This was originally published on The Case Foundation Blog. Giving Guru Marnie Webb is Co-CEO of TechSoup Global where under her leadership the NetSquared initiative is in its fourth year of helping nonprofits worldwide use innovative web tools to increase their reach and impact. A sought-after speaker and writer on nonprofit technology, she was named the NTEN Person of the Year in 2008 and included in the Nonprofit Times' list of the 50 most influential leaders in the U.S. nonprofit sector. Marnie will be available to answer your questions about social media for nonprofits on Tuesday, Sept. 21, at 1 p.m. Eastern. Submit your question in the comments of this post, or check out the many ways to ask our Giving Gurus.

In fundraising, we often get two things drilled into us: ask and thank. Ask and thank. Ask and thank again. Asking and thanking is not nearly enough. But you know that, right? You know that you have to build your network. You have to use excellent listening practices. In Here Comes Everybody, Clay Shirky writes about bonding and bridging capital. Basically, bonding capital increases the depth of the relationship between people who already know each other. Bridging captial increases the number of people in relationship to one another. This is an important concept for nonprofits: bridging capital gets you more donors, more volunteers, more support.

Starting next week, on September 2 at 2 p.m. Eastern time, our donor partner GrantStation, will be offering free webinars for TechSoup's nonprofit users in order to help them determine whether the product will work for their fundraising needs. They'll offer a second webinar "tour" of GrantStation on September 15 at the same time to review the ways that nonprofits can use the product to identify program-specific grantmakers, write compelling letters of inquiry, and create powerful proposals. Both of these free webinars are designed to help our users determine whether GrantStation will support their fundraising and grantseeking efforts.

In addition to the upcoming webinars, starting on September 16 and running through September 17, GrantStation will be offering a special, limited-time discount on a one-year membership — reducing the regular admin fee by $300. Eligible nonprofits can request the one-year membership for only $99 for the promotional period. Read more about it here, but don't place the product in your "cart" until the start of the promotion so you get the special discount.

Yesterday I hosted a webinar (view the recording here) and interviewed Cynthia Adams, the CEO of GrantStation, and Alice Ruhnke, the CEO of The Grant Advantage. They gave an overview of what to think about when looking for funding and explained strategies they've found to be successful in the past.

Join TechSoup Talks! for a free webinar tomorrow (January 13, 2009) about GrantStation, an interactive grantseeking database: Introduction to GrantStation Webinar

This webinar will help nonprofits understand how they can utilize a GrantStation membership to access a comprehensive set of grant research tools that link organizations to current sources of grant money, and teach organizations how to secure available funding.

The Craigslist Foundation has launched a survey on grantmaker effectiveness, described as follows:

We're partnering with Blue Shield Foundation of California to better understand ways in which grantmaker effectiveness can be advanced in the sector. We've put together a short survey not only for grantmakers but any social sector participant. If you have a few moments to share your experience through the survey, we'd really appreciate it.

As many nonprofits are recipients of foundation grants, your participation would likely added some much needed data to their study.

After walking through it in the course of five minutes, the questions range from general demographic info and background to whether nonprofits should be charged a fee (and how much) to be listed in the Craigslist Foundation's forthcoming Nonprofit Yellow Pages (which would be different from their already-existing Nonprofit Support Yellow Pages).

Here's an opportunity to give your two cents!

The Foundation Center just alerted us that they're offering scholarships to California nonprofits with budgets under $1,000,000 for their grantseeker training courses this Fall. This is a great opportunity to get some hands-on experience in writing proposals, cultivating relationships with grantmakers, and more. Download the scholarship application (100 KB DOC) for more information and class descriptions.

Don't forget that TechSoup has some fantastic articles on grants and fundraising.

One of TechSoup's busiest days of the year is almost here. Next Wednesday, September 24, GrantStation memberships will be available for only $99 through our special one-day promotion.

Kristen at Nonprofit SOS has been running an interesting series of posts on evaluation, not only in grant writing but throughout a nonprofit's day-to-day activities. As volunteers and donors become more educated about where they can spend their time and money, objective measures of your organization's impact should be discussed often, not just when it's time to look for grants. Kristen also points out a blog that's new to me, 79 Grant Writing Resources.

Finally, TechSoup has some great articles on fundraising and grant seeking.

Mark your calendars for TechSoup's free online event and webinar on Thursday, August 14.

Making the Most of Your Google Grants donation of In-Kind Advertising

Did you know that Google gives grants in the form of in-kind advertising? Have you heard of Google Grants but don't know how to get one? Then don't miss TechSoup's free event where you will learn about Google Grants and how your nonprofit can receive up to $10,000 to use towards a donation of Google AdWords, Google's in-kind advertising program.

Take part in the live webinar, Thursday, August 14 from 11:00 A.M.-12:00 P.M. PDT. We'll follow-up the webinar with a free, all-day, asynchronous (not live) online event, where you can ask any further questions that pertain to your organization’s specific concerns in the TechSoup Community forums.

NOZA, a searchable database of charitable donation records, has a new search feature that allows anyone to sort through a database containing almost 700,000 990-Private Foundation tax returns from over 100,000 foundations.

According to NOZA's site, the tax returns include information such as “the total value of assets, investments, grants paid to nonprofits during the tax year and grants approved for future payment, as well as lists contact information, officers, directors, trustees, managers and contractors.”

A new service from NOZA, Inc. allows your nonprofit to search through an online database of over 800,000 grant records — at no cost and without even registering. This is a free version of NOZA's prospect research service, a searchable database of over 25 million records of donations made by private individuals and companies to U.S. based nonprofits.