Group items tagged

Government officials have now started using facebook and twitter accounts. It helps people feel more connected and allows them to communicate outside the typical 8-4:30pm, M-F. An issue that arises is it can be an exhausting job for anyone, because it's 24/7. Once the newness of the accounts wear off, they might not be updated as much.

Modernizing the 990-PF to Advance the Accountability and Performance of Foundations: Part 2 (posted 03/21/2011 to website) (John Craig is executive vice-president and COO of The Commonwealth Fund. Craig is chair of the Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York, and a former chair of The Investment Fund for Foundations (TIFF). He serves on the boards of the TIFF Education Fund, the Greenwall Foundation, the International Women's Health Coalition, and the National Center for Law and Philanthropy, and on the investment committee of the Social Science Research Council.)

As the cell phone becomes more affordable to the rest of the world, people with no bank accounts, or those who have to spend a lot of money to go to a bank have found an easier way to carry out transactions.

I think this is similar to what i have at my credit union its called audio teller where we have an automated number we can call during or after banking hours to manage our accounts, I love it and couldnt live without it!! : )

Great timing!  Google just launched two-factor authentication for every Google account. Absolutely something administrators should use for organizations; and something worth enabling for all users, as well. Nice! Andy

I don't think this really covered web 2.0 which is actually a buzzword but an interesting method for document saving that could be useful by opening a wiki account is presented

Wiki documents is a cool group tool

Extensis is a program that allows nonprofits to do more for less. They incorporate Extensis portfolio server and NetPublish into these nonprofits so that they can distribute digital assets more easily. Extensis is an affordable program that improves fundraising, preserves historical records and improves accountability for non-profits.

With over 500 million users, Facebook is the undisputed king of social media. Many users are now turning to Facebook first to learn about businesses and organizations. So, how can a non-profit make the most of Facebook?

A detailed list of things non-profits can do to improve the way they use facebook. I'm sure it is surprising for organizations to find out how much work is truly involved in keeping a social media account up to date and relevant.

Imagine this. You log onto Everycharity.org (or whatever it ends up being called). A website opens: Instead of looking like it was designed by PhD candidates in MIT's accounting program, it's as visually seductive and appealing as iTunes.

Key security issues still need to be addressed as IT is integrated into the nation's electricity infrastructure, according to a recent report released by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). date: article e-published on January 17, 2011 by the News Staff of Government Technology.

The GVSU "Johnson Center for Philanthropy" has a posterous account one can subscribe to follow.

This article covers accounting in non-profits fairly comprehensively.

Thanks to technology, email accounts, social networking sites, and cell phones are now prime marketing real estate. In order to strike the right balance between marketing to the masses and generating revenue, organizations should do two things right away. First, establish communication guidelines that reflect the organization's vision, mission, short and long-term objectives (collectively, the brand)-not what the business Joneses are doing. Second, ask constituents what matters to them.

Clarification - the description is an excerpt beginning with the 4th paragraph of the article. Not my words. "My problem is that for as long as I have tried to figure out, Dropbox made some bold claims about how your files were encrypted and how nobody had access to them, with statements like: All transmission of file data occurs over an encrypted channel (SSL). All files stored on Dropbox servers are encrypted (AES-256) Dropbox employees aren't able to access user files, and when troubleshooting an account they only have access to file metadata (filenames, file sizes, etc., not the file contents)."

Yet another journalist's/expert's opinion on how to best use facebook for a non-profit, including the importance of goals

Gives good tips on how an organization should use facebook. Some of the good tips promote communicating to the fan-base as well as encourage fan-to-fan communication. One of the most important things about NPOs and Facebook is to have a purpose with your page. This article strongly condemns having a page "just to be on facebook" and says that having a strong purpose makes facebook that much more successful.

"It's important for any digitally-minded non-profit to be on Facebook because of the sheer number of active users. So, great - you set up a Facebook account for your organization. Now what?" Note:  "Eight of the world's top ten brand use the Buddy Media Platform (sponsor of "The Facebook Marketing Series") to power their social marketing on FB."

This looks to be a really interesting way to get people connected with Nonprofits. Using your Facebook account, you hook up with Jumo to connect to organizations you care about, and maximize your potential in doing work for them. Founded in February 2010 by one of the founders of Facebook itself, Jumo is still a work in progress. It appears to be a really streamlined way to get involved, and would be an excellent way to get volunteers for any organization.

People giving donations online. Easy as 1-2-3 for givers and non-profits.

Being online has a benefit after all

This article describes the trend in online giving which is becoming more popular since Haiti. Online giving represents a considerable amount of donations, and has grown by 35% in 2010.

This could set precedent for privacy in technology in the future.

Technology pop quiz for business owners: What's more secure? A. Data stored in redundant back-up server installations (or "the cloud"), automatically updated and maintained, in a facility secured from outside threats. Or B. Data stored or backed up to an on-site tape or flash drive, whenever the company's controller or non-IT back-office staffer remembers to do it - then left in the drive? For many, the answer in theory is A, but in practice, it's B. Why is this important? Because studies have shown that 70 percent of companies go out of business after a major data loss and 60 percent of companies that lose their data will shut down within six months. Yet those unfamiliar with cloud computing still believe onsite back-up is a safe, secure solution. Therein lies one of the most compelling reasons to embrace cloud or ERP (enterprise resource planning) computing.