Tag Archive for 'collaboration'

Interview: Scott Anderson of ClientTrack

Published in collaboration and interview. 0 Comments Tags: case studies, clienttrack, collaboration, community management, interview, tools.

I recently had the opportunity to connect with Scott Anderson from ClientTrack, a software solution aimed at increasing the impact of social benefit organizations and their work by “integrating people, processes, and technology.” You can learn more about Scott and the work ClientTrack is doing in the interview below.

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Scott Anderson is the Director of Communications for DSI, the developer of ClientTrack. He earned his PhD in Communications from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to his PhD, he worked as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in community health, adolescent residential treatment, and a faith-based organization.

(I appreciate this opportunity to talk about ClientTrack and its ability to promote effective collaborations. As many of you know, Amy is a magnificent example of bringing people together through technology to make a difference. I’ve been impressed with her ability to connect people and powerful ideas. I’ve been a “taker” from her source of information, and now I hope I can be a “giver” of information that might help others. Thanks, Amy, for all you do!)

First, what is ClientTrack?

ClientTrack software products and professional services provide comprehensive solutions for the Health, Human and Social Services community. ClientTrack is an extremely capable web-based solution that fully:

Enables organizational best practices and improves efficiency at a pace organizations can support,
Ensures and simplifies compliance reporting for funding sources,
Enhances outcome reporting to strengthen fundraising and build community awareness, and
Optimizes collaborations within and between organizations.

How does CT define “collaboration” and what is so important about it?

For us, collaboration is about using technology to smoothly and effectively bring people and community resources together to accomplish more than what any one entity could accomplish alone. Co-laboring (working together) is not just nice, but necessary in the social service world. From an ecological perspective, individuals who seek support from social services generally require interventions in multiple domains, from housing to work assistance, to counseling, energy assistance, or after school programs, to name a few. Because we want to help the “whole” person, we need to be able to provide “whole” solutions. And that’s what effective collaborations among community providers do.

The words “smoothly” and “effectively” are essential to notice. The “smooth” part refers to ClientTrack’s ability to facilitate (i.e., “make facile, or easy”) the information sharing process. Community service providers can use ClientTrack to securely and confidentially share client information (with client consent). Among other benefits, ClientTrack makes it possible for a provider to immediately check availabilities and openings with other community service organizations, instantly enroll a client in their services, provide immediate referrals, and provide intake information electronically to the other providers. When information and services are shared like this, the client doesn’t have to fill out paperwork again, and providers don’t need to spend unnecessary time re-collecting basic information (which equates to saving money… something we could all use right now!).

By “effective,” I refer primarily to the ability to track client-level information across a number of community services. A primary case-manager, for example, might be able to immediately see that a client visited an employment agency over the last week, or was able to find temporary housing through another service provider. Beyond this immediate knowledge, client outcomes (e.g., quality of life, self-reports, self-sufficiency) can be assessed based on system-wide information, and not simply a “snapshot” of services received in one location.

In summary, collaboration is critical because a client-centric approach, tied into a community of resources through technology, facilitates simplified, whole solutions that can be evaluated based on system-wide outcomes.

Do you have any specific examples about new ways organizations are collaborating more effectively or more efficiently?

Three examples showcase a few of the collaborative efforts of our current clients. Their organizations are of various sizes, and each has unique needs and means for collaboration.

>> Example One: Large Collaborations

One of our clients is the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC; http://www.aidschicago.org). They are a local and national leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS, due in large part to their innovative, collaborative approach to providing services to individuals affected by HIV/AIDS. Specifically, they serve as a “lead agency” overseeing and coordinating services among more than 60 affiliated organizations in the Chicago area. Over 50 of their organizations now use ClientTrack, providing smooth, secure exchanges of client information from one service to the next. The system is configurable to each organization’s specific needs, but shares the same information pool. This translates into a reduction of duplicated information, saved time in information gathering, improved client services, and ultimately, improved organizational efficiency. Shared information allows participating providers to spend less-time in paperwork, and more time in people-work.

The scale of their collaborative efforts is inspiring, but what’s even more notable, is how it all seems to be working out so well. Through this “lead agency” model of collaboration, AFC can provide clients with excellent care across a continuum of services and decrease the gaps in service clients might otherwise experience. Additionally, through this model, AFC is in an unprecedented position to evaluate client-level information from a system-wide perspective. What this means is that they will eventually be able to track the progress of an individual as a result of receiving multiple services throughout the community. Because of their broad vision and future-looking leadership, AFC was recently awarded a substantial grant from a private foundation that will help them improve their client information systems, including enhancements to further leverage their implementation of ClientTrack.

For any who are interested, we are hosting a very relevant webinar in a couple of weeks. The Director of Program Data and Special Projects at AFC will be discussing how AFC has encouraged community programs to “buy into” their collaborative efforts, and the strategies others might consider to successfully build their own collaborative networks. (More information available on the CT website.)

>> Example Two: Resource Power through Collaboration

We are currently in the first phase of implementation with a group of three Community Action Agencies in Massachusetts. In this situation, the collaboration among the organizations is not about the need to share client information between organizations (as a result of geographical separation). Instead, they recognized that a common intake process among all the agencies would benefit policy advocacy and decision-making on a state level. That is, by collaborating to collect the same information and use the same intake assessment, they can improve the quality of information (e.g., number of individuals served, total money spent in given programs) they use in their advocacy efforts on a larger, macro scale.

As a second benefit, their collaborative efforts granted them purchasing power that they would not have had otherwise. As a group, they were awarded a state grant to assist them in implementing software that would support a universal intake solution. With those funds, they hired an agency to help them assess, find, and implement an appropriate solution. They were able to share and reduce costs along the way specifically because they were working together. Their collaborative efforts created funding and service-improvement opportunities they couldn’t have had working alone. Through collaborative efforts, this group of Community Action Agencies is accessing resources that only collaboration could provide.

>> Example Three: Collaboration Effectiveness and Excitement

A final example is Action for Boston Community Development, Inc. (ABCD) (http://www.bostonabcd.org/). ABCD is the oldest and largest community action planning (CAP) agency in the United States. The organization provides more than 100 programs through 13 community neighborhood centers that impact more than 100,000 low-income families in the Boston area.

As a tool for optimizing collaborations, ClientTrack has made a difference for ABCD in three primary ways. First, ABCD has been able to improve their internal collaborations. Specifically, the technology has allowed each of their programs to “speak the same language” in the data they collect and share. Like many nonprofits, they were using a variety of software programs to meet a variety of needs (e.g., intakes, assessments, eligibility determinations, case progress notes, scheduling, referrals). As a result, the ability to share information from program to program or center to center was challenging, given that the information—often duplicated—was created in different formats that were not easily compatible with one another. By using ClientTrack, ABCD was able to standardize the process for collecting information, bring the functionality of many programs into a single program, and share a common pool of securely accessible information about their clients. Through the shared database, workers in ABCD’s neighborhood centers are now able to conduct quicker intakes for clients already in the system, reduce duplicated information, track services received in other programs, simplify referrals, track system-wide outcomes, and many other aspects required for effective case management. By collaborating and sharing information, ABCD’s staff has simplified and automated many of their administrative procedures. This translates directly into letting them focus more on what matters most…the people they serve.

The second benefit for ABCD of collaborating and sharing data is the ability to use information for broader, organizational-wide purposes. Specifically, because their information is stored in one central database, ABCD can access the data in a variety of ways. They can use the information to create reports for various grants they receive (a very large task!), analyze the effectiveness of their programs and services, or create reports that showcase the benefits of their services to donors and their communities. By coordinating shared information among their various programs, they can show better accountability and transparency regarding their funds and the services they provide.

Finally, in developing their collaborations, ABCD has noticed that other programs affiliated with ABCD, but not currently using ClientTrack (whether due to prior investment or funding requirements), are noticing the value of their collaborative efforts. The fact that ABCD’s collaborations in case management are really happening, and are not just ideas on paper, is generating an appeal and excitement among other organizations. This excitement, in turn, will generate further collaborative efforts. When done well, collaborations can perpetuate and expand their own existence, to the benefit of all involved.

Regardless of the specific tools used for collaboration, what are some of the processes or elements to success you’ve seen?

I approach this response with a technology bias. I strongly believe that collaborative technology solutions are critical for social benefit organizations to maintain viability and avoid liability. The paper-based approaches to providing services are a liability for nonprofits, given that many funding organizations increasingly want to be certain their money is being maximized. Seeking grants is fundamentally about reducing uncertainty, and paper-based processes only open the door to greater uncertainty (regarding efficiency, security, privacy, reporting, etc.). With that said, the following is my list of specific processes and elements that lead to successful collaborations:

Visualize your “ideal” collaboration before anything else. This will be the basis of implementing solutions that work.
Find champions of your collaborative efforts and let them help you promote your vision.
Implement a technology solution that can grow, change, and keep up with your vision and expanding collaborative efforts.
Implement a technology solution that can “talk” with other technology solutions used by other organizations.
Implement a technology solution that works with data the same way you work with people…client-centered (not service-centered). This approach to data makes tracking clients across collaborations much easier.
For smaller organizations, join with other community organizations to increase purchasing power on your collaborative technology solutions.
Be creative with collaborations: Share advertising, events, office space, or other resources.
Recognize that collaborations are like marriage or getting a new roommate: you’re bringing together different systems that require mutual adjustments. Those adjustments can be difficult and take time and effort, but are well worth the outcomes.

What’s ahead for you in 2010?

As a ClientTrack team, we are looking forward to 2010 and the opportunities to again link arms with nonprofits everywhere to make a difference. I don’t want to make light of a “kumbaya” setting, but there’s a lot to understanding the power of people and communities coming together in a common cause. These are difficult times for many nonprofits, with tightened funding streams and increased demands for service. 2010 is not likely to improve.

But, we are confident that we have solutions that can help community providers make a difference. Creative collaborations will be critical in 2010; that’s why I’ve identified collaborations as one of the five things nonprofits must know in 2010. We can help organizations leverage technology to improve their day-to-day efficiency, simplify compliance reporting, enhance outcomes reporting, and build meaningful collaborations. We have outstanding products and services, developed and implemented by a group of dedicated people. We look forward to opportunities to share our solutions and work with organizations committed to providing best-practice services, quality care, and life-changing collaborations on behalf of their clients. By pushing together, we can move mountains.

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I’m so happy to share this interview with Scott because of the great examples he has to share from his work and the sector. He’s been a great resource and conversation starter recently for me. If you would like to contact Scott, learn more, talk about ideas or examples he has shared here, or just say hi, you can leave a comment here, follow ClientTrack on Twitter, or visit the CT blog.

Published on January 23, 2010 by Amy Sample Ward. 0 Comments

Great reads from around the web on January 13th

Published in roundup. 5 Comments Tags: 2009, bookmarks, campaigns, casestudies, collaboration, community, consulting, data, jobs, list, lists, nonprofits, nptech, postalicious, research, resources, socialchange, socialmedia, statistics, website.

I come across so many great conversations, ideas, and resources all over the web every day. Here are some of the most interesting things I’ve found recently (as of January 13th). You can join the conversations in the comments, or click through to the original posts to find what others are saying.

To follow more of the things I find online, you can follow @amysampleward on Twitter (which is just a blog and resource feed), or find me on Delicious (for all kinds of bookmarks).

Transformative Collaboration « Alison & Associates – Alison Rapping has a terrific, comprehensive blog post today all about jump starting collaborations. It's a must-read! "Collaboration. It was the hottest “buzz word” of the last decade — And if you ask ten people to describe it, you could get ten very different answers. Collaborations are going to be a driving force in building stronger relationships and stronger communities. In the new decade we are in the “perfect collaboration storm:” energy around our “community visions”, enormous critical community needs, myriad of new nonprofit organizations, and desire for greater impact. This can only happen if we work together. Our community is whole and interconnected; we can’t create a powerful vision in silos."
Zoetica: Connecting Organizations with Their Networks – Congrats to Beth Kanter, Geoff Livingston and Kami Watson Huyse on the launch of their new adventure: Zoetica! "Zoetica serves nonprofits and socially conscious companies with top-tier, word-of-mouth communication services. A social enterprise, Zoetica provides superior communication consulting, training, and strategy to help mindful organizations affect social change."
GreatNonprofits: Find non-profits and charities to review, donate, or volunteer. – "GreatNonprofits and Guidestar want to hear about the great nonprofits providing job training or job placement in your communities. Tell us about YOUR experience – how are these organizations having an impact? Which ones are great? Which ones need improvement? Participate in this campaign to recognize the top-rated nonprofits developing your community through job training or job placement." Deadline: January 31, 2010
Surprise! Only 5% of Websites Have a Twitter or Facebook Link – Online Fundraising, Advocacy, and Social Media – frogloop – "Factual, an “open data repository” analyzed 4 million websites via data from Common Crawl, a non-profit group designed to crawl the web and provide data for anyone to use." Check out the stats highlighted by Allyson Kapin in this short but interesting post!
Nominees for the Osocio’s Best Campaign of 2009 announced – Osocio, Social Advertising and Non-profit Campaigns – "Osocio is happy to announce a list of ten nominees for the Osocio’s Best Campaign of 2009 award. Osocio has started selecting best campaigns featured on our blog, because we want to put the most creative and innovative social ads into spotlights. So that non-profit organizations can learn and benefit from these best practices. This is the Top 10 list of the best social campaigns featured on Osocio in 2009. One of these campaigns will become the Osocio’s Best Campaign of 2009."

Published on January 13, 2010 by Amy Sample Ward. 5 Comments

Guest Post on Frogloop: Comeback lines to Collaboration Objectors

Published in collaboration and issues. 0 Comments Tags: collaboration, frogloop, guest post.

I’m so thrilled to have a guest post up on the Frogloop blog today! Frogloop is Care2’s nonprofit online marketing blog where you’ll find lots of great posts from Allyson Kapin and others. My post is copied below but you can read it and join the network of readers/commenters on the Frogloop site, too!

Last year, my friend and colleague Debra Askanase posted her responses to frequently used objections to using social media that she was fielding from clients. It was a great start to conversations about what fears or misconceptions still exist about using social media in nonprofit organizations. Taking that conversation as a lead, I would love to examine objections and corresponding responses around collaboration (within organizations and across organization/sectors/geographies). Collaboration is one of my focus areas to explore this year so I hope this will be the start to an evolving conversation!

What are the objections to collaboration at your organization?

Some of the general objections that I’ve experienced firsthand and know others have heard time and again as well, include:

Collaboration is great in theory but doesn’t work in practice.

When I get this objection, it’s usually rooted in the fact that potential partners don’t share a definition of what collaboration is or how it works. There are so many buzzwords in our sector, or words that used to have a meaning but are now used so often and in so many diverse contexts that it’s hard to keep them straight. I have a definition of what collaboration means to me, but that may not be what it is to someone I’m collaborating with!

It’s incredibly important to define:

what your particular collaboration includes and how it operates (including the work no one wants to do, as well as accountability for all partners)
how it benefits partners
how all contributors actually contribute
how those benefiting (both the contributors and whomever is being served) will be informed, involved and empowered to be part of sustainability

The collaboration not working in practice all comes back to the definition and setting up a collaboration that will work in the first place!

Collaboration just means more work without any added value.

This statement is one I separate into two parts: Firstly, when anything requires that the way you work changes, sure, it can mean “more work.” The first step here is to create processes within your organization that are collaborative by nature so that when any new projects (whether they are collaborations—with other orgs, etc.— or not) emerge, doing them in a collaborative way does not actually create new/more work. The second half of the statement addresses the culture or mindset of those involved, believing that collaboration does not create a more valuable product than going it alone. Regardless of whether the project or work in question is contained within your organization, your physical community, or across the sector/world, collaborating with all those who have a stake in the outcome and the success of the project can ONLY create a more valuable outcome and process. A great voice on this subject is Hildy Gottlieb and her book, The Pollyanna Principles.

Collaboration means we’ll do the work and not get the credit.

This is a response that always goes straight to my heart. When it comes to social change and community impact work, who gets the credit for projects or successes is sadly still part of the picture. The newspaper or the blog will pick up the story when an organization or company pushes out word that they’ve done something great. Not often do you hear a story that simply says, “this place is better because of so many people coming together to make it that way!” Partly, a little, that’s okay. If there wasn’t any credit then many groups wouldn’t have that last bit of incentive to get involved. But, who gets credit can’t be what holds you back from collaborating with others to make the most, widest, deepest impact possible.

Something I like to encourage when this is a constraining issue, is for groups to create a new title that the collaboration or partnership can use to describe the work. This will get rid of the quibbles over who’s name is first, who’s logo listed at top, etc. Participating groups can unite under the shared title and the work can be credited to that name, one defined by all those contributing.

Lastly, what’s most exciting for someone that works at the intersection of social change work and technology is the emergence of many tools, platforms and online spaces that actually support collaboration. And, like social media in general, using social tools for your collaborative work means it’s far more transparent – and all that credit is visible all the time

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Those are just three examples to get you started – but really, this is a conversation! What are objections to collaboration that you have heard or responded to? And what’s the comeback line?

Looking forward to your ideas!

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Thanks again to Allyson Kapin and the Frogloop blog for providing this fun opportunity to guest post!

Published on January 12, 2010 by Amy Sample Ward. 0 Comments

What’s ahead in 2010?

Published in collaboration and community. 30 Comments Tags: 2010, collaboration, community, goals, planning.

I’ve just spent a very wonderful 2.5 weeks offline with friends and family for the holidays. As much as my life is fueled by my work and connections online, it sure was wonderful to unplug and recharge. I’ve also been thinking quite a bit about what’s to come this year and wanted to stat a conversation openly here with all of you.

My Focus for 2010

Collaboration: This year will, as they always seem to do, build on some of the major developments last year. In my view, that specifically means I’ll be focusing even more on the opportunities for, technologies that support, and issues involved in collaboration (across organizations, across sectors, across geographies). There are some great examples out there that need to be highlighted and examined. There are also many technologies, whether they are tools or approaches or actual platforms, that are working to enable collaboration and I’d like to do more to highlight those with interviews and reviews. Lastly, I want to create some open spaces for people to not just cheer for collaboration but also examine and explain some of the issues and barriers that organizations, individuals, campaigners or community members face when trying to approach collaboration.

Community: As much as I see collaboration as the key to success, I also community as the core of every sector, every campaign, and every movement. This year will, I think, provide some great opportunities to compare, contrast, explore and analyze the differences and nuances of communities defined as:

communities of practice
communities of focus
communities of cause
communities of geography

Through continued work on Social by Social (expanding it to be even more useful as an out-of-the-box resource and toolkit), speaking and participating at conferences, and the conversations on this blog I think we will have some very interesting ideas to explore about community!

Your Focus for 2010

Now it’s your turn! Writing a blog can be a lonely adventure but I’m so very thankful that you as the community of readers and commenters and conversationalists have kept me from ever feeling like I was alone in the conversation. And I want to keep it that way! So, let me know what you’re focusing on in 2010 so that I can have your ideas and highlights on my radar, too.

What are you focusing on at work that’s new?
What are you focusing on at work that isn’t new but you wish was?
What are you focusing on that you wish you had more resources about?
What tools, strategies or issues do you want to discuss?

I’m really looking forward to all that unfolds in 2010 and to all that we can explore together. Thanks for all your contributions!

Published on January 3, 2010 by Amy Sample Ward. 30 Comments

Gov 2.0, Shirky & Local Communities

Published in community and issues. 2 Comments Tags: collaboration, innovation, localcommunities, shirky, socialbysocial, video.

David Wilcox and I are getting ready for iterations on Social by Social – the first two being applications of the lessons learned and strategies for using social media shared in Social by Social (read online or download the PDF for free, or buy your hardcopy) in local communities and the same for local government. We have a couple events coming up at the end of the week where we’ll get to work with local government representatives, organizations and community members to discuss how to use social media to create community online as well as enable democratic participation.

In the video below fron Gov 2.0, Clay Shirky discusses some of the attributes that lead to success for Apps for America and un-success (can’t say “failure” as they certainly learned a lot from the experiment!) of other projects. It’s a great video, and only around 10 minutes long – watch it

According to Shirky, the three elements for success for a open, participatory projects online are:

1. “The contract with the users has to be complete enough to get them interested, but not so complete that it depresses them.”

2. “Understand that the users who are coming in are motivated to do things that you did not predict; and the more you try to predict, the more those motivations will go toward the destructive, so you have to give them space to participate.”

3. “In the domain of collaborative production, it is Heisenberg’s press release: the more completely in advance you take credit for future success, the less likely that success becomes.”

I think these three points are incredibly important in light of the events David and I are facilitating for members of “Innovation Departments” and recipients of “Innovation Funds.” When creating “innovative” (I use the term loosely) online opportunities for collaboration or community, whether it’s a government project, an organization/cause-drive project, local or community issue, or anything else, it’s important to remember that one of the main reasons you are using such an open process is probably because you are hoping to be surprised by smart people contributing their creativity and knowledge and passion.

It’s something I say all the tine: my brain can only hold so much, but when I rely on my community, on the web, I can be SO much smarter! The same goes for projects like these. You are looking for the people who are smarter than you, or more creative than you, or at least not bound by the context and previous thinking of your group/organization/department. Just like to accept criticism we have to be prepared to say that what we did could be improved, in launching projects like these we need to be prepared to say the best bits are those we haven’t thought of yet!

What do you think?

Have you been part of a community or government project that tapped the innovations and contributions of a larger community – what tips or lessons do you have from that experience? Have you contributed to an open call for ideas or contributions – what inspired or invited you to participate?

Published on September 14, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 2 Comments

August #4Change Chat: Opportunities for Collaboration

Published in events and issues. 0 Comments Tags: 4change, chat, collaboration, twitter.

The next #4change chat is this Thursday – I hope you can join us!

Details:

Date: August, 13th
Where: Twitter (search for #4Change)
When: 5 – 7 pm US Eastern Time
Topic: How do social media open new doors for collaboration (especially internationally)?

Starting the Conversations

Unfortunately for me, I will unable to join the chat this Thursday; so, I’d like to offer some conversation starters now to get you thinking of questions, ideas, and stories you want to share!

Here are some questions to consider:

has your organization found new collaborators (other organizations, companies, networks, etc.) for your work via social media use/presence?
have you reached out, either as an individual or an organization, with opportunities to collaborate to others you only connected with via social media? why?
what issues are unique to collaborations of this type?
what kind of reassurances (and what are the mechanisms for providing them) are unique to parties entering collaborations via social media?
how could collaborations enabled or maintained via social media be more or less sustainable than traditional tools/outlets?

And here are some examples to consider:

SocialActions – a great example of social media powering the sharing and aggregation (and thus the collaboration and partnership) of social action opportunity portals all over the world
Amnesty International, Red Cross, and others – organizers working globally/locally have changed the way they campaign or operate now that they are really in the same space (online)
Journalism – writers are now using their social media platforms (whether it’s Twitter or Facebook, or even the newspaper’s comment-enabled websites) to collaborate with witnesses, locals, and experts for their contributions to the story

Join the Conversation

If you want to contribute to the conversation, you’ll need to have a twitter account (it’s free).
To follow the conversation (whether you are planning to contribute or not), use http://search.twitter.com or another application to search on Twitter for “#4Change”
Jump in to the conversation by adding “#4Change” (without the “”) to your Twitter message

Rules for #Change Chats

#4Change will be structured around a series of questions which all participants can respond to. Send your questions to @tomjd without the hash tag (to keep them out of the stream) to have them considered.
Introduce yourself in 1 tweet at the start or when you join.
Stay on topic!
Stay cool.

Join us for the chat this Thursday – looking forward to discussing the role social media play in collaboration!

Published on August 10, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 0 Comments

Socialbrite: Social Tools for Social Change

Published in digital learning and resources. 0 Comments Tags: collaboration, nptech, resource, socialbrite.

Nonprofit tech experts team up to help others master ‘social tools for social change’

Eight leading experts in social media and nonprofit technology have joined forces to create Socialbrite.org, a hub that showcases social tools for social change. The site, which serves as a learning and sharing center for nonprofits and social change organizations, debuted today at http://www.socialbrite.org/.

The Socialbrite team is made up of strategists with deep experience in offering social media consulting services, training workshops, conversational marketing, fundraising and outreach campaigns.

“We’re here to help nonprofits master the social Web to bring about meaningful social change,” said J.D. Lasica, a consultant and author of four books about emerging technologies. “There’s nothing else like this on the Web for nonprofits, social change organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and educators. Socialbrite’s mission is to shine a light on the best practices, social tools and strategies that will benefit each of these important constituencies.”

Beth Kanter, Amy Sample Ward, Katrin Verclas and John Haydon are among the familiar names in the nonprofit tech sector who are part of the effort.

Socialbrite.org is launching with a rich set of resources:

A directory of Web 2.0 Productivity Tools in dozens of categories that can help organizations get a handle on the social Web.
A Social Media Glossary that offers a deep, friendly introduction to dozens of social media terms in plain English.
A first-of-its-kind Twitter widget that tracks tweets about nonprofits or social causes in real time.
A Free Photos Directory, Free Video Directory and Free Music Directory that offers nonprofits, cause organizations and Web publishers a guide to hundreds of online resources for adding legal, high-quality content to their own Web sites, blogs, podcasts, newsletters, printed materials or online presentations.
A Causes widget that points to charitable actions and donations on other sites such as GlobalGiving and Facebook Causes.
Scores of additional articles, guides and tutorials to help newcomers and veterans alike get better acquainted with this fast-moving space.

Socialbrite draws on a team of experts whose practical, easy-to-grasp advice will help organizations find social media success. The strategists – located in New York, San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles and London – are:

Beth Kanter, a longtime trainer and advisor to the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN) and other organizations. Her upcoming book “The Networked Nonprofit” will provide a social media roadmap for nonprofits.
J.D. Lasica, a social media pioneer who co-founded Ourmedia.org, the first video hosting and sharing site. He advises both Fortune 500 corporations and nonprofits in social media strategies.
Katrin Verclas, co-founder and editor of MobileActive.org and past executive director of NTEN.
John Haydon, a consultant who advises small nonprofits, small businesses and social entrepreneurs on social marketing strategies.
Amy Sample Ward, a strategist who supports and educates clients in the nonprofit and social change sectors.
Ken Banks, who is using mobile technology to foster positive social and environmental change in the developing world, particularly in Africa.
Sloane Berrent, a cause-based marketing consultant who works with nonprofits and social cause organizations. She is currently a Kiva fellow serving a three-month tour in a rural section of the Philippines.
Carla A. Schlemminger, a strategic marketing communications professional who integrates best practices in branding, PR and social media.

The Socialbrite site features dozens of videos, screencasts and slide presentations. All materials created for the site are released under Creative Commons licenses so that other sites and blogs can freely reuse the content.

“Collaboration is the key to success, in everything really,” said Amy Sample Ward, an Oregonian now living in London who heads up London Net Tuesday and collaborates with others to create local opportunities to share and learn. “I see Socialbrite as a great chance for us as strategists to collaborate while helping nonprofits keep pace with this fast-changing landscape.”

Socialbrite.org is built in WordPress, the popular open source blogging platform. Socialbrite’s lead developer, Esteban Panzeri, just finished work on a Creative Commons plug-in that lets bloggers assign different licenses to different blog posts, which he is releasing to the WordPress community.

The Socialbrite team members make their living through paid services to client organizations. Services include conducting in-depth workshops, working with senior staff to develop a social media strategy, and crafting campaigns to reach contributors and supporters through Twitter, Facebook and digital storytelling, among other modern approaches.

Visit the Socialbrite.org Media Center for tweets, information and more about the launch to help spread the word about this collaborative resource!

Follow us on Twitter: @socialbrite
Subscribe to our blog updates: http://feeds2.feedburner.com/socialbrite
For business and speaking inquiries: newbiz@socialbrite.org
To contact a member of the Socialbrite team: team@socialbrite.org

Published on June 29, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 0 Comments

Morgan Sully believes We Operate Better Together

Published in community, socialchange and storytelling. 2 Comments Tags: collaboration, europe, friend, fundraising, storytelling, trip, uk.

We operate best together.

Working from this premise, this travel documentary project seeks to answer the question:

How is global social change made where media, technology and creative people meet?

Through blog posts, photos and web video, Morgan Sully, will document the stories of creative, innovative communities found in European galleries, international events, meetups, barcamps, fabrication labs, and innovation competitions.

I want to learn and ’share back’ as much as possible so that other groups doing similar things can do it together.

Thoughts on the Social Collaboration Game from SHINE09

Published in events. 0 Comments Tags: collaboration, shine09, social collaboration game, socialmedia.

This past Saturday at the SHINE09 unconferance, David Wilcox, Andy Gibson, Drew Mackie and I facilitated a version of what was called the Social Collaboration Game. We also had some great role playing contributions from Jess Tyrrell of Germination (playing the “Council Leader”) and Cliff Prior of Untld (playing the “Civil Society Minister in a new Tory Government of 2010″). The game combines elements of the Social Media Game, local real-world issues (at SHINE we used local regeneration topics), and the idea development and pitching of the Social Innovation Camp model.

David has written up an incredible rundown of the game, including the cards, the planning documents and more. Visit the SHINE socialreporter blog to read David’s post.

I wanted to add a bit to our process by adding in some feedback about how I think we can improve the game (we’ll be running it again at the June event for London Net Tuesday!). If you were there, I would love to hear your thoughts as well; and if you weren’t, well, read David’s post about how it all works and join the conversation!

Ways to improve the Social Collaboration Game:

Appropriate context & naming: The name “social collaboration game” doesn’t tell you that you are going to be developing innovative ideas that leverage technology and tackle social change issues while in the format of pitching your idea/proposal/startup to a “funder.” The name and the brief description need to convey those elements immediately so we don’t spend a great deal of time explaining it in the first place when starting the game and so people aren’t confused when we give them technology cards, or ask them to prepare an overview of their project to present. What should we call it?
Keep the timeline realistic: you never know how long it will take for groups or individuals to get through certain parts of activities until you try it, so we tried it, and now we know that initial group formation is pretty quick (at least as quick as we expected if not quicker), but creating/agreeing on an initial idea takes more time exponentially with more people (it isn’t a simple ratio of 5 people w/ 2 minutes to share each and 7 people with 2 minutes to share each = 4 more minutes; instead, it’s 5 people with 2 minutes each and 1 minute of feedback per other group member and 7 people with 2 minutes each and one minute of feedback per other group member, etc.). Part of keeping the timeline realistic is to build in buffer zones to the agenda so that you have give and take you can use without actually running into other time slots on the agenda.
Narrow the goals: In this round of the game, we had planned that groups would form around possible ideas/topics, create a plan, pitch the plan for “funding” and also create a 3-year timeline of how an idea like that could unfold. That is a lot to do in a whole day, let alone an hour or two. We need to pick what’s doable and focus on that. Probably leave off the 3-year plan as I imagine that people are less interested in that kind of project development work when it is a fictional projects that they are not actually working on.
Streamline the “pitches”: Similar to #3; we confused the participants by letting the “Council Leader” and the “Minister” circulate throughout the groups offering insights into the fictional Borough used in the game and offering different kinds of seed funding or advising. Then, we asked that the groups pitch to the same two people for ultimate funding (“winning”). If we limit the funding conversations to the end, I think groups will have more time to talk about their ideas and will worry less about understanding a fictional Borough. It would also be great, as a side note here, to allow groups to create their own contexts/Boroughs.
More public sharing: The point of breaking people up into groups is that there can be many more engaged groups instead of one large group with minimal participation. This means we have 5 or 6 great ideas instead of one. But without a public sharing/pitching of the idea then the other groups never learn from each other. I’d like to see the end of the game include the pitches with the full group listening or even voting instead of letting the energy drop as groups pitch to the “funders” individually.

Obviously lots to talk about and we are really excited to facilitate the game in more contexts and with other groups! So many terrific conversations come out of a facilitated experiement like this and what’s most exciting are how promising and realistic the proposals are that are generated by participants!

Next, we need to create a wiki for the game so that we can capture these actual social innovations, keep participants connected, and continue the conversations!

Published on May 19, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 0 Comments

Join us for the social collaboration game at SHINE

Published in events and socialmedia. 0 Comments Tags: collaboration, conference, game, shine, social media, social media game.

My colleague, friend, and collaborator David Wilcox just posted about the social collaboration game we are going to be putting on at SHINE derived partly from the social media game and from our work on the Social by Social project. Here’s what David said:

If you want to find out how social technology can be used collaboratively to solve neighbourhood problems, do join me and colleagues for a lively session on May 16 in London at the SHINE unconference for social entrepreneurs. You’ll find details here.

“If you want to do it quickly, do it alone. If you want to do it well, do it together.” – African proverb.
Join the Social Collaboration Game on day two of SHINE. Everyone’s talking about the advantages of collaboration, open-source working and social technology to drive through social change. But how do you make it work in practice? Based on real life problems that SHINE participants are facing, get ready for a two hour game where you’ll have to crunch problems, make quick decisions and find ways to work together to get the job done. You will be doing that within the framework of an imagined but realistic neighbourhood where people are trying to tackle problems innovatively as recession bites. There’ll be competing interests to balance, barriers to getting what you need from partnerships,…

There will be some similarity to the neighbourhood game I ran recently in Holland – but with far more chance to form alliances and work out innovative ways to find projects. A bit like social media game meets Social Innovation Camp, in miniature.

We have some top talent to design and run the session: my usefulgames co-designer Drew Mackie is coming down from Edinburgh, and Andy Gibson and Amy Sample Ward will bringing their expertise on similar events and the use of social technology for social benefit. We’ve recently been working on a Social by Social handbook for NESTA on that subject – details here. I hope we’ll be able to evolve the game so that it can be run over half a day or a day, using content from the Social by Social handbook. There might even be a version in a box, like the non-tech Regeneration Game Drew and I developed a few years back.

Tickets for two days at SHINE are a bargain, at £30 plus VAT, for individuals and startups, and £100 plus VAT for larger organisations. Sign up here. That includes a party on Friday night.

Published on May 4, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 0 Comments

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