At the Gilbert Center, there are a number of "terms of art" that we have either developed or appropriated for our use. We've started keeping track of some of these concepts here.

Communication Ecosystem Mapping: The process of developing a systemic and visual understanding of how people actually communicate in an organization. It is this web of communication that ties people together and enables them to accomplish their work. Mapping is conducted through a number of methods, but is generally focused on input and output analysis of various stakeholders. The power of mapping is in providing a clear framework for preservation and improvement of communication systems.

Email Savvy: In our groundbreaking Nonprofit Email Survey, we defined the "Email Savvy" organization as an organization that practices all core elements of successful online communication, including having an email newsletter, collecting email addresses, issuing and responding to calls to action by email (including raising money), responding to the online preferences and actions of their stakeholders, and building a rich historical database of their stakeholder relationships.

Process Mapping: Developing a systemic and often visual understanding of the processes used by an organization to accomplish various objectives allows us to dig deeper into the map of communication that makes an organization. Typically such processes are represented as flow charts or steps in a recipe and they are useful for both training and for process improvement.

Stakeholders: We were surprised to learn that we needed to define this term for some people. We use the term to refer to everyone who has a stake in an organization, including staff, volunteers, donors, members, activists, board members, regulators, the press, other organizations, and so forth. The central asset that an organization must manage is relationships to these stakeholders.

Systems Thinking: This concept underlies all our work. Systems thinking is a holistic approach to analysis that focuses on the way an organizations's parts interrelate over time and in the context of other systems. It provides high leverage opportunities for change while preserving a respect for all components of an organization.

Technocentric: Oriented toward technology and responding to its needs and capabilities, rather than to the needs and capabilities of the people using the technology to do their work. Technocentricity is damaging to nonprofit technology and communication planning.

Workshops: In House: You and your organization may hire us to teach one of our workshops for you. If you are interested please contact us to discuss the details.

Workshops: Open Registration: This is when we are running one of our workshops and anyone can register. These will be advertised on the workshops page of this web site.