NTEN: The Nonprofit Technology Network

Hey Women Who Tech! Get Your Tech On!

Holly — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 07:55:19 -0700

As you know, we're just about done collecting your great session ideas for the 11NTC right now (deadline: August 27). After that comes the hard part: figuring out what to put on the final agenda. It's a balancing act -- literally. We're always looking to balance sessions across tracks, open source v. proprietary, sessions for small orgs and sessions for large orgs. Oh, and women vs. men presenters.

We don't always succeed at that. Since we're an organization that's also run by a woman, we're very glad to partner every year with with the Women Who Tech Telesummit. The Telesummit was formed three years ago to celebrate all the innovative women out there making an impact in the fields of technology and social media -- women like Deanna Zandt, Beth Kanter, Amy Sample Ward, Michelle Murrain, and Lauren Vargas, among others, who will be presenting at Women Who Tech.

So join us on September 15 from 11am to 6pm Eastern time. All you need is an internet connection and a phone line.

> Register for the Women Who Tech Telesummit!

Women Who Tech’s thought provoking virtual panels offer the latest resources and tools for launching a successful startup, tools and apps to build your online community, Social Media ROI, and more.

Among the sessions:

Launching Your Own Startup
Creating a Culture of Collaboration and Innovation
Female Ferocity
ROI of Social Networking
Speak Up: Pitching and Public Speaking Mojo
Building the Ultimate User Experience
Women and Open Source and Identity
And more…

> Register for the Women Who Tech Telesummit!

P.S. We also have fun after parties happening in DC, NYC, and SF following the TeleSummit on September 15th from 6:30 to 8:30 - http://bit.ly/djFEi2

How to Use Causes for Your Year-End Fundraising Appeal

Brett — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:30:17 -0700

Susan Gordon, Causes

Planning for the year-end giving season is in full swing throughout the nonprofit sector. In 2009, giving in December alone brought in about 1/3 of the fundraising dollars to nonprofits. And in 2010, online giving is expected to bring in more donations than ever, after having seen a 46% increase in online revenue between 2008 and 2009.

At Causes, the application on Facebook, we’re releasing huge improvements to our fundraising and communications tools just in time for the year-end giving season. Nonprofits have already raised over $26 million using Causes -- and to start the giving season off, we recently announced that your causes will soon be able to publish to members' News Feeds (like a Fan Page can now). Once you’ve built a vibrant online community, the end of the year is the perfect time to make a fundraising appeal.

Fundraising Projects

Facebook users are more motivated to donate to specific projects rather than general fundraising appeals. Causes has just updated their Fundraising Projects feature so nonprofits can effectively do project-based fundraising campaigns through Facebook.

Using this tool, the National Wildlife Federation has raised over $100,000 for their oil spill work in the Gulf Coast. The Humane Society of the United States raised $20,000 in 6 days, all through their cause, to fund a team of journalists documenting the seal slaughter in Canada. And Camfed raised $4,500 to build a roof on a school in Malawi, then turned around and funded another $3,386 project to give shoes to schoolgirls in Zimbabwe.

The new Fundraising Projects have a Google Maps integration, the ability to set price points for your donors ($10 plants 10 trees, for example), and an easy browsing page for new people to find your nonprofit's projects.

To create a Fundraising Project on Causes, go to http://nonprofits.causes.com/campaigns/new

There are a few things to keep in mind to make sure your fundraising campaign using the Causes Fundraising Project is successful:

1. Feature your Fundraising Project on every cause that benefits your nonprofit - not just the ones you created. You can affiliate with any cause created for you, which adds your nonprofit as an administrator of the cause, allows you to send that cause bulletins, and feature your Fundraising Project on that cause. Click "Send Affiliate Request" here: http://nonprofits.causes.com/causes/independent and add your Facebook profile here:http://nonprofits.causes.com/account/facebook_accounts and you'll be all set to make the most of the network of causes that benefit your nonprofit.

2. Don’t be scared to drive home the message. Create a messaging schedule that involves sending a kick-off bulletin, updates, and a wrap-up message. Motivate supporters through descriptions of your work and the impact they can have by donating. And don’t forget to send your Causes Fundraising Project to Fans, Twitter followers, house lists, etc. Here are some sample bulletins: http://exchange.causes.com/resources/features/bulletins/

3. For more information and help creating a strategy that makes your project successful, read How to Run a Successful Fundraising Campaign on Causes.

Birthday Wish: Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

Causes' Birthday Wish feature is the single most effective nonprofit fundraising tool on Facebook. Causes users have raised over $6 million for nonprofits through the tool in the past year.

Birthday Wish is a feature-packed fundraising tool for your supporters to raise money for your nonprofit on their birthdays. Supporters choose your cause for their Birthday Wish, then use many peer-to-peer outlets like Facebook, Twitter, and email to ask their friends to donate instead of giving them gifts.

The old design was already bringing in an average of $100 per active Birthday Wish -- and the new design adds more features like reminders, the ability to create Birthday Cards, and easier ways for your friends to promote your Birthday Wish for you.

Go to http://birthdays.causes.com to get started or click on the Birthday Wish link on any cause that benefits your nonprofit. You can use that link in email blasts, on your website, and in e-newsletters to ask your supporters to start fundraising for you on their birthdays.

Everyone who is already in your causes will also get an email 1 month and 2 weeks before their birthday, asking them to create a Birthday Wish.

More tools for nonprofits to promote Birthday Wishes are on their way but there's no need to wait to start using it. Feel free to email us at partner@causes.com if you have questions or go to the Causes Resource Center at http://exchange.causes.com.

Best of luck for your end-of-year fundraising!

Lunch Is on Me and My Cell Phone

Holly — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:35:30 -0700

Flickr photo: shareskiHow much cash do you have in your wallet right now?

As I sat in the Grand Junction Colorado airport -- which is charming -- I had a conundrum: the contents of my wallet came to a grand total of 72 cents.* This is a common situation for me, a situation that means if I need a Diet Coke later (inevitable), I will likely also be forced to buy some chips or something so that I can put the charge on my ATM card. (Those chips clearly have nothing to do with my lack of will power.)

But I digress. My point is that real currency, the silver and green stuff we lug around, is about to get an upgrade.

In Pocket Change, author Dan Macasi points us to osaifu keitai, the Japanese phrase that means cell-phone wallet. The concept is simple. An NFC chip -- that's near-field communications -- is placed on your existing cell phone, or is built into new phones. When it's time to check out, you wave your phone over the payment center and the transaction information is passed through the chip to your bank. Done.

Visa is testing it right now with Bank of America and Device Fidelity, which created a new iPhone case to house the chip. Here are a couple of ways to think about what this might mean:

Personally

Be thrilled that you may be able to get a Diet Coke from that vending machine without fishing around for quarters.
Maybe also be a little concerned about the potential rise in your Diet Coke consumption. Seriously. If you thought you spent money fast in iTunes, wait until you see how you burn through money you never have to see anymore.
Another downside: when you lose you phone, you also lose your wallet. As your personal information consolidates, so too does the danger of identity theft. (This is why I actually want an NFC chip embedded in my wrist. Problem solved.)

For Nonprofits

Immediacy is something we bank on in the sector. It's the emotion or connection the donor feels RIGHT NOW that we want to capture. Imagine holding an event and being able to let anyone donate $5 with a swipe of their phone as they enter and exit.
Online donations have made it easier to collect donations in the field, but this would take that to a new, and potentially much more efficient, extreme.
The easier the transaction, the less tied that donor may feel to the organization. Can you move a $5 donor up the ladder of engagement? Will s/he even remember donating?

Paying by mobile is already a done deal in Japan and Europe. Analysts predict it will go big in the US in the next three to five years. Are you ready for it? And does anyone want to invest in one of these for the NTEN office?

* Also found in the money part of my wallet: 3 free song downloads from Starbucks, 2 bobby pins, a note from my daughter, a receipt for crayons, and some rewards coupons for my local garden center (expired, of course).

Brandraising: Using Technology to Grow Nonprofit Peaches

Brett — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 09:14:12 -0700

Sarah Durham, Big Duck

We're all nerds when it comes to new media.

No matter how many studies tell us that that the gadgets we're hooked on aren't good for us, most of us technology nerds still can't get enough. In part, it's because the technology is now so fast, easy and cheap to use that simply investing our time to figure it out seems like a pleasure. After all, I was that kid who stayed up late playing video games. (Ah, Joust... how I miss thee.) Now I'm that grown up who stays up late building communities for my obscure personal interests on Ning, and aimlessly chatting with my long-lost friends from elementary school on Facebook, and even (cough, cough) playing on Polyvore.

At work, all of this gadgetry often comes in handy, too. After all, who doesn't revel in the wonders of the innovative microsites, campaigns, and transparent goodness that Beth Kanter and Allison Fine wonderfully illustrate in "The Networked Nonprofit"? I sure do. One of the reasons I love the NTEN community is that I can revel in the joys of hanging out with other geeks like me. (That means you.)

Then there's the flip side: how do we keep these exciting initiatives moving ahead despite such limited staff time to devote to them? Sure, it's easy for that board member to thump her fist on the table and exclaim, "We need to use the Facebook!" (I know: I love it too when folks call it the Facebook.)

But we all know it's just not that simple.

When the Fruit Doesn't Much Resemble the Tree

Projects of all kinds start with a flurry of activity. If they're digitally driven, they're often conceived, designed, written, and launched in a matter of days -- often with a special name, logo, tagline, color palette, and other unique branding. Staff spend all their mojo getting them up and going and then watering them, like seedlings, as they bloom into full-blown advocacy, outreach, or fundraising projects in a matter of weeks. To work the gardening metaphor even harder, it's almost like the nonprofit is a peach tree bearing fruit that looks more like oranges and lemons: vaguely related, perhaps -- but not much.

Over time, these special projects can start to wither: staff time to devote to them gets limited as new initiatives get started, the community grows so large it requires more time to manage -- who'll be the mayor of the lemons? -- or it's hard to respond in real time to conversations that unfold.

So how can we launch innovative digital initiatives that use all of this rocking technology to advance our missions without driving ourselves stark, raving mad and entirely confusing our target audiences?

What's a Poor Nonprofit to Do?

In my book, "Brandraising: How Nonprofits Raise Money and Visibility Through Smart Communications" (Jossey-Bass, 2010), I adapted two tried-and-true for-profit marketing concepts, positioning and personality, for nonprofit use.

Positioning is the big idea we want to establish in the minds of our target audiences.

Personality is the tone and style we'll use as we communicate.

When we help organizations shift their communications here at Big Duck, we often start by establishing clear organizational positioning and personality regardless of whether it's a branding project, website, campaign, etc. That's because it's critical to have some way to weave together all of the communications.

And that thing has to emerge from a nonprofit's vision and mission above all else.

For example, let's say the Lead Pencil Association of America (names changed to protect the innocent) launches a revolutionary 'Lead the way' campaign to get folks to throw out pens and go back to the classic yellow #2 pencils. They use a special look and feel (yellow with pink and grey, perhaps), Facebook page, Twitter stream, and so forth, and it's very different from the organization's typical blue and black, rather serious branding. You can bet that the organization's leadership wants to capture the 10,000 people who're connected to the project and be sure they know who's behind the campaign. Better yet, let's convert them to donors or advocates for future Lead Pencil Association work. But with the media and the messaging so unconnected, that's going to be a seriously uphill battle.

On the other hand, a well-defined brand like Apple computers makes sure that every campaign they launch ties back to their core positioning and personality. Remember the "Think different" campaign featuring Ghandi and Einstein? Or the "I'm a Mac/I'm a PC" commercials of the past few years? Both are different campaigns conceptually, but they're united by a common underlying strategy about how Apple wants to be perceived. Someone who participates in a social media action as part of the 'Think Different' campaign can't help but know that it's an initiative of Apple computers, right?

Let's Grow Peaches

What I love about positioning and personality is that they're actually time and cost saving tools any nonprofit can use. Sure, it's work to figure out what they should be for your organization and build buy-in for them. But once that's done, it becomes so much easier and faster to grow peaches.

When each initiative you launch clearly links back to the 'mother brand' of the organization, you're building a much more cohesive and valuable community no matter what technology you're using.

Want more about how to do it? Well of course, there's my book, or you can watch or participate in the brandraising series of webinars I'm doing with NTEN.

Here's to tasty peaches.

Changes to the NTEN Connect Newsletter

Brett — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:21:05 -0700

Until this month, we've used our monthly e-newsletter, NTEN Connect, to debut new content, typically publishing the 5-7 articles we've solicited all at once. While that gives us a nice traffic spike, it's a lot to drop on y'all in one day.

So, in the spirit of Holly's call for innovation, we're going to try something new.

Each weekday, for the first couple of weeks of each month, we're going to post a guest article related to our monthly theme. This month, it's fundraising; next month, Tech Trends. At the end of the month, the articles you, the NTEN community, like the most -- as determined by time on page, pageviews (over the first few days), and social media mentions -- will be highlighted in the newsletter.

We're approaching 20,000 subscribers to NTEN connect, and the majority of them don't follow us on a daily basis. We hope that by crowdsourcing popularity and engagement, we'll be able to give them the articles they'll be most interested in reading, while giving you more time to absorb all of it. (Don't worry: we'll bump up the extras in the newsletter to keep you entertained, too. And we'll be sure to include all of the articles we've solicited, in some form -- because all of our authors deserve a read.)

If it doesn't work, hey! We'll go back to the old way -- or try to come up with something else. That's just how we roll.

It starts today with a piece by Mal Warwick on "Fundraising When Money Is Tight".

Fundraising When Money Is Tight

Brett — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:49:17 -0700

Mal Warwick, Mal Warwick Associates

Our economy is still in bad shape, and a growing number of economists is telling us that it may well get worse. So what can we fundraisers do to minimize the impact of this difficult period on our organizations, and at the same time maximize our income?

I suggest a cautious and balanced nine-step approach:

1. Reassess the whole ball of wax: fundraising, marketing, communications

Now’s the time to take advantage of the opportunity to put in place an intensive evaluation process that will allow your fundraising, marketing, and communications programs to function at the highest degree of efficiency and effectiveness. Cut out any programs that aren’t advancing your mission.

2. Strengthen your case for giving

Be certain your donors understand both the more urgent need for your services during tough times and the many concrete steps you’re taking to increase your efficiency and effectiveness.

3. Stick with what works

If the decades-long experience of direct marketers has anything at all to teach the fundraising profession, it’s that different isn’t always better. An economic downturn does not justify throwing out what has worked in the past. In fact, it’s a time for caution and cost-cutting.

4. Cut costs with a scalpel, not an ax

You can’t not raise funds. You can’t treat loyal and responsive donors like statistics. And you can’t stop building your donor database. If you do these things, your donor list will shrink through attrition, both natural and unnatural, and your income will slack off to a dribble.

5. Fish where the big fish are

Focus more time, effort, and money on generous and responsive donors and less on less productive ones. If your organization has the habit of treating all your donors the same way, it’s time to examine how you can fine-tune your program with a well-considered segmentation plan.

6. Stay close to your donors

At no time can a nonprofit organization operate as though its donors will continue giving no matter how they’re treated. During an economic downturn, it’s doubly urgent to hold your donors close to your chest, because it’s all too easy for a donor to lose a sense of connection with you.

7. Get personal with your donors

If we have anything more than the most rudimentary of databases, we know how long our donors have been giving to us, how much they’ve given, and how frequently. Even if that’s all the information we integrate into our appeals, surely that’s got to do a better job of securing additional support than a crude “Dear Donor” letter or email! And since it’s so simple to gather even more personal information from at least some of our donors, what’s stopping us? Are we afraid of actually raising more money?

8. Step up your efforts online

Online fundraising in and of itself does not represent the salvation of the nonprofit sector in a difficult economy, at least not in the short term. However, the online channel has multiple benefits for nonprofit fundraisers: attracting younger supporters, providing constituents with opportunities for participation in your work, and reinforcing appeals sent through other channels, to name just three. An enhanced investment in online communications will pay many dividends, reinforcing near-term fundraising efforts in the short term and laying the foundation for a more prosperous future.

9. Break down the silos

Some minimal degree of centralized scheduling among all the people who are communicating with your donors — the online folks, the direct mail people, the marketing department, the planned giving office — would surely reduce donor attrition. That alone would be an accomplishment. But take the logic one step further, and you’ll realize that a truly integrated program of fundraising, marketing, and communications would boost revenue... even under the worst external conditions.

Mal Warwick has been raising money professionally since 1979. This post is adapted from his nineteenth book, Fundraising When Money Is Tight: A Strategic and Practical Guide to Surviving Tough Times and Thriving in the Future, published last year by Jossey-Bass. Copyright © 2009 by Mal Warwick.

Donald Trump Thinks You're Boring (and Other Lessons on Innovation)

Holly — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 10:16:42 -0700

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!"

Things We Like (August 2010)

Brett — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 12:24:50 -0700

A monthly roundup of our favorite nonprofit tech resources. Read more posts on our blog.

HBR's Dan Pallotta thinks it's unethical that your organization doesn't spend more time and money on fundraising. Them's fightin' words to a lot of commenters.
We think it's unethical that this crazy yo-yo guy hasn't been worked into a fundraising campaign. He will seriously blow your mind. But we have to wonder what his parents think. Somebody find him a spokespinner job, quick!
A friend posted that yo-yo link to Facebook. Adina Levin thinks Facebook's not the best place for community organizers -- but it may depend on the community. If your community is into cat fashion shows, or any number of silly memes, you're golden. We have a way of finding each other.
For instance, we know a certain number of people will love this slideshow of hi-resolution space images. (They're quite spectacular.) Which people? Our people.
But you kind of have to wonder what will happen if everybody just starts listening to people they agree with. After all, if it's on the Internet, it must be true. Dahna Boyd has some thoughts.
Macrowikinomics.
Star Wars Cupcakes. We're not sure we could bring ourselves to eat these, they're so fantastic.
If you're looking for a new mass e-mail platform, you should check out Groundwire's precisely named "E-mail Service Provider Comparison Report 2010".
Wired recently declared that the Web is dead. We think they're getting ahead of themselves.
Regular readers of this space will know there's a growing consensus that technology is physically changing the ways our brains work. Fortunately, there's an easy way to reboot: get outside.
There are so many social media options these days, you may be feeling a little lost. Here's a map to help you find your way.
Finally, in the interest of making you feel good about the world, monkeys love kittens, too! (Also, how can you not want to visit a place called Monkey Forest?) Now, go forth and be productive!

How-to: Improve Your Site's Bounce Rate (Intro to Google Analytics Advanced Filtering)

Brett — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 08:50:29 -0700

If you're in charge of your organization's web analytics, you undoubtedly know about bounce rate -- the measure of visitors who enter your site, say "Enh" (or something ruder), and immediately leave, without viewing any more of your carefully crafted pages. Yeah, those people annoy me, too.

But unless you're a consultant working with several nonprofit clients, you're probably working in a vacuum: you know your own site's bounce rate, but you don't know how good it is compared to other sites.

I recently had the opportunity to see anayltics for more than a few other sites, including one with nearly 2,000,000 monthly visitors, and if those are any indication -- they were all above 71% -- your bounce rate isn't as bad as you think it is. But that's no reason not to keep improving! Around here, we operate under analytics guru Eric Peterson's definition of what your bounce rate should be: 10% better than it is now.

As luck would have it, there's an easy way you can use Google Analytics to simplify that job.

Let's dive in. You want to go to the "Top Content" report:

As you can see, in June, 2009, NTEN.org had an overall bounce rate of 61.29% -- from 5,280 viewed pages. That's too many to deal with, so we need to start filtering down.

First, let's get rid of the blog pages. Analytics evangelist Avinash Kaushik has said you shouldn't consider blog pages as part of your main site when thinking about bounce rate, since it's the nature of the web for people to come read an article (linked to from elsewhere) and then leave. (That's not to say you shouldn't worry about your blog's bounce rate, but that's another topic entirely.)

You can use the quick filter at the bottom of the content report to get rid of the blog pages quickly. In our case, that reduces our page load by about 700:

That's still not nearly enough, so it's time to employ some advanced filtering. You can find the "Advanced Filter" link at the bottom of the content report. Click that, and then "Add new condition":

I've chosen to filter by "Pageviews", to find only the pages with more than 200 views, the pages we need to worry about the most. You should set your own metric based on your overall site traffic.

That's much better! It gets us down to 40 pages:

I can see there are some pages with "event" in the URL, though. I'd still consider those to be landing pages -- and temporary ones, at that -- so they may be something to work on separately, but for our purposes, I want to get rid of them by adding another filter:

Then, to find only those pages with poor bounce rate (I've gone with 45%"), add a 4th filter, this time using the "Bounce Rate" metric:

Ta da! We've found the 15 worst performing pages (with significant traffic) on NTEN.org:

Notice that these 15 pages represent 25% of our overall traffic. If we spend time working on these few pages and manage to improve the bounce rate significantly, it's going to impact the bounce rate for the entire site.

If this kind of stuff interests you, you might want to check out our upcoming webinar series on Web Analytics.

Happy filtering!

Collecting Data in Low Resource Areas: How to Get Started

Brett — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 08:37:57 -0700

William (Bill) Lester, NPOKI

It’s an old problem, made worse by the tantalizing potential that technology provides: how do you collect and aggregate quality data when you work in low resource areas?

Imagine this scenario:

You’re an NGO working in an African country to advocate for clean water. You accomplish this by educating the people of that country on all aspects of safe water, and you lead projects that help to improve the quality of the water supply. You are funded to do this by a US foundation. As proof of your success, you need to gather data from each and every encounter you have with your clients and partners and field projects, and use that data to create qualitative and quantitative metrics of success. That means collecting the data at the source, aggregating the data, verifying the data, creating meaningful reports, and analyzing the data for decision-making. You have a great staff, but they are not sophisticated in the use of technology tools. There is no real infrastructure. Telephone, and internet, and electricity, and fuel are spotty. You have paper and pen, but in this harsh environment, even collecting data the old fashioned way can be unreliable. And even when you’re able to get data from your staff, what’s the best way to aggregate that data?

So what do you do? How do you start to tackle this problem?

For the last 15 years or so, there have been many experiments using the tools of technology and new media to improve data collection. These efforts have met with mixed success. They include things like:

Access/FileMaker databases on desktops or laptops
PDAs
Mobile phones
Tablets/Touchscreen devices
Scanners
Wikis/Blogs
Voice Recorders
Email
Floppy disks/CD-ROMs

Sometimes the problem is the technology -- or rather, inappropriate technology. Computers and phones require power, and whether batteries or electricity, if you don’t have it, you can’t work. Wikis and blogs require some writing skills (in addition to power).

Sometimes, the procedures aren’t right. For instance, if you don’t back up your data (seamlessly), you can easily lose all the work you’ve done.

Sometimes the problem is training. Your staff need to be able to use the tools you give them comfortably.

Sometimes the problem is cultural. People can fear or mistrust or envy someone walking around with a laptop or a PDA.

Sometimes the environment is too harsh or too dangerous. There are bugs. (Literally!)

And sometimes the problem is something you never imagined.

A few things have changed for the better. Infrastructure has improved. The cost of some technology tools and solutions has gone down. More and more people are comfortable using the tools. Those of us who collect data in low resource areas continue to evaluate technology’s role in finding the proper solution(s) for collecting data.

If you look at the path that information must travel, there is a point where the tools that NGOs have used for data collection work well. As information moves up and down the highway, from headquarters to field offices to in-country partner organizations, to consultants, and volunteers, and to the general public or the clients or the project sites, there is a point where the structure breaks down. It’s often referred to as the “last mile”, but the term I prefer is the” Edge of Network”. That’s the point where you are dealing with people and forces outside of your area of comfort – the area that you cannot control.

My friend Damir Simunic of WA Research talks about the "principles of success on the edge”, and while he is addressing the problems of virtual collaboration, these rules apply to those of us who design technology solutions as well.

The first and foremost of these principles is SIMPLICITY.

The tools we use must be simple enough (limited features, limited points of failure, easy recovery) for the task of data collection. A check of a YES or NO box or an ON/OFF voice capture or a tap of a few keys on a keyboard or a finger on a touchscreen and you’re done!

The second of these principles is OWNERSHIP.

The users of the tools must feel as if they own the solution. Often, it’s as simple as branding. Sometimes, it’s having the solution use local languages or other appropriate cultural marks. Pictures or colors that evoke locality and ownership can help. The user must understand the importance of the role that s/he plays.

The third of these principles is BASIC TECHNOLOGY.

You need foolproof solutions that work. For instance, we like email and SMS. These text-based simple communications technologies require such basic resources, that they can be easily maintained. Building solutions upon basic technology improves the likeliness of success.

The last of these principles is TRAINING.

Basic comfort in the use of technology tools in general, and the solution you’re advocating in particular is a necessary part of success at the edge. Peer training is the ideal method, since it engenders trust between equals.

With these principles, you have the start of understanding how to solve the problems of data collection in low resource areas.