PICnet Blog

As Non-Profit Soapbox continues to grow in the non-profit community, we have listened and responded to our clients’ ideas, pains, and comments. Surprisingly, what we hear most doesn’t have much to do with the core of Soapbox and Joomla, but rather the struggles of linking together a Web site with an organization’s database, or CRM system.

We haven’t taken this issue lightly, and as we discussed two weeks ago, we’re heavily involved in building bridges between Soapbox and the leading CRM systems for non-profits, starting with Democracy in Action.

What makes Soapbox a success for non-profits is that it goes beyond the core of just being a Web site manager, and allows organizations to connect more seamlessly to their CRM systems. That ability to present data from the database, and choosing the presentation of that data in the Web site is what will be the main differentiator between CMS choices for non-profits.

As CRM vendors are feeling the pressure from clients to provide open APIs, PICnet is stepping up quickly to act on this new opportunity for our clients. Although we’re weary of the all talk and no walk, we’re willing to take vendors on at their word. We’re building the bridges between Soapbox and the following CRM systems:

• Democracy in Action
• GetActive
• Salesforce.com

Our goals are simple when building these bridges:

• empower organizations to choose where they place their data
• provide choice for the presentation of data from their chosen CRM
• simplify the Web experience for organiation’s Web site visitors

Over the next few weeks, we will be releasing J!DIA to the community as an open source component for Joomla. Soon thereafter, we will begin working with GetActive and Salesforce.com to build similar functionalities for building bridges between Web sites and databases. Stay tuned, we’re empowering non-profits with choice.

At PICnet, we love our clients. And here’s the thing: they deserve it.

This morning, I got to take a firsthand peek inside one: Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the country’s first and largest Iraq Veteran’s group. With the Congressional elections less than a week away, the group has been in overdrive on media appearances and exposure — and has been experiencing some growing pains with their site due to the unexpected but massive increase in traffic.

I was there today to deliver a dozen from Dunkin’ Donuts to soothe the pain.

And, trust me, we are talking about some smart, energetic, and driven people. Although the staff is relatively small, they have built a large presence in today’s political marketplace (click here for just one example.) The group’s Congressional Rating — which calculates a grade for every U.S. legislator based on the politician’s support for bills that matter to U.S. troops, veterans, and their families — has turned quite a few heads. Props to the creators of this resource for using web technology to create an important and innovative application that might change the course of this election.

Props to IAVA for getting the job done for our men and women in uniform.

Next Tuesday, November 7, 2006, the United States of America will conduct its mid-term elections, putting all the seats on the House of Representatives (Lower House) and certain seats on the Senate (Upper House) up for re-election. At this critical juncture, there is a large possibility for the Republican party to loose its majority in these houses to the left-leaning Democratic Party.

Rock the Vote, a non-profit organization, engages in registering Americans to vote and was successful in registering 1.4 million citizens in the 2004. This year, Rock the Vote, worked with Google Inc., to produce the US Election Guide as a layer on Google Earth, showing US Congressional Districts and the candidates running for these seats. It also provides you with “news, web, and photo searches” via Google. Read more on Google’s blog.

Download Google Earth to figure out where you and your friends can go to vote in America.

Image Source: Rock the Vote www.rockthevote.com

Last week, a highly reputable Dutch politician and UN Envoy to Sudan, Jan Pronk posted on his personal blog about the loss of the Sudanese Army against militias in the troubled area of Darfur. Arguably outside his job description, this action resulted in removal of Mr. Pronk from his position in Sudan, thus throwing another blow at the UN’s efforts to restore peace in the region.

For the techies out there, this “blog” was nothing fancy - a series of simple html pages. It was the usage of the technology and not its superiority that really mattered. Within 48 hours of the content going live, a significant diplomat lost his job, insulted the Sudanese Ministry of Defense, and apparently fractured a diplomatic effort. Unlike the typical corporate world, this situation reminds us the importance of tech-developers (companies and/or organizations) in the non-profit sector to engage directly with and adopt the agendas of our clients, mostly non-profits and political clients. It becomes increasingly important to deliver technology that meets their specific needs, not simply as existential tools but as reliable paths to accomplishing one’s agenda.

Image Source: US Department of State