Bits: mHealth Alliance To Promote Use of Mobile Tech in Health Programs
The Rockefeller, United Nations, and Vodafone Foundations have announced the formation of the mHealth Alliance to promote the use of mobile technologies in health programs in developing countries. A new report, “mHealth for Development,” details 26 such efforts, including a program in Thailand in…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Online Charity Asks Programmers for Help
Kiva uses the Internet to match entrepreneurs in developing countries with people who want to lend them money to build their businesses. Now the San Francisco charity is asking programmers to develop new online tools to further promote its microfinance mission. The group has created an…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Gates Fund Pays for Data Projects
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in Seattle, has awarded $22-million for projects to help schools, districts, and states gather and use data to improve high-school students’ academic achievement. The goal is to gather data “that will inform decision making at all levels in the system,” Vicki L.…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Google Helps Charity Test Its Web Design
As the winner of a contest sponsored by Google, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society received assistance from an outside consulting company to help it use Google’s free Website Optimizer to test the effectiveness of a page on its site. The page — the home page for the charity’s Team in Training…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Contest Honors Creative Technology
The Tech Museum of Innovation, in San Jose, Calif., is accepting applications for its annual awards, which honor the creative use of technology to promote economic development, education, the environment, equality, and health. Winners in each of the five categories receive $50,000. The deadline for…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
New Tool Maps Volunteer Openings
VolunteerMatch has added a new feature to its Web site to make it easier for visitors to find volunteer opportunities near where they live and work. Potential volunteers can now browse opportunities for giving their time — and find nonprofit organizations in their area that are looking for help —…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Cellphone Videos Hope to Change Habits
A Rutgers University professor thinks that cellphone soap operas could be a powerful tool to encourage young minority women to take steps to protect themselves from HIV infection. The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey, in Millburn, gave Rachel Jones a $154,400 grant to create 12 videos that…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Knight Awards Nonprofit Media Grants
Twenty-one projects designed to help residents stay informed about local news have received $5-million from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, in Miami. The grants — the first round of the foundation’s five-year, $24-million Knight Community Information Challenge — went to projects…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
New Financing Program Aids Businesses With a Social Mission
Persuading lenders to make a loan or extend a line of credit to a new business with a social mission is a hard sell. Even socially minded financiers have trouble taking on that kind of risk alone. The Lemelson Foundation, in Portland, Ore., hopes to change that. It has started a financing program,…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor