I landed in the midst of a regional tornado warning for the 2012 Grants Managers Network Conference, where we were grateful to be invited by our friends at Mitchell Kapor Foundation to share Aspiration’s take on how Foundations think about using the so-called cloud in a session titled What Cloud Computing Can Do For You and Your Grantees.

The slides don’t fully reflect the concerns that were discussed in the session. Great questions led to back-and-forth about appropriate levels of distrust for corporate cloud storage and ulterior motives of for-profit entities providing free and cheap cloud offerings to 501c3 organizations.

A huge thanks to Tiffany Price at Kapor and the whole GMN Conference team for inviting us to be a part of the fun!

Have a look at the slideware and let me know what you think!

I’ve been following the online discourse (e.g. NTEN-DISCUSS, Information Systems Forum, Progressive Exchange and Nonprofit SalesForce) around Blackbaud’s announced acquisition of Convio.

As some express optimism and positive spin about that merger, I feel the need to speak up on behalf of the organizations and activists we serve. Please pardon me if I sound a tad strident, these thoughts have been years in the making.

It’s a blast any time we get to work with the great folks @NTEN, so I was super stoked to be invited to share Aspiration’s take on The Opportunity for Good in the Cloud at the The Nonprofit Cloud Summit

The event is being livestreamed for those who want to play remotely. You can also follow the #npcloud tag on twitter.

A huge thanks to Holly and the whole NTEN team for inviting us to be a part of the fun!

Have a look at the slideware and let me know what you think!

Job Opening: Community Tech Support Specialist

Aspiration and Community Technology Network are hiring four (4) Americorp VISTA Community Tech Support Specialists to provide strategic technical assistance to Bay Area nonprofit organizations whose missions help to reduce poverty. The positions are made possible through the HandsOn Tech Corps.

Submit your application on the Tech Corps site!

This is an Americorps position.

The Position

We are seeking individuals who embrace new challenges, who are passionate about supporting technology innovation for the nonprofit sector, who work hard yet considers “fun” a core value in the workplace, and has experience working as part of a close-knit team…

It’s down to Monterey, California to roll our road-tested social media slideware and interactive workshop format for The California Conference of Local Health Department Nutritionists (CCLHDN).

The event convenes professional nutritionists from each local health department in California. And a primary topic this year is how to use social media to advance local issues.

It was a blast to be in Berlin at the start of February participating in Transmediale.11 with great friends from Mozilla Drumbeat and FLOSSManuals. I helped to facilitate sessions on Strategies of Political Participation and Open Activism, and slowed down long enough to opine about obfuscating personal data in the cloud.