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Technology
Nonprofit Helps Megaupload Users
Feb 3rd
Users of the file-sharing site Megaupload feared their data could be in danger when U.S. prosecutors shut the site down last month. But thanks to one nonprofit, users will be able to safely retrieve their files.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported yesterday that the San Francisco, Ca.-based Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a nonprofit technology foundation dedicated to defending peoples' digital rights, announced that it was teaming up with Carpathia Hosting, a data-storage provider, to create a new website that will allow Megaupload users to get their data.
Megaupload was shut down last month when seven men were arrested (including three Megaupload executives). Prosecutors charged the men with racketeering, and claimed the file-sharing website facilitated millions of illegal downloads of movies, music, and other content. The arrests were made at a $30 million mansion in Auckland, New Zealand. Carpathia and another storage company were to begin deleting content yesterday before EFF's eleventh hour intervention.
You can read more about the story in The San Francisco Chronicle.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported yesterday that the San Francisco, Ca.-based Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a nonprofit technology foundation dedicated to defending peoples' digital rights, announced that it was teaming up with Carpathia Hosting, a data-storage provider, to create a new website that will allow Megaupload users to get their data.
Megaupload was shut down last month when seven men were arrested (including three Megaupload executives). Prosecutors charged the men with racketeering, and claimed the file-sharing website facilitated millions of illegal downloads of movies, music, and other content. The arrests were made at a $30 million mansion in Auckland, New Zealand. Carpathia and another storage company were to begin deleting content yesterday before EFF's eleventh hour intervention.
You can read more about the story in The San Francisco Chronicle.
The Role Of Technology In Philanthropy
Jan 30th
The World Economic Forum, one of the largest gathering of business and political types, began last week in Davos, Switzerland. Where there is talk of money, philanthropy will naturally become a central topic.
The New York Times wrote a blog post last Friday about a panel discussion at the forum on the role technology plays in philanthropy. Hosted by the Victor Pinchuck Foundation, the program began with a discussion about "e-philanthropy," specifically mobile payments. This technology has allowed donors to give small amounts of money to causes. A good example of its importance was seen in the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
Alec Ross, a senior advisor on innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, shared his experiences with mobile giving to the panel. He said that the government put together a mobile giving program in the aftermath of the earthquake. The program allowed donors to text the word "Haiti" to a specific number, which would send a $10 donation to relief efforts. The program ended up raising $35 million in two weeks, completely shattering their expectations.
Although this program was successful, all the panelists agreed that one of the main problems with philanthropy is transparency; people want to have a better idea of where their money is going. Sean Parker, founder of Napster and former president of Facebook, cited a nonprofit that he helped finance as an example of good transparency. Charity Water, a nonprofit organization that advocates for clean drinking water around the world, developed online tools for their website that show donors how their money is being used. Parker said that this kind of online fundraising should be adapted by all nonprofits to give donors a better sense of security.
Read more about this topic in The New York Times.
The New York Times wrote a blog post last Friday about a panel discussion at the forum on the role technology plays in philanthropy. Hosted by the Victor Pinchuck Foundation, the program began with a discussion about "e-philanthropy," specifically mobile payments. This technology has allowed donors to give small amounts of money to causes. A good example of its importance was seen in the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
Alec Ross, a senior advisor on innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, shared his experiences with mobile giving to the panel. He said that the government put together a mobile giving program in the aftermath of the earthquake. The program allowed donors to text the word "Haiti" to a specific number, which would send a $10 donation to relief efforts. The program ended up raising $35 million in two weeks, completely shattering their expectations.
Although this program was successful, all the panelists agreed that one of the main problems with philanthropy is transparency; people want to have a better idea of where their money is going. Sean Parker, founder of Napster and former president of Facebook, cited a nonprofit that he helped finance as an example of good transparency. Charity Water, a nonprofit organization that advocates for clean drinking water around the world, developed online tools for their website that show donors how their money is being used. Parker said that this kind of online fundraising should be adapted by all nonprofits to give donors a better sense of security.
Read more about this topic in The New York Times.
Webinar: Moving Nonprofit Financials To The Cloud
Jan 23rd
When someone talks to you about the cloud, is your first thought to look into flight courses? If that's the case, you might want to attend our upcoming webinar.
The NonProfit Times and Intacct are proud to host a free webinar on February 14th. It's called "Moving Your Nonprofit Financials to the Cloud: The Do's and Don'ts," and it's a must-attend event for any organization looking into this new technology.
As a nonprofit organization, your accounting needs are more challenging than a for-profit corporation's financials. You probably hear many people around the industry talking about cloud computing, but the last thing you want is to do is deal with another new technology. Is it really worth all the hassle? By attending the upcoming webinar, you will get answers to all the questions you have about the cloud, and learn why thousands of nonprofits are using it to gain control of their finances. You can even ask questions.
The speakers for this event will be nonprofit technology and business process expert Jacqueline Tiso from JMT Consulting Group, and Dan Drucker from Intacct. Topics include:
The NonProfit Times and Intacct are proud to host a free webinar on February 14th. It's called "Moving Your Nonprofit Financials to the Cloud: The Do's and Don'ts," and it's a must-attend event for any organization looking into this new technology.
As a nonprofit organization, your accounting needs are more challenging than a for-profit corporation's financials. You probably hear many people around the industry talking about cloud computing, but the last thing you want is to do is deal with another new technology. Is it really worth all the hassle? By attending the upcoming webinar, you will get answers to all the questions you have about the cloud, and learn why thousands of nonprofits are using it to gain control of their finances. You can even ask questions.
The speakers for this event will be nonprofit technology and business process expert Jacqueline Tiso from JMT Consulting Group, and Dan Drucker from Intacct. Topics include:
- What are the key financial management technology issues facing nonprofit organizations today?
- What are the risks moving to cloud computing and how do you protect yourself?
- How secure is the cloud and what do you look for when evaluating a vendor?
- What are the benefits and challenges of cloud computing for the finance department?
Technology Dos And Don’ts
Jan 13th
Technology can make our lives so much easier. But then again it can also make it that much more complicated.
While some nonprofits would rather not have to deal with the potential headaches that come with technology like computers and smartphones, it’s simply unavoidable in today’s society. An organization will quickly fall behind if it is using outdated technology. In his book “Nonprofit Management 101,” Darian Rodriguez Heyman lists some dos and don’ts for nonprofits when managing technology. Let’s start with the dos:
While some nonprofits would rather not have to deal with the potential headaches that come with technology like computers and smartphones, it’s simply unavoidable in today’s society. An organization will quickly fall behind if it is using outdated technology. In his book “Nonprofit Management 101,” Darian Rodriguez Heyman lists some dos and don’ts for nonprofits when managing technology. Let’s start with the dos:
- DO let your mission and strategy be your guides when making technology decisions.
- DO establish strong systems. Your staff can’t get much mission-critical work done if they have to reboot the computers every hour.
- DO plan! You don’t have to get out your crystal ball to plan effectively for your technology needs.
- DO evaluate continuously. You can’t learn from your experiences if you never stop to reflect.
- DON’T make technology decisions based solely on cost. Cost is only one factor in determining the value and expense of technology.
- DON’T forget to include staff in your technology decisions. You’ll need allies as you implement new systems.
- DON’T select mission-critical software like a donor database without first documenting your key business processes.
Best Practices For Your Group Text Messaging
Jan 6th
Texting: All the cool kids are doing it. Is your nonprofit one of them?
Sending text messages to your supporters is a good way to alert them to news or other information. There aren't too many people who don't carry a cell phone with them, so chances are they are going to receive your message instantly. Before you start sending your group text messages, though, it's important to listen to some sage advice.
In her book "Social Media For Good," Heather Mansfield went over some best practices for group text messaging:
Sending text messages to your supporters is a good way to alert them to news or other information. There aren't too many people who don't carry a cell phone with them, so chances are they are going to receive your message instantly. Before you start sending your group text messages, though, it's important to listen to some sage advice.
In her book "Social Media For Good," Heather Mansfield went over some best practices for group text messaging:
- Add a "Subscribe to Receive Text Alerts!" button on your website, blog, newsletters, social media sites, and other materials. This will help with your visibility.
- On a related note, have your text-to-subscribe keyword and short pitch code to your Twitter background.
- Your text messages should be timely and relevant to current events. For example, text donations played a large role in raising money for the Haiti earthquake in 2010.
- Mix up your messages by sending both information and call-to-action alerts. People don't want to receive too much of the same thing.
- Send periodic text messages to remind supporters that they can text to give or donate online. But remember not to overload them with these types of messages.
- Speaking of which, you shouldn't send more than two or three text messages a month. These things cost money, ya know.
- If you have a mobile website (and you should), link to it in your messages.
- Use a service like bit.ly to track click-through rates from the links in your texts. This will give you a better idea of the effectiveness of your campaign.
Tips To Find Mobile Donors
Oct 5th
Remember when mobile phones were just able to make calls? Those days are long behind us. Cell phones today are basically portable Internet devices, allowing users to stay connected even when they are away from the computer. These so-called "smart phones" have been very helpful for nonprofits as an advocacy tool and as a channel for fundraising during disasters.
Not on board the mobile fundraising bandwagon yet? Here are some tips to get started:
Not on board the mobile fundraising bandwagon yet? Here are some tips to get started:
- Make it simple to text in a donation. For example, supporter of UNICEF's TAP Project need only to text "TAP" to a given number to make a $10 donation.
- On a related note, stick to one phone number for your mobile donations. There's no need to confuse your followers by having multiple numbers for all of your different campaigns.
- Integrate your mobile platform with existing channels.
- Make sure you to make your website mobile friendly. It's harder to browse the site if it's not optimized for smart phone use.
- Allow your supporters to opt-in to get breaking news and other alerts texted directly to their phones.
Retro Article Of The Week: Outrage To Dogfighting Charges Knocked Out Site
Sep 23rd
Philadelphia Eagles Quarterback Michael Vick is enjoying a career resurgence in the city of brotherly love. He led the Eagles to the playoffs last season, and was rewarded with a 10-year, $100 million contract extension this off season. But it wasn't all fun and games for Vick. He first signed with the Eagles after he was released from prison on dogfighting convictions two years ago, a signing that caused a huge stir in the sports and animal rights worlds. Days after his sentencing in July of 2007, the Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS) launched a campaign to send e-mails to the NFL Commissioner's office. If it was ever possible for a campaign to be considered too successful, this was it.
More than 275,000 e-mails were sent through HSUS's website, causing the site to experience major outages. To put the use into perspective, the website experienced five times its normal volume on July 19th, and six time the normal volume on the 20th. The NonProfit Times wrote an article about these outages in September 2007. Here's an excerpt from that piece:
The charity's technology provider made some initial fixes within the existing framework before moving an additional server to boost capacity, Handy said. "We also sent emails to advocates in our file in smaller chunks, so email wouldn't go to a large number of people at the same time. We spread demand out over a larger time window. That seemed to have worked," he said.
"The real issue was the fact that we had emailed a pretty good size of our file at the same time," Handy said. "The issue was in the news, with public outrage, a much higher percentage of people wanted to take issue. People on our file then told family and friends to do the same."
It's hard to anticipate, "but you need be ready to handle any kind of crisis," Handy added. "We are the leading organization on animal fighting abuse. We need to be ready to respond...but it's hard to pay for that capacity you need" every year or two.
"The demand goes from ordinary to extraordinary overnight. It speaks to the need of having systems in place, and excess capacity with your technology partner to handle anything," Handy said.
Though the outages were unfortunate for the organization, the increased traffic led to increased donations. There was certainly no complaints on that front. If you want to read the full article, please go to our website.
More than 275,000 e-mails were sent through HSUS's website, causing the site to experience major outages. To put the use into perspective, the website experienced five times its normal volume on July 19th, and six time the normal volume on the 20th. The NonProfit Times wrote an article about these outages in September 2007. Here's an excerpt from that piece:
The charity's technology provider made some initial fixes within the existing framework before moving an additional server to boost capacity, Handy said. "We also sent emails to advocates in our file in smaller chunks, so email wouldn't go to a large number of people at the same time. We spread demand out over a larger time window. That seemed to have worked," he said.
"The real issue was the fact that we had emailed a pretty good size of our file at the same time," Handy said. "The issue was in the news, with public outrage, a much higher percentage of people wanted to take issue. People on our file then told family and friends to do the same."
It's hard to anticipate, "but you need be ready to handle any kind of crisis," Handy added. "We are the leading organization on animal fighting abuse. We need to be ready to respond...but it's hard to pay for that capacity you need" every year or two.
"The demand goes from ordinary to extraordinary overnight. It speaks to the need of having systems in place, and excess capacity with your technology partner to handle anything," Handy said.
Though the outages were unfortunate for the organization, the increased traffic led to increased donations. There was certainly no complaints on that front. If you want to read the full article, please go to our website.
All About Donor Management Software
Sep 1st
One of the most important responsibilities for a nonprofit is keeping track of its donors. With the use of donor management software, this has become easier than ever. Here's a quick definition for the uninitiated:
Donor management software is technology that allows nonprofits to cultivate donors and donations on their computers. This affordable fundraising software, made specifically for nonprofits, organizes all your donor information in one database, making it easy to stay close to your best supporters, track gifts, send thank you notes, produce fundraising appeals and track campaign effectiveness. Overall, this technology is designed to be a one-stop-shop that lets nonprofits and charities to manage their fundraising efforts online.The NonProfit Times organizes all of its articles by categories, and one of these is donor management software. Have you been wanting to learn more about this technology, or have you been wondering how it can help your nonprofit? Head on over to our "Search Articles" page to read more about it, as well as the others topics we have posted.
Nonprofit Spending on Technology Is Steady
Apr 29th
There was the Bronze Age, The Iron Age, and now there is The Technology Age. It is almost imossible to do anything today without the aid of it. Can you imagine what would happen if the internet just disappeared one day? It's not hard to imagine the mass hysteria that would accompany that. When it comes to nonprofits, they rely on technology as well, and one of The NonProfit Times' recent stories proves that. Here's a snippet of it:
Despite a shaky economy, nonprofits’ investments in information technology (IT) staffing and other areas stayed remarkably steady and even saw some year-over-year growth in some areas.
Nearly 1,200 nonprofit professionals filled out the 5th annual “Nonprofit IT Staffing & Spending” survey sponsored by NTEN and The NonProfit Times. The report benchmarks salaries, outsourcing, recruiting, organizational structure, and other aspects of Information Technology practices in the nonprofit sector.
One of the findings that stood out: Only 40 percent of respondents reported that their organization has some type of formal technology plan. And much less than that (22 percent) reported that their organization had ever evaluated Return on Investment (ROI) of technology projects or programs.
The main thing to take away from this story is that no matter the economic conditions, there will always be room in a nonprofit's budget for technology, especially when it comes to IT. Read the full article by visitng our website.
Despite a shaky economy, nonprofits’ investments in information technology (IT) staffing and other areas stayed remarkably steady and even saw some year-over-year growth in some areas.
Nearly 1,200 nonprofit professionals filled out the 5th annual “Nonprofit IT Staffing & Spending” survey sponsored by NTEN and The NonProfit Times. The report benchmarks salaries, outsourcing, recruiting, organizational structure, and other aspects of Information Technology practices in the nonprofit sector.
One of the findings that stood out: Only 40 percent of respondents reported that their organization has some type of formal technology plan. And much less than that (22 percent) reported that their organization had ever evaluated Return on Investment (ROI) of technology projects or programs.
The main thing to take away from this story is that no matter the economic conditions, there will always be room in a nonprofit's budget for technology, especially when it comes to IT. Read the full article by visitng our website.
My New Website – Thanks to the Super Talented Will Hull!!
Nov 29th
I am happy to announce that after many years of a VERY static website, I have now have a dynamic new website that is easy to update!! I am so pleased that Will Hull agreed to design my website and deal with my sometimes perfectionist nature for the past three months.
Will is an awesome emerging leader in the nonprofit sector. He is a recent MPA grad from George Mason University and currently works at the League of Conservation Voters as their Manager of Grassroots Fundraising and Online Advocacy.
Please check out my new site, tell me what you like, or don’t like. I’m always looking for ways to improve. The goal of my new site is to make all the resources and links more accessible to you!
Check out Will’s blog where he writes about the process of designing my new website! Thanks Will, you rock!!
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