Want to make your email newsletter the one that donors open? Here are  three ideas for coming up with content that is in high demand. I found them inspiring and uncomplicated. John Arnold, author of Email Marketing for Dummies, wrote them for business owners. I've paraphrased them here for your nonprofit work:

1. Be an Expert

You're an expert in your field. At least, that's what your donors believe. Even if you don't think of yourself as a leading authority, you certainly know more about your mission than your most of your donors do. Use your newsletter as a platform to solidify your expert status by providing credible advice and information.

"Every media pro worth her paycheck knows a great online media room means the difference between multiple column inches and a mere mention, if that," says Nancy E. Schwartz, nonprofit marketing expert. "Many nonprofit organizations now feature 'virtual press kits,' but an effective online press room is more than just a media kit."

Schwartz's 10 tips for getting media attention break out of the normal '10 tips' arena, and offer concrete, focused advice. Her 10 tips for what your online media room should have are:

   1. The absolute latest news
   2. Downloadable photos and graphics to accompany stories
   3. A directory of your organization's experts

If your are like me, it just hurts to throw something out that still has some use left in it. So, I felt for my friend who had a perfectly good computer she wanted to donate to a good cause. After looking high and low, I turned up a great list of refurbishers ... which also happened to be right here on the TechSoup site. Refurbishers accept used computers and update them to be used again.

The list is extensive, and though it doesn't cover every inch of the United States, very likely there is a place near you. It is also a great place to look if your nonprofit (or other qualified organization/ individual) is interested in a refurbished computer.

How well are you using your database for fundraising? An excellent short article is available online in the most recent issue of Grassroots Fundraising Journal.

The article starts by comparing unorganized data to a disorganized clothes closet ... but don't let the 'down-homey' opening fool you. I thought this article did an amazing job of providing a roadmap for good database use. Use it to get started or to check how well you are doing. It covers the reports you most need to use, and other important tasks for database software.

Want to make sure that your Web site can be read easily? Recently, some excellent resources for Web accessibility and usability were posted to the Web Analytics Yahoo group:

In response to email messages, small donors are giving in large numbers to the Barak Obama campaign. Obama's success is causing fundraising and political pundits to rethink (again) the importance of cultivating small donors.

The emails that Obama sends "are newsy and personalized with the prospective donor's first name. They generally indicate a specific dollar amount or number of donors the campaign is trying to bring in, and explain how the money will be used," says the story on this topic in the Los Angeles Times.

A recent article on Time.com discusses the differences between MySpace and Facebook, offering some interesting insight into how the audiences differ and overlap.