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Co-operatives in South Africa

Twenty years ago, I laid out a series of reasons why the corporate model is not appropriate for civil society work and I'm thrilled to see some very constructive conversations in the last few months about the available alternatives. Diane Babak of SANGONeT writes about Co-operatives in South Africa and offers a number of resources for using that model for community based work. It's great to see such an alternative reaching the level of promotion and implementation. Posted: 8/15/06; 1:06:47 PM #

Websites that Changed the World
	In honor of the recent fifteenth anniversary of the web, the wonderful John Naughton lists the fifteen Websites that Changed the World. The list is a mixture of the obvious, the interesting, and the idiosyncratic. Posted: 8/15/06; 1:06:31 PM #

The Greatest Software Ever Written
	Charles Babcock's take on The Greatest Software Ever Written is interesting as much for the reasoning involved as for the actual code selected. The social analysis used here is the same as we need in the world of nonprofit capacity building. Posted: 8/15/06; 1:06:17 PM #

Hoarders vs. Deleters: What Your Inbox Says About You

Jeffrey Zaslow of the Wall Street Journal has written an article called Hoarders vs. Deleters: What Your Inbox Says About You. It might also be suitably entitled The Varieties of Email Addiction. You will see yourself in there, I assure you. I have all my online correspondence on my hard drive, going back in to the 1980s. I barely use folders at all. Instead I use tags and saved searches. What does that say about me? Posted: 8/15/06; 1:06:01 PM #

The Nonprofit Capacity Conundrum

Jonathan Peizer is leading an excellent conversation over at Social Edge on the subject of The Nonprofit Capacity Conundrum. He's asking five questions: (1) What viable ways exist to provide support to nonprofits so they can use technology effectively in this type of support environment? (2) Are technology support organizations like NPower, Compumentor, etc. the answer and can they meet the needs of nonprofits of all sizes and issue areas? (3) Are there technologies like ASP's that can allow nonprofits to leverage technology without as significant a need for technology support? (4) Are there different ways nonprofits can invest in their technology capacity in the early stages and maintain that investment? (5) Is mission-based support using technology best done through other institutional or networked arrangements and not nonprofits? Posted: 8/15/06; 1:05:30 PM #