This blog is for volunteers, webmasters and administrators of associations, clubs, charities, communities and other groups. We discuss issues and trends in modern web technologies that help your organization achieve more with less. This blog is sponsored by Wild Apricot membership software: a set of tools for membership administration, event registration, website management, online fundraising - with friendly and knowledgeable tech support. See for yourself how affordable and easy it is to use: - Take a tour!

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• 19 December 2007

  6 Unique Online Fundraising Techniques for Your Nonprofit (Part 5 of 6)  

  This post has been contributed by Lance Trebesch and Colt Lapham from TicketPrinting.com Overview Every nonprofit knows that fundraisers are critical to their existence. Without donations, no resources are available to support the primary cause or purpose of the organization. While most traditional media channels have been exhausted, new opportunities have arisen in the online sector. By tapping into cutting-edge online resources, your organization can achieve fundraising objectives that far exceed Read More... Posted Wednesday, December 19, 2007 2:39 PM by Creative Apricot | 0 Comments Filed under: Associations, Non-profit technology, General non-profit interest, nptech, Web 2.0, Best practices, Blogging

• 06 December 2007

  6 Unique Online Fundraising Techniques for Your Nonprofit (Part 4 of 6) 

  This post has been contributed by Lance Trebesch and Taylor Robinson from TicketPrinting.com 4a. Wiki Pages A “wiki” is a website that can be easily edited by its users. The most popular wiki today is Wikipedia which is an online encyclopedia where people from all over the word update and add information. However, wiki pages can be used by your nonprofit in innovative ways to do more than simply provide basic information found on Wikipedia. Your organization can create its own wiki pages for topics Read More... Posted Thursday, December 06, 2007 2:23 PM by Creative Apricot | 2 Comments Filed under: Associations, Non-profit technology, General non-profit interest, Fundraising, nptech, Web 2.0, Best practices

• 29 November 2007

  Tips to Manage your Year-End Fundraising Campaigns 

  It's crunch time for nonprofit fundraisers looking to take advantage of the holiday giving season. If you don't have a plan in place yet, no worries. This guide from Care2's Eric Rardin and Heather Holdridge , along with Mark Rovner and Sarah Haug of Sea Change Strategies , " A Procrastinator's Guide to Year-End Fundraising " will give you a crash course on best practices for maximizing online giving and how to connect with new supporters, and communicate year-round to foster the best possible relationships Read More... Posted Thursday, November 29, 2007 2:18 PM by Creative Apricot | 1 Comments Filed under: Associations, Non-profit technology, General non-profit interest, Fundraising, nptech, Web 2.0, Best practices

• 21 November 2007

  6 Unique Online Fundraising Techniques for Your Nonprofit (Part 3 of 6) 

  This post has been contributed by Lance Trebesch and Taylor Robinson from TicketPrinting.com Overview Every nonprofit knows that fundraisers are critical to their existence. Without donations, no resources are available to support the primary cause or purpose of the organization. While most traditional media channels have been exhausted, new opportunities have arisen in the online sector. By tapping into cutting-edge online resources, your organization can achieve fundraising objectives that far Read More... Posted Wednesday, November 21, 2007 1:41 PM by Creative Apricot | 1 Comments Filed under: Associations, Non-profit technology, General non-profit interest, nptech, Web 2.0, Best practices, E-mail marketing

• 08 November 2007

  Advice for New Bloggers: 12 Tips on Writing for Your Blog 

  Michele Martin's post asking readers "What advice do you have for new bloggers?" couldn't have come at a better time. Lately, I've been pondering the idea of writing a post about blogging basics for nonprofits but with all the sizable amounts of information available about blogging and advice for new bloggers, I wasn't sure where to begin. After reading her post, it became clear to me that new bloggers need the most advice and direction. And with this post, I hope to achieve two things...one to respond Read More... Posted Thursday, November 08, 2007 2:19 PM by Creative Apricot | 3 Comments Filed under: Associations, Non-profit technology, nptech, Web 2.0, Best practices, Blogging

• 06 November 2007

  Share the Story of Your Nonprofit or Church through Blogs 

  I want to recommend to you a book I just finished reading. The Blogging Church by Brian Bailey and Terry Storch . There was also an interesting interview with Read/Write Web's Sean Ammirati that's worth listening to. After reading the book, I picked up some good tips that I could apply to our blog and some other parts that kinda knew I should do but have let slip through the cracks. One of the good things about it is that it doesn't assume that you have any knowledge about blogs. It gives very basic Read More... Posted Tuesday, November 06, 2007 9:00 AM by Creative Apricot | 0 Comments Filed under: General News, Associations, Non-profit technology, General non-profit interest, nptech, Web 2.0, Best practices, Blogging

• 02 November 2007

  6 Unique Online Fundraising Techniques for Your Nonprofit (Part 2 of 6) 

  This post has been contributed by Lance Trebesch and Taylor Robinson from TicketPrinting.com 2. Online Auctions One of the most effective online fundraising tools you can use today is the online auction. Nonprofits know that auctions are time consuming and difficult to manage, but also very lucrative. In 2006 alone, more than 16 billion dollars was raised through charitable auctions in the U.S. ( National Auctioneers Association ). Furthermore, auctions give nonprofit organizations the unique ability Read More... Posted Friday, November 02, 2007 9:00 AM by Creative Apricot | 4 Comments Filed under: Associations, Non-profit technology, General non-profit interest, nptech, Web 2.0, Best practices

• 31 October 2007

  How to Start and Grow your Nonprofit Blog: An Interview with Michael Sola 

  Michael Sola is the Director of Information Technology of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), a nonprofit dedicated to restoring and protecting the Chesapeake Bay and its tributary rivers. For the past 6 months, Michael Sola has been blogging as part of the organization's larger communications strategy. We caught up with Michael to talk about how the CBF Tech blog can help a small organization build community and visibility with new web tools. 1. What inspired you to start a blog for CBF? We were Read More... Posted Wednesday, October 31, 2007 9:00 AM by Creative Apricot | 2 Comments Filed under: Associations, Non-profit technology, General non-profit interest, nptech, Marketing, Web 2.0, Best practices, Blogging

• 30 October 2007

  Technology to make fundraising ‘good to go': New report by Network for Good 

  Network for Good released a new report called The Wired Fundraiser: How technology is making fundraising 'good to go'. The report written by Katya Andresen and Stacie Mann covers what happens when people with a cause take it to cyberspace; why marketers and fundraisers like us should care; and what we should do about the phenomenon. The full report can be downloaded here . The report starts with a profile of the two types of Wired Fundraisers. Type I - The Personal Fundraiser These individuals are Read More... Posted Tuesday, October 30, 2007 9:00 AM by Creative Apricot | 1 Comments Filed under: Associations, Non-profit technology, General non-profit interest, Fundraising, nptech, Web 2.0, Best practices, Widgets, Micro-philanthropy

• 23 October 2007

  How to Use the Social Web for Social Change 

  Britt Bravo of Have Fun * Do Good has an excellent post about using the social web for social change. In the nonprofit sector, online activism has become much more than sending an email to Congress or making a donation. Organizations today are engaging their constituents to upload pictures, text and videos and share their story with the whole world. Britt feels that a lot of activists know that there are many kinds of social web tools available to them, but they aren't sure how to find them, or use Read More... Posted Tuesday, October 23, 2007 1:04 PM by Creative Apricot | 2 Comments Filed under: Associations, Non-profit technology, General non-profit interest, nptech, Web 2.0, Best practices, Blogging, Social networking, Activism

• 18 October 2007

  Online Member Services Best Practices (Part 2 of 2)  

  In the first part of this series , I shared some tips on how to use the web to provide self-service options to your members. With that first post I wanted to start laying out the most common functions and facilities under the general umbrella of online member services - and some recommendations. In this post, I'm going to point out and provide recommendations for five best practice approaches to providing online services. But before I get started - I wanted to ask you again for your feedback - what Read More... Posted Thursday, October 18, 2007 8:00 AM by Creative Apricot | 0 Comments Filed under: Associations, Non-profit technology, nptech, Web 2.0, Best practices

• 16 October 2007

  6 Unique Online Fundraising Techniques for Your Nonprofit (Part 1 of 6) 

  This post has been contributed by Lance Trebesch and Taylor Robinson from TicketPrinting.com (Updated on 19/10/07 to address comments below) Overview Every nonprofit knows that fundraisers are critical to their existence. Without donations, no resources are available to support the primary cause or purpose of the organization. While most traditional media channels have been exhausted, new opportunities have arisen in the online sector. By tapping into cutting-edge online resources, your organization Read More... Posted Tuesday, October 16, 2007 6:31 PM by Creative Apricot | 5 Comments Filed under: Associations, Non-profit technology, General non-profit interest, nptech, Web 2.0, Best practices, Social networking

• 11 October 2007

  8 Ideas To Promote Your Association's Website 

  Did you know that most visitors leave a website within 10 seconds of landing on the home page? And they may never return to the same site. What's worse is going though all the trouble of creating a professional association web site that nobody comes to visit! To keep your website visitors stay longer, you need to engage them. Here are 8 free tools to drive traffic to your website: Free Tool #1: Blog Weblogs or "blogs" are websites that take the form of online journals, that can be easily updated Read More... Posted Thursday, October 11, 2007 3:25 PM by Creative Apricot | 8 Comments Filed under: Associations, Non-profit technology, General non-profit interest, nptech, Web 2.0, Best practices, Blogging

• 10 October 2007

  A 30 Day Guide to Search Engine Optimization (Part 4 of 4) 

  This post has been contributed by Lance Trebesch and Taylor Robinson from TicketPrinting.com Week 4: Objective: Your objectives in the fourth and final week include emailing potential link partners, negotiating link agreements, and continuing your education of SEO and nonprofit resources online. Let’s Get Started: 1. Link Recruitment Email- Unless you have a personal friend within the site you are trying to contact, the first step you should take is to email requests for links. To do this you will Read More... Posted Wednesday, October 10, 2007 9:00 AM by Creative Apricot | 2 Comments Filed under: Associations, Non-profit technology, General non-profit interest, nptech, Marketing, Web 2.0, Best practices, SEO

• 27 September 2007

  A 30 Day Guide to Search Engine Optimization (Part 3 of 4) 

  This post has been contributed by Lance Trebesch and Taylor Robinson from TicketPrinting.com Week 3: Objective: Your week three objective is to plan and develop a sound link recruitment campaign. What you need to know: Links- A link is a connection between one webpage to another. Search engines value links because if many links are pointing to the same website, then the website is deemed to be important and is given a higher pagerank (range 1-10) or level of importance. Having inbound links from Read More... Posted Thursday, September 27, 2007 9:00 AM by Creative Apricot | 1 Comments Filed under: Associations, Non-profit technology, nptech, Marketing, Web 2.0, Best practices, SEO