New to the sector, our intrepid reporter gets the goods on ‘open’ and ‘open source’ technologies for nonprofit fundraising. Did you even know there was a difference?

By Melissa Busch

There are plenty of well-known open-source packages out there. Quinn mentions Joomla!, a content-management system that helps groups build Web sites and other online applications; Drupal, a content-management platform; and Moodle, a course-management system for educators.

Until recently, MPower, the Dallas-based provider of software for CRM and fundraising for nonprofits, only provided proprietary — or closed — software. Meaning, MPower sold licenses to use its software, and its users had no access to its source code, MPower Founder and CEO Randy McCabe explains.