Organizers' Collaborative

A podcast by the National Alliance of Arts and Culture (http://www.namac.org)
Recorded August 22, 2007

Arts and culture programs are fundamental to the quality and depth of any community, yet are often the first to be cut from public and private funding, and are almost never funded adequately. Small, innovative, or cutting edge arts programs often suffer the most. Yet, arts and culture programs can raise the money they need if they learn the basic principles of a systematic fundraising program.

Is it really possible? In this discussion session, talk with your peers about the real opportunities and challenges associated with online organizing for small shops where the rubber meets the road -- from organizational inertia to data silos to social change philosophies.

(Looking for straight tips on cheap tools? Alan Rosenblatt's "Digital Advocacy on a Small Budget" session in the first breakout covers everything you'd want to know.)

Do you want to help your organization take donations online, but
aren't sure how? This session will tell you what you need to know in order to choose a tool and get started. We'll touch on some of the strategic aspects of online donations, but our focus will be on the tactical: What online donation tools are available? How do they work? How do you know which one is right for your organization? We'll close by looking more closely at a specific, recommended set of online donation tools that might work for you.

This just in from NPower, a national nonprofit technology support organization.

Getting the Most from Your Decision:
Four Steps to Selecting Donor Management Software

A Toolkit for Nonprofits

Donors are integral to the work of nonprofits, but how do you know which is the best method for managing your agency's donor data? A new toolkit from NPower Seattle can help. Getting the Most from Your Decision will help you think through your donor data management and select the best software to fit your agency's needs.

Download this FREE Toolkit Now!

Today, the ODB development team is making public the data format for the next version (1.0) of the Organizers' Database software for small nonprofit organizations (1-10 staff).

Attached to this story are copies of this data format, in both Access97 and MySQL formats. Please note that in the final release, the table "settings" will be renamed "oldsettings", and "settings2" will be renamed to "settings."

The data format is subject to minor changes prior to the final release.

The significance of this new format is that it will allow organizations using ODB to keep track of notes, pledges, and reminders on each of their constituents. It will also facility a major improvement in the user interface of the configuration area of ODB.

Technical Tips for Small Nonprofits and Social Change Groups:
Accepting Credit Card Donations over the Web

There are currently several ways you can use the web to raise money. There are several sites designed specifically to help you, if you are registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt 501 (c)(3) charity. These sites are:

www.networkforgood.org Free if you are an independent 501(c)(3).

www.groundspring.org (they are a nonprofit provider, and they charge 3% of all donations given, plus a $20 monthly fee. However they are about to merge with Network For Good.)

Online fundraising and donor acquisition