Nonprofit Tech for Good

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

The advent of the Mobile Web is slowly starting to permeate and transform nonprofit communications. Just like social media transformed the nonprofit sector and how it communicates with its supporters, so will the Mobile Web (even more so). The best new media managers, online community builders, bloggers, and activists will be connected and communicating with their supporters from anywhere, at any time when the need arises.

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Blackberry Tools Media Management 220

Amy Sample Ward

SEPTEMBER 13, 2010

The monthly Community Builder chat series is part of the #4Change community of regularly scheduled chats, bringing together people from around the world to talk about examples, practices, tips and more as we all explore the way technology can be used for social change. This is the second in what will be a monthly series of chats specifically focused on Community Building.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

SEPTEMBER 13, 2010

I know for many of you this is old news. But since I’m not on twitter anymore, and I don’t read my RSS feeds as often as I should. In July, Idealware published the Nonprofit Social Media Decision Guide. It’s great – chock full of good information, and some very, very interesting research. One of the most interesting tidbits of data to me was the large gap between people who “thought&# social media of varied types either helped them reach new audiences, or helped the

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NCE Social Media

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

Ever wonder if you should create an application, i.e. an app, related to your organization for people to use on their phones? The answer is maybe or maybe not just yet. Let’s look at the current market of people who use apps. A Pew Internet Study found that. 82% of adults surveyed used cellphones. Out of those 82%, only 35% have apps on their cell phones.

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Phone Survey Application Internet 109

Speaker: Andrew Olsen, CFRE - EVP, Fundraising Solutions at DickersonBakker | Kat Landa, CFRE, CSD - SVP, Talent Solutions at DickersonBakker

Across the nonprofit sector, organizations invest heavily in donor retention efforts, yet the struggle of cultivating lasting relationships remains. While attracting new donors is crucial, the lack of repeat donors poses significant financial risks. Through a comprehensive analysis of industry data, experts argue that there is a direct correlation between donor burnout, donor retention, and the talent retention crisis.

Donor

Wild Apricot

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

Showcasing your non-profit’s history helps to establish its stability, to build trust, and to communicate the general development of the organization and its mission. But let’s face it, those “Our History” pages can be deadly dull! What if your website visitors could explore by clicking around a colorful timeline, instead? ( read more ). Tags: application Non-profit technology nptech open source timeline website websites Widgets.

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History Interaction Open Source Widget 118

Amy Sample Ward

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

That’s right, the session selection process is open for the 2011 Nonprofit Technology Conference ! I have a few proposals up for voting but there are SO many great ones that I am enjoying reading through them all (hope all the 5 star votes don’t through things off!). Vote today! Here’s what the NTEN team said about voting: We received more than 400 ideas this year — a 75% increase over last year — and we need your help to narrow those down to the 100 or so that will

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NTEN

SEPTEMBER 13, 2010

Ben Rigby, The Extraordinaires. If you’re like most people working at a nonprofit, you probably had a “Holy Mobile!” moment in January, 2010, when an outpouring of donations followed the devastating Haiti quake. This, you expected. But what you may not have anticipated was that $41m of these dollars flowed through mobile phones via “premium text messages.

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Phone Mobile Method Haiti 94

Wild Apricot

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

You've heard about some time-saving free Google Docs templates that can save time for non-profits creating documents, spreadsheets and presentations – but did you know Microsoft.com has a bundle of free Office Suite templates that are designed especially for non-profits? ( read more ). Tags: collaboration documents event management General non-profit interest Microsoft Non-profit Communications Non-profit technology nptech office print productivity project management publicity spreadsheets Staff

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Amy Sample Ward

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

I come across so many great conversations, ideas, and resources all over the web every day. Here are some of the most interesting things I’ve found recently (as of September 16th). You can join the conversations in the comments, or click through to the original posts to find what others are saying. To follow more of the things I find online, you can follow @amysampleward on Twitter (which is just a blog and resource feed), or find me on Delicious (for all kinds of bookmarks).

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Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

SEPTEMBER 17, 2010

The Foundation Center released a report that documents the usage of social media tools by foundation executives based on survey responses from 73 members of the Center’s Grantmaker Leadership Panel. The report outlines which social media services are used regularly or occasionally by foundation leaders, which blogs are read by CEOs and how often, the perceived usefulness of Web 2.0 in philanthropic work, and highlights the social media activity of two “power users&# in the field.

Social Media 101

Social Media Foundation Studies Media 101

Speaker: Tim Sarrantonio

The average nonprofit uses five or more different software platforms to create their donor’s journey, making the experience clunky and disjointed. If you want to design a magical online giving experience for donors, making their journey as seamless as possible is key. In this webinar with expert Tim Sarrantonio, you’ll learn the fundamental steps to create an immersive and personalized online giving experience for your donors.

Donor

NTEN

SEPTEMBER 13, 2010

Voting is now open for the 2011 Nonprofit Technology Conference session proposals! > Vote Now. We received more than 400 ideas this year -- a 75% increase over last year -- and we need your help to narrow those down to the 100 or so that will make the 2011 NTC the best one yet. I'm not gonna lie: this is not a quick & easy task. It took me about 90 minutes to vote on every session.

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Wild Apricot

SEPTEMBER 17, 2010

This is a guest post by Keith Holloway. Keith is the founding partner of BetterMail.ca , an engagement campaign software company that operates a consulting division completely focused on search marketing and Wild Apricot is a (happy!) client of BetterMail.ca. He can be reached at keith@bettermail.ca or followed on twitter.com/TorontoSEO. Search engine optimization, or SEO, is something we've all heard about, but what is it, really, and why should any association or non-profit manager care about.

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Associations Profit Site Search 113

Amy Sample Ward

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

Tonight was the 2nd monthly Community Builder chat ; and I had a great time! There was some really rich conversation with lots of great ideas shared and best practices recommended. Get the full transcript here! Question 1 : asked about migrating a community from one tool to another, specifically from listservs to a website/forum. Some of the responses highlighted the need to understand what was currently working for the listserv conversations and what would be a valuable hook to move people to t

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Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

SEPTEMBER 13, 2010

Photo by Beth Kanter. I’m just back from a few days mostly offline in the Point Reyes National Seashore area to walk along the beach and appreciate the beautiful views and nature. Taking an Internet or technology break is important, especially if you live a constantly connected lifestyle. (It isn’t easy at first) Above all it helps you examine your relationship with technology and find balance.

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Social Network Relationship Network Technology 101

Advertiser: Digital Ocean

Effectively managing cloud technology is getting more complex. From cybersecurity concerns, vendor lock-in, cost increases, or lack of transparency on costs, it can quickly get out of control. Knowing what you can control and finding a platform that’s built with nonprofits in mind is key.

Nonprofit

Tech Soup

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

At NTC this year, I interviewed Mark Horvath , creator of InvisiblePeople.tv. Mark's expertise in video production, his personal experience with homelessness, and his huge heart uniquely position him to help homeless people share their stories. Many of the interviews on InvisiblePeople.tv are emotionally difficult, but they put a much-needed human face on the complexities of homelessness in America.

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Wild Apricot

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

Since launching in 2006, Wild Apricot's mission has been to help non-profits, small associations, and other member-driven organizations with their technology challenges through our software, and also by sharing useful information through this blog. The blog has evolved over the years to reflect the trends of the time and the interests of the community.

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Change Reflection News Associations 97

Amy Sample Ward

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

Date : September 15th, 2010. Location : Online – [link]. Topic : Tools and Apps to Energize your Base. Description : I’ll be presenting, along with Corvida Raven and Sarah Dijulio, about different tools and strategies to empower and inspire your community to take action. Related Links : Women Who Tech , Blog post and notes. Tags: 2010 presentation engagement tools womenwhotech wwt.

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Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

Three Models. No matter where I’m speaking or teaching workshops, the same questions come up … How much time does it take to do social media effectively? Who in our organization is going to do the work? How are ever going to find the time to do social media? Social media does take time even if you are efficient. While the specific hour count can vary depending on what depth of your social media strategy, you need at the minimum couple of hours of week for a selective strategy.

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Advertiser: Syncrony

Looking for cost reductions for your nonprofit? Why not consider modernizing with a digital board management system that's designed to work with remote meetings, with immediate cost reductions if you still distribute paper packets to members? Get going in less than an hour on a fully hosted cloud solution built on the latest technology that runs on any device - from desktops to tablets and smartphones - without any installation.

Nonprofit

NTEN

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

Ken Berger & Robert M. Penna, Ph.D., Charity Navigator. As calls increase for charities to be more open and accountable in their management and reporting, it is natural for many of them to ask, considering the extra work involved, "What’s in it for us? Is there a connection between more transparency and more successful fundraising?" One answer to that question today is: There probably isn’t an overwhelming connection at the moment; but.

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Care2

SEPTEMBER 12, 2010

No matter where you look, social media is on everyone’s radar. The big question nonprofits ask is, how useful is social media? In an attempt to help nonprofits answer that question, Idealware , in partnership with NOI , recently released " The Nonprofit Social Media Decision Guide.". According to Idealware’s survey of over 750 nonprofit staffers: Almost 80% "think" that they reach new supporters using Facebook, Twitter, video sharing sites like YouTube, and blogging.

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Social Media Media Social Myspace 76

Amy Sample Ward

SEPTEMBER 13, 2010

I come across so many great conversations, ideas, and resources all over the web every day. Here are some of the most interesting things I’ve found recently (as of September 13th). You can join the conversations in the comments, or click through to the original posts to find what others are saying. To follow more of the things I find online, you can follow @amysampleward on Twitter (which is just a blog and resource feed), or find me on Delicious (for all kinds of bookmarks).

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Web Bookmarking Empowerment Virtual 111

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

Palo Alto Community Fund. View more presentations from Beth Kanter. As part of my work as Visiting Scholar for Social Media and Nonprofits at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, I’ve had the pleasure to do a number of workshops in the area. Last evening, I had the pleasure of presenting a Networked Nonprofit mini-workshop for a group of about 50 local nonprofits and government agencies in Palo Alto hosted by the Palo Alto Community Fund.

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Policy Social Media Fund Reflection 94

Advertiser: DonorDock

Are your donors your biggest fans, or are you lacking donor loyalty? The truth is, your donors have expectations of what their relationship with your organization should look like. This ebook will help you learn how to live up to those expectations!

Donor

Wild Apricot

SEPTEMBER 13, 2010

During the month of August our main focus continued to be on version 4.0 - reviewing and addressing feedback from clients who volunteered for beta-testing, testing, and retesting (and retesting again, and again.) each and every feature/change in the system. A little factoid: previous version 3.4 included 293 'tickets', or work items (and that was a pretty big release in itself).

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News Software Test Review 60

NTEN

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

It wouldn't be unusual if thinking about your organization as a brand makes you just a little uncomfortable. After all, social change isn't a commodity: you're not selling breakfast cereal; you're trying to change the world. (Although I, for one, would be more likely to donate if it somehow involved colored marshmallows.). Instead, think of branding as a way to make your job easier.

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Demonstration Strategy Registration NTEN 60

Tech Soup

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

Editor’s Note: This is the first of a five-part series we'll be cross-posting on the TechSoup Blog from our friends in from Microsoft's Corporate Citizenship team. You can view this original post at the Microsoft Unlimited Potential Blog. Microsoft released a new paper, Demystifying IT Adoption and Innovation in the Nonprofit Sector (PDF). This paper is a follow-up to their work entitled Unleashing Technology to Advance Social Change (PDF) that presented their perspective on exciting IT trends a

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Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

I first met Mark Horvath on Twitter and later face-to-face last December during a trip down the California coast during the holidays. Mark is a free agent championing the cause of homelessness. A free agent is a person (many times a GenY, but not always ) who is a passionate about a social cause, but is working outside of a nonprofit organization to organize , mobilize , raise money , and engage with others.

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Free Celebrate Homeless California 93

Advertisement

Organizations like yours are increasingly realizing that technology adoption is only as good as the technology you choose. Statistics from a 2014 NTEN study show that seriously investing resources in training for your staff corresponds to higher adoption and ultimately technology effectiveness. In this report, we’ll give you a high-level overview of how to get your organization in shape for technology adoption and best practices for facilitating this critical process.

Nonprofit

Forum One

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

Part 1: Discover. Synopsis: The conversations on social media can really tell a rich story about your brand, topic, cause, target audiences, or other area of interest. It is important to develop effective listening techniques in order to make decisions and justify activities based on these stories. As the first in my series on best practices for listening and engagement, this posts discusses tactics for discovery, the processes of defining content and sources for your listening activities.

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Social Media Practice Media Social 57

NTEN

SEPTEMBER 17, 2010

There's a trope in many a science-fiction movie: you need to fix the tech to save the day. In Empire , R2D2 reconnects the hyperdrive just in time. In Wrath of Kahn , Spock fixes the warp drive just in time. In Back to the Future , Doc Brown gets the cable plugged in -- yes, just in time. While's it's not quite as exciting in real life, getting your IT aligned with your mission can be your sliding down the cable moment, just what you need to send your organization from 88 MPH to, well -- okay, s

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Doc Org NTEN Movie 57

Tech Soup

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

Driven fellow that I am, I recently went looking for some additional tips on of little things folks can do to get closer to having the mythical paperless office. I happened to come across the free e-book version of Wiley's Green Office for Dummies , compliments of the printer label company, Avery. It's actually a 32-page short version of Wiley's much longer Green Business Practices For Dummies.

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Green Statistics Industry Tips 59

Care2

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

Our Story Recently, four allied grassroots campaigns (1Sky, Clean Energy Works, the Energy Action Coalition and Focus the Nation) set out to build an unprecedented online community: multiple organizations engaging their supporters together toward common goals on a shared online platform. We called it “The Climate Network.&#. Despite a significant financial investment and hours of planning, coding, reviewing, designing, outreach, and training to make the project a success, we were ultimatel

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Offline Platform Community Build 59

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Association executives—and hopefully their boards—know that they are facing perilous times. Driven by the pace of cultural and technological change, they are experiencing major disruptions in the traditional business models that used to guide organizational growth strategies.orgSource offers a straightforward approach to navigating these changes and readying your organization for growth.

Associations