Our participation and co-sponsorship of
Madison Nonprofit Day provided us with an invaluable experience. The connections, the insights, the energy were all positively motivating. So when looking for ideas to explore and issues to align MadTech with, the ability to go back to
'Things Learned From Madison Nonprofit Day' was easy. There were a number of potentially actionable items that came out of Madison Nonprofit Day. And we've taken up the charge on a few to date, including the exploration of Social Media with the Facebook workshop series being done as part of
Madison's Nonprofit Technology Group (MadTech) Fall 2009 Schedule.
One of the needs that resonated most with me from the day though was
people wanting to and needing to connect. From those new in town who heard about the day and wanted to meet others who work in the nonprofit sector; to those who requested more opportunities in the future for nonprofit to nonprofit networking; to those who participated in the neighborhood nonprofits and told us how much they loved having an easy and engaging way to learn more about nonprofits; all these things started the germ of an idea about how the news and information—from job posting and event announcements to research and headlines— is obtained by the community.
That little nugget of an idea, turned into a full fledge project—
LocalNonprofits.
LocalNonprofits connects individuals, groups, organizations, and populations to the news and information produced, published, and consumed by local nonprofit organizations. We've taken the idea and submitted to the Knight Foundation's News Challenge. We think the ideas worth pursuing regardless of our News Challenge standing; but obviously the service would become viable faster with a Knight News Challenge win.
The project is still in the very early stages, and we'd love to hear your feedback, comments, and ideas on ways to make it supportive of Madison's vibrant nonprofit culture. To rate, review, and/or just comment, you'll need to create an user account at the News Challenge site; but once you have our initial application is here: http://sn.im/sbwve so you can freely comment and tell us what you think.
I do apologize in advance about the lack of white space. We did and do have paragraph returns between paragraphs, but the application submission process removed them from the screen. That said, the application is a quick and hopefully easy read. So we'd love for you to read it and comment. http://sn.im/sbwve
Alnisa
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