Charity Finds New Ways to Increase Online Gifts
Simple changes can often make a big difference in how much money a charity’s Web site raises. Amnesty International learned that lesson when it tested several different approaches to see which ones were most effective. Donordigital, a San Francisco consulting firm that helped the charity, has…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
Bits: OMB Watch Creates Regulatory Resource Center
The ninth annual “Grassroots Use of Technology” conference will be held June 28 at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. It is sponsored by the Organizers’ Collaborative, a group that promotes the use of computers and the Internet as tools for activism. For more information: Go to…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Online Auction Site Urges Users to Donate
EBay and its corporate foundation have started the Community Gives campaign to encourage people who use the auction site to donate to three charities — and to start things off, the foundation has made a $1-million grant to be shared by the groups. EBay users can make a gift either by donating the…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Bank Site Culls Details on 70 Foundations
Grant seekers have a new online resource to consult. Bank of America has created a Web site that provides information about 70 foundations for which it serves as trustee or grant-making agent. Profiles on the site detail each foundation’s mission and areas of interest, application procedures, and…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Cable Network Discusses Its Philanthropic Role
CNN’s involvement in philanthropy began when officials at the network noticed two trends: celebrities’ growing advocacy on behalf of causes, and viewers responding to stories with e-mail messages and phone calls asking how they could help, Tonja Brown, director of strategic integration at CNN, told…
By Cassie J. Moore
Contributor
Online Grant Contest Draws 15,000 Votes
More than 15,000 people voted in the final round of the Make It Your Own Awards to select the four winning charities, which received $35,000 each for projects designed to get Americans involved in civic causes. The Case Foundation, in Washington, received 4,641 submissions, and more than 100…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Bits: C-Span Invites Viewers to Submit Videos via YouTube
A two-day seminar on how to manage nonprofit technology projects will be held in Oakland, Calif., on May 20-21. The event is being organized by Aspiration, a San Francisco nonprofit group that seeks to connect charities to good-quality, low-cost software, and Idealware, a nonprofit organization in…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Few Charity Supporters Read Nonprofit Blogs
Only a small percentage of charity supporters — 6 percent — read blogs, social-networking sites, or RSS feeds to keep up with the organizations they care about, according to a new survey. But 43 percent of the people surveyed said that they were interested in receiving such information through…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Text Messages Alert Teenagers to Volunteer Options
Volunteer opportunities for teenagers are now just a text message away. Do Something, a youth organization in New York, has collaborated with VolunteerMatch, Idealist, and the Points of Light & Hands On Network to create an online database of volunteer openings designed for teenagers. Young people…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
White House Office Seeks Charity Videos
The White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives hopes to highlight the work of nonprofit organizations that have received federal grants by encouraging them to create videos telling their stories. The Portraits of Compassion video contest is open to charities that have received…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
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