Over a hundred and twenty environmental and conservation organizations make up the North Carolina Conservation Network.  Heather Yandow, the Network's Director of Development and Communication's says that they see their internet presence as a key component of their ability to advocate publically for their concerns. Because of this, they have been willing to take the risk of employing numerous emerging web-based communication techniques on their site.

The Network's website was designed by Netcorps and built on the open-source Plone Content Management System. On each page, readers of the site are able to sign up for emailed Public Alerts. The site also features a blog, updated every workday. Working with internet strategist Matt Gross, they determined that the blog should in some sense offset the less accessible nature of their more technical publications, such as their legislative alerts. The blog entries often feature photgraphs, are not afraid of a little humor, and frequently focus on "lifestyle" aspects of environmental issues. Despite the fact that they manage to post every day, Heather reports that the blog consumes on the average only 30 minutes of staff time per day. An RSS feed is available for the blog as well. The blog is managed directly in Plone; Heather says that while she misses a lot of features many dedicated blogging tools provide, they appreciate the direct integration of the blog and their CMS.

The site also interfaces online advocacy and donations managed by GetActive. Visitors to the site can send letters to state representitives and other decision makers, and make a donation to the Network.

It's a lot of tools. But the organization has no dedicated IT staff. Several of the staff members are responsible for some specific area of the organization's technology.