Nonprofits Shine with Innovative Programs
David McCoy
April 17, 2009

“Innovation” is one of those rich words — a word that carries significant weight in our society. It’s a word we immediately recognize, even if we can’t properly define it.

But what exactly does it mean to “innovate” within a nonprofit enterprise -— an entity that does not follow the same dictates as the commercial world of cars and audio products, of engines and toys? Does it even make sense to talk about innovation in the same breath with “nonprofit?”

This is the catalyst behind this brief review of innovation as seen through the eyes of the nonprofit, and the first thing we must do is establish a shared under-standing of the act of innovation.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines “innovate” as: “Introduce [something] for the first time; introduce as new.” This definition matches the style of innovation we know from our consumer-driven behavior. To innovate is to create and, in the process of creation, build what has never been built before.

The dictionary has other entries for “innovate,” including one I particularly like: “Change [a thing] into something new; alter; renew.” This rendering of “innovate” resonates in the world of the nonprofit.

With this dual view of the innovative act we are better prepared to ask, “Does it make sense to talk about innovation in the same breath with ‘nonprofit’ ”?

To answer this question, I reviewed 25 submissions for the 2009 TechBridge Innovation Award, looking for acts of innovation.

To innovate by “introducing as new” is the bright-and-shiny view of innovation, and it was not lost on the nonprofits that submitted award applications.

Applicants wrote of their plans for technology-driven innovation: software-as-a-service, virtualization, portals, distance learning, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, collaboration, Web 2.0, virtual communities, cloud computing and other topics capable of stimulating the saliva glands of the average technologist. While the majority of the innovations proposed might not be considered as bright-and-shiny examples in the commercial world, within the nonprofit space there exists overwhelming proof of “introducing as new.” On this point alone, we can say “innovation” and “nonprofit” can be uttered in the same breath.

The award submissions were overflowing with examples of the second view of innovation: the act of altering, renewing and transforming. Here was innovation that was designed to transform the core of the nonprofit experience:

• Applicants were turning to the Web to generate revenue, deliver services, and provide volunteers, members and partners with a stronger sense of community.
• Applicants were using social computing and Web 2.0 concepts — blogs and applications like Facebook and Twitter — to reach new, younger audiences and to create an interactive forum for all.
• Applicants were seeking to rebalance activities and service levels, allowing volunteers to spend more time on the actual mandate of the nonprofit and reduce the amount of non-productive time they spent entering data into a spreadsheet or copying paper reports.

Once again, innovation is present among the nonprofit organizations. But, there is one important distinction, one that is apparent in our two definitions. The bright-and-shiny style of innovation is fleeting. The bright-and-shiny act of creation is a supernova that blazes and then dies, to be replaced by yet another brief flash of insight, investment and invention.

Less explosive, the nonprofit’s richer focus on transformative innovation — on renewal and “changing a thing into something new” — is actually the more substantial and more enduring act of innovation. An urban widow who returns to school, the former drug addict who is restored to society as a whole being, a world-class dancer who first pirouetted in a local arts program — these are the results of the nonprofit’s innovative acts. This transformative innovation is life-changing, sustainable and meritorious.

Finally, we see innovation through the eyes of the nonprofit.

Nonprofits see innovation as the productive use of assets to transform and renew your neighbors, our children, tomorrow’s artists, today’s homeless, the less fortunate and the under-served. Their eyes see innovation as more than the next bright-and-shiny toy.

I have assured myself that the nonprofit understands the innovative use of technology. However, I believe their real innovations lie much deeper and much closer to the soul.

McCoy is managing vice president and Gartner Fellow Emeritus at Gartner Inc. The commentary provided here is McCoy’s personal opinion and does not constitute a Gartner research position.