Nonprofit leadership means networking, socially and openly

Here's some joining up of threads about nonprofits, the web, uncollaboration, social networking, and open source politics. Just looking through my small window, I think something's going on.
Last year I wrote a piece musing about how the development of social networking might impact on the membership of associations and other nonprofit organisations.

It used to be that you joined associations because it was a way of meeting like-minded people and getting help, facilities, information and other things difficult or costly to organise for yourself. These days it is much easier to find people and resources online, and to mix and match these assets into project teams, communities of practice, and informal networks.

This is one of the themes in the forthcoming report from the NCVO ICT Foresight team:

For many VCOs (voluntary and community organisations), online ‘social’ networks have the potential to be disruptive; that is, they have the power to change the model of organising upon which many VCOs, and particularly membership bodies, are based. The connections that ICT facilitates suggest that some organisations may increasingly be bypassed and that power may shift away from top-down hierarchical organisations and towards more fluid and participative networks where there is less need for a centralised ‘bricks and mortar’ coordinating organisation.

Now Leon Benjamin, author of Winning by Sharing, offers a telling comment to my piece about Nonprofit uncollaboration. That cited Paul Caplan on how national nonprofits are less collaborative than they might be, and fail to see the potential and impact of the web.  Leon writes:

I think the problem is leadership. The reality is that leaders of VCOs and NGOs aren't equipped to lead in the 21st century's networked economy. And this isn't their fault, but they need to accept help from people who can create the conditions that enable leaders to emerge, and then step aside. This isn't their time now.
Just before he died, Peter Drucker said at Davos in Switzerland, "community-building talent is the single most precious resource in the modern world." Let me briefly explain why.
Online community service poviders like Ezboard and CommunityZero, and Bebo and MySpace, to a certain extent have created leaders who in some cases, have literally started movements, with huge numbers of supporters and advocates. EzBoard has over half a million discrete 'clubs', each with a leader, covering a vast array of subject matter.
These leaders often deliver an experience that enriches people's social and professional lives. More so than the associations and unions that are supposed to serve them.
These are our leaders of the future.

Meanwhile, a fascinating discussion breaks out between those people in nonprofits who do see the impact of social networking and new media, and those who believe it is all a bit distant from the day-to-day work of most charities, and so not particularly relevant. I think they should take note of what Tory Shadow Chancellor George Osborne is saying about the development of open source politics:

Top down politics is no longer sustainable in a bottom-up age.
There are some who say that blogs and on-line petitions merely give a platform to the angry activist - what you Matthew (Taylor) have called the voices of "shrill outrage".
Here, I disagree with you.
Of course it provides another channel for the activist, shrill-voiced or otherwise. But it's also opening up politics to people who would never ordinarily engage with politicians or mainstream political parties.

George Osborne was speaking at the RSA where Matthew Taylor - former strategy adviser to Tony Blair - has recently taken over as chief executive. He spoke at the e-democracy '06 conference about more deliberation, less shrill political blogging.
Even before Matthew Taylor's  arrival the RSA had started to think about how a 250-year-old organisation could engage its 26,000 Fellows more effectively. I know from more recent discussions that they are taking seriously how new media can play a big part - and indeed, Matthew has his own blog. He writes - in the context of last week's RSA event:

While Web 1.0 may have simply reinforced 'us and them' political discourse, Web 2.0 offers huge scope for new forms of ‘us and us’ engagement. The wiki has huge potential as a policy deliberation tool but we need good applications (the RSA is working to develop one for our Fellows).

I think Leon is right: to be a social leader in future, the CEOs of nonprofits need to understand social networking - and that means being part of it. If the previously-traditionalist RSA shows what's possible, others may take more notice.

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