Microsoft Gives Software to 5 Groups
The Microsoft Corporation, in Redmond, Wash., has awarded more than $3.3-million in software to five nonprofit organizations through its Technology Leadership Grant program. The largest grant, $2-million in software, was awarded to Special Olympics, in Washington, D.C. The organization plans to use…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Decision makers do not all agree on the best way for constituents to contact them, says a new report published by the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, in Washington. For e-mail activism networks to be effective, nonprofit organizations need to learn what form of communication officials…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Habitat for Humanity of Forsyth County, in North Carolina, thinks that the computer is an essential appliance for the 21st-century home, not unlike a refrigerator or washing machine, and it has begun a $1-million project that by the end of the year will put a computer in every home the organization…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Bringing Technology to the Global Village
The Hewlett-Packard Company, in Palo Alto, Calif., and the Microsoft Corporation, in Redmond, Wash., have announced that they will earmark at least 20 percent of their philanthropy budgets for technology projects in developing countries. The companies made their pledges as they signed on to the CEO…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Bits: Free Data for Nonprofit Groups; and a Conference on Using the Internet
The National Priorities Project, a nonprofit organization in Northampton, Mass., has added a feature to its Web site that allows visitors to create tables and charts using data on social needs, demographics, and government spending collected by federal agencies. To get there: Go to http://data…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
New Approach to Linking Corporations, Charities
Nonprofit organizations that are looking for corporate sponsors for their events and companies that are looking for events to support now have a place to find each other online. The new site, IEG SponsorDirect, lists sponsorship opportunities and allows companies to browse them at no charge. The…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Site Allows Sharing of Technology Curriculums
A new Web site allows charities to share their technology-training materials online. Created by CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, a nonprofit organization in San Francisco that provides management and technology assistance to other charities, the site offers training curriculums on software…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Bits: An Online–Fund Raising Survey, and a Conference for Grass-Roots Groups
The AAFRC Trust for Philanthropy and ePhilanthropyFoundation.Org are conducting an online survey that asks charities about their online fund raising. The results of the survey are scheduled to be included in Giving USA, an annual report on the state of philanthropy that the trust expects to issue…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Web Site to Aid International Projects
A new company founded by two former World Bank officials is working to create an online marketplace where people with an idea for an international-development project can promote their work and donors can contribute to the projects directly. Among the 113 projects listed on the Washington company’s…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
New Watchdog Group Puts Charity Ratings Online
A New Jersey nonprofit organization has entered the charity-rating business, and donors can check out the group’s findings online. Charity Navigator rates nonprofit organizations’ financial health based on both their short-term spending practices and their long-term prospects for success. So far,…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Bits: A Technology Conference; and Help Raising Money on the Web
“Thriving as a Dot Org: The Fourth Annual Silicon Valley Conference on Nonprofits and Technology” will be held on May 9 in San Jose, Calif. The meeting is being organized by the Center for Excellence in Nonprofits, CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, and CompuMentor, in the Bay Area. For more…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Technology Playing Role in Economic Development
For the most part, local economic-development organizations have the hardware and software they need to do basic administrative tasks, but they are not able to take advantage of more sophisticated information technology in their work, says a new report entitled “The Evolving Role of Information…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
SBC Communications Offers Grant Program
SBC Communications will award grants totaling $25-million through its foundation this year to nonprofit technology projects in the 13 states in which the company provides telecommunications services. The San Antonio company is calling the new effort SBC Excelerator. The SBC Foundation will award…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Organizations Would Use Electronic Filing, Study Finds
Nearly three-quarters of charities probably would file their Form 990 informational tax returns electronically if the Internal Revenue Service gave them the opportunity to do so, according to a survey. If electronic filing were available, 73 percent of charities would be “very” or “somewhat” likely…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
Software Aids Taxpayers Who Donate Goods
What’s the fair-market value of a pair of gently used Rollerblades? A box of old murder mysteries? Or a men’s three-piece business suit? As the April 15 tax deadline approaches, many Americans who want to claim a deduction for the goods they donated to charity find themselves facing these kinds of…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Web Site Promotes Arab-Jewish Relations
Named for the common ancestor of both Jews and Arabs, the Abraham Fund makes grants to organizations working to improve relations between Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel. Its latest tool, a new Web site, provides information about the organization’s work in Arabic, English, and Hebrew. “The…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor