Jennie Bourgeois

I attended this workshop on 6/19/09 presented by David Dombrosky with Carnegie Mellon University. He gave some really terrific information in this workshop. I will try to summarize some of the information and share some of the resources he provided.

• Need to try and increase capacity with free and low cost solutions

• Web 2.0 – provides many things as free services now. There 3 types of “free”

1. Freeware – software loaded onto your computer – no fees ever
2. Freemium – partially free for a limited version, but have to pay for full version or access
3. Open Source – code for software provided free and programmers agree to build applications using this code and provide the applications for free as well.

• Examples of Freeware

1. Irfanview - views and converts graphics, images, videos, etc.
2. Aviary – free web-based program similar to Photoshop
3. Firefox - free browser
4. Thunderbird – free e-mail client

• Examples of Freemium

1. Quickbooks – gives simple version free, can upgrade for full version
2. Huddle – free collaboration, project management, live conferencing, document sharing, etc. but has a version that provides additional options for a fee and removes ads
   
3. YouSendIt – Can send larger files that are too big to go through e-mail. It is free for a limited basis, but has a paid version with more options.

• Open Source Example

1. Open Office – the largest open source program available. Does everything MS Office does but for free.

• Free does not always mean easy to use – may have to relearn somethings when using a free version.

• Also -free versions usually have inadequate tech support available. May provide forum for members of community to help each other.

• Open source code requires someone who knows code to manipulate and update it.

• Tech Soup – provides DEEP discounts on hardware and software for non-profits. For example, MS Office was advertised on Tech Soup for non-profits at $20.00 and a refurbished laptop computer was advertised at $288.00. Only 501(c)(3) non-profits are eligible. Tech Soup does have some limitations such as may only be able to purchase from a vendor once per year, etc.

• Tech Foundation – connects you with software and technical service providers. Has Geeks for America program. Works with non-profits in placing a Geek with them for 1-2 years and they are paid for by Tech Foundation for their time working with the non-profit.

• CTC Vista Project – pays technology individuals to work and to be hosted by individual non-profit organizations usually for 10-12 months. Requires a small match (less than $5,000).

• Google is known as the “King of Free” Google can:
  

1. Provide e-mail with your own domain name for a professional look
2. Provide additional things for free that specifically for non-profits
3. Share and collaborate in real-time on documents with team members which streamlines the communication process.
4. Produce Google Wave which will be coming soon and will have a huge impact on how we work and collaborate. Will have bugs at first to work out.
5. Offer Google Groups to share e-mails, documents, calendar, etc. Similar to a listserv
6. Google Grants – for non profits – allows you to advertise on Google for FREE. You have the ability to select your own keywords that when people search on your topic, your organization will pop-up for them. You can pick all the keywords that applies to your non-profit. Google Grant provides you up to $10k per MONTH of ad words advertising for free. This maximizes the ability for people to find your organization. One non-profit saw a 3x monthly increase in their web traffic with the use of advertising on Google through their Google Grant. Great utilization to advertise the site, special events, fundraisers, etc.
   
7. Google Checkout – free pay system. It is cost effective and can process donations or purchases online in a secured format. It is more cost effective and some people fee more secure using Google than Pay Pal for some reason.

• E-Mail Service Providers (ESP) - Non-profits can send out under 10k e-mails per month for FREE through Vertical Response. No need to pay for the other service providers such if sending 10k or less e-mails per month. If sending over 10k per month, non-profits would only pay the amount for those that go over 10k.

TIP: Don’t send out e-mails to people with more than 20 people. Yahoo, AOL and others will automatically label your e-mail or entire domain name as spam and will not allow any future e-mails to go through. When you use an ESP service you don’t have these types of issues because they can mass e-mail out and not be flagged as spammers.

• Donor Management System - maintains information on all donors, history of gifts, contacts of donors, provides reports, etc.

• NonProfit Technology Network (NTEN) and Idealware – You can join NTEN for a small annual fee (about $50.00) and have access to a multitude of non-profit information. They survey thousands of non-profit organizations all over the country. They created a consumers guide on donor management systems for non-profits and also provide recommendations based on price, usability, etc.

• Customer Relationship Management System – This is different than the donor management system. This system includes ANYONE in contact with your organization such as media outlets, donors, funders, volunteers, clients, and all others. It is an All in One management system.

The following 2 Customer Relationship Management Systems are Free for Non-Profits:

1. CiviCRM
2. Sales Force (provides up to 10 licenses per non-profit)

• Content Management Systems – allows you to manage your website without knowing code. It is based on modules that will do certain things. They have a catalog of features available. This eliminates the bottleneck of waiting to update text or to use a web master for editing tasks.
  

There are 4 Open Source Content Management Systems available:

1. Word Press – easiest to use, but most limitations
2. Joomla
3. Drupal
4. Drone

NTen also has survey results on the different open source services that are available as well.

• NPower – provides consulting to non-profits about technology.

TIP: Always ask companies if they have a non-profit discount available. Many times they do, but don’t advertise it.

David was kind enough to provide his entire Power Point training available online. You can access a copy of his workshop slides here.

This was really a wonderful training with a wealth of information and resources provided.

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