Recommended Web site: Street Poets Inc.

Street Poets

Street Poets Inc. has a powerful site that I encourage you to visit:

http://www.dreamyardla.com/

STREET POETS Inc. is a non-profit poetry-based peace-making organization dedicated to the creative process as a force for individual and community transformation.

Mission:

TO INSPIRE at-risk youth in the juvenile detention facilities, schools and streets of Los Angeles County to discover and develop their voices as writers, artists and human beings.

TO EMPOWER these young people to use the skills and increased self-awareness engendered through the arts to transcend self-destructive lifestyles.

TO CREATE a healing community that unites different racial, ethnic and socioeconomic segments of our city around the transformational power of the creative process.

Although, after forwarding it to some friends, I am still unable to respond completely to what of their questions: "Why do we live in Dallas???"

[where: 75223]

In honor of Independence Day...

Urban Connection - Austin

Happy Fourth of July! In honor of this glorious day in the history of our nation, I redesigned the Web site for CDM's satellite organization in the capital of Texas:

Urban Connection - Austin
http://www.UrbanConnectionAustin.org/

If you're in Austin, I encourage you to contact my friend Dean. He's a great guy, and he'd probably be willing to meet you at BookPeople (and any excuse for you to go there would be a good one).

[where: 78758]

Speaking of fundraising... (BabiesForObama.com)

Speaking of fundraising, I've got the new t-shirts for sale at BabiesForObama.com, where we provide "Premium Apparel for Progressive Toddlers and Audaciously Hopeful Babies!"

Get 'em while they're haute.

[where: 75223]

TANO: Texas Association of Nonprofit Organizations

The Texas Association of Nonprofit Organizations calls itself "The Voice of the Texas Nonprofit Sector." More at www.TANO.org.

Today, I received the following from The Texas Association of Nonprofit Organizations in their first issue of TANOgram:

"(We) envision a Texas Nonprofit Sector that works together to be among the healthiest and most vibrant in the nation. Our mission is to connect, strengthen and support the Texas nonprofit community for the public good. Welcome to TANOgram - a periodic compilation of information and resources to serve you and your nonprofit organization.

Their site looks promising:

Connecting, Strengthening and Supporting the nonprofit community for the public good - www.TANO.org

Urban Christian Jobs Directory

The Urban Christian Jobs Directory provides a free directory of jobs in urban ministries and churches. It also allows churches and non-profits to post jobs for free.

More here:
http://www.urbanchristianjobs.org/


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Got a Gravatar?

Blog-reading nerds like me will appreciate this service from the folks who brought the world WordPress:

Gravatar - Globally Recognized Avatars
A gravatar (globally recognized avatar) is quite simply an image that follows you from weblog to weblog appearing beside your name when you comment on gravatar enabled sites. Avatars help identify your posts on web forums, so why not on weblogs?

http://en.gravatar.com/

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The Top 50 Blogger Powered Blogs

Amanda, the wonderful blogger behind BloggerBuster, just posted a pretty amazing list:

The Top 50 Blogger Powered Blogs


You can visit the list here:
http://www.bloggerbuster.com/2008/05/top-50-blogger-powered-blogs.html

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The Donor-Centric Pledge

Thanks yto TexasNonProfits at TXNP.org for this article:

We, [fill in the name of your nonprofit organization here], believe…

1. That donors are essential to the success of our mission.

2. That gifts are not "cash transactions." Donors are not merely a bunch of interchangeable, easily replaceable credit cards, checkbooks and wallets.

3. That no one "owes" us a gift just because our mission is worthy.

4. That any person who chooses to become our donor has enormous potential to assist the mission.

5. That having a program for developing a relationship with that donor is how organizations tap that enormous potential.

6. That we waste that potential when donors are not promptly thanked.

7. That "lifetime value of a donor" is the best (though often overlooked) way to evaluate "return on investment" in fundraising.

8. That donors are more important than donations. Those who currently make small gifts are just as interesting to us as those who currently make large gifts.

9. That acquiring first-time donors is easy but keeping those donors is hard.

10. That many first-time gifts are no more than "impulse purchases" or "first dates."

11. That you'll have to work harder for the second gift than you did for the first.

12. That a prerequisite for above-average donor retention is a well-planned donor-centric communications program that begins with a welcome.

13. That donors want to have faith in us, and that it's our fault if they don't.

14. That donors want to make a difference in the world -- and that our mission is one of many means to that end.

15. That donors are investors. They invest in doing good. They expect their investment to prosper, or they'll invest somewhere else.

16. That we earn the donor's trust by reporting on our accomplishments and efficiency.

17. That individual donors respond to our appeals for personal reasons we can only guess at.

18. That asking a donor why she or he gave a first gift to us will likely lead to a amazingly revealing conversation.

19. That fundraising serves the donors' emotional needs as much as it serves the organization's financial needs.

20. That we are in the "feel good" business. Donors feel good when they help make the world a better place.

21. That a prime goal of fundraising communications is to satisfy basic human needs such as the donor's need to feel important and worthwhile.

22. That the donor's perspective defines what is a "major" gift.

23. That every first gift can open a door to an entirely new world for the donor, through participation in our cause.

Read the full article here:
http://www.txnp.org/articles/articles.asp?ArticleID=8754

On a related note, you can read the Donor Bill of Rights here:
http://www.afpnet.org/ka/ka-3.cfm?content_item_id=9988

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YourCause.com: Dallas-based company

Thanks to my friend Kim Young for pointing me to YourCause.com



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Blogs to Explore while Avoiding Work

Thanks toi Logic+Emotion: Who Killed The Marketing Funnel? Accidental Marketers. for this amazing list of bloggers on the topic of marketing!

I am going to file this away under the "Blogs to Explore while Avoiding Work" category:

Adam Crowe, Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob Carlton, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Bradley Spitzer, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Clay Parker Jones, Chris Brown, Colin McKay, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Cord Silverstein, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Goldstein, Dan Schawbel, Dana VanDen Heuvel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Darryl Patterson, Dave Davison, Dave Origano, David Armano, David Bausola, David Berkowitz, David Brazeal, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Emily Reed, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, G. Kofi Annan, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Graham Hill, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, J.C. Hutchins, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeremy Middleton, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, Joe Talbott, John Herrington, John Jantsch, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Flowers, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kris Hoet, Krishna De, Kristin Gorski, Laura Fitton, Laurence Helene Borei, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Barnes-Johnston, Louise Mangan, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Marcus Brown, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Mark McSpadden, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Hawkins, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Monica Wright, Nathan Gilliatt, Nathan Snell, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul Marobella, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Beeker Northam, Rob Mortimer, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Cribbett, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tiffany Kenyon, Tim Brunelle, Tim Buesing, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Longhurst, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

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$46 million Hope Center to house area ministries

The Dallas Business Journal just published an article entitled, "$46 million Hope Center to house area ministries."

I felt embarassed that this was the first I had heard of it.

But then I saw the $46,000,000 still won't buy you much of a Web site, and I felt better:
http://www.thehopecenterfoundation.org/

Seriously. Come on, people.

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It's the Conversation Economy, Stupid

This piece from David Armano, VP of Experience Design with Critical Mass, is stinkin' brilliant:

It's the Conversation Economy, Stupid

Just wish I had seen it the first time around.

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Training Event tomorrow: Using MySpace and Facebook to build community

My friends at the Volunteer Center of North Texas somehow conned me into leading this workshop tomorrow:

The Power and Influence of Online Communities

Businesses, universities and now nonprofit organizations are turning to Facebook.com and MySpace.com to spread the mission of their agencies, communicate with volunteers and recruit new volunteers into their organizations. But this is no task for the technologically challenged. Gain knowledge on how to create accounts, and learn the pros and cons of communicating with this medium.

I've been told that 23 people have signed up. Those poor people have no idea what they're in for...


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Blogging From The Top

The NonProfit Times recently released this insightful answer to the question I often receive:

"Should my organization's CEO start writing a blog?"

I would respond, but everything that I have to say is here... along with some nice case studies:

The NonProfit Times
Blogging From The Top
Donors - and everyone else - get access to the boss

Want some inspiration for your blog? Read the Top 100 Blogs in the world here:
http://technorati.com/pop/blogs/

And yes, God help us all, there are even blogs about blogging:
Top 25 Blogs About Blogging

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Help me to sharpen the Razor

FundRaising Success asks the following:

What are your favorite fundraising/nonprofit marketing blogs? What’s so great about them?
To send responses/comments, e-mail: mbattistelli@napco.com. Responses should not exceed 100 words. Your ideas, insights and opinions could be published in an upcoming issue of FundRaising Success magazine.

What are your favorite blogs? More importantly -- what would it take for this blog to make your list?

I'd love your thoughts on how I could sharpen the Razor!

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New Laws for Organizations that Accept Online Payments

Thanks to TechSoup for publishing this important article:
New Laws for Organizations that Accept Online Payments

Nonprofit organizations that accept credit card donations should pay particular attention to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and state identity theft and breach notification laws.

Most nonprofits process fewer than 20,000 transactions and will fall into Level 4. The standard consists of 12 requirements that cover a broad range of security issues, from network protection to access controls to creating an information security policy.

1. Install and maintain a firewall configuration to protect cardholder data.
   
2. Do not use vendor-supplied defaults for system passwords and other security parameters.
   
3. Protect stored cardholder data.
   
4. Encrypt transmission of cardholder data across open, public networks.
   
5. Use and regularly update antivirus software.
   
6. Develop and maintain secure systems and applications.
   
7. Restrict access to cardholder data by business need-to-know.
   
8. Assign a unique ID to each person with computer access.
   
9. Restrict physical access to cardholder data.
   
10. Track and monitor all access to network resources and cardholder data.
    
11. Regularly test security systems and processes.
    
12. Maintain a policy that addresses information security.

Sounds like quite a change -- but don't be worried. There is an alternative that you can consider:

"The simplest and cheapest way to get compliant with PCI is to not have the data," said David Taylor, Vice President of Data Security Strategies at Protegrity, which provides data security products and consulting to Fortune 2000 clients.

Learn more here:
http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/webbuilding/page6432.cfm

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Hey, grant writers -- new Web site provides data on Texas economy

The Dallas Business Journal reports that the State of Texas has launched a new Web site to assist with economic development:

"A newly launched Web site aims to connect businesses, local governments and economic development officials with data and resources for expanding economic opportunity in Texas.
The site, operated through the Texas Comptrollers Office... offers a variety of economic data and analysis including snapshots of key Texas industries and economic sectors, detailed explanations of tools available to assist local governments in economic development initiatives and rankings of where Texas falls in comparison to other states in key arenas.

Read more here.

Or, just visit the site at :
www.TexasAhead.org

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Chronicle hosts Live Discussions on Charity Marketing with Seth Godin

I received the email below from Peter Panepento of The Chronicle of Philanthropy about their upcoming event with Seth Godin. I encourage you to check out the links ... Peter is "one of the good ones," as they say:

I wanted to let you know about a live online discussion we’re having on philanthropy.com next Tuesday at noon Eastern time with Seth Godin. He’s agreed to take questions from our readers for an hour about marketing for nonprofit groups.

You can find out more here:
http://www.philanthropy.com/live/2008/05/marketing/

Along the same lines, we had a great discussion on the site today about appealing to women donors — and what charities can do to better communicate with women.

You can find that here:
http://www.philanthropy.com/live/2008/05/witter/

We are increasingly offering great information about fund raising through these discussions and I wanted to make sure you and your readers know about them.

Thanks for the heads up, Peter. I also enjoyed your blog, Global Erie:
http://www.globalerie.com/blog/

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Addictomatic: Inhale the Web

Addictomatic is possibly the most addictive Web site since Free Rice.

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I love YouSendIt.com (Sending large files for free)

I first discovered YouSendIt.com while I was completing my MBA at UTD, and have been addicted ever since. This is not only the fastest way that I know to send large files over the Internet, but it's free.

What's not to love?

Check it out here:
http://www.yousendit.com/

No, I am not paid to say this. But if you're with YouSendIt, I will gladly accept gifts.

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