Technology Conference to Be Held in April
The Nonprofit Technology Conference will take place April 26-28 in San Francisco. Last year’s meeting drew more than 1,100 charity technology officials, consultants, and company representatives. Sessions at the conference — which is organized by the Nonprofit Technology Network — will focus on…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Company Enlists Cellphones in Charity’s Text Campaign
The Pepsi Bottling Group is putting its cellphones to work to help recover missing children. The Somers, N.Y., corporation enrolled more than 27,000 company-owned cellphones in the Wireless Amber Alert program, which sends text messages to participants when a child is abducted in their area. The…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Site Helps Charities Craft News Releases
Charities seeking help to improve their news releases now have another tool at their fingertips thanks to a new Web site created by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, in Miami. The Knight News Release Workshop offers step-by-step instructions that show nonprofit writers how, and how not,…
By CANDIE JONES
Contributor
Web Site Encourages Donors to Pool Their Contributions
When FINCA International sets up a village bank in a developing country, neighbors come together to borrow money to start and expand small businesses. Because very few residents have collateral, the borrowers guarantee one another’s loans — making the success of the whole village as important as…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Blues Charity Auctions Musician’s ‘Soul’ on eBay
Blues lore holds that the legendary musician Robert Johnson went to the crossroads at midnight and sold his soul to the devil to play guitar. But now, some 70 years later, the prince of darkness has fallen on hard times and put Mr. Johnson’s soul, “slightly used,” up for sale on eBay. The auction,…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Management Consultants Offer Free Online Tools
Charity leaders looking for information on nonprofit management have a new resource to which they can turn. The Bridgespan Group, a nonprofit consulting organization in Boston, has added six “learning centers” to its Web site, focusing on evaluation, fund raising, growth, human resources,…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Bits: Webby Awards To Honor Nonprofit Sites
The Webby Awards, which annually honor the best Web sites on the Internet, will accept nominations for the 2009 competition in a variety of categories, including one for nonprofit sites, through December 19. The winners will be announced in June. For more information: Go to…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Guide Helps Small Charities Develop Technology Plans
How much technology is enough — and how often does it need to be replaced? Such questions continue to be a challenge for many nonprofit organizations, according to two reports. NPower Seattle and NPower Indiana, two affiliates of the national technology-assistance organization, have developed 12…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Site Offers Information About Social Causes
Change.org, a Web site started 18 months ago to connect donors with charitable causes, has reinvented itself as a network of blogs that discuss social issues. People interested in a specific cause — be it humanitarian relief, homelessness, or social entrepreneurship — can come to the site to read…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Meetings Will Explore Education and Social Justice
Two nonprofit technology gatherings will be held next month. The Community Technology Centers’ Network, a national association of nonprofit groups that provide technology access and education in underserved areas, will hold its annual conference in Los Angeles November 12-14. Among the topics that…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Gift of Handheld Devices Transforms Health Surveys
A program to help sub-Saharan African countries collect good, up-to-date health data using handheld devices instead of relying on slower, more expensive paper surveys has gotten a big boost. The Vodafone Foundation and United Nations Foundation Technology Partnership has committed more than…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Report Suggests Strategies for Web 2.0 Technology Use
A new report looks at how foundations are using interactive Web 2.0 technology, such as blogs, podcasts, and social networks, in their communications — and urges philanthropies to do more. Some foundations are already embracing technology tools that allow for two-way communications, write the…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Credit-Card Company Waives Fee on Donations
The Capital One Financial Corporation will cover the transaction costs for charitable gifts that its credit-card holders make through the company’s new giving site, allowing the total amount donated to go to the donor’s chosen charity. Typically, when contributors use credit cards to make their…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
World Wide Web Creator Plans New Charity
The inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, has announced plans for a new organization to help promote the use of the Web for scientific research and to ease the digital divide in developing nations. The organization, which is scheduled to begin operations early next year, received…
By Jeffrey R. Young
Contributor
Google Seeks Ideas for Spending $10-Million
To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Google has asked people to submit their ideas for changing the world and helping as many people as possible — and it will put up $10-million to bring the best ideas to life. One idea the company highlights as the kind of creative solution it’s looking for: the…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Bits: Spanish Version of eTapestry Now Available
The Microsoft Corporation, in Redmond, Wash., has given software worth $2.9-million to TechnoServe, a Washington group that works to fight rural poverty around the world, and software worth $2.5-million to Ashoka, a charity in Arlington, Va., that supports social entrepreneurship. For more…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor