This article talks about the benefits of using Linux. Linux is an operating system like Windows and MacOS. There are many benefits to using Linux.

1.      It’s free

2.      It’s easy to install

3.      It’s incredibly secure

4.      It’s reliable

5.      It’s effiecent

All of these factors could be very useful to a non-profit who is trying to save money but still needs something reliable. There are several misconceptions that people have about Linux.

1.      It is complicated and uses all sorts of weird cryptic commands

2.      Everyone else uses Windows

3.      There is no support

4.      Word and excel don’t run on windows.

The first of these problems can be solved by using a graphical user interface. This makes Linux look much like Windows. The concern that everyone uses Windows is not valid.

Because Email protocols are standardized, email from any computer (Windows, Macintosh, or Linux) works with email on any other. Files are no problem either, since Linux supports all the standard file formats.

Also, even though word and excel do not run on Linux, Open office does.

OpenOffice is free and it does everything Microsoft Office does and more.

Although it’s not perfect, Linux seems like a good option for non-profits.  

This article is interesting because it talks about using Facebook and other social media tools as online fundraising techniques and how effective they have been.

It would seem that non-profits are eager to figure out how to utilize social networking as part of their online strategy, but only 2.4% of non-profits were able to raise over 10k through Facebook in 2010.

Only about 48% of non-profits were using Facebook for online fundraising, about 20% used Twitter, and only about 9% were using YouTube. Most of the organizations that used Facebook were only raising about $1,000 or less.

Heading in to 2011 most nonprofits (92%), regardless of organization size are using at least one social network like Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn and close to nine out of ten nonprofits (89%) have a presence on Facebook – up from 74% in 2009. By comparison only 70% of small businesses use Facebook as part of their online strategy.

This article also talks about non-profit organizations and how they aqurie their customers. Most organizations were using search engine marketing. The least popular method was social media, which was only used by 7% of organizations to gain customers.

By far the most effective channel was paid search marketing, which 90% of respondents put in their top three biggest sources of acquisition.

This article discusses how technology such as the cloud is being used to fight spreading of HIV from mother to child in third world countries. An organization called mothers2mothers, and organization based out of Ireland, is using the cloud to share patient records and information between their sites in South Africa. They are also using technology like the cloud to make heath information available to mothers.

"The system will provide easy access to up-to-date information on patient treatment plans and advanced reporting tools to provide faster and more effective access to information. In the next phase of the program, m2m employees will be able to collect and share data via basic mobile phones, creating an “always connected” environment."

This idea is really interesting because it shows how much technology is improving care that non-profit organizations are able to provide. Previously we never could have imagined something like this, especially in third world countries. If technology like this were to spread all over the world and more organizations were to get involved, we could potentially help solve a lot of the heath issues we face. I assume an issue with this, as with any technology issue would be finances as I’m sure this is not a cheap program to implement. However, if there were a way to finance programs like this, the outcome would be tremendous.