NOVEMBER 2007

INTRODUCTION FEATURE: NTEN Member Appreciation Month Recap FEATURE: Moving to Google Apps, Part 2: Google Calendar FEATURE: Website Optimization Case Study: Autism Society of America FEATURE: How to Find and Hire a Website Consultant HOW TO: Put Technology To Use THINGS WE LIKE COMMUNITY BUZZ

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FEATURE: NTEN MEMBER APPRECIATION MONTH RECAP

Annaliese Hoehling, Membership and Outreach Manager, NTEN

As most of you know by now, November has been NTEN Member Appreciation Month. We've had special giveaways, programming, and discounts for members all month -- and this newsletter has been generated from submissions by NTEN members.

Of course, we are grateful for our members every single day of the year: we couldn't provide the programming, resources, or this newsletter without you. But we wanted to do more than a simple "thank you". We wanted to show you how much we appreciate your ongoing support and participation in the NTEN community.

I'd like to take this opportunity to announce five new discounts for NTEN Members:

FEATURE: MOVING TO GOOGLE APPS, PART 2: GOOGLE CALENDAR

Johanna Bates, Technology Manager, Community Partners

After we got our free Google Apps account and switched over to Apps Gmail, we had to ask: How else can Google own us/fix our lives?

The answer: Gcal.

To review, we are six staff, four of whom are part-time. Many of us travel frequently for work and/or work from home on occasion. For years, this has made coordinating our meetings and general communication virtually impossible. When I first started here six years ago, we used a paper calendar on the front desk. Everyone wrote her or his schedule on it. With a pencil. No, really.

Then, there we were, using Google Apps' Gmail, with all its nifty bells and whistles. Why not give the oh-so-integrated Gcal a try?

FEATURE: WEBSITE OPTIMIZATION CASE STUDY: AUTISM SOCIETY OF AMERICA

Bethany Little, Director of Interactive Services, Convio, Inc.

The Autism Society of America is the oldest, largest membership organization dedicated to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). With 190,000 members and supporters, ASA has 182 chapters around the USA and 29 international affiliated parent organizations.

Before 2007, ASA was consistently ranked first or second on Google searches for the keyword "autism". Its fundraising initiatives were paper driven, and it had launched a toll-free help line (1-800-3Autism). Chapters were launching their own Web sites at a rapid pace, and ASA was the only national group dedicated to ASD.

In 2007, major changes took place: The Centers for Disease Control announced that there was a 1 in 150 prevalence of ASD. Major media coverage in January, February, and April 2007 quadrupled Web traffic, yet there was little conversion and ASA's rankings on Google's search engine had dropped to 3rd or 4th.

ASA's Director of Communications Marguerite Kirst-Colston took notice and determined the organization’s battle plan would be "Search – Convert – and Conquer."

FEATURE: HOW TO FIND AND HIRE A WEBSITE CONSULTANT

Seth Schneider, Communications Director, Transportation and Land Use Coalition

NTEN member Seth Schneider of the Transportation and Land Use Coalition led a session about how to find and hire a company or consultant for your website project at the recent Bay Area Drupal Camp in Berkeley, CA. The participants generated a slew of helpful tips from their collective experience as both clients and consultants.

What attributes are important to you?

• Does the company/consultant support your mission?
• What kind of clients has the company/consultant worked with in the past?
• Diversity of skill sets. Your project will need skills in programming, theming, CSS, etc. Ideally you’ll find all of these skills well represented in the company/consultant, but if not, you’ll need to bring in other resources.
• How experienced is the company/consultant with your sector? Are they flexible enough to adapt to your culture or are they focused solely on a particular sector?

HOW TO: PUT TECHNOLOGY TO USE

Your guide to resources that will help you put technology to work for your cause.

Save Money on Hardware

> Techsoup has published an excellent guide to virtualization software. Why have multiple computers when you can run multiple operating systems on a single piece of hardware?

> You might also consider repurposing older hardware. Box Populi lets you podcast from effectively ancient computers. And Debian Linux has published a series of guides on how to set up everything from a webcam server to a firewall on less than top-of-the-line systems.

> Of course, you may just need to get rid of decrepit systems. You can donate your outdated hardware, or, if you're feeling frisky, try to make it into the "Top 40 Most Creative Uses for Old Gadgets".

Create an Online Survey

> Third Sector New England's guide offers a number of best practices for online surveys. Perhaps the best advice: "Be prepared to cut survey questions mercilessly."

> The Institute for Citizen-Centred Service has published an overview of online survey tools. Another report focused on web-only tools (PDF) has been put together by NPower New York.

Hold a Virtual Meeting

> The foreign ministers of Great Britain, the Maldives, and Malta recently held a joint virtual press conference on climate change in Second Life. In fact, SL seems to have become very popular as a meeting space these days. You can learn how to do it and virtually attend the UN Climate Conference in Bali yourself.

> If Second Life kind of weirds you out, read how NTEN member Don Wedd is setting up a virtual meeting space for the National Community Tax Coalition.

THINGS WE LIKE

A monthly roundup of our favorite nonprofit tech resources. Read more posts on our blog.

1. The Goodman/Hershey Eye-Q Test. Test your design knowledge. Subjective, but fun!
2. Yugma. According to NTEN Member Marc Baizman, "It's free web conferencing that just works. I use it with clients and team members all the time. No heavy client installers, and it's FREE."
3. Seth Godin. Smart AND pithy, a valuable combination.
4. Judi Sohn's description of how she works with the web.
5. Miro: Open Source "internet TV". My computer downloaded Vincent Price in The Last Man on Earth while I slept. Nice!
6. Readytalk's free online tutorials. NTENer Amy Sample Ward says they're "a great resource for nonprofits to jump on board with great new media tools like podcasts!"
7. Care2's "A Procrastinator's Guide to Year-End Fundraising".

COMMUNITY BUZZ

News and buzz from people and organizations in the nonprofit tech sector. Read our posts on the NTEN blog.

Award Season

> Convio announced their first annual Innovator Awards, featuring 15 nonprofits. The ASPCA was honored for its MySpace site. America's Second Harvest won best Online Fundraising Campaign.

> PR News has published the list of finalists for its awards. Winners will be announced December 4th.

> Next up: the 2008 NTC Video Contest. We'll begin accepting submissions on December 1st, 2007, the same day registration for the biggest nonprofit technology conference of the year opens.

End World Hunger

> When last we blogged about it, FreeRice had donated more than 1,000,000,000 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program. Just three weeks later, that total is up to about 4,000,000,000. We're not sure what 4 billion grains of rice looks like, but we suspect it would fill our office. Do your part -- while building your vocabulary -- today.

2008 NTC

RENEW FOR 2008

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UPCOMING WEBINARS

Don't miss out on the chance to register for our Technology Leadership Series, which sold out in the Fall, as well as these other learning opportunities:

• The 7 Characteristics of a Great Internet Strategy
• Sharing the Message: How to Work Effectively with Your Organization's Wired Fundraisers
• NTEN Technology Leadership Series