"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."

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)."

Reports expenditures of the $787 billion dollars of the Recovery Act funds. Citizens can use to identify fraud, waste, and abuse of those funds.  Zip code map to find how funds being used in your area. Social Media feeds of all types.

The head of California's state office of technology sees social media as a "force multiplier" and is aggressively expanding the state's mobile presence this year, aiming to double the number of mobile apps offered in 2011. Adrian Farley, the acting director and chief technology officer of OTech, told OhMyGov.com in an exclusive interview that the state of California, one of the earliest adopters of social media in government, had been very fortunate in experiencing almost no cultural pushback in attempts to integrate social media into official public communications. 

- "MedAssurant, Inc., a leading provider of data-driven healthcare solutions, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM), one of the nation's top health care plans, today announced an expansion of their partnership to achieve an industry-leading capability to improve delivery of care to its Medicare Advantage members. The partnership centers around integrated quality outcomes, utilization improvement, financial performance, and business intelligence.  With a focus on highly coordinated analytics and interventions, BCBSM has partnered with MedAssurant to implement a suite of eight solutions spanning CMS 5 Star Complete Quality Management (CQM™), NCQA HEDIS management, Prospective Advantage™, Capitated Risk Adjustment (CARA™), Claims Aggregation Analysis and Submission (CAAS™), CareSync Advantage™, Business Intelligence, and Distributed Analytics™."

Computerworld - "The federal government's "meaningful use" attestation (PDF document) period begins today, allowing data collected on electronic health record systems (EHRs) by hospitals and physician practices to be submitted in order to receive thousands to millions of dollars in reimbursement payments...."

The nonprofit sector is in a bit of a technology evolution/revolution. As the industry looks to reduce costs, increase efficiency and engage with constituents that are living lifestyles that embrace mobile, digital and social technologies as never before. It is here that the benefits and options that cloud computing brings to the table are clear.

"Yesterday, we told you how someone was able to steal the tax identity of 2,300-plus small nonprofits due to a hole in a new electronic filing system implemented by the Internal Revenue Service. Every nonprofit in this group, most with religiously themed names, now lists as a principal officer one William Alexander and its address as the same mail-box drop on N. Rainbow Blvd. in Las Vegas. This happened due to a glitch that essentially allows a nonprofit's contact information to be changed online by anyone who registers on an IRS-designated site with a name-which is not verified-and an email address."

Forbes reports: "Someone has hijacked the tax identity of more than 2,300 tiny or defunct nonprofits, apparently taking advantage of a hole in a new electronic Internal Revenue Service filing system to list the same person as a charitable official at the same mail box drop in Las Vegas."

"Social media! I seriously think it's "the" buzz word. According to Omniture, over 200 million searches are conducted every single day and 78% of people trust recommendations by peers. But how should nonprofits track their social media? What tools should they use?"  Understand What You Want to Track.

"What are the top social media tools to use to spread an organizations message and how does an organization effectively use online communications tools. Let's get down to my top 10 list of things every nonprofit should know about social media and online communications."

Most nonprofit websites are still at the "before" stage of a makeover says this lover of make over shows. "It is therefore with great excitement that I get to unveil a highly successful makeover from Project Hope. They took their website from dull to dynamic, meeting all the important requirements of a great site."

Nonprofits get excited when a celebrity wants to join their advisory board or endorse their campaign. But do celebrity endorsements across different channels work these days?  It depends. (click and read on!)

Is there an art to getting ReTweeted on Twitter? Dan Zarrella says yes and has been studying the "Science of ReTweeting" for the past nine months. Zarrella analyzed five million tweets and 40 million retweets and compared the two, noting the time of day they were tweeted and ReTweeted, which words and url shorteners were used most often, and more. Check out the results of Zarrella's study below.

One very revealing panel (in a web-streamed Advocacy Live event in March) included Eric Jones, the top technology person for Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, who provided tips and advice about ways that online organizers might boost their campaigns' impact on members of Congress and their staffers. Recorded  video event posted by Blackbaud on this webpage.

Target Analytics, a Blackbaud (Nasdaq: BLKB) company, today released the 2008 donorCentrics™ Internet Giving Benchmarking Analysis. Key findings from the Analysis indicate that over the past few years, online giving has become an increasingly significant source of new donor acquisition, and integrating online and offline fundraising channels is key to long term success.

How Does Your Nonprofit Measure Up? This was the opening question Jocelyn Harmon (Director of Nonprofit Services for Care2.com) and I posed during our presentation on "The Art and Science of Fundraising Online" for the Association Foundation Group. If your organization's average online gift is lower than you would like or your organization has not developed a well thought out year-end online fundraising campaign in the past, then you need to make changes to your online fundraising program ASAP. > see our Seven Online Fundraising Strategies You Can Do Right Now.

Clearly, social media has emerged as a powerful mobilizing tool, particularly for issues like labor disputes, where political passions run high. Whichever side you're on, labor or management, experiences like the one the DSO and its musicians have faced for the past six months tell us that social media is here to stay and nonprofits have to understand how to manage - no, embrace - the now-dominant form of communication for more and more of their community members.

In today's world, we live our lives on the internet. We communicate, learn, find loved ones, get our news and buy products all online. But, 90% of volunteering happens offline.  Traditional offline volunteering has a lot of hoops to jump through.

substantive new report out from the Knight Foundation that is worth attention: Connected Citizens: The Power, Peril and Potential of Networks.  The report notes: *It's important to listen to and consult the crowd in our work *We should create environments where connections can naturally form, including between people with different perspectives *It's good practice to support collective action so grassroots efforts can grow So how can nonprofits embrace these practices?