Is Email Old News? Social Networks as the New Communications Channel By Stella Hernandez, January 2010 When it comes to online communications, social networking has huge communities of people sharing information with each other. And its rise comes as people question email’s effectiveness—are social networks replacing email as a communications channel? Read more>

Getting Started with Email Fundraising
By Andrea Berry, December 2009
Email fundraising is a technique that’s within the reach of the smallest organization.  This article walks you through the basics: how to design a campaign, write emails, build an email list, select software to send email and take online donations, and measure the results.
Read more >

Enlisting Your Supporters to Fundraise For You: A Case Study
By Andrea Berry, October 2009
How can online friend-to-friend fundraising help you to raise money and engage your staff and volunteers? This detailed case study looks at how one small school raised $3000 from mostly new donors with a minimal investment. Read more>

The Role of Email in Your Communications Mix
By Heather Gardner-Madras, July 2009
Nonprofits have a lot of choices when it comes to communications -
from direct mail, to websites, to social networking sites and more.
With Spam on the rise and open rates down, what role should email play
in a successful communications strategy—and when should nonprofits
choose to use it? Read more>

A Few Broadcast Email Tools
November 2008
One of our most popular articles from last year, now fully updated! Email newsletters are a great way to stay in touch with and grow your audience, but it can be complex to send and track thousands of emails. We talked to eleven nonprofit technology experts to find out what eNewsletter tools have worked well for them. Read more >

A Few Good Email Discussion List Tools
December 2008
Many organizations would like to foster community and information sharing using email discussion lists. What software packages can help? We asked six nonprofit experts about the systems that have worked for them. Read more >

The Basics of Email Metrics: Are Your Campaigns Working?

October 2008

Email metrics can help you determine the effectiveness of email communications - like your eNewsletter or email appeals - and fine tune them to improve their efficiency. In this article, we talk through the data points and the calculations that can be useful, and how to use them to improve results. Read more >

A Few Good Mapping and GIS Tools

By Eric Leland, April 2008

A map can be worth a thousand words. If you're looking for ways to create maps or to display geographic data, there are a number of software package that can help, from free ones to complex and powerful ones. We talked to five nonprofit GIS specialists experts to find out what tools have worked well for them. Read more >

Should Your Organization Use Social Networking Sites?

By Brett Bonfield, January 2008

Are social networking sites like MySpace or FaceBook likely to be a good fit for your nonprofit's goals? Brett Bonfield outlines some guidelines to help you decide if social neworking is right for you. Read more >

Affordable New Tools and Strategies for Online Activism

By Alan Rosenblatt, July 2007

Limited budgets don’t have to substantially limit your online advocacy possibilities. Alan Rosenblatt describes the new generation of online tools that help organizations of any size cope with the increasingly complicated internet world. Read more >

Building Peace Through Information and Communications Technologies

by Ronald "Skip" Cole and Teresa Crawford , June 2007

Information and communication technologies can be a huge aid in the effort to build lasting peace, by helping people communicate, view information, make decisions, and understand each other better. Teresa Crawford and Skip Cole give a tour of the possibilities. Read more >

Power from the People: Assessing the New Online Participatory Tools for Your Organization

by Colin Delany, December 2006

New online participatory tools like blogs, YouTube, and MySpace can be powerful and valuable – if they mesh with your goals. Colin Delany walks through the benefits and costs of common participatory tools and suggests which are likely to be useful for you.  Read more >

A Few Good RSVP Tools: Online Registration Options for Free Events

December 2006

When you’re planning a free event, it’s hard to justify paying a lot of money for online registration software – but email or Evite can be frustrating. Happily, other choices exist. We talked to seven nonprofit technology experts about useful and affordable (or free!) options for collecting RSVPs for free events.  Read more >

Choosing Bulk Email Software to Match Your Communication Goals

by Heather Gardner-Madras, October 2006

Are you hoping to send a monthly eNewsletter to your constituents? Or would action alerts or donation requests align better with your goals? We’ll help you think through the features you’ll need in a bulk emailing tool to support the type of emails you plan to send.  Read more >

Using Social Networking to Stop Genocide

by Ivan Boothe, October 2006

In less than two years, The Genocide Intervention Network transformed itself from a small student group to a national non-profit. How did they do it? Among other methods, they used social media sites like MySpace, FaceBook, Flickr, and YouTube to reach the young people who are their core supporters.  Read more >

A Few Good Online Petition Tools

April 2006

Looking to win friends and influence people? Online petitions can help build your supporter list and potentially sway the opinion of public officials or companies. We asked eight nonprofit technology professionals what online petition tools they would recommend.  Read more >

Donate Now:  Selecting an Online Donation Tool

November 2005

Idealware reviewed twenty-seven lower-priced online software tools that accept donations from an existing website. What we found was good news: many affordable tools are also powerful, friendly, and flexible. We offer recommendations for high-quality tools, as well as a method to choose the right tool for you.  View the report (free registration required) >

Retooling the eNonprofit: Expanding the Options for Integrated Online Software

by Michael Stein, January 2006

New integrated online software tools lead to more possibilities for nonprofits. How do you choose? Internet strategist Michael Stein describes what's available and offers some considerations when choosing tools that can help with emailing, online donations, advocacy online, and more. Read more >

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