April 22, 2010

By Eleanor Clift

Cleta Mitchell has a long history as a conservative activist, and says she is ”quite delighted” with the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to lift the caps on the amount of money corporations and unions can spend to promote political candidates.

During a panel examining the impact of the decision on nonprofits held at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C., Mitchell introduced herself as “a consigliere to the vast right-wing conspiracy.” She asked for a show of hands from those who had read the decision, which she called a principled stand in support of the First Amendment.

Not everybody’s hand went up, but the people in the audience were familiar with the Court’s ruling, and like the panelists assembled by the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank, they fell into two camps. There were those like Mitchell who think it is a good thing that the Court has removed the shackles on free speech expressed through the flow of money, and those who think the decision heralds a stampede of money into the political system, which on its face must be a bad thing.

Mitchell pointed out that those who have “railed most loudly about this horrific decision” are The New York Times and The Washington Post. “Guess what, those are corporations,” she said. Why grant media corporations a speech license that is denied to other corporations? Mitchell is a partner with the Washington, D.C., law firm, Foley & Lardner, where she specializes in election and lobbying law. She’s been a candidate herself in her home state of Oklahoma, and she’s helped a lot of people run for office.

She pointed out that the Citizens United v. FEC case does not affect money contributed directly to candidates; those restrictions are still in place. Still, everyone on the panel and in the audience, from left to right, agreed that the January 21st narrow 5-4 Court ruling opens the door to more money in politics. How much money, when, and how damaging it will be depends on one’s political perspective.

When nonprofits are considering purchasing new software, the process can often be stressful and complicated. Managers responsible for the decisions should first identify software vendors at major tradeshows and go through their peer-to-peer networks for technology recommendations, according to Bob Alves, chairman and CEO of Advanced Solutions International (ASI).

Once a few software options have been selected, discovery sessions and overview demonstrations can help them determine if the technologies identified address specific needs. Each department should discuss two or three items that are most important to them, to select which vendor is the best fit, according to Alves.

While there will be obstacles for organizations to overcome, such as staff issues, lack of comfort with technology purchases, board mandates and lack of time, these issues can be resolved. It is important to bear in mind that choosing nonprofit technology is a business decision, which will benefit organizations’ causes in the long run. Although the process might be time consuming, it will take even more money and resources to repeat the process if nonprofits are not satisfied with their first choices.

It’s important to build a strategic plan with financials in place that suggests the scope of the software nonprofits really need to support their operational objectives, according to Alves. Managers need to define what the staff needs to accomplish to reach those goals. Ask questions. Does the team need a more efficient way to reach prospective members? Will an events management tool help the organization launch events? Assigning each of these strategic functions a representative metric will be helpful throughout the decision process, he said.

Before starting the selection process, ask the various departments for their feedback. Assign a champion in each department who will be tasked with keeping the project on track. The champions will help refine the strategic vision and streamline the software conversion and implementation. Brief each champion on the organization’s operational objectives, and ask the person to brainstorm regarding what the departments need to reach their respective goals.

This information will help nonprofit managers decide which solution is needed. Staff will also feel more involved in the organization and accept responsibility for their pieces of the project, according to Alves.

When evaluating the software options, Gartner’s Project Decision and Evaluation Criteria suggests looking at the strength of the vendor, its support capabilities, relevant experience and references, product functionality, implementation track record and technology price. There are also several questions to ask vendors’ customers, to help with the software selection process. These include the number of staff and users in the organization, how the vendor approached the implementation, if it was on time and fell within budget, and if the process met their expectations.

It will be helpful to know how much customization was required, how the training was handled, what the support was like and if they have up-to-date manuals for all of their modules.

If a nonprofit chooses to make the selection independently, there are a number of benefits, such as no added expenses or delays. Nonprofits should develop mechanisms for a successful implementation, and acquire the organizational skills needed to handle sophisticated information technology for any future purchases.

The people within nonprofits know its operations better than anyone else and fully understand the technology needs. When selecting software, managers should engage with vendors, to determine fit and feasibility of the product and the competence of the people behind it. Following these best practices, will provide an opportunity to refine business practices with real, live software, while presenting boards with precise costs and timelines.