Robert L. Weiner Consulting

Major Spammer Haven Shut Down: Spam Volumes Drop by Two-Thirds

Robert — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 03:59:04 +0000

The Washington Posts’s Security Fix blog reports that spam volumes declined by 2/3 after an ISP that was hosting spam operations was taken offline. The story:

AASP Conference Impressions

Robert — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 01:36:41 +0000

I just returned from Chicago, where I attended (and spoke at) the first annual conference of the Association of Advancement Services Professionals (AASP). AASP describes itself as “an international organization for individuals interested in the profession of advancement services.” Advancement Services staff (aka Development Services, Development Operations, Advancement Operations) generally support fundraising , membership, and external relations, including entering gifts and memberships, maintaining constituent contact information, and supporting the donor/member/constituent database or CRM system Advancement Services might also include IT management, donor and member relations, stewardship, prospect research, financial management, and office management.

The conference included sessions on topics like managing Advancement Services staff, data management, decision support systems, outsourcing, fundraising trends, social networking, vendor and system trends, data mining, ethics and accountability, project management, gift processing best practices, donor stewardship, and overall Advancement Services best practices.

The conference organizers did a fantastic job of pulling everything together, and I was happy to have participated. I’ll certainly go again.

Take NTEN’s Nonprofit IT Salary Survey

Robert — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 03:59:05 +0000

NTEN is running a survey on nonprofit IT salaries. They describe it as follows:

As a sector, we spend little time considering the investments that nonprofits make in information technology (IT). Yet, no organization today would be successful without any investments in technology. It is an area that raises questions that are difficult for any organization to answer on their own:

read more

Economic Effects on Philanthropy

Robert — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 03:59:04 +0000

End-of-the-year fundraising is a big topic for nonprofits on the blogosphere with the financial woes around the globe. Here are some articles on how your organization can survive the economic downturn. All are free, but you’ll need to register to read some of them.

The Seven Deadly Sins of Web Site Design

Robert — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 03:59:03 +0000

Writing in InMedia Connection, Seth Rosenblatt has mapped Dante’s 7 deadly sins to the world of Web site design.

For instance, he compares Gluttony to “cluttered design, too many links, or a layout that looks like it was designed by committee.” Lust is “trying really hard to get (visitors’) attention, perhaps by being overly flashy.”

Check out the full article to learn what NOT to do with your nonprofit’s site.

Free Fundraising Resources Online

Robert — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 03:59:04 +0000

This post is for fundraisers (whether or not you’re techies). These aren’t resources for “online fundraising” — they’re fundraising resources that are available online (for free).

Tony Poderis’s Fundraising Forum Library includes articles like Non-Profit Fund-Raising Demystified, Campaign Feasibility Studies: Taking The Time To Find Out Whether The Time Is Right, and Annual Fund Giving & “Getting” Guidelines For Your Organization’s Board Of Trustees.

Free Idealware Webinar: Online Communications on a Shoestring

Robert — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 03:59:03 +0000

I’ve always found Idealware’s webinars to be high-quality and informative. They’re offering a free one on October 29 that they describe as follows:

Wednesday, Oct 29th, 1:00 - 2:30 EST

Web sites, email blasting, and social media can provide a small organization with big benefits without a huge investment. In this special FREE online seminar, we’ll talk through the best practices and the low cost tools that can help you take advantage of the Internet to better serve your mission — without breaking your budget.

Free, interesting, and good: what’s not to like?

More Tips and Tricks

Robert — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 03:59:05 +0000

A TechSoup discussion last December compiled a list of time-saving computer tips and tricks. David Pogue from The New York Times asked his readers to help with a similar list, and the results are on the Times’ Web site. Some that were new to me:

Fundraising Tips from NTEN

Robert — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 03:59:11 +0000

NTEN’s latest newsletter is all about fundraising. The stories included Rapid Donor Cultivation: Getting the First Online Gift Faster from Jeff Patrick and Jenny Feinberg. It describes the results of an email marketing and solicitation series created for the International Fund for Animal Welfare. The campaign “reduced the time to the first gift, increased the number of subscribers who give, and — in initial estimates — increased the lifetime value of new subscribers.” (The article covers the same ground as a subscriber-only article from the Sept.

$10 Million in Social Enterprise Awards from Google

Robert — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 03:59:02 +0000

Google will be giving out $10 million in awards through what it’s calling Project 10^100 (”Project 10 to the 100th”). They are calling for “ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible” in the following categories:

Community: How can we help connect people, build communities and protect unique cultures?
Opportunity: How can we help people better provide for themselves and their families?
Energy: How can we help move the world toward safe, clean, inexpensive energy?
Environment: How can we help promote a cleaner and more sustainable global ecosystem?
Health: How can we help individuals lead longer, healthier lives?

read more