There’s a definite skill to figuring out what nonprofits want. I’ve just been asked to design a website but the organisation has no written brief and their director can’t begin to explain what they want. I see this happen again and again, to the point where I anticipate it. My first questions are “What do you want to do? What are you trying to achieve? Who are you wanting to communicate with?”. Those aren’t techie questions and I don’t want techie answers. There’s no point scaring them with jargon and I keep my responses to plain English.

It’s a really slow process sometimes and nonprofit IT projects can seem to take forever sometimes!

The key is the communication, though, and that’s why our organization was formed – to build a network so that people can communicate, collaborate, learn, and apply sound technology planning and tools to good causes.

There is a bridge between techies and nonprofits! And – as technology evolves, becomes more user-friendly, open, free, accessible – more nonprofits are integrating technology at different levels of their organizations.

But you’re right: it’s not just the tools that need to be open; people have to be open to each other, new ideas, sharing information, and sharing time.