Creating a Technology Advisory Committee at Your Nonprofit

Have you ever tackled a big project on your own only to find yourself confused and flailing, wishing you had someone to turn to for advice? If so, you know firsthand the importance of an advisory committee.

Why Create a Technology Advisory Committee?

• There's a lot you don't know about technology

  No one person can keep track of it all, so even if you're tech-savvy, listening to other techies can inform you about what's possible, what isn't and what the real costs are.

• There are things you don't know about your constituents

  Clients, board members, donors, and volunteers have needs and concerns that change constantly. Ask them what they want from a technology and what they want from your organization.

• There are things you don't know about your colleagues

  What are their successes and frustrations with technology? What tools, training and support services do they need?

• You need evangelists

  The members of your tech team will communicate your technology vision to colleagues, board members, volunteers and other constituents.

Key Actions

For nonprofits that feel a tech team is a little beyond their reach right now:

• Try to develop some informal feedback loops if you can't create a formal advisory committee. Make technology a part of the regular conversations you have with your staff, your board members, your constituents, and your friends.
• Invite someone with a technology background to join your board.
• Get in touch with techies in your area and invite them to have lunch or coffee.
• If you can't find the right conversation partners locally, get online and look for mentors in the NTEN or TechSoup discussion forums.

For nonprofits that feel they can pull off a tech team:

• Begin by defining the mix of roles you'd like on your tech team. This can include such roles as tech enthusiast, a technology skeptic, a frontline staff member who deals with constituents and their computing needs, someone who understands the organization's budget and strategic plan, and so on.
• Then think about the folks you know inside and outside your organization who might fill those roles. Some folks will fill more than one role.
• Start with modest goals.Try to find three or four interested individuals (not all of whom have to be techies) who can meet three or four times a year. That might be all you ever need, especially in small and mid-sized nonprofits. If you find you need to meet more often, or if you need more points of view on your team, you can always make those changes down the road.

10 Rules for Forming and Managing a Tech Team

1. Include at least one frontline staff person on your team (for example, a community organizer, volunteer coordinator, grants manager, etc.). In other words, techies often work behind the scenes. You need someone on the team who interacts with funders, volunteers, clients and other constituents.
2. Talk to your clients, funders and volunteers. Are any of them interested in giving you advice about your public-facing technology (Web site, e-mail newsletter, etc.)? If so, invite them onto your tech team.
3. Include at least one non-techie on your team. Is your great, exciting idea great enough to overcome their indifference?
4. If possible, include a techie who doesn't work in your sector. Someone with an IT management background would be ideal, but any well-informed technology professional will do. Also, include a techie who understands nonprofits. If you don't have an IT department, just invite someone on your staff who's enthusiastic and knowledgeable about technology. If there's an NTEN 501 Tech Club or a NetSquared Meetup group in your area, both are good places to recruit.
5. Prepare for each meeting. Gather relevant information and develop some questions that will generate discussion. Send these out to the team at least a week before each meeting.
6. Create a space (for example, a wiki, Google group, email list, forum) where team members can communicate between meetings.
7. Spend the first meeting or two educating your team about the current technology environment in your organization, the mission, the strategic vision and the budget constraints. If they're not already familiar with the community you serve, bring them up to speed on your constituents as well.
8. Look around for examples of successful technology projects at other nonprofits. NetSquared, Idealware, NTEN, the TechSoup forums and nonprofit technology blogs are all good places to hunt for ideas.
9. When you're discussing the needs of your constituents, talk about the technology needs of your unconverted audience. There are potential clients, donors and volunteers who need your nonprofit, even if they don't know it yet. How do they use technology?
10. Follow through on the team's recommendations.

Places to Find Technology Advisors

Nonprofit technology groups -

As mentioned previously, the 501 Tech Clubs and the NetSquared meetups bring together folks in your area with an interest in nonprofit technology.

Computer user groups and technology clubs -

Not every town has a computer user group, but a surprising number do. Some of these clubs have a general focus, while others concentrate on a specific platform or technology. The groups listed at the Association of Personal Computer User Groups include more hobbyists and enthusiasts, while the groups at Culminis seem to focus more on enterprise IT. Both sites include Windows-centric associations, but if you're looking for more leads in that direction, check out User Groups: Meet and Learn with Your Peers on the Microsoft site. Linux.org and LinuxLinks both host a directory of Linux User Groups (LUGS), while the Apple site has a Macintosh User Group (MUG) database.

Paid Consultants -

Idealist and Techfinder are two excellent directories that might help you find nonprofit technology consultants in your area. If you can't find volunteer techies for your team, paying someone to help you might be worthwhile.