Two absolutely essential resources for nonprofits

Here's some Katie trivia: I spent the first ten years of my career working in the nonprofit sector, including a stint as an IT director at a membership association and several years as a technology consultant for nonprofits.

While only some of our clients here at Foster Commerce are 501(c)(3)s, I want to make sure every nonprofit, NGO, and charity I meet knows about these invaluable resources.

NTEN connects, trains, and supports nonprofits and libraries around the world. Become a member for discounted access to fantastic courses, a jobs board, and the huge annual Nonprofit Technology Conference, or simply browse the website for a treasure trove of free resources.

By technology, NTEN doesn't just mean hardware or systems administration. Their resources will support your work with digital inclusion, web design, data management, software selection and adoption, training, digital advertising, email marketing, and even completely offline endeavors.

If you're paying full price for hardware and software for your nonprofit, STOP IT. TechSoup partners with a wide variety of vendors (including Microsoft, Dell, and Adobe) to offer deeply discounted products and services to qualified organizations around the world.

In addition, they offer free webinars, a community forum, and a comprehensive library of articles to support your nonprofit technology needs.

If you manage a database of your members, donors, clients, or other supporters, you likely struggle with data that's outdated, redundant, or incorrectly formatted. I first read the book Put Your Data to Work: 52 Tips and Techniques for Effectively Managing Your Database when I was in charge of the membership management systems for two nonprofits, and it made my job so much easier. That was more than a decade ago, but somehow the tips in the book are still relevant!

Buy this immediately for whoever manages your internal database. You won't regret it.