Wild Apricot Blog

5pm offers Easy Online Project Management - with 50% discount for nonprofits

2008-05-12T05:30:00Z

Project management software is a tough and competitive field. With so many excellent choices out there, it's hard to know what tools will work best for your organization's needs. Do you want web-based or desktop application? Which features will you really use? How long is the learning curve — and will everyone in your organization be willing and able to take on the challenge? For those who don't need the full muscle power of market-leaders like Basecamp and Wrike , the lighter-weight and user-friendly...(read more)

How Well Does Your Website Work for its Users?

2008-05-08T18:52:00Z

How easy do you think it should be to make a charitable donation? Getting a charity to accept your money might not be quite as easy as you'd think — if the charity's website is designed to meet its own needs, that is, rather than the needs of the people who visit and use the site. Here's an example: When an acquaintance passed away this week, I decided to pay my respects with a memorial donation to a major national charity. In a few spare minutes at lunch hour, I wrote out a cheque and sealed it...(read more)

Web 2.0 Nonprofit Success Stories - Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants

2008-05-05T15:40:00Z

The "Web 2.0 Nonprofit Success Stories" submitted to the NPC Carnival this week lead to a selection of nonprofit organizations that are widely varied in terms of size, budget, and reach. Each group is using the Internet and Web 2.0 tools in a different way to meet its goals, but some common themes emerge; most notably, perhaps, the power of word-of-mouth marketing to broadcast an appeal. In SocialButterfly 's Free Rice: Mixing Online Learning and Entertainment with Giving , for example, Alexandra...(read more)

Wild Apricot Updates and Plans. April 2008

2008-04-30T18:13:00Z

There haven't been many April showers, but a lot of flowers have already bloomed! On April 10th, we released an update that included the following key changes: Ability to specify different fields for different membership levels. This was a frequently requested enhancement and we are very happy about delivering it! Basically, in the past, every contact/member record in Wild Apricot had the same set of fields. Now you can specify different fields to be used for each membership level. For example, you...(read more)

Bring Your Nonprofit Success Stories to the Blog Carnival

2008-04-30T14:07:00Z

Wild Apricot is pleased to be hosting the Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants on Monday, 5 May 2008, and the theme will be "Web 2.0 Nonprofit Success Stories" Tell us how you're using the Internet -- and specifically Web 2.0 tools and technologies -- to overcome challenges and meet your organization's goals. Share your excitement, your discoveries, the things that make you say, "There, now -- that's why we're on the Internet!" In short, tell us your Web 2.0 Nonprofit Success Stories . And however you...(read more)

Free PDF Tools for Mac

2008-04-29T12:01:00Z

When we caught up with educator Dave Riddell on Twitter the other day, he was looking for a new low-cost tool to create and edit PDF files — the web's default format for sharing printable documents. Here, for the benefit of other Macintosh users, he shares his picks for free open-source PDF software. PDF Tools for Mac As an educator, I spend a significant amount of my time immersed in articles and reports as part of my research for grant writing, and curriculum and project development. I try and...(read more)

Affordable Online File Storage for Multiple Computers

2008-04-28T16:47:00Z

All it takes is a sudden hard-drive crash to sell a computer user on the value of backing up all important documents. And if you travel, or move between different computers in the course of your work, secure online data storage means you'll never find yourself going into a meeting without that one file you urgently need....(read more)

Dilbert.com Goes Web 2.0

2008-04-24T18:57:00Z

How would you define Web 2.0 ? Wikipedia does a pretty good job of explaining it, but why use words alone to explain such a complex idea, when you can show-and-tell? Try this: Flip open just about any North American newspaper to the comics page... then take a look at Dilbert.com . The companion website to Dilbert , Scott Adams' widely syndicated cartoon chronicle of office politics, has just relaunched in Web 2.0 style. And this is not simply a cosmetic change or a new website design -- the site...(read more)

Producing Demo Videos - Sharing Our Experiences

2008-04-22T11:18:00Z

We have recently put together first 5 videos demoing basic functionality of Wild Apricot software. This has been a great learning experience and we would appreciate any feedback on our videos (which are still work in progress!). We also wanted to summarize the challenges and lessons learned in order to help others creating their own online instructional or demo videos. Things to consider when you start: Define the approach. Some people make detailed visual storyboards or 'scenario' scripts. We opted...(read more)

Free Online Color Testing Tools for Accessible Website Design

2008-04-22T02:49:00Z

Accessible websites are the fast-approaching future of web design, and accessibility is already the law in many jurisdictions. We're talking about websites whose designs don't create artificial barriers for people of differing abilities, or those with limited access to top-end technology. Color choice is just one aspect of accessible web design -- but it's a good place to start looking at your own website's accessibility status. Could an aesthetic choice about your site's appearance be keeping a...(read more)

Making a Case for Social Media Marketing

2008-04-18T15:01:00Z

Social media and social networking are hot buzzwords in the world of online marketing, but what do they mean in practical terms? Is social media marketing just a passing fad, or could it be a worthwhile strategy for your organization? In a survey done by Collactive of close to 200 organizations, those with a successful social media strategy performed 27% better in achieving their business goals than those with poor social media strategy. Most nonprofits are barely scratching the surface when it comes...(read more)

8 Tips for an Effective Online Survey

2008-04-15T16:51:00Z

Your organization may send out a feedback request with its appeals or reports to members. And perhaps you routinely ask those who attend your special events to fill out a quick survey. But if you need data quickly, or from a broader range of respondents, why not consider an online poll or survey? Here are 8 quick tips to help you get started: 1. Identify your goals. Online surveys can be an easy and cost-effective way to identify your constituents' needs and priorities, to learn what you're doing...(read more)

NonProfits on Video: Using YouTube to Promote Your Cause

2008-04-12T11:54:00Z

Conventional wisdom says that it is the small nonprofit organizations who stand most to benefit from Web 2.0 opportunities, where so much can be accomplished for such a small investment of time and resources. Online video, for example, puts multimedia broadcasting into the hands of organizations that could never afford to buy television air time. There's no charge to post an unlimited number of video on YouTube, for example, and a camera and computer are all the gear you need to get started. But...(read more)

Is Your Nonprofit Risking a Communications Nightmare?

2008-04-09T15:32:00Z

Could your organization get a message to all your members within 48 hours? One small assocation thought so -- until last week, when an unexpected event revealed a major flaw in how the group was communicating with its members. This is a real-life example of a real nonprofit organization: a small interest-based nonprofit with a very small budget, run by volunteers working a few hours a month from their own homes. Does this sound like any group you know? ...(read more)

Get Started with FeedBurner

2008-04-07T13:54:00Z

If your nonprofit website includes an RSS feed, are you making the most of that technology? A free online service called FeedBurner turns your blog's RSS feed into a browser-friendly page that makes it easy for readers to subscribe to your blog updates. But that's just the beginning of what FeedBurner can do for you --...(read more)