Upcoming Events
San Francisco CiviCRM Meetup - February 8th, 2012
February 8th, 2012
Come meet others from the Bay Area who are interested in, using or developing (more...)
UK usergroup - London meetup
February 8th, 2012
Come and meet others from the UK that are using CiviCRM or are interested in (more...)
Chicago CiviCRM Meetup
February 17th, 2012
Please join other CiviCRM users, administrators, and developers in the Chicago (more...)
London user and administrator training
February 23rd, 2012
A comprehensive two day hands on training course covering the configuration, (more...)
CiviCRM Seminar - London
February 23rd, 2012
NfP Services free seminar
CiviCRM London sprint Feb 2012
February 27th, 2012
Following the CiviCRM training here in London, we will have a CiviCRM code (more...)
Philadelphia - CiviCRM Meetup for Q1 2012
March 13th, 2012
UK South West - CiviCRM Meetup
March 20th, 2012
Come meet others from the Area who are interested in, using or developing for (more...)
[Bristol, UK] user and administrator training
March 21st, 2012
A comprehensive hands on training course covering the configuration, (more...)
San Francisco user and administrator training
March 29th, 2012
A comprehensive two day hands on training course covering the configuration, (more...)
CiviCRM Usability, Test and Code Sprint - San Francisco (March 2012)
March 29th, 2012
This usability, code and test sprint is targeted at CiviCRM users and (more...)
CiviCon 2012 San Francisco Bay Area - April 2nd 2012
April 2nd, 2012
CiviCon is THE annual event bringing together the people who use, develop, (more...)
CiviCRM Documentation, Test and Code Sprint - after CiviCon San Francisco (April 2012)
April 4th, 2012
This sprint is targeted at CiviCRM users and developers who want to work on (more...)
CiviCRM Components
Tools for engaging your supporters...
Non-profits and open source: Match made in heaven?
- Not Just a Contact Database
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These optional components give you more power to connect and engage your supporters.
civiCASE
Case management for clients and constituents.
civiCONTRIBUTE
Online fundraising and donor management.
civiEVENT
Online event registration and participant tracking.
civiMEMBER
Online signup and membership management.
civiMAIL
Personalized email blasts and newsletters.
civiREPORT
Report generation and template management.
I recently blogged about my approach to open source software as a non-profit techie here: OpenProgress.
The short version is, I think there's a huge unique opportunity for mutually beneficial collaboration between non-profits and open source software communities if they play to each other strengths. Non-profits can bring more of their resources to bear on their software projects if they use open source software than if they go it alone or pay a vendor to do everything. It's also more sustainable for them in the long run. And on the flip-side, open source projects are already somewhat altruistic by nature and represent a new means of production and contribution to society that meshes well with the progressive social change agendas of many non-profits. CiviCRM is positioned right smack dab in the middle of this, and in fact I'm testing this model with the U.S. PIRG CiviCRM project. Click the link above to read more about what I'm doing.
Comments
I would agree in principle,
I would agree in principle, but I also have the experience that a lot of non-profit organisations initially just want a vendor who takes care of them. Althought they sometimes complain about vendor lock-in, they find it extremely hard to take their position as customer. In my field of non-profit (Dutch housing corporations) the more innovative organisations will take their first steps in open source in the next couple of years, but will still require support from consultants/support organisations. In that way they reap some of the open source benefits, but the consultant is the one who is really 'in' the open source world. We try to make that our playing field, and I believe non-profits will still profit on a cost level and on a flexility level. Also, for those that want it they can take the lead!
Agreed, but
Though I agree in principle, my experience making the pitch over the past decade has been there is no real connection between the mission values of nonprofits and the values of open source.
Nonprofits want a better vendor. They do not have the capacity or interest to break out of the "proprietary vendor" mindset. Therefore, the key to making the idea work is to use open source, ideas like social enterprise, etc. to create a "better vendor" in the eyes of the nonprofit community.
The nonprofit gets all the benefits that come with mission alignment, but doesn't have to understand or even be aware they are getting those benefits. The nonprofit gets a better product at a lower price point.
I'd take it a step further
I'd take it a step further, and say there is often no real connection between the mission values of a nonprofit and the values of other, even related, nonprofits. Perhaps this is because resources are tight, especially with smaller nonprofits.