I spoke to a class at George Washington University the other day about the state of technology in nonprofits. Not surprisingly, they reported that many of the nonprofits where they volunteered had limited tech resources and outdated equipment. Additionally, students reported that as the youngest staffers in their organizations and since they are generally comfortable with technology, they have frequently become their organizations’ de facto tech experts.

The GWU students and I also talked about social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube: when they make sense for nonprofits, and when they don’t. The discussion was interesting enough that even the kids sitting at the back of the classroom looked up from their laptops (all MACS, of course) for a few minutes to weigh in. I thought that they had some pretty thoughtful guidance and I wanted to pass it along to you. Here it is:

• Plethora of choices makes selecting social media a challenge. Should your organization blog? Twitter? Be on YouTube? Have a Facebook page? Or all of the above? What should you do if you have limited resources? There were no easy answers. The best advice? Experiment and learn from other organizations similar to yours.
  
  
• Pick the right social media tool for your audience. One of the students told us about being asked to set up a Facebook page for a Latino networking group. She told the Executive Director that she didn’t think that most of them were on Facebook and it turned out that she was right. There wasn’t any activity on the Facebook page once it was set up. In this case, LinkedIn (which is used much more by business people and has a more mature audience) would have been a better choice.
  
  
• Some people love social media…and others hate it. I was surprised at how strong emotions were about Twitter in particular. Some of the students loved it and the ability to stay up to date. Others thought that it was silly and a waste of time. So, be aware that your social media efforts may offend as many as they attract.
  

Continue reading.

In late February, NPower and the Nonprofit Roundtable sponsored a workshop on how some local nonprofits are using Salesforce.com.

Representatives from three nonprofit area organizations (Horton's Kids, Interfaith Works, and Venture Philanthropy Partners) shared their experiences with Salesforce. Here are the highlights:

• Before you start with Salesforce, make sure you know what you want to get out of the program before you begin customization; stay in touch with staff to make sure you create a program that's useful for everyone
  
  
• Be prepared to make a substantial investment of time and resources to make Salesforce work for you...consider hiring a consultant!
  
  
• Salesforce is only as good as the data you put into it—so make sure your data is up-to-date and clean before entering it into the program!
  
  
• Use online resources such as usergroups and listservs; they are invaluable resources for learning more about Salesforce
  

Is Salesforce.com right for your Nonprofit? -article by Network for Good

The good folks at consulting firm Idealware have surveyed 459 nonprofit staff members about the effectiveness of certain commonly used social media tools: Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, Twitter, video-sharing sites (such as YouTube), photo-sharing sites (such as Flickr), and blogs. Here is a breakdown of the survey responses as reported by Laura Quinn, Executive Director of Idealware:

• Generally, respondents felt social media channels were effective for enhancing relations with an existing audience and reaching out to new supporters, but considerably less so for raising money.
  
  
• Twitter was in the top three channels for every goal, and was considered the most-effective channel for reaching potential new supporters.
  
  
• Although Facebook was the most widely used tool by a considerable margin, and the one that those not yet using were most likely to start, it was seen as the most-effective only in terms of raising money—and then, only by a small margin.
  
  
• MySpace was not widely used, and ranked lowest for each of the three goals. LinkedIn was considered comparatively effective for fundraising, but lagged behind everything but MySpace for the other goals.
  

View survey results and analysis online at Idealware.org

The Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC) is NTEN's annual conference, where nonprofit technology experts from around the world meet to exchange info. The 3-day conference will be held this year in Atlanta, from April 8th - 10th, but for those who won't be able to make it out to Atlanta this year, NTEN has added the following option—a Remote Event!

With help from NTEN's partners Care2 and Convio and with support from media providers ReadyTalk and CauseCast, several cities (including DC) will have the opportunity to meet locally to participate virtually for the first day of the conference. Here's the information for the DC area meeting:

When: April 9, 2010, 8:00am - 5:00pm
Where: 1255 23rd Street NW, Washington, DC 20037
Registration: $25

Register soon because space is limited!

Please click on the below link to view the agenda and register for this great event.

Click here for more info on the 2010 NTC Remote: DC

While many NPower clients have just started converting to Office 2007, a new version of the ubiquitous business productivity suite is due for release this summer. Based on early reviews, Office 2010 builds upon the significant changes made in Office 2007 while also providing new features that users have been clamoring for such as simultaneous editing (the ability for multiple people to open and edit a document at the same time).

NPower will be testing the new suite in the coming months and will be providing more information to our clients as we get closer to the release date this summer.