For the past eight years, I've attended NTC, NTEN's premiere conference for nonprofit techies.*
During the holidays, I was talking to Holly Ross on Twitter wondering if the bad economy would be a damper on conference attendance. Despite the tough economic times, it seems the community is really excited about the 2009 NTC. According to Holly, folks are registering at a break-neck pace, and sponsors have provided more support than ever before. That shows the community considers NTEN of great value.
But I know that in trying to recruit some panelists, that not everyone is able to convince their organizations to make the investment in professional development, especially when travel and training can be easily chopped from a budget. So, I wondered outloud in a tweet whether the community could kick in some of their frequent flyer miles. And of course, Holly took that idea and put together an innovative special fundraising drive to bring more folks to the NTC: they're going to raise $10,000 for an NTC Scholarship fund by February 28. Convio is offering to match the dollars raised up to $10,000.
And, you can donate miles too. (I did - hopefully enough to get to part way to the conference)
And, if you're looking to apply for a scholarship, go here
(Disclosure - I've had a small contract to coordinate the annual Day of Service, an opportunity for nonprofit techies to volunteer their time to the local community. If you're coming to NTC, I hope you'll volunteer for this event.)
I would totally go to the day of service, but I'm running a phone-a-thon for Martin Luther King Day at the Urban League instead! Do you think there will be another day of service soon?
-Mazarine
Posted by: Mazarine | January 15, 2009 at 11:18 AM
You know, I'm pretty pleased to say that we take care of our community because they take such good care of us! Thanks for helping to spread the word!
Posted by: Holly | January 15, 2009 at 12:22 PM
It's been so fun and wonderful to see so many people across the community coming together to help with this effort! Thanks again for the creative idea of how to help and hope to see the full amount raised by February!
Posted by: Jordan Viator | January 16, 2009 at 06:01 AM
Very timely post - my organization has just announced some cutbacks so not sure if they will sponsor my participation in NTC as in the past. I've always been a big fan of Nten, so hopefully I'll be able to find a way to attend - NTC is always a great event.
Posted by: Norman Reiss | January 21, 2009 at 04:14 AM