Google Calendar has arrived - The On Demand Nonprofit ever closer

Although I've really been digging 30 boxes lately, I'm thoroughly overjoyed and giddy by this AM's news of the Google Calendar launch.  Tech Crunch has the skinny. 

With Google Calendar I am seeing a clearer actualization of  what Steve Wright from the Salesforce.com Foundation has called the On Demand Nonprofit - using integrated web-based services to further a nonprofit's mission by eliminating the expense and complexity of closed and/or client/server systems.

• I'm switching CERF over to Gmail for Domains in the very near future (received an account a couple weeks ago) so we can have both POP and webmail access (and they're integrated no less).
  
• I'm using Thumbware.com's Salesforce.com Gmail Integration tools (there's one other one, but I'm not sure if its public yet). Ian...thank you for all your work.
  
•  I'm using Writely to collaborate on shared documents, using the document URL in the Project area of Salesforce.com

Too much dependence on Google? Maybe... but no worse than the dependence that we nonprofits have had on Microsoft products for over a decade.  The difference is that a service delivery model (as oppossed to software products) breeds competition and keeps inovation sharp and costs down.

Connecting the dot orgs is not all about Google and Salesforce.com.  Anyone at NTC can tell you that application integration is all the talk - how to best leverage the strengths of different systems for the benefit of mission driven organizations. The closed system players of Raiser's Edge, Kintera, Convio and the like are scared by the is new business and technology delivery model - precisely because they have not adapted (and no, the summer release of RE online does not count...its still closed).

There's an emerging ecosystem of players out there - and IMHO, they have far more street credibility for serving the nonprofit sector (and the greater good) rather than taking advantage of it:

• Democracy in Action
• CiviCRM
• Flickr
• CollectiveX
• Skype
• There are so many others...please use comments to list yours.

Technorati Tags: Google Calendar, nptech, salesforce.com, web2.0, nonprofit,

Comments

[Ian]

Hi, Sonny. Great Blog!
I have made the Compose Gmail links available on the AppExchange at http://www.salesforce.com/appexchange/detail_overview.jsp?id=a0330000001lfgsAAA

[gokubi]

Nice post. Small pieces loosely joined! And as for your reliance on Google, I don't think it will be long before you'll have other viable options to plug in for each of your components (except for Salesforce.com). Look at mapping--Yahoo, MS, Mapquest are all pretty much up to where Google Maps is in API and functionality. Keep us posted about how it goes!

[Colin J.]

Sonny,

I'd love to hear your comments on what you like about google calendar as opposed to something like HipCal? Thoughts?

[Jon Stahl]

Sing it, Sonny!

I don't know how much it matters whether the apps are "on-demand" only that they know how to talk to others, and assume that they should.

Applications that don't speak to other apps via open, public, standards-based interfaces are going to wither.

[Sonny Cloward]

Steve,

In an attempt to not portray myself as the Google/SFDC ho that I am, I have integrated Google Maps into Salesforce.com as well.

Thanks for the nice trackback post.

~S

[Sonny Cloward]

Colin,

I've looked at most of the web calendars (HipCal, Kiko, Trumba, SpongeCell, Airset...probably some others). Only 30 boxes came close to working well for me.

~S

[Sonny Cloward]

Jon,

Very good point, I'm very biased towards web apps...thanks for keeping me honest.

~S