The incredible proliferation of technology tools, tactics and strategies makes it hard for small teams to stay up to date and fluent in all competencies. Yet, nonprofits consistently list technology as one area that is essential for achieving their missions. One possible solution to this challenge is pro bono and volunteer consulting for IT.

For this month's Net2 Think Tank, we asked you to share your tools, tactics, and best practices for promoting your volunteer opportunities online. There are many tools and resources available - so finding the ones that work best for your audience, and finding the ways that you can use them effectively can be a task. Below is a list of networks, tools, and best practices that will help steer you in the right direction.  

I have recently been learning another language and when I explained what I do, the need for the word 'volunteer' came up fast. 'What's the word for someone who works without pay?' I asked.

'A slave.' said my teacher.

Ah, yes. You know non-profit slaves! People with smarts and ethics and education who you stuck photocopying pages for an hour. Or markering a poster. Those slaves, the ones that don't come back after your first slave meeting.

Idealist.org, the same place you've listed or looked for jobs and resources in the nonprofit sector, has just launched its Pro Bono Design services in partnership with the Art Directors Club!

Do you need a poster or a new brocher in your organization?  Maybe a new website re-design or a video?  Well, now Idealist can help connect you to designers that can help you produce these and other projects, for free!

How does it work?

Scott Stadum, User Experience Analyst from Idealist.org talks to us about the importance of data portability and shares his vision of a perfectly optimized online network of volunteers.

Last week, I wrote about a request I got from Idealist.org to help them prepare a "How to Wiki" guide - to help hosts who are organizing groups around the world, in support of their "Imagine a Better World" initiative (see Britt's interview with Ami Dar about this campaign here).

If you are reading this blog, there is a good chance that you are an idealist, and perhaps you would like to meet other idealists to work together to make the world a better place. I talked with Ami Dar, the Founder and Executive Director of Action Without Borders, the organization that maintains Idealist.org, about their Imagine a Better World campaign that is working to connect idealists all over the world. Ami shares his reflections a week or so after the first Imagine a Better meetings that happened all over the world February 5-11, 2007.

I got the note below from Joanna Eng of Idealist.org. I have until Friday 3/2, to answer their questions. Between two jobs and my volunteer work, this is going to be quite a challenge, so if y’all can help by posting your suggestions in reply to this post, bonus karma points for you. Thanks; Leo

Subject: Idealist.org Start-up Meetings and your use of the wiki

Dear Leo, Thanks for taking the initiative to set up the wiki for your start-up meeting! We admire your effective use of online tools to enhance the start-up meeting for all of the participants. Would you like to help us make it easier for other meeting hosts to do the same? We are planning to provide a series of "How To" guides on Idealist for start-up meeting hosts, including "How To Use a Wiki for Your Start-Up Meeting." Drawing from your experience, you can help us create this guide!
Here are some things you can do to help:

We did our Idealist.org startup meeting on Sunday. People asked me how I thought it went, and I couldn’t really tell, since I was bouncing around so much. But going by the feedback that’s trickling in, I guess it went okay. And now for the hard part: how do we keep this new community going?

Introduced to Net Squared by Leo  Romero Idealist.org (Silicon Valley) Startup meeting.

 Openned up an account for DisabledCommunity.Org Project.

Not real clear what I am getting into because documentation on Net Squared pages are not real clear.

 It might be a good idea to have them list other non profits that have projects listed on their site from their main page, so that others interested in learning about NetSquared can quickly look to see what others are creating.

 

I will hold off on giving suggestions until I learn more.