By Ben Au
As nonprofits look out for their communities, some people are looking out for nonprofits.
That's the mission of ONE/Northwest. The organization reflects the vision of Paul Brainerd, founder of Aldus Corp. Brainerd wanted to create a conservation foundation, but after talking with several nonprofits, he discovered a need to make existing environmental groups more efficient.
So he started ONE/Northwest (Online Network for the Environment), a nonprofit whose seed funding was provided by both his Brainerd Foundation and the Bullitt Foundation.
The goal of ONE/Northwest is to level the technology playing field. The group aims to make it easier for environmental groups in the Pacific Northwest to use communication and information technology to become more efficient.
Steve Albertson, director of ONE/Northwest, says demand for its services is limited by only a few criteria: A group seeking assistance must be a nonprofit environmental conservation group in the region. That includes 1,100 to 1,200 organizations, and ONE/Northwest says it won't turn away any of those organizations that request general assistance.
Services like those provided by ONE/Northwest are in high demand.Although ONE/Northwest does not advertise, it is well-known throughout the region and typically simply responds to requests for assistance that reflect the needs of individual nonprofits, Albertson says.
"Nonprofits almost always contact us first," he says.
ONE/Northwest's staff of five handles almost all of the group's business.
"About 80 percent of the work we do is of the 15-to-30-minute variety - that can be handled on the phone or through a referral to an existing document," Albertson says.
The group has an online library of technical assistance resources, including a do-it-yourself assessment of technological needs.
It also focuses its energy on its Electronic Networking Projects. For these projects, ONE/Northwest determines an organization's technological needs, buys the equipment and trains staff members to use and integrate the new technology into their operation.
Each year, ONE/Northwest selects several projects and provides participants with the resources they need to make use of online communications in their work. Since 1996, the group has directly provided more than $300,000 worth of computer equipment, hands-on training and services to hundreds of activists at more than 80 conservation organizations.
"There has been nothing in recent history that has impacted our work so favorably," says Pam Allister of the Snake River Alliance, one of seven 1997 focus projects.
During the summer of 1997, ONE/Northwest completely upgraded the group's office equipment, installed a network with low-cost connectivity to the Internet and provided remote access for its field staff in Pocatello and Ketchum, Idaho.
For the Canadian Rainforest Network group, another 1997 focus project, ONE/Northwest invested $34,000 to install an Ethernet Local Area Network, a Zip drive for system backups, a phone line dedicated to Internet access and a color inkjet printer.
ONE/Northwest also purchased a digital camera, a new Power Computing machine and nine Macintosh PowerBook 1400cs machines with cellular capable modems. It arranged for the donation of a Mac LC475, provided an external CD-ROM, and established separate e-mail accounts for each staff member plus four e-mail discussion lists, as well as a "broadcast" list to serve as the group's electronic newsletter.
"We don't usually get computer donations," Albertson says. "We want the organizations we help to be showcases, so we don't want to rely on outdated computers. It's also difficult to get a significant discounts on hardware. We usually buy retail."
Software is not as difficult to acquire, partly because of Albertson's ties to his former employer, Microsoft.
"Many Microsoft employees donate software to nonprofits, so we've been able to acquire up-to-date products through holding software drives within the company."
ONE/Northwest is selective about recipients of its Electronic Networking Projects. In selecting recipients, Albertson and his staff look for proven results and an organization's ability to advance significantly its mission through improved technology.
The technology that Albertson says environmental nonprofits need most is e-mail access. Professional contact among colleagues is the primary concern of environmental groups, but e-mail enables nonprofits to communicate and reach out to their members in a fast, efficient and inexpensive way. Few groups solicit support using e-mail, but that number is growing.
Web publishing is not emphasized as much. Albertson says about 300 environmental groups in the region have Web sites, but most are primitive and are not an integral part of the groups' communications.
Albertson has found little resistance to integrating information technology within the activist community of environmental groups. It takes about six to 12 months for an organization to realize the benefits of integrating up-to-date computer technology.
Albertson advises others looking to start similar nonprofits to set rational expectations.
"One of the biggest difficulties we faced when we were starting was meeting the overwhelming demand that these nonprofits have for technology," he says.
His group has begun to deal with that challenge by helping nonprofits become more knowledgeable and develop ways to become technologically self-sufficient.
"The pace of technology is the constant challenge," says Albertson, "and this phenomenon is especially dangerous to nonprofits because, with such limited funds, they often neglect making the necessary capital investment in technology."
Albertson can be reached at stevea@onenw.org
Ben Au can be reached at
benjamin_b_au@mindspring.com
