VolResource Blog

A new report finds that older people are actively using the net to ‘make their voice heard’.

Short quote from netimperative:

The survey of 1,000 Web users aged between 50 and 65, commissioned by digital communications connsultancy Panlogic, found that the older generation are driving the Internet’s ‘digital conscience’.

More than a third (35%) of respondents stated that they have signed a petition online, while 28% have made charitable donations online.

Netimperative - Silver surfers becoming digital activists

Or go direct to the pdf report, 3.7MB (large), 'Our digital conscience', although there seems to be some typographical quirks making it a bit difficult to read'

Posted by John Howes at 05:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We're experimenting with turning some VolResource pages into 'wiki' format, where people can make their own contributions. (We'll be keeping the old stuff too for the moment at least!)

We've transferred a couple of pages to start with, which might particularly benefit from outside input (there has been some already fed into the existing pages). Namely Taxonomy, Planning and Monitoring.

Take a look at www.voluntarynews.org/wiki. Comments and suggestions welcome, on the wiki, here or by email.

Posted by John Howes at 08:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Guardian's annual review of corporate social responsibility takes a look at non-financial tie-ups between voluntary organisations and business, around campaigns.

Quote from article:
Amnesty International, for example, has worked with companies operating in zones of conflict to train business executives in human rights issues. Greenpeace, too, has for many years been working with industry, including recently with nPower to develop and promote a jointly branded renewable energy product in the UK.

More:
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Campaigners get into the business of business

Posted by John Howes at 07:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From MacWorld, but its also available for Windows, our preferred desktop database software becomes more affordable. Can I stop using Access now, please?

Article in whole:
FileMaker UK offers steep charity discount

By Jonny Evans

Apple subsidiary FileMaker has announced a significant discount on its software to registered UK charities.

The company has lopped around 50 per cent off the product price to bring its cross-platform database software within the reach of such organizations.

FileMaker Pro 8 has a recommended retail price of £219 plus VAT. Under the new pricing scheme, charities can buy it for £109 plus VAT. Similar discounts apply across the entire FileMaker product range.

Tony Speakman, FileMaker International's general manager, Northern Europe, said: "We are well aware of the financial constraints that organizations within the charity sector work within. As a result, we are now making FileMaker available to registered charities at education level pricing. This means that these organizations can now purchase FileMaker for significantly less than normal list price."

Macworld UK - FileMaker UK offers steep charity discount

Posted by John Howes at 07:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From The Guardian:

The current ban on political advertising prevents all "political" organisations from advertising on TV or radio. The Communications Act 2003, which contains the ban, defines political to include any organisation whose main aim is "to influence public opinion on a matter of controversy". A definition which, were it not for their overriding profit motive, could even include newspapers. It certainly includes a huge number of campaigning organisations which would not usually be thought of as political organisations; the RSPCA, Amnesty International and the Make Poverty History campaign, whose memorable finger-click ad was confined to cinemas - where the ban does not apply - after being bumped from television by the media regulator, Ofcom.

See the rest of the piece: SocietyGuardian.co.uk | Voluntary sector | Media law : Remove the charity gag

Posted by John Howes at 09:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From Computing magazine this week:

Conservation charity the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) has centralised its IT management and cut maintenance costs by a quarter using network acceleration technology.

The charity, the largest of its kind in the UK, has nine remote offices, and found that staff productivity was suffering from the slow performance of its wide area network (Wan).

Read the solution and more at Charity speeds up network for remote offices - vnunet.com

Posted by John Howes at 08:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The audience at Third Sector magazine's "Britain's Most Admired Charities" awards this week, including many from large well-established charities, got a bit more then they were expecting.

From Communtiy Newswire, 4/11/05:

Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith has launched a blistering attack on the nation's big charities, claiming a "cosy relationship" has developed between the giants of the voluntary sector and the Whitehall departments who supply them with grants and contracts.

Speaking at a charity awards event in London last night the MP for Chingford and Woodford Green said Britain's big charities had increasingly come to mirror the civil service in their "risk-averse, bureaucratic, ideologically monochrome and politically correct" mindsets.

More at
Community Newswire

Posted by John Howes at 08:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)