The blog post Holly wrote recently on the leadership gap in Nonprofit IT departments has been gaining traction -- along with quite a few comments. It seems she's touched a nerve, and that's a good thing. As she says, "More nonprofit EDs need to understand technology's strategic importance."

Nonprofit technology leadership is one of the issues we care about the most here at NTEN. For the sector to work as efficiently as possible, Executive Directors and other nonprofit leaders need to feel comfortable making technology decisions without formal technology training. Equally as important, IT Staff need leadership skills to bring technology out of the back office and into the strategies of their nonprofit organizations.

We're doing what we can to address the issue with our Technology Leadership Series of webinars.

Flickr Photo: RobjtakThe leadership gap: wherever I go in the nonprofit world these days, the leadership gap comes up in conversation. Lots of research by lots of smart people points in one direction -- nonprofit leaders are leaving the sector at an increasing rate, and their staff don't feel ready or aren't interested in replacing them. (Get the specifics from Bridgespan's "Leadership Deficit" report and "Ready to Lead" from the Meyer Foundation, Idealist and Compasspoint.)

At the same time, I've heard rumbling in the NTEN universe from those of you who play another role in your organizations: technology leadership. CIOs and CTOs -- and those who do the work without the official title -- are all talking about a vacuum of technology leadership at their organizations. But if you go, who will follow?

If that's how you've been feeling, you're not imagining things.

Don't miss your chance to become a technology leader in 2008. Learn how to put tools to work for your organization instead of the other way around.

Peter Campbell, TechCafeteria.com

I’ve spent more than 20 years in the sometimes maddening, sometimes wonderful, world of nonprofit IT management. Along the way I’ve worked under a variety of CEOs with very diverse styles, and I’ve developed, deployd and maintained ambitious technology platforms. In order to survive, I put together three basic tenets to live by.

Tenets to live by:

1. Management is 360 degrees: managing your superiors and peers is a bigger challenge than managing your staff.

2. To say anything effectively in an organization, you have to say it at least three times in three different media.

3. Follow Fidonet’s basic social guideline, “Do not be excessively annoying and do not become excessively annoyed.”

Here’s a roundup of some useful books on managing and leading your organization’s technology.

Managing Nonprofits.org: Dynamic Management for the Digital Age

Ben Hecht and Rey Ramsey

The digital age has dramatically changed the way we all do business—from the tasks we do everyday, to the pace at which we must adapt and embrace change. Managing Nonprofits.org focuses on adapting leadership styles and management decisions to this new reality. Each chapter highlights a case study to offer context and real world examples. (NTEN members get discounts on Jossey Bass/Wiley Books)

Nonprofits and Technology: Emerging Research for Useable Knowledge

Michael Cortes and Kevin Rafter, editors

Michael Cortes and Kevin Rafter have collected research papers on topics ranging from technology infrastructure to the use of online advocacy in order to explore how technology helps, and hinders, nonprofit effectiveness. This work is a welcome addition to the relatively new field nonprofit technology, as hard data is hard to find.