Project and The Gathering Place by name.  In turn, the websites for both of those nonprofits (Community Shares member agencies) include options for cash gifts, volunteers, and donations of goods and services.

5. Suite101 article about The Gathering Place: Includes a paragraph about donations of money and goods and services and a link to TGP's website which includes an extensive list of ways to give.

Hmm...  It seems like it is really, really easy to find out how to help.  So what's the real problem?  I would argue it's NOT not knowing how.  There is some other barrier that sites like Jumo cater to: a desire to be involved without changing the course of your day in a meaningful way.

When I have suggested this in the past in frank discussions with those who explain to me that people want to help but don't know how, I have been accused of tamping down enthusiasm.  I've been advised that people's something - regardless of outcome and effectiveness - should be applauded as better than nothing.  That just doesn't work for me - especially when valuable resources are being invested in websites, special events, happy hours, and cause marketing that does little to move the needle besides generating some wusage stats.

How to help?

Learn

Give

Speak Up

Change Behaviors

Vote

Repeat

Meaningful involvement comes from inside you, not an algorithm on a website.  There's a difference between feeling like you're helping and helping - let's invest the resources in helping.

Our thoughts on Jumo

You may have heard about yet another Facebook founder's pet project which launched this week. Jumo is a new platform for people and organization's to connect and for the user to have one place they can go for content about issues they are interested in. I would encourage you to take a spin and see what you think.

Several prominent nonprofit professionals have toured this new website in the past few days to see what the user experience is like and figure out how they plan on using it. The response amongst nonprofit social media professionals seems to be mixed to negative.

I am trying to be careful not to be overly critical about the site too early as it still has the "beta" tag on it and being a developer of an online tool myself, I know how it feels to put your new baby out for all the world to critique. :)

But, I am disappointed by the concept of the idea versus the hype. I agree with Beth Kanter and Amy Sample Ward in that I fail to see how Jumo is going to take the next step to inspire actions versus very passively encouraging people to connect with nonprofits on a national platform.

In my opinion, Jumo is not forecasting the trend very well and is a lagging website instead of a leading one. I believe that the combination of social networking and e-philanthropy will become far more locally focused in the coming years. Sure, building online portals into the philanthropic world is noble but as a professional fundraiser I don't believe that a website like Jumo will "bring people up the philanthropy ladder" as Beth Kanter says. That task belongs to people and organizations that are close to you and influence you offline. Where is the relationship building component of Jumo? It doesn't exist because it misses the offline, trust-building component that nonprofits need to achieve missions and affect change.

Community Shares new My Colorado Project is a different model entirely. Think local, think incremental, and band together with both on and offline.

We'd love to know what you think, please consider leaving a comment. Through dialog we can reach the best solutions.

Yesterday Alyssa and I were able to attend the Open Media Foundation's (OMF) annual community breakfast. Thanks very much to The Denver Foundation for inviting us!

Community Shares is a big believer in engaging web content. We believe that our website should be a vibrant and vital part of our overall communications and needs to attract new and returning visitors rather than serving as a static placeholder which is rarely used or visited.

Content is everything when you're building an online presence and OMF can help you build it easily and cheaply.

Tony Shawcross, Executive Director of OMF said in his speech that the top 10 websites in the world are all driven by the people who visit them. OMF's mission is to put the power of media and technology into the hands of the community. They encourage others to think of media as any and all content that reaches an audience. I think that this is a very accessible and inclusive definition and if more nonprofits take this definition and run with it we'll be able to highlight the areas of our society that the mainstream media fails to report on.

If you're looking to take the next step in your social media and general online presence as an organization, please consider utilizing the services of OMF. They can help you be strategic and provide the tools to help you move in a new direction.

Networks of Support

In a recent post on my blog I wrote about how important it is to have a personal support network in times of struggle. This past week Alyssa and I visited several of Community Shares member nonprofits and did video interviews with executive directors, staff, and clients at each (look for a new digital library coming soon!) Forgive the camera work because I was so compelled by the conversations we had that I could barely keep the camera straight and Alyssa has suggested that we line up a tripod for our next interviews!

What I heard from David Burgess at the Charg Resource Center, Terrell Curtis from The Delores Project, and Tammy Mulligan and Amanda Baker at Denver Urban Ministries is just how important it is for them not only provide support but also to encourage their visitors to start building personal networks. At Denum, we saw people using the computer lab to catch up with friends and family, update resumes, and even promote their poetry (see Alyssa's post below!) When thinking about homelessness I usually remember people's need food and shelter. I forget that basic human needs include the desires to connect with others, to be creative, to learn, and to share your talents.

This morning I stumbled onto the Invisible People Blog which brings awareness to homelessness through social media. Mark Horvath, the sites founder knows what it is like to be homeless and has helps homeless people build out their network and their skills through social media. He started We Are Visible, a project which has received funding through the Pepsi Refresh Project.

Just another example of how "gamechanging" social media is for the nonprofit sector and for the causes and people we serve.

Go Digital to Humanize!

Jason and I both loved this article written by Kate Rogers included in the October 19th Nonprofit Times e-newsletter.  The overarching point of the article is summed up perfectly in the title: Micro-Messages, Strengthening your brand via online relationships.  Our social media goals center around three areas - brand strength, our value-add relationship, and storytelling - so this article was a nice electronic pat on the back of our marketing instincts.

What jumped out at me from this article was the concept of using digital media to humanize your nonprofit.  We think a lot about our voice in written communication and whether it is meeting our branding goal to be considered "your friend in philanthropy".  But why not let people get to know the staff and our member agencies in a more human way through actual conversations and smiles?

Community Shares launched a "stop reading, start watching" philosophy for our communications in 2010.  We are getting out and on site with our member nonprofit organizations and shooting digital videos with a flip camera donated to us by our super duper tech consultant, Kathryn Codo.  Off the cuff interviews with staff and clients to put a human face on how our message of "$1 a day" reaches front line providers and those they serve.

Here's a great humanizing moment we captured today at Denver Urban Ministries.  We popped into the computer lab to do a 30 second video of the Executive Director, Tammy Mulligan, talking about the benefits of the computer lab.  Instead, we ended up with Tyrone sharing poetry and showing us the human side of the people DenUM serves.

DenUM Poet - Tyrone

Tammy followed up with this great story - a double barrel shotgun humanizer to the heart.

This video taken at Delores Project has a nice moment on top of Terrell Curtis sharing her experience as a staff member.  Terrell nods to a staff member off camera who has recently placed two women in homes and you can hear a CSC staff member say "congratulations" off screen.  You can see the human relationships of people on staff and Terrell's appreciation of her team.

The Delores Project - Community