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There’s a great scene from Shawshank Redemption, a great movie filled with great scenes, which has been on my mind recently.  It’s where Red, played by Morgan Freeman, comes up for his parole hearing and, rather than give the same canned answer he thinks the parole board wants to hear, he drops on them the honest truth about how he feels, fully believing that it will do no good because he’s destined to stay locked up forever.

The truth of what he feels is that he wants to go back into the past and lay some wisdom on his earlier self:

“I want to talk to him.  I want to try and talk some sense to him.  Tell him the way things are.”

It’s a moving scene: bare honesty from a man whose life has been defined by a single act that landed him in jail.  It’s moving because it touches on a powerful and uniquely human wish: to relive our earlier lives with the benefit of wisdom we gain later in life.

Quite frankly, it’s a wish that brought me to PICnet.  I spent more than a decade in the nonprofit world with much of that time as accidental techie, struggling to do more with less, cobbling together ad hoc knowledge and tools to maximum effect.  I’m proud of the work I did.  I made a strong, honest effort and did some real good for the organizations I worked for.  But I felt like a man on an deserted island setting up a lean to and calling it home.

What brought me to PICnet several years ago was the desire to help nonprofits do more than just cobble together solutions.  Nonprofits have missions worthy of more than just makeshift solutions.  They deserve to house their efforts in something better than a lean to.  I wanted to lend a hand in providing informed and elegant strategies and tools that addressed their technology needs so they could spend time focusing on their mission and less time reinventing the wheel with spare parts.

That’s why it gives me such satisfaction to have launched the new Port Jobs website.  Port Jobs is a fantastic organization increasing access to living wage jobs in Seattle and King County.  It also happens to be a place I worked for several years as Web Manager / Bookkeeper / Database Administrator / Communications Manager / Whatever-else-needed-doing-that-day Guy.

I had a long business card.

Congrats to the good folks at Port Jobs! May your website treat you well and give you great delight in the ease and efficiency with which you can update it so you can focus on the great work you’re doing!

If you, like me, have ever ever scratched your head, dropped your jaw, or clenched your fist at that mysterious “bounce rate” figure in your site analytics, take a look at this fantastic article called “How-to: Improve Your Site’s Bounce Rate (Intro to Google Analytics Advanced Filtering” from the good people at NTEN.

This article will help you understand not only what bounce rates are, but how they are relevant to your site’s success and how you can improve them in a meaningful way.

We learned a lot and know you will too!

As anyone who listens to us for more than a minute or two knows, PICnet is a proud B Corporation.  B Corporation’s triple-bottom-line philosophy of people, planet, and profit resonates with us down to the ground and we polish that little Certified B Corp logo in the footer of our site each day to keep it shiny.

Given this, we were more than happy to bring B Lab on board as a client with the launch of its GIIRS site on Soapbox.  GIIRS, or Global Impact Investing Rating System, is a new effort seeking to expand on the work that B Lab has done thus far – but maybe we should let the GIIRS site itself do the explaining from there:

The impact investing industry is facilitating investments that are not only socially responsible, but which also actively create positive social and environmental impact. In order to scale the impact investing marketplace, investors require an independent third-party impact ratings product that is comparable, transparent, and easy to use.

Interested in learning more about the growing movement to identify and encourage socially responsible businesses like PICnet? Take a moment to read about the innovative work that B Lab is doing to create a new sector of the economy that harnesses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.

It turns out, PICnet and Nonprofit Soapbox are nice and portable. Change jobs. Keep the same PICnet.

That’s exactly what Steven Wirt did when he had a change of professional scenery and a web project for his new organization he needed to find a home for.  He called us up and we were happy to dive in:

I’ve worked twice now with PICnet on projects that sit virtually at opposite ends of the web development spectrum. One project involved a large organization, American Cancer Society. The current project is for a six-person nonprofit called Partnership for Children and Youth. The first project involved the simultaneous launch of 40 microsites. The new project involves 39 fewer sites but is no less complex— the redesign, optimization and launch of our organizational website. PICnet has now delivered 41 websites on time, under budget and practically maintenance-free.

- Steven Wirt, Director, Partnership for Children and Youth

41 and counting, Steven. We’ll be happy to be there for 42 and beyond!

We love to highlight new sites which have launched and, when possible and helpful, share a glimpse into the special features or stories that make them unique.  The latest site to go live is someorg.org.

Meet Phil Penn Gwynn, Online Communications Director / Bookkeeper / Database Administrator / Webmaster / Video Blogger in his inaugural video blog.  In this ongoing series, he’ll discuss the challenges and opportunities he faces as an accidental techie managing Someorg.org’s online presence.

Good luck with the video blogging, Phil!  We’re anxious to hear more!

For future updates throughout this week and beyond, become a fan of Someorg.org’s Facebook page, follow Phil on Twitter, or check out Someorg.org’s website.

We love it when a current client reaches out to us to spruce up their site to respond to an evolving need or opportunity that has materialized since it was first launched.  We especially love it when that process can be made to put more power into their hands so their site can be more flexible in meeting their needs.

So when the good folks at the Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center came to us with a challenge, we were happy to turn it into an opportunity to empower them to update their site more easily now and into the future.

Renaissance’s home page had become difficult for them to manage.  Photos that fit their Flash rotating photo banner were getting harder to come by. The results of adding several were just not to their liking and it was getting tedious to manage.  They also were looking for additional ways to drive traffic to key pages on their site as their programs evolved and developed.

Enter Soapbox Slideshow and a little design finessing.  We were happy to work with them to add our Slideshow component that allowed them to more easily update the photos on their site as well as provided the ability to include text that gives valuable background to the photos that highlight the important work they’re doing.

In addition, inclusion of a new Business Support You Need module highlights key content on their site and allows them to update those links as new opportunities and foci arise.

Are you a current client interested in implementing Soapbox Slideshow on your site?  Looking for a little design finessing?  We’d love to hear from you!  Not a current client but intrigued by the possibilities?  Hit us up!

We’ve been excited to see the popularity of our J!Salesforce integration tool between Joomla and Salesforce.com (also available to all our Non-Profit Soapbox organizations!).  Some folks have been interested in seeing some videos to better understand what the tool can provide to Joomla Web sites.  Well, I made a little video tour of the administrator interface and the front-end search form builder to help provide a visual overview.  Grab some popcorn and enjoy the show.

J!Salesforce Search Functionality Video Tour

J!Salesforce Administrator Video Tour

We’re looking for a Project Manager phenom to take to the field, dribble through opposition, and score massive success for our non-profit clients.  You should be the kind of player that isn’t looking for a safe goalless draw but pushing for the full three points.

Ability to humor your Director of Client Services’ obsession with futbol – at least until July 11th – is a definite plus.

For a non-soccer related list of what the job actually requires, check out our job announcement.

NOTE: For those keeping score at home, this job was originally posted on this blog as being based in San Francisco but we juggled a bit to make D.C. home field for this new team member.

We’re pleased to announce the release of Soapbox 2.1.0! This release enhances Soapbox 2 sites through new caption functionality, expanded social bookmarking, three powerful Soapbox Add On services for managing events, accepting donations, and managing a job board, as well as valuable updates to the Soapbox core.

Curious for a little more info?  Cruise on over to our Help Desk to learn more!

Who doesn’t love being more successful in fundraising? For non-profits, we know how important it is to effectively reach out to your donors and potential donors to meet your fundraising goals and further your mission. How can you increase donations without markedly increasing your overhead? How can you attract and engage your donor base to become more invested in your cause? At our next Soapbox Salon, we’ll be sharing with you tips and ideas that you can use easily with your Non-Profit Soapbox site and Joomla! to help convert those donors faster and more effectively.

PICnet’s Soapbox Salon
Converting Donors Faster Using Soapbox & Joomla!

When: Thursday, May 27, 2010
Time: 12:30pm – 1:30pm ET
Where: PICnet’s DC Office – 1605 Connecticut Ave. 3rd Floor, Washington, DC (across the street from the Dupont Circle Metro station’s north exit)
What: You bring your questions, ideas, and lunch, and we’ll bring answers and refreshments.

Please RSVP by Wednesday, May 26 by clicking the link below and registering for the event.

Questions? Contact Julie Dennis at julie@picnet.net or by calling (202) 585-0273.

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Registration — http://bit.ly/do02mq
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