tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32926482011-07-28T20:18:07.519-05:00NonProphetViews of the nonprofit and charitable world in general, by somebody with too many opinions to keep to oneself.Torrentsnoreply@blogger.comBlogger231100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292648.post-754447582004-09-15T20:19:00.002-05:002011-07-08T18:30:43.895-05:00Buying Used Computers - AddendumIt ain't over til it's over. This post script to the purported conclusion was necessary because, well, because the story had a happy ending. After all the kvetching (I don't know how to spell in Yiddish), this schmuck managed to turn a used lappy into a killer computing machine. With help, of course. Special thanks go to my bud, Marty, and some truly devoted geeks Torrentsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292648.post-776972672002-06-13T09:18:00.000-05:002002-06-13T09:18:08.280-05:00Test PostTorrentsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292648.post-750920132002-04-05T19:02:00.000-06:002002-04-05T19:02:15.400-06:00Buying Used Computers - Conclusion
Well, this is it. The white flag. Hands in the air. Surrender without honor. I give. Uncle. Crap. Decided to just live with a laptop with no PC card slot. Which means no modem. No network. No DVD. And the final price tag? $693.00. Not bad, not good. For maybe $300 more I coulda had a fresh one off the shelf with everything working. The bottom line: I saved Torrentsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292648.post-110462342002-03-23T15:30:00.000-06:002002-03-23T15:33:19.000-06:00Buying Used Computers - Part 2
My descent into the maelstrom of used computer buying continues its downward spiral. First I had the issue of finding an operating system. Rather than just buy one (for $99 from RetroBox), I decided to do what oh-so-many of us do: "borrow" one, just to test the difficulties involved therein. It's now weeks later and I'm here to tell you: don't go here. Buy a fresh Torrentsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292648.post-108396322002-03-17T18:48:00.000-06:002004-12-21T21:41:28.673-06:00About Buying Used Computers
There's a new kid on the block. RetroBox offers used computers at a fraction of the cost of new hardware. But there are a few critical issues you should know about before buying from RetroBox or anybody else.
First, know that you will be buying only the box. There's no operating system on these computers because Microsnot has made sure that their licenses are not Torrentsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292648.post-95383182002-02-08T22:02:00.000-06:002002-02-08T22:02:50.153-06:00Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon
If you watched the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics, you saw a credit card commercial starring Kevin Bacon, in which he intoduced a half dozen folks, each of whom represented a link in a chain of relationships between himself and some character of trustworthiness. (I didn't catch the whole thing. Torrents was pouring himself a scotch.) Dig around in the Torrentsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292648.post-95371532002-02-08T21:20:00.000-06:002002-02-08T21:33:30.000-06:00Community Foundation Bonanza/Baloney
There's good reason to nurse a healthy suspicion of community foundations, that is, if you happen to be a nonprofit organization. Torrents wonders, "What happens if your organization tanks and you need your money?"
According to a trustee of the Oklahoma City Community Foundation, "That's too bad... There's no way you'll get that money back... it belongs to Torrentsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292648.post-95326952002-02-08T18:29:00.000-06:002002-02-08T18:29:58.000-06:00Fundraisers: Cover Your Butt
A simple extra step when logging gifts will help prevent audit problems--at least it will help you personally stay out of any flack.
When you log the donor's check in your gifts database, be sure to indicate a "fund" to which the gift is to be applied. This is also known as a "designation." If the donor tells you what she wants you to spend her money on, make sure Torrentsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292648.post-94199312002-02-05T19:30:00.000-06:002002-02-05T21:59:53.000-06:00What’s Your Pulse?
Your executive director and finance manager know your organization’s bank balance, and they are keeping track of budget projections month to month. But are your programs on target? Are you serving as many clients as you projected? Are you doing the kinds of services you promised funders you would provide? Are client demographics hitting your goals?
If you don’t know, then Torrentsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292648.post-92837902002-02-01T16:32:00.000-06:002002-02-01T16:57:20.000-06:00Separation of God and Bush
If you've been keeping up on Presidunce Bush's plans to open federal funding to faith-based organizations, you have probably formed some opinion about it. NonProphet hates the idea unequivocally. Opening a new tap on limited funds is one part of our concern. The separation between church and state is secondary, from our perspective.
Then there's the gray area. Perhaps Torrentsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292648.post-92829062002-02-01T16:00:00.000-06:002002-02-01T16:50:15.000-06:00Not the AntiProphet
Torrents got some flack over NonProphet having a for-profit sponsor for a blog about nonprofit. Guess it's time for a primer on what nonprofit should mean and what it just doesn't. Thanks, Spamtooth, for the flack!
To begin with "Nonprofit" means two things (or should):
One, the business of a nonprofit organization is not to make money for its organizers, but to turn every Torrentsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292648.post-92823172002-02-01T15:40:00.000-06:002002-02-01T15:40:39.560-06:00Wahoo Yahoo!
NonProphet thanks Yahoo! for putting our blog in its directory. Those bespectacled Yahooster reviewers apparently appreciated our No Bull talk on NPO topics. To show my appreciation, you'll now find the Yahoo! search thingy over on the left. Wahoo!Torrentsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292648.post-91134592002-01-28T00:01:00.000-06:002002-01-28T00:08:57.000-06:00-| Time Out |-
For thousands of New York families, the crisis continues, but for the rest of us, well, we’ve started opening our mail without gloves again. The damage has been done, and not hundreds, not thousands, but hundreds of thousands of charities are still sinking in rotten returns. Are we seeing the greatest excuse for not giving since the Great Depression?
Of course, some organizationsTorrentsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292648.post-91083352002-01-27T20:55:00.000-06:002002-01-27T21:13:12.000-06:00January DRECK
This gets my Disaster Relief Ersatz Contribution Kitsch (DRECK) Award for the month. PETCO Foundation, the corporate giving component of Petco Animal Supplies (dog insurance, gift cards for pets, travel trouseaux for pets, cat apparel, etc.) has launched its logo onto the tragedy wagon with a $150,000 contribution to train Disaster Dogs. Just in case we get another 9/11, PETCO wantsTorrentsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292648.post-90212882002-01-24T19:48:00.000-06:002002-01-24T19:48:16.366-06:00HUGE Thanks
Lanthropy, a minor giant among the companies that serve nonprofits, has agreed to host my images and to sponsor this blog. Can I get a round of applause? As you know if you've read these postings, I'm a fan of their software, which they keep cheap so we can actually buy it. Tomorrow they may be villains, too, but today they're my hero. Mike: Love and kisses.Torrentsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292648.post-89808962002-01-23T16:39:00.000-06:002002-01-23T17:11:04.000-06:00Privacy: A Point of Departure… Part 4
This series of posts attempts to add something to the discourse on privacy issues, especially as they relate to nonprofit charitable business.
Concentrations of Consequence
I’ve been hearing an interesting expression recently, “concentrations of consequence.” In the press, it seems to have become a term of art for the problem of putting too many terrorist Torrentsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292648.post-89781522002-01-23T15:14:00.000-06:002002-01-23T15:32:55.000-06:00Privacy: A Point of Departure… Part 3
This series of posts attempts to add something to the discourse on privacy issues, especially as they relate to nonprofit charitable business.
If Not Privacy, Then What?
Is it possible to live in a world in which many of our secrets are known? What happens when our medical records are available to potential employers who are trying to control their employeeTorrentsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292648.post-89774662002-01-23T14:52:00.000-06:002002-01-23T16:55:46.000-06:00Privacy: A Point of Departure… Part 2
This series of posts attempts to add something to the discourse on privacy issues, especially as they relate to nonprofit charitable business.
The Network Effect
Until recently a somewhat obscure twig of the Information Theory branch of physics, “The Network Effect” has become a key concept leading a huge transition to ecommerce. It has achieved something Torrentsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292648.post-89506952002-01-22T19:32:00.000-06:002002-01-23T15:34:24.000-06:00Privacy: A Point of Departure… Part 1
This series of posts attempts to add something to the discourse on privacy issues, especially as they relate to nonprofit charitable business.
In the nonprofit sector, privacy politics is part of our everyday experience. Between issues of client/patient records confidentiality, donor information privacy, and the issues of crossover between them, this is a Torrentsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292648.post-89469512002-01-22T17:28:00.000-06:002002-01-23T16:47:56.000-06:00Bail Outs: What About Charities?
I’m old enough to remember the Chrysler bail out. Frankly, I was shocked at the time. How could the government give a billion dollars of taxpayers’ money to a for-profit, publicly traded corporation? Well, here we go again.
The airlines are in deep doodoo, no question about that. 9/11 was a shoe up the butt of an industry that was already buggering itself. Now, Torrentsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292648.post-89407382002-01-22T14:02:00.000-06:002002-01-22T14:02:28.363-06:00Nonprofit Software Can Suck II
This is a follow-up to my earlier post about nonprofit software costs. This time I'll talk about quality.
First off, any software you buy needs to make it easy to add new records. When you are adding a new person or company to your database, the software should have some kind of "auto population" feature that automatically fills in parts of the record that are Torrentsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292648.post-89398422002-01-22T13:31:00.000-06:002002-01-22T13:38:16.000-06:00Software: Solution or Sucky?
In my previous post I made a strong plea for nonprofit organizations to get with the program (computer programs, that is). I feel obligated to recognize the caveats. Software can suck.
Let's take a look at one of the really big problems first: Money. Software can be expensive. The up-front cost can be crippling to a smaller organization. For instance, Blackbaud is a Torrentsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292648.post-89087372002-01-21T15:02:00.000-06:002002-01-21T21:33:54.000-06:00Time for Accountability
No choice in the matter. I had to start a blog. When the flap started about the Red Cross spending funds designated for the New York disaster relief effort on other things, my blood began to boil. Not because I believe the Red Cross did something terribly wrong, but because there’s a much larger problem here, and I’ve seen it in every nonprofit I’ve worked in except oneTorrentsnoreply@blogger.com