New at Information for Nonprofits

Munn Heydorn, editor of the Information for Nonprofits section on "Nonprofits and the Internet", has just completed a thorough review and revision of the materials there. Michael Gilbert has recently added new material and rechecked the links and other details of the "Boards and Management Questions" section.

This site is a cooperative project. If you have found resources that we should know about, click on the section editor's name at the bottom of the screen and send along email with the details.

Volunteerism

With the "Summit" in Philadelphia in full swing as I write this, it's a good time to remind visitors that there is a great deal of material about the involvement of volunteers available at this site as well. Look into Nan Hawthorne's information in the "Volunteerism and Service Learning" section.

MSNBC offers (as do many other websites) features and commentary about the Summit -- http://www.msnbc.com/. They also have an interesting survey on your reasons for volunteering; after you fill it out, you can see how others have responded. I must say I was quite encouraged by the distribution of responses when I answered (as the 360th person to do so....seems like maybe there should be a few more responses, hint, hint....

The Chronicle of Philanthropy has launched its new ambitious online service with live coverage of the Philadelphia events. Their service will kick off April 28 with the latest news from Philadelphia and other information of interest to nonprofit people. The URL is http://philanthropy.com/.

Civic Networking

Many nonprofits have joined in efforts to strengthen community by adding computer-mediated communications to other forms of civic infrastructure. The Center for Civic Networking offers access to information and advice about this topic, and will be hosting an online conference from May 22 through the end of June to document current practices and exchange visions for the future. Find out more at http://www.civicnet.org/.

A Service for Grantseekers

There's a free on-line service for organizations that are interested in learning about funding from a list of federal agencies. You can sign up to be kept informed of funding announcements from the Department of Energy, National Aeronautics & Space Administration, Office of Naval Research, Department of Transportation, National Institutes of Health, Department of Air Force, Agency for International Development, Interagency Learning Technology Office, Department of Agriculture, Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Office of the Chief Information Officer CIO) Educational Institutions Partnership Program (EIPP). The address for more information is http://www.rams-fie.com/opportunity.htm.

Keeping Track of Donations (in the USA)

John Taylor offers a wealth of sample documents, manuals, and full-text editions of government documents and regulations having to do with the recording of donations at his Duke University ftp site -- ftp://ftp.giftrecords.duke.edu. If you haven't used ftp before, be prepared for a less glossy but still very useful website, one that offers a menu of choices when you access it and documents in a variety of formats for downloading (check the index file for an explanation of the suffixes that indicate what type of file each entry represents).

Nonprofits on the Web in the UK

Last year Shirley Cook asked for help with a survey on how nonprofits use the World Wide Web to be used to help her with her studies at Bournemouth University. The interesting results of her survey are available now at http://www.bucc.co.uk/vpb/survey/index.html. She found, as you might expect, that nonprofits are making increasing, and increasingly sophisticated, use of this new communications medium.

There is a new newsgroup for discussion of topics of interest to nonprofit workers in the United Kingdom. Its address is uk.community.voluntary .

And for people with an interest in how these new communications techniques are affecting nonprofits, there is a conference coming up in May 1997 in England that offers a broad range of experts as session leaders. To find out more, visit http://millennium.olp.co.uk.

Additions and Corrections

We have been helped greatly by people who sent us updates and corrections for items in the Information for Nonprofits website. If you find something that is out of date, confused, or simply nonfunctional, please take an extra moment to let us know. Thank you!

Putnam Barber Editor