How much free money could you be missing out on each month? Thousands of companies offer matching gift programs that are under-utilized. When employees become your donors, you’re unknowingly leaving money on the table by neglecting available matching gifts. MatchFinder and MatchFinder Plus can help! eTapestry's MatchFinder services allow you to easily identify donors whose companies offer matching gifts. Join eTapestry to learn how MatchFinder and MatchFinder Plus can help you identify donors employed by matching gift companies, easily target constituents more effectively to cultivate larger gifts, boost overall gifts by increasing corporate donations, and save staff time and effort because eTapestry does the research for you!

Register now for a FREE web seminar on July 24th at 2:00pm EST, Boost Fundraising with Matching Gifts Services. Don't wait - register today!

Question: We are thinking of putting our yearbooks on-line. How can it be done economically?

The following tip came from Shad Burner, Director of Alumni Services for Southeast Missouri State University:

After exploring several options, we decided that the most practical method was to simply use a digital camera. The question then became how do we take a consistent photograph. There are "picture stands" for such a thing, but we didn't want to spend money on that, so for about $20 at a local hardware store and a little ingenuity, we made our own. We used a piece of plywood, some threaded metal pipe, pvc, a screw for the camera and a black sheet. There is a picture attached to show how it looks completed. Our digital camera screwed onto the end of the pvc pipe. We then purchased a couple lamps with bendable necks to create the correct lighting to show the image. We had to play with the lights quite a bit to prevent a glare, but we mostly took care of that.

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Did you ever create a "wish list" around the holidays?  Schools can have wishlists too, and not just at special times.  Christian Heritage Academy of Oklahoma has taken a page of their school web site and posted "CHA's Wish List" which gives friends and donors an alternate way to invest in the school's success.

Sites such as iLoveSchools.com, classwish.org and even Adopt-A-Classroom, allow alumni/development directors, principals, and even individual teachers to create their own wish lists for parents, alumni and others to see. The community can see exactly what is needed and contribute online.

From the Association of Fundraising Professionals . . .

(March 9, 2009) This week AFP featured social networking/web 2.0 tools in its newsletter, eWire Skill Builder. Here is their full coverage of the topic.

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Idealware, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, provides candid Consumer-Reports-style reviews and articles about software of interest to nonprofits.

Idealware's special FREE online seminar about Online Communications is coming up, Wednesday 10/29, from 1:00 - 2:30 Eastern time. Continue reading →

Websites, Analytics, Social Media, oh my!  Idealware, a provider of candid information about nonprofit software, has a great fall line up of online seminars about the software that can help your organization - including a special FREE seminar on Online Communications on a Shoestring. Continue reading →

From the SCHOOLS-L listserv:

"Has anyone gone from having just a page and then creating a group for your alumni? There are some limitations to the applications on a Facebook "page" and now I'd like to move to a Facebook "group". If you've done this can you post some of the issues you ran into?"

Michelle Rhodes of St. Richards School describes her experience . . . Continue reading →

An online webinar on how schools can successfully use of MySpace, Facebook and YouTube will be held Thursday, August 28, 2008.  This webinar will provide a general introduction to MySpace, discuss the 10 best and worst MySpace practices, and teach participants how they can successfully use MySpace to recruit new students and locate alumni that are actively using MySpace.  The webinar will also demonstrate the differences between Facebook Groups and Fan Pages, as well as how to successfully set up a Facebook Page for your university, admissions department, and/or alumni office in order to build a long-term presence on Facebook. The webinar will also show participants how to create and design a YouTube Channel that matches your MySpace profile and website.

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Two of the largest organizations dedicated to helping schools have published the audio portion of the sessions from recent conferences.  The audio CDs are available from Digital Conference Providers Online.

Recordings from the following conferences are available:

• 2006 CASE/NAIS Independent Schools Conference
• 2006 Summit for Advancement Leaders
• 2007 CASE/NAIS Independent Schools Conference
• 2007 Summit for Advancement Leaders
• 2008 CASE/NAIS Independent Schools Conference
• 2008 Summit for Advancement Leaders

CASE is the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. It is the international association of alumni relations, communications and marketing, and fund-raising professionals at universities, colleges and independent schools.

NAIS is the National Association of Independent Schools. It is an education association with resources for private independent schools (teacher recruitment, curriculum, fund raising, professional development, enrollment, tuition, financial aid, admissions, marketing, diversity, and public policy).

Academic Impressions creates an environment specially suited to discussions about emerging trends in higher education. As part of their vision, they offer many traditional and web-based conferences. Below are just a few that I thought would be of interest to you . . . Continue reading →