Michael Stein: Internet Strategy for the Nonprofit Sector

Make a gift to Idealware.org today and I'll double it

Many of you know that I have chaired the board of Idealware.org, and I am proud to have helped build the most comprehensive and thorough source for non-profit software reviews. 



I'm blogging today to ask if you can help out with a tax-deductible gift to Idealware by Dec. 31, because I'll double your impact by matching it dollar for dollar. 



2008 was a big year for Idealware:

• We published 26 articles and 3 reports providing candid information to help nonprofits choose software, including our landmark Consumers Guide to Grants Management Software, for grantmakers;
• Over 100 nonprofit tech professionals helped us write and peer review our articles;
• 180,000 people viewed and downloaded information on the Idealware website;
• 500 people learned from our online seminars.

Please support Idealware in any amount that you can and I'll double your gift

Idealware asks: Should VerticalResponse be the default mass email tool for nonprofits

I'm circling back around to this interesting post by Laura Quinn on the Idealware blog in June 2008 which asks: "Should VerticalResponse be the default mass email tool for nonprofits?"  Laura writes:

The realm of blast emailing tools has been a pretty complicated one. Prices were complicated, features varied, and you really had to think through what you wanted in order to be able to effectively compare.

But with the announcement that VerticalResponse now offers 501(c)(3) nonprofits up to 10,000 emails per month for free, does that change? I think it might. VerticalResponse has been on our list of recommended tools for awhile - it's well designed, feature-rich, has strong deliverability, and integrates well with other tools (especially Salesforce). Even without nonprofit discounts, it's a very interesting option. At 10,000 emails for free, well, that might make it the obvious choice for most smaller nonprofits.

I've been taking a much closer look at VerticalResponse than I have before, to try to be able to answer the obvious question: when is it not the best choice?

There's two clear reasons why you'd want to look beyond. First, if you're sending considerably more than 10,000 emails a month - say, 20,000 or more - it's worth comparing prices with other packages. 10,000 emails free is a pretty darn big head start, but VR is considerably more expensive than some packages for higher volumes. Network for Good EmailNow (a stripped down package that's by far the cheapest mass email tool we've found if you're sending high volumes), is cheaper than VerticalResponse when you hit only about 15,000 emails per month.

Second, are you interested in a tool that will track all your constituents, take online payments, etc, in addition to emailing? If so, VerticalResponse is not that, so it makes sense to look instead to the world of integrated online packages.

Read the complete blog post

A few good methods for processing credit cards

The good folks at Idealware (I'm on the Board) are up to it again with another fine (and free) article, this one covering A few good methods for processing credit cards. It turns out that it's not necessarily difficult or expensive to accept payments by credit card, and this article provides tips and tools to process credit card transactions both online and off. Perhaps you’re hoping to process credit card donations based on phone calls from donors, or allow on-site registration at your next conference. Perhaps you want to take credit card payments at a T-shirt booth at a concert, or at your organization’s gift shop. There are a number of different possible methods for taking credit cards, which may require different types of hardware, software and relationships. Idealware talked to six different nonprofit staff members and consultants with a lot of experience in credit card processing to help you understand the high-level options.

Read the article

A Consumer's Guide to Grants Management Systems

The good people at Idealware have pulled off another amazing feat of research and analysis and have released a detailed 89-page report summarizing the common features and eighteen different systems used by grantmakers to track outgoing funds, with prices and a comparison chart. You can register and download the free report on Solpath's website.

Happy 2nd birthday to Idealware.org

Idealware turned two years old in November, the anniversary of both its incorporation and the release of the Online Donation report.  (I'm the Board Chair.)  Executive Director Laura Quinn shared some metrics milestones on the Idealware blog, which I thought worthy of reposting:

• We published 23 different articles about nonprofit software
• 93 different people have contributed their expertise to Idealware resources
• More than 250 people have registered for one of our seminars
• Almost 4500 people have signed up to hear about new articles and events
• Our website traffic has grown to about 1000 visits a day
• We received our 501(c)3 status
• We’re hard at work planning our very first live event – Managing Nonprofit Technology Projects - in partnership with Aspiration
• We’re working on our first large commission, a report on grants management systems for foundations
• Laura Quinn has gone from working about one-third time with Idealware in November of last year, to now working for Idealware full time
• We received our first grant - more on that soon.
• Our annual income has grown from about $12,000 in 2006 to a projected $65,000 in 2007.

And I will simply quote Laura's own words here and add my thanks to her for her hard work and dedication to Idealware.org: "I can’t tell you how exciting it is to feel Idealware growing into a viable and sustainable organization. I continue to be humbled by how many of you are willing to contribute – whether financially, through your time, or via your expertise – to help provide great content to allow nonprofits to choose software effectively. And as great as this year has been, I really think that next year will be an even better one for us, as our momentum continues. It’s fitting that our anniversary is so close to Thanksgiving, as there’s so many people to be thankful for. Thanks so much to our fabulous board and advisors, our core content contributors, and the dozens of dozens of other people that have provided their expertise. Thanks to the partner organizations that have nurtured us and helped me personally – Aspiration, TechSoup, NTEN, and more. Thanks to our donors, our subscribers, and our readers. I’m privileged to get to work with you every day."

Six views of Project Management software

There are many software applications that can help with project management tasks - but also many different opinions on what types of functionality you might want. Idealware.org spoke to nine different nonprofit project managers to understand what software has been useful to them.

Do you need to register in each state for online fundraising?

There's an eternal, thorny question of online fundraising: Do you need to register in each state, in addition to your national 501(c)3 status, to legally solicit funds online? Idealware talked with Beth Strachan of VolunteerMatch who has done a lot of research on the subject. Her findings are here.

Ask Idealware: Simple Advocacy Tools

Eileen asks: "We are a small group of "progressives" in the tiny town of Westport MA (pop. 14400). The Good Old Boys are trying to sell off the beautiful environment to their developer friends. We would like to set up a SIMPLE website and constituent relations management system. We plan to keep a "scorecard" of local officials' votes. Periodically we plan to send action oriented emails containing links to newsarticles and offering sample letters to the editor or to your selectman. I have read the articles on your homepage--very helpful. However, we are neophytes. And of course we have virtually no budget. Where do we start?"  Read Ask Idealware's answer.

Ask Idealware

Idealware is starting a new blog feature called Ask Idealware. They get a lot of specific software questions - both emailed to the Idealware address, and to Laura Quinn personally. Send your questions about choosing software to ask@idealware.org. They will chose several questions a month or more that they think are broadly relevant to a number of organizations, and send each question on to the people in the Idealware community that they think are most qualified to answer it. They'll then post the question and the answers on the Idealware blog, Ann Landers style. Bring on your questions: ask@idealware.org!

Understanding web analytics with Laura Quinn

My colleague Laura Quinn from Idealware has penned an excellent introductory-level article for The Nonprofit Times TechnoBuzz newsletter entitled Understanding Web Analytics: What does all of the jargon actually mean?  She writes: "Understanding Web analytics can make a big difference in your ability to understand your visitors' needs and your site's traffic. They can help you track exactly what people are doing on your site, get all your (and your boss') questions answered, and maybe even sleep a little better at night."  A good read for those trying to sort it all out.