Odds are, you have heard about all the amazing Non Profit panels being proposed for South by Southwest interactive 2010, and your vote has been courted over and over again. After 2 weeks of this (with one more to go), odds are even higher that Panel-Picker fatigue has hit an all time high and the last thing you want to see are the letters s-x-s-w in that order.

Rather than hear from us about our amazing panels yet again, we thought we would share some comments from the sxsw community. The people are talking, and we invite YOU to join the conversation. Panel picker voting ends on Friday, Sept 4th so don’t delay – time is running out to weigh in on these great panel ideas, like these folks have:

Will Kiva Kill Your Nonprofit? Donations 2.0

Ted Fickes, The Wilderness Society
Definitely an interesting set of questions. Do people need or even want most/many organizations when there are local and/or highly focused or short-term projects out there and ready made ways to raise $ for them?

Sundeep Ahuja, The Extraordinaries
These days I see a lot of non-profits and cause oriented organizations borrowing pages from Kiva.org – from fundraising to marketing, Kiva.org has almost become an example of a “next-generation” non-profit. There’s something about the way Kiva.org embraces transparency, operations, and engagement which has made it a phenomena. WRT fundraising specifically, in a way Kiva is doing what Radiohead did when they launched their album for free and asked fans to pay what they wished; at the point of transaction, Kiva says “hey, we’re offering this service for free, but if you wish to help us do what we do, please pitch in” — and it’s working. I for one am very curious to see if this model (and the associated transparency and required operational efficiency) might work for other organizations as fundraising is one of the biggest challenges non-profits face.

Skylar Woodward, Kiva
I’m really looking forward to this discussion! We spend so much time engrossed in our model we don’t often get to step outside of Kivaland and consider how this is affecting online philanthropy at large. The intimacy and transparency of a Kiva loan certainly comes at a cost. To what extent is it reasonable to expect other organizations to correlate every dollar to good done in the world? Are we setting donor expectations too high or is this the reality of technology-enabled world driven by postmodern values? If this is the future, how do we scale operations, especially on a non-profit budget, to keep accurate data flowing between donors and recipients?!? At Kiva we’ve certainly had to find the balance between perceived impact and explaining what’s actually going on under the code and on the ground.

Cynthia Greenwood
This is a great idea for a panel. One of my concerns about these new online giving models is whether big donors will now choose to go online to fund loans to entrepreneurs of their choosing versus giving donations that can be used at the organization’s discretion to support the most needed programs and operations. Perhaps this could be addressed by the panel.

Milo Sybrant, Amnesty International
This discussion proves to be an interesting one because it raises important questions about the ethics of direct-to-beneficiary fundraising when the human lives are involved. It’s one thing to make a gift to cover the costs of snacks for children in a New York City school (as is possible through orgs like DonorsChoose). But it’s a different proposition to ask someone to make a contribution in order to get a specific political prisoner released from detention in Iran.

Joe Baker, Care2
This should be an interesting panel. It is fairly straightforward to see how the Kiva/DonorsChoose models of micro loans and direct donations can apply to/possibly supplant organizations that primarily serve as bundlers, vetters, and conduits for individual projects and direct assistance. I’m curious to see how the panelists feel the model can apply to other spheres such as advocacy groups.

Can Double-Clicking Change The World? Slacktivism 101

Robert Rosenthal,Volunteer match
Have to say, there’s a delicious irony to a bunch of people in a room watching other people talk about other people slacking. Causes in Facebook ($10 million from 240,000 causes, or $41 per cause) has been a convenient target for slacktivism charges because it’s big and they’ve been open about their numbers, but I think it’s clear our communities need a better model than “click for change”. At some point, individuals need to donate either real time or real money in order to make a difference. Should be a good panel.

Jean Russell, Nuture.biz
Really great issue to debate. i hope we can talk about what has traction without a lot of action and what looks sexy, but doesn’t get much traction – from both an activist org view as well as a contributor/slacker view.

Kiva Wilson, Kaboom.org
I’m stoked to see that SXSW has finally decided to take on this most worthy of topics. Slacktivism opens SO many doors for causes and volunteer/service opportunities. I’m eager to hear what the panelists have to say on the matter.

Michael Cooper
This is a great topic. Non-profits are doing some of the best work in the social media sphere – experimenting where others fear to tread. Big projects have big barriers to entry. If non-profits are to generate mass action, they must use these forms of media to have low barriers of entry to start and encourage folks to take the next step. Should be a great discussion.

Kathryn Lusk
I love this topic – it’s exciting to think about the potential for “slacktivism” to inspire real live activism!

Data, Data, Everywhere: Drowning in a Sea of Analytics

Danielle Brigida, National Wildlife Federation
I think it’s really important to pick the data you track carefully! There is so much to choose from. I hope this panel gets picked!

Jason Cooper, Kaboom.org
As someone who used to compile monthly reports in excess of 50 pages on everything you could imagine related to analytics, I’m very interested in hearing about Question #9. (“What stats can I ignore? “)

Joseph Kelly, Infochimps
Beaconfire does great work. Learning about actionable metrics is a metalesson that can be applied in all sorts of other fields. It will be interesting to see what you guys come up with.

Yoga For Social Networkers: Striking The Right Pose

Renee Hamilton, Operation Smile
I love this idea and the yoga tie in–it seems like it will benefit both newbies and experienced social media geeks who are always look for ways to stretch our time and talents and new positions for us to get into!

Ed Schipul, Schipul: the Web Marketing Company
Great to see Beaconfire, a strong supporter of the non-profit community and a firm that walks-the-talk, representing at SXSW. Not sure I can do the interactive portion of the presentation…. oooooh shiny! … oh wait, what was I writing about? Oh ya, I am in favor of any panel that helps us naturally limit our ADD tendencies and gain focus. This is timely for non profits, for businesses and for ourselves during the Great Recession!

It’s Not All About You: Respecting Your Users

Raffi Darrow, Rdesign inc
I wish everyone knew this: your site isn’t there for you, it’s there for your users!

Thank you for your support! Panel selection decisions will be made in October so watch this space – hopefully we will have some good news to report.

And so is the NY Aquarium, Prospect Park Zoo, Central Park Zoo and the Queens Zoo.  Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), founded in 1895 as the New York Zoological Society, saves wildlife and wild lands. They do so through careful science, international conservation, education, and the management of the world’s largest system of urban wildlife parks.  Beaconfire was pleased to work with WCS to develop their redesigned website (www.wcs.org) on the same instance of Sitecore CMS we used for their 5 park websites.  This allows the organization to share content across their entire family of sites, lessening the administrative upkeep of content for their busy staff.   

 The redesigned WCS site highlights and showcases the fine conservation work they do and addresses their goal of focusing the site on fundraising and relationship-building with users. Browse their (XML driven) interactive Flash map to learn more about ongoing projects throughout the world.  Check it often because the map is growing!  Due to the geocoding in place behind the map, WCS simply needs to add a new map item and it is displayed within the map dynamically.  Learn about how they evaluate the needs of wildlife populations, the ecological integrity of habitats, and the impacts of human activities.  Browse their growing library of multimedia to hear about their efforts straight from their experts – and don’t miss the section focused on the conservations challenges we face.  To meet their relationship building goals the site highlights hero flash promotions and features contextual placement of donation opportunities and signup prompts.   Because of how the information is categorized on the back end, they are able to relate projects and programs with ease, allowing the end user to see the full picture of how impactful the work of WCS really is. 

 One warning, it’s very easy to lose track of time as you browse the WCS site – you may want to set it as a bookmark and come back often.

If you’re an avid follower of this blog, you may have noticed that the people at Beaconfire are full of great ideas, and not shy about lettin’ em loose on the world. From social media to design to web metrics to just general non profit tech guru-ness, we leave no stone unturned. But there is one thing we have not yet accomplished – and for that we need your help, dear readers.

Driven by our desire to share what we are most passionate about on a larger stage, we have submitted five innovative, thought provoking and exciting panel ideas for consideration at the South by Southwest Interactive conference in Austin, TX this coming March. Among the overwhelming landscape of 2210 other great ideas in the sxsw panel picker (a crowdsourcing approach to selecting conference content, which counts for 30% of the overall decision-making) we bravely stand toe to toe, competing with the rockstars, the uber geeks and other movers and shakers in the tech world. South By, we are Beaconfire! Hear us ROAR!

Helen Reddy-inspired bravado aside, in order to be able to present these great ideas anywhere outside of our own conference room, we desperately need you, our dedicated community, to help us. So now we humbly ask that you not only cast a “thumbs up” vote for our panels, but also post your insightful comments on each entry to let the sxsw “deciders” see how timely, thrilling, brilliant and ya know, really cool , our ideas are. You will have to make an account first, but we know that won’t hold you intrepid souls back. Forge onwards, brave readers, and let your voice be heard! Without further ado (or any additional hyperbole) – our panels:

Yoga for Social Networkers: Striking the Right Pose
Organizer & Speaker: Amadie Hart
There are hundreds of social networks, but only one you. Instead of overextending yourself, you need to bring focus on the important things and let go of the rest. Learn how to center your social media practice and balance your online activities. Bring your yoga mat! (don’t miss the video preview!)

Will Kiva Kill your non profit? Donations 2.0
Organized by Shiloh Stark, Jo Miles and Michael Cervino
Speakers: Skylar Woodward, Director of API development at Kiva; Ian Scott Haisley, OptINnow.org, Milo Sybrant, Amnesty International
Connecting donors directly to the beneficiaries of contributions is a game-changing fundraising strategy. Will traditional nonprofits need to adopt new technologies and fundraising models as donors demand greater accountability for their funds? This vibrant, moderated discussion will include representatives from Kiva, OptINnow, and 2 national advocacy organizations.

Can double-clicking change the world? Slacktivism 101
Organized by Eve Simon & Ali Cherry
Speakers: Jacob Colker, CEO of The Extraordinaries; Premal Shah, President of Kiva; and Jason Cooper, Online organizer for Kaboom.org and at least one other rockstar “surprise guest” to be named later.
Sl’ack-Ti-vism. Noun. Taking action for social change without lifting a finger. As the latest technology allows people to “engage” from their computers/phones rather than getting their hands dirty IRL, will this impact the future of volunteerism? A panel of experts will debate the pros & cons of couch potato activism.

Data Data Everywhere: Drowning in a sea of Analytics
Organizer & Speaker: Marissa Goldsmith
A Web site gives a nonprofit access to data that makes old school direct marketers salivate. But many organizations find themselves getting bogged down in producing graphs every month, obsessing over drops in pageviews, throwing their hands up on the air, and deciding they don’t have enough resources to maintain this kind of analytics analysis. Stop obsessing about the small stuff, and start learning about creating a goal-oriented, actionable analytics plan that can help your Web site thrive.

It’s not all about you: respecting your users
Organizer & Speaker: Jo Miles
Google practices it with AdWords. Facebook learned it the hard way. The truth is, your site isn’t there for you or your board; it’s there for your users. All the clever marketing tricks in the world won’t win their loyalty if you don’t give them a little respect.

Of course, not to be all “Me me me” about this, we also kindly ask that you share some panel picker love with these other great sxsw sessions, proposed by non profit tech rockstars, social media visionaries and really, really smart people:

Crowd Sourcing Innovative Social Change
Beth Kanter, Beth’s Blog

Non-Profits and Social Media: Not the Usual Suspects
David Neff, American Heart Association

The Real Housewives of Social Media
Jordan Viator, Convio

Advanced Brand Monitoring: Let the Haters Hate
Carie Lewis, The Humane Society of the United States

Competition > Innovation > Change: Examining Competitions For Social Change
Amy Sample Ward, NetSquared

Can Social Media Change Global Consciousness?
Panelists include: Amy Sample Ward, Danielle Brigida and Stacey Monk

Evolution, Creation and Extinction (of the organization)
Ted Fickes, The Wilderness Society

Handheld Awesome Detectors: Sustainable Apps
Rachel Weidinger, Rachel Weidinger Consulting

Building an Employee Platform for Social Change
Patrice Thramer, Nike, Inc

Doing More With Less: How Not-For-Profits Leverage Technology for Change
Nancy Lublin, DoSomething.org

Digital Marketing for Non-Profits
Amy Seidenwurm, LA Phil

A Different Documentary: Online Storytelling & Social Change
Boyd Neil, Hill & Knowlton Canada

The Socially Conscious Geek: Makin’ Money While Doin’ Good
Leif Utne, Zanby

SMS And Social Change: Lessons From Senegal
Terra Weikel, UNICEF

We all look forward to representin’ the non profit sector in Austin this spring, and can’t wait to see everyone in The Beacon: Lounge with a Conscience again. (details to come – watch this space!)

Often, the “analytics component” of a Web site redesign consists of sticking some code on a page, configuring a few goals and reports, and afterwards running some reports to show your board just how awesome (hopefully) the new numbers are. You might even run a few reports to show the success of a campaign or two. And then, analytics sinks into just another report you need to put together, dashboard-style, before your annual board meeting.

Why does web analytics sink into statistical oblivion when there is just so much to see and do? Maybe it’s because there’s so much to see and do. Dashboards filled with data show you when numbers go up and when they go down. You see page hits, bounce rates, and goal funnels galore. What does it all mean, and what can I do about it? Analytics is all well and good in the for-profit organizations with departments dedicated to this kind of stuff – but non-profit tech folks are busy people. Who has the time?

One proposed panel at SXSW this year, Data, Data, Everywhere: Drowning in a Sea of Analytics, says you have the time, and you should take it. Just because you don’t run eCommerce doesn’t mean your site doesn’t have goals. You run campaigns, you take donations, you provide member services. And with Web analytics, you can constantly strive to have a better, more engaging Web presence. As you make improvements based on analytics, you may actually save your staff time and your organization, money.

So vote for Data, Data, Everywhere, and we’ll see you in Austin!

It starts innocently enough. A blog post here or there. You sign up for Facebook to see what everyone is talking about. Perhaps you even started Twittering, because if Ashton Kutcher could do it, anyone could do it.

Next thing you know, you’re an information junkie, obsessively checking your accounts for your next fix, broadcasting the play-by-play of your daily activities and thoughts to anyone who will follow you, and realizing that you would have forgotten what your partner/spouse/kids look like if you hadn’t posted the photos from your vacation to Flickr.

Stop.

Put down the iPhone.

And breathe.

While social media presents a valuable toolset for you and your organization to stay connected with a far-flung network of friends, family, supporters, members, and advocates, you must find a way to center yourself before you become overwhelmed. It’s no longer just a question of work/life balance — this has become work/life/social network balance.

We have just the thing to help you find your way. For South by Southwest interactive this spring, I have proposed a session called “Yoga For Social Networkers: Striking The Right Pose” suggesting that the ancient practice of yoga can help you find the social networking balance you seek. But we need your help to make it a reality.

With the help of a real Yogi, this mind-expanding hour will offer practical yoga-inspired solutions like:
• Shedding your tendency toward multitasking and be fully present when you participate in social networks.
• Finding balance between the online and offline world, and resist the temptation to be checking your networks 24/7.
• Realizing your limitations to avoid overextending yourself.
• And, most importantly, setting your intentions clearly from the beginning by understanding what you are trying to achieve and working toward that goal.

A preview of some of the “poses” you will learn:

By the end of the session, we hope you’ll discover how to get more accomplished in the same amount of time, that your friends and followers are finding more value in what you put out there, and perhaps you’ve even increased your social network flexibility a bit.

So start your “practice” today by voting for (and leaving comments on) our Yoga for Social Networkers panel entry.

Your karma will thank you.

While it’s not a new term, a few months ago, “slacktivism” became the topic of a firestorm debate among nonprofit advocates, online marketing professionals and social change proponents after a series of media stories including an article by Warren Clements of Toronto’s Globe and Mail, “A slacktivist and his crackberry are seldom parted.” The fire doesn’t seem to be going out any time soon.

While the definition is its own debate topic, most agree that it is the act of doing something that requires very little effort and has only the perceived effect of impact. Or in the words of Urban Dictionary, “the act of participating in obviously pointless activities as an expedient alternative to actually expending effort to fix a problem.”

So do “click actions” like signing a petition and becoming a Facebook fan actually make a difference? We want to get the best and brightest in a room at SXSW and go at it. Help us out and vote for our panel “Can Double-Clicking Change The World? Slacktivism 101″, leave a comment and come to SXSW in March to join the debate with Jacob Colker (Co-Founder and CEO of The Extraordinaries), Premal Shah (President of Kiva) and Jason Cooper (Online Coordinator at Kaboom.org).

And in case you’ve missed the debate,  I’ve done some of the reading for you…in the true spirit of slacktivism.

1. “For [Jacob] Colker, the idea of spare-moment do-gooding is ‘transformative.’ He takes the long view of short attention spans…it’s sometimes hard for people to find the right organizations to volunteer for, and it can be equally hard for organizations to capitalize on the various skills that volunteers bring to the table… But microvolunteerism, Colker says, ‘is perfectly suited for the Millennial Generation. They are used to text messaging, MySpace, Facebook, get-in, get-out, instant gratification. For them, going out and cleaning up a park — that’s not necessarily attractive to them…’” – Linton Weeks
2. “Are the publicity gains gained through this greater reliance on new media worth the organizational losses that traditional activists entities are likely to suffer, as ordinary people would begin to turn away from conventional (and proven) forms of activism (demonstrations, sit-ins, confrontation with police, strategic litigation, etc) and embrace more ’slacktivist’ forms, which may be more secure but whose effectiveness is still largely unproven?” – Evgeny Morozov
3. “Sure, each new technology comes with Faustian ambivalence, but even though the Twitter protesters may not have lead to any substantial change (yet), I’d argue that the worldwide attention (and sympathy) for the cause of the Iranian people was significantly enhanced through the hundreds of thousands of Twitterers who used #iranelection (especially given #CNNfail). Was this ad-hoc Twitter community a political movement? Maybe not. But it politicized and generated social power that can instigate political change.” – Tim Leberecht
4. “These groups will need help to find ways to break down their efforts into bite-size pieces while maintaining the thread of connection between these immediate actions and their intended longer term results. And it is exactly these results that are at risk within the micro-environment. It is quite possible that we will become frantically busy doing a lot of change stuff that does make the doers feel great (which is important ) but doesn’t add up to the systemic social change needed in communities. Does busy mean the same thing as impact?’ – Allison Fine
5. “VolunteerMatch is different from slacktivism services because we’re using technology to help nonprofits and volunteers create enduring relationships based on real-world contributions of time and energy (and often skills as well). Whether these contributions are on-the-ground service roles like working in a soup kitchen or reading, or whether they are “virtual” opportunities like providing Web design or grant writing help from home, the support VolunteerMatch volunteers provide can often be measured in sweat rather than clicks or page views.” – Robert Rosenthal
6. “But we have to recognize that just because someone is using social media as a part of their “strategy” does not automatically mean they are using it strategically. There are ways to waste time with campaigns that, in the end, don’t really bring about social change, but there are ways to waste time with direct mail and organizing rallies too. This flaw is not that the tools are ineffective; it’s rather a misuse and missed opportunity by the organization.” – Kristin Ivie
7. The recipe for effective slacktivism is embracing technology to attract and organize mass amounts of people combined with an authentic belief on the part of the slacktivist and action sponsor that it will make an impact, add in a dose of creativity and recognize that a click is part of a portfolio of other actions – numbers, stories, face to face meetings, etc. – both offline and online. Ideally a click action is used as an entry point for new supporters, or supplemental, and that most people engage in many forms of action when they care about an issue. – Ali Cherry

Don’t forget to vote for our SXSW panel “Can Double-Clicking Change The World? Slacktivism 101″.

Is acquiring an email address for your new campaign more important than having good user experience?  How about securing a donation?  Online marketing is full of temptations to toss user experience aside in the aggressive pursuit of conversions.  Let’s face it: marketers have a bad reputation when it comes to respecting your users.

That’s the issue we’ll dive into in the panel “It’s not all about you: respecting your users” at next year’s South by Southwest conference.  Or (ahem) we will, if you vote for it to be picked!  You can read the full description, vote, and comment to tell SXSW that you think this is a great topic: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/3738

We’ll take a look at some of the usability sins most often committed by marketers (many of whom know better), why these abuses are so tempting, and ultimately, why a practice of respectful interactions and positive user experience may be the best marketing you can do.

It’s not just marketers, either.  Most of us are guilty sometimes of putting our own interests above those of our users, even though our users are the most valuable part of your website.  Are you?  Confess!

SXSW Panel Picker Page: “Will Kiva Kill Your Nonprofit? Donations 2.0“

Kiva has been connecting donors with low income entrepreneurs since 2005. Their model of microlending has proven meaningful, effective (they have a current repayment rate of 98.7%), and popular (over $80 million in loans have been made so far). They’ve been such a game-changer in the nonprofit fundraising space that we want to bring Kiva together with other national nonprofits at SXSW Interactive 2010 to talk about the future of online fundraising.

Kiva creates a one-to-one relationship between donor and recipient. Donors know exactly where their money is at all times and can see the tangible effects of their dollars – if desired, they can completely avoid a general fund, symbolic gift, or representative success story. It’s also a gift that keeps on giving – as recipients pay back their loans, donors can reinvest in new ones.

One question that both traditional nonprofits and startups are facing is whether this model poses a threat to the status quo of fundraising appeals. Will donors demand more accountability for each dollar? Will they expect a personal relationship with the end beneficiaries? How do the principles of Kiva apply to advocacy-based organizations?

If “Will Kiva Kill Your Nonprofit” is chosen for SXSW’s program, Skylar Woodward of Kiva, Ian Haisley of OptINnow, and others will tackle these questions in a vibrant conversation moderated by Beaconfire’s own Michael Cervino.

SXSW wants to know what you think about the panel idea before setting the program.
Does this topic sound intriguing? If so, drop a comment and place your vote on the panel picker page: “Will Kiva Kill Your Nonprofit? Donations 2.0.“

The question one finds asking themselves before taking any task of considerable effort is  whether they really want to do it. This past weekend, I exerted some effort to get myself from Washington D.C. to Cambridge, MA to attend a conference. The topic of discussion was Elgg. What is Elgg and why did I go to Cambridge? Read on and discover why.

Last week, it was brought to my attention that Elgg–an open source Social Networking Platform–was holding a conference on Social Media for Education, and a more specific conference on Elgg. I know and understand the needs of Education that the promise of Social Media can bring. I was very glad someone decided to bring people together to talk about it. Since it was on Friday and I was at work that day, I couldn’t make it. Thankfully, I did make the second conference on Saturday.

At ElggCamp Boston 2009, I was able to see the need for the "Social Networking Platform".Speakers made it very clear that Elgg was not for the person that needed to put up a generic social network to link people together. Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Twitter do that just fine.

This is the second in our NTEN series. Check out Part 1: Card Sorting for NTEN – Behind the Scenes.

After completing card sorting exercises and drafting a new information architecture with NTEN, we moved on to the next step: usability testing with wireframe prototypes!

Testing with Wireframes

We most often use usability testing in two ways:

1. To evaluate an existing site and identify areas of improvement
2. To evaluate a new enhancement, redesign, or information architecture — something that doesn’t actually exist yet

Our project with NTEN falls into the second category. So, how do you test something that doesn’t yet exist? We used wireframes:

By quickly sketching out the new navigation and some key content pages, we were able to produce an interactive prototype. (more…)

Scheduling a group of people for a meeting or workshop is not a big deal if everyone works at the same place and their calendars are up to date in Outlook.  But what if that isn’t the case?  I recently had to schedule a 2 hour workshop with 10 people who work in different places and in different time zones.  The thought of trying to coordinate over email was making my head spin…. one email goes out, several come back at different times with various windows of availability.  All needing to be compiled and compared, double checked and followed up on – there had to be an easier way – and I found it.

www.doodle.com is a free application that allows you to set up various date and time options for your workshop (or any other meeting or event – beach weekend anyone?).  The service generates a link which you can send out to your participants.  The participants indicate online the time blocks they are available (via checkboxes) and you have one place to check to see what time works best for all.  Doodle.com is a simple application but it makes this PMs life a little bit easier.

The iPhone is arguably the most advanced piece of technology commonly found in people’s hands these days. It has a GPS to tell you where you are. It has a phone to let you communicate with people. It has a multi-touch LCD screen that lets the user use the device with no more and no less than one button. The iPhone is a computer … with the Internet. Ten years ago, try to imagine describing to someone what an iPhone does and they’d think that you were talking Sci-Fi. Well, folks, as much as people like to deny it, Science Fiction becomes reality every day in our world.

Jules Verne could see us going to the moon, and John F. Kennedy  actually pushed our country to do it. Star Trek could see us using tri-corders, and Motorola created it as the first cell phone. In my opinion, the iPhone, it’s market of applications, and growing user base is the best way to gain access to and interact with information. It also helps you get in touch with people, but I think face to face is the best way to interface with other humans.

Over the course of my trip to New York City this weekend, I realized exactly how valuable my iPhone is. When I got off my bus at 31st Street and 7th Avenue, I wanted to use my gym membership at the sports club. I went online on my iPhone, looked up the nearest 24 hour gym in their network, and copied and pasted the address into the Google Maps application. In about 2 minutes, I was on my way. After I arrived and couldn’t get into the side of the building which was advertised, I looked up the phone number online, gave them a call and got in. That’s convenience.

The sports club’s web site is not optimized for the iPhone, but since the built-in Safari Browser is a full-fledged browser, I was able to navigate with some effort and get what I needed. If the web site was actually created for the iPhone, it would have saved me some time from zooming in and out, panning left and right to get around. If they had an "app" for that, I might have been able to log into it with my account and it would have been geo-location aware of where I was and tell me the nearest branches of the club. Why don’t they create an "app for that"?

This is all possible and contradictory to popular belief, the functionality that I just described doesn’t have to be developed as an iPhone Application. Much of the functionality can be created in HTML as a web application and placed on the Internet. Google has done a great job by making all of their applications as iPhone friendly "webapps" which behave like iPhone applications.

Recently, some plugins have been released to make your WordPress blog iPhone friendly. Available at Brave New Code, the WPTouch Mobile Theme and Plugin for WordPress takes your standard WordPress blog and makes it look, feel, and behave as an iPhone application with nice transitions.

Static Content Sites

Many organizations have also released informational web sites in a handy, iPhone friendly format. Their sole purpose is to disseminate information. Web Apps such as the Athens Tourist Guide :  and Pocket Cambridge : are basically lists and tables of static HTML that look nice on an iPhone or an iTouch. Do you have information that can be useful to iPhone users? There are some really easy ways to get it out there.

1. iWebKit – “Iwebkit is the revolutionnairy kit used to create high quality iPhone and iPod  touch websites in a few minutes and is based on an LGPL license. In the first 4 months of it’s existance the pack has greatly evolved from a basic idea to a project that has reached worldwide fame!”

2. iUI – It has the following

1. Create Navigational Menus and iPhone interfaces from standard HTML
2. Use or knowledge of JavaScript is not required to create basic iPhone pages
3. Ability to handle phone orientation changes
4. Provide a more "iPhone-like" experience to Web apps (on or off the iPhone)

Dynamic Content Sites

Do you have programming ability or resources which you can utilize to push out your content from your organizational and institutional databases? You can probably use the aforementioned tools in conjunction with dynamic server side languages, but you might want to look into the following options to make your life easy.

1. ComponentOne iPhone Studio – ComponentOne’s studio is a rich set of ASP.NET Server Controls which is beyond compare when it comes to giving you a competitive advantage in creating dynamic applications fast. Some of the included server controls are : Calendar, ViewPort, CoverFlow ( Like the iTunes record browser ), and MultiView ( like the Photo explorer in the iPhone Camera application ).

2. iWebKit for Grails – This plugin provides integration with iWebkit, a powerful User Interface Library for Safari development on iPhone. By using this plugin, the grail developer will have an iphone web app skeleton (CSS and javascript) but also a extended tag library helping in creating iphone web pages in an easy,clean and fast way. If you are a Java developer or your company has them, and have gotten the hang of Groovy, this might be the path for you.

3. iUI with Asp.NET – iUI is very simple and some people have taken some steps to create their own integration for ASP.NET and iUI. This page points you to some third party resources which may be helpful for you in creating dynamic iUI applications.

Possible Scenarios and Tips

How can you capitalize on the iPhone and iTouch user? Here are some ideas which may work out for you.

1. If you have a Calendar of events, you can add iCalendar format links which can let users download the event data and add it to their iPhone Calendar.

2. If you have a location or event search which requires an address or a zip code, you can use W3C’s Geolocation API which is supported by the built-in Safari browser on iPhones.

3. If you have a member’s only directory, you can create an interface which can list people’s information as well as publish their contact info in the vCard format so that they can add it to their contact lists.

Amy Sample Ward, in a recent Stanford Social Innovation Review blog post, provides the best metaphor for building successful online communities I’ve seen yet — think gardening rather than landscaping.

A gardener only takes out the weeds; a landscaper takes out everything that isn’t part of the design.

A gardener isn’t afraid to mix things around; a landscaper plans and plots and plants.

When a storm hits, a gardener can remain open to planting anew and rejuvenating others; a landscaper may just order more of the same.

When in doubt, a gardener will try more plants or kinds of plants and see which take root; a landscaper may default to less.

I love this!  Read the full post on the Stanford Social Innovation Review site.

Recently, whenever I see an article start out saying “in these tough economic times…”, I get the urge to go find a cave and hibernate until the recession is over.  I can’t deny it, though: economic downturn is still seriously impacting nonprofits, and likely to keep doing so for some time.  This year, a lot of nonprofits are facing budget cuts and even layoffs, taking “doing more with less” to a whole new level.  If you’re doing online fundraising or communications for a nonprofit, chances are you’re being asked to raise more money with even fewer resources – and this year’s budget may be even tighter than last year’s.

In spite of the gloomy outlook, there are a lot of things you can do fight the effects of the recession, and make your organization even stronger as it comes out the other side.  Over the next few months, we’ll be sharing a series of posts on the many ways you can make smart use of your limited resources.

Here are some quick tips – but check back (or subscribe to our feed) for a deeper look at these ideas and more.

1. Don’t ditch the redesign – but scale it back. If your much-needed redesign just won’t happen this year, consider a facelift as a short-term, budget-friendly fix.  Instead of building a new site up from scratch, you can freshen up your design and fix a few of those pesky user experience issues for a fraction of the cost of a redesign.
2. Be strong on best practices. There’s a wealth of information out there about how to do things right on the web: best practices that have been validated and used for years by countless organizations.  If there was ever a time to make full use of this free wisdom, it’s now.
3. Take risks. But, you say, it’s too dangerous to take risks right now.  Yet risk-taking, if you’re strategic about it, may be the best way to stand out in an increasingly tough crowd.
4. Take advantage of Google Grants. Would you say no to $10,000 a month in free advertising?  If you don’t have a Google Grant for Adwords, that’s what you’re missing.  If you already have a grant, are you using it to its full potential?  Make sure you’re giving your account the love and attention it needs to perform its best.
5. Use the data you have. Speaking of taking advantage of what’s free, when was the last time you really dug into your analytics data?  There’s a wealth of information buried in there, all about your website, that could really help you bump up its performance.
6. Build up online. Online fundraising isn’t cheap, but compared to the cost of direct mail, it can be a bargain if you’re looking to increase your donations.
7. Don’t neglect acquisition, cultivation, or social media. It’s tempting to cut back on activities with mostly long-term benefits, when you need to save money. But if you focus on these crucial growth areas, then when the economy does recover, your list will be bigger and stronger than ever.
8. Don’t make the perfect the enemy of the good. If the absolutely perfect site/project/campaign just isn’t in your budget, try to trim the scope – and a perfectly good equivalent may come within your reach.

This morning, I read an email with an interesting question from my colleague Jo:

I don’t get this.

http://summerofsocialgood.com/

It looks like this is a huge, well-funded, well-organized program.  It also shows that someone (say… Mashable) is really, really invested in showing that you can do fundraising with social media.

But aren’t they going about it backwards?  I thought “social media for social good” meant rallying people on social media who care about your particular cause, not rallying people who care a lot about social media and then challenging them to support “social good” in general…

They’ve got the big name organizations, but the campaign’s not about them at all.  Or am I missing something?

Very astute question. What is going on here? What is Summer for Social Good really about?

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