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Non-Profits: Plenty of Web Resources, But How Much Success?
Earlier this week we took a look at the non-profit spaces on Facebook and MySpace, as part of our non-profits week. The conclusion was that both were good resources, but in terms of raising money -- they weren't quite succeeding. Which leads us to ask: is this common on the Web? Are non-profits utilizing the Web well?I think you only need to read Beth Kanter's guest post today on Read/WriteWeb to discover that there is a lot of great work happening in the non-profit and charity sector, using Web tools. Beth provides an inside look at non-profit Web activity from an experienced practitioner. For example, Beth recently went to Cambodia to take part in a blogging summit there. Beth herself admitted that there is still a lot of work to be done making the transition from web 1.0 to web 2.0. But her discussion about blogging in Cambodia shows that there is great progress being made.Resources and Success StoriesThis week Josh Catone published an excellent Non-Profits Tool Kit, a list...

Google Presently Set For Launch Next Week
Google's expected powerpoint competitor is expected to be released very soon, according to reports circulating. The Inquirer says the product will be called Presently. It wouldn't surprise me if Presently is unveiled at TechCrunch40 next week - TechCrunch was coy about this in their blog post, but they announced this week that Google would be announcing something. The lead-up to Presently: in June Google announced its acquisition of Zenter, a company that made software for creating online slide presentations. Zenter's technology was added to Tonic Systems, a technology for presentation creation and document conversion. Tonic Systems was acquired in April by Google. In a blog post in June, Google said that a presentations app was due by the end of summer. Well the end of summer is just a week away, so current speculation is almost certainly accurate. Will this finally close the loop on Google's nascent Web Office suite? The table below shows that...

Non-Profits and Web 2.0: Notes From The Real World
By Guest Author Beth Kanter, who is a trainer, coach, and consultant to Non-profits and individuals in effective use of technology.I have worked in the nonprofit sector for over 25 years; and in the nonprofit and technology field for the last 14 years as a trainer, coach, and consultant. I've helped non-profits use the web since 1993. So, when Richard raised the question to Read/WriteWeb readers: is the Web still a windfall for Non-profits?. My answer is a resounding yes! Non-profits that integrate Web 2.0 tools and techniques effectively into their communications and programming strategies are reaping many benefits. While not necessarily raising larger dollar amounts, organizations are reaching new potential donors - particularly younger ones - and laying important ground work for the next generation of supporters.Beth Kanter teaching a web 2.0 workshop in Cambodia; photo by Steve GoodmanWeb 2.0 Adoption ChallengesHowever, when it comes to putting web 2.0 into practice in...

OMG, Turn Instant Messaging into Charity with Microsoft's i'm Initiative
Started last March, Microsoft's i'm Initiative has enabled people to raise over $92,000 for ten charities by doing nothing more than chatting with their friends. The i'm program lets users of Windows Live Messenger specify a charity to receive a portion of the funds from the advertising that the application displays.Microsoft has signed up 10 major heavyweight charities for the initiative, including the American Red Cross, the National AIDS Fund, the Sierra Club, and Unicef. Participating users can specify which charity they wish to support with their chatting by entering a text code into the program's set up area after their nickname.Though the service has so far only raise about ten grand per charity, each is guaranteed at least $100,000 over the first year by Microsoft. Though Microsoft concedes that the amount raised per user is small, Windows Live Messenger reportedly has 280 million users worldwide (the i'm Initiative currently only works for US users), so there would...