NonProfit Matrix News

Do Good Toolbar: Shop online, Do Good at the same time.

George Irish — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 13:49:03 +0000

A new profile has been added to the NonProfit Matrix:

Raise Money for Charity when Users Search and Shop on the Internet.

Dabble DB: A better web database

George Irish — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 13:41:44 +0000

A new profile has been added to the NonProfit Matrix:

Dabble DB is a database solution you can build to your needs. Having your information online makes it accessible by any user at any location.

> More about Dabble DB

Click Here for Change: Your Guide to the E-Advocacy Revolution

George Irish — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 08:44:30 +0000

The Oakland, CA-based PolicyLink Institute has released a comprehensive guide to help organizations navigate the rapidly evolving world of online advocacy and activism.

Click Here for Change: Your Guide to the E-Advocacy Revolution is a manual for experienced and novice advocates alike who are eager to use state of the art technology techniques to challenge old policies and create new ones that will enhance the quality of life and access to opportunity for everyone. The case studies, resources, tips, and best practices included in this report willhelp readers plan and implement campaigns that use various combinations of online and offline tools to effectively engage their constituencies.

Download the full (pdf) version of Click Here for Change.

Download Section 3: Technology Tools only.

New Path Consulting: technology initiatives for sustainability

George Irish — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 10:18:20 +0000

A new webservice profile has been added to the NonProfit Matrix:

A partnership of the brightest independent consultants in Toronto dedicated for the sustainability of non profit organizations.

> view this profile

Media Mezcla Campaign Engine

George Irish — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 10:17:23 +0000

A new webservice profile has been added to the NonProfit Matrix:

Media Mezcla Campaign Engine provides comprehensive, easy-to-use web-based software for managing non-profits.

> view this profile

Four Steps to Selecting Donor Management Software

George Irish — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 10:16:42 +0000

NPower Seattle has published a handbook and practical guide to assist organizations in selecting donor management software.

From the introduction:

This toolkit has been designed to walk you through that process of discovery. At the end of it, we think that you’ll be ready to choose software that allows youto work the way you want to, rather than adjusting your needs to do what the software allows. Ultimately, we hope you’ll have made a technology decision that helps you better serve your community.

The toolkit is organized into 4 main sections, following the suggested steps to select the best database solution.

Assess your use of current technology and set technology goals that support your overall mission.
Prioritize your nonprofit’s requirements and map out the software features you need.
Decide which software packages best meet your needs.
Act on your decision and implement the new system.

The handbook’s devlopment was supported by Verison. It is available for download as a pdf.

Microsoft to offer its own online (SaaS) relationship

George Irish — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 10:14:50 +0000

Allan Benamer at Non-Profit Tech Blog has a pointer to a press release from Microsoft announcing its own SaaS (Software as a Service) CRM system, that could be a rival to Blackbaud, Salesforce SugarCRM and other constituent relationship management systems that are popular with nonprofits.

The new system (dubbed Titan / Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live) is in preview/beta-test phase now and is expected to be released by 3rd quarter of this year.

URL: Microsoft is going to do SaaS CRM too…

Idealware: Comparing Open Source CMSes: Joomla, Drupal and Plone

George Irish — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 15:47:41 +0000

Idealware has published a report looking at leading choices in the open source content management system (CMS) field. Open source CMS’s are popular with activist and social change organizations they are non-commerical products (though they are used and supported by professional developers) and because they are seen to be cheaper that commercially available CMS’s (not always true if you include site development and maintenance costs). Open source CMS’s should be a top choice for nonprofits planning to build blogs, or use social working tools such as RSS, flickr, etc.

Idealware’s report profiles three leading platforms: Joomla, Drupal and Plone, and includes screenshots, and links to marquee nonprofits using each system.

Read Idealware’s Comparing Open Source CMSes report.

View Nonprofit Matrix profile listings for Website Hosting/Content Management Systems.

BlogBaud – Blackbaud launches insiders/staff blog

George Irish — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 14:33:10 +0000

Blackbaud is kicking off the new year with the launch of Blogbaud.com, a new blog that promises to “give our employees a platform to sound off on what they know best: technology, nonprofits, business, and Blackbaud itself”. The new blog aims to build an active community where Blackbaud’s staff and developers can interact and collaborate with users of their products.

First posting on Blogbaud, Ten Social Web New Year’s Resolutions for Nonprofits by Internet Marketing Manager Chad Norman, looks promising of more good content to come.

Charity Badges: Cheap and Easy – and Distributed – Online Fundraising Tools

George Irish — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 20:28:25 +0000

An interesting flurry of activity in past weeks with the appearance of a new type of online fundraising tool that could bridge the gap between tried-and-true online donation forms, and the emerging world of Web 2.0 applications (myspace, youtube, wikipedia, etc.): charity badges — also known as fundraising widgits. (widgits are small objects that you can put anywhere on a web page to add new functions, new content, etc.)

Idealware posted a roundup of the candidates that appeared just in time for the holiday giving rush. URL: Tis the Season… for Cheap and Easy – and Distributed – Online Fundraising Tools

Charity badges are interesting new tools that could open up a whole new area in online fundraising – it’s still a bit early to tell if and how these tools might catch on.

I’m going to start my own list here for now. I am already planning get a new category for peer-to-peer and personal fundraising tools set up on the main Matrix directory, so watch for a more comprehensive listing there soon.

Here’s my current list, starting with the ones mentioned in Idealware’s post:

If you know of more fundraising widgit providers, let me know (irishg@nonprofitmatrix.com) and I’ll include them here, and in the directory.