DAMs in the Nonprofit Sector: From Striving to Thriving

This post was originally published on LinkedIn Pulse

Nonprofit organizations compete in the same world and vie for the same customers as any other consumer-oriented business. To be successful, we must be able to engage people in such a way that they will choose to spend their precious leisure time (and dollars) on experiences of culture, the arts and/or social meaning - as opposed to the other options. That's a tall task, especially in a world that offers so many popular alternatives.



The path to success within that competitive landscape is driven in large part by digital content. In order to attract and engage 21st century audiences and contributors, nonprofit organizations have become digital publishing operations, providing access to meaningful content on a scale that was never anticipated. This evolution has been a real challenge for the charities, museums, libraries and archives that serve the public. And like most forms of evolution, it was a test of survival.

Striving

I would argue that over the past decade most nonprofits have become quite adept at producing digital content (such as the high resolution digital photography done in fine art museums, see above). We survived!
That being said, the sector has been playing catch-up when it comes to organizing, cataloging and sharing that content - the core capacities of digital asset management (DAM). Not only is there a large and rapidly-growing body of 'digital stuff' being produced, there is also the cold reality of appropriate budget constraints that limit the sector's ability to invest in technology infrastructure and resources. So our sector continues to strive.
The big question: How can the nonprofit sector move beyond it's current position to one of great success; that is, from striving to thriving?

DAM Matters

Others have written about making the case for DAM, and have even published online questionnaires to help organizations understand their specific needs. After all, " ... a digital file is only a digital asset when it can be easily found and used. Otherwise it’s just another collection of stored bits and bytes."
From my perspective, all organizations need DAM because it's valuable:

• Significant time and money is spent producing digital media, organizations should maximize the return on that investment.
• DAM enables efficient publishing processes, which are flexible and support omni-channel strategies.
• DAM provides a resource across an organization, 24/7, preventing bottlenecks to accessing digital assets (by the way, those bottlenecks are usually people, and those people are generally not so happy about the situation).
• DAM enables brand consistency across all distribution channels.
• In some cases, DAM enhances an organization's capacity to manage intellectual property rights and to ensure security of digital assets.

The nonprofit sector (and I'm concentrating primarily on cultural heritage organizations here) must meet additional mandates, which are mission-driven:

1. Mandate to make Accessible Nonprofit organizations are often supported by public funding and direct donations from citizens. We have a responsibility to share our collections and our knowledge with the public. After all, a museum is really only a warehouse until it opens its doors and invites the public inside to experience its collection. Sharing digital assets - sometimes thought of as digital surrogates - enables an organization to share it's archive widely with the broadest possible audience.
2. Mandate to Preserve Museums, libraries and archives share a responsibility of stewardship. The public trusts our organizations to take care of our collections, in order to preserve them for the future. In fact, ideally that preservation would last forever - no small task. Not to mention, increasingly the "objects" in the collections are themselves born-digital.

I have written previously about the importance of DAM in our sector, and won't re-hash those points here. In summary, we've simply got to keep working hard in order to move from striving to thriving.

Vision: Thriving

What is the aspirational vision for DAM practice within the nonprofit and cultural heritage sector? Here's my list, which I'm sure is incomplete (please add your thoughts in the comments):

• As much effort and commitment is put into digital asset management practices and workflows as has been put into production.
• Re-purposing of existing digital assets is taking place regularly and seen as a humdrum, business-as-usual practice.
• Digital assets are shared openly, including via linked open data, all of which is driven by automated processes.
• Standards, for asset production and for asset cataloging-archiving-sharing, are consistently-applied and readily understood across sectors.
• Nonprofits are able to roll with the shifting sands of publishing workflows - COPE: Create Once Publish Enthusiastically

We can get there, and we'll get there faster by working together.

 

Gather - Collaborate - Share - Learn

In May 2016, I will be presenting together with several esteemed colleagues - including Julie Shean and Marianne Nouwen - at the Henry Stewart DAMNY Conference. Our session will use an interactive case study format to bring multiple perspectives to the topic at hand. Panelists from both larger and smaller organizations, representing different types of nonprofits, will share their stories. Along the way, we will explore commonalities and unique needs, and we’ll address some of the challenges faced by the nonprofit sector, such as: How do we implement and ensure the adoption of effective DAM tools and practices? How do we deal with complex metadata models? How can we control costs while still achieving our aspirations? By leveraging the power of collaboration, attendees and presenters will learn from each other, gain practical knowledge, expand professional networks, and set the stage for success. I hope you will join us, and add your perspective and energy to the ongoing dialog.

Insider tip: use this discount code when registering to get a great deal on the conference fees:  ARTSMIA100