I'm here in Odorheiu Secuiesc, Romania, for The Local Philanthropy Workshop run by the OdorheiuSecuiesc Community Foundation and TechSoup Romania. This three-and-a-half day event will really kick off tomorrow morning and lead well into the weekend, bringing together NGO and IT participants to work together, share needs and expertise, and build capacity to move Romania and our communities further towards the civil society and engaged philanthropy environment we all want. There will be plenty of conversations, workshops, and learning opportunities here at the conference facility, but our goal is to share out throughout the event so you can join the conversation!

About The Local Philanthropy Workshop

The workshop will bring together a small group of NGO leaders and IT&C specialists actively engaged and committed to helping NGOs leverage technologies towards their mission-based activities.

The focus of the sessions are two-fold. The first focus will be a hands-on educational component focused on providing resources and tools while focusing on learning systems and methods that work in the Romanian context to build your base of local donors. This session of the workshop is appropriate for NGO leaders interested in learning more about emerging practices, tools and applications of appropriate web-based and offline tools for social change as you seek to build local philanthropy.

The second component of the event focuses on "Practice" via peer-to-peer learning. Organized by TechSoup, the "Practice" sessions bring together a small group of IT&C specialists who will work closely with participating NGO leaders to address issues and opportunities through the lens of appropriate technology.

Our vision is for all participants to walk away from the event with new contacts and collaborators, as well as a set of tools and methodologies you may apply and a clear path to further developing new approaches and technologies at home.

Exploring Civil Society, NGOs and the IT sector

The conference, whether it is in the NGO or IT track or even in join sessions, will start exploring the state of civil society in Romania; those conversations will answer questions like:

• Where are we now? What is philanthropy like today?
• Where do we want to go? On a scale of 1-10 for engaged civil society, what does 10 look like?
• What are the messages and platforms we need to use to engage and connect with citizens and other organizations?
• What are the next steps for our work to start moving towards our goals? How do we get to that 10?
• What tools and strategies can help us now and going forward?

Join the Conversation

Interested in sharing your ideas? Whether you are here in person at the event or following along online, you can share your ideas, stories, and projects working on civil society engagement in various ways:

• Post on the NetSquared Community Blog: register/log in to the site, and click on "Post to your blog" in the upper right of the window
• Share on Twitter: if you want to follow the tweets or add to the conversation, use the hashtag #tsgro
• Share other media: whether it's a photo, video, or bookmarks on delicious, use the hashtag #tsgro

If you are a conference participant and ready to share on the blog, follow these simple steps to getting set up and sharing on the NetSquared site.

If you have any questions about The Local Philanthropy Workshop or TechSoup Romania, let us know by emailing: office @ szka.org