Nonprofits Seek Alternatives to Weather Economy

There is never enough time or enough money to do everything you want or need to do. Nonprofit managers have to find resources that will allow them to stretch their budgets to their limit. I was contacted by Grassroots.org and did a bit of research. The tools they offer have the potential of saving nonprofits a lot of money. The irony is that they themselves have to raise donations in order to provide these services. Here is a description of all they do and the various tools you might find useful. Bunnie

Nonprofits Seek Alternatives to Weather Economy

by Molly Fergus, Grassroots.org

As the nonprofit sector adjusts to a rough economy, more groups are turning to Grassroots.org for solutions. Membership has nearly tripled in the last eleven months for the organization, which gives 501(c)3 groups free technology tools, including web building, web design, graphic design, language translation, and SEO consultation, among other resources.

In Sept. 2008, only 680 organizations used Grassroots.org services. In less than one year, membership has spiked to nearly 2,000 nonprofits, and Grassroots.org has given 501(c)3 groups $1,117,671 worth of technology tools.

Member organizations each have access to $26,293 worth of tools annually. That savings allowed Getting Tools to City Schools to fund its first delivery to P.S. 335 in the South Bronx.

“Thanks to Grassroots.org, our start-up organization has created a strong professional presence on the web,” said Dennis Kitchen, director and founder of the Brooklyn-based organization. “Just as we help schools and students with free tools, Grassroots.org has done the same for our nonprofit.”

That work builds the capacity of nonprofits nationwide, said Grassroots.org Executive Director Shane Hankins.

“By providing free web and technology services, we save nonprofits time and money that they can use to implement real change,” Hankins said. “It’s rewarding that even in a down economy, start-ups can grow because we gave them free tools.”

Beyond web strategies, Grassroots.org members use the free services to build stronger donor and volunteer bases. Massachusetts-based nonprofit Tailored for Success landed a $10,000 grant in 2007 after joining Grassroots.org.

Founder and president Elizabeth Hart said the grant funded Tailored Impressions, a consignment shop that helps economically disadvantaged women return to the workforce.

“This store also allows us to reach constituents who would not be eligible for our services due to financial guidelines,” Hart said. “The positive impact of Grassroots.org's services will be felt for many years."

Interested in joining?

Grassroots.org equips nonprofits with the most current resources by leveraging modern technologies and best business practices. Grassroots.org currently serves more than 1,900 501(c)3 organizations located in all 50 states. To join, visit the sign-up page.

What is the Grassroots.org Toolbox?

The Toolbox is a suite of completely FREE, user-friendly tools designed to build capacity for nonprofit organizations so that they can better focus on their ultimate missions.

Virtual Office Service: Our free phone service program provides nonprofits with a toll-free "virtual office" number, complete with extension and voicemail capability. The "virtual office" number can ring any phone (landline or cell), allowing organizations to connect with clients, volunteers, and donors--regardless of location. It’s an amazing free service for nonprofits.

Social Ventures Project Consulting: Our Social Venture Consulting Program pairs talented MBA students from participating schools with nonprofits in semester-long project-based consulting partnerships. The program helps entrepreneurial nonprofits increase their organizational capacity by providing direct access to free business consulting.

Web Design: Our volunteer web design program pairs talented web-savvy volunteers with nonprofit organizations in need of assistance. Whether an organization is in need of a new site, or simply wants to revitalize their online presence, our designers are ready to help.

Graphic Design: Our volunteer graphic design program pairs qualified volunteers with nonprofit organizations in need of assistance. This includes developing logos, letterhead, business cards, brand packages, and other materials.

Web Building: Our online website building application empowers even novice users to create professional, appealing websites. The app comes complete with a wide variety of customizable templates including backgrounds and stock images; again at no charge to nonprofit members.

Nonprofit SEO: By optimizing site content for search engines, nonprofits can easily reach new donors, volunteers, and clients with minimal investment of time and money. Our Search Engine Optimization (SEO) program helps nonprofits to optimize their website’s content through online educational materials and individualized consultations.

Content Language Translation: Our language translation program provides nonprofits with free access to an instant website translation service. With this service, one simple click allows visitors to view your site in fifteen of the world's most popular languages.

Domain Registration: Our domain name registration program offers nonprofits one year of free domain registration. Similar to a physical address, a domain name gives an organization a place on the Web to call home, and will facilitate a personalized email address.

Web Hosting: Our web hosting package provides nonprofits with top-quality hosting services at a price any organization can afford, free. The hosting comes complete with 24/7 technical support via telephone, email, or live chat, and can support Content Management Systems (CMS) such as Drupal, Joomla, and Wordpress.

You can contact them at http://www.grassroots.org

Compare and Decide: How to use SEO 2.0 in Marketing

I have a love hate relationship with technology. I love all the things it can do, I hate being tethered to it through endless emails, facebooking, twittering, etc. However, today nonprofits must stay ahead of the curve and learn new terms, like Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and social networking if they are going to grow their organizational capacity.

Nonprofit Conversation asked Juan Munoz, Executive Director of Open Global Marketing, to share a few tips on nonprofit use of SEO. He wrote "Compare and Decide: How to use SEO 2.0 in Marketing." This is just a peek at the iceberg and certainly compelling. We hope to have him back to share more of his insights. Bunnie.


Juan Munoz

Compare and Decide: How to use SEO 2.0 in Marketing
by Juan Munoz

When people talk about Marketing Strategies, many ad agencies and publicists are switching from the conventional traditional to the online jargon: SEO, PPC, PPA. Printing, radio ads and brochures are becoming out of date.

This article isn’t just about explaining SEO, but also exploring the new techniques to optimize Web sites for Non-profits.

The Difference between SEO and SEO 2.0

Three years ago, you built links, exchanged links, paid for links and manually added them to static directories to generate web traffic. Now, optimizing your content also includes getting links, blogging, writing pillar content, creating link bait and socializing.

Three years ago, you’d concentrate on creating sites or pages with many keywords related to your business. Today, that is wrong. In SEO 2.0 many spiders penalize the excessive us of the same keywords in one page. The next SEO 2.0 uses attention-grabbing post titles and limits the amount of keywords to two or three.

Three years ago, you’d compete with others to be on the first page Google’s search results. Now in SEO 2.0, you build a network and cooperate with peers – creating a neighborhood of web sites around you to generate a steady stream of traffic. This works perfectly for nonprofits who normally think that charities are all about getting money or grants and giving it all away.

Three years ago, you thought that exchanging one-to-one active links would give them value. Now, you can create links in your web site regardless whether you link back because it increases the relevance of your web site.

Three years ago, you’d likely say, “We’re not doing SEO. We can’t show our client list publicly, etc…” Now, transparency is the model. "Welcome our new client xyz. We are proud to work together with them, two-way communication, etc."

In the nonprofit world, you normally are used to keeping your donors or foundations very hidden because you do not want competitors to know where you get your grants. Now, more than ever, you can be proud and show your capacity to raise money with a very interesting list of donors in your website.

You can implement these strategies for the non-profit or for-profit world. Not matter what you do and how you do it, it is important to evolve and innovate by staying in tune with the new market-penetrating technology.

Remember, if you hit first, you will hit hard.

Juan Munoz
Executive Director
http://www.openglobalmarketing.com/
email: jmunoz@openglobaltrading.com
phone: 410-505-5551