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What's Working:
Technology Approaches for Delivering Technical Assistance
The Benton Foundation has long been interested in following the efforts of
technology assistance providers. As nonprofits and their supporters increasingly move into
the digital age, new technologies are being explored as deliverers of technical
assistance. This evolving document examines current efforts. Should your program be
included? Let us know, or better yet, consider
sharing your lessons learned.
 ONE
Northwest (www.onenw.org) seeks to improve electronic activism among conservation
organizations in the Northwest. Their online technology tips and advice are useful to any
organization.
- Their Activist Toolkit includes documents ranging from how to choose an Internet
Service Provider and recommendations for computer purchases to how to send effective
email, and designing a Web presence.
- Online Technical Assessment Forms are downloadable MS Word files. The forms are
intended to be used in conjunction with professional services provided by ONENorthwest
staff, but could also be used as a guide by anyone who downloads the form.
- In addition to their Web-delivered services, see also their Email
approaches.
 Nonprofit Tech (www.nonprofit-tech.org), born on the Internet and
run by Alnisa Allgood, provides information similar to ONE Northwest (less the online
courses), but without the conservation spin. The advantage is that her site is perhaps
more transferrable to any type of organization. The site also has more of a magazine
flavor.
 Support
Centers of America 's site (www.supportcenter.org/sca) exemplifies the efforts of
technical assistance providers who have pre-dated the Web, and who are now starting to use
its technology to deliver their services. In addition to connecting you with physical
centers around the country, the organization also provides a number of services online,
including:
- The Clearinghouse on Nonprofit Management through which you can find answers to
your questions about such topics as strategic planning, financial management, board
development, and fundraising;
- Pulse!, an electronic mail newsletter for nonprofit management support
organizations and professionals, provides brief digests of what's happening in the
management support community and the nonprofit sector; and
- Nonprofit Genie, a database-driven tool to help you find answers to the more
common questions faced by nonprofit organizations. This site bears watching as a model for
taking your publications, entering them into a database, then making them searchable.
 NPO NET
(npo.net) differs from other nonprofit technical assistance sites in that while it is run
by a technical assistance provider (ITRC), ITRC does not use it to deliver services, but
instead as a form of "community network" for nonprofits in the Chicago area. It
does not provide dial-up or Internet access, as many community networks do, but does
provide a hub of information and resources for the region's nonprofit organizations. The
system is currently free. Highlights include: a job listing service; news and information
specific to Chicago nonprofits; a searchable database of area foundations and grants; an
extensive list, briefly annotated, about fund accounting and fundraising software (not
seen at the other sites reviewed so far); a calendar of nonprofit related events; and area
volunteer opportunities.
ONE
Northwest (www.onenw.org) (described above) complements its web-based services
with support materials delivered by electronic mail:
- ONENorthwest has this year begun a series of online courses, delivered via email.
Over a period of a week, the "student" receives one email a day that contains
that's day's lesson. The first "lesson" includes an overview of what the course
will cover and what the student should expect to gain by the end of the course. And each
lesson ends with a series of assignments that include contacting the course
"instructor."
- An email newsletter called ONEList sends out periodic tips including options for
connecting your Local Area Network to the Internet, reviews of nonprofit Web sites, how to
manage your email, and the five fundamentals of virus protection. These are all short
little items intended to bring the reader to ONENorthwest's web site for further details
and assistance.
 Marilyn Gross (mlgross@aol.com), CEO of Educational Funding Strategies
(www.icu.com/efs/home.htm) uses e-mail as a form of distance learning. Her courses include
how to fundraise, using the Internet for research, and a new course for educators. She
believes that while distance learning can never replace live, person-to-person teaching,
it can be the next best thing for nonprofits with physical, financial, or time
limitations, or who live in distant cities or rural areas. She invested a significant
amount of time building a contact list to which she sent almost 1,000 press releases via
mail and email. The result was 25 registrations. Her first course included lessons that
were emailed, complemented by an online chat room on America Online. In an excellent,
honest, and straightforward article, An Experiment in
Distance Learning, she describes the evolution of her online "Grantwriters
Workshop," and what worked and what didn't. She has found that while the personal,
individualized style of delivery is more labor-intensive than sticking a course up on a
web site, the feelings of satisfaction and accomplishment on the part of students and
teacher are well worth it. More recent courses do not include the chat component; course
fees are just under $200 for an eight-week (40 hour) course, and $95 for a four-week
course.
John Walker (jwalker@networx.on.ca) is a freelance technical assistance provider
whose approach bears some attention. Walker quickly learned that if he expected people to
pay him without ever having met him, he needed to build his reputation. So in 1996, he
started CSS Internet News
(www.networx.on.ca/~jwalker/), an online news service aimed at nonprofits. He began by
seeding different Internet sites -- mailing lists and newsgroups -- with free selections
of his paid service. He estimates that these excerpts reach 4.5 million people per week.
After having made himself quite visible via the Internet, he started teaching courses via
e-mail. By himself, he runs over 15 courses -- mostly about technology -- each
"semester" with about 20 students per course (less in the summer). Courses cost
$10-15 per person, and last for 2-3 weeks, Monday through Friday. He accepts payment by
international postal money order (he's based in Canada) or credit card. Each course has an
associated listserv used for the duration of the course as a means for him to communicate
with his students and for them to communicate with each other. He wanted me to know that
he runs this successful online training program from a '386 with 8 megabytes of ram,
running Windows 3.1, his point being that it doesn't take high-tech to deliver technology
assistance via the Internet.
 The
Learning Institute's goal is to provide affordable, accessible, and valuable learning
experiences for all involved in the nonprofit sector: board members, paid staff, and the
myriad of volunteers that make it all work. The Institute distributes, via satellite,
nonprofit-focused educational programs featuring leading experts in such fields as
strategic planning, board development, social entrepreneurship, and strategic alliances.
The Institute, which is partnering with PBS, augments these satellite-delivered programs
with local facilitation, audiocassettes, videotapes, CD-ROMs, and various printed and
online materials.
 While our focus here is "New Technology
Approaches for Service Delivery," we can't help but raise an approach that is not
technology-based, per se, but is also "hot" right now -- Circuit Riders.
A number of foundations and nonprofit organizations are exploring this approach for the
delivery of technical assistance; that is, sending out technology "consultants"
onto the road to work directly with clients on their own home turf.
- The W. Alton Jones Foundation published a report on their own early circuit riding
efforts, Circuit Riders: Pioneers in
Non-Profit Networking (www.wajones.org/circuit.html).
- More recently, Rob Stuart, of the Rockefeller Family Fund, has prepared a presentation
that he makes available on the web, Circuit Riders
(www.rffund.org/techproj/presentations/cof427/index.html), a series of Power Point slides
converted to web pages. Unfortunately, because this presentation is intended to be
accompanied by a speaker (Rob), it doesn't stand very well on its own. Fortunately, Rob
has written up his recent experience, "Lessons From
the Circuit," (www.rffund.org/techproj/circuit_riders/foundationnews.html)
scheduled to appear in Foundation News & Commentary, July/August '98.
- This group doesn't refer to themselves as Circuit Riders, but their approach is similar,
and has stood the test of time. Born in the pre-Internet-as-we-know-it days of 1987, CompuMentor (www.compumentor.org) matches
technically-savvy volunteers (and that could be a secretary who knows WordPerfect inside
and out) with a nonprofit in need of technical assistance.
- The Chonicle of Higher Education
(chronicle.com), while predominantly a subscription-only web site, does provide some areas
free of charge, including a collection of internal and external links to Information Technology
Resources (chronicle.com/infotech/resources/resources.htm) that includes pointers
to online curriculum, recommendations for moderators of online discussions, and more.
- When a human touch is needed, consider working with one of these Nonprofit Technical Assistance Providers
(www.benton.org/Practice/Toolkit/support.html#humans).
- NETTRAIN is an electronic mailing list (listserv) aimed at people who train
others in the use of the Internet. Begun in 1992, it now has over 3,000 subscribers
worldwide. To subscribe, send email to listserv@listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu. In the
body of the message, type only: SUBSCRIBE NETTRAIN. More information, including
archives, can be found at http://lawlib.slu.edu/faculty/milles/nettrain/.
- A Greater Voice,
published by the National Council of Nonprofit Association, surveys the experiences of
nonprofit organizations in their efforts to use computer technology. Unfortunately, the
report is only available in print, but well worth ordering (only $10) in order to have a
better snapshot of the technology needs of nonprofit organizations.
- The 15-minute Series
(rs.internic.net/nic-support/15min) was originally published by Internic and the American
Library Association to help research and education organizations better incorporate the
use of technology into day-to-day operations. These easy-to-follow
"mini-lessons" cover such topics as Internet history, electronic mail, indexing
and searching, world wide web, and more. Materials are available in HTML and in
PowerPoint(r) formats.
- .COM Series
(networksolutions.com/DOTCOM) is the step-child of The 15-minute Series described above,
updating a lot of the content, and aiming it more at the small business market.
- Please also visit Benton's Best Practices
Toolkit (www.benton.org/Practice/Toolkit) for additional resources to help
nonprofits use communications technology.
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