By MAGGIE JARUZEL POTTER
- Two information hubs integrated their nonprofit research collections
- More than 12,000 nonprofit reports are now easily accessible and searchable via the Web
- Knowledge-sharing platform will continue to grow
A balancing act was required when two nonprofit organizations held discussions about how a large, established, half-century-old organization could acquire a small, newer, Silicon Valley-type operation — without losing either’s niche or identity.
Both organizations, the Foundation Center and IssueLab, are Mott grantees. They specialize in sharing knowledge about the nonprofit sector, with the former focusing on the field of philanthropy and the latter on the broader nonprofit sector. So staff at each asked if their combined information collection would be stronger than their individual ones — and if the two organizational cultures could integrate.
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Bradford K. Smith
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“The Foundation Center’s structure is institutional, so we had to ask ourselves if that structure would inhibit IssueLab’s creativity,” said Bradford K. Smith, president of the Foundation Center.
“We’ve learned a lot in these past months and have discovered there is space for creativity.”
IssueLab, which was acquired by the Foundation Center in mid-2012, launched a new Web site in November that integrates its collection of archived nonprofit materials with the more than 7,000 links to foundation-sponsored research reports, case studies, literature reviews and the like that were previously stored on the Foundation Center’s PubHub Web site.
The new, integrated Web site maintains the IssueLab name and describes itself as a “knowledge-sharing platform.” It contains more than 12,000 documents and is currently one of the largest national collections of searchable documents for the broad nonprofit sector, Smith said.
The site’s collection will continue to grow as nonprofit organizations — local, national, regional and global — add more research. The system is user friendly, allowing searches by a specific topic (e.g. environment, homelessness, immigration, etc.), geography, organization, and author’s name.
In addition to acquiring IssueLab’s bountiful archives, the Foundation Center also secured its co-founders, who were the only two staff. The duo will be free to focus single-mindedly on archiving, distributing and promoting research produced by the nonprofit sector, Smith said.
Gabriela Fitz, IssueLab’s co-founder, agrees. She says she’s relieved to no longer divide her time between trying to keep an organization financially viable while pursuing her passion for collecting and sharing knowledge about the nonprofit sector.
“People don’t trust startups when it comes to archiving their work. They want sustainability, an organization that’s been around awhile,” she said.
Ever since the acquisition became effective in April 2012, IssueLab’s sustainability questions have ceased because of the center’s 56-year history as a trusted leader in the field, Fitz says.
“We are now part of a whole ecosystem of knowledge,” she said. “We’ve had genuine conversations about data and knowledge and it has become clear that IssueLab and the Foundation Center care about the same things. That’s what’s really exciting and promising about this.”
In addition to its headquarters in New York City, the Foundation Center has employees working from four field offices that are located in Atlanta, Cleveland, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Its two Chicago-based acquisition employees, Fitz and IssueLab co-founder Lisa Brooks, (now the center’s director of Knowledge Management Systems), bring the staff total to about 150, Smith said.
The idea to integrate first surfaced more than two years ago. At that time, the organizations started “dating” to better understand their content compatibility as a first step toward combining efforts, Smith says.
“We took some time and demystified each other,” he said. “We learned that we shared an interest in curating content, not just posting anything online.”
Continuing with his metaphor, Smith says, dating led to “marriage.” He says the union resulted in a win-win-win situation that works for both organizations and also for the nonprofit field at large because of the way information is shared.
The new system provides information seekers with an abstract that describes what’s contained within the typical 20- to 40-page research paper or “lessons learned” report.
These materials, Fitz says, are filled with useful information but rarely have been accessed because either the information hasn’t been shared broadly, or there’s been no easy way for seekers to discover the essential findings.
That’s all changing, she says.
“This new, integrated resource makes it easy for anyone to find, freely access, and share collective intelligence of the social sector.”