My always insightful friend, Allan Benamer, just wrote a great post on his Nonprofittechblog.org about the new wave of openness in nonprofit technology.

The sector’s two biggest players – Kintera/Blackbaud and Convio – have started an Open Data Arms Race. They’re trying to outdo each other with new APIs and platforms that make it easy for nonprofits to share, control and integrate their data. As Allan says, “It’s an impressive series of wins for those of you who signed the Integration Proclamation so many moons ago.” [Hat tip to self: I was the proud organizer of that Proclamation. Really cool to see its dividends paying off.]

One thing I’d add to Allan’s post — Democracy In Action has also launched a tight little integration with Salesforce.com. Like the Convio and Kintera arms race, DIA’s move is just one more piece of evidence that the nonprofit tech sector is fully embracing data integration.

Thanks to everyone who signed the Integration Proclamation and helped convince the tech vendors to open up and do the right thing!

Democracy in Action is integrating with Salesforce.

Yes, it’s true. And it’s big news.

For DIA users, this integration will open up the world of Salesforce – a super-robust CRM tool that I’ve blogged about before. For Salesforce users, this will finally mean that there’s an affordable, full-fledged advocacy / email blast / online donation toolsuite in the AppExchange. For those who already use both DIA and Salesforce, this will increase the power and effectiveness of both tools.

The integration will be released in versions, with limited functionality at first, becoming more robust with time. Planned for version 1:

- A contact entered into one tool will flow seamlessly into the other tool
- Editing a contact in one tool will edit that contact in the other tool
- Donations and actions taken in DIA will flow to Salesforce

The integration is happening as we speak. Alpha testing will continue through the end of 2007. Beta testing will begin in January, with a public launch scheduled for late winter.

I’m really excited about this DIA+SF integration, because I’ve needed something like it for YEARS. In fact, I’ve been working on it for years.

Back in 2006, Leda Dederich and I (under the name dotOrganize) launched a big study of social change organizers’ tech needs. The #1 lesson? Organizers need integration. They need their tools to work together. So I launched the Integration Proclamation and started working with vendors to build bridges between tools. Our data suggested that of all the possible integrations, Democracy In Action + Salesforce would do the most good for the most organizers. So we started working with Chris & April & Jason at DIA, Steve Wright at the Salesforce Foundation and Steve Anderson at ONE/Northwest, and now I’m heavily involved in getting the job done right.

Note that despite my heavy involvement, I’ve got zero financial stake in this integration. There are no kickbacks from DIA or from Salesforce. I just get better tools for social change organizers. That’s reward enough. My paycheck comes from the Surdna foundation, which generously (and wisely) supports nonprofit infrastructure initiatives like this.

If you have any questions, or want to participate in the beta testing, let me know.

A few weeks ago, I gave props to Ben Rattray of Change.org for his approach to nonprofits and social networking. He told me he’s interested in building bridges to and between networks, to increase connectivity on the social web.

Today, Ben announced a significant Change.org development — a new service allowing nonprofits to build their own custom, branded social network on Change.org. Essentially, nonprofits like IAVA (modified screenshot above) can have their own mini-networks within a larger network.

Why provide this service? An excerpt from Ben’s email to the Progressive Exchange list:

“I think the most promising opportunity for most organizations in the future is going to be looking beyond Facebook and MySpace and seeing how they can integrate social networking tools into their mainstream communications strategy.

Although there are a lot of people on these mega-networks [meaning, Facebook and Myspace], only a fraction of most organizations’ existing donors are on these sites. And while most donors may not care to join a social network to socialize, many of them do want the sort of things that social networking tools can offer when they are customized for nonprofits and donors – such as the ability to receive personalized communication, get more involved in a cause, and magnify their impact by working with others. I think organizations that provide these outlets in the coming year are going to be able to start converting their mostly passive base of supporters into a huge asset of activists and fundraisers, and we’re trying to provide the tools to make this happen.”

Interesting approach … and not exactly the direction I expected Change.org to go. These branded networks may be a valuable tool for some nonprofits. I’m glad Change.org created the option. But I’m still fairly sure that integrating with the existing mega-networks will be where Change.org can make the most difference.

Building the half-walled garden within the mega-network — that’s the killer app. If Change.org can leverage this new feature to do that, I think they’ve got a huge future.

In the biggest piece of tech buzz this month, Google announced today that it is launching a platform called OpenSocial (link goes live later today). Essentially, it will allow programmers to create applications that work across a number of social networking sites, breaking down the walls between the various social networks. So a Friendster user could share data with a Myspace page, or a Ning user could connect with a LinkedIn buddy.

Sounds nice, right? The real uproar isn’t technological, though — its business. The blogosphere is exploding with the theory that Google is trying to take down Facebook as the premier social networking platform. If Google can unite all its OpenSocial partners (Myspace, LinkedIn, Ning, Orkut, Plaxo, Friendster and even SalesForce) with joint apps, this collection of Davids can rise up and slay the Facebook Goliath.

The backstory is that late last week, Microsoft bought a 1.5% share in Facebook, which valued Facebook at $15 billion. Google apparently made a similar offer and was rebuffed. So, the thinking goes, they struck back with this OpenSocial initiative. And … War!

But in truth, I think this post from the New York Times blog exposes that theory as somewhat silly. Google isn’t really competing with Facebook:

Google’s new programming interface that allows social networks to communicate with applications is a nifty add-on feature, but it’s not a product. And thus it doesn’t compete with Facebook, despite the dozens of blog posts that say it does.

In fact, my prediction is that Facebook-liath doesn’t try to squash the OpenSocial Davids, but rather decides to join them. I bet its no more than a week before Facebook comes out with a statement intending to build to (or directly on) the Open Social standards. No, I don’t know the behind-the-scene machinations. Maybe there’s too many bean counters telling Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg that he should keep Facebook’s gates closes and lock out the competition. I hope not. Facebook has already grabbed a ton of marketshare by embracing openness. I predict that Open Social pushed them even further in that direction.

Hope I’m right!

Here’s a kick-ass project that’s just launched — a way to compare and rate APIs. Driven by Idealware. As Laura Quinn writes:

There’s been a lot of hubbub recently about the release of new APIs from Convio and Kintera. It’s exciting news, but hard to cut through the hype to figure out what precisely is being offered, and to who. Which API is better? Well, better for who? And to do what? … We need a framework that can help us compare the data exchange offerings of different vendors. (More at Idealware’s blog.)

Right on, Laura!

To restate why it’s exciting news, I’ll point you back to the good old Integration Proclamation, the petition I started a year ago to pressure software providers to open up and integrate with other tools. The Proclamation’s message remains as loud and clear as ever — progressive nonprofits and campaigns need their data to flow freely. The tools need to talk to each other. Good APIs (application programming interfaces) are what allow the tools to talk. So progressives need good APIs.

But as Laura says, separating good APIs from bad APIs is really hard to do, even for the most technically savvy software users. So the vendors can make crap APIs and pass them off as the greatest thing since sliced bytes. That’s why Idealware’s framework is so important — it can shine some light on the APIs and push the vendors to choose high standards, not hype.

Full disclosure — I’m also excited about this because I was involved with the API Framework idea from its inception, at last year’s NTEN conference. My focus shifted to one very specific integration (more on that soon, I promise). But Laura picked up the concept and, with Paul Hagen’s skillful help, is turning it into reality.

It’s been wonderful to watch this nugget of a good idea turn into a full fledged project. I wish Laura and Paul the best of luck!

Not to be outdone by their arch-enemy Kintera, eCRM provider Convio has launched their own API suite, called Open. The news broke yesterday morning, along with a big PR push in the nptech sector. I personally got three emails about it from Convio staff, offering to talk it up.

Taking a page from my colleague Usha Venkatachallam, I’m offering a round-up of some quick reactions to the announcement from around the sector. On the whole, the reports are favorable but not glowing. Allan’s complaint about getting stuck in the registration seems like it might be the rule, not the exception.

Here’s what the blogs are saying.

Jason Zanon: The Great Awakening
“Open APIs have always been one of DIA’s bedrock assumptions. Since we’re not above glorying in converts, we’re excited to see the big commercial players starting to come around.”

Allan Benamer: Convio and Kintera Open Their APIs but Befuddle Coders
“If you happen to be one of those people who like to write code, you’re going to want to sign up for Kintera or Convio’s open API program. But guess what? You can’t get in. I tried. Really, I did.”

Michelle Murrain: Platforms Break Open!
“Kintera takes some important steps to open up their application. Convio takes more, bigger steps that appear to eclipse what Kintera has done.”

Judi Sohn: Convio Launches an Open Initiative
“This isn’t about two companies making similar moves into the now-hot Open API dialog at the same time. It’s about two companies hitting a similar target audience with very different mindsets and visions.”

MAPLight.org, a Sunlight Foundation-funded project that “illuminates the connection between money and politics,” released this cute little widget that tracks presidential fundraising totals for any of the major candidates.

Like most of today’s appealing widgets, this one allows you to customize its size, colors, and choose what data to present. I choose the three frontrunners, squeezed the horizontal size a little, and dropped the candidate’s first names.

The data presented isn’t any big surprise to anyone who reads political headlines. With few substantive policy differences between primary opponents, the mainstream media loves the horserace of the Money Primary. Hillary is beating Barack and Edwards, Romney is inching ahead of Guiliani and McCain, and the donkeys are outraising the elephants by a fairly wide margin (thank you, small-dollar online donors!).

I’m curious to see how widely this widget gets picked up. Does anyone (aside from political junkies) actually care about the Money Primary? Will partisans post this as a way to brag about their candidate … or would they rather completely avoid the subject of money? Edwards has been taking Hillary to task for accepting corporate lobbyist donations, and Barack often brags that he hasn’t taken any lobbying money. Does a widget like this round out the story, or just gloss over it?

(PS – The code generator on the Maplight site isn’t quite working … at least not in Safari on OX 10.4.1. If you get broken code, cut and paste the long string of “param value’” code into the “embed src=” code, and close the embed tag. That should fix it … though the formatting is still a little goofy…)

I just came off a one-hour public conference call with Kintera’s CTO Scott Crowder and chief engineer Jeane Chen. The topic was their new “open API platform,” which they call Kintera Connect.

Kintera has been hyping their new dedication to openness for a while. At the NTEN conference last April, a senior Kintera executive on a data integration panel said, “I’d call it a committment to radical openness. Radical.” [his emphasis] In the July 10 press release about Connect, one of their partners crows, “By opening their platform … Kintera is changing the landscape for nonprofit technology selection.”

Really?

As is so often the case with software, all the hype may not be warranted. What’s the reality of Kintera Connect? Through a series of questions and (sometimes squirrely) answers on today’s call, here are the salient points I picked out:

• Kintera Connect is not yet open for business. Target launch is “October.”
• When it launches, not all data tables will be exposed. At first, they will expose the tables associated with the central “contacts” module; ie, constituent data. Access to the other tables will be rolled out at a later date. This is a wise engineering move, and since 95% of the use cases will involve moving around constituent data, this is the right place to start.
• In theory, the APIs will be open to all. In practice, developers have to apply for a “key” to the API by joining the “developers forum.” Giving out keys is standard practice for all APIs. But we didn’t learn what criteria will be used to dole out keys. Can any developer have one? Or only developers working for Kintera clients? (My guess is that they will control the keys tightly).
• Kintera has already established an “applications partner network” of preferred vendors. (It’s their watered-down answer to the Salesforce App Exchange.) There is a closed application process to become a preferred vendor; Crowley did not give any specifics about what criteria will be used to choose those vendors.
• Technical stuff — the data calls will be made in SOAP; they will provide sample code in Java and C#; and documentation will be available privately to approved developers.
• “About a dozen” engineers are working on the API, according to Crowder. Chen said, “Our best and brightest are on it.” It was unclear how many will continue maintaining it and rolling out updates after launch, but they will have a dedicated “API support group” outside of normal customer service to handle problems and inquiries.

On the whole, this is good news. The biggest nonprofit eCRM vendor in the industry is making pretty big strides towards open up its data. At least, they’ve completely reversed their public philosophy about open data and interoperability. Crowley admitted as much, saying things like, “We haven’t been so open in the past,” and “This is a totally new direction for Kintera.” That’s all very positive — its a big step towards customers actually owning their data and having the freedom to use it how they want.

But the devil will be in the details, of course. How easy will it be to join the “developer forum?” Will any hidden charges creep in? What happens when a competing application wants to join their preferred network? No one should kid themselves — when those situations get sticky, Kintera will do what’s best for Kintera’s bottom line, which may or may not be what’s best for customers.

Regardless, I think its fair to say that “radical” is not exactly the word that most advocates of open APIs would use for Kintera Connect. Maybe they’ll prove me wrong when they launch in October. I’m not holding my breath.

Thanks to Holly Ross for moderating all the questions and comments; she did a good job with an unruly chat technology. And thanks to NTEN for hosting the sales pitch, I mean conference call. (smirk)

I’m getting to be real impressed with Ben Rattray, founder of Change.org.

No, he doesn’t have the glitterati status of his counterpart at Facebook, wunderkind Mark Zuckerberg. (Is anyone else getting a little sick of the Church of Zuckerberg? Yes, Time Magazine, we know he’s 23 and went to Harvard. Enough already!)

What Ben does have is a very sweet social networking platform for do-gooders. And more importantly, he has a truly 2.0 attitude about how Change.org can be most effective. Instead of trying to capture a social-networking-for-good community just on Change.org, he is actively building bridges to other platforms — Facebook, Myspace, etc — in the hopes of simply creating a better network.

I know this because he’s offered to work with me and one of my clients to build an exciting new “community-within-all-communities” application. It would allow nonprofits to create semi-private, semi-branded networks specifically for their constituents, while still in the context of larger social networks.

The app’s main strength — and Ben’s main wisdom — is that it would allow the semi-private network to extend throughout all networks and platforms, not just Change.org. That’s 2.0 for you. Zuckerberg’s engineers may have built the best base platform, but its folks like Ben Rattray who are going to push social networking to the next level.

Stay tuned!

Turns out the rumors about a Google + Salesforce partnership were widely overhyped. The reality? “A marketing and distribution alliance that will tightly bind Google Adwords to existing Salesforce tools that track sales from online advertising.”

So you can track your Google Adwords in Salesforce. Big whoop.