TechSoup Blog

Last month, TechSoup and Adobe announced the winners of the Show Your Impact Design Contest. We thought the innovative work created by the winners and runners-up was so inspirational, that they should be shared more broadly and could perhaps give other nonprofits and libraries fresh ideas for your creative works. You can see the first featured group in this earlier post.

This week, we are featuring the winner of the Social Change category in print and photo: Project Kindle's Book, I Know: Kids from Camp Kindle Share Their Stories of Living with HIV/AIDS.

Project Kindle's mission is to improve the quality of life for kids who are dealing with HIV/AIDS and other life-altering struggles. One of the hardest things for kids with HIV or AIDS to deal with is the stigma they face from society. Project Kindle knew that if they wanted to help improve the lives of the kids, they would have to find a way to combat that stigma. They decided to create a book and a video that is provided cost-free to hundreds of schools across the country.

"We gave the kids a forum to tell their stories, show off their writings, display their artwork, and let their peers in classrooms around America know that even though they had HIV, they were no different than any other kid," said their submission essay.

Their book is available in electronic form, which is not only a fun user experience, but it is environmentally friendly as well.

Last month we mentioned GivingUSA's annual assessment of individual giving which showed that donations from individuals had dropped 5.7% overall in 2008. Things were even worse on the corporate side.

The Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy's 2008 assessment of corporate gving (PDF) reports that corporate giving was down nearly 8% overall ($30.78 million compared to $33.19 million in 2007). Although 53% of corporations surveyed said they had increased their giving, and 27% had increased giving by at least 10%, it wasn't enough to make up for the overall decline.

Last week, I facilitated a webinar which discussed Microsoft Office Live Workspace. Ken Polson from Microsoft explained how Live Workspace works, how to get started and what it can be used for. Click here to view the webinar recording.

At one point during the presentation we asked the participants to tell us how they use online document sharing. Here are some of their responses:

TechSoup has been working on the strangely difficult problem of increasing the volume of five-year-old-and-newer computers donated to our Refurbished Computer Initiative (RCI) program and also to other refurbishers that supply IT equipment to schools, nonprofits, and low-income families for some years now. In RCI we accept bulk donations of 100 or more computers at a time.

When we published our Islands in the Wastestream report on the state of the noncommercial computer refurbishing field in 2004, one of our essential findings was that a lack of steady donated computer supplies is one of the primary inhibitors to the computer reuse field. It was true then and it's still true now, especially in recessionary times when companies are either extending the leases on their IT equipment or simply holding on to the computers they have beyond the normal three to four years they ordinarily keep them.

The great singer/songwriter, Jim Morrison, wrote about, "The end of his elaborate plans, of everything that stands" and that "the end" was his only friend. The immortal folk muse, Joni Mitchell, sang, "Don't it always seem to go.

Have you ever checked out TechSoup's Disaster Planning and Recovery Toolkit? It's a good place to turn for any organization whose tech infrastructure has suffered a disaster, natural or otherwise. We're overhauling the manual and toolkit, and we need your help!

If you have ten minutes to spare, please take our Emergency Preparedness Survey for Nonprofits and Public Libraries. Even if you haven't been impacted by a disaster, your input is still important. We want to learn what steps organizations are going through to protect their computers and data, even if they've been fortunate enough not to experience a disaster.

The survey is completely confidential, but if you are interested in sharing more information, we're also looking for people to interview about their own experiences in disaster preparation and recovery. The survey will give you the opportunity to express your interest in further participation.

We will select one respondent at random to receive a $25 Amazon.com gift certificate. Respond by July 10 to be eligible for the drawing. Please forward this survey to your colleagues at nonprofits, NGOs, or libraries. The survey is open to organizations anywhere in the world.

Photo: Random McRandomhead, CC license

Attention all TechSoup video buffs, the Lights, Camera, Help Nonprofit Film Festival is still accepting entries! Lights. Camera. Help. is an annual film festival that aims to raise awareness for nonprofit work through the medium of film.

So spread the word about your organization and submit a feature, short, or public service announcement by midnight, June 30, 2009.

The start of June brought the official launch of TechSoup for Libraries, where librarians can find stories from the field, hear from experts on libraries and technology, stay up-to-date on the latest offerings from TechSoup, participate in online and offline events, and learn about a new TechSoup product each month.

While the site is intended for primarily for libraries and nonprofit friends of libraries, nonprofits just might want to check it out as well. Have questions or comments about the new site? Email bhough (at) techsoupglobal.org.

It is much greener to keep your electronics running rather than recycling them. Planet Green and Treehugger have gathered together how-to tips and videos to keep your electronic gadgets running longer.

This will also save you and your organization money, if you don't have to replace your stuff every 12-18 months, like the average U.S. consumer.

Microsoft's Donation Program through TechSoup is by far one of the most in-demand and equally misunderstood programs available to nonprofits and libraries. Just like with all of the donation and discount programs through TechSoup, the vendor (in this case, Microsoft) sets the restrictions for how much, how often, and which types of organizations can receive their products. They generously donate, so we happily oblige.

What a lot of folks don't realize about the Microsoft Donation Program is that there is often more available than what people realize. This week, fellow blogger Elliot Harmon and former 'Souper Matthew Palmer, published an article explaining how the whole process works — from eligibility restrictions, order limits, frequency of requesting donations, and additional benefits available.