We are in the midst of a deep, long, cultural transition, profoundly related to the incorporation of networked media technologies, wired and wireless, into virtually all aspects of our daily lives. This trend assures that the growth of networks and our roles within them will be steady and self-reinforcing. It is through network relationships (between concepts, ideas, and human interaction) that new products, services, and intangibles are spawned. The necessity is for NGOs to adopt both a network perspective and management tools that will allow them to seize this opportunity.
Network technology has created a larger sense of community and supports new forms of collaborative work and civic responsibility. These principles are being transferred onto the plane of human communication and production at large. The result is a social benefit based on volunteering, free cooperation, and a gift economy.
The Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) reports that NGOs recognize the need to use existing networks as platforms for knowledge creation, learning, and shaping the external environment in favorable ways, including:
- Designing gatherings to better serve practitioner learning needs (depth)
- Offering more opportunities for building extended networks to include other key ecosystem players (breadth)
- Helping their social entrepreneurs develop their skills for “leveraging their Rolodex” (their contacts, including weak ties)
- Improving communication mechanisms and learning opportunities across global networks, perhaps organizing sub-groups around specific fields or topics of interest
- Developing common learning programs and curricula across different formal networks, in which the members have similar needs
- Enhancing the cooperative and gift economy characteristics of their networks to shape contributions toward specific goals and objectives
Value Networks can help social good organizations readily obtain these results.
First, one needs to understand that network dynamics are not random; they have discernible patterns which can be enhanced and supported. Even small contributions can trigger significant results. Value network patterns can be visualized and analyzed, to better understand generation of tangible and intangible value. Change can be predicted, influenced, and managed for more positive outcomes. Desirable exchanges and interactions can be activated even in very complex networks. Emergent and self-organizing characteristics of the network can be identified to open up opportunities earlier and more effectively. Role identification and activation brings forth a collective intelligence that far exceeds the capacities of individual contributors. One of the greatest values generated from the network environment is the intangible but critical flows of information produced by people acting in identifiable roles. Intangibles, usually identified by NGOs as intellectual, human, social, and political capital, are critical to their operation. Intangible value capacity and generation stands with operating results as the basis for understanding NGO value. While seldom recognized, the production of these intangibles and their value optimization are managed through networks. Yet, many NGOs do not understand intangible value creation within the context of network potential. And NGO funders generally do not have tools to assess intangible value or its generation capacity. Value networks provides a practical way of not only identifying but also managing these critical intangibles. | 
