Amy Sample Ward’s Version of NPTech

These are my links for January 6th through January 8th:

• The Power of Us: Re-Imagine Media | Changemakers - "Join We Media and Ashoka’s Changemakers in the search to find the best new ideas for inspiring a better world through media and technology. We are looking for business and non-profit venture ideas and will award $50,000 in seed funding to the innovators who can bring the best ideas to life."
• Social Media ROI | Janet Fouts - Janet Fouts has a great post discussing ROI for social media use. It's often a hard thing to wrap our minds around because so much of social media doesn't provide straightforward numbers.
• 40+ Inspirational Non-Profit Website Designs - Is a website redesign in your organization's 2009 plan? Check out some great designs that could get you thinking!
• 2008 Online Giving Trends - Connections - Want to compare your 2008 numbers/results to other organizations? Check out this post which "shares some very early online giving trends from Blackbaud clients. This information comes from approximately 2,000 nonprofit organizations using Blackbaud's Internet solutions."
• See3 | Telling Your Story - Check out this resource from See3 - "this 7-part introduction is designed to get you thinking about online video, and to get you started on the path toward becoming a more web-centric organization."
• The Collective Power of Individuals - BusinessWeek - Thinking Twitter? "That’s why businesses that are successful on Twitter have a human face. Where once a brand could tell consumers what to think (even if it was that their product was good for you), top down, authoritarian monologues don't cut it in this world."
• Help create the world’s first mass inaugural address! - On this site, you can write, edit & remix each other's words - along with those of the past years' presidents - to create an inaugural that reflects your collective viewpoint. The top-rated version at the end will be published on inauguration day at Slate.com!
• Change Begins With Me - Check out Case Foundation's new challenge - submit your 250 character or less commitment or be inspired by what others have submitted!

These are my links for November 26th through December 8th:

• Hallmark Heroes - Tu Diabetes - A Community for People Touched by Diabetes - This coming Dec. 25 and Dec. 28, on Hallmark Channel, there will be a show called "Hallmark Heroes." Regis Philbin will host it, highlighting the journey of five people, including Manny Hernandez from Tu Diabetes.
• Network For Good - Mark Rovner from Sea Change Strategies will discuss 10 critical action steps for raising more money this holiday season and then he will take your questions during a live Q&A. Register here!
• Birthday Party 2008 - CC Wiki - Celebrate Creative Commons around the world for their 6th birthday! Find out if anything is going on in your city, or start an event of your own!
• Bloggers On Blast | Marketing Profs Daily Fix Blog - Great points about what not to do in the blogosphere - read these if your organization is just starting out with blogging for land mines to avoid!
• techPresident – Citizenship Is More Than Volunteerism and More than Gotcha - Allison Fine discusses the current political engagements to be either "the confusion of service" or "us vs. them."

These are my links for November 6th through November 14th:

• Social by Social - A new project capturing case studies and lessons learned about social change projects using the social web - more details soon, stay tuned!
• Net2 Rebate for 2008 Nonprofit Software Development Summit! - Get a discount to the Nonprofit Software Development Summit - a great place to collaborate with others working on technologies for nonprofits.
• Five More Reasons Small Non-Profits Need Twitter | CorporateDollar.Org … - Great reasons to use Twitter as an organization - especially if you are looking for some more ideas to add to your list for getting buyin at your organization!
• Faceforce | Integrating Social Networks with CRM - Interesting application for salesforce users, pulling in data from Facebook and connecting your work to the social platform.
• How to approach social media like a grown up | Joanna Geary - This is a great slide deck from Sacha Chua from IBM about using social media tools at work. It's funny, nails the points, and instructional!

These are some links I wanted to share from October 31st. Find me on Delicious for more!

• eMetrics Panel Slides, Notes, and Blog Posts: ROI of Blogging, Twitter, and Digg for Nonprofits - Beth posted a wonderful collection of slides and ideas. ROI (return on investment) is often a tricky thing for individuals and organizations to understand when it comes to social media tools. Check it out!
• What the Council on Foundations Should Have Said to Its Members - The Editors at the Nonprofit Quarterly have posted a challenge to the Council on Foundations, rewriting the letter COF distributed earlier this month. What do you think should be the response of foundations in our current economic crisis? Weigh in on the blog.
• Developing a Social Media Plan: Lessons from Election 2008 - Lauren-Glenn Davitian, from the CCTV Center for Media and Democracy, highlights examples from the political sector using social media that could give you and your organization ideas.
• Generating Buzz: Using Social Media to Drive Website Traffic - Danielle Brigida, of the National Wildlife Federation, offers some terrific lessons learned on leveraging social media tools to get your organization and your organization's message out there!
• Join the 29-Day Giving Challenge with Me Oct 30-Thanksgiving - Britt Bravo is always an inspiring voice and I encourage you to participate with her in 29 days of giving! Think of what can you can learn from a month of giving
• 33+ Ways to Take Action On Twitter! - Do you use Twitter? Have you heard of Social Actions (http://socialactions.com/)? Here is a great way to stay up to date on current social actions in the area/s you are most passionate about via Twitter!