East Bay Coalition for the Homeless - Roger Williams University

5. Networked nonprofits know how to inspire people. Networked nonprofits motivate their networks of support
to help shape the organization’s programs, to share their stories in order to raise awareness of social issues, to change
attitudes and behavior, and to organize communities to provide services or advocate for legislation.
6. Networked nonprofits work differently. They enjoy a social culture that encourages everyone in and outside the
organization to participate and spread the organization’s mission. They have challenged deep-set organizational assumptions
about leadership, roles, and structures. They have broken down departmental silos. They are comfortable
sharing control or co-creating with their networks—whether that means allowing people to reteil the organization’s
story in their own words or scaling programs.
7. Networked nonprofits are masters at using social media. They are adept at using tools that encourage conversations
and building relationships between people, and between people and organizations. They are able to scale their
efforts quickly, easily, and inexpensively. Networked nonprofits are adept at blending tried and true methods with
new digital tools. They also understand how to dance between the spontaneous nature of social media and strategic
communications.
The Crawl, Walk, Run, Fly Model
As Martin Luther King said:
“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep
moving forward.”
The Crawl, Walk, Run, Fly hierarchy is designed to help organizations understand that becoming a networked nonprofit
is typically a complex and lengthy process. Its purpose is to encourage and motivate organizations to succeed by
helping them understand the nature of the process they are going through. This model is simply a method for organizations
to figure out how where to focus time and learning to get to the next stage. It can also be used as a framework
for designing and evalation peer learning networks.
Not every nonprofit will go through the levels at the same pace, as different organizations have different cultures,
capacities, communication objectives, program designs, and target audiences. And the reality will be messy; an organization
might not precisely fit the profile in any specific category, But every organization can take pride in their
success at whatever they hae acheived.
Crawl
Organizations that are in the “Crawl” stage of becoming networked nonprofits are not using social media or emerging
technology at all, or if they are using it, they’re not using it consistently and are not using any measurement processes.
These organizations lack a robust communications strategy or program plan that can be scaled using a networked
approach. “Crawlers” are not just smaller nonprofits, but may include larger institutions that have all the basics in
place, but lack a social culture or are resisting transforming from a command-and0control style to a more networked
mindset.
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