Opening the Kimono on Beth's Blog: A Day in the Life of Nonprofit Social Media Strategists and Transparency

Photo by Okinawa Soba

Out of all last week's conversation on nonprofit movement building one quote stuck in my head.  It's from the mini case study about Planned Parenthood where Cecile Richards said, "Confidentiality is a big part of our institution's culture. And, as you know being successful with social media is the opposite of that."

It made me think of the phrase "Opening the Kimono" which is a vivid metaphor for organization transparency, sharing internal processes with the outside world.  I first became aware of it from a nonprofit blog meme from 2005 started by Ed Batista.  Apparently the phrase is used or over used by VC's meaning to open the books to a potential partner/investor -- not necessarily the entire outside world.

I'm looking for guest posts this week and next week on the theme of transparency and openness. I'd like to look the topic from both the institutional lens and in the weeds or practitioner level.

Some questions:

• What does transparency mean from a marketing/fundraising perspective as well as institutional/governance perspective?  What are the benefits/drawbacks of open content for nonprofits?

• Are there degrees of openness?  When isn't it appropriate? 
  

• How does the culture shift from closed to open to leverage the success of social media?   

• Of course, it is a balancing act and trade-off, especially when a nonprofit or movement is addressing highly sensitive issues. What are the cautions?

At the personal/professional level, we're going to take a peek at how social media practitioners inside of nonprofit organizations do their work. 

• How do they build relationships with stakeholders?

• How do they use openness and transparency in their job?

• What do they observe about this culture shift to openness? 

• What are the stories and value of open wide sharing? 

I'm planning to attend and do some live tweeting or blogging at Transparency Camp West later this week as well as a few case studies.

I'm looking for stories, case studies, how-tos, resource guides, or interviews on this topic of openness in nonprofits from an individual and institutional perspective.  If you're interested, you can submit your guest post here.

Comments

[Brad]

I think you should abandon the phrase "open the kimono." I'm sure I'm not the only one (especially among progressive nonprofit folks) who really squirms over the gender & ethnic power issues at work in those words.

[Beth Kanter]

Brad, what phrase would you use instead?

[Brad]

I've been thinking about it for 20 minutes, but can't come up with an alternate phrase. "Open the kimono" is so blatantly provocative that its tough to match, especially one that works across contexts. However, "transparency" is itself a hot enough word right now that it might not need the support of a catchy metaphor. Not sure what to say beyond that.

[Jake Brewer]

Really looking forward to seeing you at Transparency Camp, Beth! So glad you can make it.

We're very interested in transparency as it relates to organizations as well. It comes up a lot for us at the Sunlight Foundation as we're essentially forced (and want to :) model all the things we're asking government to be/do. To be sure, though, it's really not easy... and it can be pretty scary. Open kimono = major 'exposure' as it were = loss of control.

The basic check boxes such as making all donors and supporters public on our website are easy - and I think that's important, but it's also where many orgs stop. When we think about "opening the kimono," we've been trying think about it and apply it in ways we haven't necessarily seen ventured into.

For example, completely opening the design of our databases and new web platforms to our public Google groups for feedback is a pretty new approach for an org like ours. Essentially we're allowing others - including the media - to watch us, critique us, and of course help us build as we go along. The first place we're really trying it is with one of our most ambitious projects here: http://sunlightlabs.org/blog/2009/07/15/kickoff-national-data-catalog/

Beyond projects though though, it's been an interesting to also try being more transparent in our day to day behavior. People often note that Sunlighters are awfully active on Twitter - which can admittedly seem like a little too much - but part of the reason is that we often ask in team meetings "how can the community help with this?" or "how can this be more open" and the result is that instead of an internal email that only the team sees, all of our Twitter followers see it along with our staff (who almost all use TweetDeck to manage a feed of just Sunlight co-workers, so we don't miss something).

For better or worse, sometimes the result is that Sunlight team members are informed of a major development within the organization at the same time as the public!

These are obviously just starts, and we have a lot to learn and ways to grow. I have to say it's been a fascinating experience/experiment in these last couple months though, and I for one can't wait to hear what other commenters have to say about their kimono openings.