Peer-To-Peer.Connecting executive directors David Rynick is booting up See boot. the Massachusetts nonprofit A corporation or an association that conducts business for the benefit of the general public without shareholders and without a profit motive. Nonprofits are also called not-for-profit corporations. Nonprofit corporations are created according to state law. he heads. A year ago, although he believed technology was "changing the way we need to think about what we do and how we do it," Rynick also recognized that his organization had not thought systematically about building technology into its ongoing planning and operations. So, last fall he enrolled in a pilot program to equip e·quip tr.v. e·quipped, e·quip·ping, e·quips 1. a. To supply with necessities such as tools or provisions. b. executive directors to help their nonprofits embrace technology, and in the process become stronger organizations. "We've created a different culture around technology," said Rynick, executive director of Worcester-based Dynami, which provides after-school and residential programs for low-income high school students. He is one of 20 executive directors at nonprofits in Worcester and nearby Springfield who took part in Strategic Technology, the pilot leadership-development program, located on the Web at summitcollaborative.com/strategic_technology.html. Offered by Summit Collaborative, a consulting firm Noun 1. consulting firm - a firm of experts providing professional advice to an organization for a fee consulting company business firm, firm, house - the members of a business organization that owns or operates one or more establishments; "he worked for a in Amherst, Mass., the "peer-learning" program is rooted in the idea that teaming executive directors with one another - and helping them plug into their own staffs - can give them the confidence and support they need to be their organizations' tech leaders. The program, which Summit is expanding to other communities around the country, includes sessions at which executive directors learn about the importance of technology and tech planning, and learn to lean on and support one another. It also requires that they create technology teams and strategic tech plans at their own nonprofits. The goal is to help nonprofits make technology second-nature to their operations, and also to change the way they themselves work by involving the entire staff in tech planning and decision-making. "This program is about building nonprofit power and improving effectiveness, with technology planning and thinking and learning built into it," said Marc Osten, the consulting firm's founder and principal. "It pays to collaborate. It pays to sit down with other nonprofits and other peers and spend time to do some work together." Ann T. Lisi, executive director of the $90 million-asset Greater Worcester Community Foundation, said the program has helped change how her organization thinks about and uses technology. "I was a reluctant participant," said Lisi, who enrolled in the pilot training program after her foundation helped fund it. "I thought tech planning was about upgrading your computers and getting on the Internet. We had done all those things." Because the program helped her better understand the role that technology could play in her organization, she said, she found she could foster a "culture where we all can use technology and not be afraid of it." What's more, she concluded that everyone on her 11-member staff has "a role to play in the decisions about technology and the use of technology, and that is just a good management awareness for me to have in other things." Rynick of Dynami said the program helped him expand the discussion about technology "just from me and the board of directors to everyone in the organization." Dynami, for example, has integrated technology into its $700,000 annual budget, which now includes separate line items for hardware, tech support and training. The nonprofit, which employs 12 people, also has a three-year plan The Three-Year Plan of Reconstructing the Economy (Polish: Trzyletni Plan Odbudowy Gospodarki) was a centralized plan created by the Polish communist government to rebuild Poland after the devastation of the Second World War. for capital spending capital spending Spending for long-term assets such as factories, equipment, machinery, and buildings that permits the production of more goods and services in future years. on technology. And, it plans to use email and its Web site more effectively to recruit students for its year-long residential program, and to communicate with students, prospective students and their parents. Another participant in the pilot program was Patsy Lewis, executive director of the Worcester Community Action Council. Based on a strategic tech plan it created as part of the project, the anti-poverty agency has hired a systems administrator and begun to use email to communicate with board members and send them meeting agendas and minutes. "We've got a lot of catching up to do," said Lewis, who created a nine-member tech team as part of her training. "I don't think we can think about any aspect of the organization now without thinking about technology," she said. This fall, Summit Collaborative will team up with Technology Works for Good, a nonprofit tech assistance group in Washington, D.C., to offer the training program to local nonprofits there. John Zoltner, director of communications Director of Communications is a position in the private and public sectors. The Director of Communications is responsible for managing and directing an organization's internal and external communications. and strategic alliances for Tech Works, said he hoped the training program would help create a network in which nonprofit leaders in the area continue to talk to one another and work together on tech projects. Tech assistance Community technology centers in the San Francisco Bay Area “Bay Area” redirects here. For other uses, see Bay Area (disambiguation). The San Francisco Bay Area, colloquially known as the Bay Area or The Bay aim to form a network- so they can work together more closely. Plans for the network grew out of a conference Aug. 14 that drew 110 people from 75 local groups and was sponsored by CompuMentor, a nonprofit tech assistance group. A survey by CompuMentor, which has created a directory of Bay Area community tech centers and launched a listserv for them, found they needed a formal network to help them tackle the challenges of raising money, attracting and keeping qualified staff, and developing tech curriculum. CompuMentor also has received three grants totaling $500,000 to help it serve California clients, strengthen its internal operations and expand its nonprofit technology Nonprofit technology comprises information and communication technologies that support the goals of nonprofit, nongovernmental, third sector, grassroots, and other mission-based organizations. The membership association for this field is . Web site at TechSoup.org to include localized Translated into the spoken language of the country. See localization. versions. The grants were provided by the James Irvine James Irvine may refer to:
Verizon Communications, Inc. and more than a dozen community advocacy groups in California. ePolicy.com Insurance Services in Torrance, Calif., has launched directors and officers liability coverage -- offered by Philadelphia Insurance Companies in Bala Cynwyd, Pa. -- that nonprofits can buy and receive using the Internet... A group of Christian veterans of the Internet has launched a search engine at searchtofeed.org that makes a donation to fight world hunger whenever a visito uses the site to conduct a Web search... The ministrywatch.com site of Charlotte, N. C.-based Wall Watchers', that tracks financial information on Christian charities now includes a "transparency guide" that lets donors know how well a charity responds to requests for information... The American Cancer Society American Cancer Society, n.pr established in 1913, this national volunteer-based health organization is committed to the elimination of cancer through prevention and treatment and to diminishing cancer suffering through advocacy, scholarship, research, has revamped its Web site at cancer. org, which now features customized content for visitors, interactive health planning tools and online discussion. Todd Cohen cohen or kohen (Hebrew: “priest”) Jewish priest descended from Zadok (a descendant of Aaron), priest at the First Temple of Jerusalem. The biblical priesthood was hereditary and male. is editor and publisher of Nonprofitxpress, an online news paper www.npxpress.com. |
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