Let's face it: finding good volunteers is tough. A good volunteer can be a priceless addition to the team, but the process of matching the expertise and timing needs of the project to the skills and availabilities of potential volunteers can take time and resources away from your organization. This month's Net2 Think Tank is exploring ways that organizations can use the internet to make finding volunteers more efficient and effective. Share your tools, tactics, and best practices with the NetSquared Community!

Topic:

For this month's Net2 Think Tank, we asked you about your strategies and case studies for "Going Digital". We are hoping to understand how organizations are moving content that was once designed for offline purposes to an online environment. This round-up shares several case studies and provides tips and lessons learned for digitizing your content.

While this month's Net2 Think Tank is now closed, you're always welcome to add your feedback on the subject. Feel free to add your ideas in the comments section at the bottom of this page.

New organizations build their services and strategy to fit into the existing paradigm of the technology that is available today and the innovations that are expected to happen in the future. But, many enterprises and organizations have existed since long before mobile and web technologies were ever envisioned. How are you updating your previously off-line services to be available online? 

Regular contributors, please note that we've broadened the ways that you can contribute, so be sure to re-read the "How to contribute" section below!

For this month's Net2 Think Tank, we asked you to share your thoughts and best practices for reaching a particular age group online. We are hoping to understand what tools or practices appeal to different age groups and how organizations can best target their online efforts to those audiences. This round-up is a summary of the responses we received from the community and it will hopefully serve to help you re-think the ways that you're targeting your limited audience.

In the early years of social networking, people thought it was just for kids. As the field has matured, however, that notion has changed and many sites have successfully targeted themselves towards particular age or demographic groups. From mommy blogging to the new AARP community, age segmentation can create a new level of participation, functionality, transparency, and interest. This month's Net2 Think Tank asks you to share your thoughts and best practices for using social media with or for a particular age group.

For this month's Net2 Think Tank, we asked you for your tips, tools, and suggestions for communicating online within a team. Many organizations have found ways to work seamlessly across the hall or across an ocean using online tools to facilitate their internal communication, but finding the right tools for your team takes effort. This round-up aims to help you to jump-start your creative juices and re-think the way you look at internal communications.

My name is Barb Shaughnessy and I'm a TechSoup Global employee working in San Francisco supporting the product donation program.  I noticed in the recent NetSquared newsletter a Net2 Think Tank blogging event regarding online tools for internal communications.  It just so happens that I used a great online tool last week for an internal communication here at TechSoup.  The tool is called GoldMail, which allows for the creation of audio slideshows delivered via email.  I created a GoldMail to announce internally the expansion of the TechSoup GoldMail product donation progr

Feeding America is a network of over 200 food banks across the country. These food banks are there own 501(c)3 organizations and have their own boards. To coordinate efforts both nationally and locally, we have to use online tools and social media to coordinate our efforts.

We have a team in our communication department devoted to internal communications. The primary web portal is our extranet for our members, HungerNet.

External communication practices have been transformed by the growth of the internet and in particular blogging, micro blogging, and other services like Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube. These online tools have created tremendious opportunities for people, organizations and companies to make information available to a world-wide audience, but what have they done to transform efforts to communicate within teams?

Share examples of how your group, organization, or company is using online tools to communicate internally!

Over the years my family and I have worked together to help my Grandmother get wired. She now uses Google Search, reads her news online, sends and receives email, and even uses Facebook to check-in with family and friends. Using the internet isn't a new concept to my Grandmother, though it's not really something she finds very intuitive either. That said, she understands the power of these tools, and relishes the opportunity to learn more.

My Grandmother also has a whole network of friends who are at various stages of computer use/online adoption. Recently, she asked me if I could share any resources for her and her friends to be able to network, learn and socialize on the internet.