[Editor's note: Ontario 211 and NTEN asked Ontario nonprofits about how they were using technology – and how they’d like to be using technology – for their work. We’ll share what they told us in this series of blog posts. If you’d like to share your stories, click here.]

• Organization: Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada
• Website: http://www.braintumour.ca/
• How old is the organization? 29 Years

How would you compare your organization with other nonprofits, in general, when it comes to using technology effectively (from databases to social media) to achieve your mission?

We use technology really well in a measured and strategic way. We aim to reach the the 55,000 Canadians affected by a brain tumour with a variety of tools and technology such as our website and social media communities play a large part in this reach. We have adopted Facebook and Twitter and examine new tools before taking them to assess their usefulness in reaching our community.

Where do you think your organization is particularly strong (a leader) when it comes to using technology effectively?

Building community within the brain tumour community in Canada - providing places for them to connect with one another and to learn about brain tumours.

Where do you think your organization is potentially lagging behind other nonprofits when it comes to using technology effectively?

Adopting video into our mix of communications and marketing tools to tell the story of those affected by a brain tumour.

What’s the biggest technology change you’ve implemented in your organization in the last few years?

The launch of a new website in January 2011 (new design and updated content from the previous iteration), this included an increased focus on Facebook and the addition of a Twitter account. From these new projects job descriptions and work plans have been modified to increase the emphasis on online tool creation, monitoring and development.

Thinking about your answer to the previous question, or other recent changes that involved technology, please explain how this has impacted your organization? Your mission?

These changes have impacted the organization by offering additional ways for people to connect with us and each other, by allowing us to be where the conversation is occuring and to offer new information about brain tumours in a way that is accessible to all Canadians.

What are the driving factors or needs in your organization when it comes to technology?

The primary factors relate to the strategic goals of expanding our national reach, talking to Canadians in ways that work for them and breaking down barriers to brain tumour support and information.

Are there any innovative projects that you’ve seen other Ontario nonprofits implement that you admire?

Development of online communities - Mind Your Mind does great stuff with sharing stories and connecting people.

If budget weren’t an obstacle, what’s the one technology project you’d like to launch to help you achieve your mission?

New ways to share our information and support so that we could truly reach every patient who hears the diagnosis of a brain tumour. This could include the development of an App with our handbook, offering the handbook as an e-reader document, offering e-reader devices to patients with content already loaded, the promotion of the message board on our website so more people would use it, the creation of video that would showcase the range of services available.