Flickr Photo: Darwin BellOK, NTEN Members: this is your chance to step up to the mic and ask those burning CiviCRM questions!

Join us Tuesday, July 15, at 11am PT/ 2pm ET for a live conference call and online chat with Dave Greenberg, from the CiviCRM Team.

> Register Now - FREE for NTEN Members!

John Kenyon, Nonprofit Technology Strategist

While open source software is a great concept, people don't just relate to concepts, people relate to people. Most of the people who make open source software for nonprofits do it to make your life easier in support of achieving your mission. While often portrayed as pale, anti-social "geeks" working in basements and living off junk food, like all stereotypes, this is false.

Dave Greenberg has worked in the nonprofit sector as Psychiatric Counselor in a Community Mental Health clinic, and has a Masters degree in Social Work. He also has experience engineering/developing large software systems for the electronic commerce and banking industries. Combining his skills and values, he is now part of the international core development team for CiviCRM, the built-for-nonprofit open source CRM software.

I talked to him about his work with open source software. His insights are important for everybody interested in nonprofit technology.

If you’re a college student or soon to be graduate with programming skills, consider putting them to use for a good cause! This summer U.S. PIRG is hosting a new program in which interns will improve CiviCRM, the contact relationship management component of CivicSpace and many Drupal websites.

Specifically participants will work on improving features like online petitions and tell-a-friend functions, making CiviCRM a standalone application that integrates with CMS like WebGUI, and getting it ready to use for PIRG’s network of advocacy organizations. And since we’re talking about open source code, all this work will go back out to the community. This is great news for other nonprofit organizations that use, or want to use, CiviCRM.

Find out more about this program and how to apply.