Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Conversation With Ana-Marie Jones of CARD (Collaborating Agencies Responding to Disaster)

I sent a request to Help A Reporter Out, that asked several questions, Ana-Marie Jones responded to the interview. CARD, Collaborating Agencies Responding to Disaster (Oakland, CA) provides emergency preparedness and disaster response resources for nonprofits and community agencies serving people with special needs. Is that an amazing mission or what?

Like every nonprofit Executive Director, Ana-Marie has a wishlist of things she would love to do or have in order to maximize the effectiveness of her agency. Enjoy! Bunnie Riedel

How are nonprofits using/re-thinking use of technology/telecommunications in this bad economy?

At my agency -- CARD: Collaborating Agencies Responding to Disasters -- we are bumping up our use of technology. We are in the process of converting our website to more of a blog format, so that we can add widgets and such, and update it quickly and easily. We have made sure all employees can text each other quickly. We will be offering more classes and presentations online.


Are there things you won't, can't do? Things you wish you could do but don't have the money to do?


Oh yes! I would LOVE to have the funds to give every person on my team a laptop with Internet access, so that we could do tele-meetings with zero hassle. Would LOVE ultra-lightweight video equipment so we could get serious about capturing our classes and audience reactions -- and we could be publishing it on the Internet. We would also love to have the real-time polling system, where audience members are polled and the results are immediately tabulated and displayed as part of a displayed PowerPoint presentation. If the technology Gods smiled upon us, we'd surely have an online, interactive repository of our classes, trainings, tools and materials.

Is technology (social media, SEO, blogging, video blogging) helping you?

Social media is helping, though we haven't had the time or money to invest properly in this. But even having just a toe in waters of social media -- using StumbleUpon, Plaxo and LinkedIn -- has been quite helpful.

If your nonprofits use of the latest technology were a car, what make/model would it be?

Probably a 2001 Prius, with some dents and custom modifications.

Contact Ana-Marie at msamjones@gmail.com

5 comments:

  1. hello friend amazing and very interesting blog about Conversation With Ana-Marie Jones of CARD (Collaborating Agencies Responding to Disaster) I really would like to have any update about, thanks for sharing this information

    ReplyDelete
  2. I must say that CARD is doing very nice job. And I think social media is a good way to get in touch with more and more people. By this way you can share actions to be taken during disaster and prevention from disaster


    Los Angeles Web Design | Los Angeles Web Designers

    ReplyDelete
  3. Aside from social media and technology tools organizing people and volunteers 'during' a disaster, I think there would be a faster response time if in advance, neighborhoods and communities have already raised funds for a solid disaster management plan, and organized several 'teams' and trained them to be ready at any time to help and lead during a crisis.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Aside from social media and technology tools organizing people and volunteers 'during' a disaster, I think there would be a faster response time if in advance, neighborhoods and communities have already raised funds for a solid disaster management plan, and organized several 'teams' and trained them to be ready at any time to help and lead during a crisis.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great post, thanks for sharing! I think video blogging is a great way to drive targeted traffic to your website, especially if you have a strong social following.

    Just wanted to add that if you're interested in learning about video production services, tips, and tricks please visit the Maverick Productions website.

    ReplyDelete