APC: Mission-Driven Business Planning Toolkit- Introduction

Building an Activist Internet Business:
Mixing the Best of Social Movements and Business Practice

Introduction to the Mission-Driven Business Planning Toolkit
by Mark Surman

Introduction

APC networks are a powerful hybrid – one part activist organization and another part small business. They emerged from a wide variety of social movements working for the environment, women, peace and human rights. They are more often than not motivated by a strong activist commitment on the part of staff and users; they also charge for Internet services. Certainly, these are special Internet services designed to meet unique civil society needs. Nonetheless, these services are offered for sale in the hope that they will provide enough revenue to sustain future work. APC networks are truly activist businesses, with all of the contradictions that this implies.

Balancing between activism and sustainability requires a new way of thinking that blends the best from both social movement organizing and business practice. This new way of thinking is Mission-Driven Business Planning. While maintaining a commitment to social mission, democracy, and even radical politics, Mission-Driven Business Planning also embraces things like honest market research, timely decision making and excellent customer service. It recognizes that we must first be 'good businesses' – at least in terms of sustainability and customer trust – if we are to succeed with our political goals.

Of course, this isn't always as easy as it sounds. The 'business context' in which APC operates is complex and ever-changing. Commercial Internet dial-up services are more competitive than non-profit ISPs in most of the countries served by APC. NGOs are demanding advanced services like Intranets, custom content feeds and WWW databases. Capacity building, training and consulting are now in as much demand as basic technical and connectivity services. While trying to maintain the right balance between mission and commerce, APC networks must also keep up with these demands in order to be effective players in the civil society Internet 'marketplace'.

The APC Mission-Driven Business Planning Project came from a need to:

Develop new ways of thinking about 'business models' that effectively balance an activist mission with the need for improved service quality and sustainability; and,
Provide tools for APC members to better position themselves in the competitive world of Internet products and services.

The collection of materials presented here represents the first step towards these goals. As such, they are intended to spark thinking and debate, and to encourage the evolution of new ideas about mixing the good parts of activism and business practice. As the APC and others engage these issues, additional articles and experiences will be added to this body of knowledge.

In this collection

The building of this Toolkit began with the APC Business Planning project team’s identification of its five key themes. Drawing on the expertise of the project team and its partners each theme was developed into an article or set of tools, each aimed at helping you address a particular area of your ‘activist business’ issues.

A Product & Service Manifesto for APC, by Mark Surman

APC must offer unique products for the civil society 'marketplace'. There is no point running non-profit computer networks that just offer the same old Internet tools provided by the private sector. Luckily, the APC and its members understand both the Internet and work of civil society organizations. As discussed in the APC Product and Service Manifesto, this knowledge is the raw material for designing unique Internet products and services that address the special needs of NGOs around the world. In business terms, this is a perfect 'niche market'. It is also a perfect way to mix activism and business. And, a good way to create financial sustainability. Success in this area is simply a matter of good product development techniques and good marketing.

Integrated Business Planning Toolkit, by Charles P. Sitkin

Planning is essential, as long as it is realistic. Planning processes can be one of the best ways to connect a political vision or mission with successful day-to-day organizational operation. They are key to enabling flexible responses to users demands and changes in the market. Unfortunately, NGOs and business alike too often engage in utopian strategic planning processes that ignore the need for realistic objectives and resource assessment. Bringing in concrete tools like measurable objectives, action plans and budgets can make the difference between an irrelevant report that sits on a shelf and a strategic plan that helps to turn your visions into reality. The Integrated Business Planning Toolkit shows you how.

Marketing Toolkit, by Charles P. Sitkin

Marketing is actually about meeting activist needs and wants. Marketing and market research doesn’t have to be about tricking someone into buying a product they don't want. In fact, it is usually exactly the opposite. It is about finding out what people need or desire and then communicating that you can address these needs or desires in cooperation. In the language of NGOs, it is effective needs-oriented co-operation with activist partners. In APC's case, good market research is simply listening to APC's civil society users about their electronic communications needs. Good marketing – as explained in the Marketing Toolkit – is simply telling them we have the tools and services to meet these needs. Of course, we also need to have the products and services to deliver on this marketing promise :-).

ISP Business Tools, by Michael Patenaude

Running a good alternative ISP is hard work. At the level of day-to-day operations, there is no magic formula for running a successful 'alternative ISP'. It's a lot of hard work and common sense. There are, however, some tools that can lighten the load a little. Building from the experience of private sector and NGO Internet organizations, the APC Business Planning team has compiled a collection of ISP Business Tools that can be used and adapted to local needs. They include templates for WWW site development quotes, cash flow forecasts and product 'differentiation' analysis.

The Networked Co-op: Using the Internet as a Backbone for Alternative Business, by Mark Surman

Cooperation can be better than competition, so let's start a global co-op. There is often real pressure from NGO customers for APC Networks to 'do it all' – to provide dial-up, WWW development, training, software development, LAN maintenance, high-tech tools, low-tech tools and anything else you can think of. While an organization can try to be all things to all people, it often results in everything being done poorly. Another option is to build a 'global co-op' of civil society communications service providers each of whom specialize in a particular area. The result would be better service in more places to more users. The APC is the perfect foundation for a co-op of this nature. The Networked Co-op articles at the end of this document provide some preliminary discussions of how this cooperation has begun to develop as well as some ideas – based on the Canadian example – of how it might move forward.