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Eric Johnson,


Jun
08
2010
Beyond apps contests
by Eric Johnson
One of the challenges of competitions is what happens after the prize money is awarded. Winners get fame and recognition, and, if they are lucky, introductions to partners or benefactors that can fuel their growth. Net Squared has faced this, as...
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May
03
2010
Apps for Good
by Eric Johnson
I love my phone. Not so much for the phone part, but for the little computer in there that connects me to the world, no matter where I am. The phone has our calendars, our mail -- and, increasingly, our volunteer opportunities. It's the day timer of...
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Apr
14
2010
Citizen-Centered Solutions: NetSquared's experience with public participation in grantmaking
by Eric Johnson
As part of our new Citizen-Centered Solutions blog series, where we are exploring programs that ignite and embrace public participation, I caught up with Marnie Webb, TechSoup Global’s co-CEO, to ask about how public participation works at...
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Apr
12
2010
Just where are we paying attention - search or apps?
by Eric Johnson
I like Apple's computers and phones. (It's a vice, I know.) Over the past couple of weeks all of this iPad, iPhone iNews has allowed for plenty of indulgence of that vice. But yesterday, Steve Jobs said something that could impact how people find...
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Nov
13
2009
The hardest working mustache in nonprofits
by Eric Johnson
So I’m growing a mustache—for cancer. Participatory fundraising has become popular for very good reason. We run races, we walkathon. And—around here anyway—we grow mustaches. Movember = Mo(ustache) + (No)vember Movember is just like a walkathon,...
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Nov
04
2009
What happens once we all become writers?
by Eric Johnson
November is National Novel Writing Month, in which people set out to write a novel in a month. The idea is just crazy enough that it works. Last year, more than 119,000 tried it, and 21,000 writers completed their goal of 50,000 words in the month....
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Oct
30
2009
Kiva & the illusion of person-to-person giving
by Eric Johnson
The past couple of weeks have seen drama for Kiva, the successful funder of international person-to-person loans—drama on the blogs, anyway. Bloggers criticized Kiva for misleading donors, of telling a persuasive story about its operations that wasn...
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Aug
28
2009
Mashable Social Good Conference
by Eric Johnson
Today Mashable's Social Good Conference in New York celebrates the culmination of the Summer of Social Good campaign, which leveraged the power of social media to raise funds for four nonprofit organizations. The day-long...
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Aug
19
2009
Not just the facts, ma'am: Nonprofit storytelling online, nptech
by Eric Johnson
In 1787 the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade began what became the first modern public awareness campaign. Abolitionists painstakingly documented conditions in the slave trade, publishing broadsides (like the graphic at left),...
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Aug
12
2009
If it's free, what's your plan B?
by Eric Johnson
You may have missed it, but Monday’s news that Facebook acquired FriendFeed made a big splash in the (comparatively small) pool of FriendFeed users. According to the announcement, “FriendFeed.com will continue to operate normally for the...
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Aug
04
2009
Nonprofit service as software?
by Eric Johnson
Lew Moorman is the CEO of Rackspace, a company that operates computer data centers for companies. Rackspace’s business, while touching racks and racks of servers, is concerned primarily with less glamorous things—electricity, for one, and...
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Jun
30
2009
Crowdsourcing Philanthropy
by Eric Johnson
A couple of months ago, we reported that Paul Buchheit, co-founder of FriendFeed and, before that, the engineer behind Google Mail, had inspired a discussion around the best use of $20k for the common good. Looks like that conversation has lead...
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