Diverse ecosystems of good

Okta for Good, Box.org, Docusign Impact and Splunk for Good (four out of ten members of the #ImpactCloud coalition) welcomed over thirty nonprofit tech executives, funders (Tides) and nonprofit IT community leaders (Techsoup and Nethope) to Las Vegas last month for the first ever Okta for Good Nonprofit Collaborative.

The goal of the day was to strengthen the bridge between the tech and nonprofit sectors enabling the nonprofits in the room to fulfill their mission. The agenda for the day included a keynote from Okta CIO, Mark Settle; breakout discussions covering modernizing IT, digital transformation, and security and compliance; an #ImpactCloud panel; and NetHope CEO, Lauren Woodman, discussing the current state of digital transformation in the Nonprofit Sector.

We from the #ImpactCloud coalition listened closely to the biggest challenges .org IT leaders face as they evolve digitally. The top ten are listed here:

1. Replacing legacy tools with the wave of innovative technologies available.
2. Lack of budget and resources – Especially in IT infrastructure.
3. Change management – Helping their teams adopt new tools and processes.
4. Shadow IT proliferating (limiting security).
5. Avoiding shiny object syndrome and trying to do too many things at once.
6. Needed IT talent evolution – From managing systems to managing partners.
7. Data integrity challenges across system patchworks.
8. Not being at the executive/board table for strategic budgeting support.
9. Accounting models – The move to operating expenses vs. capital for cloud.
10. Legal structures shifting especially in the data & privacy governance areas.

This extensive list of challenges had our peers in the #ImpactCloud ecosystem gearing up to double down in the following areas:

1. More community – How can we bring more tech for good vendor experts and IT sector leaders into joint community. Our new 1.0 website is up at www.impactcloud.org. #ImpactCloud Linkedin Group is active. Request to join here.
2. More connection – How can we do more than connect online with one another. We’re excited to continue the discuss our mutual goals and challenges at BoxWorks --- Nonprofit IT leaders can join us on scholarship by applying here. Here’s the 2018 Agenda for nonprofits. We will also convene at Dreamforce. Details will be available for that soon.
3. Construction of more cross-cloud platform training and solutions that meet nonprofit IT leader’s needs. We know that none of our solution offerings alone meet the needs of the IT sector working to fulfill their mission, raise support for it and keep their back-offices running smoothly. Thus, the #ImpactCloud coalition will be working harder than ever to walk nonprofits through how our solutions work best together. Over time, we’ll be taking on some joint projects that will be sure to shine a light on the path ahead that will include a bigger effort to develop and build on cross-cloud/platform solutions that move the nonprofit sector forward.