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Guide to Managing ICT in the Voluntary and Community Sector

Mark Walker's Guide to Managing ICT in the Voluntary and Community Sector (106 page PDF under Creative Commons License) is classically technocentric, but is otherwise a quite commendable basic guide for smaller organizations dealing with basic IT issues. I particularly liked the section on Keeping Things Running Smoothly, wherein a quarter of the guide is devoted to support, training, and other human issues. Posted: 9/17/07; 7:40:58 PM #

Alliance for Justice Comments on Proposed 990 Changes

The current U.S. government has a pretty well established history of surreptitious and legalistic undermining of civil society. The Alliance for Justice is working to make sure that the entire nonprofit sector doesn't get hobbled in it's advocacy rights through I.R.S. changes to Form 990 - the one that every organization above a certain size is required to complete. If this sort of thing concerns you, you might want to read their comments on the proposed changes. It infuriates me that student loan-sharks and mercenary companies who are on the public dole can bribe and lobby to their heart's content, but the nonprofit sector's already very limited ability to do so may be curtailed even further. Posted: 9/17/07; 7:29:37 PM #

Social Media: Don't Promote. Participate!

I liked Chrysi Philalithes' short set of tips on organizational use of social media. She has five tips, but if you can grasp just the first one, then I think you'll probably do just fine: (1) Don't promote. Participate! (2) Know your audience and let them get to know you, the person, not the company. (3) Let go. (4) It's a marathon not a sprint. (5) Extend your reach. Posted: 9/17/07; 7:22:47 PM #