nonprofit central...
I believe that nonprofit organizations face unique challenges. These challenges impact everything they do, including how they implement and manage their Internet presence.
Nonprofits face significant funding and financial constraints beyond the marketplace factors that drive commercial enterprises. They must add a reliance on good will and discretionary funding to the basic financial practices of for-profit businesses. With these constraints in mind, I offer a price break on my services for nonprofits.
Nonprofits arguably have unique leadership structures when compared to many businesses. The Board of Directors for a typical nonprofit is an important part of that organization, often providing key funding support or even expertise for day-to-day activities. Sponsors, whether individuals or other organizations and businesses, are also vital parts of the funding equation for nonprofits. Web sites are appropriate places to thank Board members and sponsors. Web sites can also offer secure functions like funds and action tracking, email notifications, and other support applications for the organization's Board of Directors..
Nonprofits also face unusual staffing issues. Although they may have a cadre of full time and very professional staff, they commonly rely on part time, non-expert (though typically very enthusiastic) staff. Motivating, training, directing and managing a disparate and often constantly changing staff of volunteers is a major challenge for the typical nonprofit organization's leadership.
A well organized Web site that fully implements the newest Internet technologies can help with these challenges. Online calendars for events and staff activities can help staff coordination as much as they help the nonprofit's target audience. "Dynamic" Web sites, with their database connectivity can do more than manage event registrations or even e-commerce, they can help organize and track volunteer staff and team activities in a secure, password protected environment. And the newest "social networking" applications like "Twitter", "Facebook" and the like, are proving very helpful when used actively and properly by many nonprofit organizations..
I can provide access to the opportunities offered by the Internet. Those opportunities can be encompassed by the nonprofit's Web site or via other Internet gateways. In any event, the resources displayed below are designed to help nonprofit organizations use the power of the Internet to achieve their goals and mission.
I. The following is from a review written by K. Morgan for "DevShed", in January 2010.
110MB Hosting offers 24/7 customer support and ad-free pages if you want them; you won’t be forced to support ads for the site. Your site will have 110 MB of space and traffic statistics that will give you a good idea of where your traffic is coming from. You can easily create your site using templates as provided and a visual file editor that’s very user-friendly.
Black Apple Host has an amazingly easy setup process, which makes this a good Web hosting site for beginners. You’ll get 5 GB of disk space, and find that Black Apple supports many different types of online scripts. The control panel applications are very easy to use as well.
Top Cities makes it incredibly easy to build a specific type of Web site. You can choose from categories including blogging, social networking, e-tailing and education. These options allow you to create just what you want. The number of templates from which users can choose is staggering, making Top Cities a highly versatile Web hosting site.
Webstarts only allows users to create four unique pages on a single site, but this Web hosting service is so easy to use it makes up for even this failing. It’s remarkably simply to upload backgrounds and images, create text effects and add links. Users can even add custom HTML when needed -- which won’t be too often.
I prepared a Power Point presentation to demonstrate how an organization could build an easy and affordable basic Web site.
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The following Web sites are sources useful information, guidance or tools for nonprofit organizations.
These programs are designed to run on PCs (unless otherwise noted). If you have an Apple computer, you might try "emulation" programs which allow you to run PC programs on your MAC. I haven't tried the emulation programs, but here are some, in case you want to give them a try:
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Sites or source |
Comments |
Adobe |
I'm going to list the Adobe site as a good source of software because they have excellent products, widely used in the Web development industry. Adobe Reader: http://get.adobe.com/reader/. Of course, their free "reader" software allows you to view files saved in the "pdf" format, which is perhaps the mostly widely used format for downloadable documents on the Internet. Contribute: http://www.adobe.com/products/contribute/ Not free, but not too expensive. This is an excellent and easy to use CMS system that is powerful enough to use for creating basic Web sites from scratch (or from their included templates). Flashpaper: http://www.adobe.com/products/flashpaper/. This is great software to get highly formatted documents like newsletters onto Web pages so that they look exactly like the original. Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, Adobe Acrobat, etc. or their "CS" suite of Web development and publishing software. http://www.adobe.com/products/creative suite/compare/ These are the software packages that pros use to build and maintain Web sites and business publications. They are expensive. |
CoffeeCup |
Lots of free or inexpensive, good software for Web development at http://www.coffeecup.com/software/. |
Databases |
I often use MS Access on my sites, since it is free if you have the MS Office suite and many of my clients do. Also, it is familiar, relatively easy to use, and powerful enough for most of my clients' needs. There are a other, also free, options like:
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Donations & Payments |
PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/ |
Download.com |
Download.com by the CNET folks says, "Find the software you're looking for at Download.com, the most comprehensive source for free-to-try software downloads on the Web. " They also provide reviews of available software. Worth putting them on your Favorites list. Go to http://www.download.com/windows |
Email - support for group or mass emailing and fundraising campaigns. |
Email sites:Tapioca: http://lists.topica.com/. Email marketing. CitizenSpeak: http://www.citizenspeak.org/. For free advocacy emailings. CircleUp : http://www.circleup.com/home/. Email campaigns and a payment service. Groundspring: http://www.groundspring.org/index_gs.cfm. Charges a monthly fee for email/donation campaigns. See Groups (below) |
Facebook's mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. Millions of people use Facebook everyday to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet. Go to http://www.facebook.com/. |
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Free Software |
Some of the software I mention and lots more can be found for free on the following sites:
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FTP |
There are a number of good free FTP programs available.
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Groups - These service/sites can be used to organize groups, share calendars and documents, and much more, including "mass" emailing. Both are free. |
Yahoo Groups: http://groups.yahoo.com/ Google Groups: http://groups.google.com/ |
Google Applications |
Free, intuitive tools you can access anywhere with a single account. Go to http://www.google.com/apps/.
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Guidestar |
Guidestar gathers and publicizes information about nonprofit organizations. They encourage non profits to share information about their organizations openly and completely. Any nonprofit in their database can update its report with information about its mission, programs, leaders, goals, accomplishments, and needs—for free. They combine the information that non profits supply with data from several other sources. Go to http://www2.guidestar.org/ |
Hosting & Creating |
Free Google Sites: http://www.google.com/sites/help/intl/en/overview.html. You can use "Google Sites" to create and manage a free, basic Web site. Not Free - prices range from a few dollars a month to thousands a year. Blackbaud: http://www.blackbaud.com/. Low cost to very expensive. Huge range of supporting services for non profits, beyond Web Hosting. Used by many of the largest non profits in the country. There are a huge number of Web hosting services that generally start from around $5/month and go up. You will need to build the site on your computer and then "upload" the files to the Host with an FTP program. You can "Google "web hosting reviews" and get advice like this: http://www.webhostingconnections.com/. The reviewers often vary, though, so it's a good idea to check several. |
HTML & CSS Tutorials |
The W3C ("World Wide Web Consortium") is the nonprofit organization that manages the Web. Their site is at http://www.w3.org/. They set the standards that drive the Internet's World Wide Web and its developing technologies, like the various versions of HTML. There are many good, basic tutorials for HTML, CSS and related topics. For example:
About.com has extensive coverage of HTML, CSS and Web Design in general at http://webdesign.about.com/. WebMonkey at http://www.webmonkey.com/ is a resource for free tutorials, code, references and just about anything a Web designer could want. |
Javacript sites |
There are a number of Web sites that offer free javascript code that you can download and simply "cut-n-paste" into a Web page to get great effects. Here are just a few: |
MySpace |
A "social networking" site, where your organization/staff can view profiles, connect with others, blog, rank music, and much more! Go to http://www.myspace.com/. |
| Office Applications | "Office" applications include word processing, spreadsheets, email clients, databases, presentation software and often much more. There are any number of free "suites" that offer powerful support to office needs, most of which can work with MS "Office" files and formats. The Wikipedia offers a comparison of many free and commercial office suites at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_suite#Comparison_of_general_and_technical_information One of the best know and most complete is "Open Office". It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose. PC version: http://download.openoffice.org/ Gnome is a "collection" of applications that can stand alone or work together. Check it out at: http://library.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/2.28/ Koffice has been around since 1998 and offers Windows and Mac versions at: http://www.koffice.org/ |
PDF files are common and useful for Web site, since so many visitors can read them. The following links provide useful PDF related applications: NitroPDF: http://www.nitropdf.com/free/index.htm This site will help you convert pdf files to Word, Excell, etc. You can make changes and then use other applications to save the changed files back to pdf for you site. PDFill and PrimoPDF:at http://www.pdfill.com/freewriter.html and http://www.primopdf.com//. These free programs "prints" your file to pdf format, which you can then save to your site.
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Serif |
Like CoffeeCup, Serif also makes some very affordable and pretty powerful software for Web design, graphics editing and other tasks. Go to http://www.serif.com/ Their "flagship" Web site creation tool is WebPlus. At $99, it is very comprehensive, designed for for non-coders, and includes free site hosting. |
Social Networking Sites |
While styled as "social networking" sites, these also do able duty as free and easy to use organizational (or personal) Web sites. Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/ |
TechSoup
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TechSoup provides articles and guidance, forums, and other support to non profits. You can even find good deals on hardware and software and Intern ret solutions at TechSoup, like Blackbaud's "MatchFinder" low cost Web site creation tool. Go to http://www.techsoup.org/index.cfm |
Volunteers - find and organize volunteers. |
Volunteer Match: http://www.volunteermatch.org/ |
Web Primer |
The W3schools.com site at http://www.w3schools.com/web/default.asp offers "primers" or good, basic tutorials on Web design topics, including:
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| Free or inexpensive Editors | About.com at http://webdesign.about.com/od/freewebeditors/
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Wikis |
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Wiki hosts |
The tables on the Wikipedia page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ You can see examples of Wiki Editing pages and try out a Wiki for free at most wiki hosting sites, though you will usually need to "sign up" for their free accounts and free sites may have capability limits, ads, etc. Try: |
Wikipedia |
Perhaps the most "famous" wiki is Wikipedia (site at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page). This is a multilingual, Web-based, free-content encyclopedia project. Wikipedia is written collaboratively by volunteers from all around the world. Anyone with internet access can make changes to Wikipedia articles. Anyone can contribute to Wikipedia by clicking on the "Edit this" page tab in an article. |
Tools for Wikis & Blogs |
The links on this Wikispaces page (at http://learningweb2.wikispaces.com/ Table+of+tools+for+blogs+or+wikis) will take you to a full page guide for a "Tool", including examples of use, features and how to use the tool. It includes tools on mapping, calendars, image, video and presentation sharing, blogs, polls and many more. |
The following is from Jane Craven's Blog (http://blogs.forumer.com/jcravens/). I highly recommend that anyone interested in providing technical support (read "Internet" or "computer" - related) to nonprofit organizations visit her site regularly. I certainly do.
Jaynes Blog Post ......
My colleague Tom Cesarini and I did a brief seminar about nonprofit technology during USD's nonprofit innovation event last Friday. It was fun, but most likely overwhelming to people who are new to the nonprofit technology arena. (Here's a link to our brief presentation).
So I decided to write another brief overview, this one about Nonprofit Technology. This is great timing because I just wrote the chapter about nonprofit technology for Sage's new Handbook: Leadership in Nonprofit Organizations due out next spring.
Overall great nonprofit technology websites
- Tech Soup offers nonprofits a one-stop resource for technology needs by providing free information, resources, and support.
- Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network is the membership organization of nonprofit technology professionals whose members share the common goal of helping nonprofits use all aspects of technology more effectively.
- NTEN has Affinity Groups groups.nten.org where anyone can post nonprofit technology questions, find technology consultants and learn great technology tips.
- My favorite groups are: 501techclub-sf@groups.nten.org (there are groups for practically every metropolitan area) nten-discuss@groups.nten.org & accidentaltechies@groups.nten.org. There are also groups about blogging, social media and other np tech topics.
- NPower a network of locally based nonprofit organizations that provide comprehensive, high-quality and affordable technology assistance to other nonprofit groups nationally.
- Tech Soup's Healthy and Secure Computing Program Use this workbook to find steps and recommendations for creating a healthy and secure computing environment and establishing a sound technology infrastructure at your nonprofit.
- PC Magazine Computer Hardware, Software Reviews, Downloads, News and Opinions
- Tech Soup Stock A site that provides donated software for your nonprofit organization
- Idealware provides candid Consumer-Reports-style reviews and articles about software of interest to nonprofits.
- Social Source Commons a place to share lists of software tools that you already use, gain knowledge and support, and discover new tools.
- Downloads.com Free Software
- The eNonprofit: A Guide to ASPs, Internet Services and Online Software
- General Technology Fundraising Resources Robert Weiner provides fundraising resource links about donor databases, e-mail marketing, newsletters, online fundraising, online privacy, social media, spam, technology planning and more.
- The 2008 Online Fundraising Survival Guide: 12 Winning Strategies to Survive and Thrive in a Down Economy
- Online Fundraising Handbook: Making the Most of the Web and E-mail to Raise More Money Online
- Nonprofit Technology Conference The event to learn about nonprofit technology hardware, software, professional development and to connect with nonprofit techies.
- Penguin Day is a day long conferences where non-profit organizations explore the range of issues and options involved using Free and Open Source Software (F/OSS). The host of Penguin Day, Aspiration also organizes a variety of other nonprofit technology events including the Nonprofit Software Development Summit, Managing Technology Projects, eAdvocacy trainings and more.
- Netsquared is a two-day meeting that brings together the minds of unlikely allies from different professional fields including: leaders in philanthropy, corporate philanthropy, engineering, media and world-class innovators driving the development, distribution and use of social technologies for progressive change.
- Other Nonprofit Technology Events listed on Tech Soup's Website
- Accidental Techie: Supporting, Managing and Maximizing your Nonprofit's Technology by Sue Bennett
- Managing Technology to Meet Your Mission: A Strategic Guide for Nonprofit Leaders eds Katrin Verclas, Holly Ross, Allison Levine
- Nonprofits and Technology: Emerging Research for Usable Knowledge eds. Kevin Rafter and Michael Cortez.
- NTEN has a variety of reports available for download on their website My favorites are the IT Staffing Reports, and Nonprofit Social Network Survey
- Idealware and Tech Soup also have a variety of articles and reports available for download on their websites.
- An Overview of Social Media for Nonprofits presentation by Beth Dunn
- The Social Media Starter Kit for Nonprofits: We are Media
- Social Media as a Fundraising tool presentation by Emily Davis
- How much time should nonprofits spend on Social Media? (Slide 18 & 19) presentation by Beth Kanter
- Return on Investment for Social Media blog post by Beth Kanter. Beth also writes about everything you ever wanted to know about Social Media on her blog.
- Using Social Media in Your Nonprofit: Overcoming Objections by Debra Askanase
- Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age book by Allison Fine.
- Blogs in the Nonprofit Sector: Should your nonprofit launch a blog? Overview by Nancy Schwartz
- The top nonprofit technology bloggers listed on twitter, these bloggers provide amazing technology tips and resources: John Kenyon, Michael Stein, Beth Kanter, Michelle Murrain, Laura Quinn, Rebecca Leaman, Allison Fine, Michele Martin, Peter Campbell, Holly Ross, Britt Bravo, Deborah Elizabeth Finn & NetSquared Blog (please forgive me if I forgot someone).
- 26 Charities and Nonprofits on Twitter
- A beginners guide to Facebook for Nonprofits by Wild Apricot
- Early History of Nonprofits and the Internet by Jayne Cravens