Internet Resources on Non-profit Management and Consulting

Martin Price outlines how the Internet could help you in your work

The Web provides a huge resource for voluntary sector consultants, but how can you find what you need? There are sites for all the techniques management consultants use. There are also sites and discussion lists, which focus specifically on the third sector. These are mostly American, but still have a lot to teach us in the UK, once you filter out the arcane parts of US charity Law and work out the meaning of some of the jargon.

Resources can be in three main forms

a web site
an email list which provides regular updates on changes to the web site or more general information to subscribers. This is one–way communication.
an email discussion list which allows subscribers to send emails to all members of the list. This is two-way communication.

The major UK resource is Howard Lake’s UK Fundraising site. This not directly aimed at consultants, although there are links to a number of consultant web pages. It’s very comprehensive and contains a lot of general information and non-profit links, not just on fundraising. Associated with the site is the FUNDUK Email discussion list, which is free to join, and allows subscribers to ask for fundraising advice and discuss topics of general interest. There have been discussions recently on the impact of the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s changes to Gift Aid, and on the new Data Protection Act.

A comprehensive list of Email discussion groups for the voluntary sector is available on UK Fundraising, as are links to UK voluntary sector web sites.

The Management Development Network have recently set up a web site for their members.

Charity Channel from the American Philanthropy Review is the best US resource for consultants, running a large number of email discussion lists, with some 20,000 people subscribed. You can read the archives on the web site, which will give you a good flavour. I have subscribed to a number of the lists over the years, and have found CONSULTANTS the most useful. I would advise opting for the digest version, which is delivered daily rather than getting up to twenty messages neat during the day. Some of the subjects do not travel outside the US, but the discussions on how people use sub-contractors, or the perennial topics of how to charge for travelling time, and the pros and cons of daily v hourly rate charging, are applicable everywhere. American consultants seem to be incredibly open about their work, and are prepared to ask for advice about some very difficult problems with clients – the client who refuses to pay – the board member with a different agenda from the staff of a charity.

Other American resources for non-profits which are well worth looking at, and perhaps subscribing to their email updates are:

American consultant Michael Gilbert has set up a non-profit Portal, and a regular email alert, which provides regular updates on web resources, of interest to the non-profit community from the Gilbert Centre. This is US-biased, but often suggests useful international resources.
About.com for Non-profit charitable organisations a cornucopia for the non-profit consultant.
Idealist is a useful web site in itself, but also runs the Ideas in Action newsletter, with tips on helpful sites for non-profit management.
Associated with this is the Pulse newsletter from Alliance for Nonprofit Management
The Philanthropy Journal Online tends to be more concerned with fundraising than General Management, but has a very good section on the use of new technology by non-profit organisations.
For a list of other email newsletters relevant to the non-profit sector, compiled by Jillaine Smith of the Benton Foundation, try http://www.benton.org/Practice/Toolkit/newsletters.html
For an encyclopaedic databank on non-profit management issues try the Free Management Library

Finally for a UK source of all you ever wanted to know about Information Technology try The IT Resource Guide for UK Charities and Non-Profit Organisations

Martin Price is a consultant, operating in Wales, providing advice on management, organisation, fundraising and event management to voluntary sector clients. http://www.martinprice.com 029 2051 4034 martin@martinprice.com

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Updated 1^st March 2001

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