Using the Internet for Social Good

In the past year, nonprofit groups have focused a lot of their attention on the growth of Internet fund raising. But technology is driving other big changes in the way charities carry out their social missions.

In this guide, The Chronicle examines how innovative uses of technology heighten groups’ ability to help others:

• A New York organization that provides low-cost technology aid to nonprofit groups is achieving another social goal: It trains low-income people and minorities to offer the technology services, giving them new job skills and paid employment.
• Unicef gets the word out about issues that affect children around the word by producing “podcasts” — radio broadcasts that can be downloaded free and listened to on portable audio devices.
• Organizations that deal with unpopular or sensitive causes are attracting a growing number of volunteers by using the Internet. In many cases, the groups are able to find people with far more expertise than the volunteers they were able to recruit in the past.

CHARITIES CAN GAIN FREE ACCESS to a new generation of Web tools through a new nonprofit effort.

FOUNDATIONS ARE ADOPTING new technology at a slower rate than in the past, according to a just-issued report.

A MAJOR TECHNOLOGY MEETING has been scheduled for March 22-24, in Seattle.

A NEW ONLINE SEARCHING SITE allows its users to select a school or charity to receive a small percentage of the revenue it earns from advertising.

TECHNOLOGY BITS: Fellowships are available for social entrepreneurs who use technology to advance their missions; a Webcast seeks to bring together museums, libraries, and public-broadcasting stations.

TECHNOLOGY BOOKS: A guide for the “accidental techie,” a handbook on using eBay for fund raising, essays on Internet strategies for nonprofit groups, and a look at strategic technology planning.