Networked Nonprofits: Innovation?

While reading "The Networked Nonprofit," I was struck by its similarity to a volunteer recruitment strategy that we read about in 551 called "concentric circles recruitment." This volunteer recruitment strategy attempts to capitalize upon the personal and professional contacts of organization members to interest and enlist volunteers for that organization or cause. To me, Kanter, Fine, and a number of nonprofits have taken this concentric circles recruitment strategy to the next level by using social media and its infinite networking capacity as a tool to mobilize people for social good.

Indeed, social media like Facebook or Twitter have allowed nonprofits to substantially increase the amount of people and networks they are able to reach, and thus expand their pool of potential supporters, fundraisers, and donors. Even my own employer, Roberson, has dramatically sought to increase its social media appeal through Facebook, but have yet to post their audits or 990's online.

Thus far, I find the Kanter/Fine book very interesting, considering last semester we concentrated on innovation in nonprofit organizations, specifically social entrepreneurship. In the beginning of last semester I had a preconceived notion of innovation as a revolutionary or novel idea that would transform the way that an organization, group, or individual could achieve social change, a "reinvention of the wheel." However, by the end of the semester I came to the realization that most innovation is merely using existing ideas or technologies to initiate beneficial social change. Kanter/Fine's ideas concerning "Networked Nonprofits" are a future means for nonprofit organizations to advance their cause or mission and are indispensable to future managers in an increasingly computerized world.