Ever since I remember, I’d wanted to work with nonprofits to give back to the society I live in, or for a cause I care for, in an effective productive way. The problem was I never knew how to go about it. Were they going to make me stuff envelopes or answer incoming calls? (Get real, I’d never do that! – sorry, is that snobby?). Did they understand in what capacity I could help them? Did I get what they needed? Throughout my adult life I’ve worked with “for profit” entities and the concept of “nonprofit” was very foreign to me. So I always put it off and wrote checks here and there to various organizations I cared about (or to get the telemarketing folks out of my hair).
Enter the Taproot Foundation.
The minute I understood what they do, I knew I wanted to be involved. The Taproot Foundation was founded in 2001 by Aaron Hurst, the grandson of the man who wrote the original blueprint for the Peace Corp. He developed the organization as a “nonprofit intermediary”. Through a very structured process, they vet nonprofits that need high level professional help, and match them up with selected pro bono consultants, removing the matchmaking headache from the equation. They also provide highly structured processes for the consultant teams to follow resulting in very consistent outcome. They really did their homework on this!
Economic downturns hit nonprofits the hardest. Even in good times, nonprofits tend to lack strategic focus. According to studies done by Taproot Foundation, 200,000 nonprofits face significant strategic management challenges, more than half have no strategic plan, and 95% of them say their social impact would grow with pro bono support. Taproot Foundation estimates that pro bono consultants can contribute the equivalent of $1.5 billion annually to nonprofits in the US alone. This is more than the total annual combined giving of the 20 top corporate foundations, and can fundamentally change the way nonprofits operate all over the country.
The foundation started in San Francisco, and has expanded to New York City, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Washington DC (I keep thinking there were a couple of more cities - they're expanding fast so I can't remember). The current services include project management, creative services, marketing, HR, IT, and strategic management. I met Aaron Hurst recently and he plans to expand rapidly.
I started my first volunteer service grant with them recently as a brand strategist for a local nonprofit, I was in for a pleasant surprise. Here I am sitting with a bunch of PhD’s who are trying to fix our water problems but have very little concept of positioning or branding (I made the mistake of comparing their model to B2B and the result was a roomful of blank stares – nice job, Kat!).
So here’s the bottom line. If you’ve thought about being involved with nonprofits, but can’t figure it out, Taproot Foundation might be the answer for you. The work is really rewarding, the nonprofit people are passionate about the society we live in, and there’s something refreshing about not having to talk about revenues and profits all the time.
Here are a few reasons I can think of to get involved:
It feels good to give. It just does. If you care, just do it. It doesn’t take that much time.
You can’t give money but you can give time. Tough economic times are hitting everyone’s wallets. Also, if you’re unemployed, you may not be able to give money, but you can donate your time.
Good resume filler. Again, if you are “between jobs”, this is a great resume filler with solid professional work. Also gets you out of the house and keeps your mind busy.
Great networking. You’ll be in a professional environment doing professional work, networking with the nonprofit staff and other consultants. I’ve personally met some great people through this program.
Ego boost. Every little bit you do will be a lot for nonprofits. And they’re SO thankful for it.
Non profits really need help. Enough said.
The easiest way to get involved is to go on their website and register with your background information. Someone will contact you and take you through the process. If they’re not in your geographical area, put yourself in the queue anyway. I suspect they’ll hit all major geographical areas soon. They’re also open to suggestions, so don’t be shy.
Let me know if you do this. I’d love to hear about it.
Showing posts with label brand strategy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brand strategy. Show all posts
November 18, 2009
May 13, 2009
Gauging Kindle’s Disruptiveness
Disruptive technologies always have a “cool” factor associated with them. They also tend to leave ripple affects on industries and businesses beyond their immediate circle (kind of like earth quakes? OK, I’ve lived in southern California for too long). When Marc Andreessen developed Mosaic, who could have imagined the depth and breadth of the Internet’s reach to concepts such as social networking, cloud computing, or the Internet’s massive effect on retail or advertising?
The last time the “book industry” experienced a disruptive change was when Heidelberg developed the printing press in the 1400s. Before then, I imagine the only form of mass distribution of books was to hand-write them one by one. Although the process of printing books has changed much over the centuries, the basic premise hasn’t changed much: mass printing on bound paper, then distributing them.
Fast forward to Kindle.
Although the idea of e-books is nothing new (much like the Chinese had processes similar to the printing press centuries prior to Heidelberg), Amazon seems to be in the right place with the right tools to make the leap to success. The company has established itself as “the” online book retailer with the relationships in place with publishers, the online infrastructure for electronic distribution, and the largest book retail base in the industry. So it seems for the first time Amazon can “actualize” (not my favorite word either) the vision of e-books, and for the first time, users can carry the equivalent of a library on a handheld device.
But that’s not all. As soon as the content changes from the printed format to electronic format, the idea of “books” altogether changes from a series of words and sometimes pictures and graphs, to a compilation of selectable data, graphs, and interactive exchange of information. Will the novelists of the future allow the readers select each chapter based on what they decide the novel’s character would do next? Will the students of the future download the latest technical diagrams from the web into their textbooks thereby changing the context of the textbook’s information? Will the writers of the future download “previews” of their books into a youtube-esque site for readers to view and purchase? The possibilities can become endless.
But we can only see so far ahead of us.
In the near future, if and when Kindle becomes a mainstream success, there are some clear winners and losers. I can come up with a few ideas, and I hope the readers will comment if they have any other ideas.
First the Losers
Currently, book publishing accounts for about 25% of printed pages. Any sizeable percentage shift from this to electronic format will have a major effect on industries or companies directly attached to printing and distribution of “paper only” books.
Vendors of book publishing equipment and accessories
Hardcopy vendors including HP, Oce, Xerox, Kodak, etc, and their partners developing accessories such as binding equipment, etc.. The profits of these vendors are already squeezed by their lower end products. A switch to electronic book “publishing” will squeeze them out of their more profitable sector at the high end unless if they can somehow participate in the shift. By the way, Xerox should occupy its own position in the losers category. I don’t even want to know how many patents Xerox has on e-books. They’re oh-so-good at missing opportunities (hats off to my ex-employer).
Larger booksellers who didn’t quite succeed in their online strategy. Border’s, Barns and Nobles. Think of what happened to DVD outlets when Netflix came into the game – poof!
Mom/pop booksellers, if any are left.
Book distributors. I’m guessing they’ll be wiped out of the loop.
Paper product companies. Haven’t they already lost a bunch from lowered newspaper circulation? Paper use is still high so maybe this is a toss up.
Bookstore lovers. I’m already mourning the smell of bookstores, especially used book stores.
Book fairs. Another one I’ll mourn. Unless if they change their booths to electronic reading stations.
Shipping companies. I’ll go out on a limb and say they’ll lose a small % of revenues if shipping books is out of the equation.
And the Winners
Book readers. Books will be cheaper and more readily available. It will happen. Kindle and e-book prices will have to come lower if Kindle is going to succeed.
Independent writers. Kindle will flatten the playing field much as iTune did for independent music bands.
Third party e-book software providers. Specialty software for seniors, for the blind, puzzles and games, interactive software, the possibilities are endless here. Think of what iPhone did for third party software developers. This is also a symbiotic relationship for Amazon, and they’ll be smart to leave the doors wide open for third party developers.
DRM (Digital Rights Management) software providers. Big chunk of business to be had here.
The green movement. Kindle probably isn’t too green to manufacture, but saving all those trees must mean something to somebody.
Other content providers. With all the trouble the newspaper industry is going through, would readers pay a little to follow their favorite writers or journalists on an independent basis? How about other content providers?
Toss Ups
Book publishers. If they manage to keep themselves in the loop, the profits can be heftier than publishing books (50% of book costs is in publishing them), but at some point, their role may become minimized.
Newspapers. They still haven’t figured out their business model on the web. How are they going to add paying subscribers on Kindle? Wait and see.
Magazines. They’re probably too graphics-heavy to move to Kindle. And people still like the glossy look of paper for those sexy bikini models, but everything could change.
Other e-book device developers. Is Amazon going to open the market for other e-book players? I’ve worked with Japanese companies whose strategy is to be “second to market” after the “first to market” has ironed the kinks in the market. Who is a good contender? HP? See my previous blog – I think they’re getting too lazy on the innovation front. Apple is a good possibility. The model is very similar to iPod/iTunes. Palm? Research in Motion? Cell phone developers? Amazon has probably put in a lot of effort to patent the device and related parts of the business, but there are many existing patents on e-books that can now start being leveraged.
Multi-media advertisers. The web model can be replicated on Kindle (e.g., how about if a writer agrees to giving away a book if the readers agree to seeing ads while reading the book?).
Amazon. I know, this is strange, but I would have loved to sit at the table with the top guns when they were examining the business model of switching from selling books to Kindle. How is Kindle going to affect the top-line and bottom-line of their existing book business? The switch-over may present a painful period to Amazon. Let me repeat: I don’t think the device and per-book prices will hold up if this is going to be a sustainable business. They’ll have to reduce the price on Kindle, and as a result, regular books will look too expensive in comparison. Wait and see on this one.
So when am I going to buy one?
Not so fast.
As I’ve mentioned, Kindle’s price is way up in the sky. The smaller 6” Kindle is going for $360 plus $10 / e-book. Really?!!! That’s only going to interest the gadget enthusiasts. The numbers make no sense given I can buy an “almost new” book on Amazon’s own site for pennies with low shipping prices. Plus, to convert readers to give up a centuries old habit will take a bit more incentive. Kindle DX is even worse at $489. Last time I checked I could buy a fully loaded laptop for that price.
The price will change though. Remember how cool color inkjet printers used to be when they first came out? Remember how vendors were giving them away a few years later? This will happen to Kindle too. Amazon will look at the “razor / blade” business model and see that cheap Kindle and e-books will increase the book sales volume enough to make the leap to success. Either that or Kindle will be forced into a niche product.
But that’s not all. Maybe it’s because I used to be a software designer, or maybe it’s because I’ve worked with engineers just about all my career, but I know how buggy technical products can be when they’re newly launched, and I just don’t have the patience to work through the kinks.
Turns out on those cute little market bell curves, I happen to be on the far right of the curve, the “market laggard”. Yeah, I’m one of those, so shoot me.
The last time the “book industry” experienced a disruptive change was when Heidelberg developed the printing press in the 1400s. Before then, I imagine the only form of mass distribution of books was to hand-write them one by one. Although the process of printing books has changed much over the centuries, the basic premise hasn’t changed much: mass printing on bound paper, then distributing them.
Fast forward to Kindle.
Although the idea of e-books is nothing new (much like the Chinese had processes similar to the printing press centuries prior to Heidelberg), Amazon seems to be in the right place with the right tools to make the leap to success. The company has established itself as “the” online book retailer with the relationships in place with publishers, the online infrastructure for electronic distribution, and the largest book retail base in the industry. So it seems for the first time Amazon can “actualize” (not my favorite word either) the vision of e-books, and for the first time, users can carry the equivalent of a library on a handheld device.
But that’s not all. As soon as the content changes from the printed format to electronic format, the idea of “books” altogether changes from a series of words and sometimes pictures and graphs, to a compilation of selectable data, graphs, and interactive exchange of information. Will the novelists of the future allow the readers select each chapter based on what they decide the novel’s character would do next? Will the students of the future download the latest technical diagrams from the web into their textbooks thereby changing the context of the textbook’s information? Will the writers of the future download “previews” of their books into a youtube-esque site for readers to view and purchase? The possibilities can become endless.
But we can only see so far ahead of us.
In the near future, if and when Kindle becomes a mainstream success, there are some clear winners and losers. I can come up with a few ideas, and I hope the readers will comment if they have any other ideas.
First the Losers
Currently, book publishing accounts for about 25% of printed pages. Any sizeable percentage shift from this to electronic format will have a major effect on industries or companies directly attached to printing and distribution of “paper only” books.
Vendors of book publishing equipment and accessories
Hardcopy vendors including HP, Oce, Xerox, Kodak, etc, and their partners developing accessories such as binding equipment, etc.. The profits of these vendors are already squeezed by their lower end products. A switch to electronic book “publishing” will squeeze them out of their more profitable sector at the high end unless if they can somehow participate in the shift. By the way, Xerox should occupy its own position in the losers category. I don’t even want to know how many patents Xerox has on e-books. They’re oh-so-good at missing opportunities (hats off to my ex-employer).
Larger booksellers who didn’t quite succeed in their online strategy. Border’s, Barns and Nobles. Think of what happened to DVD outlets when Netflix came into the game – poof!
Mom/pop booksellers, if any are left.
Book distributors. I’m guessing they’ll be wiped out of the loop.
Paper product companies. Haven’t they already lost a bunch from lowered newspaper circulation? Paper use is still high so maybe this is a toss up.
Bookstore lovers. I’m already mourning the smell of bookstores, especially used book stores.
Book fairs. Another one I’ll mourn. Unless if they change their booths to electronic reading stations.
Shipping companies. I’ll go out on a limb and say they’ll lose a small % of revenues if shipping books is out of the equation.
And the Winners
Book readers. Books will be cheaper and more readily available. It will happen. Kindle and e-book prices will have to come lower if Kindle is going to succeed.
Independent writers. Kindle will flatten the playing field much as iTune did for independent music bands.
Third party e-book software providers. Specialty software for seniors, for the blind, puzzles and games, interactive software, the possibilities are endless here. Think of what iPhone did for third party software developers. This is also a symbiotic relationship for Amazon, and they’ll be smart to leave the doors wide open for third party developers.
DRM (Digital Rights Management) software providers. Big chunk of business to be had here.
The green movement. Kindle probably isn’t too green to manufacture, but saving all those trees must mean something to somebody.
Other content providers. With all the trouble the newspaper industry is going through, would readers pay a little to follow their favorite writers or journalists on an independent basis? How about other content providers?
Toss Ups
Book publishers. If they manage to keep themselves in the loop, the profits can be heftier than publishing books (50% of book costs is in publishing them), but at some point, their role may become minimized.
Newspapers. They still haven’t figured out their business model on the web. How are they going to add paying subscribers on Kindle? Wait and see.
Magazines. They’re probably too graphics-heavy to move to Kindle. And people still like the glossy look of paper for those sexy bikini models, but everything could change.
Other e-book device developers. Is Amazon going to open the market for other e-book players? I’ve worked with Japanese companies whose strategy is to be “second to market” after the “first to market” has ironed the kinks in the market. Who is a good contender? HP? See my previous blog – I think they’re getting too lazy on the innovation front. Apple is a good possibility. The model is very similar to iPod/iTunes. Palm? Research in Motion? Cell phone developers? Amazon has probably put in a lot of effort to patent the device and related parts of the business, but there are many existing patents on e-books that can now start being leveraged.
Multi-media advertisers. The web model can be replicated on Kindle (e.g., how about if a writer agrees to giving away a book if the readers agree to seeing ads while reading the book?).
Amazon. I know, this is strange, but I would have loved to sit at the table with the top guns when they were examining the business model of switching from selling books to Kindle. How is Kindle going to affect the top-line and bottom-line of their existing book business? The switch-over may present a painful period to Amazon. Let me repeat: I don’t think the device and per-book prices will hold up if this is going to be a sustainable business. They’ll have to reduce the price on Kindle, and as a result, regular books will look too expensive in comparison. Wait and see on this one.
So when am I going to buy one?
Not so fast.
As I’ve mentioned, Kindle’s price is way up in the sky. The smaller 6” Kindle is going for $360 plus $10 / e-book. Really?!!! That’s only going to interest the gadget enthusiasts. The numbers make no sense given I can buy an “almost new” book on Amazon’s own site for pennies with low shipping prices. Plus, to convert readers to give up a centuries old habit will take a bit more incentive. Kindle DX is even worse at $489. Last time I checked I could buy a fully loaded laptop for that price.
The price will change though. Remember how cool color inkjet printers used to be when they first came out? Remember how vendors were giving them away a few years later? This will happen to Kindle too. Amazon will look at the “razor / blade” business model and see that cheap Kindle and e-books will increase the book sales volume enough to make the leap to success. Either that or Kindle will be forced into a niche product.
But that’s not all. Maybe it’s because I used to be a software designer, or maybe it’s because I’ve worked with engineers just about all my career, but I know how buggy technical products can be when they’re newly launched, and I just don’t have the patience to work through the kinks.
Turns out on those cute little market bell curves, I happen to be on the far right of the curve, the “market laggard”. Yeah, I’m one of those, so shoot me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)