(A version of this item - with live links - is also available at
<http://blog.deborah.elizabeth.finn.com/blog/_archives/2006/8/13/2218897.html>.)



Dear DDN Colleagues,

As I've previously mentioned in my blog, I'm helping out with the
Immigrant Organizers Information Technology Network, and the current
challenge to create a workshop that will help these small grassroots
organizations incorporate funding for technology in their overall
development strategies.

This seems to be the most pressing issue for any nonprofit executive -
finding the money to support the technology infrastructure that
sustains the organization.  In small nonprofits, lack of money is the
deal-breaker.  Before they can make decisions about technology
staffing, databases, web sites, network servers, the organization's
leaders need to have a plan for paying the bills for these and other
mission-critical technology

Unfortunately, I don't have a magic formula for funding technology
that I can offer these folks.  In the world of nonprofit technology,
the rule of thumb is that most donors and grantmakers give money to
organizations with great missions; with a few notable exceptions,
funders are seldom passionate about writing checks to buy technology
products and services.

So that's the bad news.

The good news is that last year I attended a terrific workshop on this
topic at the Boston regional N-TEN conference.  It was organized by
fellow Technobabe Theresa Ellis, so I went to her and requested
permission to replicate her idea.  She very graciously agreed,
coaching me about how to proceed, and encouraging me to recruit as
many panelists as possible from the session that she designed.

Here's the plan.  Four of our panelists will be from the philanthropic
world, folks with plenty of practical experience:

          Roberto Cremonini, Barr Foundation

          Cathleen Finn,* IBM Corporate Community Relations Program

          George McCully, Catalogue For Philanthropy

          Kathleen Sherwin, TechFoundation

The fifth panelist will be Kevin Whalen from the Center to Support
Immigrant Organizing. He will be presenting proposal to support the
Immigrant Organizers Information Technology Network that has already
submitted and accepted by the Boston Foundation.  (Geeta Pradhan of
TBF has been very kind about giving her blessing on this.)

We will distribute copies to all of the workshop attendees, and get
down to cases.  Our panelists will have a free and frank exchange of
views on the strengths and weaknesses of the proposal, and then take
questions from the workshop attendees. I don't expect any formulaic
answers to come out of this session, but hope that this will improve
understanding about how and why some grant proposals succeed with some
donors.

I'm convinced that - even though I don't have the answer to the vexed
question about how small nonprofits can find sustainable funding for
their technology infrastructure - the answers lie in dialogue among
the donors,  the nonprofit  executives,  the nonprofit  technology
assistance providers, and  other stakeholders in the missions of these
organizations.  We need to work out a process of relationship building
and mutual education across the divide between donors and recipients.

Best regards from Deborah

*  No relation to yours truly, except to the extent that all human
beings are cousins, and that I happen to be an avid fan of the human
being in question.


Deborah Elizabeth Finn
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.cyber-yenta.org
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