Bits: A Technology Conference; and Help Raising Money on the Web
“Thriving as a Dot Org: The Fourth Annual Silicon Valley Conference on Nonprofits and Technology” will be held on May 9 in San Jose, Calif. The meeting is being organized by the Center for Excellence in Nonprofits, CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, and CompuMentor, in the Bay Area. For more…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Technology Playing Role in Economic Development
For the most part, local economic-development organizations have the hardware and software they need to do basic administrative tasks, but they are not able to take advantage of more sophisticated information technology in their work, says a new report entitled “The Evolving Role of Information…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
SBC Communications Offers Grant Program
SBC Communications will award grants totaling $25-million through its foundation this year to nonprofit technology projects in the 13 states in which the company provides telecommunications services. The San Antonio company is calling the new effort SBC Excelerator. The SBC Foundation will award…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Organizations Would Use Electronic Filing, Study Finds
Nearly three-quarters of charities probably would file their Form 990 informational tax returns electronically if the Internal Revenue Service gave them the opportunity to do so, according to a survey. If electronic filing were available, 73 percent of charities would be “very” or “somewhat” likely…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
Software Aids Taxpayers Who Donate Goods
What’s the fair-market value of a pair of gently used Rollerblades? A box of old murder mysteries? Or a men’s three-piece business suit? As the April 15 tax deadline approaches, many Americans who want to claim a deduction for the goods they donated to charity find themselves facing these kinds of…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Web Site Promotes Arab-Jewish Relations
Named for the common ancestor of both Jews and Arabs, the Abraham Fund makes grants to organizations working to improve relations between Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel. Its latest tool, a new Web site, provides information about the organization’s work in Arabic, English, and Hebrew. “The…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Technology Campaign Raises $94-Million
The United Negro College Fund, in Fairfax, Va., has raised $94-million for its Technology Enhancement Capital Campaign, with cash gifts accounting for $28-million and in-kind donations totaling $66-million. The goal of the campaign is to help the fund’s member institutions, 39 historically black…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Bits: Gateway to Donate Computers, Software for Grass-Roots Groups, and a New Foundation
Gateway plans to give nonprofit organizations as many as 4,500 of the computers the company supplied to the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for use during the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. The application for the donation program will be available online from April 2 to July 31. Before then, charities…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
New Programs Offer Discounts to Charities
Two new programs provide discounted technology products to nonprofit organizations. CompuMentor, a San Francisco charity that provides technology assistance to other nonprofit groups, has opened an online store on its TechSoup.org Web site. DiscounTech (http://www.techsoup.org/discountech) builds…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Bits: Help With Technology Volunteers, and Computer Power Against Anthrax
During the week of February 25, TechSoup, a Web site that provides technology information for charities, will hold an online discussion about managing volunteers who work on technology projects and volunteers who do their assignments online. To get there: Go to http://www.techsoup.org. The Anthrax…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Patients’ Questions Fielded on Internet
A nonprofit medical practice in Maine allows patients to use the Internet to ask their doctors questions, schedule appointments, request prescription renewals, and search for sound medical data. When Martin’s Point Health Care, in Portland, introduced the Patient’s Personal Points service at its…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
New Survey Measures Computer Security
Slightly more than half of the charities that responded to an online survey on computer-security practices report that they back up their data every day, but 49 percent of the groups say they don’t have a data-recovery plan in place in the event of a serious loss of data. A new report, “Computer…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Effort to Link Charities Adds Offline Network
A nonprofit organization that has spent the past six years helping charities and individuals connect online is now trying to build a worldwide network to connect them offline as well. The Idealist Web site currently offers a searchable database of more than 25,000 nonprofit organizations around the…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Charity’s Campaign Seeks Used Computers
A San Francisco charity hopes its new press campaign and research project on computer recycling will put more usable donated computers in the hands of nonprofit organizations and schools while keeping older machines out of landfills. For more than five years CompuMentor has maintained a list of…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Seattle Charity Announces 6 Affiliates Nationwide
NPower is going national. The Seattle nonprofit organization, which provides technology assistance to other charities, has announced six new affiliates in cities across the country. The Microsoft Corporation, in Redmond, Wash., made a commitment of $10-million in cash and $15-million in software…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Bits: EBay Raises Money for Victims of Terrorist Attacks; Technology Conference Announced
EBay has announced that its Auction for America raised $10-million for charities helping victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks. The total fell far short of the company’s goal of raising $100-million. The Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network will be holding Roundup 2002 April 11-14 in…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor