Beth Kanter, a professional blogger and consultant to nonprofits, uses social media tools in the nonprofit sector for social change. Currently, Beth collaborates with the Summit Collaborative, where she helps build the capacity of nonprofit organizations through her works on technology evaluation projects, curriculum development, research and planning. She will alsobe a featured speaker at this weekend’s Gnomedex conference.

Beth’s professional blog, Beth’s Blog, ranks as a top fifty most influential female blog. Currently, Beth is the Contributing Editor for Nonprofits and Social Change at blogher and writes for Netsquared blog. In addition, Beth has also written articles that appeared in nonprofit publications like TechSoup and Nonprofit Times.

BB: What got you into this space, and what keeps you in it?

BK: I’ve been working with nonprofits for 30 years! I was a classical flute major in music school, hoping to play flute in a symphony orchestra after I graduated. That didn’t happen.

I figured if I couldn’t play a role on the stage, maybe there was an opportunity for a role behind stage. As part of my research, I interviewed orchestra managers about what skills I needed to learn or have in order to be an orchestra manager. This was circa 1979. The advice I got was: learn how to type. So, I took my metronome and practiced typing exercises at adagio (very slow) and worked up to allegro (very fast). I was a fast and accurate typist and that helped me get a job at the Boston Symphony in the development office. Not too longer after I was there, the first PCs arrived so I spent time teaching myself how to use it and then helped others in the office. My whole nonprofit career has been about following my curiosity - and self-learning and teaching others.

I stay in this sector because of the passion, and the sense that you work has an impact. Also, most nonprofits have limited resources - so you have to be creative and I love that. When you work with or for nonprofits, small interventions can make a huge difference. All of these reasons keeps me in the nonprofit sector.

BB: How has your personal mission evolved over the years?

BK: If you look at my biography, you will see that I have followed my passions and varied interests in the nonprofit sector. When I first started off, I worked as a staff person for arts organizations for a couple of years before realizing that I was a project junkie. I was better suited to freelance work. So, for the first 15 years of my career, I focused on working with arts organizations as a consultant - in the area of marketing, fundraising, organizational strategic planning, and research.

In 1992, I got obsessed with online communications, technology, and the Internet. I started working with the New York Foundation for the Arts as the community networker for an online network of artists. I was responsible for learning how to use the Internet (very early days) and then teaching others. That pattern again! During the 12 years at I worked with NYFA, I designed and lead many different technology training projects for artists, arts organizations, and arts educators. I loved it!

Also during this time, I started to get curious about other types of nonprofits organizations and effective technology use - and broadened my consulting and training projects to work with many different types of nonprofits. In 2000, I started a personal blog about Cambodia to learn more about the culture and one for my professional training work - actually coding my entries in HTML from scratch. Someone introduced me to blogging software, and I was hooked. I’ve been exploring social media and Web 2.0 for nonprofits since about 2003 — all with the underlying theme of learning and teaching others.

BB: What are you going to try to relay to our fellow geeks at Gnomedex?

BK: That with a little creativity, fun, geekiness, and passion - you can use web 2.0 tools — like blogs — and go out and create change in the world.

BB: How do you envision social media - the people and the tools - taking a more active role in society?

BK: There are more and more nonprofits that have mastered the art of social media strategy related to their missions and programs and integrated with their marketing strategies. There are so many inspiring examples. I think of organizations like the Nature Conservancy, Human Society, American Cancer Society, National Wildlife Federation, Red Cross, and many others are using social media to create awareness, reaching out to the next generation, and inspiring action for their important work. The best examples are those organizations, like the ones I’ve mentioned above, who avoid shiny object syndrome and really connect their missions to why they’re using a social media tool. They’ve also done a great job of having the discussion internally and educating people within their organization about the possibilities. Another hallmark with the nonprofits that have used social media in an amazing way - is that they’re not afraid to learn and experiment.

BB: If you could get all social media voices to unite around one issue, what would it be?

BK: That question is hard for me - I don’t think I could pick just one issue!!!! I’ll start with my big passion. That’s actually the secret sauce of activism and person-to-person fundraising. Anyone who knows me, knows that I care for the children of Cambodia … particularly programs like the Sharing Foundation offers that helps life young people out of poverty. My family and I have sponsored a young woman, Leng Sopharath, for her college education - and it isn’t that much money in Cambodia (may 5% of what it would cost here in the US), but know that little amount will make all the difference in her world and what she can do. I’m also very interested in animal rights (shelter dogs are my weakness), creative commons, environmental causes, and poverty reduction programs that help young women.

BB: Do you have any words of wisdom to share to the Gen Y change bloggers you recently featured on your blog?

BK: Follow your passion and curiosity. Don’t be afraid to keep learning and sharing what you learn on your blog. I think Gen Y perspectives about nonprofit leadership and technology are fresh, inspiring, and very important for people who have been in the field for many years to pay attention to. These are our future nonprofit leaders. That’s one reason why I wanted to compile a list and do interviews. I also encourage them to continue to be smart and be professional, but don’t be afraid to challenge and keep us all thinking!

BB: What about the Gen X’ers and boomers?

BK: I’m a proud member of the babyboom generation and for some reason I probably have the technology habits of a Gen Y (or so I’ve been told) I know there are other folks of my age or generation, who are also big users of the social media and technology, but there are others who are not. For that last group, I would encourage them to learn from the Gen Y’s in their midst and honor their knowledge.

BB: What’s next for Beth?

BK: That’s a great question! Most people who know me call me "prolific" in my writing and sometimes I feel that my insatiable curiosity keeps me going in too many directions. I am hoping to have an opportunity to become more scholarly in my approach to the understanding of social media and nonprofits and take it to a deeper level. At the same time, some new areas of inquiry are attracting my attention. I hope to carve out some time for deeper synthesis, reflection, and creative thinking over the next 6-12 months and take my writing/blogging/training work to a deeper level. Stay tuned…