EAdvocacy for Nonprofits: What's Real, What's Missing and What Do You Want to Know?

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*David Taylor, Radical Designs – web support for small orgs, social justice groups
*Allen Gunn, Aspiration – better software developed for non-profits
*Link to Presentation
eAdvocacy - New tools for extending reach
*project message
*connect with new allies
eOrganizing – tools for mobilizing
*grow relationships
*build trust
show of hands: 
most have websites
frequency of updates – mostly less than once a month
Most have email lists
Few have multiple lists
eAdvocacy today
email
*good options for email messaging
*still the killer app – on your list are the people who care
*still more important than websites, social networking tools
*for large quantities, need hosted solution – spam filters block outlook/yahoo mass mailing
*deliverability issues a threat
web
*web publishing is easier but still not simple
*range of platforms in confusing
*integration of tools is unsolved problem – content management system, hosted email providers, letters to congress, online video
*setup still requires a lot of work, maintenance less so
3rd party services that you can drop into your website
*Rich media – odeo (podcasting), blip.tv not youtube (video), flickr (pictures)
*Don’t build technology onto your website – use 3rd party
*Meetup, evite - meetings; upcoming.com - calendar
*Volunteer for change – volunteer and event management – feedback/rating – with phone support
*All of these are corporate services – corporations want your data – esp the free ones; if you’re controversial using yahoo, evite, they will cancel you without asking – yahoo killed 100+ antiwar groups
*Things still go out of business
*They offer value if you can incorporate them in your terms
Emerging tech
*Blogging – accessible to non-techies; rss changes information flow
*Cellphones becoming more critical; text messaging
*Social networking (myspace, livejournal get huge traffic) – myspace gets 80% of income through advertisers – rupert murdoch’s
eAdvocacy Themes - changes & challenges
*traditional web actions tools aren’t really reaching decision makers – none of the capitol reps get the "write your congressman" email anymore – they don’t believe they’re real - don’t get your hopes up about web action centers – but still a way to engage your base
*online petitions – the ultimate way to build your mailing lists, but ends up in the dumpster
*reps care about visits, phone calls, fax & email last
*email is getting harder to deliver – spam filters; it’s easier to get blacklisted as a spammer if you email out to 100 people
*3rd-party services have some essential delivery conduit – pay your $19/month to npo groups – eg groundspring.com for blasts, but metrics not that strong
*It’s all about the data, not your software – primary goal of eadvocacy is to build a mobilizable database of supporters
*The value of data dwarfs cost of technology
Rules of thumb
*Know where your data lives and back it up
*Know how you can migrate your data
*Privacy and security of your data is so critical
Unsolved problems
*Online and offline data integration
*Platform interoperability barely exists (e.g try making your email tool talk to your supporter database)
*Skilled practitioners and trainers – capacity-building us more important than new tech
Community technology foundation of California helps
People we love
*Democracy in action – email blasting and web action tools – email blasting and web action tools – but not a full crm (constituency relationship mgmt) – also a nonptofit $100-200
*NPOgroups / Electric Embers – discussion groups and email listservs
*Volunteer for change – volunteer and event management
*Goodstorm.com – Café Press done well, and progressive – sellng products on line – "you make more than we do"
Summary
*Nothing’s turnkey
*Critical challenges remain
*It’s about data, not the tools
Other resources
*CiviCRM, SugarCRM, vtiger – all run on my.sql
*Salesforce.com – license requires renewal every 12 months 
*ONE/Northwest.org – picked salesforce after yearlong research
Category:Bootcamp