August 2008 Meeting Notes

Thanks to everyone who attended our August Bagels & Bytes meeting!!  A small gathering this time (typical of late summer), we met at Eat N Park in Monaca.  Here are some resources and links from discussion topics that arose during the meeting:

• HughesNet - Satellite dish Internet Service Provider that covers parts of Beaver County where cable, Comcast, DSL and other ISP aren’t available - http://www.hughesnet.com
• Beaver County Collaborative Action Network - a local resource for nonprofits - http://www.beavercountycan.com
• TechNow 2008 Conference, Thursday, October 30, at the Regional Learning Alliance in Cranberry Township - http://technow2008.wordpress.com
• YouTube.com - how it works and how a nonprofit might use it to promote its programs and services as well as to report results, etc. - http://www.youtube.com

Our next meeting will be Wednesday, September 10 - same time, same place.  In the meantime, feel free to email me between meetings (leonard@rmu.edu) with any questions, needs, concerns, etc., and feel free to use this blog space to talk to the group-at-large between meetings (scroll to the bottom of each post and click # of “Comments” to post a comment.)

April 2008 Meeting Notes

Thanks to everyone who attended our April Bagels & Bytes meeting!

Once again we met (on Wednesday, April 9) at the Eat N Park across from the Walmart Plaza in Monaca.  We discussed a variety of topics, tech and some non-tech.  Here’s a list of resources and info from the meeting:

• Compucom - company that does transfer and archiving of paper records to DVD or microfilm - www.compucom.com
• Canon makes good high-speed, double-sided document scanners - http://www.usa.canon.com/opd/controller?act=OPDCategoryIndexAct&fcategoryid=2204
• Donorpro - online fundraising software - www.donorpro.com
• Network for Good - online donations/giving system provider - www.networkforgood.com
• TechSoup - nonprofit tech portal featuring an online community, Learning Center, and TechSoup Stock (discounted software and hardware program) - www.techsoup.org
• JustGive.org - online donations/giving system provider - www.justgive.org
• Consistent Computer Bargains - for discounted hardware - http://www.ccbnonprofits.com/
• Computer Recycling - Goodwill in Lawrenceville (will pickup equipment and wipe data drives for an additional fee) - http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_521080.html and http://www.goodwillpitt.org/contactUs.jsp 
• Other local electronics recycling option - http://www.brightontwp.org/pdf/Beaver%20County%20Recycling%20Center.pdf
• Book on how to do nonprofit mergers, step-by-step “The Nonprofit Mergers Workbook Part I: The Leader’s Guide to Considering, Negotiating, and Executing a Merger” by David LaPiana - http://www.lapiana.org/research/workbook.html 
• Domus Systems - affordable housing data tracking - http://www.domussystems.com/ 
• National Center for Charitable Statistics - searchable online database and other info regarding nonprofit in the U.S. - http://nccs.urban.org/ 
• Filing your IRS Form 990 online - http://efile.form990.org/ 
• New Form 990 Help - Nonprofit Risk Management Center’s webinar “The New 990: Friend or Foe?” http://www.nonprofitrisk.org/training/webinars/webinars-descrp.shtml (2nd item down the page) 

Whew!  We covered a lot of ground this month!  Hope to see everyone in May…our meeting will be Wednesday, May 14…same time, same place.  See you then!

(In the meantime, feel free to email me between meetings (leonard@rmu.edu) with any questions, needs, concerns, etc., and feel free to use this blog space to talk to the group-at-large between meetings (scroll to the bottom of each post and click # of “Comments” to post a comment.)

March 2008 Meeting Notes

Hurrah!  Bagels & Bytes of Beaver County has officially begun!

We had our first meeting on Wednesday, March 12, at the Eat N Park across from the Walmart Plaza in Monaca.  As we got to know each other, we touched a wide range of topics including server backups, dial-up internet alternatives (and what to do if you can’t get DSL or cable), the Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network and its upcoming conference (www.nten.org), TechSoup (www.techsoup.org), and Gifts-in-Kind International (www.giftsinkind.org).

One of our attendees asked about companies/sites who feature online backup services.  Here’s a short list:

• Iron Mountain - http://www.ironmountain.com/index.asp
• IBackup - http://www.ibackup.com/
• CRC Data Protection - http://www.crcdataprotection.com/
• eVault - http://www.evault.com

Our next meeting will be at the same location (Eat N Park, Monaca) on Wednesday, April 9 starting at 8 am.  Just remember…our meetings will always be the second Wednesday of each month from 8-9:30 am.

In the meantime, please feel free to email me between meetings (leonard@rmu.edu) with any questions, needs, concerns, etc.  And…feel free to use this blog space to talk to the group-at-large between meetings (scroll to the bottom of each post and click # of “Comments” to post a comment.

See you in April!