I'm an Executive Director now, so I have a new-found (and acute) understanding of just how complex that role is.

At a small organization like NTEN, a leader has to be ready to do just about everything, from fundraising to janitorial services. I'd been at NTEN for five years before I took the ED job, so I was lucky enough to know what I was doing -- mostly. But there are giant swaths of the job description I've had to learn from scratch.

Fortunately, the technology part wasn't one of them, but I can relate to the nonprofit leaders out there facing crucial decisions about technology everyday, and who have little idea how all this stuff works.

That's why we're so excited about our book, Managing Technology to Meet Your Mission: A Strategic Guide for Nonprofit Leaders. The book was written by NTEN members for nonprofit leaders struggling to find technology sea-legs.

The book will come out in March 2009. You can pre-order your copy on Amazon or purchase a copy from us for only $30 with your NTC registration, starting next week. We'll drop it in the mail to you when it's released.

As you gear up for that end-of-year fundraising campaign, you're probably sweating all the details. You're making lists, checking them twice, gonna find the perfect pictures, refine each message, spellcheck everything three times.

But you might not be worrying about one thing that really matters: your web site.

Last week, Convio released a report they commissioned from Jupiter Research to learn more about online giving this holiday season. "$3 Billion is a Click Away" highlights the increasingly important role online communications will play in nonprofit fundraising.

There are a lot of points I could bullet, but these are my favorite:

David M. Lawson and Jay Goulart, WOW! Institute

Have you ever reached your fundraising goal, but still found your organization cash-poor? Have you found yourself surprised when donors you thought for sure would come through again, didn't?

In uncertain times like we find ourselves in today, we often discover the impact of things like donor perceptions, satisfaction, and happiness. Long-term success depends in no small part on your ability to measure the intangible reasons that create customer loyalty.

If you are going to exceed your donors' expectations, you need to incorporate qualitative measurements that start to illuminate the intangible reasons you are succeeding, holding your own, or perhaps, failing.

Jenny L. Feinberg and Jeff Patrick, Common Knowledge

As nonprofits escalate their focus on the Internet for fundraising and base-building, there is, increasingly, a recognition that the online channel can be a constituent-friendly, cost-effective means of building relationships and raising money from individuals.

New online fundraising programs, however, bring new challenges:

• How to acquire new constituents?
• How to cultivate this virtual constituent community?
• How to produce fundraising revenue (quickly)?
• How to reduce the payback period for the program investment?

To address these questions, you should be inspired by best practices in the online retail industry.

Randy McCabe, MPower Open

Many nonprofit professionals today are nervous. The economy, while showing hopeful signs, is still not in a good place. That means donors have less money in their portfolios and their pockets.

As a result, giving is down across the board. This is not how we want to enter the all important year-end giving season. With up to half of all donations coming in the last quarter of the calendar year, nonprofits need to start planning now so they can end the year strong and minimize the impact of these difficult times.

There are five simple things any organization can do to not only increase year-end results, but also maintain and even strengthen important long-term relationships with donors.

You heard it here first!

In last month's NTEN Connect, we pointed you to the campaign of Sean Tevis, a Kansas man running for the state legislature. Today, Sean was profiled on NPR's Morning Edition.

Told that he would have to raise about $26,000 to be competitive in his race, Sean set to work canvassing door to door. Eventually, he raised -- wait for it -- about $25.

Then, he had an epiphany: use the internet. Sean built a site that no professional campaign adviser would have dreamed of approving: a site for geeks. His first content was a cartoon titled "Running for Office: It's Like a Flamewar with a Forum Troll, but with an Eventual Winner."

The Association for Fundraising Professionals and the Direct Marketing Association of Washington are co-hosting the 2008 Bridge Conference, July 23-25 in Washington, DC.

The Bridge Conference is all about marketing, fundraising tools and strategies. Members of NTEN can register at the lowest rate (contact Annaliese for details).

Even better, you can enter this contest to win a FREE registration!

A quick glance at the session tracks shows that the nonprofit technology community can find plenty of content to help mission-oriented marketing and fundraising campaigns -- and look, there's even an NTEN track, a little home-away-from home while you're waiting for the 2009 NTC.

Unless you've been out of the office, you undoubtedly heard that Blackbaud is buying Kintera.  They are both publicly traded companies, so neither is allowed to comment on what will happen right now.  They have to keep behaving as completely separate entities until the acquisition is approved.  That doesn't give us a lot of good information, but it hasn't stopped the speculation either.

This is certainly very meaningful for the sector.  No matter how the acquisition plays out in terms of which products are kept, etc., there is one less choice in the nonprofit CRM market.  And I tend to believe that choice is good.  But rather than opine at this time, I'll instead share some of the musings of the nonprofit community and beyond:

• Connections: Steve MacLaughlin's Blackbaud Blog
• Nonprofit Tech Blog 
• Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology 
• Idealware
• The Nonprofit Times 
• Don't Tell the Donor 
• Forbes.com 

 What's your take?

Flickr Photo: Johan KoolwaaijLot of us are missing a true luxury in our work - the ability to turn to our office mate and get a quick answer to our technology questions. NTEN thinks that's a shame, so we've set up a new program exclusively for NTEN members to help you do it, virtually. That's the idea behind Office Hours - to give you a place to ask the questions that will help you succeed at your job and create more social change.

Office Hours will begin on June 2 and we already have a good crew of volunteer experts who have committed an hour/week so that you have the opportunity to get advice in an online chat room setting.

How do you participate?

It's a question I get asked a lot, especially since the latest e-Benchmarks study shows a drop in open rates. My answer can depend a little on my mood, but I generally think that email is not going to die, just as direct email is not going to die (anytime soon). Never say never, but bet on the fact that both will be around for a good long while.

This raises an interesting point: your job as communicator or fundraiser is getting increasingly difficult.