Articles

Does "Fair Use" Allow Nonprofits To Reproduce News Articles on Their Websites?

The Answer May Surprise You!

Desktop Search Recommendations

In recent years, a number of exciting new "desktop search" software products have been released. These products allow you to perform nearly-instantaneous searches of content on your computer -- including documents, emails and more.

Digital Cameras

Digital still cameras and digital video cameras have dropped in price to well within reach of even the smallest groups. We think that every group should have a digital still camera, and any group that does media work or popular education should consider investing in digital video equipment.

Nonprofit Governance and Sarbanes-Oxley

In 2002, Congress enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to address exposures identified by Enron and other corporate-sector scandals. While most of Sarbanes-Oxley's requirements only affect publicly-traded companies, two new requirements affect all organizations, including non-profits, and several others are being promulgated by state legislatures fast emerging as "good governance" best practices. Includes sample policies from ONE/Northwest.

Content Migration Tips

A primary task facing an organization moving into a new Content Management System is the transfer of content from a pre-existing sources into the CMS. Here is some advice about how to approach this process.

Online Donation Tools Matrix

 

Email Newsletter Comparison Matrix v.1.1

Last updated April 2005

The Three Pillars of Social Source

 

Using CSS and HTML in Email Newsletters

CSS and HTML support is far lower for email than it is for the web. This article explains the pitfalls to avoid and the methods to employ in order to get email newsletters to display consistently across many email clients.

Writing Online: Best Practices

Guidelines, tips, and hints for writing more effective web content. This is a wide-ranging article, but we hope it will help whether you are writing for a web page, email newsletter, action alert or anything else that will primarily be read online.

Choosing An Email Hosting Provider

Groundwire's advice on choosing email hosting providers.

Online Communications Job Responsibilities

Groundwire recommends you consider the following roles and responsibilities when considering how you are going to successfully use your online communications tools.

Alternatives to Adobe

Open-source, free and low-cost alternatives to widely-used Adobe software products, which have become increasingly difficult to get donated.

Registering a Domain Name

Why and how to register an Internet domain name for your organization.

Tips for Facilitating an Environmental Email List

Tips for moderating environmental email discussion lists, including the "soft" skills of email list moderation, including encouraging relevant discussion, curtailing excess wordiness, and evening out the flow of discussion. Technical issues involved in email list facilitation.

Search Engine Optimization Strategies

Search engine optimization tips for nonprofit websites

Online Donation Tools

An overview of the online payments landscape and specific recommendations targeted at Northwest environmental organizations. We also include a matrix that compares leading online donation tools. Our recommendations are also likely to be appropriate for many other small nonprofit organizations.

Seattle Meeting Spaces

A list of spaces suitable for nonprofit board meetings, community events, etc.

Donor Management Process Maps - Part 1: Prospecting

First in a series of articles on donor management process mapping.

Donor Management Process Maps - Part 2: Renewing Donors and Following Up On Open Pledges

Second in a series of articles about process maps for donor management.

Donor Management Process Maps - Part 3: Donation Processing

Third in a series of articles about process maps for donor management

Sites for quality low-cost images

A picture is worth a thousand words and thanks to many low cost and free photo websites building a library may cost you only pennies. Here are some great websites to scour if you can’t seem to find that iconic flower-growing-out-of-your-hand image you need for your website.

The Ladder of Engagement & Salesforce

How we are using Salesforce databases to model "Ladder of Engagement" organizing strategies.

Keeping Your Website Effort Focused on the Big Picture

Key questions to ask yourself over and over as you plan, deploy, and maintain and utilize your organizational website:

Moment Stories and Movement Stories: Four Rules for Effective Email Alerts

Four key elements for effective email alerts, drawn from a talk by Ben Brandzel, former Advocacy Director of MoveOn.org

Writing Email Newsletters: Best Practices

You might think that creating content for an email newsletter is just like writing for your print newsletter. The reality is that these two forms of media are vastly different. Read this article for advice on how to write effective email newsletters.

Using Google Analytics to Monitor Email Newsletter Traffic

How to use Google Analytics with your Vertical Response account to track reader engagement with your email newsletters and alerts.

Action Alerts: Best Practices

Writing an effective action alert means staying focused on specific actions you want your supporters to take. This article talks about best practices for writing an action alert.

Recommended Online Video Hosting Services

Want to put streaming video on your website? The easiest way is usually to use a video hosting service to handle the dirty work for you. Here are some recommended free and low-cost providers.

Tips for Using Visual Editors

Here are some easy, but powerfully useful tricks when using visual editors on the web

Creating Pages Effectively for Browser Compatibility

Different browsers display webpages slightly differently from one another. There isn't one standard for HTML that all browsers conform to, so part of good web design and writing for the web involves checking your work in more than one browser.

Preparing Images for the Web

Important things to know about preparing images that can improve the performance of your website.

Introducing Google Analytics

Learn the basics of Google Analytics, including definition of terms, simple data analysis tips, and where to find more information.

Organizing Your Filesystem

Some tips for how to keep your Plone website's filesystem organized and free of unused or out-of-date items.

A Case Study of Drip Campaigns

Drip campaigns are an automated series of emails, allowing for automatic opt-in based on triggers, and do not require any ongoing maintenance once launched. This is the story of how Groundwire is using this concept to power our web support email series.

Introduction to Data

Introduction to data management, databases and database lingo for startup and volunteer grass-roots environmental organizers and others with little to no database experience.

Earth Justice Values Map OR and WA all segments

Earth Justice Social Capital Project all segments in OR and WA.

How to Generate Website Traffic

Information about how to generate web traffic and get more people to visit your website.

Sarbanes-Oxley policy documents

 

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Useful Keyboard Shortcuts

There's a world of functionality just underneath your fingers. Think undo, copy, cut, and paste. Know the moves to put you in command of your content!

Troubleshooting Plone Pages: Using HTML

This article describes how to use the HTML view in Plone to help you troubleshoot your page layouts.

Room Full of Views: Understanding the Display Menu

Plone folders and other content types can present different 'views' of the content they contain or aggregate. Read this article to learn more about using the Display menu in Plone.

Plone 3 Quick Start Tutorial

Here are the tasks you need to learn first in order to be effective in Plone

How to Move Existing Content into Plone

Learn the various ways of moving content from your old website or documents into Plone. You'll learn how to move images, content from Word documents, and more!

PloneFormGen

Documentation for Plone Form Gen

Pigeonhole Users Guide: Plone 3

The ins and outs of using Pigeonhole for Plone 3

Pigeonhole Users Guide: Plone 2

Learn how to use Pigeonhole, a Plone product developed by Groundwire to enable audience and/or program oriented content and navigation

Email List Help Guide

Help and howtos for Sympa email lists.

How to Copy Content from Microsoft Word into Plone

There are a few things to know about copying and pasting content from Word into Plone to get the best results.

Using Flickr Slideshows in Plone

Flickr is a great tool for organizing and managing your photos. Learn how to insert a Flickr slideshow into your Plone site.

How to Embed Videos in Plone

Want a video on your website? Read this how-to and learn the basics of embedding video.

How to Migrate an Email Template

For migrating an email template from WhatCounts to Vertical Response.

Diving into the Twittersphere

Getting started with Twitter.

Welcome to The Facebook Era

Overview of the social networking site Facebook.

Your Blog Is Your Friend

Tips on organizational blogging

Facebook Ads: A Social Change Experiment

We’re experimenting with Facebook Ads and sharing what we’ve learned.

Sample Salesforce.com Admin Job Description

 

Google Analytics Basic Worksheet

Download this worksheet to help you get started tracking and understanding your web analytics.

Email Service Provider Comparison Report 2010

If you are a nonprofit organization searching for information on which mass email platform to adopt, this is the report for you. We take a close look at 10 providers, and offer advice on how to evaluate the various price points and feature sets.