(925) 413-3870
Amy Sample Ward on nonprofit technology from JD Lasica on Vimeo.
Just before we launched Socialbrite.org, I met Amy Sample Ward in person for the first time. Amy’s a whirlwind of energy and passion about all things np tech (nonprofit technology), and I was so impressed that I immediately asked her to join the Socialbrite team.
But not before I got her to sit still for a few minutes to talk about nonprofit tech, Net Tuesdays — Amy is the global community builder for NetSquared — and being a catalyst for social change.
NP tech is social change work, whether you’re a nonprofit or an individual who wants to change her community or you’re a corporation that’s working on social benefit through a corporate social responsibility campaign, she says.
More than 36 cities around the world now hold monthly events as part of Net Tuesday, the offline component of NetSquared, and if you’re within driving distance, you should stop by and meet other change agents in your community. (Sarah Kennon does an outstanding job of organizing the Net Tuesdays in San Francisco.)
You don’t need to be a nonprofit org to get value out of Net Tuesdays, Amy says. Being able to convene offline shouldn’t be underestimated as a motivational force.
“Just to see how excited people get when they come together, it’s so rewarding,” she says.
She also discusses the nonprofit sector’s penchant for sharing knowledge. “I think people realize that we’re all going to get better if we share our knowledge instead of locking it down,” she says.
Amy offers tips for people who want to get involved in the social change movement. “Just start reading blogs and newsletters. … It’s such an infectious sharing community.”
Watch, embed or download the video on Vimeo
The 9-minute video interview was conducted at NetSquared 2009 in San Jose, Calif. We’re so glad to have Amy on board as a partner in Socialbrite.
JD Lasica, founder and former editor of Socialbrite, is co-founder of Cruiseable. Contact JD or follow him on Twitter or Google Plus.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported.
Hey look! Two of my favorite people here in the same entry! Amy – we miss you in PDX…Loved the interview. Recession adds an interesting variable to many of the points you make. So many organizations (non-profits or not) are struggling right now (as are the many communities in which they work), but some retreat into "no time to collaborate" mode, while others see collaboration as their best opportunity to thrive amidst challenge. Very hard to facilitate this kind of divergence. But hey, if it were easy…