C06 Session: Collaborating for Capacity

Collaborating for Capacity: Lessons from Nonprofit Technology Assistance Providers Serving Communities of Color

Thursday, August 3, 11:00am - 12:30pm

Track:  Technology

Presenters

Jennifer Werdell, NPower (National); Andy Wolber, NPower Michigan

Description

Nonprofits, like people, have their own ways of working. A capacity building organization that successfully engages with the nonprofit community as a whole understands that different organizations have different preferences and different ways of doing business. This session looks at one example of this–technology assistance for organizations that serve communities of color–and discusses what broader lessons can be learned. This session will include a review of research with organizations serving communities of color in five cities across the country, a discussion of some projects being undertaken to address barriers to technology adoption, and a conversation about continuing to explore ways to collaborate more broadly with organizations serving communities of color.

Background
The NPower Network is engaged in a project, funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, to explore and break down the barriers to technology assistance faced by organizations serving communities of color. The project consists of a year of research and 5 projects throughout the country focused on improving our ability to collaborate with nonprofits working with communities of color. By sharing our learnings, we hope to open discussion on additional ways that assistance providers can fully engage with our communities as a whole.

Our year-long research project reaffirmed that technology cost barriers and lack of knowledge are common to all nonprofit organizations. More significantly, it also revealed that for organizations working with communities of color, these barriers are compounded by a host of unique obstacles such as:

• A real and perceived lack of access to culturally relevant assistance;
• Resources and content that are not culturally relevant;
• Greater than average challenges securing financial resources to implement and sustain technology;
• A general skepticism and distrust of technology; and,
• The absence of a local ally that uniquely understands their challenges and opportunities.

This session presents how NPower affiliates reframed their services in light of this research and successfully enriched their technology capacity building services to work more closely with communities of color.  The cases presented from the Network are meant to serve as models for the audience and will address issues that are transferable outside of the technology assistance field.  

Participants will have the opportunity to learn about technology tools that foster collaboration – in any setting.  Participants will come away with strategies and tools that will strengthen their efforts to collaborate with organizations that serve communities of color.

About the Presenters

Jennifer Werdell, NPower

Jennifer Werdell is the Network Initiatives Manager for NPower National, based in Seattle.  She is responsible for managing grant-funded initiatives that involve multiple NPower Network affiliates.  Jennifer works directly with funders and with staff across the Network to ensure successful implementation of projects, ranging from the effective delivery of technology assistance services to nonprofit organizations, to researching and evaluating the use of technology in the nonprofit sector.

Jennifer holds a law degree from NYU School of Law and began her career as a public interest attorney focusing on economic justice and public benefits.  Prior to joining NPower, Jennifer was the Director of Advocacy for Project FAIR, a collaborative initiative providing legal information and assistance to low-income and homeless New Yorkers.  At Project FAIR, Jennifer engaged in strategic and programmatic planning, board development, fundraising and volunteer and staff management.  Jennifer also previously served as an Equal Justice Works/Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe Fellow at the New York Legal Assistance Group.

Andy Wolber, NPower Michigan

Andy Wolber is the Executive Director of NPower Michigan and has been with the organization since 2002. Andy has led technology strategy and planning workshops for more than 200 nonprofit organizations throughout the Midwest region. Prior to joining NPower, Andy worked for USWeb/CKS, where he developed internet strategies for Fortune 500 clients, such as J.C. Penney and StorageTek, as well as for a nonprofit regional hospital system. He had previously been appointed the youngest Executive Director in the sixty year history of the Dallas Historical Society, and had served as board chairman of the Arts District Friends. Andy spent three years in fundraising staff roles for nonprofit cultural organizations, including Dallas Black Dance Theatre. Andy holds a Master of Business Administration in Finance and a Master of Arts in Arts Administration from Southern Methodist University.

Andy has presented at the Michigan Nonprofit Association Superconference, the Nonprofit Enterprise at Work (Ann Arbor), the Toledo Community Foundation Resource Center, Nonprofit Alliance (Battle Creek), New Detroit, and the Michigan State Housing Dept. Statewide Conference.