Microsoft Corp.

Widgets are dynamic and interactive online tools that can help nonprofits reach supporters and donors where they are — online. And now, thanks to online widget builder Sprout, nonprofits don’t need computer geniuses on staff to create them. Sprout is an easy way for anyone to build, publish and manage widgets, said Peter Deitz, a microphilanthropy consultant and founder of Social Actions, which helps individuals, nonprofits and foundations use social media to plan, implement and support peer-to-peer, social-change campaigns. It’s simple because once widgets are launched, a nonprofit can update all of them from a single control panel and track where they appear

The assignment seemed simple enough. Find out about “open sources” and write about them for our July issue. I knew they had something to do with technology, but that’s about it. I was concerned because when it comes to me and technology, let’s just say I have issues. And, when it comes to nonprofit technology issues, many of you might be in the same boat, so I suppose I seemed the perfect choice to write this story. I use the Internet to shop, e-mail, do research, read the latest news and feed my insatiable appetite for celebrity gossip. That’s it. No MySpace

[Chris Carnie is founder of Factary, Europe’s only consultancy focused on strategic funders — major donors, foundations, companies and government. It operates from bases in Spain, Belgium and the U.K. At the 27th International Fundraising Congress, which took place in the Netherlands last week, Chris and colleague Martine Godefroid presented a session titled Major Donors — The Personal View. Here, he presents a synopsis of that session.] It’s hard to start a major-donor program if you don’t know what a major donor looks like. That’s why we invited a philanthropist and an advisor to philanthropic families to give us their personal views at last

Editor’s note: This is the third in a quarterly series of stories we’re calling “The Leadership Series,” where leaders in the fundraising sector speak to big-picture issues fundraisers need to think about, over and above the day-to-day details of their jobs.

Editor’s note: This is the third in a quarterly series of stories we’re calling “The Leadership Series,” where leaders in the fundraising sector speak to big-picture issues fundraisers need to think about, over and above the day-to-day details of their jobs.

Spam filters are a definite improvement in the world of cyber communications. But, face it, it’s annoying and potentially costly to have legitimate e-communications trapped in overzealous filters.

There’s a solution: RSS, or Really Simple Syndication. And, yes, it really is simple. Nonetheless, while some nonprofit organizations have been using RSS as an alternative to e-mail for some time now, others have hung back, unconvinced that a significant percentage of Web users actually are using RSS readers.

You might not be a swashbuckling outlaw with green tights and a band of merry men, but read the book “Robin Hood Marketing: Stealing Corporate Savvy to Sell Just Causes,” and you’ll feel like the lord of Loxley pilfering precious gold from Prince John and the sheriff of Nottingham.

In order to help organizational leaders who might be unfamiliar with marketing principles, author Katya Andresen, vice president of marketing at charitable-giving site Network for Good, shares her own successes with stealing corporate know-how and applying it to good causes in the nonprofit world.

How to Write Passionate Letters Sept. 27, 2005 By Jerry Huntsinger Passion is contagious. A donor will not catch your passion unless your letter is passionate. And your letter won't be passionate unless you're passionate. You can't fake it. You either feel it, or you don't. So if you've been sitting behind your desk for three hours, functioning like a talking head, with the cool, detached logic of a consummate executive, don't expect to just click on Microsoft Word and start writing passionately. No way. Instead, take your project file with you, and go for a walk. Read it with the fresh

He was an extremely gifted and articulate communicator, a man of passion who, when he was finished with his speech, left you wishing he wasn’t.

So when I drafted an emergency fundraising letter for his organization, I used his words, his phrases, his syntax, his simplicity, his stories. And the letter turned out, I thought, really, really good. It captured both his personality and the mission of the organization.

Information technology can be a very expensive endeavour. Nonprofit organizations often seek donations or grants in order to obtain the technology products and services that are increasingly becoming mandatory components of their operation. As with most things, though, the devil is in the details. Most people don’t realize that modern commercial software is rarely “sold” in the conventional sense, but rather “licensed”. Microsoft explains that this “is different than purchasing a car or house in that you have the right to run the software but there are ongoing requirements that determine how the software can be used.” The requirements of