MerchantCircle.com | Blog

MerchantCircle.com | Blog: "We have some exciting news to share today that we think is going to make the experience on MerchantCircle even more valuable for our users. We’ve reached an agreement with Ask.com to assume control of the RSS reader site Bloglines in order to rejuvenate and integrate it with the MerchantCircle experience."

Lessons From the It Gets Better Project - Social Good - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas

Lessons From the It Gets Better Project - Social Good - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas: "In social media, the most calculated catchphrases can cause barely a ripple while statements made on a whim might captur"

Facebook Deals Service Takes on Foursquare, Groupon - Advertising Age - Digital

Facebook Deals Service Takes on Foursquare, Groupon - Advertising Age - Digital: "SAN FRANCISCO (AdAge.com) -- Facebook has a new offer for users willing to share their locations in status updates: deals from nearby merchants or big-brand marketers such as Starbucks, Gap or McDonald's."

Facebook Deals Service Takes on Foursquare, Groupon - Advertising Age - Digital

Facebook Deals Service Takes on Foursquare, Groupon - Advertising Age - Digital: "SAN FRANCISCO (AdAge.com) -- Facebook has a new offer for users willing to share their locations in status updates: deals from nearby merchants or big-brand marketers such as Starbucks, Gap or McDonald's."

Can your organization take advantage of mobile “impulse philanthropy?” | Mal Warwick's Newsletter

Can your organization take advantage of mobile “impulse philanthropy?” | Mal Warwick's Newsletter: "Can your organization take advantage of mobile “impulse philanthropy?”
by Nick Allen
From Mal Warwick's Newsletter - November 2010

Nearly all our clients are trying to figure out how to use mobile phones for fundraising and cultivation.

Ever since the Red Cross raised $31 million from $10 text-to-give messages to help the suffering in Haiti, nonprofits have been lusting after what Jim Manis, President of the Mobile Giving Foundation, calls “impulse philanthropy.” Others have been worrying that as mobile devices surpass PCs and laptops in a few years as the main Internet access points for most people whether younger donors will adopt this “impulse” giving in place of long-term loyalty to organizations."

2010 Review of Not-For-Profit Accounting Systems — NEWS - The CPA Technology Advisor

2010 Review of Not-For-Profit Accounting Systems — NEWS - The CPA Technology Advisor: "The software needs of the nonprofit organization are vastly different from those implemented by standard organizations. Many nonprofits are funded solely by grants, which require detailed tracking and accountability for every dollar spent. As well, those active in fundraising need a way to record donations, provide receipts and track donors for future fundraising campaigns."

Do Online Causes and Philanthropy Do Any Good? - San Francisco Music - All Shook Down

Do Online Causes and Philanthropy Do Any Good? - San Francisco Music - All Shook Down: "This is partially due to the mere fact that once an org has your information from Facebook Causes or MySpace Impact or Network for Good or what-have-you, then they can market to you directly, thus expanding their lists of potential donors and overall grasp on do-goodery. One recent example comes from my other, less drunk life at Mother Jones, where we raised $1,500 through Spot.us in a matter of days, to finance a reporter's trip to Haiti. All people had to do was fill out a survey, which is, I'm pretty sure, precisely what Martin Luther King envisioned for the future of humanity. Another, far less impressive and impactful Haiti fundraising example comes from The Chronicle of Philanthropy: 'In 48 hours, the American Red Cross raised $3-million for Haiti relief largely with the help of 2.3 million Twitter messages posted by Red Cross supporters.'

According to the 2010 Online Nonprofit Benchmark Study, there has been a 14% growth in online giving overall."

Chinese Users Flock to Social Nets: 90 Million for Kaixin001, 40 Million for Weibo � TWTRCON

Chinese Users Flock to Social Nets: 90 Million for Kaixin001, 40 Million for Weibo � TWTRCON: "Facebook and Twitter are banned in China, but the country’s home-grown social networks are seeing significant adoption rates among the country’s 420 million netizens, according to this article in The Times of India."

Pecha Kucha: The F2F Twitter Stream for Events | Engage365

Pecha Kucha: The F2F Twitter Stream for Events | Engage365: "Adrian Segar, author of Conferences That Work: Creating Events That People Love, said Pecha Kucha, which originated in Japan, consists of several speakers presenting 20 slides for 20 seconds apiece. With presentations no longer than seven minutes each, Pecha Kucha “is really an art form. It is a great way to present cool information with the style and format adapted to the individual presenter,” Segar said."

Bank contest puts good causes in competition | The Columbus Dispatch

Bank contest puts good causes in competition | The Columbus Dispatch: "'Looking at it in a purely positive light, you could say if their business platform can help someone in need, that's worth celebrating,' Doug Kridler, president and CEO of the Columbus Foundation, said of the bank's campaign.

'Is it the best model to identify mostly worthy causes? Maybe not,' said Michael Nilsen, spokesman for the Association of Fundraising Professionals. 'But in the end, it's very much a net positive. The point of raising awareness is a key one.'

The point also is to win customers."

Cloud Basics for Nonprofits and Libraries

Cloud Basics for Nonprofits and Libraries: "Cloud Basics for Nonprofits and Libraries
Considering the cloud? What organizations should know before making the plunge



By: Jim Lynch

November 2, 2010
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Find tools and tips for greening your nonprofit through TechSoup's GreenTech Initiative, where social benefit organizations can share and learn more about technology choices that can help to reduce our overall impact on the environment.
What Is the Cloud?"

In Charity Donations via Text, an Imperfect System - NYTimes.com

In Charity Donations via Text, an Imperfect System - NYTimes.com: "When nonprofits smell money, they tend to jump on the bandwagon without thinking it through,” said Katrin Verclas, a co-founder of MobileActive, a nonprofit network of people using mobile phones to advance social welfare. “Mobile giving isn’t a magic bullet. It’s just one of many tools nonprofits can use.”

Texted donations currently are limited to $5 and $10 increments and capped by mobile phone companies at five a month from a single phone. Some nonprofits worry that they will cannibalize gifts that might come in larger amounts through more traditional channels like direct mail and online."

Ads that let you check in at your favorite billboard - San Jose Mercury News

Ads that let you check in at your favorite billboard - San Jose Mercury News: "Foursquare, a rapidly growing social network, lets people use their mobile phones to announce their location to friends. When they arrive at a restaurant, bar or another site, they 'check in' and can broadcast their whereabouts through other social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

The Earthjustice campaign appears to be among the first to let people check in at a physical billboard, a tactic that has proved successful for the firm and could be attractive to other advertisers, according to industry analysts and Foursquare executives."

Why Evan Williams of Twitter Demoted Himself - NYTimes.com

Why Evan Williams of Twitter Demoted Himself - NYTimes.com: "Yet for all its astonishing growth, Twitter has succeeded in spite of itself — the enviable product of a great idea and lightning-in-a-bottle viral success rather than a disciplined approach to how it’s managed.

Because of that, Twitter is on the cusp of becoming the next big, independent Internet company — or the next start-up to be swallowed whole by a giant like Google or, possibly, the next start-up to run out of steam."