Teenage Fund Raiser Posts Notes From Darfur
Nick Anderson, a teenager in Conway, Mass., has used the Internet to help raise tens of thousands of dollars for humanitarian aid in Darfur. Now he’s using the medium to share what he learned when he visited the troubled region of Sudan as a youth ambassador for Oxfam America. During the last…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Software Company Plans Stock Offering
Convio, an Austin, Tex., company that provides Web-based software for nonprofit groups, plans to go public. The company filed a statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission at the end of August announcing its intention to sell shares of common stock in an initial public offering. The…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Bits: Celebs Gone Good Chronicles Charitable Activities of the Famous
Grassroots.org, a nonprofit technology organization, and SEO.com, a consulting company in Lehi, Utah, are offering free two-hour telephone consultations to help nonprofit organizations improve their visibility on Internet search-engine listings. For more information: Go to…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Grant Competition Seeks Plans for Healthy Games
Video games often get a bad rap for encouraging unhealthy, sedentary behavior. But the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is looking for novel ways that video and computer games can actually promote health and well-being. The Princeton, N.J., foundation is co-sponsoring an online competition called…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Many Donors Go Online to Learn About Charities
A new survey suggests that an organization’s Web site is important to all kinds of donors, not just those who make gifts online. The study found that nearly 40 percent of people who support nonprofit organizations either as a donor, volunteer, or advocate report that they consult online sources of…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Timothy Flowers won a prestigious Truman Scholarship while at Wabash College, and he had planned to use ALSO SEE:ARTICLE: Way to GrowARTICLE: After a Century of Operations, a Charity Starts Its Growth SpurtARTICLE: Community-Service Group Develops a Guidebook to Manage GrowthARTICLE: Charity Seeks…
By Ben Gose
Senior Editor
Bits: MacArthur Foundation Announces Competition for Grants
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, in Chicago, announced it will hold a competition to give away $2-million for technology-related ideas. Part of the money will be awarded in sums of $100,000 to $250,000, to support creative online-education efforts. The rest will provide awards of…
By Sam Kean
Contributor
Blackbaud Buys Competing Charity-Software Company
Blackbaud, a company in Charleston, S.C., that provides accounting, fund-raising, and other financial software for nonprofit groups, will purchase eTapestry, an Indianapolis company, for $24.8-million, with possible additional payments of up to $1.5-million, depending on the performance of…
By Sam Kean
Contributor
Bits: Public Interest Registry Names Alexa A.S. Raad CEO
The Public Interest Registry, the Reston, Va., group that manages the dot-org Internet domain used by nonprofit organizations, has appointed Alexa A.S. Raad as its new chief executive officer. Ms. Raad previously served as chief marketing officer at DotMobi, an Irish technology company.…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Foundation Seeks Proposals for News-Media Grants
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is accepting applications for the second year of its Knight News Challenge, which will award $5-million to individuals, organizations, and businesses that propose innovative ways to use technology to transform local news. Among the projects that won grants…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Election-Related Web Sites Hope to Inform Debate
To capitalize on early interest in the 2008 presidential campaign, two nonprofit groups have introduced election-related Web sites that expand on their everyday work. The Kaiser Family Foundation, in Menlo Park, Calif., started Health08.org to present an array of health-care material, including…
By Sam Kean
Contributor
FCC Offers Educational Radio Licenses
For the first time in seven years, the Federal Communications Commission in mid-October will accept applications for new, full-power stations used for noncommercial, educational purposes. There is no application fee and, if granted, the license itself is free. To apply, a nonprofit group must be…
By Sue Hoye
Contributor
Google Offers Charities Free Software, Help
Google has announced that it is making tools available to help nonprofit groups communicate and collaborate. Google Apps, which will be free to nonprofit organizations in the United States, includes e-mail and calendar programs, Internet-based telephone and text-messaging services, and…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Omidyar Network Ends Online Forum
The charitable Web site Omidyar.net has announced it will shut down its message boards and interactive features and direct current members to other online discussions. The forum is part of the charitable enterprises created by Pierre Omidyar, who made his fortune as the founder of eBay. The change…
By Sam Kean
Contributor
The Red Cross must move fast to prepare for the worstWith predictions for an above-average hurricane system this year, and a new warning that terrorists are plotting an attack against the United States, questions about whether the American Red Cross is adequately prepared for the next big disaster…
By Ben Gose
Senior Editor
Networking Site Adds Charity Links
The world’s largest professional networking site, LinkedIn, will soon allow its 11 million users to add “badges” to their profiles that link to their favorite philanthropic causes. LinkedIn already offers members — who use the site to connect with other professionals — the option of adding badges,…
By Sam Kean
Contributor