HIVE
Young people enter the nonprofit sector full of passion and commitment, ready to invest the energy, brainpower and creativity it takes to change the world. Often these bright young workers take on jobs beyond their skill level at fledgling organizations where “trial by fire†learning is the only source of training. These same workers often feel isolated and disconnected from other young professionals, leading to job dissatisfaction and defection from the sector. HIVE is a web-based learning management system built and branded specifically for young nonprofit professionals aged 20-35. Hive has two components: Braintrust: a user-populated knowledge management center and Hub: a community network focused on geographic locale, issue area or position.
Braintrust Knowledge Management: Imagine logging on to a system where you can search a repository full of sample documents that provide templates for strategic plans, grant applications…virtually anything you would need to manage a successful social enterprise. Content is user-generated and user-rated and is monitored for spam and improper uploads. Incentive-centered design strategies for acknowledging levels of involvement incorporated will include establishment of rank titles that are associated with explicitly laid out contribution levels and members can search by their favorite contributors or content. Content will be licensed under a CCA License, enabling community members to modify and customize templates to fit the needs of their organizations.
The Hub: An important benefit of a web-adaptive culture has been the opportunity to bring people from all corners of the world together to connect around key social issues, but with the expanding role of the web, nonprofits have overlooked the opportunity to build networks right in their region. Locale-specific networking groups offer young nonprofit professionals the chance to develop relationships across organizations, job profiles and interests. Community networks offer a resource for incidental issues (recruiting volunteers) and regional issues (policy issues, sourcing funding).
The greater purpose of Hive is to keep young people engaged in nonprofit work and to build a stronger sector by developing the base of the organizational pyramid. As a result, nonprofit organizations will gain more highly skilled workers, the community will grow a cadre of leadership and the region will be able to retain a young and vibrant workforce.
Braintrust: Braintrust is largely a document repository. Users have the ability to mash up their own plans, applications, manuals and protocols from the brainpower of many instead of toiling in solitude. Braintrust harvests unused IP and repurposes it for a common good. Organizations can choose to post current or “old†documents (e.g. last year’s fundraising letter). The point is to share information, ideas, ways of framing issues, and of doing business that broaden the perspectives of members. Norms will be established for leadership development within the e-community.
The Hub: Besides building a localized community, the Hub will be a resource for regional information through various features: community boards, events calendar, podcasts/video of presentations and interviews, blogs (policy and nonprofit), job classifieds, wiki for community dialogue, foundation news aggregator, photosharing, mentor management, member dashboard…all to integrate young nonprofit professionals, mentors, funders and political leaders through information sharing. KM features will allow users to track their learning through skill set acquisition icons and milestone measures, creating incentives that challenge users to establish a life-long learning strategies that are reinforced through visual achievement indictors built into their profiles. Although Hive and the Hub will be built for people age 20-35, having participation from professionals 35+ will be critical.
Fran: At the age of 25, I became an Executive Director of a small npo. I struggled a lot in that first year, which led to a colleague and I starting a networking group for nonprofit professionals in Portland, OR that today has over 25,000 members. I have worked in organizational development of nonprofits for the last 8 years and am currently pursuing an MBA focusing on entrepreneurship and innovation.
Lisa: I am a nonprofit career counselor for graduate students at the Univ. of Michigan (Nonprofit and Public Management Center) and have worked in grants management, database consulting projects, working in human services organizations. I am a dual degree in social work (specializing in management of human services), and information science (specializing in community informatics). My academic/professional interests are in cross-sector collaboration and nonprofit technical capacity building.
-Technical expertise, usability testing, and project planning
-Web hosting, database backup, and a scaling plan
-A powerful search engine that accommodates easy searching of the Braintrust repository
-Sourcing information on the target market Expertise on integrating the various parts and “off the shelf†options for this project into a cohesive whole.
-Community Management tools that enable monitoring of community development progress for the site coordinators and provide mechanisms for culling unused documents and updating site content
-Expertise in developing communities of practice and managing voluntary e-communities.
-Pre-established evaluation metrics for tracking process improvements, brand loyalty, and managing voluntary efforts.
-Standard guidelines for document uploading that prohibit exchange of copyrighted content and educate users about creative commons licensing
-Funding, of course.
-google maps: identifying "who's in your neighborhood"--orgs in area www.google.com/maps
-30 boxes: calendaring local events: 30boxes.com
-ning: social networking: ning.com
-slideshare: for posting slides: slideshare.com
-flickr: photos: flickr.com
-google custom: news aggregation for both foundations and local npo news
-blogger/typepad: blogging
-grantsfire: grants aggregation
YES!
What a fantastic idea and WOW do we need good thinking around keeping young folks engaged in the nonprofit sector. This fills multiple voids by creating good content to help people do their jobs better and more efficiently and also creates community among like-minded young professionals doing change-based work in particular geographic locales. Love it, love it, love it.
Interesting new article on young npo leadership in the Chronicle
Thanks for the props, Ashley!
I don't know if you caught the recent article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, but it discusses the reluctance of young professionals to assume leadership roles in the nonprofit sector. My favorite quote is from Frances Kunreuther:
"Younger people talk much less about a crisis in people retiring," she says. "Younger leaders think the crisis is that existing organizations are getting stale." She adds, "The nonprofit sector has been incredibly neglectful about innovating for leadership."
http://www.philanthropy.com/free/articles/v20/i10/10002001.htm
I think by building support networks for young professionals we will firm up the foundation of nonprofits all over the country and provide young people the opportunity to lead both inside and outside of their own organizations.
Wow, great idea! We have
Wow, great idea!
We have discussed a similar need among non-profit staff in the region (11 Northern California counties). We all work on similar issues in our own communities. Your idea (and expertise) sounds like just what we need!!
Sign me up!
TJ
Great idea!
Hi Fran and Lisa- I love the idea. I'm sure having a network of likeminded np folks would have enhanced my np experience significantly. There are certainly many hats one wears in that line of work and it's good to get the bigger picture/the vision of why we do what we do. I would love to see how this might work in smaller cities where at many nps it doesn't even cross their minds to think of using best practices. Be sure to market it broadly! ;)
Glad you like it!
Hey Angie, thanks for your comment. We see this as a powerful initiative for smaller cities or even regions (we are in SE Michigan and could see this being a real source of support for multiple counties). Cities like Portland, OR have really robust nonprofit communities, but they historically haven't had opportunities to connect with one another in support and camaraderie. I particularly like the idea of mapping all of the npos in your org's 'hood and getting a walking tour of funders/leaders/change agents together.
This system could also be branded for the MSO that serves that area, taking some of the burden off of the MSO staff by giving the user the resources to answer their own questions. Beyond not having to reinvent the wheel for all of the document work, imagine being able to build connections with other npos who have resources, ideas and human capital that you could use. Thanks for your thoughts!