Orion Grassroots Network

Resources Blog: Technology

Cheap and good tech services for green nonprofits

posted May 24, 2010

"We are an environmental nonprofit with a twist: we help build a sustainable society by providing other environmental groups with customized websites, database systems, email and social media tools, and online communications strategy." So says GroundWire about itself, and it offers deep discounts to nonprofits: http://groundwire.org/about

Mobile Phone fundraising campaigns

posted May 11, 2010

Frogloop has a useful new post up about fundraising via texting. Why do it? Unlike emails, which only get opened 10 to 15% of the time, SMS/ text messages have a nearly 100% open rate! However, it is not nearly as easy as putting up a "donate now" page on your website, and the codes you have to use are controlled by the telecommunications carriers (only 9 of which will allow such campaigns) and all giving programs must be approved by the Mobile Giving Foundation (MGF) which has stringent requirements for who can provide mobile giving and who can develop a mobile giving program.

MGF's main restriction is that it will only OK text campaigns by nonprofits with gross revenues of at least $500,000. That precludes most of us.

Read the full post here.

Make your own iPhone app

posted Feb 16, 2010

Until recently it was super expensive to build your own iPhone app, but not anymore. An app is a little widget that you can charge people to download to their iPhones that will help them locate nearby farmers markets, find out about features of rivers, etc. Whatever your mission is, you can create an app for much cheaper using appmakr - they charge $250-$500 but have a 15% nonprofit discount (you have to ask for it!). You will probably want to hire a developer to customize it, especially if you want to charge for it. In that case, choose AppMakrs' more expensive developer account (and add Apple's $99 developer license) so it's got your organization's name as the author in the App Store, too..

In any case, this seems like something that'd be easy to raise money for from a supportive foundation that wants you to reach new people with your mission.

Learn more here by taking their tour. Member group Green Map System just used it to build its own new app and they're pleased with the outcome - helps folks find green features of the towns they're in, from parks to farmers markets. Watch their short video about it here and . if you want to learn more about how they did it.

New software guide for nonprofits

posted Jan 28, 2010

What types of software should your nonprofit be using? It’s hard to even know what exists, let alone what is best for you. Through a friendly, easy-reference format, Idealware’s 2010 Field Guide to Software for Nonprofits: Fundraising, Communications and Outreach can help you pinpoint the types of software that can increase your organization’s effectiveness and efficiency. And it de-mystifies the possible options through user-friendly summaries based on your needs and technical maturity.

Idealware is a nonprofit provider of Consumer-Reports-style reviews and articles about software of interest to nonprofits. The book is an 84-page paperback book available for $19.95, here.

How mapping can help your nonprofit

posted Dec 23, 2009

New in the OGN forum: using the power of maps to help your mission:

It's a hot topic these days - but how does mapping connect to organizational resource efficiency? Mapping can help your organization:

*Understand where to focus resources & efforts for maximum effect *Predict where need for your services will be located in the future *Communicate your work’s impact, to board members and the public *Support more informed decision-making

Full post here.

Twitter Tools for your mission

posted Nov 16, 2009

Audio from our Twitter basics conference call is now up, in the Conference Calls section under November 2009. Here are some additional resources:

our blog post on things to decide before using twitter,

Frogloop's return on investment of social media and social marketing calculator

twitcause, to help your group campaign on twitter (go there and nominate a group or effort to be campaigned for)

and two services you might want to use that plug into your efforts easily, aktnow and act.ly for twitter causes and events.

Twitter Best Practices for Nonprofit Organizations is a good reference.

Some popular hashtags for nonprofits listed here. Our most often used ones are #wildlife - #climate - #climatechange - #sustainable - #renewable - #urbanag - #localfood - #environment - #green #ecomonday.

Here's a useful blog post that talks about Twitter Lists and how you can use them effectively. See item #4 especially.

Lastly, here's a list of 10 things not to 'tweet' about if you can help it. Humorous, and true.

Online social media/engagement tools

posted Oct 13, 2009

Download here (pdf) a handy extended set of resources and tools for those pursuing social change and want to engage folks online. Courtesy of Rootwork, which consults on web design and social media.

Monitoring your online image

posted Sep 23, 2009

Here's a good roundup of tools for tracking what's being said about your organization online. Is it important to know what people are saying? You bet, and it will probably become more important, the more wired the sector gets.

10 insights on utilizing social media

posted Jul 28, 2009

Heather Mansfield over at Change.org has been spending 40 hrs/wk for 3.5 years doing social networking for nonprofit marketing. Her list of 10 insights is here, and this is what she covers:

• Early adopters get the most glory and tend to be the best a social media.
• Approaching social media with fear and trepidation can harm your brand.
• People who are mean and grumpy online are likely mean and grumpy in real life too.
• Some schmoozing is required.
• Good community builders are optimistic, friendly, and obviously enjoy using social media.
• Race and class divisions are played out on social networking sites and must be considered in your social media strategy.
• You have to be persistent and give your social media strategy time to produce results.
• Training is essential to a successful social media strategy.
• The Web evolving faster than you can imagine. To stay competitive, you have to keep up.
• Social media is going mobile.

Go to the link above for more on each insight.

Beware the volunteer techies

posted Feb 27, 2009

I was reminded by a friend recently that the wave of laid off tech-savvy folks who may want to volunteer for our organizations could be more trouble than it's worth. He runs a non-profit that does tech development for other npos, and he warned that while a volunteer may promise a wonderful whiz-bang new web tool or interface for you, both to have something to do and to pad his/her resume in an unemployment interim, you have to ensure that such a thing is truly what your group needs. Volunteers can be gone overnight if for eg they become fully employed again, possibly leaving you with a half done, high maintenance, or even inappropriate tech burden.

It's best to treat volunteers like staff as much as is practical: write a job description, name their project a fellowship, or the like. Good policy in general, but particularly in the case of a tech volunteer. Having this kind of framework in place can ensure a higher quality end product.

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