The blog post Holly wrote recently on the leadership gap in Nonprofit IT departments has been gaining traction -- along with quite a few comments. It seems she's touched a nerve, and that's a good thing. As she says, "More nonprofit EDs need to understand technology's strategic importance."

Nonprofit technology leadership is one of the issues we care about the most here at NTEN. For the sector to work as efficiently as possible, Executive Directors and other nonprofit leaders need to feel comfortable making technology decisions without formal technology training. Equally as important, IT Staff need leadership skills to bring technology out of the back office and into the strategies of their nonprofit organizations.

We're doing what we can to address the issue with our Technology Leadership Series of webinars.

John Kenyon, Nonprofit Technology Consultant, opens up to the NTEN community once again to train another round of NpTech Leaders in the NTEN Technology Leadership Series. John does an excellent job of teaching in plain English: you will leave the series as a technology leader, an important role in today's fast changing nonprofits.

Here are some words from past series participants:

He is DEFINITELY the best presenter for any webinar I've taken...numerous slides...not pretentious...good discussion time and facilitation

John's been great - this could be hard stuff to "teach" since it's not the most exciting topic - AND it's online... He's doing great.

At the end of the series, you’ll be able to:

• Understand and contribute to technology conversations
• Make smart technology decisions for your organization
• Increase your organization’s efficiency
• Identify and evaluate creative ideas for using technology to meet your mission

> Register Now for the Series!

Mobile phones aren’t just for calls anymore. Text messaging and web-enabled phones have made it possible for individuals to donate via their cell phone. Join NTEN and a panel of experts on Thursday, March 6th for the webinar, "mFundraising: Fundraising on Mobile Phones". As presenter Katrin Verclas puts it, "This is going to be big!"

Join Michelle Murrain and NTEN for the webinar, "OpenOffice.org: The Free and Open Source Office Suite".

OpenOffice.org is a free and open source office suite with the same (and in some ways more) functionality as most of MS Office. It reads and writes MS Office file formats, and has a native file format that is an open standard, which protects data integrity and access forever. Learn about how you can use OpenOffice.org today in your organization.

When: Tuesday, February 26th, 11 am PT / 2 PM ET

Cost: $25 for NTEN Members, $50 for Non-members

Presented By: Michelle Murrain, NOSI

> Learn more and register today!

Having spent a number of years in the start-up world, I know that nothing kills a great idea faster than poor project management. Project management provides an organized framework for planning and implementing successful projects. Join NTEN and Norman Reiss for the aptly-named webinar, "Project Management for Nonprofits", and learn how your organization can apply basic project management principles.

NTEN and NOSI are collaborating on a webinar series on free and open source software. Have questions about implementing open source software? Wonder about how Joomla or CiviCRM worked? Want to hear about people who've implemented open source applications? Learn about these things and more from FOSS expert Michelle Murrain!

More and more people are online, yet few are taking advantage of free, effective tools to work together. These tools go beyond the entertainment value of social networks and allow your teams to be connected and productive, wherever they are. You can learn about some of these tools for free at the NTEN Product Spotlight Webinar, "Getting Work Done: Free, Effective Online Tools for Volunteers, Boards, and Staff".

Functional or fund accounting is a necessity for nonprofits managing restricted funds, multiple programs, and complex reporting requirements. But does YOUR organization need it?

Many organizations -- including NTEN -- have made the switch to Google Apps. If you're contemplating the move, but find yourself frustrated by a lack of quality information, we've got you covered.

Join NTEN and Fig Leaf Software on Tuesday, January 15 for the FREE Product Spotlight Webinar, "Intro To Google Apps". With Google Apps, you can give your employees the next-generation communication and collaboration tools they need to manage electronic communications, share and publish information, and stay connected while on the go. And the best part is that it is all hosted by Google, so there is no hardware or software to download, install or maintain.

> Learn More and Register Today