Nonprofit Tech for Good

JULY 9, 2012

My last full-time, Monday-through-Friday job was as an outreach director for a small international development organization in San Francisco. Working within the confines of an almost non-existent online communications budget, my primary responsibilities were to maintain our website and publish a twice-monthly e-newsletter, quarterly print newsletter, and numerous print fundraising appeals through out the year.

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NetWits

JULY 10, 2012

Facebook has it’s roots in education. Launching in February 2004 for students at Harvard University it quickly became a popular site and expanded to other colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy Leagues, and Stanford University. Once Facebook conquered colleges the now web-giant with more than 900 million active monthly users moved on to support high schools.

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Robert Weiner

JULY 10, 2012

My colleague Charlie Hunsaker posted the following question on the FUNDSVCS Advancement Services listserve: I have two clients who are looking for new systems and want a “cost justification” for their acquisition to share with their management. Probably an issue that we should all be looking at. So with some background, I’ve got some questions. First, there are often situations where we “have to” replace our current system – regardless of costs or expected $$$ benefits: 1.

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Amy Sample Ward

JULY 13, 2012

I’m really excited to join Tony Martignetti for the 100th episode of Nonprofit Radio. We’ve been taking questions from listeners and would love to hear from you – there may be prizes in it for you (hint, hint!). I’ll be joined by Tony’s regular contributors, including: Gene Takagi & Emily Chan of the Nonprofit & Exempt Organizations law group , Maria Semple , The Prospect Finder , and Scott Koegler , editor of Nonprofit Technology News.

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Hints Law Alternative Nonprofit 156

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

Nonprofit Tech for Good

JULY 11, 2012

To follow up on Monday’s post about why nonprofits should consider hiring a social media manger , below is an excerpt from Social Media for Social Good: A How-To Guide for Nonprofits that helps further explore the time commitment necessary to create and sustain a comprehensive social media stategy for your nonprofit. The estimates below allow for the time required to research and create content for your social media campaigns, the actual time spent engaging and participating in your nonpro

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NetWits

JULY 11, 2012

I recently gave a talk to a super engaged group of people who work in the education space as part of our Schools out for Summer Series - You can find out about upcoming sessions here. Our focus was Facebook. With over 900 Million users Facebook is the top social media site on the planet. It’s the place to be for most nonprofits. Especially those in the education sector.

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Facebook Student Poll Slides 186

Amy Sample Ward

JULY 10, 2012

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 July 10th). 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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NCE Social Media

JULY 12, 2012

Since I wrote about Pinterest earlier , I wanted to share a video about how to set up and use Pinterest. Pinterest is a social media pinboard now used by more than 10 million people per month. If you’re interested in the demographics, more women than men have started use it. Now how can your organization use it? Well, Pinterest has a pinboard with lots of examples including using it with blogging, education, YouTube, and many more.

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NetWits

JULY 13, 2012

It is submission-mania in the nptech world right now. From taglines to SXSW, there’s a plethora of opportunities to strut your savvy stuff. Have a look at some of the great opportunities below… 2012 Nonprofit Tagline Awards. Enter your organization’s tagline into this year’s award contest. As a bonus, every entrant will be invited to join Nancy for a free webinar in late summer: “Aha!

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Award NTC Contest Nonprofit 146

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

JULY 9, 2012

Note From Beth: With the rise of mobile adoption and the primary use to access the Internet and social platforms, it is reaching across consumer segments of all income levels. Zero Divide published a report called “Funding Mobile Strategies for Social Impact: The Future is Now”. that explores how mobile is bridging the digital divide and opportunity for nonprofits.

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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

Wild Apricot

JULY 11, 2012

How can your association stay relevant and deliver meaningful experiences to your members? We're previewing an article by Trish Hudson (Melos Institute) that offers tips on changing your perspective to change your association's outcomes.

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Associations Tips Experiment Change 102

NTEN

JULY 13, 2012

Britt Bravo. Nonprofit Blogger. brittbravo.com. So, you're ready to start a blog for your organization (or wondering why people aren't reading your current one)? It helps to have a plan. Will you make me a promise before you read this? Don't make blog planning a six-month process. A little planning will go a long way towards making your blog more successful.

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NetWits

JULY 9, 2012

Download the complete 2011 Online Giving Report to learn more about the 13% YoY growth, double-digit growth since 2009 and the top reasons your nonprofit should invest in its online fundraising program. Download the report now! . No matter how well an organization is doing with its online fundraising, it will eventually hit plateaus and declines.

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Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

JULY 10, 2012

Post consistent content that your audience loves and your social media will be successful. Is it that simple? Yes and no. Using best practices and tips based on research can help you improve. But if you want to get better results, you need a content strategy, strong creation and curation skills, and a robust measurement process. And the latter is not about gathering data – it is about making sense of it and using it to continually improve.

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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

Wild Apricot

JULY 13, 2012

If you are looking for ways of surveying your members, here are 5 tips for effective online surveys as well as an overview of online survey tools to consider.

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NTEN

JULY 10, 2012

Kelley Jarrett. Marketing Manager. Guide Creative. Websites are tools used to engage, interact with and mobilize your audience – and ultimately, inspire action. Effective nonprofit websites don’t exist as boutiques to show off information. But you already know that. You know that your nonprofits website is a tool that should be used. From our extensive research and work with nonprofits in creating strategic, impactful websites, we've uncovered and organized a list of the top 10 elements of an ef

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Websites Effective Nonprofit Audience 93

NetWits

JULY 12, 2012

School’s out for summer and you’re catching up on work, planning for a new school year and making some much needed, long overdue updates to your website, right? But the overwhelming question looms…where should you start? While you have some time this summer, ask yourself the following questions so you can identify opportunities for improvement in your school’s web presence.

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Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

JULY 11, 2012

I was honored to write a feature article in the recent issue of the NTEN journal called “ The Unanticipated Benefits of Content Curation: Reducing Information Overload.” I’ll be doing a FREE webinar on Thursday, July 12 at 11 am PST to walk you through the idea and practices described in the area. You can register for the webinar here.

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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

Wild Apricot

JULY 9, 2012

We've just released Version 4.4 of Wild Apricot! Here's an overview of the updates and enhancements included in this release.

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NTEN

JULY 12, 2012

Jason Samuels. Manager of Information Technology. National Council on Family Relations. We suddenly need to reshape, rethink, and redesign our content to work on smartphones, tablets, apps, social channels, eBooks, and more including what's yet to come. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a data nerd. And the organization I work for recently passed our four-year mark using Google Analytics.

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ASU Lodestar Center

JULY 11, 2012

posted by Isaac Kiehl , ICAN , Positive Programs for Youth, Communications Coordinator. One of the primary gauges we use for digital communications is post reach and engagement, including number of views and amount of individuals who have interacted with a “like” or comment. As a nonprofit, your message is most likely tailored toward a specific cause, whether it’s through news, links, or photos.

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Eric Jacobsen Blog

JULY 7, 2012

Fortunately, most of my career I’ve worked in effective corporate cultures. If I put together the best of each, here is what made those environments effective: • Leaders led by example on a consistent basis and were willing to roll up their sleeves, particularly during tight deadlines or challenging times. • Employees clearly understood how what they did made a difference and how their contributions made the organization either more profitable or more effective. • The workforce included a blend

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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

JULY 10, 2012

We're offering a free webinar on Wed. July 11 - Managing Your Membership Database in Wild Apricot.

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NTEN

JULY 10, 2012

Put on your thinking caps, because session submission for the 2013 Nonprofit Technology Conference (13NTC) will be open from July 10th - August 3rd 2012. We have made changes to the Session Submission Guidelines and the Session Submission form. Submitters are required to review the guidelines before submitting session ideas. Read the guidelines and submit your session >> Also new this year, we're sharing not only the themes for our tracks but some ideas about what session topics we'd like

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Care2

JULY 10, 2012

If you're nonprofit wants to ramp up its social media posting strategy, check out this One-Page Social Media Posting Guide by Topnonprofits.com , which offers tips on content strategy, the best times to post social media updates, and understanding your audiences. The guide was created for organizations that don't have full time social media staff or have limited resources.

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Tech Soup

JULY 10, 2012

Here's something we all dread: Slide after slide loaded with text that is being "read" by the presenter. But then when we are asked to create a presentation, we fall into the same trap. Or we go to the other extreme and create a presentation full of images, animations, and more information than any human mind can handle. Here are three ways in which you can keep your presentation alive: First: Balance between presentation and interaction.

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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

Eric Jacobsen Blog

JULY 12, 2012

Next month, Overland Park, KS-based author and consultant Leigh Branham will publish an updated version (Second Edition) of his best-seller, The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave. In the meantime, Branham explains that the most effective things a workplace leader can do to keep employee turnover low don't cost money; they just cost time and effort. Branham says a leader should : 1.

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NTEN

JULY 11, 2012

Kelley Jarrett. Market Manager. Guide Creative. Websites are tools used to engage, interact with and mobilize your audience – and ultimately, inspire action. Here are tips 3 & 4 on how to make your website more effective. "The Web is a world of first impressions, and quick ones at that. Users form an opinion of a website within the first few seconds of loading it.

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Websites Effective Roles Nonprofit 81

Care2

JULY 13, 2012

With so many apps coming out all the time it’s easy to miss the ones built for social good and hard to keep up on useful apps that nonprofits and causes can use to do their work. Frogloop has you covered. Here’s our wrap-up of new, updated, and helpful apps for doing good. This week we’ve found apps from museums. Mobile apps are an interesting way for museums to advance their educational missions beyond people’s expectations.

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Tech Soup

JULY 10, 2012

Here at TechSoup, we know that contests and challenges are an excellent way to marshal the enthusiasm and talent of our community. Our annual Digital Storytelling Challenge , Restart Romania , and NetSquared challenges are just a few examples of how we get our community members engaged at multiple levels. Interested in learning how to best use contests and challenges to activate your own community?

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Contest Challenge Community Romania 57

Advertisement

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