Archive for April, 2010

Internet for Non-Profits – The Book

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

Jim Estill here.  I normally blog about Time Management and Leadership.   I do a lot of book reviews.

One book I read is Internet for Nonprofits Management-Strategies, Tools & Trade Secrets. So why would I be reading a book about Nonprofits? One of my claims to fame was having 99 consecutive quarters of profit before selling my business so I do not know much about nonprofit.

The book is edited by Philip Geier who is a friend of mine and one of the articles is written by people involved to with Karma411 -John Murcot, Mark Fasciano and Russell Artzt.

The article they wrote was called Social Collaboration and Productivity- How web 2.0 tools help raise funds and awareness more efficiently. And of course I am a big believer in social media and the tools of web 2.0 so I enjoyed the chapter.

As the title implies, the chapter was all about the electronic tools and social media that can be used to help in fund raising efforts.

There was a discussion of project management tools like Computer Associates Clarity, Base camp, Wikis etc. There was also a discussion of real time collaboration tools like Voip, Skype and Goggle Wave.

The chapter not only discusses the tools but used real life example of how those tools were used.

It seems logical to me that nonprofit fund raisers would definitely want to use social media because it’s economical and it’s easy to use and because what nonprofits need to do is create communities of stakeholders who can feel aligned more with the nonprofit group.

The book would be primarily of interest to people who are in the nonprofit fund raising field which includes many business people as most business people are involved some point or another in some philanthropy.

Much of what is discussed though also applies to any business or marketing effort, for example there is a chapter on effective web page design, e-governance, recruiting, how to protect your organization and donors from identity theft and lots more.

It’s a good book!  It is a must read for anyone in the Non-Profit Field.  Get it.

About Jim Estill (that would be me).  I am currently a partner in Canrock Ventures, an early stage venture fund.  I am a tech person.  I started a technology distribution company from the trunk of my car and grew it to $350,000,000 in sales, went public and sold it to SYNNEX.  I then ran SYNNEX Canada for $800,000,000 to $2 Billion in sales.  I have done a lot of investing and advising of early stage tech companies.  I sit on the board of RIM.


I have been involved in Social Media for years.  I am a big believer in it.  I have been blogging for almost 5 years and am active on Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.


Canrock Ventures is an investor in Karma411 and a number of other companies.  I am active in the SEO part of Karma411.  We have a number of SEO customers including Purity Products Vitamins.  And SEO is one of my interests (or passions).

Support and Best Practices Await: Welcome to my Section of the Blog!

Monday, April 19th, 2010

Hello there! My name is Jules Strachman and I am unveiling a new section of the Karma411 Blog, Best Practices and Support. Karma411.com is the premier “People to People” social network for cause related organizations. In other words, Karma411 offers creative online fundraising solutions for nonprofits.  If you are interested in learning more about the company in general, please view our About Karma page.

Throughout my tenure here at Karma411, I have supported hundreds of nonprofits and in turn, managed thousands of campaigns. The purpose of this section, Best Practices and Support, will be to share my personal experiences and knowledge with those who would like maximize their fundraising and community building efforts for their favorite causes. Although a majority of my posts will be tips on how to use the Karma411 platform or case studies on Karma411 campaigns, I will also venture outside of our social network to provide you with all of the tools for a complete cause-related arsenal.

With all that being said…. HERE WE GO!

My first Karma411 tip: Know the suite! “Know the suite? Really Jules, thats your first tip?” Before you give up on me, hear me out. Karma411 offers several campaign types or templates (Advocacy Campaigns, Event Registration, Auctions, Walkathons, etc.) to choose from when creating your campaign page. Aside from having a different name, each template has unique functionality focusing on a specific cause-related fundraising or awareness activity. It is for that reason I suggest you “know the suite” before jumping in and creating a new campaign. If your nonprofit has a committee of volunteers who would like to fund-raise , you should know we have a “Team Campaign” type that would sync up perfectly with that activity. If one was to not read up on our suite, one might take on the overwhelming project of managing fifteen individual fundraising campaigns instead of one. Our suite of campaigns is available on our homepage, www.karma411.com, with a complete description of each type. So there you have it, tip numero uno, Know the Suite!

Well, here is to the first of many more blog posts to come. Those of you who know me or who have worked with me already, know that I am a huge fan of collaboration. Therefore please post questions, comments or random thoughts under my posts and I will be happy to answer them.

“Karma411 – Best Practices” ; Coming Soon

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

Coming soon to our blog, “Karma411 – Best Practices!” Stay tuned to Karma411.com/blog for great insight and advice from our team of Campaign Specialists. Want to get in touch with one of our Campaign Specialists now? Email us at CampaignSpecialist@karma411.com.