I am so pleased to announce that I will be teaching a course for Gratz College this summer: MGT 553 Using Technology to Build Community and Grow Your Organization. It is part of the college’s MS in Nonprofit Management. 

The 553 course will examine online networking tools that can be used to foster connectivity, communication, and collaboration in order to strengthen nonprofit and religious-based organizations. As someone that has been online since the early 1990s and still believes that online communities are the heart of the Internet, I could not be more excited to teach this course! I will use a mix of books, online readings, podcasts and my own audiovisual materials to explore how mission-based initiatives can use online tools to create a sense of community among donors, volunteers, clients, neighbors and partners, and how to attract new people to be a part of those communities. It’s a class about facilitation, trust-building, outreach, and working with humans – online. 

The original course was designed in 2016 by Dr. Deborah Kantor Nagler, who passed away because of COVID-19 in April 2020. It has been bittersweet to have this opportunity because of the global pandemic, and I have dedicated this revised course to Dr. Kantor, who I’m so sorry I never met.

Much has changed since this course was last taught and, of course, I have my own approach to the subject, so I’ve spent a LOT of time creating new lectures and lessons. Online community has gotten buried under ad-ridden web sites with questionable content, memes and hate speech. I hope my course helps students see the potential of online communities for the nonprofits they are affiliated with and plays even a small part in bringing back civility to the Internet.

Gratz College is based in Philadelphia. It just celebrated its 125th anniversary. The College’s historic focus is on Jewish studies and education, and it continues to be internationally recognized as a leader in developing effective educators, professionals, leaders and scholars, both within and beyond the Jewish community, with a broad commitment to the intellectual and professional growth of diverse constituencies, grounded in Jewish values. The college is renowned for its Holocaust and Genocide Studies. They also offer an M.A. in Human Rights, with courses in areas such as Civil Rights, Women’s Rights, Children’s Rights, Sexual Identity and Gender Rights and Refugee Rights.

Per the emphasis of the college, some of my examples of effectively using online tools to engage and build community will be from programs focused on historic genocides and prevention of genocide – you can see a list of Twitter accounts I will be featuring here (additions are welcomed).

I love teaching at the university level. It is one of my very favorite things to do, right up there with riding my motorcycle. My experience to date? I was the Fall 2015 Duvall Leader in Residence at the University of Kentucky’s Center for Leadership Development, teaching sessions on online leadership. I have also guest lectured at classes at Portland State University, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Texas at Arlington School of Social Work and St. Edward’s University on both volunteer management-related topics, usually virtual volunteering, and on using online tools as a part of nonprofit service delivery and outreach. And I regularly train professionals in these and other topics: in 2020 alone, I created and delivered workshops for the University College Dublin Volunteers Overseas program, Centre d’étude et de coopération internationale / Centre for International Studies and Cooperation—CECI, the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service, the USA Office of Healthcare Information & Counseling, the Points of Light Foundation / Corporation for National Service, America’s Service Commissions (ASC), and the Community Foundation of Henderson, Kentucky, among others (my busiest year as a trainer ever).

For the time being, I’ll also be continuing my very part-time role with TechSoup, helping to manage the TechSoup online community – introducing topics, answering community questions, trying to attract new participants and helping to move the community to a new platform before summer. Yes, joining and participating in the TechSoup community is going to be one of the assignments for my Gratz College students!

So, if you want to book me for a training or consultation, know that my schedule is very tight now and through August! And it’s also that time of year when I start getting contacted about leading workshops in the Fall, so it’s not too early to talk to me about my schedule after this class is done.

Of course, you can have on-demand training from me regarding virtual volunteering anytime, through my free videos on m YouTube channel and via my book, The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook. If you want to deeply integrate virtual volunteering into your program and expand your engagement of online volunteers, such as in an online mentoring program or other scheme where online volunteers will interact with clients, you will not find a more detailed guide anywhere for working with online volunteers and using the Internet to support and involve all volunteers – even after home quarantines are over and volunteers start coming back onsite to your workspace. And purchasing the book is far, far cheaper than hiring me as a consultant or trainer regarding virtual volunteering – though you can still do that!