The Best E-Newsletters for Grants and Nonprofit Leaders

Summary:

A ranked and annotated list of online announcement and discussion services for nonprofits prepared in September 2006.

Answer:

By Donald A. Griesmann, Esq. (NJ)
2 Galley Hill Lane
Fairport NY 14450
dgriesmann@aol.com
Don Griesmann’s Grant Opportunities http://charitychannel.com/enewsletters/dggo/

September 18, 2006

The following is a list of e-newsletters about funding opportunities and other material that can be valuable to nonprofit leaders. I have provided a ranking of the electronic and paper services that are available. The highest ranking is **** and the ranking indicates that it is aimed at giving you information about grants. The lowest ranking is * and these do not have information about grants but can be useful to certain readers. I have listed other e-newsletters and newspapers that may be of interest to you but not a great source of information about grants. Most of these services have copyrights so be certain to respect them.

I am very interested in hearing from you about other Internet resources of grant information including blogs, listservs, RS feeds and podcasts. Please feel free to let me know what you have found beneficial through an e-mail, address above. Thank you.

There are web sites that offer RSS (Really Simple News Syndication) format as well as e-mail notices. RSS is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication and Rich Site Summary. RSS is an XML-based format for content distribution. Webmasters create an RSS file containing headlines and descriptions of specific information. Consumers then use an RSS reader to collect and monitor their favorite feeds in one centralized program or location. I have listed and linked several of them here.

Compared to websites, RSS feeds have a few advantages for the user experience:

• Users can be notified of new content without having to actively check for it.
  
• The information presented to users in an aggregator is typically much simpler than most websites. This spares users the mental effort of navigating complex web pages, which can be a demanding, attention-focusing task when trying to accomplish other work.
  
• Media files can be automatically downloaded without user intervention.
  For more information and comments about the system see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(file_format)
  

For a great discussion on these new technology elements and foundations see Michael Gilbert’s article, Toward Network-Centric Philanthropy: Some Insights from the RSS Grants Survey http://news.gilbert.org/RSSGrantsSurvey2006

I have provided e-mail addresses or web sites where you can sign up for the material. All of these e-newsletters require an e-mail address. Some may ask for more information than that but sharing the information is voluntary. Always review the privacy section of a web site to which you will give any information. If you are not satisfied with the privacy statement, do not share information.

**** Don Griesmann’s Grant Opportunities - http://charitychannel.com/enewsletters/dggo/ – This is my e-mailing listing grants, some scholarships and other material in partnership with CharityChannel that may be of interest to nonprofit leaders. There is no fee at the web site. There is a fee from CharityChannel for the E-Newsletter, however. For the RSS feed see http://charitychannel.com/publish/rss.aspx?z=26.

**** Susan Kemp has a daily newsletter featuring grant announcements. Her aim is at New York groups since she is the Assistant Commissioner, Director of Grants Management, NYS Office of Children and Family Services but she also lists national and regional opportunities. Contact Susan.Kemp@ocfs.state.ny.us

**** Grant Spy has notices about foundations and some state grants, mostly California and Florida. The group has a fee-for-service daily mailing about grants that is substantial in the listings at the cost of $16.95 a month, http://www.grantspy.com/.

**** The Federal Register is available Monday through Friday with the Table of Contents which lists grants and many other notices. If you are not familiar with the Federal Register, it is the US Federal Government’s daily newspaper. It covers the announcements of Federal agency proposed and final regulations, meetings and hearings and much material of little or no interest to nonprofit organizations seeking money. It provides the immediate announcements of most Federal grants and any amendments to those announcements. Federal Departments such as Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Health and Human Services, Labor and others do provide the latest information generally in great detail. To subscribe free - http://listserv.access.gpo.gov/ - Click on Online mailing list archives, then click on FEDREGTOC-L and click on Join or leave the list (or change settings). Follow the instructions after reading all the way down the page. There are some Federal agencies that have announced they will no longer post funding notices through the Federal Register; they will list grant opportunities at FirstGov, tab for Businesses and Nonprofits - http://www.FirstGov.gov

NOTE 1: There are some federal agencies that announce all grant opportunities in one issue of the Federal Register, usually early in the fiscal year, October-November.

NOTE 2: There is a growing list of agencies that are no longer using the Federal Register. I find this disturbing since the other Federal mailings about grants are delayed. If Federal grant opportunities are important to you, I suggest strongly you add the other Federal-source e-newsletters to your inbox. See First.Gov and FedGrants, below.

****GrantStation Insider has a frequent e-newsletter with links to its web site where the information is stored. GrantStation has listings about conferences and training for nonprofit leaders and about foundation/corporate grants. The web site is http://www.grantstation.com/ where you can sign up to be a member or for the e-newsletter. A subscription costs $89 a year for a weekly notice. There are some grants listed at the web site. See immediately below.

****GrantStation Insider: This free weekly email newsletter provides the latest news and information about funding opportunities, upcoming proposal deadlines, conferences, and much more.This version is brought to you in partnership by Innovation Network with GrantStation - http://www.innonet.org/index.php?section_id=98&content_id=351

**** FirstGov has a list of electronic newsletters from Federal departments and agencies. There is a check off box to subscribe. When you subscribe there will be a follow-up letter to confirm that in fact you want the newsletter. Many of these electronic newsletters are about 7-10 days later than the Federal Register announcements. See http://www.firstgov.gov/Business/Nonprofit.shtml and

http://www.firstgov.gov/Contact/E-mail_subscriptions.html#business and

http://apps.gsa.gov/FirstGovCommonSubscriptionService.php

For the RSS feed see http://www.firstgov.gov/rss/index.shtml

**** CharityChannel has 14 e-newsletters covering nonprofit news, volunteer management, human resources, grants and foundations, boards, book reviews and much more. The grants and foundation newsletter will rarely give a lead for funding, but will address management and technical issues about seeking and maintaining grants. There is a fee for these e-newsletters: $18 for 6 months ($3 per month) or $24 for 1 year ($2 per month). http://charitychannel.com/newsletters/

**** The Institute for Youth Development is a non-partisan, non-profit organization that promotes a comprehensive message to youth in the U.S. and around the world to avoid five harmful risk behaviors that are inextricably linked: alcohol, drugs, sex, tobacco and violence. IYD is the largest grantee under the President's Compassion Capital Fund Program and makes sub-awards that range between $5,000 and $50,000 to nonprofit groups. The Compassion Capital Fund (CCF) e-Newsletter, provided free by the IYD, offers information on events of interest, non-federal funding opportunities, and resources and publications of interest to their clients; the e-newsletter is substantial. To subscribe or unsubscribe, e-mail lmontgomery@youthdevelopment.org. The web site is http://www.youthdevelopment.org/default.asp

**** Check in with CD Publications, publisher of the Federal Assistance Monitor (FAM), which has free e-mail on housing and community development, youth and children, grant seeking and fundraising, senior issues and business and legal issues. A year’s subscription is $419.00 for the FAM. The price is a bit steep, but this is an excellent publication because of the notices and the commentary. There are other newsletters with particular niches at less cost. http://www.cdpublications.com/shop/catalog/default.php

***The Funding Information Center’s mission is to provide funding information, education and other resources nonprofit organizations need to succeed. This organization from Texas has periodic newsletters that include some funding opportunities. http://www.fic-ftw.org/

*** The National Resource Center publishes a free, twice-a-month e-newsletter for faith- and community-based social service initiatives. Their objective is to provide practical information to help these organizations successfully address pressing social challenges. They have a list of grant notices, usually limited to announcements from the Federal Register and from Federal agencies. http://www.industrymailout.net/Industry/Custom/dmt/Subscribe.aspx?m=700

*** Grantseeker Tips is a free, bi-weekly electronic newsletter that helps you inspire, sustain, and trouble-shoot your grantseeking and fundraising activities. To subscribe, send a blank message to Lynn.Miner@Marquette.edu with JOIN GRANTSEEKERTIPS in the subject line.

*** Kim Klein is a master in the area of fundraising. There are over 100 articles at her web site. She has an e-newsletter that you can access through the Grassroots Fundraising Journal. There are e-newsletters for a subscription price and one that is free. See http://www.grassrootsfundraising.org/howto/enews.html and http://www.grassrootsfundraising.org/magazine/subscriptions.html

*** The Foundation Center has several e-mail subscriptions available: the RFP Bulletin, Job Corner Alert, and News from The Foundation Center, News from the New York Library (or other Center libraries). The RFP Bulletin is not the most useful newsletter about foundation grants. It features mostly major funders, announcements about major grants to the big nonprofits and achievement awards, but still should be on the list. There are periodic gems. Subscribe to one or all at http://foundationcenter.org/newsletters/. There are other specific funding watch e-newsletters available to registered users. Look to the right side of the page.

***Grant Wrangler™ is a free grants listing service with a monthly e-mail offered by Nimble Press™. They make it easier for teachers to find funding, and they help grant-giving organizations more effectively promote their grants and awards to teachers and schools across America. http://www.grantwrangler.com/

** I suggest reviewing Abe's E-mail Reports but I have downgraded it to two stars. The quality has decreased the past year and the price has increased. Abe no longer prepares it. It is now a product of Capital City Publisher. Abe's costs $200.00 a year. Be forewarned that “Abe” is indiscriminate in what “he” sends out. It can range from saving an endangered species to fighting AIDS in Africa to corrections to former notices. “He” may include US Federal funds you may be looking for. The notices are links to the Federal Register usually from the previous day. Abe’s also has notices from some private and corporate foundations frequently with deadlines. Subscribe at http://capitolcitypublishers.com/abes/

** TechFoundation publishes a monthly newsletter TechGrants Newsletterthat reviews current grant programs and new ideas on fundraising for technology at nonprofits. The e-newsletter is free and available to all nonprofits.To subscribe from the home page, click on TechGrants on the Home page. http://www.techfoundation.org/
http://www.techfoundation.org/index.cfm?objectID=7EFC1CF4-BAAD-F6D3-25763D4CF2C2DC4B&navid=EFBE9665-9DFE-6568-F10C0E8D3189A0C8

** National Institutes of Health Office of Extramural Research LISTSERV, a weekly NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts, features research grants, contracts, PAs, RFAs, program announcements and other notices. The web site has links to the archives for back issues. http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/index.html

** The US Department of Education (ED) has an e-mailing with grant opportunities. This mailing is about 7-10 days after the opportunities appear in the Federal Register. To subscribe to EDInfo, follow the instructions at http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/edinfo/index.html?src=ln Additional information about ED funding opportunities including discretionary grant application packages can be found at - http://www.ed.gov/fund/landing.jhtml?src=el

** A number of US Federal Agencies and Departments have e-mail newsletters that are weekly, monthly or quarterly. There are press releases. They have grant notices as well as other information about the agency/department. You may find one or more agencies that interest you. Click on the link and follow the leads to see if there is an electronic newsletter that is associated with your mission. There are usually archives so you can review previous letters for an assessment. For a list of Federal agencies and their press releases see http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/call/pressreleases.htm.

** The PreventioNews Mailing List is maintained by the National Prevention Information Network (NPIN), part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention. Regular postings include the Prevention News Update, conference announcements, funding opportunities, select articles from the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report series, and announcements about new NPIN products and services. The funding information has been added to the CDC NPIN Funding Database,http://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/subscribe.asp.

** Nonprofit from Rain.org is a listserv for nonprofit leaders and for folks totally new to the nonprofit world. This is an unmoderated listserv. There can be a few e-mails that come through that need to be deleted. There are new attempts to reduce the obvious nonsense. It is a very useful place for discussion and to receive and give help. http://www.rain.org/mailman/listinfo/nonprofit

** Child Trends collects and analyzes data; conducts, synthesizes, and disseminates research, design and evaluates programs. The group develops and tests promising approaches to research in the field. Child Trends is committed to sharing the results of its research and analysis with those who set policy, provide services, fund programs, launch studies, and shape opinions related to children and their families. To subscribe to their free e-newsletter visit see the left-hand side - http://www.childtrends.org/

** Mathematica, a nonpartisan research firm, conducts policy research and surveys for Federal and state governments, foundations, and private-sector clients. Its mission is to improve public well-being by bringing the highest standards of quality, objectivity, and excellence to bear on the provision of information collection and analysis to their clients. They can provide material and data to support an application. You can sign up for Mathematica Update e-newsletter at
http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/publications/email.asp

** Gifts-in-Kind is driven by a mission of providing an effective conduit for the donation of products, goods and services from the private sector to the charitable sector. There is a weekly e-mailing with latest products available. There is an annual registration fee to access the gifts. Since Gifts In Kind is also a nonprofit, this fee covers their costs for processing your application and communicating to your organization.There will also be administrative fees for shipment and handling of donated products. Donated products are free, but it costs Gifts In Kind to get the donation to you. To help absorb some of these expenses, there is an administrative fee. The fees are so low that sometimes it is less than one percent of the fair market value of the item. Please note that every time you order a product you pay the administrative fee. The web site has been upgraded and ordering can now be performed online. Your local United Way may help you here even if you are not a United Way-funded member. http://www.giftsinkind.org/default.asp and http://www.giftsinkind.org/newhome/registered_charity.asp

* Foundation News & Commentary is produced by the Council of Foundations. It costs $60.00 a year for a subscription. This is a membership organization that provides insight and analysis about foundations and trends in charitable giving. You can subscribe at the web site, http://www.foundationnews.org/ . There is a free e-newsletter, FN&C Now, available at http://www.foundationnews.org/now/

* The Nonprofit Times is a free newspaper for nonprofit agency executives eligible to receive it. It has many articles about the business of nonprofit organizations. Sign up at http://www.nptimes.com/main/subscribe.html and see if you are eligible.

* You can subscribe to the Donordigital online information about fundraising, membership development, marketing, advocacy and other topics at. http://www.donordigital.com/

* There is a free e-newsletter from Fund$Raiser available about fundraising for small groups at http://www.fundsraiser.com/sub.html

* Mal Warwick is a leader in using the direct mail and the Internet for fundraising. This is a commercial site but the free material is abundant. He offers a free e-mail service at http://ga1.org/malwarwick/join.html

Other Newsletters for Nonprofit Leaders
Alliance for Justice is a national association of environmental, civil rights, mental health, women's, children's and consumer advocacy organizations. Since its inception in 1979, the Alliance has worked to advance the cause of justice for all Americans, strengthen the public interest community's ability to influence public policy, and foster the next generation of advocates. They have several e-mail subscriptionsrelated to theirefforts to ensure a fair and independent federal judiciary and their work to strengthen the public interest communities' ability to inform and influence public policy debates. There are two that may have the greatest interest to most nonprofit leaders:

* Non-Profit Advocacy Network (NPAN): Periodic e-mails regarding policy changes affecting nonprofit advocacy, legislative action alerts, and announcements of new publications or workshops.
* Foundation Advocacy E-bulletin: Bi-monthly e-newsletter brings grantmakers up-to-date on issues affecting foundation support for advocacy.
http://ga1.org/afj/join.html?r=M1xNLtY1Ia2SE

One useful e-newsletter is from the IRS: IRS Exempt Organizations Update – a periodic newsletter with information for tax-exempt organizations and tax practitioners who represent them.
http://www.irs.gov/charities/page/0,,id=130596,00.html

Changing Our World Inc. is a philanthropic services company with headquarters in New York, and offices in Boston and Washington. Its Internet arm, onPhilanthropy.com, is a global resource for nonprofit and philanthropy professionals. See the list of newsletters on the right. They produce a free e-mail service which features excellent short articles on funding issues, http://www.onphilanthropy.com/site/PageServer For an RSS feed see http://feeds.feedburner.com//NewsOnphilanthropy

PNN Alert can be requested at http://pnnonline.org/newsalerts.php; click on News Alerts. As with many excellent sites, the Philanthropy News Network Online will certify by e-mail that you in fact want to be on the subscription list. A newspaper is also available.

Michael Gilbert and the Gilbert Center have a periodic newsletter about nonprofit happenings mostly in California, Nonprofit Online News. You can subscribe for the e-newsletter or RSS feed at http://news.gilbert.org/about.

Leader to Leader (formerly the Drucker Foundation) has a weekly e-newsletter with the innovation of the week. See http://www.pfdf.org/ and add your e-mail address through the link at the bottom right. There are also excellent articles on the site; it is worth your time.
Board Café is the electronic newsletter exclusively for members of nonprofit boards of directors. Short enough to read over a cup of coffee, Board Café offers a menu of ideas, information, opinion, news, and resources to help board members give and get the most out of board service. There are over 70 great issues in the archive! To start receiving your Board Cafe newsletter every month via email, simply send a blank email to boardcafe-subscribe@lists.compasspoint.org. After subscribing you will receive a confirmation email message.

Transforming Evaluation is Innovation Network's quarterly newsletter that features timely articles, fresh perspectives, profiles of relevant tools and resources, and practical tips to help organizations engage in meaningful evaluation. http://www.innonet.org/

Jon Harrison of Michigan State University has an extensive list of newsletters at http://www.lib.msu.edu/harris23/grants/percat2.htm and http://www.lib.msu.edu/harris23/grants. Please be aware that some of these newsletters may not be free, some sites may have dried up and some require an initial e-mail rather than reaching a web site.

Visit the newsletter registration page to sign up for TechSoup...By the Cup. They also have an RSS feed. http://www.techsoup.org/tools/newsletters/btc_archive.cfm You will receive these every Tuesday via email.

TechSoup Stock connects nonprofits with donated and discounted technology products. Choose from over 240 products from 25 providers including Cisco and Microsoft. Visit TechSoup Stock. TechSoup Stock is the technology product philanthropy service just for nonprofits. http://www.techsoup.org/stock/default.asp

OMB Watch is a nonprofit advocacy and research organization. They have a number of E-Newsletters about public policy and legislation affecting the nonprofit world. http://www.ombwatch.org/article/articleview/11

Fast Take is a weekly email newsletter, keeping you up-to-date on what Fast Company is up to -- online and offline. The newsletter offers Web-exclusive articles, event highlights, resources, and discussions about businesses. Fast Company has a number of business data bases, articles, guides and more. Useful reading generally as well as helpful in thinking about entrepreneurial activities and major gifts - http://www.fastcompany.com/ and http://www.fastcompany.com/newsletter/index.jsp

The National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth (NCWD/Youth) assists state and local workforce development systems to better serve youth with disabilities. The NCWD/Youth, created in late 2001, is composed of partners with expertise in disability, education, employment, and workforce development issues. Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), the NCWD/Youth is housed at the Institute for Educational Leadership. To subscribe to their newsletter check their Home Page - http://www.ncwd-youth.info/
Alliance has an extensive list of e-newsletters, magazines, journals and digests on international development and the nonprofit sector around the world which includes both print and electronic publications, categorized by region covered. Most but not all are published by nonprofits.
http://www.allavida.org/alliance/usefullinks.html#USA

The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to mobilize the nonprofit, public and private sectors of society in an alliance to end homelessness. Alliance Online News (ongoing) is a weekly email newsletter that provides information and links regarding new developments in federal programs and policy, various research and analysis publications, best practices in the field,
http://www.endhomelessness.org/pub/index.htm and http://www.endhomelessness.org/pub/onlinenews/index.htm

.ORG is the Internet home of noncommercial organizations, including nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations, philanthropies, charities, religious organizations, educational and cultural institutions, arts organizations, sports clubs, and others, who create .ORG Web sites and e-mail addresses. The Public Interest Registry (PIR) manages the .ORG top-level domain name and maintains the database of all .ORG Internet addresses. The World of .ORG is a quarterly e-newsletter with information and resources for the .ORG community and it is available in the Publications section.
http://www.pir.org/Default.aspx

A free e-mail service concerning advocacy is offered from the Internet Advocacy Newsletter. Send a blank e-mail message to subscribe@theadvocacygroup.net in order to be added to the mailing list.

There is useful information on using technology effectively through a subscription service from Dot Org. Send a blank e-mail message to dotorg-subscription@topica.com

The Nonprofit Quarterly maintains a free e-newsletter. The newsletter refers to the Quarterly which is a hard copy publication and which costs $39.00 a year. The site gives brief book reviews and reviews of other articles in the Quarterly. If you want to subscribe to the free newsletter or the Quarterly, visit http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/.

Energize, Inc. is an international training, consulting and publishing firm specializing in volunteerism. The firm has a monthly e-newsletter which features articles about volunteerism and “hot topics” and a “tip of the month” for nonprofit groups. This is a for-profit organization but the e-newsletter is free. To subscribe, go to the Home Page and sign up - http://www.energizeinc.com/ or http://energizeinc.com/forms/emaillists/signup.php.

Social Enterprise Alliance is a support network of connecting entrepreneurial nonprofits with learning opportunities, technical assistance and resources to further their efforts. The mission for the SEA is to build stronger, more effective nonprofit organizations by mobilizing a community of practitioners and investors to advance earned income strategies. The npEnterprise Forum, the official listserv of the Social Enterprise Alliance (http://www.se-alliance.org/) has discussions about practical steps nonprofits can take to enhance their organizational capacity, mission impact, and financial sustainability through the development of income-generating business activities. Its moderators are Rolfe Larson and Andy Horsnell. More information about the npEnterprise Forum is available at http://www.npenterprise.net/, including how to subscribe and unsubscribe.

The TA Clearinghouse's Funding Alerts for New York City and Tri-County HIV/AIDS organizations. They have ceased the e-newsletter but keep the web site up to date about grant opportunities. By checking back regularly, you can keep abreast of government, foundation, and corporate requests for proposals (RFPs) and funding guidelines. TA updates Funding Alerts every work day. (Please note: funding opportunities for research are generally not included, unless they seem relevant to community-based service providers.). You can view grants based on deadlines, category, funder and date posted at http://www.taclearinghouse.org/ and click on Funding Database.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy Community Prevention Listserv was created for Drug-Free Communities grant recipients and other community prevention practitioners. It is a forum to share ideas, ask questions, and help create a shared sense of mission in the fight against drug abuse. The key requirement for permission to join the Listserv is that members are interested in the development and enhancement of community coalitions. If you are interested in joining this Listserv, subscribe using the form below. http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/prevent/listserv/subscribe_ONDCPComPrev.asp
For organizations that work in low income housing, homelessness and community development, I suggest signing on with "Continuum of Care" Homeless Support Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HUD-CofC for e-mail including grant notices and discussions via listserv and e-mail. There is a Yahoo sign-in required and you will face a popup, but just move on from there.This was formerly a busy group but the past year has been very quiet. Take a look before you join.

Other sources of information can be found through a variety of corporate publications. A few of them are:

* News Alert Inc. is a free service offering stock quotes and news stories for an unlimited number of ticker symbols - this is a good source for public corporations. It offers full text of premium news sources from Knight-Ridder Tribune and UPI. Corporate Specific News Alerts provide beneficial information useful for keeping up to date on company financials, executives, and legal transactions.http://www.newsalert.com/

* Bizjournals.com is a great source for company information that allows you to narrow searches to a small selection of local news regions throughout the U.S. http://www.bizjournals.com/

* CBS MarketWatch requires a free registration to set up news alerts. Full text is free for current news from wire services. For other articles and reports, bibliographic and summary information is offered with the option to purchase full text. They have RSS available. https://secure.marketwatch.com/news/newsfinder/default.asp?doctype=806&scid=3&siteid=mktw&dist=404newsfinder

* Forbes People Tracker is a good source for tracking news about public company executives. If an executive changes employment, the news alert will provide you the updated information regarding salary and position as long as the new place of employment files with the SEC - http://www.forbes.com/cms/template/peopletracker/index.jhtml

* Hoovers can show you how quickly you can access US and international decision makers leading public and nonpublic companies. Identify companies and executives you want to research by previewing their advanced search capability. Building a company list through this search provides access to Hoover's 43,000 public and non-public US and international companies. There is no charge for limited access to information. Subscribers can target their search with much more criteria http://www.hoovers.com/free/

CAVEATS

The web services and the web sites that are contained in this article may have information, facts and opinions from a variety of individuals and organizations. These services and sites are provided on an "As Is" basis. The services and sites may include bulletin boards, chat rooms and other user and member created pages which allow the reader and others to post information, provide feedback and interact in real-time. The reader uses the services and the sites entirely at the reader's own risk. The author has reviewed the sites listed in this article but there are linkages at those sites that he has not reviewed. Readers link to web sites at her/his own risk. Neither sites nor companies listed in this article have paid or offered payment to the author for the inclusion in this article. Many of the sites have User Agreements that should be reviewed. The speed at which sites become obsolete is only exceeded by the speed of light. By the time you read this, several sites may no longer be in existence.

The author is an attorney in New Jersey. The purpose of this article is not to provide legal advice to anyone in any state or country. The material contained in this article is for information purposes only. End of lawyer-speak...almost

© Copyright and all rights reserved by Donald A. Griesmann 2003-2006. However, not-for-profit organizations, community-based and faith-based organizations, educators and government agencies may reproduce this document without my permission. Just give me credit for it. For-profit persons and businesses are asked to request my permission to reproduce this article and material in writing in advance. I ask that any one intending to make money reproducing this article and/or material receive my permission in writing in advance and be prepared to include me in the process.

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Completely revised; reposted 9/20/06 -- dg