Bits: Public Interest Registry Seeking Nominations for .Org Advisory Council
The Microsoft Corporation, in Redmond, Wash., has announced a $5-million grant to NPower that is contingent on the organization’s raising an equal amount of money. There is no deadline by which NPower has to raise the money, but the national network of 12 organizations that provide technology…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Technology Meetings Scheduled for April
This year’s Nonprofit Technology Conference, which last year drew more than 800 charity technology officials, consultants, and company representatives, will take place April 4-6 in Washington. The meeting, entitled “Reinventing Politics: Creating Social Change From the Group Up,” is organized by…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Foundation Seeks Ideas for AIDS-Awareness Game
Socially minded video games have been used to raise awareness about poverty in the developing world, genocide in Darfur, and environmental degradation. Next on the list of topics to be tackled: HIV and AIDS. The Kaiser Family Foundation, in Menlo Park, Calif., and MTVu, an MTV network broadcast on…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Conservation Charity’s Site Tracks Fatal Attacks on Birds
Pet owners may consider the dead birds that cats leave on their doorstep just one of the quirks of owning a cat. But the American Bird Conservancy says that, added together, those offerings represent a significant pressure on bird populations already struggling with the effects of habitat loss,…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Status and recent results of drives for endowments, capital improvements, and other needs Started or announced Closing date Goal Amount raised Purpose Brown U. (R.I.) Oct. 2005 Dec. 2010 $1,400,000,000 $939,000,000 For academic programs, the annual fund, facilities, public-health programs,…
Two Big Mergers Shake Up Charity-Software Business
Two big mergers of software companies that serve charities were announced last week, a sign of growing consolidation among businesses that help charities raise money and undertake advocacy and other activities online: Blackbaud, a company that sells software that helps charities keep track of how…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
Charity’s sale of water pumps and other devices helps impoverished Africans build successful businessesWhen Julius Karanja relied on the rains and a bucket to water his crops, all he could grow were beans, corn, and a few tomatoes. But six years ago, Mr. Karanja bought a manually operated water…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Social-service charity’s car dealership aims to put its clients on the road to a brighter future As used-car dealerships go, Ideal Auto — located here in this rural town near the western edge of ALSO SEE:Summary: Special Report: Charities and BusinessArticle: Making Money With a MissionLIVE…
By BRENNEN JENSEN
Contributor
Bits: TechMission Website Matches Volunteers with Christian Opportunities
TechMission of Boston has created a Web site that works to match volunteers with Christian opportunities in urban areas. Users can type their ZIP codes into a search engine and find a list of volunteer openings at Christian organizations. Christian nonprofit groups may post their volunteer needs…
By PETER PANEPENTO
Contributor
Two Charities Win Innovation Awards
The Tech Museum of Innovation, in San Jose, Calif., honored two nonprofit organizations with its annual awards recognizing creative use of technology to benefit societies around the world. The nonprofit winners, which each received $50,000: The Centre for Development of Disadvantaged People, in…
By Noelle Barton
Contributor
New Orleans Site Hopes Shoppers Will Donate
Holiday shoppers in search of a way to do more than just add clutter to the homes of family and friends may find a new site known as Shopnola.org a helpful source of ideas. The site, started in October, promotes New Orleans businesses and charities as a way to help the city recover from Hurricane…
By Noelle Barton
Contributor
Online forums about charity offer advice and discuss controversies Albert Ruesga is not being flip when he invokes images of torture to describe his blog, White Courtesy Telephone. He’s dead serious. Mr. Ruesga, who started White Courtesy Telephone in March as an online forum about philanthropy, is…
By PETER PANEPENTO
Contributor
Bits: GuideStar Providing Free Seven-Day Trial for Federal Workers
GuideStar, an organization that creates reports on nonprofit groups based on the informational tax returns they file and other data, is providing a free, seven-day trial of one of its key online tools to federal workers who want to make a donation through the government’s annual charity drive.…
By PETER PANEPENTO
Contributor
Young Filmmakers Use Web to Teach About Global Issues
Believing that stories are the most powerful teachers, the nonprofit group Curriki, in Washington, has enlisted 15 filmmakers in developing countries to produce short narrative videos designed to help students learn about strife and poverty across the globe. Each of the two- to five-minute pieces —…
By Sam Kean
Contributor
Fund Spends $50-Million to Study Technology
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, in Chicago, wants to know how video games, the Internet, instant messaging, cellphones, and other tools of the digital age are changing the way young people learn and relate to one another. And it is spending $50-million over the next five years to…
By PETER PANEPENTO
Contributor
Web Voters Pick Historic California Site
The National Trust for Historic Preservation this fall asked Internet users for a little grant-making advice. During September and October, members of the public could vote for their favorite of 25 historic sites in the San Francisco Bay Area to help determine how $1-million in preservation grants…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor