(Note: This is a weekly round-up of NTEN members doing and sharing their nptech awesome. Members are in bold. Tag your own news with "nten member" or "nptech" to help us find your awesome online, or contact Annaliese with your updates.)
Beth's new blog! (I like being able to just say "Beth" and know that most of you know who I mean: Beth Kanter.) And true to her good form, Beth doesn't simply announce her new site, she reflects on all the steps and experiences that got her to the new site, which is pretty informative and inspiring in itself(but that shouldn't surprise anyone who regularly reads Beth's Blog). She also gives props to Allyson Kapin and Jared Seltzer of Rad Campaign for helping her build the new site.
Beth Kanter and Allison Fineare investigating how nonprofits "vet online contest opportunities." You can read a case study about one nonprofit, and participate in the discussion to share your experiences and learn from others.
ClientTrack is announcing a Give-Away: one lucky social service organization will be selected to receive a full use license of ClientTrack Express for one (1) year, including the server space you require at their secure data location. The total value of the prize could be up to $7,200. Find out more and enter your organization here (deadline is June 4).
Look, we all know that social media isn't "the answer"for nonprofit fundraising. Many of you were debating this topic this week, especially in the (short-lived)avalanche of dissent in response to Facebook's announcement that they'dbe limiting the "custom landing" tab option on pages to only those with 10K+ fans. But we also can't deny that social media tools and networks are an important component in our advocacy and communications work. AllysonKapin reviews 3 new tools that could help your organization and supporters raise money and/or awareness for your cause over on the Care2 blog.
Nancy Schwartz got some kudos on the ProgressiveExchange discussion list(run by our friends at M+R) this past week for the Nonprofit Marketing Plan Template she made available on her blog. It's free and can help you get started (or re-started) with a strategic communications plan foryour organization. Thanks for sharing, Nancy!
Speaking of sharing, don't forget that May is all about "Social Media Policies" inour "share it forward" initiative via the IdeaEncore Network. If you have resources or examples of nonprofit organizational social media policies, share them with your nonprofit colleagues via the new resources platform. Use keywords "social media policy" and "NTEN" to tag your resources so that we can easily find them!
Lauren-Glenn Davitian and the CCTV Center for Media & Democracy are helping to develop CommonGood Vermont, a network of information and resources for the nonprofit sector in Vermont. They're using a combination of free online tools and crowdsourcing to tag and aggregate information. Check out their project -- it's a great example!
And continuing the knowledge-sharing and crowdsourcing theme: the Craigslist Foundation posted this great summary of the recent discussionabout knowledge-sharing for assisting community change. It sounds likethey're working towards the same thing as CommonGoodVT! Check out the priorities list and hand-made wire-frame examples of what their ideal community hub would include and look like.