Setup Problem at Google Workspace for Nonprofits

Recently I worked to help a local nonprofit org sign up and start using Google Workspace for Nonprofits. It’s basically private-labeled gmail and Google Drive. An org can use their own domain to get email. For example, if you use Google Workspace you can get your email at programs@example.org address instead of programs.example.org@gmail.com, or whatever. … Read more

Solar Panels for Central Congregational Church

Since last fall (fall 2022) Ollie Jones has been working on a project to get solar panels on the roof of Central Congregational Church. This is an explanation of the project, with some questions and answers. The proposal: to authorize the reinvestment of up to $70,000 of the church’s endowment fund to build this solar-panel … Read more

Mondo Bizarro … FBI Director uses Pastor Niebuhr’s name for a twitter name

An investigative reporter at Gizmodo has found the FBI director’s twitter account.  He’s using the pseudonym Reinhold Niebuhr. Pastor Niebuhr was a twentieth-century theologian and ethicist.  Among his many books is The Irony of American History, analyzing how USA exceptionalism is a tremendous temptation to arrogance and contains the seeds of its own destruction. That … Read more

Starting a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in Massachusetts

Here are the steps for starting a non-profit in Massachusetts. I’ll update this as I go forward doing this.  The basic deal is this: it’s a corporation, and needs all the paperwork for a corporation. Here’s an online quiz from the IRS about whether an organization is eligible for tax exemption. Once it’s set up … Read more

Seven Steps to Getting your Organization Online

If you’re a local chapter of a larger organization, ask for help. Your larger organization may have some excellent services to offer. First: the perfect is the enemy of the good. Do something. Learn from it. Try something else. For the first year or two your online presence will have almost no traffic, so making … Read more

New life from old computer

Do you have a 2005-onward vintage computer from which you need to squeeze a few more years of life? Here’s what you do. Use crucial.com‘s memory upgrade adviser to figure out what RAM you can buy for it, and order that memory. (If you use their adviser software and the memory you order doesn’t work, you … Read more

Tech information resources for nonprofits.

Idealware in Portland Maine creates good reports and training on tech stuff for nonprofits. Brian Krebs writes KrebsOnSecurity.com. He’s the go-to guy for keeping track of the cyber-badguys who might mess you over. If you have a 501(c)(3) certificate, TechSoup.org will mediate really good donation prices for the software you need from outfits like Microsoft. … Read more

Top ten ways to make sure your church website works

“Hey, it’s Easter tomorrow.” “Oh, that’s right. We should go to church somewhere.” “Pass me the Yellow Pages.” “Wait, I think the paper has a Church Services listing. Let me look.” Question: What’s wrong with this scenario? Answer: Nothing, for 1970. There was a day when publicizing your church was simple: spend three hundred bucks … Read more