As mentioned last week, our Customer Service Representatives are working their tails off to dig out from a huge backlog of donation requests following the launch of Windows 7 last month. In order to help do that, they will not be taking calls today so they can go through the mountain of email requests and hopefully decrease the wait time for everyone in the coming weeks. So, even though they won't be answering phones today, they'll be plowing through your emails all day long.

Check out this short interview Kim Hart of The Hill conducted with TechSoup CEO Marnie Webb. Marnie's been in Washington this week talking about how best to leverage the new broadband stimulus grants on behalf of underserved populations.

... Webb admits she is naive to the ways of Washington. As she meets with non-governmental organizations and agency officials, she has to stress that she is not looking for financial help. TechSoup did not apply for any money in the first round of stimulus grants. She's thought of talking to the staff of her district's representative, who happens to be House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but she knows she'll have a hard time getting an audience.

"I have to say, 'No really, I'm not asking for money - this is not a sneaky way of asking for more funds,'" she said over coffee this morning.

Webb says she essentially wants to offer TechSoup's services to help stretch the $7 billion in stimulus grant money as far as it will go.

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A couple of weeks back, I wrote a post to address some frequently asked questions about Windows 7 that opened with a plea for patience and understanding as our customer service reps work to dig out for the overwhelming demand for the new operating system. I'm gonna take a minute to expand on that request a bit.

Ya see, TechSoup is a nonprofit. I've spent my whole adult career working for nonprofits that I believe do pretty darn good jobs of serving the needs of their communities, providing valuable services, advocating and educating on behalf of important policy decisions, and do all around good work for the world. TechSoup is high on that list from my vantage point. If you don't believe me, check out the reach and impact we've had from 2008 alone. As much as we might want to be like Amazon.com, where you jettison through an order and get your package delivered the next day, it just doesn't work that way for TechSoup. And I'll explain why.

First, we don't "sell" the products listed on our site. We are the conduit via which those for-profit companies listed on our site distribute donated products to nonprofits and libraries. With being that conduit, we have a whole host of guidelines we need to follow to ensure that each organization that applies for a donated or discounted product actually meets the eligibility requirements set by the donor partner.

That means, we need to take all the info you give us when registering your organization, then get your IRS tax determination letter to confirm that you're a 501(c)(3) nonprofit or a public library. Then, Adobe or Symantec can say that they want their donations to only go to organizations that work with, say, youth or homelessness. We need to sort through all of that in order to determine if your organization is actually eligible — based on those restrictions — to receive that donation. All that info is fed into a system that matches your organization type to which donated products you may be eligible to receive. Even if you're already registered, we still need to make sure the items you're requesting aren't exceeding any limits the donor partner sets and that you still qualify for an item you may have received two years ago (since our partners can change their restrictions at any time).

If you're not already familiar with the popular online customer relationship management (CRM) tool, Salesforce.com, you should get to know it. The software as a service (cloud) tool allows extraordinary levels of relationship tracking and management for companies and nonprofits worldwide. A few years back, the Salesforce Foundation started offering their services for free to nonprofits.

I was working at a small, but well-connected nonprofit at the time and we were an early adopter of Salesforce when it was very corporately modeled. Within a couple of years, Salesforce started offering a "nonprofit dashboard" which helped make the lingo a little more digestible for those of us looking for new members and to track existing supporters and donors, rather than the more standard "leads and opportunities" their system supported for corporate sales and support offices. Since then, they've made it even easier for nonprofits to embrace their donation by offering discounts on tutorials, online and in-person trainings, free weekly webinars on acquiring the donated license, and a bevy of resources to get started.

I've now worked with Salesforce in-depth at two nonprofits and have to say that it has every bell and whistle you could ever want (and maybe more than your organization might need), but most importantly for budget-conscious nonprofits, it's free.

This is part two of a two-part series about virtualization. In the first post, we attempted to explain what virtualization is and why you should care about it. Here, we explain more about server virtualization and share our own positive experience with it.

Server Virtualization

If your organization has multiple server computers that supply your computer system with email, Internet, print services, databases, data back-ups, password authentications, a place to store documents, and more, then server virtualization is something that can save your organization money and energy. Virtualization software can cut server power consumption by up to 80%.

Server virtualization is software that allows you to optimize a single server computer so that it is able to do the work of multiple servers. Did you know that most servers are only utilized between 10 and 15%?

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Don't know what virtualization software is or even care? Well, you should.

If you aren't using it directly in your office, I bet you are using it through one of your software providers without even knowing it. Is your website or email hosted somewhere outside your office? Do you use Salesforce.com or an online donor database? I bet they are using virtualization. Most large services who host software like the ones I mentioned above should be using this technology if they aren't already.

Whether you're a regular TechSoup user or haven't heard of us til now, we've got a free webinar coming up that will likely show you something new about how you can get more out of the variety of (free) services we offer to nonprofits and libraries.

Learn How TechSoup Can Help Your Organization

Join TechSoup.org content creators, community leaders, and customer service support on November 12 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon Pacific for a tour of how your organization can use all that TechSoup has to offer to improve your technology and help reach your mission. TechSoup, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is working toward a time when every nonprofit and social benefit organization will have the technology resources and knowledge they need to operate at their full potential.

We'll walk you through the process of registering and requesting donated and discounted products from more than 35 donor partners like Microsoft and Adobe. We'll also take you on a virtual tour of other resources in TechSoup's tech arsenal including;

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Since Windows 7 launched last week, there has been a flurry of activity from nonprofits and libraries looking to start using the new operating system. TechSoup has written a bunch of articles, blog posts, and forum threads to help people figure out whether to upgrade and how to do it. One thing we haven't really mentioned here yet, is the cool contest that Microsoft is hosting right now — specifically to benefit nonprofits and other social benefit organizations.

Organizations are encouraged to create a short video submission to tell the world how Windows 7 could help them change the world. For example, if you've got smoother running systems, maybe that leaves more time for you to do your real work of providing domestic violence counseling to women, children, and families in need. Or maybe upgrading the public computing lab you run for local lower-income community, will help people access job-hunt, language learning, and healthcare information easier. Whatever it is, tell your story. Here's more, direct from Microsoft:

As many may know, Microsoft's new Windows 7 operating system became available last week worldwide and through TechSoup's Microsoft Donation Program. Our customer service representatives have been plowing through the donation requests, helping nonprofits and libraries register and place their requests, and answering questions about whether to upgrade and how to do it. They're working as hard as they can to meet the demand and overflow of queries, so please be patient if you've called or emailed since they have a lengthy queue (even with additional staff support). Our community forums have also experienced a flurry of discussion on the operating system and lots of questions are being answered there.

To help bring some of the more frequently asked questions to the forefront (and hopefully answer some of your lingering questions), we've compiled this short list of Q&A to help you navigate.

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TechSoup is a nonprofit that partners with corporations to distribute software and hardware donations to nonprofits and libraries. You may already know about our donation programs that can save nonprofits and libraries approximately 90% on Microsoft products and Symantec's Norton Antivirus donations but did you know we offer a typing program, discount on Flickr, and more? Attend this free webinar at 11 a.m. Pacific on Wednesday, October 28 and learn about TechSoup for Libraries and how we can help you offer more to your patrons and staff while saving money.