For the public good

Granger-Happ and other CTOs with nonprofit organizations say they left behind success in the business world to pursue work that will make a difference. But as leaders of cash-strapped organizations, they use their wits and the help of vendors to deploy sophisticated networks and Web sites to serve thousands of worldwide users. It's a challenge they are happy accept.

While Granger-Happ has relied on Cisco Systems and Microsoft to help build a worldwide network to bring relief to poor children and families, Rick Minicucci works with Sun Microsystems, Computer Associates (CA), and Compaq (now merged with Hewlett-Packard) to set up databases and Web sites that help organize the search for missing children with National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). David Simon, as chief technologist of the Sierra Club, uses his own resources to manage his networks because the organization conducts political lobbying and can't offer tax credits for donations. Regardless of the obstacles they face, these CTOs say they wouldn't go back to their previous careers in the private sector.

Career changes

Melding an IT mission with a nonprofit's humanitarian goals can become an irresistible attraction, even for CTOs with impressive private sector track records.

"Where else could you do IT that would have as much of an impact?" says Granger-Happ, who spent 13 years working for Wall Street companies and another 10 on his own consulting business before he came to Westport, Conn.-based Save the Children and began setting up a global IT strategy. "We've built field offices all over the world where kids can benefit. We're in 43 countries. We all have to deal with budget issues, but this is worth it."

Other IT executives decide that they view working for humanitarian causes as a privilege rather than as a job. Minicucci arrived at Alexandria, Va.-based NCMEC in 1996 after selling his computer imaging and graphics company. "I decided I would work for the center for a year to feel good about myself and to help these people get going," he says. "Later, I simply decided it was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life."

Mission is the driving force for many IT professionals working in the nonprofit sector, says Simon, who was a consultant for Andersen Consulting for 10 years before joining the Sierra Club in 1992. Simon, who is director of information and communication systems for the organization, also sees the mission aspect as an important part of IT staff retention. Simon says this also contributes to the San Francisco-based organization's high IT retention rate. "People are working here because they are cause-oriented. They are here because they want to save the world."

The kindness of technology giants

The low IT budgets of many nonprofit organizations lead CTOs to forge creative partnerships with charitable benefactors, often some of the most visible technology vendors. The result has been the creation of innovative strategies to dispense information and aid to the needy.