Orion Grassroots Network

Resources Blog

GrantStation

posted Jul 30, 2008

GrantStation.com-- has an online Find-a-Funder database of 6,000 foundations and grantmakers . Find-a-Funder is highly searchable, with 165 issue areas and 30 funding support types indexed. GrantStation access is one of the many benefits of an Orion Grassroots Network membership.

Foundation Center

posted Jul 23, 2008

Follow that rainbow! You might just find a pot of gold for your organization. Or you could check out http://foundationcenter.org. The site contains a thorough database on grants and grantmakers in the US -- "a robust, accessible knowledge bank for the sector." The site also provides research studies, fundraising and nonprofit management suggestions, and an events calendar.

Grants Web

posted Jul 23, 2008

Many nonprofit organizations are in a constant battle to stay afloat. Those organizations that are afloat are often looking for funds in order to further their goals, or to redefine the possibilities of what can be accomplished, or to minimize the space between practical action and the ideals behind it. Better funding changes the type of work an organization can do. If you are looking for funding, check out: http://www.srainternational.org/sra03/grantsweb/index.cfm SRA International's Grants Web is a great site if you are interested in receiving funding from the government, private funders, and international foundations. This site also contains general research, policy information and regulations, and administrator resources.

The Nonprofit Good Practice Guide

posted Jul 22, 2008

The Nonprofit Good Practice Guide is specifically designed to inform and update nonprofit employees about a range of issues relating to nonprofit management. http://www.npgoodpractice.org

Free Management Library

posted Jul 21, 2008

This site serves as a guide book, a therapist, and a know-it-all. It has the answers to questions pertaining a variety of issues. From suggesting icebreakers to reporting information about getting tax-exempt status, this site is worth a click. http://www.managementhelp.org

Virtual Activist Training Guide

posted Jul 2, 2008

The tools available for organizing include -- big time -- the web, and NetAction created a pretty darned good Virtual Activist Training Guide. Check it out.

Techsoup’s ‘How it Works’

posted Jun 27, 2008

Techsoup's How It Works page is probably the best place to start learning about their offerings of cheap and free technology, from software to hardware. The forums are also a good resource, providing some solid and pretty darned fast answers to technology questions.

Project Management

posted Jun 19, 2008

One first-rate communication tool is Basecamp. Basecamp provides a messageboard, file repository, to-do list, and other project management tools that let you focus and communicate with a far-flung team. All messages, files, brainstorming, timelines, and other project-related items can be found in one place, at a unique and private URL, accessible from any computer, and RSS-subscribable. Projects can include an unlimited number of people, and if you're reasonably good about deleting no-longer-needed files, there's plenty of file storage space.

Costs are reasonable: a 30-day free trial; $24/month for up to 15 projects; $49/month for 35 projects. There's a somewhat limited (no file sharing) free plan, for just one project.

37 Signals, the company responsible for Basecamp, has several other terrific products, from list makers and calendars to contact management. They make collaboration easy.

E-mail Lists and Marketing

posted Jun 18, 2008

At Orion, for a couple of years we've been using Constant Contact to keep our opt-in e-mail lists and to send e-mail messages. There are a lot of vendors that provide this kind of service; all in all, we're pleased by Constant Contact. The cost ranges from $15/month to $150/month for the e-mail services, based on the size of your list. They offer prepay (6 month and 12 month) and nonprofit discounts. It costs the same amount additionally for a survey service that we haven't tried.

Pros: the reports are terrific. We know exactly how many people opened a message, and how many people clicked on each link. That helps us in all sorts of ways. Constant Contact keeps up great relationships with internet service providers (ISPs), which helps us because our messages are less likely to get caught up in those finicky spam filters (it is very hard to get UNcaught from those). As anyone knows who has tried to send mass-ish e-mail messages from your own ISP, that can be tricky. We also like how strict Constant Contact is about being sure recipients ASK to receive messages, and have an easy way to opt out of receiving messages.

Cons: entirely because the internet is so darned complicated, and there are so many operating system/browser combinations, the templates offered by Constant Contact are, though numerous, less than elegant. They're ok, but a bit real-estate-sales-ish for our tastes. We ended up having a special template made for us, at additional cost.

To sign up for Constant Contact, CLICK HERE. They usually run 30- or 60-day trial offers...

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