Disaster relief calculator, developed at URI, is adopted by U.S. international relief agency | Business Notes - Business | providencejournal.com | The Providence Journal - The Providence Journal

Disaster relief calculator, developed at URI, is adopted by U.S. international relief agency | Business Notes - Business | providencejournal.com | The Providence Journal - The Providence Journal: Students at the University of Rhode Island have developed a program that helps donors see how to aim their generous impulses to the most effective actions.

Called the Greatest Good Donation Calculator, and developed by students and faculty in business and computer engineering, the calculator was adopted by the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, the federal government’s international relief agency.

Digital is the 'New Normal', so why is digital fundraising still so rubbish? | Rachel Beer |

Digital is the 'New Normal', so why is digital fundraising still so rubbish? | Rachel Beer |: "So, since all of this is so normal, why are digital channels still so under utilised when it comes to fundraising?  And why isn’t digital fundraising making more of a contribution to the bottom line?  It’s not like the potential to generate income isn’t there – I mean, just look at Amazon, iTunes, eBay… the list goes on and on.
It’s because a lot of digital fundraising is rubbish"

How to do data management right.

From Social Fish
Check out this awesome infographic from the ASAE Technology Council.  They will be sharing lots more information about the specific pieces of it on this site, but here it is in all its glory! From Rick Johnston (a long time colleague and friend, and my new manager at ICF!):
How to do data management right.:

Online charity Give Locally uses mobile gaming, social media website to meet growing demands - The Washington Post

Online charity Give Locally uses mobile gaming, social media website to meet growing demands - The Washington Post: WASHINGTON — Andrew “Bo” Young III, son of former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young, is carving out his own path for social change courtesy of a mobile app designed to help real families through the purchase of virtual goods.

Young and California lawyer Brad Newman have launched “Giv Galaxy,” an iPhone game in which players buy virtual products to help feed villagers and provide them with medicine. A portion of the proceeds from those virtual purchases goes to help families in need.

5 Ways to Supercharge Your Nonprofit's Facebook Page

5 Ways to Supercharge Your Nonprofit's Facebook Page:everyone says Facebook can grow your audience. After all, it's one of the most used and most powerful social media tools on the planet.

You started a Facebook Page for your nonprofit. You have a few likes. You've posted some updates. You've seen modest results, but you wonder...now what? Am I missing something?

Online philanthropy course eases access to grant funds | The News Desk

Online philanthropy course eases access to grant funds | The News Desk: Rozek wanted to begin the course to distribute the foundation’s funds to as many localities as possible. After learning about online courses offered by colleges such as Stanford and Harvard he wanted to include the philanthropy courses already provided at universities by the foundation in the online-learning movement.

Currently the Learning by Giving Foundation has 30 classes at universities across the county dedicated to philanthropy, including one at the University of Mary Washington.

This online course opens these classes up to an unlimited number of students.

Fundraising Advice From Katya Andresen Over the Years : FundRaising Success

Fundraising Advice From Katya Andresen Over the Years : FundRaising Success: we are sharing some of the tremendous fundraising tips Andresen has been gracious enough to pass on to our readers through our various publications. Enjoy, and best wishes to Katya on her new endeavor at ePals!

High school students build electric car powered by social media - Chicago Tribune

High school students build electric car powered by social media - Chicago Tribune: High school students have turned a 1967 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia into an all-electric car that is powered by tweets, shares, posts and likes. Turning tweets into watts will take the at-risk students from Kansas City to Washington, D.C. to “drive change in education.”

“We want to make the statement to students everywhere that they can participate in [shaping] their education,” says Steve Rees, CEO of Minddrive, “that students can have a voice.”

Oklahoma governor thanks media for tornado coverage | Poynter.

Oklahoma governor thanks media for tornado coverage | Poynter.: The Vital Role of Online and Mobile

When I spoke with him Tuesday morning, an exhausted-sounding KFOR Interim News Director Steve Johnson was juggling the demands of coordinating another day of storm cleanup and what will likely be another afternoon of heavy storms. At the moment we spoke, he said 2,200 people “are looking at our live stream; 213 are looking at a video story from Moore.”

KWTV’s VP of Digital and Social Content Billy Hendrix said his station set a new record for online traffic, 2.5 million page views. “We have a big metro area and then we have very rural Oklahoma in our viewing area,” Hendrix told me. “The people out in the country tend to watch TV on satellite dishes and when storms come, they lose their signals fast. So during a storm we stream live video online, on mobile and on several apps. During the storm we use Twitter and Facebook to tell the public street by street were the storm is and where it is going.”

Tornado Facebook Group Reunites Oklahoma Victims With Belongings

Tornado Facebook Group Reunites Oklahoma Victims With Belongings: "Hagelberg logged into Facebook and found that many of her neighbors had reported finding items, so she decided to start a Facebook group to reunite victims of the tornado with their missing belongings.

The Facebook group was expanded Monday, to help people who were affected by the devastating tornado that ripped through Moore, Okla., killing dozens of people."

'via Blog this'

Social analytics are fueling a more predictive model | TMA Resources

Social analytics are fueling a more predictive model | TMA Resources: Social media has played an increasingly important role in organizations' client engagement strategy as firms look to monitor interactions on these channels for valuable insight and foster new relationships.

Willis Turner-So ... Is Social Media BS or Not? : FundRaising Success

Willis Turner-So ... Is Social Media BS or Not? : FundRaising Success: Sitting onstage in his wingback chair like a crusty old grandfather (or like the beguiling iconoclast he is), reading from an oversized fairy tale book to a room full of wide-eyed prot�g�s and sharp-witted peers, he reinterpreted Snow White as a modern fundraising fable.

It was a tale of vanity, hubris, black knights, white knights, short-term thinking and good intentions gone wrong.

American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation Award $1 Million in Grants to Restore 13 Washington, D.C. Metro Area Historic Places - MarketWatch

American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation Award $1 Million in Grants to Restore 13 Washington, D.C. Metro Area Historic Places - MarketWatch: WASHINGTON, May 13, 2013 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation today announced the Washington National Cathedral as the winner of Partners in Preservation, the region's first-ever preservation effort powered by social media. For earning the most points, the Washington National Cathedral will receive its full grant request of $100,000.

How To Tweet Your Way To Your Dream Job | Fast Company | Business Innovation

How To Tweet Your Way To Your Dream Job | Fast Company | Business Innovation

How My Mom Thinks Search Engines Work | SEOmoz

How My Mom Thinks Search Engines Work | SEOmoz: With Mother’s Day in many countries having just passed (I learned this week that the UK celebrates Mothering Sunday earlier in the year), I thought it would be fun to have a conversation about SEO with one of the most incredible people on the entire planet: my mom. I asked her about what it is she believes our industry does on a daily basis as well as how she thinks search engines function in general.

MediaShift Idea Lab . How FrontlineSMS Helped an Indonesian Community Clean Up a River | PBS

MediaShift Idea Lab . How FrontlineSMS Helped an Indonesian Community Clean Up a River | PBS: using sms

Hapsoro was a man who always actively sent SMS to all our friends to participate in regular KPC Bogor activities, especially to remind them to get them involved with cleaning the river. With an old mobile phone, he used to send messages one by one to the numbers in his phone book. The day after we decided to keep KPC Bogor alive, I asked permission from Hapsoro's wife, Yuniken Mayangsari, about whether we could keep using his phone number to send SMS to all the subscribers. She gave me the phone at once without hesitation.

Six Essential Mobile Marketing Strategies for Nonprofits | Stanford Social Innovation Review

Six Essential Mobile Marketing Strategies for Nonprofits | Stanford Social Innovation Review: More than 130 million Americans own smartphones. Add desktop computers, tablets, and laptops to the mix, and there are more Internet-connected devices in the United States than there are people. Skyrocketing mobile web traffic numbers have Comcast analysts predicting that mobile web surfing will overtake desktop surfing by 2014. Still, most NGOs and nonprofits don’t have a mobile marketing strategy in place and so are missing out on new ways to connect with supporters. Worse, they may be unintentionally harming their organizations’ brands by brushing off the mobile sea change.

Here are six mobile strategies every nonprofit marketer should know.

Ushadhidi's rugged BRCK, 'the backup generator for the internet' (Wired UK)

Ushadhidi's rugged BRCK, 'the backup generator for the internet' (Wired UK): Sometimes, when you need access to the web the most is when it's most likely to be hard to find. It could even be a matter of life or death. So having a backup connection that you can carry in your pocket, that will work from Windhoek to Williamsburg, sounds like a good idea. That's the concept behind Ushahidi's BRCK.

ProPublica Launches Online Tool to Search Nonprofit Tax Forms - Tax Watch - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas

ProPublica Launches Online Tool to Search Nonprofit Tax Forms - Tax Watch - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas: ProPublica Launches Online Tool to Search Nonprofit Tax Forms

By Doug Donovan

The investigative-journalism organization ProPublica started a free online service today for searching the federal tax returns of more than 615,000 nonprofits.

Orphan charity wins social media campaign | Voxy.co.nz

Orphan charity wins social media campaign | Voxy.co.nz: With 24,997 registered charities in New Zealand, one small charity which started in Invercargill in 2004 has surprised large players in the field, as well as New Zealand public by winning first place in a nationwide social media competition, "25 Ways to Say Thanks".

The campaign, launched by Toyota NZ to "give back" after achieving 25 years of market leadership, was a way to say thanks to the charitable sector for their contributions to society. Toyota invited charities to take part, and 515 took up their offer. The prizes were the use of 25 brand new Corollas for three years - each going to the top 25 charities.

Eight Crowdfunding Sites For Social Entrepreneurs - Forbes

An article on Crowdfunding from Forbes

Eight Crowdfunding Sites For Social Entrepreneurs - Forbes: Eight Crowdfunding Sites For Social Entrepreneurs

Top 10 Crowdfunding Sites For Fundraising - Forbes

 A Forbes article on Crowdfunding sites.

Top 10 Crowdfunding Sites For Fundraising - Forbes: Top 10 Crowdfunding Sites For Fundraising

Faces of Change | United Way of Southern Nevada

Faces of Change | United Way of Southern Nevada: What do local celebrities Holly Madison, Clair Sinclair, Taylor Hicks, Frankie Moreno, Murray Sawchuck, Josh Strickland, Carla Pellegrino, Mac King, and Tara Palsha have in common? All of them have shown their support of United Way by participating in the organization’s ‘Be the Face of Change’ campaign.

Celebrities and community members who supported the program uploaded their photos to United Way of Southern Nevada’s Facebook page and saw their photos posted on billboards across the Valley.

Measuring happiness through Twitter

Measuring happiness through Twitter: The day of the Boston bombings was the world’s saddest in five years—at least according to the “Hedonometer,” a tool designed by mathematicians at the University of Vermont that acts like a mood ring for the Internet.

Sir Stuart: Charity Commission leaders have lost sector's respect

Sir Stuart: Charity Commission leaders have lost sector's respect: NCVO chief executive Sir Stuart Etherington will use a speech today to criticise the leadership of the Charity Commission and warn that it has lost the respect of the sector over the Cup Trust scandal.

And in response to a question from civilsociety.co.uk about whether the regulator can overcome its current problems without a change of leadership, he said: "They have a lot of work to do if they are to regain the trust of the sector."

BREAKING: Twitter’s API changes will cause TweetChat to stop working

BREAKING: Twitter’s API changes will cause TweetChat to stop working

Drew Hendricks: 5 Ways Non-Profits Can Get the Word Out Online

Drew Hendricks: 5 Ways Non-Profits Can Get the Word Out Online: However, many nonprofits are missing the mark and passing up opportunities simply because they don't know any better. Every missed opportunity is a missed grant, long-term donor or in-kind donation. Here are 5 easy ways non-profit can spread the message online.

Rosie Childs: Social Media Allows Charities a Different Type of Story-Telling

Rosie Childs: Social Media Allows Charities a Different Type of Story-Telling: n the aftermath of a double-dip recession which nationally has seen charitable giving down by 20%, charities need to be able to tell the public about the needs of others more than ever. They also need to be able to persuade them that they can and will help. Sadly, this is becoming increasingly difficult.

The Makers of Ushahidi Hope to Kickstart a Backup Communications Server | MIT Technology Review

The Makers of Ushahidi Hope to Kickstart a Backup Communications Server | MIT Technology Review: This Box Keeps Information Flowing During a Crisis

The creators of Ushahidi, a crisis mapping platform, have developed hardware that keeps wireless communication going in the midst of chaos.

Nonprofit news roundup, 05.03.13 � Philanthropy North Carolina

Nonprofit news roundup, 05.03.13 � Philanthropy North Carolina: Habitat Metrolina Partners receive tech award

Habitat for Humanity Metrolina Partners in Charlotte received the 2013 Technology Innovation Award from Apparo, formerly NPower Charlotte Region, and sponsored by Accenture.

SIB chief reviews Twitter use after Social Action Fund investigation

SIB chief reviews Twitter use after Social Action Fund investigation: Jonathan Jenkins, chief executive of the Social Investment Business, has agreed to review his use of social media in order to minimise perceptions that he has social relationships with people from charities that receive statutory funds on his recommendation.

Data Digest: Maps, Trends, and a Social Progress Index

Data Digest: Maps, Trends, and a Social Progress Index: Data Digest is a weekly round-up of the latest news on data-related projects in the nonprofit sector, compiled and authored by Keisha Taylor of GuideStar International and TechSoup Global. It originally appeared on NetSquared.

This week, the call for data measurement in the social sector heightens with the proposition of a Social Progress Index and ways that NGOs can use data maps to increase effectiveness. The need for open data from NGOs is reiterated, while the way philanthropy has promoted the global Open Government Partnership is explained. Five trending Big Data technologies are also identified.