Screenshot of a poll from Philanthropy 2173
Still time to register your opinion!
Five Hot Conversations
NpTech Tag Skypecast Anyone?
Marnie Webb puts out a call for a call next wed, thurs, or friday to discuss in real time the issues that have surfaced around the NpTech Tag. She proposes several different times, leave your preferences in the comments. The proposed call agenda is here. To catch up, read the summary here and to read the most recent thoughts -- see Gavin's newest post here and Emily's reflections here.
GetActive GetsAcquired - By Convio
This is big news and it bounced around the nonprofit and progressive blogs, listservs, IM, and emails. (see here) Laura Quinn summarizes some of the concerns, while others look at the implications (here, here, here, and here)
Will this merger encourage more healthy competition from the other vendors and providers? Or will Convio innovate less due to their massive new market share
and potential perceived lack of competition? Jon Stahl gives us a good reading of the Tea Leaves.
Integration Proclamation
In light of recent developments, even more nonprofit technology users, providers, and vendors are signing onto the Integration Proclamation, a call to action to the entire nonprofit technology sector to engage in the conversations needed to move towards seeing a larger ecosystem of lighter-weight applications that do a couple of things well, easy to extend, and most importantly can talk to each other. If you, like Jon Stahl and many others, are interested in seeing more tools play well together, go sign it right now.
Should A Foundation's Financial Transactions Fully Support its Social Purposes?
Should foundations align their grantmaking directives with their endowment investment policies? Allison Fine points out some outrageous behavior by the Gates Foundation and asks "What does it take for the foundation and nonprofit community to finally take a stand on appalling behavior like this?" Lucy Bernholz offers some commentary here and is taking a poll on the topic here.
Web2.0 Adoption - Yes or No or Shades of Gray?
The Web2.0 buzz at the UK National Circuit Riders Conference this week was not tool talk, but issues related to adoption of the tools. Now, as David Wilcox notes, the thinking outloud on this topic is circling the globe. Bev Traynor builds on the list here and reflects on how it isn't quite a yes or not question. Might we start seeing tag called "NpTechUk" or a wiki for the UK Riders List?
Have an opinion on any of these topics? Comment, Blog it, tag it NpTech, and/or start a blog over at the Netsquared site.
Change the World!
Be A Celebrity for Your Cause
Katya Andresen from Network for Good has been busy working on the launch of the SixDegrees.org site with Kevin Bacon. The goal is to allow anyone to be a celebrity for their charity.
Imagine Connect Act
The idealist.org invites us to imagine a better community and a better world, and to see how we can build it together starting right now!
A Few Web2.0 Resources and Reports
Nancy Schwartz of the Getting Attention Blog summarizes an article with tips on for how nonprofit marketing and public relations staff can gain entry into the blogosphere
Michael Stein (East Coast) files a report from Mali about the GeekCorps Mali project.
Heather Carpenter from AspirationTech points us to two nonprofit studies -- one about employment trends in the sector and the other nonprofit effectiveness.
Your Guide to the E-Advocacy Revolution from PolicyLink. I know I should do this, but here's a direct link to the chapter on technology tools ...
Film Contest - "Film Your Issue" from Yahoo and other sponsors.
Good article from the New York Times about widgets, "Some Bling for Your Blog" and a post on the Yahoo Blog about social media meets fundraising.
The 59 Smartest orgs online is a list of 59 organizations that make good use of the web2.0 tools in their web sites. Some commentary on methodology here.
Danah Boyd analyzes the recent Pew data on Social Network Site use.
New (to me) Blogs
Blau Exchange is posting interviews with interesting ict-minded folks and occasional research and presentations. Check out the interview with Alexandra Samuels.
Gentilly Project using geographic information technologies and organizational theories to accelerate the residential and economic recovery of Post-Katrina New Orleans. (see photo of Quintus Jett here)
Ethos Roundtable now has a blog where you can find summaries and links to resources from meetings.
Grassroots.org blog reports on the recent National Media Reform Conference.
GetInvolved Blog shares a summary from the Sunlight Foundation and Berkman Center all day session called "Local Political Information in an Internet Era." (See David Weinberger's write up "Cool Democracy Tools" and his question - Why are the tools for open democracy coming from the left?)
Ever wondered what people who work in nonprofit technology around the world are thinking? Here's the UK perspective: David Wilcox, Steve Bridger, Miles Maier, Paul Henderson, Nick Booth, Paul Webster, and Susie's Blog
Cross posted at Netsquared
the question of how foundations spend 95% of their money has been a hot topic in the social entrepreneur arena for many years. Why shouldn't they evolve an equity investment strategy that generates both a financial and a social return? I wanted to vote in the poll really badly - but none of the categories clearly express this point of view.
Posted by: SandraDickinson | January 19, 2007 at 06:43 PM