Group Seeks Internet Links for Low-Cost Housing
One Economy has set an ambitious goal — to bring high-speed Internet service to 500,000 low-income households over the next two years. To do that, the Washington technology organization plans to raise $12-million and expand an equity fund that uses low-income housing tax credits to make money…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Photo-Sharing Site Offers Free Accounts
Flickr, the online photo-sharing Web site, is donating 10,000 free accounts to nonprofit organizations. Charities and public libraries in the United States and Canada can request through TechSoup, a nonprofit technology group in San Francisco, up to five free premium, one-year accounts, which allow…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Charities Given Tips for Synchronizing Data
Getting different software programs to talk to one another is one of the most daunting technology problems that nonprofit organizations face. A new report details different ways to synchronize information across programs without having to import and export data manually, an approach that can be…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Game Offers Players Immigrants’ Perspective
Breakthrough, a human-rights organization in New York, seeks to spark dialogue and raise awareness about U.S. immigration policies with a new video game, ICED — which stands for I Can End Deportation. In the game, which is free to download, players can choose from one of five characters, each from…
By CANDIE JONES
Contributor
Google Offers New Site for Nonprofit Groups
The Internet search company Google has opened a new portal for nonprofit groups that explains how to adopt Google features and software for charitable work. The available tools include an e-mail program, mapping software, blog software, tools to analyze Internet traffic, and a grants search engine,…
By Sam Kean
Contributor
AARP Announces YouTube Video-Contest Winners
AARP has announced the winners of its U@50 contest, which challenged young people to create a short video of what they expect their lives to be like at age 50. The top five videos earned cash awards, with the best videomaker receiving $5,000. “The aim of this contest was to create a dialogue…
By Audrey Hill
Contributor
$100,000 in Prize Money for Charity ‘Mashups’
In the world of Web 2.0, a mashup is an Internet site or service that combines data from more than one source. TechSoup.org is challenging nonprofit groups to think about ways they could combine information from multiple sources to raise awareness for a social cause — and offering $100,000 in prize…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Google Starts New Blog for Nonprofit Groups
Google Grants — an effort by the search-engine company to donate online advertising to charities — has started a new blog that seeks to help recipients take better advantage of the free ads. Since creating Google Grants in 2003, the company has donated more than $200-million worth of advertising to…
By Peter Panepento
Contributor
Bits: Center for Community Change Launches Movement Vision Lab Website
On March 31, women who work in technology at nonprofit organizations or for political campaigns can participate in a series of free conference calls — some of which will also include Web-based presentations — on such topics as online organizing, open-source software, technology trends, and…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
United Way Experiments With Cellphone Appeals
United Way of America has a familiar pitchman asking cellphone users to support the organization’s youth-fitness programs. In a television ad that first aired during the Super Bowl, Tom Brady, the quarterback of the New England Patriots, invites viewers to send a text message to make an instant $5…
By CANDIE JONES
Contributor
Grant Makers Group Warns About Bogus Message
The Council on Foundations is warning the public about fraudulent e-mail messages that purport to be from Steve Gunderson, president of the council. The organization cautions that responding to the unsolicited e-mail messages or clicking on any of the links provided could allow passwords,…
By CANDIE JONES
Contributor
Google’s CEO Takes On a Nonprofit Role
Eric Schmidt, chief executive of Google, will become the chairman of the New America Foundation’s Board of Directors on June 1, the group announced. He plans to mark his new role by making an unrestricted $1-million donation to the Washington think tank. Mr. Schmidt has served on the board since…
By Sam Kean
Contributor
Katrina Site Focuses on Storm’s Aftermath
More than two years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast, a grant maker is using the Web to call attention to the larger issues of racism, poverty, and government neglect brought to light by the storms. In 2006 the Open Society Institute, in New York, awarded 31 grants…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Environmental Site Seeks to Cut Mailings
For people who received one or more of the 19 billion catalogs mailed in the United States last year, a Web site called Catalog Choice now offers a way to request that their names be taken off particular catalogs’ mailing lists. The site, started in October, has already attracted more than 500,000…
By Audrey Hill
Contributor
Technology Gathering Sets Plans for March
This year’s Nonprofit Technology Conference, which in 2007 drew 1,200 charity technology officials, consultants, and company representatives, will take place March 19-21 in New Orleans. The meeting, entitled “Building Community: Connections Around the Globe and Around the Corner,” is organized by…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Giving kiosks offer convenience to donors, but critics question their effectivenessOn her way to church most Sundays, Meagan Cummins used to have to make a detour to an automated teller machine to withdraw money for her weekly donation. But sometimes she would be running too late or forget to stop…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor