Community IT Innovators. Established 1993. Serving social mission organizations with integrated technology services you can trust.

A Washington Post article, From Pulpit to Policy, Souls to Stomachs, profiled Bread for the World founder Rev. Arthur Simon last week.  From the article by Greg Gaudio:

It was the early 1960s. Simon was a young man, but he knew something had to be done beyond dispensing food — something that attacked hunger at the roots and attempted to prevent it. Eventually, he created Bread for the World, which has grown into the country’s foremost citizens lobby on the issue. Its 61,000 members and their annual letter-writing campaign have helped to generate billions for the cause at home and abroad.

In his new book, “The Rising of Bread for the World: An Outcry of Citizens Against Hunger,” Simon, 79, who lives in Bowie, reflects on his life’s work.

The full article offers a closer look at Simon’s life and what he and his organization have done to combat hunger.  CITI is honored to have been providing technical support and planning to Bread since 1997, and over the past few years has provided Bread with a full-time support person for day-to-day support as well as engineer expertise for network planning and projects.  CITI is also conducting an in-depth data and process assessment for Bread for the World to help them maximize the value of their data.

The Washington Post’s article yesterday To Nonprofits Seeking Cash, Facebook App Isn’t So Green (subhead – “Though Popular, ‘Causes’ Ineffective for Fundraising”) was sure to raise hackles in the nonprofit tech blogosphere. The bloggers who have been exploring social networking for nonprofits had had this discussion already.

Beth Kanter issued a concise rebuttal: Hello, Washington Post: Dolllars Per Facebook Donor Is Not the Right Metric for Success. Even if you’ve followed some of the discussion in the past, it’s worth reading her post, and the links therefrom, particularly the one to Allison Fine’s blog. Between the two of them, they nicely summarize what you can and can’t expect out of an investment in social networking for your organization.

Allyson Kapin’s post on Frogloop includes a link to the Frogloop Social Networking ROI calculator. The calculator is a nifty tool for looking at the costs vs. funds raised. It doesn’t pretend to calculate the indirect and non-financial benefits that Kanter and others point to, but it does provide the opportunity to decide what those other benefits are likely worth to you before diving into a social networking campaign.