On January 17th, the nonprofit, technology, and financial communities learned that Blackbaud was beginning the steps to acquire Convio, whose board had approved the purchase.

While NTEN can't offer a crystal ball (or insider knowledge, for that matter) about the specifics of the decisions or details about products, we CAN provide a safe, un-biased platform to explore questions, concerns, and possibilities surrounding the transition and the possible impact on the wider nonprofit technology landscape.

Join NTEN's Executive Director, Holly Ross, Wednesday, January 25th, for a Community Call: "Your Perspectives on the Blackbaud and Convio Acquisition Announcement."

> RSVP for the Conference Call + Online Chat (it's free for everyone!)

We often say our greatest resource is our community; collectively, you have the knowledge, experience, and expertise to teach each other how to do your work better. One way we amp up the community awesome at the Nonprofit Technology Conference is by giving you opportunities to connect with each other and share what you know.

Here are a couple of ways to connect and share at the 2012 NTC.

Flickr photo: woodley wonderworksYet again, the NTEN community has come together to support each other and the work that we do.

In November and December of last year, you came together to raise $15,000 to help us provide more local programs and community support at NTEN. To top it off, your donations were matched dollar for dollar by the NTEN board!

We are so proud to be part of a network of people who care so deeply about the work they do – and each other. Thank you for your donations to NTEN, and for supporting the community in this way.

With your support, you'll see new 501TechClubs popping up around the country this year, and existing clubs will see more support for local events. It's all part of of the most important work we do here at NTEN: connecting you to each other and the ideas that help you use technology to change the world.

NTEN member and nonprofit communications expert Kivi Leroux Miller just released the 2012 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report, based on a survey of over 1200 participants at the end of 2011.

The survey asked nonprofit professionals about their plans, expectations, perceptions, and even fears regarding their organization's communications in 2012. You can download the complete report from NonprofitMarketingGuide.com.

Here are some of findings that stood out.

[Editor's note: The following is from the December 2011 issue of NTEN:Change. Read the complete issue by subscribing to the journal for free!]

Livestreaming events is increasingly becoming a popular way to share content with remote audiences. It is surprisingly simple and affordable. There are three main parts: the source, or camera that you use to capture video and audio; the encoder, which is software that you use to produce the live video; and the player that viewers will watch the video on.

By Holly Ross, Executive Director & Brett Meyer, Communications Director, NTEN

As nonprofits have flocked to the e-newsletter as an inexpensive and timely way to communicate with stakeholders, the number of newsletter tips has also proliferated. While subject lines, “from” addresses, and your template design are all important, they aren’t the biggest challenge to putting out a quality newsletter. The most difficult part is creating good content, content your subscribers want to read.

For many organizations, simply getting an e-newsletter out regularly, with enough content — let alone enough good content — is a win. That was certainly true for NTEN a few years ago. But since then, we’ve developed loftier goals for our e-news NTEN Connect, transforming it from a chore we had to cross off the monthly to-do list to a blockbuster driver of traffic to our blog. And we managed to reinforce our values and culture while doing so.

Here’s how we did it.