Site Reviews
e-Philanthropy, Volunteerism and Social Changemaking:
A New Landscape of Resources, Issues and Opportunities
W.K.Kellogg Foundation, 2000
http://www.actknowledgeworks.net/ephil/red_cover
This report, downloadable from the Kellogg site, describes nearly 140
Internet sites that facilitate the three items in the report's title.
The report is taxonomic and descriptive rather than analytical. A collaborative
effort led by consultant Stephanie J. Clohesy and WKKF's Director of Venture
Philanthropy, Thomas K. Reis, it is based on a series of quasi-focus groups
with investors/developers and content providers. The classifications range
from (1) e-Commerce Shopping/Profit Sharing via (4) Knowledge and Capacity
Building to (8) Portals/Full Spectrum Services. It is an excellent 62-page
snapshot of a field that is expanding exponentially.
e-Philanthropy
e-Philanthopy is probably the most significant phenomenon covered in the
report. The non-profit sector represents 10% of the US economy - and received
some $857 billion in donations in1998. The Web is an increasingly significant
route by which philanthropic dollars find their way into the sector. The
Red Cross raised $2.5 million online last year. Philanthropic giving on
the web also has an impact on the character of giving itself. It offers
people a chance to express their philanthropic interests very directly,
to get comprehensive answers quickly, and to share their interests and
passions.
The current transformation of traditional philanthropy to e-philanthropy
is remarkable in a number of ways. First, the Internet economy is altering
the definitions of non-profits, challenging assumptions about the maturity,
sustainability, and longevity of the sector. Charities are not expected
to be either paternalistic or altruistic per se. Rather they are increasingly
expected to create vehicles that turn donors' aspirations into concrete
results. There is an increasing trend towards performance rating and the
development of indices by rating agencies.
e-Philanthropy acts as a form of disintermediation - cutting out or at
any rate slimming down the middleman. With the ability to give time, skills,
and dollars, donors can communicate with the people who need assistance
and develop direct relationships. www.virtualfoundation.org,
for example, links donors to sustainable development projects. www.duo.org
can notify you when disasters strike and allows selective donations to
disaster relief efforts. These developments are changing the terms of
giving and fundraising, relying much more on accountability and quantifiable
outcomes to encourage giving.
The availability of and access to information, new mechanisms for donating,
and the speed of transaction create a fundamental challenge for non-profits-compete
or die. Numerous corporations, for example, are now offering on-line encyclopedias
of opportunities for the donor/volunteer. A non-profit that does not list
with one of the many corporations that offers direct donations, connections
to corporate sponsorship, or profit sharing through merchant partners
puts itself at a very real competitive disadvantage.
Entirely enough to spin one's head.
Knowledge and capacity building
Meanwhile, the middle sections of the Kellogg report provide an overview
of the burgeoning array of US-based organizations, associations and groups
dedicated to developing the capacity of the non-profit and philanthropic
sectors.
Their strengths and weaknesses are perhaps best illustrated by looking
at three sites. The first site is The Alliance, the second CompassPoint
Nonprofit Services and the third the Support Center for Non-profit Management.
All three organizations are related to the former Support Centers of America
- there used to be a network of support centers across the US that provided
services aimed at building skills and capacity in the non-profit sector.
The Alliance is the membership organization that resulted from the merger
of Support Centers of America and the Nonprofit Management Association.
CompassPoint and the Support Center for Nonprofit Management are both
former support centers that continue to offer a broadly comparable range
of services and resources.
The Alliance acts as a forum and support network for consultants and other
organizations providing management assistance to non-profits. Their web
site, www.allianceonline.org,
provides basic promotional information but also contains some useful resources,
in particular the Alliance Resource Center. This searchable database holds
a good range of information on web-based nonprofit resources, as well
as books, newsletters, organizations and educational programs. The couple
of searches we ran produced relevant results - something that cannot always
be said of search engines.
CompassPoint is based in San Francisco and San Jose and provides a range
of consulting and training services. The site, www.compasspoint.org,
projects a very positive image of the organization as a practical and
proactive resource for clients, the Bay Area non-profit community and
those generally interested in the management of the sector. The site provides
access to a range of commentary and advice published by CompassPoint and
connects visitors to relevant external resources.
There are two newsletters produced by CompassPoint that may be of interest
to readers of The Platform: Board Café, which provides opinion,
news and resources relevant to those serving as board members; and Food
for Thought, which covers activity in the non-profit community in
the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Both can be subscribed to through
e-mail.
Less engaging is www.supportctr.org,
the site for the Support Center for Nonprofit Management based in New
York City, which exists to "strengthen the leadership and management
capacity of non-profit and public interest organizations to fulfill their
missions and revitalize their communities."
The Center offers management training sessions as well as consultancy
services, and both cover a fairly staple set of topics aimed at the most
common organizational issues faced by small- to medium-sized non-profits.
Unlike the CompassPoint site, which provides information on the organization's
business but could also act as a research tool in and of itself, the Support
Center site is mainly a promotional tool for the Center's fee-charging
services and additional resources (for example, a page of links to other
management resources) are fairly static and narrow defined.
While there are no earth-shattering conclusions to be drawn from comparisons
between the sites, it is interesting to see how three organizations with
a common history can present quite distinct impressions of their ethos,
character and ability through their web sites. If there is any lesson
to learn, it is probably this: if you are going to try to make your site
more than a story-telling promotional tool, do it well or don't do it
at all.
The links page on the Support Center's site is limited in scope but includes
some significant support organizations that are, again, picked up in the
Kellogg report. The National Center for Nonprofit Boards www.ncnb.org
is best known for its range of booklets and publications on non-profit
governance and also provides consulting services and workshops - all focused
on effective and appropriate board functioning.
The Council on Foundations www.cof.org
fulfills a similar mandate for foundation-based philanthropy by "promoting
knowledge, growth and action in philanthropy." The Council is a membership
organization and seeks to act as a leader and advocate for the foundation
sector. The web site provides a range of information on the Council's
activities and membership and details on various resources commonly accessed
by foundations. The Foundation Center, www.fdncenter.org
is focused on those seeking funding, as well as those providing it.
The Center provides the most widely used database on foundations and grantmaking
organizations in the US (The Foundation Directory) and generates
a range of publications and tools related to funding research.
[That's enough web sites - Ed.]
Mimi Liu, New York Foundation for the Arts
Catherine McDonald
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