Giving Site Seeks American Projects
GlobalGiving — an online giving site best known for connecting donors with development projects overseas — is holding a competition to attract more American charities. “We’ve been open to projects from anywhere in the world, including in the U.S., but a lot of nonprofits have come to us and said,…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Charity Map Project Tracks Playground Options
Kaboom, a charity that builds playgrounds, is trying to enlist people across the United States to help create an online map of the country’s play spaces. Anyone can set up a profile on the organization’s Web site and then post a review and photographs of neighborhood recreation centers, skateboard…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
GuideStar Unveils Web-Site Changes
GuideStar has revamped its online repository of charity data to make it easier for groups to post more information. Organizations can for the first time add logos, photographs, and videos to their profiles on GuideStar, and the site now offers an easy way for groups to upload key documents, such as…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Software Preserves Native Languages
A New Mexico charity is harnessing modern tools in the struggle to revitalize some very old and endangered languages. Of the more than 400 languages that were once spoken by Native Americans in the United States, roughly 175 are still spoken today, according to Inée Yang Slaughter, executive…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Voice-Mail Charity Distributes Alerts
Community Voice Mail — a charity in Seattle that provides free voice mail in 46 cities to people who are homeless, fleeing domestic abuse, or otherwise do not have phone service — teamed up with three federal agencies to distribute information about the recent salmonella outbreak and recall of…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Group Goes for Laughs and Donations
Using a Web 2.0 brand of humor — along with e-mail, video, and outreach to social networks — the Nonprofit Technology Network raised more than $10,000 for scholarships to its annual technology conference in San Francisco. “You guys answer each other’s questions, give each other encouragement, point…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
IRS Says Charity’s Web Site Crossed Lines
A new ruling by the Internal Revenue Service could have broad implications for charity Web sites, nonprofit tax and technology experts say. The IRS ruled that a local chapter of a national charity violated the prohibition against politicking by including the political-campaign materials of an…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Bits: mHealth Alliance To Promote Use of Mobile Tech in Health Programs
The Rockefeller, United Nations, and Vodafone Foundations have announced the formation of the mHealth Alliance to promote the use of mobile technologies in health programs in developing countries. A new report, “mHealth for Development,” details 26 such efforts, including a program in Thailand in…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Online Charity Asks Programmers for Help
Kiva uses the Internet to match entrepreneurs in developing countries with people who want to lend them money to build their businesses. Now the San Francisco charity is asking programmers to develop new online tools to further promote its microfinance mission. The group has created an…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Gates Fund Pays for Data Projects
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in Seattle, has awarded $22-million for projects to help schools, districts, and states gather and use data to improve high-school students’ academic achievement. The goal is to gather data “that will inform decision making at all levels in the system,” Vicki L.…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Google Helps Charity Test Its Web Design
As the winner of a contest sponsored by Google, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society received assistance from an outside consulting company to help it use Google’s free Website Optimizer to test the effectiveness of a page on its site. The page — the home page for the charity’s Team in Training…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Contest Honors Creative Technology
The Tech Museum of Innovation, in San Jose, Calif., is accepting applications for its annual awards, which honor the creative use of technology to promote economic development, education, the environment, equality, and health. Winners in each of the five categories receive $50,000. The deadline for…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
New Tool Maps Volunteer Openings
VolunteerMatch has added a new feature to its Web site to make it easier for visitors to find volunteer opportunities near where they live and work. Potential volunteers can now browse opportunities for giving their time — and find nonprofit organizations in their area that are looking for help —…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Cellphone Videos Hope to Change Habits
A Rutgers University professor thinks that cellphone soap operas could be a powerful tool to encourage young minority women to take steps to protect themselves from HIV infection. The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey, in Millburn, gave Rachel Jones a $154,400 grant to create 12 videos that…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Knight Awards Nonprofit Media Grants
Twenty-one projects designed to help residents stay informed about local news have received $5-million from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, in Miami. The grants — the first round of the foundation’s five-year, $24-million Knight Community Information Challenge — went to projects…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
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