NetWits

APRIL 2, 2011

We’re all focused on the non-profit space, but some times it’s good to take a look at how the internet is being used on a broader scale. It helps give us perspective and challenges our thinking which leads to potentially making decisions differently. So here’s a few recent stats for you to chew on … 78% of Internet users conduct product research online. 78% of business people use their mobile device to check email. 40% of US smartphone owners compare prices on their mobil

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Internet Statistics Business Marketing 269

Nonprofit Tech for Good

APRIL 21, 2011

It took 2 years, 10 months, and 50,000 clicks of a mouse, but yesterday @ NonprofitOrgs followed its 50,000th nonprofit on Twitter! I start each morning browsing those that followed @ NonprofitOrgs the day and night before, and follow those that are nonprofits and nonprofit staff in return. There a handful of nonprofit service providers in there too.

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Amy Sample Ward

APRIL 11, 2011

Last week, I had a lot of fun test-driving Qriously , a new application that replaces advertisements on smart phones with questions, creating real-time feedback about the topics you are interested in. I had so much fun, in fact, that I shared screen shots and some thoughts around the way organizations could put a tool like this to use. (If you missed it, here’s last week’s post about Qriously.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

APRIL 4, 2011

Content Management Systems are an essential part of the communications function of nonprofit organizations. There are a myriad of options, open source options are among the most popular, possibly the most popular. I’m going to focus here on the nonprofit sector, and options that are most common among nonprofits. On the proprietary side, there are a number of options, and they fall into three categories: Single-source proprietary custom CMS (from one web shop, or web host).

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Speaker: Jennifer Hill

Payroll compliance is a cornerstone of business success, yet for small and midsize businesses, it’s becoming increasingly challenging to navigate the ever-evolving landscape of federal, state, and local regulations. Mistakes can lead to costly penalties and operational disruptions, making it essential to adopt advanced solutions that ensure accuracy and efficiency.

Activities

Judi Sohn

APRIL 28, 2011

Now that our rebranding is off the ground, we've finally implemented something in Salesforce I've wanted to do for a long time.a welcome series of emails to new contacts. Until recently, when someone registered through our website without donating or taking action, they got very little initial feedback from us. They just started hearing from us when we sent out email enewsletters, appeals or action alerts.

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NetWits

APRIL 10, 2011

Last weeks post highlighting a few statistics from the business world seems to have resonated with readers here. That got me thinking more about how we, in the non-profit space, should look to learn from examples, trends and best practices found outside of our sector. So here’s another great bit of learning for us. This week ReadWriteWeb shed some light on the ineffectiveness of social networks to aid in customer acquisition (see graph below). “Of the 24 companies interviewed (in Fo

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Nonprofit Tech for Good

APRIL 7, 2011

Integrating your nonprofit’s Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 campaigns is essential for success in online communications and fundraising. Rather that keeping them separate, once they are merged to compliment one another, your nonprofit’s ROI begins to grow exponentially. To begin, here are five ways to integrate social media into your nonprofit’s website: 1) Add social networking icons to your homepage.

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Amy Sample Ward

APRIL 5, 2011

Last week, the New York Times ran an article exploring a segment of the nonprofit/social impact sector that the author saw as a small minority of organizations, but one I care deeply about: those that plan to go out of business. The article featured Malaria No More, and their vision of the project’s work: to end Malaria. Here’s an excerpt: Most notable, perhaps, is Malaria No More, a popular nonprofit that supplies bed nets in malaria zones.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

APRIL 25, 2011

By Web Server Software, I mean the software used to serve websites/pages. This includes databases, operating systems and other software that is involved in that process. On the proprietary side, there are two options. Proprietary Unix, and Microsoft Windows, and associated Microsoft Software. The current version of MS Server in use is Server 2008. Microsoft has web server software called IIS , and it’s database server product is MS SQL server , which people use for far more than just servi

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 6, 2011

One of the great memories I have of last week's Skoll World Forum is Willy Foote of Root Capital kicking off the Skoll Convening (the grantee meeting just before the Forum) with this ash-cloud inspired song: “Floating in this Cloud” How can I scale the impact of my work? Should I partner or go it alone? How many funders do I really need? And how many miles have I flown?

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Wild Apricot

APRIL 21, 2011

This is the second in our 2-part series listing a variety of tech tools non-profits can use, from volunteer and member management, to fundraising, to website creation, community building, collaboration, and more.( read more ).

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NetWits

APRIL 12, 2011

Petri Darby is the Director of Brand Marketing & Digital Strategy at Make-A-Wish Foundation of America. He blogs at darbyDARNIT. And he’s an all around funny guy (I love the one where he’s reading O Magazine). I had a chance to spend time with Petri at SXSW this year where we talked about how Make-a-Wish Foundation of American is using social media as part of their digital strategy.

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Nonprofit Tech for Good

APRIL 4, 2011

Unlike the Q&A site Quora, Facebook Questions allows brands to ask and answer questions. On Quora you have to be a person, but Facebook Questions uses your nonprofit’s Page and avatar as your Facebook Questions identity. Quora is great for professionals and those that want to spend time building their personal brand online, but I think Facebook’s decision to allow brands to use Questions was smart.

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Speaker: Tim Sarrantonio, Director of Corporate Brand

Is your organization ready to build a recurring giving program that not only sustains but also propels your mission forward? 🚀 In this new webinar with industry visionary Tim Sarrantonio, we’ll guide you through the critical steps to establishing and scaling a successful recurring giving program. Whether you’re starting fresh or enhancing an existing program, this session will provide the strategies you need to deepen donor relationships and secure long-term support!

Giving

Amy Sample Ward

APRIL 27, 2011

My latest contribution to the Stanford Social Innovation Review is up. Read the post below or visit SSIR to read and comment with that community. —– I’ve recently shared a couple interviews exploring two case studies of really successful online fundraising campaigns: SXSW4Japan Raises Over $120,000 and $100,000 in Three Days with #TeamAutism.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

APRIL 12, 2011

I was perusing Social Source Commons (something I don’t do nearly often enough,) and catching up on the SSC blog , and I thought it might be worth sharing with this audience what tools I use for basic consulting workflow. I’ll do another few posts for other areas, like development, system maintenance, personal web presence, and writing. (If you want to look at my Social Source Commons toolbox, it’s here.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 7, 2011

Thanks to commenter Differance bringing up in response to to our last post on this topic that made me want to take a new tack. You're absolutely right that information quality comes from people and that data's fitness for a particular purpose is very contextual. To continue in this direction, let’s look at how people use this information. The people who are in most need of information about humanitarian disasters are the organized responders.

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Wild Apricot

APRIL 11, 2011

In honor of National Volunteer Week, our posts this week will focus on volunteers. In this post, we share some volunteer recognition best practices and ideas.( read more ).

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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

NetWits

APRIL 26, 2011

If you’ve been around the non-profit social media scene for any amount of time you’ve probably heard of (or even met) Danielle Brigida from the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). As the Digital Marketing Manager at NWF she responsible for running NWF’s social media program – Yes, the one that’s been talked about all over the web by such publications as USA Today , The Nonprofit Times , Fast Company , Washington Post , Mashable , GreenTalk Radio , and Fundr

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Nonprofit Tech for Good

APRIL 18, 2011

The number of low-cost or free, web-based resources and tools available to nonprofits today is astounding. So much so that many nonprofit professionals are overwhelmed by the all choices – and as the Mobile Web and related start-ups continue to grow, prepare to be mind-boggled by all the new technology options available to your nonprofit in coming years.

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Amy Sample Ward

APRIL 5, 2011

Last month, at the 2011 Nonprofit Technology Conference , I had the opportunity to run the Community-Driven Social Impact game in a session workshop. The room was full, and participants came up with some terrific examples and options for their organizations. One of the participants was Ericha Hager, the Regional Collaborative Coordinator for Community Media Access Partnership.

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Game Community Impact Media 195

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

APRIL 7, 2011

There are some very interesting comparisons to make in this realm, and, I’d say first off, that the proprietary tools are in the lead, for sure. I’ll start with basic graphics – graphic manipulation tools. Of course, on the proprietary side is the ever present and predominant Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. And, honestly, they are very good tools, and considered industry standards.

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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

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 16, 2011

We had a Bookshare all-hands meeting this week, where our entire team gets together and talks about the latest activities and news about the Bookshare project. One piece of news struck me as being particularly poignant. Melanie Sorensen, who had recently joined the Bookshare Advisory Board, suddenly passed away last month. She missed what was supposed to be her first in-person board meeting because she had the flu.

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Wild Apricot

APRIL 18, 2011

Did you know that thanking volunteers can increase their engagement? In this post we suggest that instead of holding a "thank-a-thon" once a year, you develop on-going volunteer recognition plans.( read more ).

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NetWits

APRIL 1, 2011

Mark Horvath is a passionate guy with an incredible story. He goes by the name Hardly Normal and fights to put a face on homelessness by using the internet, social media and InvisiblePeople.TV (content can be intense) to share stories about real people battling with being out on the street. If you ever doubted the power of the social web or questioned it’s potential to create true impact, spend some time checking out what Mark has helped do.

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Nonprofit Tech for Good

APRIL 25, 2011

In March 2011 Facebook disabled the popular Static FMBL App that many nonprofits had used to create custom tabs on their Facebook Pages. Rather than having their apps be based on FBML, Facebook has now switched over to iframes. Those nonprofits that have already created custom tabs using the Static FBML app will continue to be supported (not indefinitely, however), but those that want create custom tabs for the first time or switch over to iframes have a few new apps to experiment with, namely S

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Advertiser: Syncrony

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Nonprofit