CiviCRM: Common goals of FOSS and Not For Profit Organisations
Dutoit, Xavier
CiviCRM support the work of NGOs on advocacy and better communication with their members and the general public. It allows to handle newsletters, receive donations, manage the membership and help organising events, all sharing the same contact database, and offering a 360 view of their contacts. But beside helping the NGOs to work better with an efficient software, there is also a common set of values about sharing, openness, transparency and freedom that are should be better promoted by FOSS promoters and better understood by NGOs. I will present how CiviCRM can help the civil society, and how to highlight these shared values while introducing FOSS to the civil society. All that in 15 minutes. CiviCRM is an open source and freely downloadable constituent relationship management solution. It iss web-based, open source, internationalized, and designed specifically to meet the needs of advocacy, non-profit and non-governmental groups. Integration with both Drupal and Joomla! content management systems gives you the tools to connect, communicate and activate your supporters and constituents.
 Thank you. Hi everyone. Yes, I'm going to talk about CVCRM, which is an open source contact management system. And I'm going to talk about the common goals of the NGOs and the free software. So let's start with this product. What do they have in common? What is common between a cleaning product, between a coffee, between a windmill or a metropath? You have choice. When you buy as a user, as a consumer, you have choice. You have different type of cleaning product. And some of these choices are value-based. You can decide that you want a coffee or you want a fair trade coffee, you want a cleaning product, an eco product that you want, green electricity and so on. And obviously for software, that's the same. You can have commercial, closed source or open source software. And all these choices and all these values have been taken into account by the NGO, by the civil society. And very early on, they did have value as one of their criteria. And they were among the first to as consumers buy fair trade product, trying to have clean environment to have recycling and so on. And because they know that how you spend your money, how as a consumer you behave, helps to shape the world. And of course, open source has the same approach, the same value. And the problem is that these software values that we understand here, that were perceived, that were understood by the NGOs as consumers. For most of the NGOs, more of the policy officers in the NGOs, software is something dirty, that's oily, that's an engine, that's something glowy. You're not interested by software. And they don't care about the source code because they will never use it. And our job is to explain that software has values and the values that you find in the free software about being able to access the source code, about the freedom, about all the education you have, about all the collaboration, about all the sharing we have in our work in the open source world, are the same values as the values they promote and they try as a consumer to apply to the product they buy. So we have to explain them that they are developers inside, they are humans behind the software they use. Of course, that's not the only criteria, the value is not the only criteria they use. And they would buy a fair trade coffee, but it has to be drinkable and the soap should clean and the software should work. That's something that we probably lose as a focus, that for them and for most of the people, the software isn't an end by itself. That's only a mean, that's a tool to a different and to a broader end. And obviously, the criteria are security and here open source is usually better. And cost and the value I just mentioned that are more aligned with the values. And some, we are not quite there about usability, about compatibility. One thing that I think we have a big advantage is the fitness to the need because free software can be tailored, because free software can focus on a smaller need. We can have exactly the software ZenEad. What do ZenEad? Most of the things NGO will use, that's the same software than a company. The content management system is not that different if it's for an NGO or for a company or for university. The Office Suite is the same, the open source system is the same. However, NGOs have specific needs. Campaigning is something specific NGO. Fund Rising is something specific NGO. And what we're going to talk about now is the contact databases. The CRM is something different. Because NGOs are not here to sell products. They are here to sell IDs. And the way they work is usually different as a company. There is a lot of collaborative work, a lot of volunteers that come in that come out, part-time workers. And so having like CVCRM, a shared contact database obviously makes sense. So when someone leaves the organization, the contacts, the network, the history stays within the organization. And because they have a few IT skills inside and they are often outside of working remotely, having something that is online and that is browser-based as CVCRM makes sense. As for the features, because that's not for profit, that's not about selling products, sales cycles, prospects and so on. That's about managing events. So CVCRM let people register to heaven, get a list of participants, take care of all that part. That's about emailing, sending newsletter. That's about the nation, rising money, paying online. That's about managing their membership, paying online the membership fees and plenty more features that are tailored specifically for the NGO needs. For us, we were discussing yesterday about what is really exciting on CVCRM for the developers. Well, first, that's easy to integrate. It works as a module for both Joomla and Drupal or there is a standalone version that works using OpenID. One of the big strengths of CVCRM is the community. That's, and I've been working on several open source projects. That's a very alive and very friendly community, very open to external contributors. It's easy to use and hack with a public API, nice, recent interface, and that's easy to change the template and change the layout. Quickly mentioning some known NGO users, and we have several thousands of users of CVCRM. The Free Software Foundation last year was looking for part of one of their high priority projects for donor transaction and contact database, and CVCRM has been the project that they chose. To come back to the initial point about civil society and the free software, the status quo saying that they don't use open source project is not acceptable. The good news is that the change is possible. However, the change won't happen by itself. We need to work on that to explain the values, the common values between the NGO world and the free software world. We obviously have to make the software work, and because again the software is not an end for themselves, that's a tool. So it has to work and do what they need. And focus less when we present the software about technology or all the IT things they don't care. Focus more on helping them do what they do and focus on the values. And I think that with that we can do NGO world, the free software world, change the world and do that together. I've finished. If you have questions or if you want to know more online tomorrow with some colleagues, some of the core developers from Poland, some people from the community who are going to organize on Monday and Tuesdays, two-day trainings, and you can mail me if you have any questions. That's it.
 Thank you.  Hi everyone.  Yes, I'm going to talk about CVCRM, which is an open source contact management system.  And I'm going to talk about the common goals of the NGOs and the free software.  So let's start with this product.  What do they have in common?  What is common between a cleaning product, between a coffee, between a windmill or a metropath?  You have choice.  When you buy as a user, as a consumer, you have choice.  You have different type of cleaning product.  And some of these choices are value-based.  You can decide that you want a coffee or you want a fair trade coffee,  you want a cleaning product, an eco product that you want, green electricity and so on.  And obviously for software, that's the same.  You can have commercial, closed source or open source software.  And all these choices and all these values have been taken into account by the NGO, by the civil society.  And very early on, they did have value as one of their criteria.  And they were among the first to as consumers buy fair trade product,  trying to have clean environment to have recycling and so on.  And because they know that how you spend your money, how as a consumer you behave, helps to shape the world.  And of course, open source has the same approach, the same value.  And the problem is that these software values that we understand here,  that were perceived, that were understood by the NGOs as consumers.  For most of the NGOs, more of the policy officers in the NGOs,  software is something dirty, that's oily, that's an engine, that's something glowy.  You're not interested by software.  And they don't care about the source code because they will never use it.  And our job is to explain that software has values and the values that you find in the free software  about being able to access the source code, about the freedom, about all the education you have,  about all the collaboration, about all the sharing we have in our work in the open source world,  are the same values as the values they promote and they try as a consumer to apply to the product they buy.  So we have to explain them that they are developers inside, they are humans behind the software they use.  Of course, that's not the only criteria, the value is not the only criteria they use.  And they would buy a fair trade coffee, but it has to be drinkable and the soap should clean and the software should work.  That's something that we probably lose as a focus, that for them and for most of the people,  the software isn't an end by itself.  That's only a mean, that's a tool to a different and to a broader end.  And obviously, the criteria are security and here open source is usually better.  And cost and the value I just mentioned that are more aligned with the values.  And some, we are not quite there about usability, about compatibility.  One thing that I think we have a big advantage is the fitness to the need because free software can be tailored,  because free software can focus on a smaller need.  We can have exactly the software ZenEad.  What do ZenEad?  Most of the things NGO will use, that's the same software than a company.  The content management system is not that different if it's for an NGO or for a company or for university.  The Office Suite is the same, the open source system is the same.  However, NGOs have specific needs.  Campaigning is something specific NGO.  Fund Rising is something specific NGO.  And what we're going to talk about now is the contact databases.  The CRM is something different.  Because NGOs are not here to sell products.  They are here to sell IDs.  And the way they work is usually different as a company.  There is a lot of collaborative work, a lot of volunteers that come in that come out, part-time workers.  And so having like CVCRM, a shared contact database obviously makes sense.  So when someone leaves the organization, the contacts, the network, the history stays within the organization.  And because they have a few IT skills inside and they are often outside of working remotely,  having something that is online and that is browser-based as CVCRM makes sense.  As for the features, because that's not for profit, that's not about selling products, sales cycles, prospects and so on.  That's about managing events.  So CVCRM let people register to heaven, get a list of participants, take care of all that part.  That's about emailing, sending newsletter.  That's about the nation, rising money, paying online.  That's about managing their membership, paying online the membership fees and plenty more features that are tailored specifically for the NGO needs.  For us, we were discussing yesterday about what is really exciting on CVCRM for the developers.  Well, first, that's easy to integrate.  It works as a module for both Joomla and Drupal or there is a standalone version that works using OpenID.  One of the big strengths of CVCRM is the community.  That's, and I've been working on several open source projects.  That's a very alive and very friendly community, very open to external contributors.  It's easy to use and hack with a public API, nice, recent interface, and that's easy to change the template and change the layout.  Quickly mentioning some known NGO users, and we have several thousands of users of CVCRM.  The Free Software Foundation last year was looking for part of one of their high priority projects for donor transaction and contact database,  and CVCRM has been the project that they chose.  To come back to the initial point about civil society and the free software,  the status quo saying that they don't use open source project is not acceptable.  The good news is that the change is possible.  However, the change won't happen by itself.  We need to work on that to explain the values, the common values between the NGO world and the free software world.  We obviously have to make the software work, and because again the software is not an end for themselves, that's a tool.  So it has to work and do what they need.  And focus less when we present the software about technology or all the IT things they don't care.  Focus more on helping them do what they do and focus on the values.  And I think that with that we can do NGO world, the free software world, change the world and do that together.  I've finished. If you have questions or if you want to know more online tomorrow with some colleagues,  some of the core developers from Poland, some people from the community who are going to organize on Monday and Tuesdays,  two-day trainings, and you can mail me if you have any questions. That's it.
CiviCRM__Common_goals_of_FOSS_and_Not_For_Profit_Organisations_HzECn4XK4o0_1_0_131.png CiviCRM__Common_goals_of_FOSS_and_Not_For_Profit_Organisations_HzECn4XK4o0_1_132_179.png CiviCRM__Common_goals_of_FOSS_and_Not_For_Profit_Organisations_HzECn4XK4o0_1_180_539.png CiviCRM__Common_goals_of_FOSS_and_Not_For_Profit_Organisations_HzECn4XK4o0_1_540_1727.png CiviCRM__Common_goals_of_FOSS_and_Not_For_Profit_Organisations_HzECn4XK4o0_1_1728_2927.png CiviCRM__Common_goals_of_FOSS_and_Not_For_Profit_Organisations_HzECn4XK4o0_1_2928_3863.png CiviCRM__Common_goals_of_FOSS_and_Not_For_Profit_Organisations_HzECn4XK4o0_1_3864_4895.png CiviCRM__Common_goals_of_FOSS_and_Not_For_Profit_Organisations_HzECn4XK4o0_1_4896_5315.png CiviCRM__Common_goals_of_FOSS_and_Not_For_Profit_Organisations_HzECn4XK4o0_1_5316_5387.png CiviCRM__Common_goals_of_FOSS_and_Not_For_Profit_Organisations_HzECn4XK4o0_1_5388_6683.png CiviCRM__Common_goals_of_FOSS_and_Not_For_Profit_Organisations_HzECn4XK4o0_1_6684_7775.png CiviCRM__Common_goals_of_FOSS_and_Not_For_Profit_Organisations_HzECn4XK4o0_1_7776_9923.png CiviCRM__Common_goals_of_FOSS_and_Not_For_Profit_Organisations_HzECn4XK4o0_1_9924_11303.png CiviCRM__Common_goals_of_FOSS_and_Not_For_Profit_Organisations_HzECn4XK4o0_1_11304_12047.png CiviCRM__Common_goals_of_FOSS_and_Not_For_Profit_Organisations_HzECn4XK4o0_1_12048_13271.png CiviCRM__Common_goals_of_FOSS_and_Not_For_Profit_Organisations_HzECn4XK4o0_1_13272_13379.png
Thank you. Hi everyone. Yes, I'm going to talk about CVCRM, which is an open source contact management system. And I'm going to talk about the common goals of the NGOs and the free software. So let's start with this product. What do they have in common? What is common between a cleaning product, between a coffee, between a windmill or a metropath? You have choice. When you buy as a user, as a consumer, you have choice. You have different type of cleaning product. And some of these choices are value-based. You can decide that you want a coffee or you want a fair trade coffee, you want a cleaning product, an eco product that you want, green electricity and so on. And obviously for software, that's the same. You can have commercial, closed source or open source software. And all these choices and all these values have been taken into account by the NGO, by the civil society. And very early on, they did have value as one of their criteria. And they were among the first to as consumers buy fair trade product, trying to have clean environment to have recycling and so on. And because they know that how you spend your money, how as a consumer you behave, helps to shape the world. And of course, open source has the same approach, the same value. And the problem is that these software values that we understand here, that were perceived, that were understood by the NGOs as consumers. For most of the NGOs, more of the policy officers in the NGOs, software is something dirty, that's oily, that's an engine, that's something glowy. You're not interested by software. And they don't care about the source code because they will never use it. And our job is to explain that software has values and the values that you find in the free software about being able to access the source code, about the freedom, about all the education you have, about all the collaboration, about all the sharing we have in our work in the open source world, are the same values as the values they promote and they try as a consumer to apply to the product they buy. So we have to explain them that they are developers inside, they are humans behind the software they use. Of course, that's not the only criteria, the value is not the only criteria they use. And they would buy a fair trade coffee, but it has to be drinkable and the soap should clean and the software should work. That's something that we probably lose as a focus, that for them and for most of the people, the software isn't an end by itself. That's only a mean, that's a tool to a different and to a broader end. And obviously, the criteria are security and here open source is usually better. And cost and the value I just mentioned that are more aligned with the values. And some, we are not quite there about usability, about compatibility. One thing that I think we have a big advantage is the fitness to the need because free software can be tailored, because free software can focus on a smaller need. We can have exactly the software ZenEad. What do ZenEad? Most of the things NGO will use, that's the same software than a company. The content management system is not that different if it's for an NGO or for a company or for university. The Office Suite is the same, the open source system is the same. However, NGOs have specific needs. Campaigning is something specific NGO. Fund Rising is something specific NGO. And what we're going to talk about now is the contact databases. The CRM is something different. Because NGOs are not here to sell products. They are here to sell IDs. And the way they work is usually different as a company. There is a lot of collaborative work, a lot of volunteers that come in that come out, part-time workers. And so having like CVCRM, a shared contact database obviously makes sense. So when someone leaves the organization, the contacts, the network, the history stays within the organization. And because they have a few IT skills inside and they are often outside of working remotely, having something that is online and that is browser-based as CVCRM makes sense. As for the features, because that's not for profit, that's not about selling products, sales cycles, prospects and so on. That's about managing events. So CVCRM let people register to heaven, get a list of participants, take care of all that part. That's about emailing, sending newsletter. That's about the nation, rising money, paying online. That's about managing their membership, paying online the membership fees and plenty more features that are tailored specifically for the NGO needs. For us, we were discussing yesterday about what is really exciting on CVCRM for the developers. Well, first, that's easy to integrate. It works as a module for both Joomla and Drupal or there is a standalone version that works using OpenID. One of the big strengths of CVCRM is the community. That's, and I've been working on several open source projects. That's a very alive and very friendly community, very open to external contributors. It's easy to use and hack with a public API, nice, recent interface, and that's easy to change the template and change the layout. Quickly mentioning some known NGO users, and we have several thousands of users of CVCRM. The Free Software Foundation last year was looking for part of one of their high priority projects for donor transaction and contact database, and CVCRM has been the project that they chose. To come back to the initial point about civil society and the free software, the status quo saying that they don't use open source project is not acceptable. The good news is that the change is possible. However, the change won't happen by itself. We need to work on that to explain the values, the common values between the NGO world and the free software world. We obviously have to make the software work, and because again the software is not an end for themselves, that's a tool. So it has to work and do what they need. And focus less when we present the software about technology or all the IT things they don't care. Focus more on helping them do what they do and focus on the values. And I think that with that we can do NGO world, the free software world, change the world and do that together. I've finished. If you have questions or if you want to know more online tomorrow with some colleagues, some of the core developers from Poland, some people from the community who are going to organize on Monday and Tuesdays, two-day trainings, and you can mail me if you have any questions. That's it.
about CVCRM, which is an open source contact the common goals of the NGOs and the free have value as one of their criteria. And they know that how you spend your money, how as a the same value. And the problem is that these were perceived, that were understood by the NGOs values that you find in the free software about freedom, about all the education you have, about all the collaboration, about all the sharing we and the software should work. That's something open source is usually better. And cost and the value I just mentioned that are more aligned with fitness to the need because free software can be company. The content management system is not membership, paying online the membership fees and specifically for the NGO needs. For us, we were module for both Joomla and Drupal or there is a database, and CVCRM has been the project that about civil society and the free software, the happen by itself. We need to work on that to