My Thoughts on the future of NPO Technology

<p>In response to Ty McCabe's questions on the nTEN email list i ahve jotted some quick notes back to him regarding <a href="http://www.nten.org/ntc-2005-future" target="_blank">this session at the NTC</a></p> <p><em>What is the future of open source software in the NP technology sector?</em><br /> open source is the future of NP tech. NPS cannot afford all the drm/licensing of proprietary software, and justify those expenses to their boards/funders when perfectly good FOSS alternatives are avialable</p> <p><em>Moving beyond online action centers – and what's next for online advocacy?</em><br /> re-engagement with membership. Membership doing more than just donating, but participating via the web in message shaping and issue selections.</p> <p><em>Will we continue to see further vendor consolidation as large ASP acquire small companies?</em><br /> That is the natural order of things, but innovation will start in small companies. Labor will start to aggregate differently because of open source, people will come together for specific purposes and then will disaggregate when the goal is accomplished</p> <p><em>Where does the NPO technology divide stand? Where are we in closing the gap between NPO who are "advanced" in their use of technology and NPO who, because of money or history or expertise, is behind the curve?</em><br /> Major national NPOs like united way, and national advocay orgs are way ahead. local NPOs and those with smaller budgets are struggling largely because software licensing makes new technbology too pricey. but the cost of running with old tech is never really evaluated (staff time, lower productivity)</p> <p><em>What is the future of online engagement? How do NPOs reach beyond the "low-hanging fruit" and engage new audiences online?</em><br /> Give them power to set the agenda</p> <p>–</p>