Drinking From The Technology Fire Hose At “Drupal Day”

As a first time attendee of NTC (NTEN’s Nonprofit Technology Conference & Science Fair), I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect from this well-attended conference that caters to the more technical and geeky side of the nonprofit industry.  NTC 2013 certainly didn’t disappoint as technology leaders from across the country, including several nonprofit software, email, online fundraising, web design, and other technology providers, were in attendance at the popular Science Fair portion of the show. Similarly, the breakout sessions were packed with attendees eager to hear about the latest technology trends in the nonprofit sector from industry experts from all over the world.  One session in particular occupied the majority of Day 1 and concentrated specifically on all things Drupal. “Drupal Day” provided several breakout sessions related to what may arguably be the most popular website content management system (CMS) currently available for organizations looking for a robust, flexible and highly configurable open source solution. 

As a geeky web professional, I was particularly interested in these discussions for both professional and personal reasons. From a professional standpoint, I am always curious about the latest trends or developments in every facet of the web.  Although, as with any busy professional, it’s often difficult to find time to read every industry article or blog that we run across, so having a chance to listen to several Drupal experts in one place was especially exciting.  Discussions included everything from a basic introduction to Drupal 7 (Drupal 8 is scheduled to release this summer) to more in-depth technical discussions regarding integration of contact relationship management (CRM) systems into your Drupal platform. That particular session maxed-out my understanding of both types of systems, but was a fantastic learning experience as I’m sure it was for many others in attendance, as well.

From a personal point of view, I had selfish reasons for attending “Drupal Day” since our organization will be developing its new website utilizing the Drupal 7 CMS platform. I’ve had the good fortune to work with many types of content management systems, but admittedly haven’t had the opportunity to work with Drupal since v5. From everything that I’ve read and learned about Drupal 7 at this conference, it is light years ahead of previous versions, so I may have a bit of a learning curve, but it should prove to be exciting nonetheless.  One key aspect about Drupal that was emphasized throughout these discussions was the extremely involved and helpful online Drupal community. Since Drupal is an open source solution, it has hundreds of contributors and developers that are continually refining and improving the system, modules, plug-ins, etc.

In addition to the online community, there are regional groups of Drupal users, contributors, developers, and supporters that meet on a regular basis to share learnings, hash-out issues, or discuss recent successes. Drupal MeetUps, as they are commonly called, are located all over the world, and there is probably one in a city near you. If you are interested in locating a Drupal MeetUp group or just learning more about Drupal, I would encourage you to visit www.drupal.org to find out if this popular, well-supported content management system is right for your organization.

If diving head first into Drupal and developing your own cutting edge, highly responsive website sounds like a bit too much for you, not to worry. There are many reputable firms that specialize in building Drupal sites that will work with you, no matter what your budget, to help build a website that meets your organization’s needs as online users and donors continue to become more social, interactive and highly mobile.

I’m already looking forward to attending NTC next year to see where the latest technology trends will lead us. Advances in technology are occurring every day and the nonprofit sector will undoubtedly need to evolve and grow with these changes in order to meet the needs of its constituents. Conferences, such as NTC, provide a unique opportunity for nonprofit organizations to get a glimpse into the latest technology trends to help them achieve their goals.

Dan Gonzalez

Web Manager

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Dan Pallotta: The Uncharitable Double Standard

Recently I have had the pleasure of watching Dan Pallotta speak on his ideas around how we must change our expectations and controls around the business of bringing about social change and good. I got to see the TED talk as well as see him in person as a keynote speaker at #13NTC, the annual conference of NTEN (Nonprofit Technology Network). http://www.nten.org/

If you haven’t seen Dan’s TED talk, stop reading this now and take the time to watch his talk. I would much rather you saw this first hand than rely on a poor summary from me.

Impressive speaker isn’t he? I was very impressed with both his ideas and the facts that back up his message. Expect to see Dan in front of congress at some point… But let’s get to Dan’s message.

The existence of our organizations at a high level is to carry on the business of social change and good. In essence, we exist to “make the world a better place”. This is our product. Realization and delivery of this product is arguably more challenging and complicated than many for profit businesses. We ask donors to part with their money in return for the feeling of having made a difference.

Yet for all the complexity and difficulty of delivery, we restrict the tools that nonprofit entities are allowed to use. Many of Dan’s objections to our current system revolve around how we think of overhead and how we measure effectiveness. We all refer to non-program spend as “overhead” or “administrative costs”. Are they really? Dan does a great job of pointing out just how wrong our ideas are here.

In the for profit business world, we are fond of saying that it “takes money to make money”. We look for and pay for good leaders, we advertise, and we invest in innovative risks that might not pan out. It is part of how we win in the private sector.  We demand growth and results and offer rewards to those that make it happen.

However we have been taught that these expenditures are wasteful when it comes to nonprofits. The measure we’ve been taught to pay attention to is maximizing “program spend” and minimizing “administrative overhead”. Why wouldn’t we want to hire exemplary leaders that are capable of really impressive and disruptive results? Why wouldn’t we want to create awareness and “sales” of our product through high quality advertising? Why is it ok to sell potato chips in this fashion, but not fund providing clean water in developing countries?

If we are looking to solve hard problems like eradicating AIDS or Breast Cancer, why would we limit the quality of tools that people may use to make that happen? Why don’t we want our best leaders working directly on it? Why not our best advertising firms? Our best software engineers, technologists, and speakers? Why do we reserve that talent for “for profit” pursuits? Why do we make this talent choose between what is good for them personally and their family and causes we all know are globally and temporally important? Do we just seek the “good feeling” of having donated to a compelling cause, or do we truly want to see results toward the goals? Our current framework of measurement does not incent the behavior we say we would like to see, nor the results we desire.

Yes, Dan has me a bit fired up. Through listening to him, I too believe a change is needed. I hope you’ve found him inspirational. He’s not just talking though; he’s starting up his own organization to help drive this change. You can read about it here. http://charitydefensecouncil.org/ . You can also follow Dan on twitter @danpallota.

Grant Howe

VP of Research and Development

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