IT, Online

An ICT Strategy Toolkit produced by north east England sector support body VONNE has been upgraded to include additional features in response to user requests.

From Nonprofit Tech 2.0 web site:

"Like clockwork, every couple of weeks I receive an email from a panicked nonprofit or university asking how they should handle a situation where someone has squatted their URL/username on a social networking site. .... Sometimes these squatters actually have the audacity to ask for money."

Some advice at http://nonprofitorgs.wordpress.com/2009/09/13/socialmediasquatters/.

The BT Community Connections IT award scheme is once again open for applications from community and charitable organisations which want to get online.

Groups from anywhere in the UK or Republic of Ireland, able to demonstrate how an award will benefit their work and the local community, can apply for a laptop and a year's worth of broadband connection.

Online applications by 7th January 2010, http://www.btcommunityconnections.com.

Umbrella body NAVCA has set up a sector discussion forum called navcaboodle, http://www.navcaboodle.org.uk, "a place for third sector colleagues to network, discuss and share experiences". It uses the Ning social network platform and requires registration and approval to access most features.

Mainly for those working in sector support given the other forums now active (time for a round-up perhaps)?

The New Statesman Upstarts Awards recognise excellence in social enterprise, with various categories such as Best Social Enterprise Serving a Community and Best Community Renewal Project. Deadline 30th September, http://www.upstarts.org.uk/2009/home.

The TalkTalk Digital Heroes Awards, previously the Innovation in the Community Awards, have been rejigged "to reward the amazing individuals who are using digital technology to benefit their local communities".

Twelve regional winners from across the UK will receive cash grants of £5,000 each to fund digital projects. Entries by 11th September, http://www.talktalk.co.uk/digitalheroes.

The foundation of a nonprofit executive's work is relationships building, but this gets forgotten when a CEO gets round to writing a blog, according to Michael Gilbert of Nonprofit Online news.

See 'Relationship Building Versus Publishing: Five Ways to Reframe the Nonprofit CEO Weblog' at http://news.gilbert.org/NonprofitCEOWeblog.

Idealware, the American nonprofit software review site, takes a look at the differences between online and installed desktop software for general office tasks (such as word processing, spreadsheets) and the advantages and downsides of each.

http://www.idealware.org/articles/online_v_traditional_software.php.