What do a surprised chipmunk, “I like Turtles” and Harry Potter have in common? They are all memes—bits of culture that are shared within societies. The internet has exponentially boosted the appearance and spread of memes. While it may be bewildering at first, the popularity of some internet memes can be tapped to help spread the messages of social-benefit organizations.

Please join us for the 2011 Nonprofit Marketing Conference in DC, July 11-13.
The line-up is amazing, the presenters an incredible mix of nonprofit marketing experts.

Here are a few of the tech-related highlights:

Microblogs like Twitter are a great vehicle to help organize political demonstrations in countries run by corrupt governments (and an effective way to spread misinformation), but how can nonprofit organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), libraries, government programs, and other mission-based organizations really use microblogs to promote their work, increase attendance at an event, get donations or mobilize or support volunteers?

I am a nonprofit communications consultant and I blog at BeckyBlab.com. I have a passion for network weaving and helping people/organizations to communicate better.  

Today is the final day of community voting for the 2010 FACT Social Justice Challenge. We need your support so please come VOTE. Let us start by saying a huge thank you to all the people who have already voted for the 60 seconds of Hope campaign, your support has been fantastic. 

VOTING requires a couple of minutes of your time. We wish it was easier, so here are some short directions to help make it as quick as possible:

1. Follow our link - Click VOTE and be redirected to another window where you will need to quickly register.

Voting is still open for the 2010 FACT Social Justice Challenge and Tole-rants Connect needs your help. Please spare a few moments and VOTE for 60 seconds of Hope.

The Tole-rants movement has garnered tremendous support in its inaugural year from partners such as The Council of Europe, The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, Search for Common Ground, Odyssey Networks, Youth Leader Magazine, and many other inspirational organizations.

Voting is now open for the 2010 FACT Social Justice Challenge and Tole-rants Connect needs YOUR help.

Community voting is open from the 11th October – 15th October. This is where you come in. We need your support and your vote to ensure that we have the best chance of being 1 of 15 featured projects selected for the expert judging round and the chance of receiving critical support to fund this important initiative.

Voting only takes a minute. So please come and vote for us at Tole-rants Connect Spread the word to friends, family, work colleagues, and anyone with a passion for “Communicating Solutions” via twitter, facebook, word of mouth, whatever you can think of.

The International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR-Net) is currently looking to partner with a consultant in the area of new technologies and advancing communications for the Network. ESCR-Net is the largest network of groups and individuals from around the world working to secure economic and social justice through human rights. Please help us circulate to anyone who may be interested in taking on some pro bono work in this area.  You can view the announcement and full job description on the ESCR-Net website here: http://www.escr-net.org/about/about_show.htm?doc_id=1256687

Nancy Schwartz, president of Nancy Schwartz & Company and blogger at Getting Attention, has just finished analyzing data from a nonprofit marketing survey of more than 900 nonprofit leaders, revealing that they are doing a poor job connecting with their audience and community.  Nancy explains:

I like Skype.  Say it with me..."I like Skype."  Now, I don't want to seem too much a pusher of Skype, but I have to say, I'm impressed with this business model (along with Netflix, they're the best 21st century biz models I've experienced.)  

Skype takes telephony and translates it into the digital future.  Start thinking of your computer as a telephone, is how I could best describe it - a very cheap telephone.  And they have business packages, which is why I'm throwing it in our Toolshed.  Mostly likely your office has one computer, quite possibly several.  With Skype you can make FREE computer-to-computer audio and video calls - and the quality is super sweet (I use it constantly for personal and business use on a Dell Inspiron 1525.)