Computer Support Blog

Social networking has become any individual’s or business’s most effective means of exposure to potential friends, customers, and clients.  For a non-profit organization, informing people of the need for support and why it is necessary is vital, so it is no surprise that non-profits would want to be involved in social networking.  Beyond simply having a page on social media, LesAssos is a social network designed specifically for non-profit organizations (NPOs).  It creates a community especially for those who want to raise awareness of their mission and the people looking to support a cause they believe in while providing additional support from like-minded groups and individuals.  It serves as an exclusive social network for not only NPOs, but for any non-governmental organization (NGO) and its members, business professionals, suppliers, and journalists. Read more »

Even with everything Facebook has to offer, some organizations continue struggling to engage with supporters in meaningful ways using the actions it provides like the ability to like, share or comment on something.  Nonprofits still worry about the real cost and benefit of Facebook as a platform for reaching supporters and deepening engagement with them over time.  ActionSprout is an app that helps organizations unlock their Facebook fans with actions that move beyond “like,” “share,” and “comment” to give dozens of relevant social actions to engage supporters with directly on their own Facebook pages.  More engagement costs more money, and the Facebook is gradually reducing the number of fans receiving updates in their news feeds.  Still, it can make a major impact on an organization’s ability to build productive relationships with supporters.  Even the relatively recent “Promote” function provides nonprofits and campaigns with a new tool for engaging its strongest supporters. Read more »

One would imagine that fundraising with the Internet would make the process simple and efficient, but for many nonprofits, that simply isn’t the case.  Many fundraising platforms, whether they be locally accessed software or cloud-based services, make things unnecessarily difficult for nonprofits.  Some platforms force donors to redirect to another site before they can input their information to donate.  Others have very rigid rules for the types of fundraising they can support, and a significant number of services take percentages of the donations that their platform processes.  Cool person in technology Roderick Campbell founded CommitChange to be a fundraising technology that actually does make the process more efficient and simpler for nonprofits.  Read more »

Fundraising is a major concern for anyone running a nonprofit, school or community organization.  Large networks of regular donors are essential to keeping any of these organizations both alive and accomplishing goals that are part of their stated missions.  However, fundraising is also a complex and draining process.  Building a network, maintaining contacts, hosting events and converting new donors are all difficult tasks.  Even more problematic for many of these organizations, they are not selling a product or service that directly benefits the people paying them and therefore, converting people into donors becomes far more difficult.  Fortunately, there is a cool product called Kimbia that provides a web platform that nonprofits, schools and other fundraisers can use to both manage and optimize their efforts.  Read more »

Social good programs and nonprofit organizations often don’t have the same monetary resources as large businesses, but they still need skilled professionals in accounting, healthcare, finance, law and many other practices to help them accomplish their goals.  Fortunately, there are thousands of talented professionals who are willing to volunteer their services for good causes.  The problem for many nonprofits, however, is finding the professionals with the right skillset for the positions they need.  Enter Rachel Chong, who is both a cool person in technology and the CEO of Catchafire.  Chong founded Catchafire to be an online service specifically dedicated to matching up skilled volunteers with organizations that need their help. Read more »

Even when someone is generally a charitable person, life can be chaotic and prevent that person from donating to charitable causes very often.  Some charities offer donation plans where people pay on a monthly basis in the style of something like a computer tech support subscription.  However, these subscription plans are hard to market without a product and can flounder when trying to gain traction.  Cool person in technology John Ludlow presents a unique solution to this problem with his startup Snoball.  Snoball allows people to donate automatically on a regular basis, but uses a unique hook to draw more people to its program.  With Ludlow’s company, donations to charitable organizations trigger when a particular event that a donor chooses happens.  For example, a nonprofit could use Snoball to create a system where every a certain basketball team wins a game, people donate ten dollars to a special cause or foundation.  Read more »