Yesterday, Yahoo! announced that they are releasing a new API to the public. According to Wired Magazine's newly rejuvenated (yay!) Webmonkey blog:

The Yahoo Address Book API offers JSON/XML data responses and can be used for common tasks like syncing with another address book, e-mail address auto-completion, obtaining unique identifiers and more.

This is exciting news for the nonprofit sector since we rely so heavily on "Tell a friend" marketing for list growth. While most nonprofits will have a hard time using the API on their own, I have to think that the software vendors are already dreaming up new tools for us to use.

As an early holiday present to the NTEN community, we're excited to pre-release a new report from Idealware and NTEN.

> Download the report for free!

Your data is yours, but can you get to it? When it's difficult to move critical data, processes are cumbersome, time is wasted, and organizations don’t have the full picture they need to serve their mission. What’s the solution? Data exchange.

Following the success of NTEN's report on Open APIs, Paul Hagen and Laura Quinn provide an evaluation framework that will help weigh the advantages and trade-offs of the data integration features across different applications.

Take control of your data today.

> Download the report for free!

This Idealware report was written in partnership with NTEN. Thanks to Beaconfire, Jacobson Consulting Applications, Forum One Communications, and Database Designs for their support of the report.

A nonprofit's ability to collect the data it needs and personalize the feedback it gives to constituents is becoming more critical with the growth of new Web applications that generate additional constituent data.

Forget workarounds. Think open.

Open APIs and extensions allow nonprofits to link existing data and applications in new ways to deliver totally unique solutions.

Join Tom Krackeler, Vice President of Product Management at Convio, Inc., for the free Product Spotlight Webinar "Web 2.0, Social Media and the New Web: Leveraging Open Platforms to Help Nonprofits Achieve Results" to learn why open platforms, products and tools are essential for nonprofit marketing in today's Web 2.0 world -- and in the future.

>FREE! Register Today!

Peter Campbell, Techcafeteria, and Laura Quinn, Idealware

Repeat this mantra: I will not pay a vendor to lock me out of my own data. Sadly, this is what a lot of data management systems do, either by maintaining poor reporting and exporting interfaces or by including license clauses that void the contract if you interact with your data in unapproved ways.

The software you choose has an enormous impact on whether you can effectively get data in or pull it out to integrate with other packages. If you only look at the front end features, you're only conducting half an evaluation. It's also critical to determine how you can -- or if you can -- access the data.

To avoid lock-in and ensure the greatest amount of flexibility when looking to buy any new application -- particularly the ones that store your data off-site and give you web-based access to it -- ask the following questions:

I'm pleased to say that we have a new problem in the sector: evaluating software has gotten a little bit harder lately! With more vendors offering more ways to exchange and access your data, you have more things to consider when you're looking at software.

And how DO you evaluate data exchange anyway?

NTEN and Idealware hope to help you answer that question. With support from Beaconfire, and expertise from folks Database Design Associates and Forum One, we're set to develop standards that anyone can use to evaluate the data exchange capabilities of any piece of software.

Learn more about what we're up to and share your two cents over at the Idealware blog.

Gene Austin, Chief Executive Officer, Convio and Tom Krackeler, VP, Product Management, Convio

It is incumbent on all software vendors serving the nonprofit sector to open opportunities for nonprofits to have greater choice and flexibility in pursuing their missions.

To meet the expectations of nonprofits today -- and five years from now -- software vendors need to facilitate interoperability between systems and enable integration between offline and online data and the new Web. And they should do so with one clear purpose in mind: to open the possibilities for nonprofits to find and engage constituents to support their missions.

The NTEN community has been leading the charge for openness. With Salesforce and Facebook, Convio has embraced openness as a way of doing business.

 

Software vendors should:

 

1. provide nonprofit organizations of all sizes and in any stage of Internet adoption the flexibility to integrate with other web or database applications to exchange constituent and campaign data.
2. make their Open APIs available to clients, partners, and a broad developer community.
3. expose Open APIs as part of their core product functionality.
4. proactively use APIs provided by other companies in additional to providing their own.
5. make their API documentation publicly available and provide a forum for sharing and discussing best practices and exchanging code examples.
6. publish a roadmap for their API development and encourage participation in the development of that roadmap.
7. make their APIs accessible to nonprofits at a level that does not require extensive technical expertise to leverage those APIs.

Last fall, NTEN hosted a discussion amongst some of the major vendors in about Open APIs, one of the major pieces of the data integration puzzle. One year later -- almost to the day! -- two major vendors have announced major initiatives around Open APIs. Coincidence? We think not!

Last week, Kintera announced the expansion of their Connect program, adding APIs to their library of tools.

The latest announcement is from Convio, which today launches Convio Open. The site addresses data integration in three ways: APIs, Connectors, and Extensions. It's a much deeper set of tools than what we've seen before, and the site provides integration resources for organizations with a variety of integration needs, including a FaceBook integration.

Who's next?

Wednesday, August 15 at 11am PT/2 pm ET for a free community call with Kintera CTO Scott Crowder.

Kintera recently announced Kintera Connect, an upcoming open application integration platform that provides nonprofits with the opportunity to select industry solutions that best meet their unique needs. But what does an open platform mean for you? And what types of solutions and capabilities will an open platform offer to nonprofits? What impact could an open platform have on fundraising and constituent engagement efforts? Learn from Scott Crowder, Kintera’s chief technology officer (CTO), how developers and partners will be integrating directly with Kintera technology and what technology possibilities could be available to your nonprofit. This is your opportunity to get your questions answered.

This is a FREE event. No registration is required. To participate:

• Phone: 866.740.1260 / passcode: 3979000
• Web: ReadyTalk.com / passcode: 3979000

This call will last one hour.

As part of our continuing coverage of data integration, we asked Dahna and Jennifer to guest blog on the topic. For an explanation of one possible solution to this issue, read our report How Open APIs Can Change How Nonprofits Manage Data.

By Dahna Goldstein from PhilanTech and Jennifer Bagnell Stuart from Innovation Network

"Can we talk?" If your donor database is asking your accounting software, the answer is probably "no." And this lack of communication between systems is causing increasing problems for nonprofit organizations.

Today’s typical nonprofit uses a variety of information management systems for collecting and storing data ranging from client and constituent contacts to program tracking and evaluation. While standards for data exchange and inter-software communication are developing in the nonprofit sector, the vast majority of nonprofit organizations face steep barriers to realizing the benefits and leveraging the power of technology.

A nonprofit’s greatest asset is its people. Human resources become even more valuable over time as they gain knowledge and increase their understanding of the organization’s mission, programs, and operational strengths and weaknesses. Indeed, the effective use of information and knowledge is critical to the survival and success of today’s nonprofit organization. Read more here.

Update: The recording of the call is now up and available. You can also read the transcript of our post-call chat.

If you have questions for GetActive and Convio, then join us TODAY, Tuesday, February 6 at 11am Pacific, for a live discussion with Sheeraz Haji and Tom Krackeler of GetActive and Gene Austin and Dave Crooke of Convio. NTEN Executive Director Katrin Verclas will moderate this event. We hope you can participate with your questions to the panelists.