I'm passionate about the impact that technology can have on nonprofits, and believe that smaller nonprofits in particular stand to gain significant efficiencies through its effective implementation. Technology can help them level the playing field with much larger organizations, many of whom can learn from their smaller peers.

Some of the most innovative nonprofits I've observed were founded in the last decade — a time when technology was frequently considered a lower cost alternative to hiring people. For these "youngsters," the Web was the de-facto place to begin their marketing efforts.

A common trait that unifies these innovative small nonprofits is that they have gained significant leverage through harnessing social capital, i.e. developing loyal supporters that help them recruit others and raise money for their cause. Embracing technology, many of these nonprofits have applied this social capital strategy to their online fundraising and outreach efforts. I think of these groups as Nonprofit 2.0 organizations — derived from the term Web 2.0 as defined by Wikipedia as "the trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and Web design that aims to enhance creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users."