NTEN published my somewhat snarky predictions for nonprofits’ use of fundraising technologies in 2012. My overall predictions are that most things will be pretty much the same as last year (and 2010 and 2009, etc.): many nonprofits will struggle with out-of-date systems.  No surprise — many will also lack the funding to replace them.  But [...]

Tags: Advancement Services, Fundraising, IT Management, Mobile Communications, Nonprofit Management, Nonprofit Technology, NTEN, Online Fundraising, Social Media, Web, Web 2.0

NTEN just published a short piece of mine on data management in their Change magazine.  It’s in their DIY series — short tips for implementing something for your organization without extensive tech know-how or extra budget.  The topic they gave me was managing decentralized data entry.

Tags: Advancement Services, Donor Databases, IT Management, Nonprofit Management, Nonprofit Technology

I just wrote a guest blog post for NTEN on the topic of moving from an accidental techie role to a leadership role.  Last July, Holly Ross wrote that it was time to retire the phrase “accidental techie”. She said, “it’s not very nice to call anyone an accidental anything. What’s really gotten under my [...]

Tags: Advancement Services, IT Management, Nonprofit Management, Nonprofit Technology

I received an email newsletter today with the following pitch for a web-based donor database (perhaps you can guess which one): The Cloud offers you constituent relationship management (CRM) software that’s less expensive, easier to maintain, more accessible, more intuitive, and with greater flexibility and capacity than you’ve ever seen before. How much would you [...]

Tags: Cloud Computing, Donor Databases, IT Management, Nonprofit Technology

My friends at Idealware have created a new fund to support their research.  Many of Idealware’s reports have been funded by foundations and some have had corporate sponsorship. As you probably know, neither foundation nor corporate support is a reliable funding source these days. In addition, since Idealware must maintain its independence in order to [...]

Tags: Donor Databases, Fundraising, IT Management, Nonprofit Management, Nonprofit Technology, Online Fundraising, Social Media, Web 2.0

Although some recent news stories have reported postive economic signs, the outlook for the nonprofit sector still looks bleak. Target Analytics’ Index of National Fundraising Performance for the first quarter of 2009 had nothing but bad news. All key metrics declined for the index as a whole for the first quarter of 2009 as compared [...]

Tags: Fundraising, Nonprofit Management

Want to build your IT leadership skills without a travel budget? Our friends at NTEN are launching a 2-day virtual conference for nonprofit IT leaders. I’m thrilled to see this. I think there’s a big need for a "mini-MBA" for nonprofit chief information officers (CIOs), particularly those who came up through the ranks. NTEN describes [...]

Tags: IT Management, Nonprofit Management, Nonprofit Technology, NTEN

The Nonprofit Finance Fund just published a survey on how the economic downturn is affecting nonprofits’ current and long-term finances. Their conclusions are scary. According to the executive summary, Only 12% expect to operate above break-even this year. Just 16% anticipate being able to cover their operating expenses in both 2009 and 2010. 31% don’t [...]

Tags: Nonprofit Management