Link Roundup 2/6

The beauty of Twitter is that it is simple, short and fast. When something happens in the world, more often than not, Twitter carries news of it first. From earthquakes to elections, mundane to momentous, Twitter tells us what's going on and who's saying what. It lets us take the pulse of humanity.

Fundraising and the purgatory that is public speaking. Particularly when it goes wrong. This feature is somewhat longer than most, though as you'll see, there is a reason. All this happened a few years ago, yet the memory of it is etched so painfully upon my mind that I fear now ...

Dorothy Everett, the longtime UC administrator who blazed a trail at the university with her career at the Office of the President, is about to make history again. Everett, whose rise to assistant president in 1975 made her one of UC's highest-ranking women administrators, recently was honored by the creation of an endowed chair in her name.

A recent report examines the evolution of digital efforts at nonprofits and the challenges that lie ahead. In my digital strategy and organizational change work at Communicopia, I consistently find that the structure and culture of an organization's digital team, and the focus of the individuals who work in it, more directly correlates to sustainable online success than almost any other factors.

Appropriate technology (AT) is technology that is designed with special consideration to the context of its use - including environmental, ethical, cultural, social, political, and economical aspects of the community it is intended for.

WATSONVILLE, California -A weeklong hackathon at UC Santa Cruz over the summer produced a mobile app that helps students navigate through college applications. Six months and dozens of downloads later, a group of Watsonville High School students is being nationally recognized for its work.

Blog Post > Opinion: Nonprofits Are Part of Economic Vitality, Too Susan N. Dreyfus - February 5, 2014Author Biography Susan N. Dreyfus is president and chief executive officer of the Alliance for Children and Families in Milwaukee, Wisc.

Instagram's current tool set makes it very challenging for nonprofits to convert their Instagram followers into donors. Over time through powerful visual storytelling a nonprofit can build a strong brand and grow their Instagram following, but without the ability to link to a donate page inside of Instagram, it's difficult to inspire your Instagram followers to do more than simply like and comment on your photos.

Saturday is a day for easy reading. Light-hearted human interest pieces in magazines, Buzzfeed articles about foods that are better when they're crunchy and maybe a dabble of informational stuff (if it can parade around as entertaining at the same time).

Bet you thought social media sucks for fundraising. Au contraire. It can help you raise money big time - but only if you engage with purpose. Just like anything else, social media won't help you meet your goals unless you know where you're going with it.

By Melisa Socorro-Nunez, Global Marketing and Communications Intern January 9, 2014 Summer intern Melisa spoke with Gil Lacson, Manager at the Network Engagement Team, to understand how the Fellowship Program at Women's World Banking works. They also talked about his experience working at the organization for over 14 years.

GIIP UCSC

Let's be real-as social media folks, we'd like to think the work we do is pretty sexy. We deliver campaigns, host Twitter chats, and appear as the talking heads on Google+ Hangouts, all while managing a debate on why nonprofits can (or should) use Whisper.

Helping to make our transportation habits more sustainable is one way to a greener world, and getting people on bicycles for their daily commute and errands, or just for fun and fitness, could be a great green business idea for bike enthusiasts.

These days, your audience's first impression of your business is based almost exclusively on your website ... so redesigning your website isn't a task to take lightly. It requires a good deal of thought, time, and potentially money, but the upside can be enormous.

We've entered a new era in nonprofit marketing. If you've dipped your toe in the social media waters, do you wonder why you aren't reaching more people or raising more dollars? If you haven't yet begun, have you considered what social media marketing might do to help you reach - or not reach - your goals?

Steve MacLaughlin, director of Blackbaud's Idea Lab shares 5 key findings from the 2013 Charitable Giving Report. Download the full report at: https://www.blackbaud.com/nonprofit-resources/charitablegiving?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=CGR2014