PA311-2011

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? 

Just so nobody misses the point - there's no evidence that the incidence of spam and malware being generated is improving. "What we have seen is a significant uptick in the area of malware related to the expanded use of social networking sites. Although we are isolating the malware, it blows my mind how significant it has become,"

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.

New Year resolutions are often easy to make and even easier to break, but this year PDF users worldwide can make resolutions worth sticking to. As tech enthusiasts try to follow better computing practices for 2011, Nitro PDF Software (www.nitropdf.com) provides easy-to-follow, helpful tips and products for a pain-free year of PDF usage.

I can imagine how many people benefited from this free service.

Another foundation assisting nonprofits in being more efficient

Middle schoolers in Orange County decided to create an app for android where the proceeds would go to the Youth For Technology Fund. Youth for Technology gives and trains less fortunate youth in places like Africa and in the U.S. The game is called circuit crawler and they are working on improving the game and creating more levels.

Obama gets involved in volunteering

Mobile devices once again makes an impact