I think that Salesforce is going to be a big player in 2012 in terms of fundraising databases. We’ve already seen Blackbaud and Convio get together and the rise of Supporter360 from Appichar. So if you’re interested here’s a link to some training materials for Salesforce.

One of the best ways to get the most out of Salesforce is to take advantage of the incredible wealth of videos on the internet. It’s also a good way to learn if Salesforce is the right tool for you.

Salesforce has free training videos on Salesforce Navigation, Intro to Sales, Intro to Reports and Dashboards, and for those who need to configure Salesforce, Administration Basics.

Similar to that is the Salesforce Learning Center, which has a few dozen videos in the 2-10 minute range, and a number of 2 page ‘cheat sheets’, a decent place if you are looking for a certain skill.

via Free Salesforce Training | Third Sector IT.

Whilst I don’t subscribe to having any creativity within my work, I have done some creative things like learning to play musical instruments, and taking photographs. This is an interesting take about creativity, we are all capable of it and in these austere times we need to do more of it.

Creativity can seem like magic. We look at people like Steve Jobs and Bob Dylan, and we conclude that they must possess supernatural powers denied to mere mortals like us, gifts that allow them to imagine what has never existed before. They’re "creative types." We’re not.

The myth of the "creative type" is just that–a myth, argues Jonah Lehrer. In an interview with WSJ’s Gary Rosen he explains the evidence suggesting everyone has the potential to be the next Milton Glaser or Yo-Yo Ma.

But creativity is not magic, and there’s no such thing as a creative type. Creativity is not a trait that we inherit in our genes or a blessing bestowed by the angels. It’s a skill. Anyone can learn to be creative and to get better at it. New research is shedding light on what allows people to develop world-changing products and to solve the toughest problems. A surprisingly concrete set of lessons has emerged about what creativity is and how to spark it in ourselves and our work.

via Jonah Lehrer on How to Be Creative – WSJ.com.

There is something new and wonderful happening in the world of giving – finally, the internet is delivering on the promises and potential of the past few years, says Marcelle Speller.It seems as if, for a decade or more we’ve been told that internet giving and online donations are the way forward. But until recently, both donors and charities at least the smaller local variety have been reluctant, or perhaps just uncomfortable embracing this new technology.

via Is 2012 the year online giving goes mass-market? – Civil Society – Fundraising – Blogs – providing news and in-depth coverage of charities, voluntary organisations and not-for-profits.

With much anticipation, I’ve been asked to talk at the Donorflex Regional User Groups about data integration for Charities and their JustGiving Data. This is my first outing this year talking on the subject to groups of charities. I really do enjoy the buzz of talking to charities about data.

I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to talk to charities and understand their internal processes for importing data into Donorflex from the JustGiving platform. I found out lots about Donorflex itself and some of the new functionality does really seem to get the users very excited.

If you would like to To find out more about the Donorflex Regional User Groups you can click here.

Hopefully I will get to catch up with more of you throughout the year and look forward to working with you to help your integration processes.

If you would like me to talk at your conference/seminars or charity about data integration and JustGiving products, please don’t hesitate to get in touch

JG RUG Presentation. (PPT – 3mb).

Guide to JustGiving Charity Account (PDF – 700kb)
Guide to Direct Debits on JustGiving (PDF – 1mb)
Guide to In Memory on JustGiving (PDF – 3mb)
Guide to JustTextGiving (PDF – 1.6mb)

YouTube has announced a new way to help non-profits better tell their stories on the video platform.

YouTube Next Cause, the latest addition to the Creator program, is a day-long summit in San Francisco April 2 during which the company will offer non-profits training and consulting on YouTube best practices for promotion and community engagement.“We want to help non-profits turn their view counts into actions — dollars raised, petitions signed,” YouTube spokesperson Jessica Mason told Mashable.

via YouTube Launches Non-Profit Simulator.