Strength does not come from physical capacity,
It comes from an indomitable will
Because the weak can never forgive,
Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. - Mahatma Gandhi -
If your organization has been considering the use of open source software, a Content Management System (CMS) may be the place to start.
CMSs are software tools that allow non-technical users to update the text, images and documents on a website without having to learn to use HTML code. Using a Web browser or a desktop software package, users access, edit and upload content changes to a website using the familiar text editing commands found in software like MS Word. CMS solutions are increasingly popular to simplify website management.
The fact that more than one third of nonprofit organizations reported the use of open source CMSs and generally graded them quite well as compared to commercial systems may be the information you?ve been waiting for to feel comfortable using an open source system.
Michelle Murrain, the Coordinator of the Nonprofit Open Source Initiative and NTEN board member, offers
some reasons for the success of open source CMSs at nonprofits:
* No fees for acquisition
* No maintenance fees if it is a low to medium traffic site
* Low hosting costs
* Solid software: for most organizations, as good, or better than a system they would pay for
* Active development and communities mean lots of improvements and new features, plus lots of help
* Generally easy installation and maintenance
* Very customizable - easy to add custom functionality
It is interesting to note that open source systems scored generally higher than commercial systems and custom systems were rated near the bottom of the pack. The three most commonly used systems, Plone, Drupal and Joomla!, all scored very well with mostly A?s and no score lower than a B.
