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I received the following phishing email today.  It's a variation on the "your email inbox is too large" scam I posted in June.  It plays Habitat's name, Haiti relief, and pure greed -- it claims you can earn big tax-free commissions as a fundraiser.  There are so many things wrong with this pitch.  Fundraising (at least in the U.S.) doesn't work this way -- commissions violate the Association of Fundraising Professionals' code of ethics.  The income wouldn't be tax-free just because it's from an international charity.  An organization like Habitat wouldn't look for employees by sending mass emails to "undisclosed recipients."  And they wouldn't use a Gmail address.

I hope no one falls for this. 

==========================

Subject: Important Message(Job Offer)

Hello Prospective Employee,

At HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INTERNATIONAL, we work hard to improve and provide training, technical expertise and support in fund-raising to the national organizations in all the regions of the world. However, the actual work of HABITAT is carried out at the community level by affiliates that have been officially approved by the HFHI Board of Directors. The International Board of Directors (IBOD) are volunteers from around the world who share a deep concern for the problems of poverty housing.

This is demonstrated in our role as a corporate sponsor for the HAITI RELIEF PROGRAM with money raised going towards helping displaced and disabled children and their families.
We are an organization with a remarkable heritage.

You've got a chance to be one of our representatives and earn a commission for funds raised plus an ANNUAL UPFRONT ALLOWANCE paid at the beginning of the fiscal year in early January .This Could earn you an average of $500 - $1500 weekly and as much as $5000 (TAX FREE) in a month depending on how active you are.

You can be rest assured that you WOULD NOT be required to pay any fees upfront and this won't affect your current job earnings or disability payments in any way and you can conveniently work from your desk at home.

Private donations will be made in your name from our esteemed Voluntary Donors in your region and other parts of the world and you'll be allowed to deduct 10 percent (10%) of the total amount on these donations. This serves as your remuneration for the great service you would be rendering in support of saving lives in the third-world countries. Balances (after the 10%) shall be required to be forwarded to the Regional Co-ordinators of the various charitable projects we are involved in around the Globe.

 
Please Note: You won't have to do any travelling and WILL NOT be required to pay any fees, this position won't affect your present employment.

To apply, Kindly forward the following info: to our Human Resource Department at the email listed below for further instructions.

FULL NAME :
FULL ADDRESS :
CITY :
STATE:
ZIP CODE/POSTCODE: ..
PHONE NUMBER (S) must be valid) would be called to confirm.
GENDER : ..
AGE : ..
EMAIL ADDRESS:...
COUNTRY : ...
        
Your prompt response is solicited
Coordinator's Desk,
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INTERNATIONAL
+44(0)7031883958, +14092915940
Registered No. MHQLTH1084442
REPLY TO BE SENT THROUGH : habitatcareers1@gmail.com

In the wake of the huge number of donations given to Haiti earthquake relief via text mesage, MobileActive has published Texting for Charitable Dollars: The Definitive Guide. 

It describes the process of raising funds via SMS from the donors' and the nonprofits' perspectives, including costs and tips for getting started. The guide is available for free at http://mobileactive.org/mobile-fundraising.

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Idealware recently released its  Fundraising, Communications and Outreach. Unlike their earlier guides (to inexpensive donor databases, content management systems, online donation tools, etc.) this one is an actual book (84 pages, paperback) and costs actual money ($19.95, plus, I assume, shipping and maybe tax). They describe it as follows:

What types of software should your nonprofit be using? It's hard to even know even what types exist, let alone what might work for you. Through a friendly, easy-reference format, this book helps you pinpoint the types of software that can help your organization based on your needs and your level of technology savvy, and provides user-friendly summaries to demystify all the possible options.

The 84-page Field Guide includes an overview of 35 different types of software, helping you to understand what each is, how it fits in with your needs, how much you might expect to pay, and some of the most common vendors in the area.

Full disclosure: I reviewed an early draft, but haven't seen the final version. It's likely to be a useful guide to nonprofits who are planning to purchase (or request donations) of a lot of software in the near future.

You can get more information and order a copy on their site.

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San Francisco's Fundraising Day will be happening June 16 at the downtown Marriott.  Once again I have the honor of co-chairing the Technology Track with Michael Stein. We've programmed sessions on online fundraising with Madeline Stanionis, social media with Jeff Patrick, database selection with Eric Leland, and an open discussion session with me and Michael on whatever tech topics the attendees bring. Early bird rates end on April 15, so sign up at www.afp-ggc.org/frd2010

I've been waiting for the Palm Pre for nearly a year.  Sprint released it last summer, but Verizon waited until January.  Why a Palm?  I've been a loyal Palm PDA user for over a decade, from the original Pilot through the 700P.  I'm also a fan of MS Outlook.  I love having all 3,000 of my contacts on my phone, as well as my calendar, tasks, and notes.  I want a phone that will sync with a local copy of Outlook (as opposed to an Exchange server), without requiring me to store all my data on Google.  I've also depended on Vindigo, a Palm app that don't seem to have an equivalent.  (Unfortunately, Vindigo is a zombie app and probably on (past) its last legs, but I still love it. Here's my lament.)  I also like Verizon (as long as I'm traveling in the U.S.), so an iPhone is out.  The Pre got great reviews and I wanted to try one.  Here are my impressions after 1 week:

Look and Feel

I like the shape and size.  The multitouch screen is beautiful. Here's an in-depth review with specs and photos:

http://the-gadgeteer.com/series/a-week-with-the-palm-pre-smartphone/

Usability

The screen is responsive most of the time, but doesn't always figure out what I want to do (e.g., go back, switch apps, close an app).  Clicking on text is much more challenging than with a stylus.  It's hard to highlight text or back up a few characters.  (You can click the function key next to the letter Z (I gather it's orange on Sprint's model, but not on Verizon's) to simulate arrow keys, but it's still hard to move around.  It can also be very difficult to click a hyperlink in the browser -- I often need to zoom in before I can click properly.

The phone usually responds quickly as long as I'm not relying on wi-fi.  I've found wi-fi response times to be wildly unpredictable (no surprise). They've ranged from instant to SLOOOOW, with many "white screens of death" when web apps freeze up.  Even worse, some of the freeze-ups seem to have tossed my login credentials, making me reauthenticate to sites that recognized me moments before.  I haven't done enough testing to compare the web browser response over Verizon's 3G network vs. wi-fi.

The phone clearly does not want to be turned all the way off.  Doing so is a multi-step process, and restarting is very slow.  It's essentially a soft reboot.  The equivalent of turning off the Treo is to put the phone in "airplane mode."  That disables phone functions and turns off wi-fi (you can then turn wi-fi back on).  Airplane mode seems to be the best route to preserving the battery when you don't need to make or get calls.  Note that alarms will still sound in airplane mode unless you either set the phone to vibrate mode or disable alarm sounds in the calendar app. So if you keep your phone near your bed, think about whether you want the alarms on.

The keypad is full QWERTY but unlike the Treo it doesn't have a number pad. Although the keypad appears to be the same size as on the Treo, the keys are tiny, closer together, and not as rounded.  It's much harder to type on the Pre.  There's an on-screen keypad for dialing phone numbers, but not for calendar entries, notes, texting, etc.

The Help documentation is stored online.  If you're in airplane mode and not connected to wi-fi you only have access to some quick tips.  And if you're in airplane mode and have a poor wi-fi connection, the Help entries can take forever to load.

It took me a while to figure out how to "back up" within apps and screens that lack a Back button.  A right-to-left swipe across the gesture area would often fail to do the job.  The trick is to swipe only halfway across the gesture area, starting from or stopping at the Center "button."

The biggest drawback so far is that there's no built-in way to search for text in calendar entries.  I was trying to figure out the dates of an upcoming conference, but the only way to do that is to look at every day individually.  There are weekly and monthly calendar views, but they only show colored bars to indicate events -- no text, no way to hover to see what's there.  This is a huge step backward from older Palms and I hope they'll fix it soon. 

The best solution seems to be to sync my calendar with Google (less of a worry than storing my contacts there) and use the free Google Calendar Search app. 

Sync

Sync with Outlook is a mandatory requirement for me.  Unfortunately, it's not nearly as easy or intuitive as on old Palms.  This seems like a huge step backwards for Palm.  I had to try 3 products to find one that's acceptable.  Chapura's PocketMirror, which I've used for years on older Palm OS products, was a big letdown.  It will only sync via wi-fi, which I don't feel I can rely on.  In addition, the first sync took so long that I gave up--I finally killed it after 6 hours.  I contacted Chapura tech support and got a quick response saying that subsequent syncs would have been almost instant, but since I don't want to rely solely on wi-fi I decided it wasn't worth further testing.  Chapura says they have no plans to allow syncing via the USB cable.  The Missing Sync is also wi-fi only, so I didn't pursue that one.  I've settled on CompanionLink, which is USB-only.  I've got it working, but found it unintuitive at first, and the documentation wasn't much help.  Tech support took 3 days to respond to my support ticket, and only with questions, not answers.  I finally had to call their support line -- not a toll free call, BTW.  The tech I reached was very helpful and provided good follow-up to some unresolved questions.  I learned that syncing is a 2-step process -- first you plug in the Pre and run the sync process on the PC.  Then you unplug the cable and run the sync process on the Pre.  And it seems like when you make a change on the Palm that you want replicated on the PC, you have to remember to first click Sync on the Palm app, then plug in the cable.  In addition, notes & tasks sync to the CompanionLink app rather than the built-in Palm tools. 

The easiest  -- and cheapest -- way to sync is through Google.  I gather that Google can sync notes and tasks, even though they don't exist in Gmail or Google's calendar.  But I have confidential data in Outlook that I don't want to store in the Cloud so I haven't gone that route. (As noted above, I am going to try it with my calendar to address the search issue.)

Ideally, I'd like to be able to sync using either USB or wi-fi, depending on the situation.  But no one seems to offer that.

NB: plugging in the USB cable requires opening a small port cover.  The cover seems like something that's sure to break off with repeated use.  It's easiest to open if you slide the keyboard out.  I find that it's difficult to plug the cable into the micro USB port -- you have to find just the right angle.

Web Browsing

The browser is tiny and hard to read.  You can zoom but that puts a lot of screen real estate off-screen.  I haven't found an equivalent to CTRL+ or Readibility to increase font size without reducing screen size.  Apparently some apps allow you to select the font size, but the built-in browser does not.  Switching to landscape mode seems to be the best approach.  But the physical keypad is only available in portrait mode, so I've found myself swapping back and forth. 

WebOS apps or mobile versions solve many of these problems.  I'm using apps or mobile pages for Facebook, YouTube, OpenTable, Google Maps, Twitter, and Yelp.  But some seem crippled in comparison to their normal functionality.  For instance, there's no Share option for Facebook entries. 

Email

Setting up a Gmail account was incredibly simple - I just had to enter my login info and the Pre knew how to configure the account.  Setting up my business POP account was only a bit harder: I had to supply the usual login and port info, and tell the phone what to do with messages I delete on the handheld.  The Pre also gave me the choice of downloading email on a schedule or manually.

Texting and Chat

The text message app is straightforward, with the added bonus of being able to integrate with Google Talk and AIM.  There isn't an app for Facebook chat, but apparently you can just use your browser.

Music

The Pre has 16GB of storage, but, unlike the Treo, you can't add a storage card if you run out.  The Pre also doesn't include true media sync capability.  In order to get my music onto the Pre I had to drag and drop it into the proper folder (and the Help files didn't give a clue about which folder that should be -- I had to search online to find that it's the DCIM folder).  It appears that changes to my music on my PC will not be picked up automatically -- looks like you have to selectively copy the files, or overwrite the entire collection.  In addition, the Pre stored most of my podcasts as albums, unlike my Zune which recognizes them as podcasts.  I've read that there are 3rd party tools that will sync music with the Palm, but I haven't had time to experiment.

The Palm media player itself is only average.  You can select albums, artists, genres, songs, or playlists -- so far so good.  But when you choose an artist with multiple albums your only choice is either a single album or Shuffle All, which plays all the tracks in random order.  Playing multiple albums by an artist in track order can be done, but is such a pain that it's not worth the trouble.  And I haven't found a 3rd party media player that runs on the Pre.

Miscellaneous

The Pre doesn't include voice memos or any other tool for recording audio through the mic.  I used Audacity Audio to record meetings on my Treo, but it won't work with the Pre.  Apparently, Precorder, which is currently in Alpha release, will provide this feature.

The app catalog is hard to navigate.  Searches return strange results.  For instance, I searched for Google Voice (with and without quotes) and Google Voice wasn't in the top 5 results.  In fact, the word "Google" isn't in the names of the top 5 results.  The first result was BuildaSearch.  Results also included "English-French Dictionary," "Diet Control," and "Chicago Football Fans."  Huh?

Pros

• Shape and size
• Screen quality
• Nice integration with Google and Google apps
• Multitouch screen with "gesture area"
• Works with Verizon
• Syncs with local installation of Outlook, including calendar, contacts, notes, and tasks (as long as you either sync them to Google or buy sync software)
• Syncs with POP and IMAP email
• Good text and IM integration
• GPS, accelerometer
• True multitasking
• Lots of apps
• Runs old Palm apps (requires buying the Palm Classic emulator)
• Charges from USB cable or USB to A/C adapter
• Replaceable battery.  Extended batteries available

Cons

• No built-in calendar search -- have to use Google calendar & search app
• Built-in "Universal search" only performs limited searches
• Can be slow to load apps.  Have experienced many frozen screens and apps.
• Syncing isn't nearly as easy as on older Palms
• Web browser can be hard to read.  No choice of font size.
• No removable storage (e.g., SD cards)
• Battery life.  Not as terrible as I'd feared, but I'll definitely be buying an extended battery.

 Overall, I'm giving the Pre a "B", but a few changes (like better search and a better media player and sync) could move it to an "A."

The continuing story of my new Thinkpad T400S laptop.  I finally feel like it's starting to come together, particularly the upgrade to Windows 7.  Here's the story so far.  Maybe my experience will help someone else.

After transferring my data and software using Laplink (and after figuring out that I had to decrypt my files first) I found that everything was owned by some mystery account.  I couldn't access my files or apps from my account or the Administrator account.  I fixed that with an application called TakeOwnership.

Once I got my stuff moved over I started playing with the laptop and found that it had no sound.  The Lenovo system diagnostics and Device Manager said everything was functioning normally, but I had no sound through the speakers -- only through the headphone jack. I tried all of the troubleshooting tips I could find, and finally took it in for service (fortunately, there's a service depot near my house). Replacing the speakers didn't have any effect, so they replaced the motherboard. That did it. Their theory is that the headphone jack turns off the speakers when in use, and that the jack was "stuck" in this position.

I use an off site backup service from Backup Solutions.  I found that their software wouldn't install under Windows 7.  The company got me a new version that works with Win 7, but I found that the failed installation (or maybe Laplink) left traces of the software behind such that the new software said I needed to uninstall the old version, but the old version wouldn't uninstall.  I had to use Revo Installer to fix that.

I got the docking station set up for the new PC and found that it only has USB ports, so my old PS/2 keyboard won't work.  Tried using a $3 PS/2 to USB adapter, but no luck.  I either needed a $17 converter or a new keyboard.  I went for the converter, since I like my current keyboard. All my other peripherals work. 

I found that the T400S doesn't have a modem jack (maybe it was an option that I neglected to choose?).  Sometimes it's handy to be able to fax from the computer rather than printing something out and running it through the fax.  However, I don't want to have to pay a monthly fee for something like eFax for those rare instances when I need to fax from the computer. Maybe there are other alternatives.

I wasn't able to get ZoneAlarm to install.  I finally gave up and switched to PC Tools' firewall.  The tests I've run say it's not as secure, but it's something.  I'll try installing ZoneAlarm again when I have time.

I had a devil of a time getting Avast! to run but upgrading from version 4 to 5 fixed that. 

I'm still tinkering with Outlook 2003.  Tried running it as an Administrator, and in Compatibility Mode for XP and Vista, but it keeps crashing.  PC Doctor (the crash diagnostic program) just said the problem might be the "Send to Bluetooth" plug-in, so I disabled that.  We'll see.

I figured out how to restore the handy Quick Launch tolbar by following these instructions.

Some of the hardest problems have been getting Adobe products to install. I couldn't get TweetDeck or Adobe Air to run (TweetDeck requires Air).  I solved that by following the instructions for solving Error # 0 problems at http://support.tweetdeck.com/forums/63876/entries/91753  Now I have a second program ( Microsoft Installer Cleanup utility) to forcibly uninstall uncooperative software.

I also couldn't get Adobe Flash to install.  I tried the instructions to install and run Microsoft's SubInACL program, but that didn't fix it.  Finally submitted a trouble ticket to Adobe and got a quick response.  They had me do the following:

In Internet Explorer 8 click on Tools then Internet options then the Advanced tab then choose "Reset Internet Explorer settings".

Download and run install_flash_player_10_active_x.exe from Adobe

Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash

Right-click FlashUtil10d.exe, click the Compatibility tab and select "Run as Administrator."  Click OK and run the program.

That did it.  Resetting IE seems to be the key -- I had done all the other steps previously.

Applications are being accepted for $2,500 in-kind donations of audio, video, and web conferencing services from C3 Conferencing. C3 will also provide complimentary training as needed. In addition to the in-kind donation, C3 will provide a $2,500 cash grant to be used for the purposes of enhancing communication.

C3 is looking for examples of how organizations can increase internal communication, communication between donors, clients and communities, and/or effective communication strategies in times of crisis or other large scale campaigns.

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The Tides Foundation is accepting nominations for the annual Antonio Pizzigati Prize for Software in the Public Interest. The prize will award $10,000 to an open-source software developer whose work is helping nonprofits succeed. Nominations will be accepted through February 1, 2010. The winner will be announced this April at NTEN's 2010 Nonprofit Technology Conference in Atlanta.

From the announcement:

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I got a call last week from the Advancement Services manager at a small college asking for help.  She's trying to make the case for investing in Advancement Services at a college that seems to only want to invest in fundraisers.  She had already found my post on the Ingredients of a High Performing Advancement Services Shop, my discussion summary, Top Issues Affecting Advancement Services (which led to an article in the October 2007 issue of CASE Currents called "Going Fourth: What every fundraiser should know about advancement services" by Jennifer Salopek), and the Advancement Services articles and presentations at SupportingAdvancement.com. I also pointed her to CASE's book Advancement Services: A Foundation for Fund Raising,  and CASE's Handbook of Institutional Advancement, which includes a chapter on Advancement Services, as well as the Association of Advancement Services Professionals.  

Advancement Services should be the foundation supporting the rest of Advancement.  For me the case for investing in Advancement Services comes down to three factors: efficiency, support for Advancement (fundraising, member relations, alumni relations, stewardship, finance, communications, government relations--whatever comprises Advancement at your institution), and support for constituents (donors, prospects, alumni, members, parents, the public). The return on that investment (and the next gift) comes when Advancement Services sends out timely, accurate, and clear receipts; the system they maintain keeps accurate records on donors and gifts; the system reminds Development Officers of their next planned contact; the system helps identify new prospects; the system produces reports that accurately track progress and support forecasting; the system enhances (and doesn’t get in the way of) communications between the institution and its constituents; and systems run reliably, so staff and constituents have access when they need it. 

Efficiency

Efficiency seems simple enough: if you don't have the right resources (people, tools, training, procedures) you will waste time and money.  It will take you too long to do everything, you'll be too rushed to do the job right the first time, and you'll spend a lot of time fixing mistakes.  Complaints from internal and external audiences will be frequent, perhaps the norm (until people get so fed up they no longer bother to complain and simply work around you).  You'll spend all your time fighting fires and won't be able to get to anything that's not an emergency.  (This is not to imply that throwing more staff or money at the problem will necessarily solve it-- leadership, management, and prioritization are also critical.)

Support for Advancement

Supporting colleagues also seems reasonably straightforward.  Advancement Services needs to have the resources and training to provide good customer service.  It needs to get data into and out of the database in a timely manner, produce accurate reports, respond to requests, anticipate needs, keep up with changing technologies and policies, and all the other things I mentioned in Ingredients of a High Performing Advancement Services Shop.

Support for Constituents

Supporting constituents may not leap to mind as part of Advancement Service's role, but it's critically important.  In his presentation Advancement Services - The Advancement Cornerstone?, John Taylor cites statistics from a 1999 study by TARP Research.  Among other things, TARP found that: 

• Twice as many people are told about a bad experience as are told about a good one.
• One unhappy customer will tell ten others. Thirteen percent of them will tell at least twenty other people.

In his blog post on evaluating fundraising programs, Measuring Success The Buffett Way, Jason McNeil asks What measures might Warren Buffett use to evaluate development effectiveness?  He suggests several, including donor retention. Donor retention can definitely be affected--positively and negatively--by Advancement Services. 

• Do donors get timely, accurate receipts and thank-you letters?
• Are they listed properly in the honor roll and other publications?
• Are constituents' names spelled correctly on the correspondence they receive?
• When constituents request changes (e.g., to spelling, phone numbers, or addresses), are they made promptly and accurately?
• Are constituents on the mailing lists they've asked to be on? Are they removed from those they don't want?

It's not within Advancement Services's power to guarantee that donors will continue to give or that constituents will be satisfied and supportive, but Advancement Services can definitely drive them away.

The program for a recent show at Berkeley Repertory Theatre described their facilities department using words that are perfect for much of what Advancement Services does: "to help you forget about what happens behind the scenes."  In general, Advancement Services should be invisible to constituents.  Behind the scenes, however, they should be leading the way to ensure that operations run smoothly and that policies, procedures, technologies, and training support the institution.

Thanks to Charlie Hunsaker for his input on this post.

I recently received my new Lenovo Thinkpad T400S -- thinner, faster, and lighter than my current T400.  But getting it set up has been a bear.  A few of the lowlights, after 6 days of work:

1) I used Laplink to transfer my data, apps, and settings.  I've been using Laplink products for at least 15 years with good results.  This time, not so good.  The big problem turned out to be that I had encrypted my data on my current computer.  Laplink's software didn't warn that this might be a problem, and none of the the technicians I wound up chatting with suggested that it might be.  But after several attempts to transfer my files, and several days of trying to figure out why I couldn't open any of them, I asked whether this could be the problem and the tech said it could be.  Unencrypting the data on the old computer and running the transfer again solved that problem.  (NB: I also tried importing the encryption security keys into the new computer, but that didn't allow me to open the files.)

2) The new computer came with Windows 7.  While I like the Windows 7 interface, I'm finding that lots of software that claims to work with Windows 7 won't install or, or installs but won't run.  So far the list includes ZoneAlarm's firewall and Avast! anti-virus.  I've also had trouble getting Adobe Flash to install.  Currently I can view Flash videos in FireFox but not in Internet Explorer.  I've barely scratched the surface of testing my software and expect many more unpleasant surprises. 

3) No sound.  This seems to be a hardware failure, as I've tried updating the sound card driver, BIOS, and all other recommended troubleshooting steps.  The computer is in the shop now to diagnose (and, I hope, fix) the problem.

I've been thinking about what it takes to run a great Advancement Services operation (aka Development Services, Development Operations, Development Systems, the fundraising infrastructure, the back office).  While outsiders sometimes view Advancement Services as data entry staff, there's a lot more to it.  (I wrote about the frustrations of Advancement Services professionals in Top Issues Affecting Advancement Services).  These are the people who need to determine whether a contribution can be counted as a gift, which fund it should go to, who is the legal donor, whether it's tax deductible and who gets tax credit, whether accepting it violates any federal, state,or organization rules, who should be notified of the gift's arrival, etc.  They are the curators of the institution's memory about who gave, when, how much, and for what.  They need to make sure that the data they enter is accurate and timely.  And Advancement Services staff are often responsible for turning data into information that can be used to create and refine strategies, identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward donors, and tell the organization whether it is meeting its goals.

Here are the factors I think contribute to a high-functioning operation.  They are not usually found in a single person (although in a small shop they might have to be); ideally it's a team effort.  (If your organization has one person with all of these skills, it should do its best to keep them happy.) 

Let me know what you think, and whether I'm missing anything.

• Collect and enter data accurately and efficiently.
• Understand and use automation appropriately.
• Understand the business they and their colleagues are in (fundraising, communications, membership, finance/accounting, events management, governmental relations, public relations) so they can make good decisions, plan ahead, and provide good service.
• Understand all the touch points in relations with constituents so they can help build a 360 degree view of relationships and interactions.
• Understand the laws governing their work (IRS, FEC, HIPAA, FERPA).
• Understand their organization's policies and procedures.
• Understand the capabilities of the software and hardware they work with.
• Develop and maintain detailed procedure manuals.
• Be able to train colleagues on business processes, policies, regulations, software, and hardware.
• Understand how data flows into and out of the system(s) they use.
• Keep up with new developments in technology (e.g., databases, mobile devices, new media).
• Provide great customer service.  Be responsive, proactive, anticipate needs, keep customers informed of timelines and issues.
• Provide quality control so systems take in accurate data and produce accurate reports.
• Understand the strategic vision for their organization so they can capture the right data and develop the right reports.
• Help colleagues understand system capabilities and what data is available so they can request appropriate reports.
• Manage projects, budgets, and people.
• Communicate effectively internally (to A.S. staff, fundraisers, and other colleagues) and externally (fielding inquiries and resolving problems for donors and prospective donors).
• Market the department's services.
• Play well with others.

I've used a digital wallet for years to keep track of my passwords (I use Roboform but there are other choices).  Recently I found that it serves a purpose that hadn't occured to me: phishing prevention.  Here's the deal: I got a message from a friend with a link.  Without thinking too much about it, I clicked on the URL and was taken to a fake Twitter homepage asking me to log in.  Roboform knew this wasn't a real Twitter page, and so wouldn't log me in.  That made me realize that I was being scammed.  Thanks, Roboform.

My friends at Idealware have created a new fund to support their research.  Many of Idealware's reports have been funded by foundations and some have had corporate sponsorship. As you probably know, neither foundation nor corporate support is a reliable funding source these days. In addition, since Idealware must maintain its independence in order to produce their high-quality, unbiased reports and product comparisons, some potential funding sources are simply off limits. 

Their goal is to raise $15,000. The fund will allow Idealware "to build on (their) base of more than four years and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of software research to provide the new resources that nonprofits need most, like information about social media tools, mobile text messaging, constituent databases, and more." If you want to support them as well, you can do so on the Research Fund's fundraising page.

(Full disclosure: I have contributed to some of Idealware's reports, and they have even paid me for advice.)

I just added a Google Voice widget to my web site (on the Contact page).  When a caller clicks the icon s/he is prompted to enter a name and phone number.  Google Voice calls that number, then connects the caller to me as a free VOIP call.  Very cool.

The hardest part was figuring out how to embed the code on my site.  I first tried pasting it into the editor, but it showed up as raw HTML code.  I then tried using the Google Voice Widget Plugin but I could only figure out how to place the widget in a sidebar rather than on a page.  That's too bad -- it has some handy features, like setting hours when calls should automatically go to voice mail.  Finally, I found How to Use Google Voice on Your Website which had the handy tip that you need to use the HTML (source) editor, rather than the visual editor, when you paste in the code.  Duh.  Worked like a charm. 

I received the following email from a listerve.  The topic of closed alumni communities versus social media is on the minds of a lot of university staff, so I'm posting this along with my response.

I'd like to hear from anyone who is using the social networking function of Blackbaud Net Community.  We are purchasing Net Community for some of the other things it offers, and we're trying to decide if we should pursue social networking through it or use Facebook, etc.  What we see as a benefit is the thought that perhaps using the Net Community, it might be a little more professional than having a group on FB or MySpace.  A negative, though, is that most people are currently using one or more social networking sites - will they use this one too?  We are on Linked In and hardly any of the alums use it.

 Thanks for any feedback!

Here's my take:

This question is coming up a lot these days.  You need to weigh the benefits to your alumni that can only be obtained through the closed community (NetCommunity in this case).  What are you offering, and will they value it sufficiently?  And is there another way to offer those benefits without the closed community (e.g., a password-protected online alumni directory), perhaps at a lower cost and with fewer resources? 

It's not an either/or proposition.  You can also set up a Facebook page and/or group, and a LinkedIn group.  But you need to ask the same questions about these tools as NetCommunity: What value are they providing?  And will your alumni respond? (Have you asked your alumni what they want from your online community--whether that's on LinkedIn or NetCommunity?)

I'm not sure whether you're considering whether or not to buy NetCommunity, but if so, you should also consider the benefits it provides other than social networking: online donations, event registrations, mass emails, self-service for data updates, etc.  (There are other ways of providing most of those, of course.)

FYI, here's an article on using LinkedIn for alumni groups:

http://doteduguru.com/id706-linkedin-alumni-group-tutorial.html

Some of the key points are: What are your goals for the group?  How will you measure them?  How will you market the group? 
And here's a blog post from Andy Shandlain at Cal Tech about the subject:

http://www.alumnifutures.com/2009/10/private-label-online-communities.html

Cal Tech does not have a closed online alumni community, but they do have a password-protected online alumni directory. 

I spent the last 3 days at the CASE District VII conference, for schools in AZ, CA, Guam, HI, NV, and UT.  Social Media was a big topic this year, with workshop titles like "Maximizing Social Networks and Online Resources in Alumni Relations", "Now That Facebook and Twitter Aren't Enough: Integrating Social Media into Your Advancement Toolkit ", and "Making Community Real in a Virtual World".  Speakers and attendees reported heavy use of Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, Twitter, and YouTube (the few times I heard mentions of MySpace were negative). 

Very few speakers or attendees reported using these tools for fundraising, though.  UC Berkeley talked about a badge that donors can post to their Facebook pages after making a gift ("I Feed The Bears").  This is the online equivalent of a window decal or bumper sticker, with the added benefit that one's friends can click the badge to make a gift.  It's not an explicit fundraising appeal, but they might start using fundraising badges for class campaigns in the future.  Peer-to-peer class campaigns (at least for recent classes) seem like a natural for social media, and I expect we'll start seeing them.

The results of two new surveys paint a bleak picture of the effectiveness of social media for fundraising and volunteer recruitment. The first from Philanthropy Action, has the depressing title, "Social Networking and Mid-Size Nonprofits: What's the Use?" The survey is based on responses from about 200 mid-sized nonprofits (defined as having revenues between $1 and $5 million annually) between July 2008 and March 2009. It concludes that:

Social technologies are not delivering much in terms of fundraising or attracting volunteers. While the majority (of respondents) began using social networking with an expectation that it would help the organization attract donors and volunteers, results have been particularly disappointing in those categories. More than 70 percent of respondents indicated that they had raised less than $100 or did not know whether they had raised any money.

However, despite poor results to date, "the overwhelming majority of respondents... say they are going to increase their investment in the use of social networking."

A second survey, from the Cone communications agency, reached similar conclusions.

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