Bits: Awards Program Suspended; Dot-Com Philanthropy Ventures Parodied

By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor

April 19, 2001 | Read Time: 1 minute

By NICOLE WALLACE

On April 2, Ericsson, a Stockholm telecommunications company, announced the third annual Ericsson Internet Community Awards, or ERICA, which were to have awarded $500,000 in Web development services and equipment to charities with innovative technology ideas. But the program has been suspended, at least temporarily. A statement on the company’s Web site says, “The ERICA 2001 program is undergoing re-evaluation due to changing economics and is on hold until further notice.” For more information: Go to http://www.ericsson.com/erica.
On April Fools’ Day, the Gilbert Center and Social Ecology, in Seattle, introduced NonprofitableTech.com, a Web site spoofing dot-com philanthropy ventures. Calling itself an ideapoodle! company, NonprofitableTech.com’s slogans include “Because our time is more valuable than yours” and “Putting technology in your way.” The company’s Web site assures charities that it understands the nonprofit world: “Our office manager served on a nonprofit board once, and we’ve been buying Girl Scout Cookies for years.” To get there: Go to http://www.nonprofitabletech.com.

About the Author

NICOLE WALLACE

Features Editor

Nicole Wallace is features editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy. She has written about innovation in the nonprofit world, charities’ use of data to improve their work and to boost fundraising, advanced technologies for social good, and hybrid efforts at the intersection of the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, such as social enterprise and impact investing.Nicole spearheaded the Chronicle’s coverage of Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts on the Gulf Coast and reported from India on the role of philanthropy in rebuilding after the South Asian tsunami. She started at the Chronicle in 1996 as an editorial assistant compiling The Nonprofit Handbook.Before joining the Chronicle, Nicole worked at the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs and served in the inaugural class of the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps.A native of Columbia, Pa., she holds a bachelor’s degree in foreign service from Georgetown University.