NonprofitEye

I took a break from blogging for the past few months. It was not really a summer vacation. It was just that I got the blogging blues. Because I was getting wrapped up in the Wiki-RSS-SecondLife-Web 2.0-Social Media maelstrom. I was afraid my philosophical musings couldn't compete. In short, I lost my way. What is my way? I’m here to provide a philosophical examination of the issues underlying our nonprofit ways. Sometimes it’s accounting or compliance and yes sometimes technology or meta-tech. Unfortunately, I’m a generalist lost between the hot topics with the great "take aways". My message isn’t clear (or clear enough) and I only reach 39 unique visitors. Yes I’m RSS-able and search optimized and post regularly (at least I did for 14 consecutive months. So why bother? Because there are things that I need to say and I’m compelled to say them. In addition, because I have found myself among a community--one that I never had before. A group of nonprofit bloggers I’...

I don’t want to be a buzz-kill, but I hate buzz words. I hate take-aways. I love take-out (at least I did before I moved to LA which doesn’t have great take-out). I hate social networking. I’m anti-social. So sue me! I hate anything with “tube” in the name. I hate Face Book as much as I hate Flckr. I hate information overload. I love information. As long as it is not about the latest buzz words. Where am I going with this? Remember the Rolodex? the Day Timer ? Anybody? Buhler? Buhler? [1] I had some sweet Rolodex shareware. How about the Palm Pilot? And when am I going to get my flying car darn it! Carving in stone gets you close to eternity, even paper has a shot if it stays cool and dry. But where is anybody going to get a 5 ½ inch floppy drive in 2010? For that matter where is anyone going to get one today? I have one! But I don’t have a cable to connect it and I don’t have a suitable port on my teeny computer (they don’t call them PC’s anymore do t...

Language with a Chip on Its Shoulder: From Here to Blackbaud's Infinity by Pam Ashlund Don't have time to read the whole thing? Jump to the funny part! Background: This week I attended the 2006 Blackbaud Conference in beautiful Charleston, South Carolina. Well, at the convention center (in the not so beautiful airport area). There was over 850 attendees, representing nonprofits, educational institutions, churches, etc. Arrangements were made with six hotels, which booked to capacity (even overbooked at the Embassy Suites). They also arranged for shuttles from these six hotels. See No Room at the Inn for my midnight adventures. Needless to say, I was running, hiking, taking local transportation etc. and still running late for everything. To make a breakfast at 7:30 am (which would be 4:30 am California time), I would have had to wake up at 5:30 am (2:30 am my time), leave by 6:00 am, run the mile to the Holiday Inn where the shuttle for the convention center departed, to make b...