Flickr photo: Gilberto ViciedoIn her book "Zilch", Nancy Lublin recounts the time she was seated next to "The Donald" at a play. They had a little chit chat, which included Mr. Trump asking her, "Oh. So you're in the not-for-profit sector. You don't find that boring?"

I can now say from experience that Nancy Lublin is neither bored nor boring. (Seriously. When I met her, she was wearing a necklace made of plastic hula girls, and she WORKED it.) From what I know about you, you aren't either.

As Nancy points out in the book, it's hard to be bored when there's so darn much to do and so little time do it in and so little money to do it with. This is where innovation comes in. They say necessity is the mother of innovation -- and we know all about that in this sector.

We have a lot of work that NEEDS to get done. 

In many ways, technology and innovation go hand in hand, so it's a theme that we address here at NTEN on a regular basis. In fact, we had an Ask the Expert chat with Ed Happ on Monday about the future of nonprofits and technology. Many of the questions submitted by our listeners were about innovation: what it is, how to foster it, and what resources you need to make innovation happen. 

Ed's take was tweeted by Wendy Harman during the call:

Openness, humility, and tolerance for failure. These are themes Nancy echoes in the last chapter of "Zilch." When we talk about innovation, we often identify what we think we need to facilitate it in broad, sweeping terms like Ed's. That's exactly the right prescription. But how do we take the medicine?

Nancy gives us some concrete examples:

• "Create a Small, Crowded, Boundaryless Environment" and "Cross-Pollinate." Many nonprofits, NTEN included, work in small spaces with few walls. We stick people together in a small space, regardless of job function. These kinds of situations make it tough to talk on the phone sometimes, but when people -- especially people with different perspectives -- are stuck in the same 100 square feet together all day, they tend to get into each other's business in some rewarding ways. I would call this internal openness: setting up your organization to be open to other ideas.
• "Make Everyone Do Everything." If you put the database guy on the task of stuffing, sealing, and stamping that annual mailing, do you know what you get? A really efficient process! I bet that database guy will find the most precise way to position each element, the most precise hand movements, and the best way to run those envelopes through the sealing machine. When everyone has to get engaged in a variety of your organization's work, you get new ideas -- but you also get more invested staff, who better understand the larger context of their piece of the work. 
• "Stay Close to Your Target Market." It makes sense that if you serve a particular audience, you ought to be talking to them, and maybe even letting them design parts of your programs. You should at least be open enough to solicit their ideas, and maybe try them once in a while. At NTEN, we get some great ideas, and they usually come from our members. The sticker-trading game at the NTC? That was a member idea. Our roundtables for IT Staff, Communications folks, and Consultants? Also a member idea. Be humble enough to know that you don't know it all.
• "Outlaw the Words No and But." Or, as Beth Kanter likes to say, ask "Why Not?" instead of "Why?" Instead of simply saying no to a new idea, see what you can do with it. Maybe you don't have the time or resources to gamble on an entirely new endeavor, but maybe you can do a pilot project, or iterate something you're currently doing. If you can learn something from the process, it's worth a "Yes."

It's clear from our conversations with you that innovation is a struggle. What are you doing to make innovation happen at your organizations? Share your experiences and we'll send one lucky commenter my (slightly hilghlighted) copy of "Zilch!"