NP Action - Using Technology for Nonprofit Advocacy

Using Technology for Nonprofit Advocacy

Why should nonprofits use technology for public policy?

Because they already are! Nonprofits have been using telephones and fax machines for years to speak out on issues that concern them and affect change in our society. Newer information and communication technology tools, including e-mail and websites are being used by nonprofits everyday to leverage limited resources and increase their scope, visibility, and influence.

There is also growing ubiquity among newer technology tools. It was once considered rare for nonprofits to have a website, and e-mail addresses for each employee. Today the bar for nonprofit advocacy groups has been raised to the point that e-mail and websites are becoming mandatory if you want your voice to be heard in the policy arena.

What can technology do for me?

Technology can help your organization:

Break down geographic barriers to communication
Increase capacity to receive and disseminate information.
Attract and engage a wider range of perspectives to your cause/efforts. This helps to balance insider knowledge with grassroots credibility.
Provide convenient and multifaceted participatory mechanisms for organizational supporters and collaborators.
Strengthen capacity for coordination and collaboration among partner organizations by providing information on when to engage—and when to restrain—activity.
Provide opportunities to address overall organizational effectiveness.

What are the limitations of technology?

While information technologies have come into vogue, it must be remembered they are only tools – albeit tools that can be used strategically. E-mail and other later generation electronic tools can be great complimentary elements to an overall organized and strategic legislative advocacy campaign.

Technology will not, however, eliminate the need for personalized communication, phone calls, and face-to-face meetings with elected officials, board members, staff, volunteers, and your constituency. It will not replace solid editorial oversight and quality control with regards to content. It cannot substitute thoughtful, cogent analysis and research. It is not a substitute for deliberation. It will not, by itself, provide legitimacy to your organization and its activities.

The means for disseminating information are continuing to mature as both user comfort with, and understanding of, what works and what does not develop. Too often, however, nonprofits treat their e-,ail lists and websites as just another dissemination vehicle for their printed information, or only as a fundraising vehicle and not as a two-way communication tool to engage stakeholders and empower advocates on behalf of a cause.

Which of the basic technology tools I can use?

Electronic mail (or e-mail) combines the attributes of phones, voicemail, fax machines, and regular postal mail. It is, however, less costly than a phone call, a fax, or delivery, especially over long distances. You can write, read, manage, save, file, redistribute, and reply to messages at any time of the day. E-mail is flexible enough to accommodate documents of almost any type. E-mail can also be targeted to a particular person or groups of people, and is sent almost immediately to those recipients, without a per-person or per-message charge. You need a computer, an interenet connection, communications software (such as Eudora, Pegasus Mail, Microsoft Outlook, or Netscape Communicator), or a web-based e-mail system such as Yahoo! Mail or Hotmail.

E-mail mailing lists allow organizations to have ongoing and time-limited group discussion by electronic mail. You can share important time sensitive information to a huge volume of folks cost-effectively and efficiently. Messages are delivered to individual e-mail addresses, and recipients have the option of responding directly to the individual poster, the entire group, or posting a different message altogether. Mailing lists serve as: (a) information lists where people seek and offer specific information to each other; (b) dialogue lists where people exchange views on issues and ideas; or (c) project lists that feature e-mail collaborations for drafting documents, workplans, or other related activities. Mailing lists can be set up to be either widely accessible or private, and moderated or heavily screened, depending upon the degree of management an organization wishes to exercise. Electronic mailing lists can provide a convenient, cost-effective, and regularized/standardize distribution mechanism for time-sensitive information.

Instant Messaging/Chat is a kind of super light and fast e-mail. Using instant messaging (IM) clients such as America Online's AIM or Microsoft's MSN Messenger (or countless other programs that are compatible with either IM system), nonprofit staff can communicate quickly and cheaply with one another, constituents, or colleagues in other organizations, whether they are in the same building or on different continents. IM-ing has gone cross-platform as well, allowing people sitting at their computer to send off messages and documents to cellular phones, pagers, and PDAs, and vice-versa While instant messaging is not widely used as a way to communicate with policymakers, it can be a powerful tool to coordinate advocacy activities. Chat clients (such as Internet Relay Chat (IRC) or any of a multitude of web chat forums) can be thought of as a conference call for instant messages. As such, they can be very useful for interacting with a group of people, or even as an adjunct to a telephone conference call (allowing for the sharing of documents and other resources with the people on the call). There is also software such as NetMeeting that combines aspects of IM-ing, e-mail, conference calls, and document sharing.

Websites are not a direct avenue of communication like e-mail are another avenue to get your advocacy message out, because they can be accessed from anywhere around the world. Websites are more than high-technology brochures. They can provide your organization with a public face to the world. They can also be useful for attracting, informing, engaging, and capturing volunteers and supporters. Well-designed websites encouraging activity on the part of the visitor by providing an immediate means for action, such as joining your organization; sending a letter to elected officials; learning more about issues through links to current news, background information, and related organizations; and providing access to documents that can be saved to a computer for later use.

What considerations must I weigh?

The confidence and comfort level of infusing technology into the overall activities of an organization-not just public policy work—must be addressed if technology is to play a role in advocacy. Once you have decided to incorporate technology into your public policy work, you must treat it is an ongoing commitment. This means not only investing money in equipment and software, but also training staff in the use of your technology. The greatest computer system in the world is only useful if its users know how to use it.

Guidelines and policies addressing everything from internal content standards to privacy policies for members will need to be established. Your organization must be willing to adhere to well-established design principles that ensure that the widest possible appropriate audience is able to access your services.

At this stage of nonprofit sector technology growth, there is still a dependence on for-profit technology development (although some not-for-profit technologies, most notably Linux, are beginning to make inroads). For-profit technology tools and low-cost or free online services provide under-served and under-resourced nonprofits with the means to benefit from technology as much as organizations with more resources. In some instances, this may mean limited options as far as the maintenance, security, administration, and access to content or mechanisms for disseminating content. There are also ongoing considerations regarding the identification or branding of nonprofit organization or mission with the requisite sponsor advertising that compensates product developers for the availability of their free services (such as free email groups, or free web space).

Organizations must recognize that not every member of a constituency will have access to the same technology tools, and may not benefit from the capacity to provide services through e-mail or the Web.

Nonprofit use of technology for advocacy requires a clear vision of what you wish to accomplish, and an honest assessment and understanding of an organization's strengths and weaknesses with regards to outreach, public relations, marketing, research, management, operations, member relations, coalition building, communications, damage control, technical assistance—and the range of functions nonprofits rely upon to fulfill their mission, regardless of their size, issue area, or approach.

What are some key nonprofit Internet and technology resources?

Networkforgood.org. The AOL Foundation, in partnership with the Benton Foundation, laid the groundwork for Network for Good, which features nonprofit technology resources in addition to information on online fundraising.

Idealist.org is an international portal of 20,000 nonprofit and community organizations in 140 countries, located in a searchable database according to name, location, or mission. It also includes an online career center, volunteer opportunities, a directory of companies and consultants that provide products and services to nonprofit organizations, online funding and management resources, nonprofit news sites, and a global directory of Public Internet Access Points.

Internet Nonprofit Center offers a wide range of information for and about nonprofit organizations in the United States, including the Nonprofit FAQ ("Frequently Asked Questions") on topics of interest to leaders and managers of nonprofit organizations, and the a library of analysis of the nonprofit sector from a variety of points of view.

TechSoup Sponsored by CompuMentor, one of the nonprofit technology pioneers, Tech Soup is a nonprofit technology portal containing resource lists, product explanations, and advice on acquiring, implementing, and effectively using technology.

Coyote Communications Technology Tip Sheets. Coyote Communications provides several tipsheets on nonprofit technology, including using databases, web development and internet outreach.