The Basics of a Networked Nonprofit (Ch. 1 & 2)

The idea of a networked nonprofit organization is very intriguing to me. From reading The Networked Nonprofit it is apparent that many networked nonprofit companies have their own rules and make the networks that work the best for their type of client. This is not typical of what the majority of organizations strive for. Most of the time, there are a large number of "dos" and "don'ts" in order to make sure the work runs smoothly. With a networked nonprofit, it seems that many organizations start their networking through trial and error in order to discover which media outlets work best for achieving their goals. With such a plan, it is necessary to keep the organization completely open to the public in order to gain new workers on the program. This do-good attitude is enlightening and I am very interested in learning more about how networked nonprofits reach out for help on their projects. Just as we used facebook to make people more aware of Safe Harbor, many nonprofits use social media outlets such as blogs, twitter, text messaging, etc. to keep their programs completely open to the public. In this day and age, it is much easier to make your organization transparent to the public through all of these online sources and I am glad to see organizations are taking advantage of this.

Some problems can arise from the loose structure of nonprofit organizations, it seems. According to chapter two, many organizations lost site of their goal to help their cause by expanding to the majority of the public because each organization was attempting to keep their cause within "arm's length." When a cause becomes so large that the world takes it over, the nonprofit organization itself loses its worth. This is a risk that all organizations run, but to create social change, these problem need to be publicly known and controlled by many. The people with the most money will always be the ones initiating the programs, and this fact is hard to change. The Millennials phenomenon is interesting, too. Whereas the older donors were likely to start an organization and stick with it's cause, new younger advocates of particular causes are more likely to switch interests manny times and not donate quite as large amounts as older advocates. This seems similar to how I feel about causes, unfortunately. I can see how many younger groups see one cause as important for a while, but with so many media outlets and new ideas popping up, I find myself always searching for something new. These younger generations are not as content staying in the same place their whole lives and are always looking for something more. Such ideals cause more problems than just in the nonprofit sectors of our society. On the plus, many younger generations are great with technology and use all social media forms. This means that networks nonprofits can reach the hearts of many young groups if they can only find the most effective ways to reach them.