Wild Apricot Blog
The Wild Apricot blog is about technology for non-profit organizations: how to do more with less; Usability issues; how to properly select and implement technology - and a sprinkling of humor and posts on general non-profit industry issues
Updated: 53 min 47 sec ago
Association Jam: Top Links for August 2010
Blog posts and articles on Leadership and Social Media topped the active topics at AssociationJam.org last month. Events came in close behind, as association professionals were all geared up for ASAE10. Fundraising, Membership, Technology, and Volunteers were tied for third. Here are the most popular links at “AJam” in August 2010....(read more)
Categories: NP Technology News Feed
20+ Free Webinars for Nonprofits: September 2010
September is a busy month for just about everyone – a new school year for many, harvest time for both fundraisers and farmers - and a whole new crop of free nonprofit webinars is here. Have a look – you’re sure to find an online learning opportunity that’s of interest to folks in your organization. As always, you’ll want to check back from time to time through the month, as late-coming webinar notices are often added in the comments section, down below. And if you’re aware of a free nonprofit webinar...(read more)
Categories: NP Technology News Feed
20 Great Google Docs Templates for Non-Profits
Creating a presentation for your board? Wading into the end-of-project paperwork? Or maybe you’re signing up a new crop of volunteers for your non-profit... Whatever the task, odds are that there’s a time-saving template, free at Google Docs, to help you do more with less effort. Browse the Template Gallery , or narrow your search by Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations, Forms, and Drawings. You’ll find thousands of templates – some by Google itself, and many unique templates that were contributed...(read more)
Categories: NP Technology News Feed
What Makes a Good Non-Profit Website?
A lively LinkedIn discussion was kicked off when Elizabeth Watkin , program coordinator at Africa Carbon Credit Exchange,asked, “ What makes a good non-profit website? ” What do you like to see on a charity/non-profit/NGO website and what do you dislike? Would a website encourage you to donate or get involved? If you have been inspired by a particular website, can you pass on the link? Among the participants in the discussion is David Berg , who has been researching the fundraising and communications...(read more)
Categories: NP Technology News Feed
Social Networks vs. Real Life Networks
There is no end to the challenges of social media for nonprofits. How can we keep our personal and professional lives separate online? How can we identify the "influencers"? Which social media tools are best? Here, Paul Adams, Senior User Experience Researcher at Google, shares his team's insights into how people actually connect and behave online....(read more)
Categories: NP Technology News Feed
In Defence of Jargon
The buzzwords of business-speak have evolved, in part, as a shorthand way of letting us refer to complex ideas with just a few words. Annoying as the overuse of jargon may be, the specialized language of the nonprofit sector may actually serve a useful purpose....(read more)
Categories: NP Technology News Feed
Rich Media Search Tool for Your Website
Are you looking for a way to help your website visitors easily find relevant related information online? The folks over at ReadWriteWeb have just added a great new search feature to their site, courtesy of Apture.com . When you highlight any word, phrase, or even a part of a word on any page on the website, a small “speech bubble” appears with the word “search”; click on that, and you’re given a small window with articles, videos, and images that are directly related to the highlighted term. Here’s...(read more)
Categories: NP Technology News Feed
Twylah for Twitter Listening
Yet another Twitter tool? Yes, and there’s room for one, too. While CoTweet, Hootsuite, Seesmic and Tweetdeck are all great for managing your Twitter account (or multiple accounts) and scheduled tweets, where Eric Kim’s Twylah shines is as a content discovery tool and social media monitor....(read more)
Categories: NP Technology News Feed
Contest for Science & Technology Nonprofits
GreatNonprofits.org’s 2010 Science and Technology Campaign, in partnership with Guidestar, NTEN, TechSoup Global, Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, Association for Women in Science, Inveneo, and Tonic, seeks top-rated nonprofits who are making a difference in the fields of science and technology. Does this sound like your nonprofit? ...(read more)
Categories: NP Technology News Feed
How “Facebook Questions” Can Help Small NonProfits
Facebook is rolling out a new feature called Facebook Questions – similar to what’s offered by LinkedIn, Yahoo Questions, and other Q&A sites. Ask questions, answer them, and rate (or be rated) for best answers. What does this mean for nonprofits? A new way to reach potential supporters, and to spread the word about your cause!...(read more)
Categories: NP Technology News Feed
Voice Over PowerPoint: Free GoldMail for Non-profits
Looking for an easy way to add your voice over a PowerPoint presentation, then share it by email or online? Here's a cool tool to try – and a special offer for non-profit organizations....(read more)
Categories: NP Technology News Feed
6 Social Media Lessons for Nonprofits
Wild Apricot Blog welcomes a special guest today: Carol Buckheit of NonprofitMediaWorks. Carol’s been studying Idealware’s Nonprofit Social Media Decision Guide – the latest in a line of Idealware’s terrific research-based publications – and she’s kindly agreed to share her top “take-aways” from this new publication....(read more)
Categories: NP Technology News Feed
42+ Free Nonprofit Webinars for August 2010
Ready for a bit of professional development, before Labor Day brings the start of another busy fall season? August is a great time for online learning – in fact, this month we’ve rounded up more free online seminars than ever before! There’s something for everyone from board members and administrators, to fundraisers and volunteer coordinators, to active members of all interests and levels......(read more)
Categories: NP Technology News Feed
Best of Association Jam for July 2010
Blog posts and articles on Fundraising, Leadership, and Membership topped the active topics at AssociationJam.org this month, in terms of the numbers of submissions, views and reader votes, while the Volunteers, Technology, and Social Media came in almost as strong. Best of all, you’ll find a number of brand new faces here, among the excellent content submitted to and voted up in “AJam” through July 2010....(read more)
Categories: NP Technology News Feed
Facebook’s New ‘Like’ Button Features
Facebook has just added 3 new features to the ‘Like’ button that hold a promise of greater connectivity and better analytics. Not unusual for Facebook, the release came on a weekend, so no real chance yet to thoroughly explore the bells and whistles – and the implications. And there’s a lot to take in! ‘Like’ acts more like ‘Share’; Facebook analytics are beefed up; and Facebook Pages get to pipe their content right into the newsfeeds of all who ‘Like’ them. Here’s a quick first look at two of those...(read more)
Categories: NP Technology News Feed
Social Media Contests a Big Risk for Small Non-Profits?
A tweet or status update is so easy to publish – and “Please vote” is such a small favor to ask of your social network. It’s just a quick click, right? But as Chris Brogan points out, in The Problem with Social Only Nonprofit Campaigns,there’s a cumulative effect of all those social media requests. ...(read more)
Categories: NP Technology News Feed
Best Practices for Contest Campaigns: AGC Lessons Learned
Results of a detailed evaluation of the 2009 America’s Giving Challenge competition have been released in the “must-read” 2009 AGC Assessment and Reflection Report. The best part? Lessons learned can be replicated by other non-profits, both for contest campaigns and for general social media outreach. ...(read more)
Categories: NP Technology News Feed
Movie Mondays for Fundraisers
Movie Mondays is a free weekly series of video interviews with fundraising professionals – a mix of practical tips, in-the-trenches experience, and creative ideas to help you meet all kinds of fundraising challenges....(read more)
Categories: NP Technology News Feed
Free PDF Converter Keeps Your Clickable Links
The ability to retain hyperlinks when you convert documents to PDF format has been missing from most of the free or low-cost web-based PDF tools to date. Finally, here’s a free online document converter that can keep those clickable links working in your PDFs. Thanks to Donnie Maclurcan of ProjectAustralia for the tip on this useful free tool!
...(read more)
Categories: NP Technology News Feed
What's Your Non-Profit's Content Marketing Strategy?
Six out of 10 professional marketers are spending more on content marketing in 2010, for the third year in a row. The rise of blogs and other social media makes online content creation a growing focus for non-profit sector, too. Why? Because content marketing works....(read more)
Categories: NP Technology News Feed

