Member Spotlight: ACTS of Iowa

A Call to Serve Iowa (ACTS) aims to strengthen communities in Iowa by organizing community projects. ACTS connects volunteers to those needing assistance with short-term and local projects.

ACTS recently built their website using Grassroots.org's web builder. The ACTS website is used to post opportunities, post a wishlist of items, and bring their mission to the public by using site features like photo albums and the blog. The ACTS site is also a platform to network; you will find links to Facebook and Youtube profiles on their site. The organization has especially benefited from the tool's web statistucs feature, because it helps the team understand which specific outreach efforts are driving traffic.

Check out the ACTS website for an example of how easily you can create a web presence and how to increase your organization's capacity.

Next Month at Grassroots.org

Featured Member: Are you also using the web to spread the word about your organization? Tell us about it; send us an email!

Webinars: Thank you to those who have completed our member survey. Because of your input, we've decided to start conducting webinars! If you'd like to see a topic included on our list of scheduled webinars, email us.

A Call for Blogs: In an effort to spread the word about Grassroots.Org's members and services, we are looking for bloggers. Email us if you know an interested blogger, have your own blog, or if you come across any related posts!

Welcome Members!

A special thank you to all of our members who completed the member survey. If you haven't already done so, please complete the form to help us update our records.

Since membership is steadily growing, we are trying to build a collaborative network with all of our members. To help us with this, we're asking members to place a Grassroots.org logo on their organization's site. Check out the Grassroots.org banners to see which logo option will best fit yours.

New Tools: Virtual Office and Language Translation

Grassroots.org's Toolbox now includes Virtual Office and Language Translation!

Virtual Office gives your nonprofit a toll-free or local area phone number and 300 free minutes a month. Assign the number to ring a phone you currently own, add extensions, listen to voicemails, and manage your preferences online!

Language Translation provides you with a banner of clickable flags that translates your site into different languages. Check out the bottom of the Grassroots.Org main page to see what it would look like on your site.

These tools are now fully functional, accessible through the Toolbox, and will help you:

expand by reaching new audiences
maintain a professional presence during your nonprofit's communication.

Start using these tools now by logging into the Grassroots.org Toolbox! Click on the Virtual Office or Language Translation icon to fill out a form. You will then receive a login for the phone service, or a code to place the language banner on your site.

Questions? Email [email protected]

Nonprofit Online Strategy: Resources

Grassroots.Org is constantly seeking effective resources for the the nonprofit. Now that you have a website up and running with Grassroots.Org, you can expand your organization's online strategy with:

Mass Emailing: Email blast is effective for communicating with your members over the web. Vertical Response offers 10,000 free emails a month to 501c3 organizations. You can use it to send your own newsletters or general messages to members in your web community.

Social Networking: If you haven't already started a Facebook or Myspace for your organization, consider these free networking opportunities. Many nonprofits are already using these sites. Once you've created a profile for your organization, don't forget to visit our Youtube, Twitter, and Facebook to add us to your network!

Site-Specific Tools: Many companies dedicate tools and services specifically to nonprofit organizations. Google for Nonprofits offers free tools to help nonprofits with outreach, donations, and general administration. Take advantage of Youtube's nonprofit branding or Google Grant's campaign options!

Ideas on how to improve this newsletter? Contact us; we'd love to hear from you!