Introducing the Field Guide to Software for Nonprofits
We're excited to announce the launch of our very first book -- the Idealware Field Guide to Software for Nonprofits: Fundraising, Communications, and Outreach. I'm really proud of it -- it's 84 pages summarizing what we've learned about software over the last four years, as a quick reference as to what software exists and what might make sense for you based on your needs and level of tech savvy. And then it gives a quick summary of what you might pay, what you can get, and some of the key vendors for each of 34 types of software.
Basically, it's like a neutron star of nonprofit software information. Concise but incredibly packed with info. I've had a printed copy on my desk for almost a month now, and let me tell you: I refer to it almost every day to look up something... and I co-wrote the thing.
It's a real paperbook book. Buy it from Lulu for $19.95 and it will be shipped to your door.
Basically, it's like a neutron star of nonprofit software information. Concise but incredibly packed with info. I've had a printed copy on my desk for almost a month now, and let me tell you: I refer to it almost every day to look up something... and I co-wrote the thing.
It's a real paperbook book. Buy it from Lulu for $19.95 and it will be shipped to your door.
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2 Comments:
Sounds like a great effort, but why a dead-tree version? Software is a fast-changing world, especially many webapps. Is it not going to get stale pretty quickly?
A couple of thoughts around the actual book format and updates. First off, I think books are often underrated by technology folks. It's very handy to actually have a book to refer to, and much more tangible and friendly especially for ED and accidental techie types. It's designed as a Annual -- so this is the 2010 version, and we're already planning on a 2011 version. From a practical perspective, we've found, it's much easier to update things in versions, rather than trying to keep something constantly up to date (which is almost impossible). This Field Guide format is well suited for annual updates -- it's high level enough information that it's not going to get super stale in a year.
It's also an income issue for us -- more so than the individual sales, our primary model to fund the Field Guide now and into the future is to license it to networks of organizations (so membership organizations, foundations, affiliate groups) to distribute to their own organizations. And we've found that these networks are often concerned that the Field Guides they're giving out seem like a special membership perk, and not like something that's already floating all over the internet. So we've committed to them that we'll sell it only in paper form and not electronically.
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