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The CommunityNet Aotearoa monthly newsletter.
"News and views on community networking throughout Aotearoa."
By filling in the survey you can help us set priorities for the CommunityNet Aotearoa website. Readers' requests and ideas from the 2006-2007 Survey were followed up and led to additions to the website. There are 17 questions in all.
www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=nSTRIXgIFyG_2b_2bv0_2bg4vr4Q_3d_3d.
Nominations are open for the CommunityNet Aotearoa Advisory Group with one position open for a community and voluntary sector organisation representative. Nominations must be received by 5pm, 18 January 2008.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/advisorygroup-nominations.htm.
As you may be aware the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 came into effect in September. The Act prohibits the sending of unsolicited commercial electronic messages. A number of you may have been asking what the implications of this new anti-spam legislation are for Not for Profit Organisations. The answer is that Not for Profit Organisations are not exempt from the requirements of the Act, meaning that if the electronic messages you send are commercial then you must have the consent of the people you are sending them to.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/anti-spam.htm.
Morningside Productions are looking for applications for the Open Door documentary series 9. Do you, or a group that you're involved with, have something to say to the people of New Zealand? If you're actively involved with an issue - be it social, sexual, political, family or whatever - a door is about to open again on TV3 Network Television.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/open-door.htm.
An Indication of New Zealanders’ Health 2007 is the latest report in a series monitoring the health of the New Zealand population produced by Public Health Intelligence of the Ministry of Health. The information presented in this report contains demographics, socioeconomic indicators, and health outcomes and risk/protective factors for New Zealand and District Health Board regions.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/nz-health.htm.
We wish to invite your fundraising groups to join Absolutely Fundraising, a New Zealand fundraising co-operative discussion group for non-profit organisations, charities, schools, churches and clubs.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/fundraising-group.htm.
Sheffield Limited has just produced its first annual Not-for-Profit Remuneration Survey. This in-depth report includes analysis of over 300 individual roles and features analysis of base salaries, benefits, and performance pay. In addition an extensive review of trends, organisational challenges and director remuneration has been analysed.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/nfp-remuneration.htm.
The McKenzie Trust has generously funded a new self-help resource on making applications to the Family Court for orders under the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act. This guide is particularly relevant to elderly persons or parents of disabled children who need to make such an application when their children reach 18.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/pppr-applications.htm.
The Charities Commission has published a position paper setting out its view on the charitable purpose status of sport and recreation bodies. Organisations that promote sporting and recreational activities (including providing land, buildings, equipment and organising sporting activity), can be eligible for registration as a charitable entity if they have purposes that are accepted as charitable in accordance with New Zealand law.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/charitable-purpose.htm.
The Accounting Standards Review Board (ASRB) has deferred mandatory NZ International Financial Reporting Standards (NZ IFRS) implementation for some small New Zealand entities. In short, they can keep applying the accounting standards they have been applying in the past, rather than adopt NZ IFRS if they don't want to.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/nzifrs-deferred.htm.
An issues paper 'The tax treatment of honoraria and reimbursements paid to volunteers' has been released by Inland Revenue. It explores a number of options for clarifying and simplifying the tax treatment of reimbursements and honoraria paid to volunteers. The paper seeks feedback on suggested ways of dealing with current uncertainties in the tax law relating to these payments to minimise, as much as possible, compliance costs for volunteers and non-profit organisations.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/volunteer-payments.htm.
Canadian charitable agency Macdonald Youth Services (MYS) has launched "The Global Directory of Web Sites that List Online Volunteer Opportunities". This unique global directory, which is organized by country, will allow any non-profit organization to easily find websites to list their internet-based volunteer opportunities.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/volunteer-directory.htm.
The government is looking at ways to make it easier for people to donate to their favourite charities and other non-profit causes. A discussion document released today by Finance Minister Dr Michael Cullen and Revenue Minister Peter Dunne explores the possibility of introducing a voluntary payroll-giving scheme that would make it easier for people to donate money to their chosen charity.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/payroll-giving.htm.
The Ministry of Social Development is calling for applications for a short-term fund of $5 million called the "Campaign Response Fund" to support providers of child and family services that have experienced higher demand for their services as a result of the Campaign for Action on Family Violence. Priority will be given to providers who play a significant role in family violence prevention in their communities.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/campaign-response.htm.
New Zealand has been chosen as the recipient of the 2007 Franklin Delano Roosevelt International Disability Award. The Award includes a grant of US$50,000 (about NZ$65,000) to a New Zealand non-government organisation (NGO) that can demonstrate an outstanding commitment to disabled people and families.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/disability-grant.htm.
The Community Internship Programme (CIP) allows a skilled, experienced person to temporarily leave their permanent job, for a period of up to 6 months, and work as an ‘intern’ for a community organisation. The intern’s salary is provided to the host community organisation by funding from the CIP. The programme aims to provide benefits to all of the groups involved.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/community-internship.htm.
Latest community news, events, jobs and ads are online at: www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news.
Brahma Kumaris is a worldwide family of individuals from all walks of life, committed to spiritual growth and personal transformation, believing them essential in creating a peaceful and just world. The Raja Yoga Centres in Wellington offer free of charge courses in: positive thinking, meditation, and personal development.
http://www.brahmakumaris.wellington.net.nz/index.html.
Absolutely Fundraising is a New Zealand fundraising co-operative of schools, non-profit organisations, churches and clubs. The website has been designed to assist the dedicated work of our volunteer fundraisers in their hunt for ideas, strategies and products for fundraising.
http://groups.msn.com/AbsolutelyFundraising.
ACC Claimants support group. The website features a forum, news and knowledgebase, games, contacts and FAQs.
http://accfocus.org.
New Zealand Social Recruitment Ltd, is an introductory agency that specialises in working for and with qualified international Social Workers who wish to come to New Zealand to obtain Social Work employment.
http://www.nzswrecruit.co.nz.
Safety New Zealand is a safety community resource, facilitated by ACC. The website contains information provided by individuals, organisations and community groups along with information from ACC. As a member of this virtual community you’ll be in touch with other safety-minded individuals, organisations and groups so you can share your successes and seek advice on your safety issues. And you’ll also be able to develop your own safety webpage.
http://safetynz.co.nz.
CanTeen is the New Zealand organisation devoted to supporting young people living with cancer. Our mission is to support, develop and empower young people living with cancer through a national peer support network, and high-quality educational and recreational programmes.
http://www.canteen.org.nz.
North Shore Women's Centre exists to empower and enable women to live to their full potential! Our website is aimed at providing New Zealand women with information about resources available at North Shore Women's Centre, as well as addressing issues that affect women's lives.
http://www.womyn-ctr.co.nz/index.htm.
Te Wananga o Aotearoa is the largest Wananga in New Zealand. We pride ourselves in delivering educational programmes within a supportive Maori environment. Zero fees for NZQA Certificate programmes: Computing, Raranga, Social Services, Small Business, Tikanga Maori, Tikanga Marae, Business and the Internet, and more.
http://www.twoa.ac.nz.
New Zealand Bikers Against Drunk Drivers Trust's vision is to educate the public on the consequences of irresponsible drinking and driving and to work with schools, community organizations, and Government Departments to cut down the numbers of repeat drink-drivers on NZ roads.
http://www.badd.co.nz.
You'll find these and more links at: www.community.net.nz/links.
These Events are coming up in the next few weeks. Find details at: www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/events.
These Training events are coming up in the next few weeks. Find details at: www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/training.
Email's been around a lot longer than the web --- since the 1960s and 70s in fact. Did you know: Queen Elizabeth sent her first email in 1976?
These days there are two main ways to handle email: POP and IMAP. If you log on to your ISP, start up your email software and download messages there's a high chance you're using POP.
But IMAP is an interesting option, and as it's now available with Gmail accounts, at no extra cost, it's a good time to explain it.
POP stands for Post Office Protocol; it works like a Post Office box. The general idea is that an email intended for you bounces around the Internet and ends up in a mailbox on a server. That mailbox has your name on it.
Sooner or later your email software collects that message. It removes it from the server and stores it on your own computer. From now on everything related to that message takes place on your computer.
If you also use another computer you no longer have access to that message. If you're in an Internet cafe, you no longer have access to that message.
With POP you can usually opt to leave copies of messages on the server, but then if you reply, that reply is only stored in the place where you created it --- either on your computer, or, if you use webmail, on the server.
IMAP works differently: the messages are stored on the server, and synchronised with any device you set up to interact with the server. IMAP stands for Internet Mail Access Protocol.
With IMAP the server knows about and stores your emails and keeps track of how you handle them. You can handle the emails from any computer, any Internet cafe, even your phone or devices such as the iPod touch.
Sooner or later those devices synchronise with the server and co-ordinate what they know about your email.
An example should make this clearer.
POP: Ripeka sends me an email. I download it onto my home computer and reply. I go to a friend's house and want to mention something from the email. Since the email is now on my computer at home, I can't access the email itself to tell my friend exactly what Ripeka said and what my reply was.
IMAP: Ripeka sends me an email. I download it onto my home computer and reply. My computer synchronises with the server, so the original message and my reply are both on the server. I go to a friend's house and want to mention something from the email. I log on from my friend's computer and quote exactly what Ripeka said and what my reply was.
Gmail is a free email service that offers loads of features. It can even, for a small fee, work with your domain name.
One of its big features is that it offers infinite storage for your emails and attachments. In November 2007 it offered 5 Gigabytes of storage for free accounts, and 25 Gb for paid accounts, and even more is promised.
Now you can access Gmail via IMAP (or still use POP, if you prefer). That means:
Gmail has a lot more to recommend it, such as integration with a calendar, and Google Docs, but its recent adoption of IMAP makes it more compelling than ever.
Sometimes people come to your website *wanting* to join or donate or volunteer. Make it easier for them to give than give up.
Sometimes visitors arrive at your website all primed up to donate time or money or other resources. Perhaps they want to 'join' or 'subscribe' as a way of supporting your organisation.
They may have seen a news item on TV, or have been talking to a friend, spotted an article in a 3-year old magazine, or just have woken that morning with a resolution to help your organisation.
In any case: they have one thing in mind: supporting your cause. So how easy do you make it?
One problem is with the words 'help' and 'support' --- they are often used on websites in relation to telling the visitor what to do if they need to receive technical advice; they don't immediately conjure an image of the visitor helping the organisation.
Step 1: Have a prominent link or button on at least your Home Page, but preferable every page that says something like: "Support our work".
Note "Support our work" is actually a bit vague. It's better than just "Support", but try to be more specific --- "Support Wellington Zoo", "Support children in need", "Help protect native birds", for example.
Step 2: Set up a separate page or section of your site with all the relevant information about subscriptions and memberships, products, schemes, volunteer opportunities --- anything that allows people to contribute in some way.
As an example, see http://rnzfb.org.nz.
They not only have many separate links for things like Become a member, Volunteer and Donate, but also a section called: "How to Support the Foundation" at http://rnzfb.org.nz/howtodonate.
They say on that page:
"If you would like to support our vital work, there are many ways to do so. You could give a donation today, or spread your giving over time by becoming a regular sponsor of either a guide dog puppy or the RNZFB's talking book library. Or you could consider becoming a volunteer collector during Blind Week or the Red Puppy Appeal. Whatever you decide, you know that your efforts will make a lasting difference to blind, deafblind and vision-impaired New Zealanders. Thank you."
Notice too how the URL for that page is easy and memorable...
Step 3: Give the 'Support' page a memorable and easy address.
Step 4: Give visitors everything they need to donate time, money or other resources --- payment options, addresses, a phone number they can call if they have questions or problems, information about their choices. But keep it short, clear and informative. Link through to more in-depth information if necessary.
Step 5: Thank them.
Step 6: If the visitor signs up or donates give them immediate feedback, and thank them again.
For more tips on this topic see the Groupings blog post, Raise Funds Online.
Panui tips contributed by Miraz Jordan, http://mactips.info/
Past Website tips are all available on CommunityNet Aotearoa.
In November 2007 there were there were 41,460 visits (October: 44,080).
Last month, 64 new community items were published.
Send in your free community notice or advertisement at:
www.community.net.nz/about/submit.
There were 7,143 files downloaded (October: 6,825). The most popular file download in November was the Employment section of the Community Resource Kit with 747 downloads: in October this was the Sample Charitable Trust Deed and Guide to its Clauses: 475 downloads.
Find CommunityNet statistics at: www.community.net.nz/about/website/statistics.htm.
Remember: please forward the complete Panui to others who'll find it useful.
Nick Stanley, Web Content Writer.
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Panui and CommunityNet Aotearoa are guided by an Advisory Group drawn from community organisations and are published by Department of Internal Affairs, PO Box 805, Wellington. Phone: 04 4957200. Email: information@community.net.nz.
While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information in this publication, the publishers accept no liability for any errors and omissions. Views and opinions expressed are those of the authors, not the publishers.