Non-profits today are incorporating technology to remain relevant and competitive. Here's a profile of the Northampton Area Chamber of Commerce that has made the leap to use web tools like RSS, email newsletters and online member database tools to reach new members and communicate more effectively. I hope that this profile can provide inspiration to other non-profits as I am planning to make it a regular feature on this blog.

Non-Profit Organization Profile

Kurt Paccio of NACC

The Northampton Area Chamber of Commerce is a Northampton, Pennsylvania non-profit dedicated to establish, maintain and nurture a strong core economic environment of the business community in the Northampton Area; promote a pro-active relationship with municipal governments; and educate its members about relevant business issues through the chamber web site, newsletters, seminars and social events.

The organization has had a website for some time, but trying to draw traffic with a traditional site alone was not very successful. Much of the communication that was being posted was also being mailed or emailed. With few visitors to the website, the efforts to maintain their website diminished. After a lot of online research and strategizing, a few months ago they started using 'Web 2.0' tools like RSS as well as more common web technologies like email newsletters and online member database management tools.

Here are the key web tools NACC has found to be of the most use to them:

• Event RSS feeds to keep people up-to-date about meetings and conferences.
• Self-service member features on website which allow members to login, update their own profile, renew membership, change member directory preferences, pay membership dues and event registration fees.
• Integration with third party web resources such as online photo sharing and video sharing sites (e.g. BubbleShare, YouTube, Google Videos).

Kurt says "Most importantly, the ease of use of their website allows novice computer users to update the site. Now we can assign web site maintenance tasks to existing staff members or volunteers without the need for expensive technical training."

The Northampton Area Chamber of Commerce can be found online at http://nacc.memberlodge.org/

As I mentioned, I would like to continue profiling non-profits to showcase their use of technology. If you're interested, please leave me a comment or email me at mailto:soha@wildapricot.com