Nonprofit Nerd

Goth/Punk Mural by Bimurch, used under a Creative Commons Attribution License

Why should someone working for a small nonprofit think like a punk? Well, for a start, one of the central tenets of punk is a do-it-yourself attitude. The early punk bands rejected the notion that they needed big studios and expensive equipment to make music. They found cheap or free ways to get things done. The result wasn’t polished or pretty, but it did the job.

Small non-profits often find themselves in similar circumstances. They are rich in passion and energy, but lack the resources of big institutionalized organizations. Even those that can get grants to cover personnel expenses usually have to scramble to find the cash to cover operational costs, especially for technology needs.

If you are in charge of handling the tech needs or your organization, there are some valuable lessons you can learn from the punk movement:

• Become your own expert. The internet is a fantastic resource for technical information. If you are having a problem with your office technology, chances are someone else had had the same issu and has discussed it online. Educating yourself about tech questions really can be as easy as running a Google search.
• Be a great garage band, not a stadium act. Yes, we all want the newest, fastest, coolest equipment. But it’s actually quite satisfying to learn how much you can accomplish with your five-year-old donated computer. Remember that most software and hardware manufacturers build backwards compatibility into their products. That means that although you may not have the zippiest machine in the world, you can still do just about everything your organization needs.
• Be creative. We can all learn a lot from the various trainings and seminars we attend. I make it a point to take advantage of trainings whenever I can, particularly if they’re free. That said, there are time when I have to come up with strategies that are tailored to the specific needs of my organization. Sometimes that means tossing the conventional wisdom out the window and just doing what works.

Someone once said “music is too important to be left to the experts”. I often feel the same way about running tech operations for a small non-profit. I am always eager to learn new things and take the advice of experts seriously, but only up to a point. Experts are usually glad to give basic, generalized advice free of charge. It’s when you start asking questions that are specific to your organization that they want to start billing you. If you can’t afford to pay expensive consultants, you will eventually have to spend the time and effort to figure some things out for yourself.

If that last statement makes you feel intimidated, it shouldn’t. Digging in and learning how to do your own tech work is actually really empowering. And the more you do it, the more you realize that everyone who does tech work goes through the same process, whether they are doing high-level programming or just trying to get a small office network to function properly.

A highly-experienced IT consultant that I work with occasionally once told me that he often relies on Google to find the solutions to problems he doesn’t immediately know how to fix. That was one of the most reassuring things I’d ever heard in my life! I’d been doing the same thing, but feeling like I was cheating somehow. I realized that we all have to make use of the resources available to us, and fortunately a lot can be had at little or no cost. We just have to accept that, like Ikea furniture, some assembly is required.

So by saying “think like a punk”, I really mean “cultivate a do-it-yourself attitude”. It will get you through the times of high demand from your organization and a tiny tech budget to draw on. Pretty much every day, in other words. Believe me, if you’re dedicated (or crazy) enough to stick around in the non-profit world, you will be very glad you learned how to  be a do-it-yourselfer.