Your mailbox is almost full…delete any items you don't need from your mailbox…empty your Deleted Items folder…

This ominous message has been greeting me the past 3 days when I log on. I dutifully emptied my deleted folder and cleaned out a few active ones, but was greeted by the same message a few days later. As I lay awake the other night I wondered if there was some greater message. Should I send fewer messages?

Email is a lifeline for me. Ask anyone who works with me and they will tell you that I am the queen of forwarding. It’s my way of keeping my staff and board informed (of course I am always careful to put “FYI” in the header).

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See how NPower helped faith based human services non-profit Volunteers of America Chesapeake, the local affiliate Volunteers of America, move from a hosted Microsoft Exchange environment to the cloud based Microsoft solution and save more than $54,000 annually. According to Shyam Desigan, Chief Financial Officer, VOA Chesapeake, "the cloud computing solution offers non-profits a more efficient, lower cost and secure technology platform that will help integrate all business operations over time. We are glad to partner with NPower to roll out cloud computing solutions such as BPOS to provide a better and more effective user experience to our people."

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Congratulations again to all the 2010 Meyer Foundation Exponent Award winners. We are particularly proud that 4 of the 5 winners are NPower clients. We are honored to be supporting these outstanding leaders and their impressive organizations who are doing so much for our community day in and day out.

Last week, we received a letter from “The Domain Registry of America” (DROA) warning us that our domain name was about to expire. The letter further instructed that we needed to immediately send them $30. It looked like a legitimate invoice. The trouble is, it wasn’t an invoice — it was designed to make people think it was an invoice and unwittingly transfer their Internet domain name to DROA. Back in 2003, the FTC asked the courts to bar DROA from “misleading consumers,” but obviously they didn’t get the message.

One of NPower’s customers paid the “invoice” by accident, but thanks to domain transfer protection, their internet domain didn’t get moved. Unfortunately, they probably won’t get a refund on their $30.

This incident is a reminder that all organizations must pay more attention to a very important asset — their domain name. Whether it’s your web site, email, or other applications, your clients and funders depend on your domain name to communicate with you — and you need to protect that valuable asset.

Now is the time to make sure the contact information in your domain registration is current and correct. Here are a few tips:

• If you don’t know which registrar holds your domain name, a good place to start is the WHOIS search at Network Solutions
• Look for the “Sponsoring Registrar:” field — that is where your domain is registered.
• Make sure addresses, telephone numbers and contact emails are correct — NPower suggests using a “generic” email address like info@agency.org instead of a user, so the address remains current after personnel changes. Many online services use the email contact info in your domain registration to verify that you ‘own’ the domain, so it’s important to keep this current.

Register Now for two upcoming webinars hosted by the good folks at NTEN.

Learn how to transform from a mild-mannered online organizer into a true data-driven mastermind! Get your virtual super hero fundraising cape by attending “Superheroes of Online Fundraising: Become a Data-Driven Strategist” on July 12, 2010 beginning from 11am – 12:30 pm Pacific Time (2-3pm ET). Cost is $30 for NTEN members/$60 for Non-members.

Nonprofits have many reasons to use available data sources along with data they're collecting to better demonstrate their work. The question is: how do you cut through the noise to talk about your cause? You’ll want to attend “Taming the Data Monster” to get the answers. This online workshop will be held on July 29, 2010 from 10am-12:30pm Pacific Time/1pm-3:30pm Eastern Time. Cost is $50 for NTEN members/$100 for non-members.

Hear great ideas to be used today, success stories to implement tomorrow and inspiration that has motivated our nonprofit community for the past 16 years. Register now for the free 2010 Best Practices Workshop, Awards Presentation and Reception on Thursday, June 24 from 3:00 to 6:30 pm at The Washington Post (1150 15th Street, NW, Washington, D.C.). Space is limited. Due to security requirements,advance registration is required. Photo I.D. may be requested at the door.