free tools
Ask Your Lawmaker Widget
outreach.A lot of you have probably heard about the recent success of a Toronto blogger who combined a fundraising widget from Chip-In with the networking power of Twitter to raise over $14k in about 2 days.
Well, we just heard about another great free widget that you and your organization might want to share with your community. "Ask Your Lawmaker" is a project of the Capitol News Connection, and they sum it up nicely in 3 phrases:
Free Online Event and Calendar Tool from SpongeCell
I got a heads-up about a free event promotion and calendaring service that allows you to create widgets and pages for free.
It took me just a few minutes to sign up, create an event, and customize the widget by adjusting colors (see it below). I also got a web page for added information about the event, RSVPs, and collecting information from those interested. It even allows people to subscribe to event updates.
SpongeCell, the software provider, provides tracking data (widget and page views) and lets you collect your subscribers' contact information. Not bad for a free suite of tools! (The software service also provides email and SMS messaging to your contacts, but fees apply per number of messages sent.)
What's cool is the ease of integration and sharing of the widgets -- think Facebook. I'm not really a techie (I just play one on TV), but I found the back-end management and creative tools very straightforward.
