June 18th, 2013 by Jesse Chimes
Google Grantees take note: As of July 2013 you will be restricted to promoting just one domain name through the Google Grants program.
If you have separate domain names for events or fundraisers, you may want to consider bringing those within your primary site as a subdomain.
Hallman Communications does a nice job of explaining the change.
For more on the URL policy, visit Google Grants’ help center.
June 17th, 2013 by Jesse Chimes
Here are some upcoming classes and webinars for your nonprofit staff to take advantage of.
Getting Started with Social Media Fundraising
Are you using social media for to raise money? If you aren’t, consider attending this Idealware webinar on the basics of fundraising through social media. The presenter Andrea Berry will cover which tools can help you reach a wider audience and how to engage that audience to develop an effective campaign, and more!
Auditing Your Website for Usability Issues
Here’s another from our friends at Idealware, this time covering website usability. Having a user-friendly website is a must in the nonprofit sector, and this webinar will help you achieve that.
Don’t forget about 501cTECH’s very own free webinar Wednesday at 2:00 PM, covering the 2013 Technology Impact Awards application process. You can register for that here. The last day for applications is Monday, June 24!
If you’re interested in having your event featured here on our blog or over on our Facebook page, please send an email to jchimes@501ctech.org.
June 10th, 2013 by Jesse Chimes
Webinar Series: Nonprofit Technology
NTEN goes back to the basics with this comprehensive three-part webinar series on pretty much everything you need to know about technology in the nonprofit sector.
The first session on June 12 is an Orientation to Nonprofit Technology that will cover the basics: technology terms, technology competence analysis, mission-aligned technology, and more. You can register for that here. It’s $25 for NTEN member and $75 for everyone else.
The second session on June 19 delves a little deeper. Get a Grip on Technology Management: People, Hardware, Software, Oh My! covers assessing your technology, understanding the human side of the technology equation, and knowing what makes a technology appropriate for your organization. Register for it here! This one is $75 for members and $125 for everyone else.
The third an final session Tools, Resources and Support mostly covers managing the technology once its in place. Register here. It’s $75 for members and $125 for nonmembers.
Just the details:
And don’t forget about 501cTECH’s very own free webinar next Tuesday at 2:00 PM, covering the 2013 Technology Impact Awards application process. You can register for that here.
If you’re interested in having your event featured here on our blog or over on our Facebook page, please send an email to jchimes@501ctech.org.
June 7th, 2013 by Jesse Chimes
June 24, 2013.
That is the last possible day you can submit an application for the Technology Impact Awards. If you think your organization has used technology to further your mission in an innovative way, then fill out this very simple one-page application A.S.A.P.!
How Big is Your Budget?
We split applicants into two categories: One for organizations with a budget OVER $2 million, and one for organizations with a budget UNDER $2 million. There will be a first-place winner AND a runner-up from each category.
We think this levels the playing field. It’s a lot like weight classes in boxing; I’m not a big boxing fan, but from what I understand, it’s harder for smaller guys to beat up larger guys?
Free Money
The first-place winner from each category will win $7,500 in unrestricted cash to spend on whatever they would like. Also, for the first time in TIA history, the runner-up from each category will win a cash prize as well! They will each get $1,000 to spend freely.
TL;DR: Two DC-area nonprofits will win $7,500 and two other DC-area nonprofits will win $1,000.
Previous Winners
Last year, Bread for the City won in the larger category for implementing a “Patient Portal” system that works with Bread for the City’s electronic medical records system to provide a free way for clinic patients to access their health information online.
Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders integrated (ICDL) won in the smaller category for integrating two educational software platforms, Moodle and Blackboard, to combine traditional online education with live weekly classes using virtual classrooms.
Check the “Past Winners” page of our website to see what winners from the previous three Technology Impact Awards did to warrant their winnings.
For more information and to apply for the Technology Impact Awards, head over to our TIA page!
You can also register for our final FREE 30-minute webinar on June 19!
June 5th, 2013 by Jesse Chimes
Google and your organization may have more in common than you think.
Sure, Google is a multibillion-dollar for-profit corporation with over 50,000 employees and a verb in the English Dictionary derived from its namesake, but it also has an altruistic side just like your nonprofit.
Google wants to help your organization make the world a better place by providing its premium services for free, or at a deep discount, so take advantage! Apply to the Google for Nonprofits program. It couldn’t be any easier, or make any more sense.
What do you get? Excellent question! I’ll tell you.
Email with Google-powered search, 25GB of storage, offline support, custom email addresses, and much more.
Easily schedule meetings at times that work for everyone, get meeting reminders, and share calendars.
Store your files (documents, spreadsheets, and presentations) in the cloud, share them, and have access to them from anywhere.
$10,000 per-month to spend on keyword advertising.
Make it easy for donors to fund your mission by having a one-click donate option on the subscription page.
Place a Call to Action on your videos, which viewers can click to visit your website, donate, or learn more.
Stream video live on your channel–great for events, conferences, and reporting.
Fewer restrictions on size and amount of footage.
Tips for best practices to help you make the most impactful videos possible.
3D interactive globe that can be used to aid planning, analysis and decision-making. Offers data visualization, site planning and information sharing tools.
Overlay your own data on a customized Google Map. More on that.
One Today: FREE
Allows for people to easily donate $1.00 from their phone.
For more information, and to apply to the program, check out the Google for Nonprofits page.
501cTECH provides comprehensive support for organizations migrating to the Google Apps suite, so if you’re thinking of making the move, let us know.
June 3rd, 2013 by Jesse Chimes
Here are some upcoming classes and webinars for your nonprofit staff to take advantage of.
First, an online seminar about conducting online seminars!
Getting Started with Online Conferencing and Seminar Tools
Idealware will teach you how to conduct meetings or trainings over the Web using desktop sharing, slideshows, chat functionality, polls, voice conferencing, and more! Then they will explore some free and affordable platforms.
Prospect Research Basics: Researching Individual Donors
The Foundation Center is hosting a seminar on researching individual prospective donors. The class will cover compiling lists of potential donors, research strategies, identifying relevant information sources, ethical standards for finding out information about individuals, and more.
Also, don’t forget about 501cTECH’s very own free webinar this Wednesday 10:00 AM, covering the 2013 Technology Impact Awards application process. You can register for that here.
If you’re interested in having your event featured here on our blog or over on our Facebook page, please send an email to jchimes@501ctech.org.
May 30th, 2013 by Jesse Chimes
NTEN released its 7th annual Nonprofit Technology Staffing and Investment Report last month with a record-breaking 2,654 respondents from its community of about 30,000 contacts as well as some from The Foundation Center, and Network for Good.
They asked each respondent to rate their approach to technology, and then sorted them into one of the following four categories of tech adoption accordingly:
Struggling: “We are struggling; we have a failing infrastructure, and our technology time and budget generally go towards creating workarounds, repairing old equipment, and duplicating tasks.”
Functioning: “We keep the lights on; we have basic systems in place to meet immediate needs. Leadership makes technology decisions based on efficiencies, with little-to-no input from staff/consultant.”
Operating: “We keep up; we have stable infrastructure and a set of technology policies and practices. Leadership makes technology decisions based on standard levels according to industry/sector information and gathers input from technology staff/consultant before making final decision.”
Leading: “We’re innovators; we recognize that technology is an investment in our mission, and leadership integrates technology decisions with organizational strategy. Technology-responsible staff are involved in overall strategic planning.”
It’s no surprise that the larger organizations in the survey were more likely to be in either the “Leading” or “Operating” categories—they typically have more to spend on technology—but the report suggests that smaller organizations can close the gap by including technology in their strategic plans, and spending money in smarter ways.
NTEN developed the “Org Staff-Per-Tech Staff” metric to gauge how many technology staff are supporting organizational staff. Divide your organizational staff size by your technology staff size to find your organization’s metric.
“Leading” organizations have about 5x more total technology staff than “Struggling” organizations, and on average, each tech-responsible staff member supports almost 29 organizational staff members.
Just off the top of my head, I can think of one DC-area nonprofit that could provide support to organizations with a high “Org Staff-Per-Tech Staff” metric…
Where does your organization fall on the spectrum of tech adoption? Is your organization including technology in its strategic plans?
May 24th, 2013 by Jesse Chimes
On Average, copiers have a life-span of about seven years. After that, manufactures aren’t on the hook for replacement parts, and trying to prop up an old machine on your own is more trouble than it’s worth.
So, what are your options as a nonprofit when funds are difficult to come by and you’re in need of a new copier?
Obviously, the ideal way to do this is to have it funded, but that takes time and there are no guarantees that you will be able to raise money when funders are often more interested in directly supporting the mission. A second way is to obtain a low-interest loan from your bank. The third option is to lease a copier, which is like leasing a car, only instead of a car, you get a copier!
May 15th, 2013 by June Cartoon
You’ve probably been in a social situation where you’ve been surrounded by people who are paying absolutely no attention to you. They’re texting, Tweeting, updating their blog, and checking their Facebook status.
There are a lot of arguments about technology damaging human relationships, but a recent program funded by the AARP Foundation is investigating how building technology connections can help senior citizens combat isolation. This new program provides iPads to seniors and includes classes on how to use the Internet, social media and Skype.
The program helps to connect senior citizens with distant relatives and friends as a way to increase social interaction and combat loneliness.
What do you think, is technology making us lonely? Or is technology a way to help combat loneliness? Are you going to start using your iPad to reconnect with long-lost friends?
May 13th, 2013 by Sarah Morgan
What do you think of when I say “Tech Tool”? Is the first thing that comes to mind hardware? Software?
At 501cTECH, we advocate a holistic approach to your organization’s technology. The flashiest, shiniest tools sure are cool, but in many cases, your organization wants to spend its resources on something reliable and easy to use.
On Friday, our own Abigail Goliber spoke at YNPNdc‘s Spring Leadership Conference to talk about technology tools for your nonprofit.
When you think of Tech Tools, you may think of PowerPoint, or a blog, or mobile optimization for your website. These are of course, great things, but when we talk about Tech Tools, we’re talking about:
Stable infrastructure may not sound particularly glamorous, but when you turn on your computer in the morning, you want to be able to access your organization’s files. It’s like your car, when you get in and shift into drive, you want to be able to move forward. The same is true of your technology infrastructure. Does it do what you want it to do on a regular basis, or are you constantly making time-consuming repairs?
Are you storing all of your files on a local server? If you’re working from home due to a flexible work schedule or because you’re ill or the weather’s bad, can you access your work files? Cloud storage is a great solution for a mobile workforce-and as a bonus, cloud storage can be cheaper than maintaining your own local servers.
We like to emphasize that social media is just ONE tool in your toolbox. It WILL NOT be the silver bullet to bring your more volunteers, more donors and better job applicants. It is; however, a great tool to have in your arsenal. The next generation of donors and volunteers are probably reading about your organization on Twitter. Or through a blog. It’s important to have a presence on social media so that you can start to engage with this audience. Remember though, social media alone will not save your organization.
In the same way that you change the oil in your car on a regular basis, it’s important to regularly inspect and maintain your organization’s technology. This includes, but is not limited to, regularly checking your cables and connections for corrosion or wear, checking the ink and toner on your printer, and regularly updating software and hardware as it becomes outdated or no longer serviceable. Regular maintenance can prevent the surprise of a sudden breakdown and can help to prevent instances of costly one-time repair.
It’s important to keep technology in the forefront of your mind when talking about your organization’s long-term strategic plan and budget. We know, it’s not glamorous and your limited resources can be used to further your mission. Technology is the tool that helps you achieve your mission though-and it’s important that you treat it like a necessary tool, not an afterthought.
