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The Open Source newsletter: just "View Source". If you like what you read, support us by becoming a member.
INTRODUCTION
From presidential politics to the Academy of Country Music Awards, one trend is sweeping the nation right now: community. "Social," "community," and "collaboration" are the buzzwords du jour. We're busy empowering people, rather than consolidating power within our organizations. One place you can clearly see this trend is one place you might least expect it -- software. Most of us still think of software as the box we buy and install on our computers. It's inflexible and expensive stuff made by a few really smart people locked away with cans of Red Bull and UV lamps to sustain them. But software these days is increasingly by and for the people. Free and Open Source Software is moving out of the server room and onto your desktop. In fact, I'm writing this intro in Firefox, an open source web browser. Maybe it's our cognitive surplus or maybe it's the fact that flexible is better, but open source is now a huge part of the nonprofit technology scene, and you don't have to be a geek to get it. This month, we invite you to learn more about the databases that are gaining popularity, who's making this stuff, and the open source software you may not even know you're using. Best, Holly
Constituent Relationship Management systems are one of the bread and butter tools of nonprofit organizations: tracking donations, constituents, activities and the like are critical to accomplishing mission. It makes sense then, that CRM and fundraising software are the most plentiful and mature software product vertical in the nonprofit sector. And there is an increasing amount of change and innovation in this realm: from open APIs on such stalwarts as Convio and Kintera, to newer open source alternatives like CiviCRM and MPower Open The question is, how do the newer open source alternatives stack up to the long standing proprietary packages that people have gotten used to?
While open source software is a great concept, people don't just relate to concepts, people relate to people. Most of the people who make open source software for nonprofits do it to make your life easier in support of achieving your mission. While often portrayed as pale, anti-social "geeks" working in basements and living off junk food, like all stereotypes, this is false. Dave Greenberg has worked in the nonprofit sector as Psychiatric Counselor in a Community Mental Health clinic, and has a Masters degree in Social Work. He also has experience engineering/developing large software systems for the electronic commerce and banking industries. Combining his skills and values, he is now part of the international core development team for CiviCRM, the built-for-nonprofit open source CRM software. I talked to him about his work with open source software. His insights are important for everybody interested in nonprofit technology.
Brett Meyer, NTEN
When I worked in West Africa a few years ago, GeekCorps Mali had just started on the project that became MoulinWiki, an offline version of Wikipedia that could be burned onto a CD and taken to schools and villages without Internet access. (I didn't work on it; I was just visiting because GeekCorps had a pool and it was incredibly hot out.) The project was possible because the software that runs WikiPedia is Open Source, and so freely editable and redistributable. A number of factors contributed to the inspiration for MoulinWiki, not least of which was an awareness of the availability of Free and Open Source (FOSS) software. More nonprofit organizations might make use of FOSS as a springboard for projects, if they only knew more about the movement. In fact, you may already be using more Open Source software than you realize.
Your guide to the resources that will help you put technology to work for your cause.
Become a Free and Open Source (FOSS) Expert > Before you can advocate for free and open source software, you need to know what you're talking about. As much as any argument that begins, "The dictionary defines <insert hopefully obscure term here> as..." displeases us, you'd probably be remiss if you didn't start with WikiPedia's definition -- and not just because it runs on top of open source code. FOSS, F/OSS, or FLOSS? Choose for yourself! > Groklaw has just started an interesting series on the history of Free and Open Source by historian Peter H. Salus. If you want to understand the difference between "Free Software" and "Open Source", take a glance at "Why 'Open Source' Misses the Point of Free Software", by Richard Stallman (who, it's generally agreed, is to FOSS what Neil Young is to grunge). > For the latest on FOSS, turn to the Nonprofit Open Source Initiative, which maintains a news feed. The Free Software Foundation tans the hides of proprietary programs -- DefectiveByDesign.org? BadVista.org? -- while simultaneously advocating for FOSS, and the Open Source Initiative and even UNESCO maintain FOSS sites. Oh, and FOSSBazaar has a decent blog in addition to a cool logo. Earn Executive Buy-in for FOSS > It's not enough to understand the benefits of FOSS if you can't convince anybody else. You need numbers -- and David Wheeler has them. Oh, boy, does he. Market share, reliability, performance, security, the ability of FOSS to walk your dog and keep your ice cream from melting in the sun: Mr. Wheeler seems to have collected every study ever done on Free and Open Source Software in one place. > If that isn't quite enough for you -- or you just really like numbers -- take a look at a couple of European offerings: Infonomics and the stiffly named, "Economic impact of open source software on innovation and the competitiveness of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector in the EU" (PDF). It reads much better than its title -- and you get to learn such things as "[the] existing base of FLOSS software represents a lower bound of about 131 000 real person-years of effort that has been devoted exclusively by programmers". > For a final brush-up on your internal marketing skills, check out CIO Magazine's "IT Governance Tips: Help to Improve Executive Buy-in". Determine Which FOSS to USe > You've convinced your organization that it doesn't need to use proprietary software. The next step is determining which FOSS software to use. The best read is "The Top 50 Proprietary Programs that Drive You Crazy -- and Their Open Source Alternatives". Who knew there was a FOSS replacement for PhotoShop? > More straight up -- and less subjective -- lists can be found at the Free Software Foundation and SourceForge; the former is more user friendly, the latter, impossibly comprehensive. > To help you make your final decision, turn to Michelle Murrain and the fine people at NOSI. Their primer, "Choosing and Using Free and Open Source Software" is indispensable reading for nonprofits. In addition to her article in this month's NTEN Connect, Michelle has been generous enough to write for us before on the subject -- and for those of you who don't like to read, she's even offered her wisdom in webinar form. In fact, it's not to late to catch some of her upcoming FOSS webinars, including takes on open source blogging tools and CMS systems Drupal, Joomla, and Plone.
A monthly roundup of our favorite nonprofit tech resources. Read more posts on our blog.
NTEN aggregates nonprofit technology jobs from a number of sources. Browse them all or post your own on our jobs board.
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TECH LEADERSHIPNonprofit technology leadership is one of the issues we care about the most here at NTEN. Executive Directors need to feel comfortable making tech decisions without formal technology training. Equally as important, IT Staff need leadership skills to bring technology out of the back office and into the strategies of their organizations. We're doing what we can to address the issue with our Technology Leadership Series of webinars. NTEN OFFICE HOURSIf you need help configuring the security settings on your new server, or deciding which email vendor to use, you don't always know where to turn for advice. That's why we've set up NTEN Member Summer Office Hours! We're scheduling volunteers one hour at a time to help with a wide variety of tech topics, no matter what role you play in your office. UPCOMING WEBINARS
NTEN members save up to 50% on our topical online classes. Upcoming webinars include:
MEMBER DISCOUNTSYour NTEN Membership lets you save on a host of products and services: Acteva Technology Grant News YOUR AD HERENTEN Connect goes out monthly to nearly 6,000 of the most influential leaders and innovators in the world of nonprofit technology. And we're now accepting Partner Sponsors for future newsletters. Only two ads will be accepted for each issue, so be sure to contact us soon to guarantee your placement. |
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NTEN CONNECT is the monthly e-newsletter of the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN). |
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Michelle Murrain, 
