studio 501c

convert docs to PDFs for free

Even in well-funded nonprofits, not everybody has access to the version of Adobe Acrobat that allows you to make PDF files from Word and Excel documents.  Using a PDF (which stands for Portable Document Format) is often more convenient -- a PDF with images will be smaller in file size than a Word document, and thus easier to send via email.  And even though some folks have the software necessary to edit PDFs, a PDF is less likely to suffer at the hands of overeager editors than is a Word document.  There's just something much more final about it.

Lifehacker, an incredibly popular blog on productivity and "helpful hints" (read more about the editor here) recommends ExpressPDF, a free Web-based service.  If you have experience, good or bad, with ExpressPDF or the similar services popping up (see the responses in Lifehacker's comments section), please share your thoughts here. (Note that ExpressPDF is not totally secure so find another solution for sensitive documents.)

Technorati tags: net2 nonprofit nptech tools Adobe Acrobat PDF web2.0

a great place for nonprofit bloggers to begin: Netsquared

For an introduction to the hows and whys of nonprofit blogging, you can do no better than this "Resource Center" from Netsquared, called, well, Blogging for Nonprofits.  Netsquared is a Web site -- really a community -- that focuses on helping people use the Web to increase impact and effect social change.   Netsquared Resource Centers were just introduced.  They are collections of useful information about particular topics, e.g., online public relations, blogging, etc. that are created by volunteer contributors.  (I just joined the Resource Center for nonprofit blogging.)

Technorati tags: net2 nonprofit blogging nptech social sector NGO philanthropy

foldera: a cool (and free) tool for nonprofit project management

There are tons of good, free Web applications and services available now, but foldera seems especially promising for nonprofits that want to to give staff and volunteers (especially volunteer board members) an easy way to organize their communications, information, documents, and workflow.

Having first learned about foldera.com through one of its contractors, the highly regarded Web designer Emily Chang, I went on to find that it was getting great reviews from many respected bloggers. So, I've signed up for the free beta launch.

I will be curious to see how foldera can contribute not only to project management, but also to the knowledge management function in nonprofits, a function that is often overlooked as they struggle with increasing demands for their services and decreasing sources of funding.

Technorati tags: project knowledge management net2 nonprofit NGO nptech tools web2.0 foldera collaboration

don't jump on the cluetrain when it's goin' down the wrong track

When I blogged on March 26 about Seth Godin's paper Flipping the Funnel, I hadn't read this NetSquared interview by Marshall Kirkpatrick, in which Seth calls nonprofits "so so clueless" for not using his new Web service, Squidoo. This disparagement was unfair and, to my mind, ironic, given that one of Seth's ideas for using Squidoo could actually be damaging to a nonprofit's brand.

I responded to the interview in a NetSquared community blog post entitled, "We, the clueless," in which I advise nonprofits not to "jump on the cluetrain when it's goin' down the wrong track." The post was headlined on the Netsquared home page, and it elicited a comment from Seth as well as a few others.

Technorati tags: cluetrain net2 nonprofit NGO nptech blogging nonprofit blogging tools web2.0 Godin squidoo