Random Interactions and Connections

Today's blog entry is a random collection of worthwhile and useful links. Enjoy!

NTEN's Donor Management Software Survey
Cast your vote. Take the time. Speak your mind. NTEN is now doing a survey of Donor Management Software that I really hope you'll spend a couple of minutes to complete. The feedback benefits the entire nonprofit community. Past NTEN surveys about CMSs and CRMs are also useful sources of comparative information. Blackbaud scored very well in those surveys.

The Baudcast – Episode 15
This episode cover disaster fundraising, Beth Kanter's Gnomedex experiment, real-time social fundraising, people to people fundraising, non-numeric web analytics, social actions widget, Google Grants, and more. The panel discussion includes Chad Norman (Internet Marketing Manager), Allison Van Diest (Blackbaud Interactive Marketing Manager), Melissa Dodge (Public Relations and Media Coordinator), and myself.

Introducing the Blackbaud Payment Service
Have you heard of PCI DSS? Has your technology vendor? If you handle credit cards, either online or offline, then you need to understand what PCI DSS compliance means to you and your organization. Learn more at Blackbaud's PCI FAQ or blog. From October of 2008, any organization that requires a new merchant ID from the credit card companies must be PCI DSS compliant. In October of 2009, all organizations must be PCI DSS compliant to process credit cards.

Accessibility and Blackbaud NetCommunity
BBNC v5.5 had some significant and important improvements on the accessibility front. There's a new article on Blackbaud Labs that explains how to build an accessible UL-based menu and the sample code to do it. Keen observers will also notice that the website is running a prototype of article building functionality, including tagging, within BBNC.

Listening to the Nonprofit Tech Social Media Stream
Beth Kanter has posted a great list of links, listings, and listening posts for people to get in tune with the nonprofit tech space. So many nonprofits always ask me what to read / listen / follow and she's put together some very helpful resources here. This is a good place to start.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Steve MacLaughlin

Steve MacLaughlin is the Vice President of Data & Analytics at Blackbaud and bestselling author of Data Driven Nonprofits.

MacLaughlin has been featured as a fundraising and nonprofit expert in many mainstream publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, USA Today, The NonProfit Times, Bloomberg, and has appeared on NPR.

He is a frequent speaker at events including the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP), American Marketing Association (AMA), Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), Direct Marketing Fundraisers Association (DMFA), Giving Institute Summer Symposium, National Association of Independent School (NAIS), Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN), Institute of Fundraising National Convention, Civil Society Conference, Resource Alliance’s Fundraising Online, and a keynote speaker at such events as the Crescendo Practical Planned Giving Conference.

Steve serves on the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN) Board of Directors and supports its focus on both the growth and professionalism of the nonprofit technology field as well as building knowledge and information sharing capacity throughout the sector.

He is a frequent blogger, published author of a chapter in the book People to People Fundraising: Social Networking and Web 2.0 for Charities, and is a co-editor of the book Internet Management for Nonprofits: Strategies, Tools & Trade Secrets. His latest book, Data Driven Nonprofits, became a bestseller in 2016.

Steve earned both his undergraduate degree and a Master of Science degree in Interactive Media from Indiana University.