Digital Strategies for Non-Profits: Fact or Fiction?

As a self-proclaimed digital strategist, I've got plenty to say about the topic, especially in relation to non-profit culture organizations. For four years I worked as the Director of Interactive Media for a 120 yr old legacy cultural institution. My job was to put a flag in the ground and help them figure out what to do with their intellectual property that focused on scholarly Jewish texts. The result of that endeavor is a project known as the Tagged Tanakh.

Following my time as an intraprenuer working to craft a long term digital strategy, I worked for four years in a tech agency specializing in Drupal and other open source applications. While there, I was the UX and strategy lead for our clients and worked with non-profits, e-commerce sites, and various small businesses.

My natural instinct when reviewing a case study about my profession published by a foundation is to have my hackles raised and read on the defensive – natural byproduct of generations of cultivated skepticism. However, when reading the Wyncote Foundation's report Like, Link, Share I found myself mostly nodding and saying, "no shit" a lot. Granted the report is now 3 1/2 years-old most of the concepts are still relevant.

Here are the things that I agree with most from the article:

1. Fund the cultivation of new capabilities, not one-off projects. "What’s needed instead is a long-term capabilities mindset in a short-term project environment." This is spot on. However, digitization and infrastructure are not sexy pitches. Which leads to point 2.

2. Target your audience and measure your scope "Grants of sufficient size to digitize an entire asset collection are unrealistic, given the scope of these organizations’ holdings. Much more likely is fund-raising for specific aspects of a collection such as works by specific artists or eras, or specific subject matter." This is also spot on. Follow peoples' passion and the focus narrows. If your passion aligns with a patron with deep pockets, you're set. If you want to go the groundswell approach you set up a patreon account.

3. Fail fast and keep going Similar to the RtD/design thinking approach. But this only works if you have a big bucket of cash. If not, bootstrapping on a dime leaves less oomph to your punches and does't impress funders and encourage confidence.

4. Human factors and optics are key
   I have first hand experience with multiple staff re-organizations over a relatively short period of time. And I concur that "leadership teams say they need to communicate constantly and widely, to persuade employees to understand and buy into strategy, and sometimes to give up responsibilities or take on more. It takes time to explain and move along these changes, and many leaders say more changes are coming." Given that people generally resist change how you sell your strategy is essential to a success implementation of that strategy.

5. Innovation is inversely related to risk tolerance The Like, Link, Share report emphatically stated:

Above all, our research demonstrates the value of curious, capable, and courageous leadership.

Without this, your digital strategy is dead in the water. But that leadership is not necessarily top down. In, fact from my experience the best strategies are devised collaboratively across functions and departments to craft more holistic user experiences. I mean that's what all digital strategies are aiming for right, a better UX.

Overall, I was surprised with how much I agreed with the Like, Link, Share report. In fact, I look forward to exploring some of the projects that they featured in the report, including The Henry Ford Museum. Score one for the foundation world!

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