The Magic of Thinking Big

Nonprofit technology is about category killers. Andrew Blau in his paper, "More than Bit Players" (www.surdna.org/documents/morefinal.pdf), makes the point that one of the most important aspects of organizational behavior on the Internet can be summed up in two words: “size matters."

Folks like VolunteerMatch, NPower, CompuMentor/TechSoup all illustrate this concept.

When I think about my own interests in Social Source, I struggle with the apparent conflict between a single, large monolithic entity--a category killer (the implication of 'size matters') and an organization that supports, nurtures and encourages a vast number of smaller organizations.

Social Source requires the aspects of being a category killer-- 1) lead the capture earned income from the marketplace (to lead in market share) and 2) lead the capture of philanthropic dollars. At the same exact time, that revenue (both earned income and philanthropic) and the benefits of that revenue need to be effectively transferred to a vast number of smaller organizations that contribute code and serve nonprofits.

How do you be both the 800-pound Gorilla AND an equal partners with an entire community of folks looking to help the nonprofit sector?