Google Wave As A Collaboration Tool For Non-profits

Allow me to jump up on my soap box for just a moment and share my intense feelings about how wrong it is when for-profit companies charge non-profits as much as $50,000 or more for software packages.

This makes me crazy. Sometimes I feel like I want to let out a nice cathartic scream. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

I’m feeling better now… back to my point. Non-profits have to raise money (typically through donations) to operate. Software is an essential element to operation. So, when a non-profit has to give such a large chunk of donations to a for-profit for something digital, it feels like bad karma to me.

Typical high-end software packages include accounting, customer relationship management, fundraising, website content management, membership development, and collaboration tools. I have priced packages from very good companies with incredible products in each of these categories and they all tend to be out of reach for the vast majority of non-profits.

There are a few exceptions: Google is one of my favorites.

For years Google has offered an incredible array of online tools, from Gmail & Google Calendar to Google Documents and Websites.

Today, they offer Google Wave… a single interface that combines all of these awesome tools. Best of all, it’s FREE. That feels like very good Karma to me.

I got my Google Wave last week and my list of fellow wavers is growing so I’m starting to see some benefits to using the tool for collaboration.

When I was a fundraiser for a regional food bank, I had to cobble together communications and volunteer management tools to facilitate working with my fundraising committee because we couldn’t afford the high-end packages being offered by many vendors. Using third-party services that are NOT hosted on your in-house server tends to make the IT and Accounting folks nervous.

I an now recommending that smaller non-profits take a serious look at Google Wave as their communication and collaboration tool of choice for staff, volunteers, donors and board members. It incorporates real-time Instant Messaging and document sharing / editing. This means that your committee can meet online, review documents, make changes, share comments, respond to polls and surveys, even video conference from a single interface all in real time… for free.

The service is still in preview which means that not all of the powerful functionality is available yet… but it’s coming. If you haven’t signed up for Google Wave then do so now and then activate your account as soon as your invite arrives. Then just get on there and start waving.

If you have a wave then add me to your wave contacts list. duvall.brian at googlewave.com should do the trick.