Beginning the Blog

Before deciding to start a blog on the CJW website, I did some research – I went to the Wikipedia site (www.wikipedia.com). After reading the “blog” entry, I determined that a CJW blog would be a good thing, but I knew I didn't want a vlog, a linklog, a Phlog, a moblog, and I especially didn't want a Splog.

A visit to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, will tell you what all those things are. When you get to the reference to “phlog”, there will be a link to take you to the definition of Gopher Protocol so that you'll not only know that “phlog” is a type of blog hosted on the gopher protocol, you'll also know what the Gopher Protocol is.

Wikipedia is a great resource. For those who haven't already visited this site, I'll let them introduce themselves:

Wikipedia is a multilingual, web-based, free content encyclopedia project. Wikipedia is written collaboratively by volunteers from all around the world. With rare exceptions, its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the Internet, simply by clicking the edit this page link. The name Wikipedia is a portmanteau of the words wiki (a type of collaborative website) and encyclopedia. Since its creation in 2001, Wikipedia has grown rapidly into one of the largest reference Web sites on the Internet.

Here's the part I like best:

Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation, which has created an entire family of free content projects. On all these projects, you are welcome to be bold and edit articles yourself, contributing knowledge as you see fit in a collaborative way.

This incredible resource, which is increasingly becoming the go-to reference point for millions of people all over the world, one of the top 5 visited websites anywhere, is supported by a non-profit organization.

The Wikimedia Foundation (www.wikimedia.org) website home page begins this way:

Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment.

Is there a better example of the concept of Philanthropy as Community?

I recently joined the board of AFP Chicago, the local chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Our vision statement embraces the idea that philanthropy builds community:

The Association of Fundraising Professionals—Chicago Chapter will be valued as the indispensable professional development resource for fundraisers, and by the broader public as Chicagoland's leading champion of philanthropy as a force for building community.

Lest you think that this is a concept unique to AFP, a Wikipedia article on Philanthropy contains this paragraph:

Some believe that philanthropy can be a means to build community by growing community funds and giving vehicles. When communities see themselves as being resource rich instead of asset poor, the community is in a better position to solve community problems.

Nonprofits build, strengthen and support communities large and small, and philanthropy provides the resources for them to do it. Philanthropy as community? Definitely!

Software as community? Maybe not so much. But software is a hugely valuable tool. You can't build a house without a hammer, and you can't build a development program without information about donors and prospective donors. I've always contended that there is a natural marriage between software and fundraisers, despite the reality that fundraising is extremely personal and the perception that software is completely impersonal.

And again – software runs Wikipedia, a website operated by a nonprofit that wants every single human to be able to share in the sum of all knowledge.

If you haven't already, take a spin through Wikipedia. Type in pretty much anything in the search box and see what comes up. As I have been writing this, I've looked up the name of the town in which I grew up (Skokie, Illinois), my high school (Evanston Township High School), the Chicago neighborhood which contained the hospital in which I was born (Edgewater), the name of Agatha Christie's first book (The Mysterious Affair at Styles), and Matthew Garber, the 8-year-old who played Michael Banks in the film version of Mary Poppins in 1964 (sadly, I learned that he died at age 21 of hepatitis.)

Here are some things that I couldn't find in Wikipedia:

DonorPerfect or the company that sells it, Softerware
Results/plus or the company that sells it, Metafile Information Systems Exceed or the company that sells it, Telosa Software, eTapestry, Tessitura (there is a listing for Tessitura, which is a musical term, but it does not reference the software), Donor2, … any listings for fundraising software or the companies that provide them except Blackbaud.

The information is out there, of course. You can Google fundraising software and get 4,150,000 hits (I just did that). You can visit sites like TechSoup and see if there is a forum for whatever product you are interested in. If not, you can start one.

Or you can come here.

Your comments will direct this blog to a large extent. Let us know what you’d like to find here, and as long as it relates in some way to software and nonprofits, we’ll do our best to get it to you.