Friday, September 5th, 2008...3:58 am
Say it ain’t so, Google! Ethical project management software.
There comes a time, usually if you’re working remotely or have no office, where you really need a way to share files, documents, messages and pictures online between a lot of people for free.
Easy, I said at my last Amnesty International meeting, we’ll just set up a Google non-profits account - all their project management tools are free. No thanks, they said, we refuse to use Google because of their human rights record.
I am sure the look on my face was priceless as I tried to think what Google’s human rights problems could be. I have a cousin who works at Google. They pay her, feed her, they let her do laundry, they send her to lectures… as far as I can see she’s not abused. But of course, Amnesty wasn’t talking about that. They were talking about China, the ‘Golden Shield’ campaign and Google’s complicity in blocking access to information. Say it ain’t so, Google! For goodness sake, we’re talking about a company whose motto is ‘Don’t Be Evil’.
Now, Google of course has explained that when they made the decision to censor, they actually did an ‘evil scale’ and they picked the lesser of two evils (that is, censorship over no Google at all in China). Wherever you come down on this issue, I was still facing a group of volunteers who needed to work online - and they weren’t about to use Google.
So here’s two other free project management sites you can use - I haven’t found the perfect one so far so feel free to write editor@netfornonprofits.org and tell us why you’re a good choice. Just as long as you aren’t evil.
Basecamp: If your organization doesn’t need to upload files or collaborate on more than two written documents (or can afford $20 a month to buy a plan that includes files) then this is the place for you. It’s clean, easy to understand, includes milestones, tasklists, messaging and collaborative documents.
Zoho: Basecamp’s rival! A bit uglier, a bit glitchier, but unlike Basecamp they let you write multiple documents and upload files on the free version.
6 Comments
September 5th, 2008 at 4:55 am
I’d recommend to take a look at http://www.comindwork.com, they have free accounts and i know that they have really good discounts for non profit organizations, just email and ask them
September 5th, 2008 at 6:26 am
have a look at Central Desktop. I used BC for a while, but needed more and CD did the trick. And great nonprofit discount also.
September 5th, 2008 at 6:28 am
Huddle http://www.huddle.net is another alternative well worth a look at. They offer their premium plan for free to charities (and free basic accounts for other organisations). My organisation ended up choosing Basecamp over Huddle for our project management, but Huddle has definitely got a lot going for it too.
I hadn’t really thought about Google’s evilness or otherwise before now (our organisation makes use of Google Calendar, Reader and Documents), so thanks for giving me a dilemma!
September 5th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Wow, thanks for the recommendations Danny, Marc and Godzhesas! Please keep them coming. It’s true about the Google dilemma, eh? Is it enough for you ethically that they did an evil scale and decided on the amount of evil they were comfortable with? Sean and I are still making up our minds on that one…
September 8th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Thanks for trying out Zoho (Projects) and recommending it to your readers! We are indeed working on making Zoho Projects UI look good and glitch-free.
One great advantage of Zoho Projects over other project management tools online is the availability - free of cost - of all the other Zoho services like Writer/Sheet/Show, Wiki, Meeting (web conferencing), Invoice, Mail etc. All these can be accessed via single sign-on.
September 11th, 2008 at 7:56 am
Completely different approach, based on file back up and sharing. Still in beta, but I see great potential:
http://www.getdropbox.com
Leave a Reply