A Few Good Donor Management Tools

Good overview article of donor mgmt software, plus link to a guide that helps you choose:

http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/funding/page10942.cfm

Thanks.

--David

Opening CakePHP Files in Dreamweaver

Thanks to James Fairhurst, so easy.  Basically need to update the couple of Extensions.txt and the MMDocumentTypes.xml file.

http://www.jamesfairhurst.co.uk/posts/view/opening_cakephp_files_in_dreamweaver

Removing Skype Call Link

How annoying that by default Skype makes all 10 digit numbers in browsers into hyperlinks with skype/call icons - even ones that aren't phone numbers, like purchase order #'s in reports.  Especially if you don't use Skype Out much.

Internet Explorer -> Tools -> Manage Add Ons -> Disable the Skype ones

But hey, I love skype, and for free I take what I can get.

Coal Power is Better Than Oil

"To top it all, using electricity generated in large part by coal to power our passenger cars would lower carbon emissions -- even in Indiana, which generates 75 percent of its electricity with coal. Big power plants are so much more efficient than the gasoline engines in our cars that a plug-in hybrid car running on electricity supplied by Indiana's current grid still ends up more carbon-frugal than comparable cars burning gasoline in a conventional engine under the hood. Old-guard energy types have been saying this for decades. In a major report released last March, the World Wildlife Fund finally concluded that they were right all along."

--Pewter Huber

What Happened in Vegas — Sightline

Vegas actually controls sprawl better than most other cities.

http://daily.sightline.org/daily_score/archive/2009/05/01/what-happens-in-vegas

Official Google Blog: Adding search power to public data

Google might be a helper and/or distributor of our scorecard:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/adding-search-power-to-public-data.html

Hunters' Groups Ask Limbaugh to Cease Humane Society Support - Philanthropy.com

Another example of our great country:

"Twenty-eight organizations that represent gun owners and hunters have asked the broadcaster Rush Limbaugh to cease his public support of the Humane Society of the United States, according to The Washington Times."

http://philanthropy.com/news/?id=8022&pth&utm_source=pt&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_content=lefttop

A Company Plans to Market Illiquid Assets - NYTimes.com

Maybe that whole invest in a company thing has value... though not sure if you can get around the high minimums that some require in assets to be an accredited investor.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/technology/start-ups/23vc.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Facebook Causes makes no money?

Supposedly nobody's making any money on Facebook Causes?  Only two have earned more than $100k.  So says the Washington Post / MSNBC, but now the article has been pulled?  No idea what that means, maybe somebody thought that was too negative...

California utility bets on space-based solar power | Grist

PG&E has contracted for a solar plant in space.  Pretty cool stuff, and apparently hugely impressive source of solar radiation compared to stuff on the ground.  And what seems the most interesting is that they can transmit the energy via radio waves?  I didn't even know that was possible.  If they can do that, why can't we have wireless power everywhere?  Why do I have to plug in my laptop?

http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-16-solera-space-solar/

Environmentalists Adopt New Weapon: Seed Balls : NPR

We should take these hiking and throw them in post-fire areas!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103129515

America’s first solar city, from a former NFL player | Grist

Master planned eco-friendly community, just like you wanted to build...

http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-10-americas-first-solar-city-fro/

Kyoto stove wins $75,000 FT climate change innovation competition | Grist

Some awfully smart people developing some awfully cool shit that might actually change the world.

http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-09-kyoto-stove-wins-competition

Dog parks

And you guys thought I was crazy to want to open a dog park combined with an internet cafe and coffee shop...

Building a better dog park
Kelly Acree loved taking her Labrador mutt to the public dog park in Dallas, but she didn't like the heat or the mess. Unleashed Indoor Dog Parks is her attempt to solve the problem -- 50,000 square feet of artificial turf under a soaring roof. The park offers Wi-Fi, indoor/outdoor play areas and a gift shop, plus dog handlers to break up any fights. For $7.50, dogs get an all-day pass, and there are even "toll tags" available to avoid a stop at the front desk. National Public Radio (4/7)

 

Google Insists It’s a Friend to Newspapers - NYTimes.com

Nobody knows how to make money on the internet yet, not even google!  Oh, wait, google can make money, just nobody else can...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/technology/internet/08google.html?th&emc=th

Transparency in Non-Profits

From Tactical Philanthropy:

A funders allegiance should be to impact, not individual grantees. If sharing information about a grantee will increase system wide impact (such as warning other funders to not give money to an inept nonprofit) then it should be shared even if it hurts the grantee. But if hurting a grantee might lower impact (such as if the info might scare other funders away from what is otherwise a high impact nonprofit) than the information may be rightly withheld.


http://tacticalphilanthropy.com/2009/04/center-for-effective-philanthropy-knowledge-sharing-session

submodal - Google Code

Pretty easy way to do modal dialog boxes in javascript/HTML, fairly easy to configure and cross-browser compliant out of the box (or so it seems).  Pros and cons to loading an outside file to do the box, but if you really didn't like it you could change that part pretty easily.

http://code.google.com/p/submodal/

Equation to help understand inflation

Can't figure out if we'll have inflation or deflation? Guess using this equation from Mauldin: Money x Velocity = Price(infl/defl) x GDP

And don't forget in 1933 Roosevelt had the new deal. In 1937 tried to fix it and balance budget, drove back to recession. Think Obama can do better in his 4 years?

Thanks.

--David

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sent via blackberry

Please Consider the Planet Before Printing

Obama Signs Major Land Conservation Law | 44 | washingtonpost.com

The good thing about the financial crisis is that nobody's paying attention to this stuff, and it sneaks on through:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/03/30/obama_signs_major_land_conserv.html?wprss=44

Financial Safety Net of Nonprofit Organizations Is Fraying, Survey Finds - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/us/26charity.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

If you build it, they will come

Shai Agassi, former SAP exec, thinks if we build a whole bunch of electric car charging and/or battery swap stations, then the electric cars will show up.  Big bet, pretty cool, and probably a durable technology - maybe not the battery swapping stuff, but electricity isn't going away.  And the cool thing is that you're paying per mile.

Although I'm curious if that will affect driving too much.  If I actually start thinking about my per-mile charge, I might start to get really annoyed.  Easier to think about buying one tank of gas every week or so - even if it works out to the same thing.

From the Desk of David Pogue - Electric Cars for All! (No, Really This Time) - NYTimes.comhttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/technology/personaltech/19pogue-email.html?_r=1&8cir&emc=cira1

Solar Dish

Way better than normal solar panels, hopefully much cheaper and definitely easier to install... Friend at Sempra Energy said this is real;

MIT prototype solar dish passes first tests - MIT News Office

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/solar-dish-0618.html

Blackberry Battery Life

My blackberry curve 8330 seemed to no longer be holding a charge, after about 8 months of use.  No crazy apps running or anything, the WSJ reader is about the most data intensive that's open.  It got to the point where it wouldn't last a half-day, even lose a bar overnight when it was only receiving e-mail.

I called Verizon, hoping to get a new battery, which incidentally is warrantied for one year, so that's good to know.  But the nice helpful woman gave me a bunch of ideas, the simplest being: pull the battery out, wait a little while, and put it back in.  And whaddyaknow, it worked!  After the reset, suddenly it seemed to be back to a long-life battery.

Why in the world this works, and why the blackberry would be confused about the battery life, I have no idea... but it worked!

Smart Roads. Smart Bridges. Smart Grids. - WSJ.com

Spend the stimulus on smarter, more intelligent infrastructure?  Probably not, it's not quite shovel-ready... but would put us back on top of R&D.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123447510631779255.html?mod=loomia&loomia_si=t0:a16:g2:r1:c0.099142:b0

World Air Traffic Over 24 Hours - Video

No idea what the source of this is, but pretty cool to look at the way the airplanes move over the earth.  And clearly the world doesn't sleep enough.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2235978/world_air_traffic_over_24_hours/

A Nonprofit Panacea For Newspapers? : NPR

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100310863

Online ordering outlay offers potential payoff

Another reason MetroORDER.com is a great solution!

From Pizza Marketplace:

"A simplified meal experience is essential for busy, time-poor customers and anything that shaves minutes or seconds off that effort is valuable.

 

In the past few years, online ordering has evolved into an ideal tool allowing operators to do just that, and in the process it's become an affordable and profitable sales channel."

http://www.pizzamarketplace.com/article.php?id=13002

Greening the Ghetto - The New Yorker

Great article about how the environmental movement/green economy can be used to solve some of our nation's poverty issues.

“The green economy should not be just about reclaiming thrown-away stuff. It should be about reclaiming thrown-away communities.”

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/01/12/090112fa_fact_kolbert

Poor San Fernando

If you don't give the sex industry money, San Fernando will go broke...

"It's a publicity stunt, of course, said Joe Weisenthal in ClusterStock, but seriously, “if we’re talking about avoiding systemic economic risk,” near-bankrupt California really would be hit hard by “massive unemployment in the San Fernando Valley,” the nerve center of the “sin business.”"

Porn seeks a bailout - THE WEEK
http://www.theweek.com/article/index/92028/3/Porn_seeks_a_bailout

Neil Young Says...

"If the Big three cannot agree to make only cars that are fuel efficient enough to get at least 50 MPG by 2011, 75 MPG by 2013 and 100 MPG by 2015, then they should go into bankruptcy and fend for themselves like all the other businesses that are having trouble. The truth is this can be done and innovators know the way to do it."

http://www.grist.org/news/2009/01/05/lincvolt/?source=biz

voiceofsandiego.org: The Investigation the County Doesn't Want You to See

The exact opposite of transparency in a not-for-profit.  Will the government ever stop playing games like this?  How do you get some continuity without having re-elections?

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2009/01/05/public_safety/456ccs010509.txt

voiceofsandiego.org: Station Identification: KPBS Faces 'Time of Tremendous Change'

Great article about what the future holds for the local NPR station.  Frankly, I'm glad Doug, the former general manager, is moving on, I think he was a drag.  Although it's hard to know if he's to blame or if it's because they're hamstrung by being an entity of SDSU, but my limited interaction with him led me to believe that he was stuck in the pledge-drive mentality.  Being under SDSU has to be one of the largest issues, though, considering KPBS doesn't have a board or really anyone in charge.  How many non-profits do you see being successful with that kind of structure?  Not to mention clearly huge bloat in the budget.  What they spend to put on their programs vs what a place like Voice spends is unbelievable.

A good example of the conundrum going on these days: how do local stations (or even newspapers) stay relevant.  If you're going to do local content, you have to do it great.  And if you're going to regurgitate national or world content, then you're useless - just give me the feed straight from the people that do it better.  As far as I'm concerned, KPBS is basically an NPR feed, and what they bring to the local table is not great.  I'd rather just hear the NPR feed, which is a far cheaper model.

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2009/01/05/economics/868kpbs010509.txt