Technology http://philanthropy.com/section/Technology/252/ Foundation Site Promotes Disclosure http://philanthropy.com/article/Foundation-Site-Promotes/64316/ The Foundation Center has started a new Web site—Glasspockets.org—to highlight efforts by grant makers to let the public know about their activities.

The site lists the technology tools that 64 of the 100 largest U.S. foundations use to inform the public about their work and includes links to the grant makers’ Twitter feeds, Facebook pages, online grants databases, and other sources of information.

The name of the site was inspired by Russell...

...]]> Software Company Seeks Investors http://philanthropy.com/article/Software-Company-Seeks/64310/ Convio, one of the major producers of software for charities, is taking another shot at going public.

The Austin, Tex., company, which provides Web-based software, filed a statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission announcing its intention to sell shares of common stock in an initial public offering, with the hope of raising $57.5-million.

Convio first filed for an initial public offering in August 2007 but withdrew its bid to go public a year later, citing...

...]]> Campaign Draws $1,000-Plus Online Gifts http://philanthropy.com/article/Campaign-Draws-1000-Plus/64314/ Many nonprofit organizations have received online donations of $1,000 or more, but the Human Rights Campaign has devised a way to actively solicit them.

For the past three years, the Washington advocacy group, which focuses on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues, has run a series of e-mail campaigns to recruit new members for its donor society of people who give $1,200 or more annually.

During the first year, the organization learned the importance of sticking...

...]]> Tallying Text Donations for Haiti Relief http://philanthropy.com/article/Tallying-Text-Donations-for/64315/ Thirteen percent of Americans made a text-message gift to aid Haiti relief efforts, according to a new survey.

The results suggest that the earthquake may be a turning point for text-message gifts. Last fall a similar survey found that only 6 percent of Americans had contributed via text message to any cause in the previous year.

Nearly one in five respondents to the current survey-19 percent-said they would prefer to text a donation rather than giving another way, such...

...]]> For More and More Charities, There's an App for That http://philanthropy.com/article/For-MoreMore-Charities/64271/ The Monterey Bay Aquarium had long distributed pocket guides with regional recommendations for what types of seafood people should and shouldn’t eat to further sustainability. A year ago, the California charity released Seafood Watch, an application for Apple’s iPhone device. Developed in response to requests from supporters, Seafood Watch allows people with iPhones to easily carry that information with them and receive regular updates as the recommendations change.

The...

...]]> Hiring Technology Workers: Tips From Experts http://philanthropy.com/article/Hiring-Technology-Workers-/64275/ Publicize the job in multiple ways. Many charities advertise their jobs on online job boards (taking care to list under both “technology” and “nonprofit” categories), but narrowing the search to Web sites focused on a group’s particular mission can help draw in sympathetic applicants.

Recruit recent graduates. For jobs at entry level or just above, get in touch with the career centers at technical colleges or...

...]]> Technology Talent Gets Easier to Find http://philanthropy.com/article/Technology-Talent-Gets-Easier/64270/ The AIDS Foundation of Chicago is seeking an assistant for the organization’s information-technology director. As he weeds through the more than 50 résumés for the just-above-entry-level spot, the charity’s president, Mark Ishaug, is startled by the applicant pool: candidates with decades of experience, master’s degrees, and histories of leading IT departments.

“Maybe a quarter of them are much more qualified than we can accommodate,” he...

...]]> A Technology Adviser Gets a Lesson in Online Security http://philanthropy.com/article/A-Technology-Adviser-Gets-a/64276/ TechSoup, a San Francisco charity that provides technology assistance and donations to nonprofit groups, had a close call with its own computer system. Hackers broke into TechSoup’s Web site, and while they did not get as far as stealing data or wreaking other havoc, their break-in disabled TechSoup’s computers for nearly three days.

In the year since the incident, the group has stepped up its security efforts and joined a growing chorus of nonprofit-technology experts...

...]]> Web Site Aims to Evaluate Charities’ Haiti Work http://philanthropy.com/article/Web-Site-Aims-to-Evaluate/64018/ Americans have donated hundreds of millions to help charities repair Haiti. How can they find out if the money is being well spent?

A new Web site seeks to fill that role. ReliefOversight.org, built in two weeks by more than 50 volunteers, aims to use crowdsourcing to gather information on what charities are doing in Haiti, whether they’re qualified to do the work, and if concerns are being raised about their efforts.

Aid...

...]]> Volunteer Technology Efforts Help Haiti http://philanthropy.com/article/Volunteer-Technology-Efforts/63748/ As relief work in Haiti continues, a wave of volunteer technology efforts have sprouted up using social media and mobile phones to help the earthquake victims.

Some predict the impromptu projects will change how charities respond to future humanitarian emergencies.

The most prominent group has been Ushahidi, a volunteer network that was started to track incidents of political violence in Kenya after that country's disputed election in 2008.

After this month's...

...]]> Building Networks for Relief Groups in Haiti http://philanthropy.com/article/Building-Networks-for-Relief/63720/ The massive earthquake that struck Haiti this month almost completely destroyed the country's communications infrastructure, says Bill Brindley, chief executive of NetHope, an organization through which 28 large international-aid groups collaborate on technology issues.

"Our members on the ground tell us that it's like responding to a disaster five or ten years ago," he says.

Technology specialists from NetHope, its...

...]]> Social Media Aid Efforts to Help Haiti Earthquake Victims http://philanthropy.com/article/Social-Media-Aid-Efforts-to/63566/ People interested in helping victims of the earthquake that wracked Haiti Tuesday are being encouraged to text and tweet their donations and publicize their support using the new technologies. At the same time, that instant communication has provided a platform for donors to ask charities tough questions about where to give and how their money will be used.

It may also be helping to raise significant sums online. Convio, a company that provides software to charities, processed more...

...]]> Texting the Nutcracker http://philanthropy.com/article/Texting-the-Nutcracker/63611/ Over the holidays, the Pennsylvania Ballet asked patrons to turn on their cellphones—at least during intermission and after the show.

From December 26 to 31, audience members at performances of The Nutcracker participated in a live poll via text message. At intermission, they voted for their favorite character, and after the performance, they weighed in on their favorite scene.

Monitors in the lobby displayed the tally, as did the ballet’s...

...]]> EBay Raised $50-Million in 2009 http://philanthropy.com/article/EBay-Raised-50-Million-in/63587/ People are buying less on eBay, but they are donating more. The online-auction site reports that its Giving Works program raised $50-million for nonprofit groups in 2009, a 17-percent increase over 2008. At the same time, sales on the Web site were dropping.

Through eBay’s giving effort, sellers can designate a charity to receive a portion of their sales; buyers can choose to give when they make a purchase; and charities can use the site to sell goods.

While the overall...

...]]> Site Raises Money for Savings Programs http://philanthropy.com/article/Site-Raises-Money-for-Savings/63584/ A new organization in Seattle is adopting the approach used by Kiva to help low-income workers who are saving to go to school, buy a home, or start a small business.

The SaveTogether Web site—which allows donors to make contributions as small as $1—features profiles of people who are participating in charity-operated savings programs in Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Spokane, Wash., and Washington that match the money low-income participants save themselves. Since the...

...]]> How Technology Will Change Philanthropy http://philanthropy.com/article/How-Technology-Will-Change/63615/ The ever-growing availability of data­—and evolving technology that makes it easy for people to share, analyze, and work with the information—will have far-reaching effects in the nonprofit world, according to a new paper.

“Disrupting Philanthropy: Technology and the Future of the Social Sector” argues that digital technology will change the way donors, foundations, and others make giving decisions; how charities assess their work; and the roles and...

...]]> Social-Media Policies Help Charity Workers Navigate a New World http://philanthropy.com/article/Social-Media-Policies-Help/63618/ About a year ago, Kris Gallagher looked around at the exploding popularity of social networks like Facebook and Twitter and saw a trend growing among nonprofit organizations that used the sites. As more people jumped on the speeding bandwagon, friending and tweeting on behalf of their charities, they made mistakes, sometimes bringing uncomfortable exposure to themselves or their employers.

And, she notes, “they had the tendency to make the same mistakes over and over...

...]]> Shaping Social-Network Policies: Useful Resources http://philanthropy.com/article/Shaping-Social-Network/63620/ * Social Media Governance is a Web site that includes more than 100 sample guidelines, including several from nonprofit organizations. Go to: http://www.socialmediagovernance.com.

* Blogger’s Legal Guide is an online project of the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation; it explains the law regarding...

...]]> Few Charities Have Social-Media Policies http://philanthropy.com/article/Few-Charities-Have/63591/ Nearly 79 percent of nonprofit hiring managers surveyed by The Chronicle say their groups do not have a policy governing social-network use by employees—even though all but 5 percent of those managers also say that their organizations use networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Of the 100 respondents to a survey conducted by The Chronicle in the fall via the Web site SurveyMonkey.com, nearly 57 percent of nonprofit hiring managers said they use social...

...]]> Social-Media Contests Bring In Donations and Enthusiastic Supporters http://philanthropy.com/article/Social-Media-Contests-Bring-In/57646/ Somewhere on YouTube, there's a video of a guy named Aaron biking 30 miles from downtown Washington to the suburbs and back in his underwear.

Aaron isn't an exhibitionist; he's an enthusiastic volunteer for a nonprofit group called Atlas Service Corps. He promised to buy a pair of tight white underpants and don them in very public fashion if he could raise 100 gifts of at least $10 each on Facebook during this year's America's Giving Challenge, a contest sponsored by the Case...

...]]> Housing Groups Get Software Help http://philanthropy.com/article/Housing-Groups-Get-Software/57667/ Outdated technology is holding back housing organizations as they try to help borrowers caught in the foreclosure crisis apply for loan modifications, say officials at NeighborWorks America, a national network of more than 240 community-development groups.

Some organizations lack simple technology, such as scanning equipment or the ability to send electronic faxes, that would help them deal more efficiently with the volume of paperwork involved in each application, says Jayna Bower,...

...]]> Fortified-Rice Program Wins Award http://philanthropy.com/article/Fortified-Rice-Program-Wins/57668/ The Tech Museum of Innovation, in San Jose, Calif., has presented its annual awards honoring the creative use of technology to benefit societies around the world.

PATH, an international-aid organization in Seattle, won the health award for Ultra Rice, manufactured rice grains it developed that are fortified with key vitamins and minerals, such as iron, zinc, folic acid, and vitamin A. Made from rice flour, the product does not involve genetic engineering. The manufactured grains are...

...]]> Causes Cuts Ties With MySpace http://philanthropy.com/article/Causes-Cuts-Ties-With-MySpace/57669/

  • Causes has removed from MySpace its popular application that allows people on social-networking sites to raise money for charities. The company cited a lack of activity on the site and a desire to focus its efforts on its Facebook application as reasons for the decision.

  • The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation will accept applications for its third $2-million competition for ideas on how to transform learning with digital media, starting December 14.

    • ...]]>         Autism Charity Takes Top Prize in Chronicle TV Contest http://philanthropy.com/article/Autism-Charity-Takes-Top-Prize/63187/ The NBC show 30 Rock was the inspiration for all of the winning entries in The Chronicle's first VolunTV Challenge.

    Quality Services for the Autism Community, a New York charity, was the grand-prize winner in the contest, which invited people to create their own ideas of how volunteerism could be incorporated into their favorite television shows.

    The contest was inspired by the Entertainment Industry Foundation’s...

    ...]]>         Web Site Offers Census Details http://philanthropy.com/article/Web-Site-Offers-Census-Details/57701/ The Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network, a project of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, has created a new Web site that provides information about the 2010 census and materials that nonprofit groups can use to encourage the people they serve to complete their census questionnaires.

    Visitors to the site can sign up for training Webinars that the network is hosting for charities interested in promoting the census and listen to archived versions of past Webinars.

    To get there:...

    ...]]>         States Share Services Application http://philanthropy.com/article/States-Share-Services/57702/ One-e-App — short for "one electronic application" — is a Web-based system that allows people in four states to find out whether they are eligible and then apply for a variety of public-health and social-service programs, such as Medicaid, food stamps, and the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

    Since 2006, the system has screened more than 2.8 million people for eligibility and generated more than 3.6 million applications for assistance in Arizona,...

    ...]]>