Technola : Public Interest Law & Technology Updates & Commentary : Matthew Burnett & Kate Bladow : Tech Advice for the Non-Profit Legal Sector

An updated version of Idealware's A Consumers' Guide to Low Cost Donor Management Systems has been released. It compares 29 donor management systems that cost $4,000 or less in their first year and dives in deep for what they consider the top ten systems.

Why might you need a donor management system? Because these systems help you to track the people who care enough about your organization to give money and to retain them as donors. They are much more powerful than spreadsheets, which, as the report explains, quickly become a nightmare to manage.

For example, a tool like Microsoft Excel can’t usefully link pieces of information together, so as soon as someone gives more than once, you have a tracking problem. If you have 10 donors who have each given between one and five times, the spreadsheet becomes complicated and ugly, making it difficult to figure out your total giving for the year. Add in the fact that two of those donors are married, and they should only get one mailing, and it’s suddenly completely unmanageable.

Are you using a donor management system to track your donors? If so, is your donor management system one of Idealware's top ten? Or do you use a system that Idealware didn't cover? Let us know in the comments. - K

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[Editor's Note: The following post is by the Shriver Center’s Web and e-Communications Director, Michelle Nicolet. It shares data from a recent survey by editors of the Clearinghouse Review on the use of online tools and resources by legal aid advocates. We asked Michelle if she would write up the results of the survey in a guest blog post for technola, and she was kind enough to agree. We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. –M]

Legal aid advocates have an array of online resources at their fingertips. Moreover, the growth of social media offers new ways for advocates to connect with and learn from one another. But which resources are advocates using? A recent survey conducted by the Editorial Team of Clearinghouse Review: Journal of Poverty Law and Policy attempted to learn more about poverty lawyers’ current use of online resources.

The survey, conducted in April and May 2011, received 285 responses from legal services and other advocates working in 43 states. By a wide margin, the most popular online resource used for legal research or professional development is listservs, which are used by 81% of respondents. Other popular resources include government websites (72.9%), webinars and webinar recordings (64.4%), Westlaw (53.5%), statewide websites (53.5%), and the respondents’ own programs’ websites or intranets (48.9%). Lesser used resources include podcasts (7%) and law-related blogs or “blawgs” (25.1%).

Respondents show more willingness to read online than ever before. When asked how an online-only version of Clearinghouse Review would affect their use of the journal, 38% said they would be more likely to read the Review, and 48% said their use of the Review would not be affected. Only 14% of respondents said that they would be less likely to read the Review if it were only available online. This is a significant shift from just a few years ago. In a 2007 survey, 81% of respondents reported that they did not regularly read Clearinghouse Review online.

Some of the increased willingness to use online resources may be traced to the availability of content on mobile devices. Over 45% of respondents to the survey reported reading web content on a mobile phone or tablet device, with 73% of those reporting that they read content on a mobile device daily. Clearly, the next generation of legal aid websites should be mobile-friendly to ensure the broadest accessibility by advocates.

Only 29.1% of respondents indicated that they use RSS newsfeeds to stay on top of relevant news and information. Although this is a slightly higher percentage than reported in a similar 2007 survey, it still seems surprisingly low and possibly presents an opportunity for training.

In addition, although more respondents reported using social media than in earlier surveys, professional use of social media is still quite limited. The most popular network for professional use, LinkedIn, is still not used by a majority of respondents. Even Facebook and YouTube, which a majority of respondents reported using for personal reasons, are scarcely used by respondents to connect with one another professionally. The potential impact of social networking to support communication and collaboration around poor people’s issues remains largely unrealized in the legal services community.

The editors of Clearinghouse Review are grateful to the survey respondents for their input. Through the Review and related content, we seek to promote coordinated affirmative advocacy efforts, support an emerging generation of advocates for social and economic justice, and foster a sense of community among legal aid and poverty lawyers. The information collected in this and other surveys will be extraordinarily helpful as we plan future content for Clearinghouse Review.

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If you are looking for an easy way to keep up with current technology trends, subscribe to NTEN:Change, a new quarterly journal intended to help nonprofit leaders and their programs use technology wisely.

The most recent issue includes many useful articles, including

• Facebook for Volunteers - Jayne Cravens, a virtual volunteering expert, and several nonprofit organizations detail what has worked to recruit volunteers on Facebook.
• Show Me the World: Video Storytelling for Your Cause - This feature outlines how a program can and should begin integrating videos into their communications.
• Social Media Nightmare: Errant Post from Your Org's Official Profile Online - Wendy Harman from the American Red Cross shares how a potential nightmare can be transformed into a fundraising opportunity.

To subscribe and read NTEN:Change, visit nten.org/ntenchange. - K

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Last week, LSNTAP's Brian Rowe posted an article about videos that use visuals. In it, he pointed to Ignite as an example and encouraged everyone to attend a local Ignite event.

I wholeheartedly second his suggestion and want to encourage you to take it a step further. If your city doesn't have it's own Ignite event, be the one in your community to start it. With the help of O'Reilly's guide and some planning, it's not difficult and is an excellent way to bring your community together to discuss interesting ideas and, possibly, raise a little money for a good cause. 

For example, Ignite for a Better Baltimore was recently held to bring together Baltimore's social enterprise community and featured 16 speakers who are working to change the community for the better. Money received from ticket sales will fund an Ignition Grant. Videos from this event are available online.

(I'll admit I'm horribly biased about the Ignite for a Better Baltimore event. Together with Alex Rinsler and the support of Mike Subelsky and Heather Sarkissian, the people behind Ignite Baltimore, I helped coordinate this event.)

Skeptical about starting up an Ignite event or need a few ideas? What about having an Ignite event at a bar association conference and invite people to speak about their pro bono practice? Or have a training event that has family law experts talk about the law or share moments from their practice? - K 

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Every year M+R Strategic Services and NTEN publish the eNonprofit Benchmarks Study, which analyzes data from small, medium and large nonprofits in a range of sectors (including "rights"). This year’s report culls data on email messaging, online fundraising and advocacy, social media, and text messaging from 40 nonprofits. The Study also includes a helpful glossary of terms. You can download a copy of the 2011 study here (your name and email are required, but you can opt out of receiving emails from M+R and NTEN if you like). -M

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Jeff Hogue at Legal Assistance of Western New York (LAWNY) and Maria Mindlin of Transcend Translations have created three free CALI lessons on plain language for legal advocates:

• Plain Language School - Lesson 1: Analyze a Document
• Plain Language School - Lesson 2: Readability Concepts
• Plain Language School - Lesson 3: Case Study

LAWNY and Transcend are also behind the Plain Language Library, which includes an online library of plain language resources and a plain language gadget to help you write more clearly. -M

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Nonprofit techies will be gathering in D.C. this week for the 2011 Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC). If you’re planning to attend, be sure to check out “Transforming Advocacy for the 21st Century,” a panel that includes Tony Lu (Pro Bono Net), Adam Stofsky (New Media Advocacy Project), Jane Ribadeneyra (LSC), and Glenn Rawdon (LSC) on March 19 from 3:30pm to 5:00pm. Kate will also be leading a session with Dawn Crawford called “Beginner Social Media - Where Do I Start?” on March 18th from 7:00am to 8:00am. More information about the NTC, including details about the online conference for those that can’t make it to D.C., is available here. - M

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Jakob Nielsen wrote an interesting piece for his Alertbox feature this week that shares some data from a study of 60 nonprofit websites. The findings suggest that completing the donation process on nonprofit websites took users 7% more time on average than it took to complete an e-commerce checkout process, that making non-monetary donations is difficult, and that people don’t use social networking tools to research non-profits or make donations. There’s good news, however, for those in the legal aid community who use the web to recruit pro bono attorneys: users gave a “stellar rating” for finding how to volunteer at a nonprofit organization. –M

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The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) has issued a notice of request for letters of intent to apply for 2011 TIG funding. TIG will also be holding a webinar on Wednesday, February 16 at 1 pm Eastern to discuss program eligibility, areas of interest, and the application process. Approximately $3.4 million in grants is anticipated to be available for the 2011 cycle. The deadline to submit an LOI is March 7, 2011. To register for the webinar, click here. Additional information about the TIG program and grants process is available here. -M

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