One developer is seeking to change that. ROAR has announced their new mobile development platform, designed to allow organizations of various kinds to create and host their own applications for a modest fee. The program allows customers to bring their online presence – on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. – into one place, and display it on a customized interface.

Churches and nonprofits can get a customized app iOS app from ROAR for $250, or iOS and Android apps for $500, with a hosting fee of $30 for one app or $50 for both.

Is this the kind of thing you might use for your organization? Let us know what you think in the comments.

[Source: ROAR]

It appears those big banners at the top of Wikipedia, which have been ridiculed a few times, have been a success.

The ridicule was mostly over the layout, where a user could look at a page for something like “bitch” or “rapist” and see the word appear right under a big photo of co-founder Jimmy Wales or various volunteers. It became something of a meme, though some were much more light-hearted.

“Our model is working fantastically well,” said Sue Gardner, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation. “Ordinary people use Wikipedia and they like it, so they chip in some cash so it will continue to thrive. That maintains our independence and lets us focus solely on providing a useful public service. I am so grateful to our donors for making that possible. I promise them we will use their money carefully and well.”

The campaign has indeed been Wikimedia’s most successful ever. On top of that, it’s part of a streak that has seen donations rise every year since campaigns began in 2003. Since 2008, the number of donors has increased ten-fold, and the total dollar amount raised in the campaign has risen to over $20 million from $4.5 million.

Wikimedia’s sites attract over 470 million people each month, and is the only major site supported by donations rather than ads, the foundation says.

The money from this campaign will go to servers and other hardware, development of new site functionality, expansion of mobile services, legal defense, and support for volunteers (there aree over 100,000 of them).

The foundation’s total 2011-12 planned spending is $28.3 million.

Wikipedia itself has over 20 million articles in 282 languages. It will celebrate its 11th anniversary on January 15.

"Now in its second year, the competition is open to all non-profit campaigns, and the winner will see its creative displayed on the highly trafficked Yahoo! login page, visited by one in ten Americans each day," a representative for Yahoo tells WebProNews. "Entries will be accepted beginning October 11, going through December 3."

This year, all agencies are invited to submit entries, including those not affiliated directly with the Ad Council. This wasn’t the case before. 

"Some of the most innovative digital campaigns being developed today are done on behalf of nonprofit organizations and causes," says Mitch Spolan, VP of Yahoo’s North American field sales. "’Create for a Cause’ offers the opportunity to build exposure for the most worthy causes in ways that can uniquely be achieved through the digital canvas."

"Create for a Cause is a wonderful opportunity to showcase the pro bono commitment of the advertising industry and their talent in developing compelling digital creative," says Barbara Shimaitis, SVP of Interactive Services at the Ad Council. "We are grateful to Yahoo! for helping spearhead this contest and donating premier placement for the winning campaign."

The winning campaign will be announced January 5, 2011.

YouTube calls the features "game-changing". They are explained in this step-by-step walk-through:

"If you’re a member of the YouTube Nonprofit Program already, you’re good to go. And if you’re a 501(c)3 in the U.S. or registered charity in the U.K., you can apply to the program now at www.youtube.com/nonprofits," says Ramya at YouTube’s CitizenTube blog.

YouTube’s nonprofit program is currently available in the United States and in the United Kingdom, although they do intend to expand this. YouTube provids a nonprofit tipsheet here. Requirements for U.S. partners are as follows:

- Organizations must be U.S.-based nonprofits with IRS 501(c)(3) tax status

- May not be religious or political in nature

-  May not be focused primarily on lobbying for political or policy change

- Commercial organizations, credit-counseling services, donation middleman services, fee-based organizations, universities, and nonprofit portals are not eligible for the program

For the United Kingdom:

- Organisations must be based in the United Kingdom and registered with the Charity Commission of England and Wales, the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator or by the Inland Revenue

- May not be religious or political in nature

-  May not be focused primarily on lobbying for political or policy change

-  Commercial organisations, credit-counselling services, donation middleman services, fee-based organisations, universities, and non-profit portals are not eligible for the programme

While individuals still want to support their favorite cause, they may not have the time or the money to do so. There is a solution. More than 70,000 nonprofits have partnered with a new Yahoo-powered search engine called GoodSearch.com, and online shopping mall GoodShop.com to enable their supporters to generate donations just by doing something they do everyday – search the Internet or shop online. What makes the system so compelling is that it doesn’t cost the users a thing. It’s a form of philanthropy that works for everyone in this tough economy!

Consumers are helping their favorite causes by shopping at GoodShop.com where they can choose from more than 800 well known retailers including Target, Apple, Macy’s, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, Petco and others. The shopping experience and the prices are exactly the same as going to the retailer directly, but by going through GoodShop, up to 37% of the purchase price is donated to the user’s favorite cause. In addition, GoodShop provides the user with coupons and deals for the stores so not only are they helping a cause, but they’re saving money while doing so!

Similarly, with the GoodSearch search engine, approximately one penny is donated to the users’ favorite charity with every search. You use it exactly as you would any other search engine (it’s powered by Yahoo so you get quality search results) and the pennies add up quickly – just 500 people searching four times a day will earn around $7300 in a year! It doesn’t cost the users a thing!

GoodSearch and GoodShop have quickly spread via word-of-mouth, the blogger community, and a number of celebrities and their foundations including Jessica Biel, Montel Williams, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, Jeff Bridges, and others. This is helping to generate significant funds for the participating nonprofits. For example:

• Supporters of the ASPCA are shopping on GoodShop and searching on GoodSearch, to date raising more than $22,000 to help animals in need!
• The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has earned nearly $10,500!
• An order placed at Adobe Software earned Capri Elementary School in California $191!

Internet users have found GoodSearch and GoodShop to be a compelling idea. Lisa Codron, a teacher in Los Angeles, uses GoodSearch and GoodShop in support of Best Friends Animal Society, which runs the nation’s largest sanctuary for abused animals. “It’s amazing. I buy so much online and because of GoodShop I get dozens of discounts as well as the opportunity to support my favorite charity. There’s really no reason not to GoodShop!”

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Google Extends Apps To Non-Profits

When Google first introduced the Education Edition of its Google Apps, it looked like a natural fit for non-profits. It took a while for Google to extend the service to non-profit organizations under the same no-cost terms, but they have finally done so.

Google Enterprise product director Matthew Glotzbach said on the official Google blog the program would be extended to non-profit organizations. Google disclosed the extension as it hosted an event for members of the Nonprofit Technology Network.

The Google Apps bundle of services has been available for small businesses, private groups and families, and of course enterprises for some time. Educational and now non-profit participants have access to the premium version of it at no additional cost.

Several Google products have been integrated into Google Apps, including ones for communication and productivity. It’s been suggested that Google could eventually have enough features in Apps to present a challenge to Microsoft and its Office suite.

Google has characterized its products as being targeted toward a different audience than Microsoft. But if a free Google Apps option nudges education and non-profit organizations to choose it over a low-cost Microsoft education software option, the effect will be one of a competitor grabbing market share.

Our own Jason Lee Miller reported on some of these changes when word of them first leaked out. And as he predicted, people who choose to shop through Google Checkout will “get $10 off purchases of $30 or more before shipping and tax,” according to the site. Savvy shoppers may even stumble upon better deals, because “some stores may offer additional incentives,” a disclaimer teases.

There’s also an option to spend that $30 in a more charitable way. “Google will add $10 to every user’s first donation of $30 or more” to one of eight non-profit groups. In the spirit of capitalism, though, I’ll point out that traditional purchases aren’t necessarily an indicator of greed. Who could deny a dog the happiness that 32 tennis balls would bring?

PETCO – which has been involved in some charity work – is only one of several new merchants offered. Google Checkout will also help you shop for kiddos at Toys “R” Us and Babies “R” Us, or for more mature individuals at Linens n Things, J&R Music, and Computer World.

“Shoppers can buy directly from these merchants’ sites and use their Google Checkout login to speed their purchase process,” the search engine company states. “On average, Google Checkout eliminates an average of 15 steps from the online checkout process, in many cases making checking out as simple as entering a single login.”

And so it’ll be that much easier to stay warm and well-fed this winter, judging from the most popular items at Google Checkout’s holiday site. The current leader is a jacket, followed by a “chocolate fountain” and a coffee and chocolate set.

A recent post from John Battelle indicated that you might see some slightly unexpected things on the bill when it’s time to pay for those indulgences, however.

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Often lost in a sea of events that fill the search engine results pages known as SERPs, non-profit pages need an SEO boost. Enter the non-profit association blog.

A non-profit organization can gain value from a blog in the form of more membership, greater volunteer involvement, and better communications with members, the media, and the general public. To achieve these goals, the blog must be found on the search engines first. A bit of care with blog SEO will go far to getting your non-profit blog to the top of the search engine results.

When choosing your non-profit association blog post topics, think in terms of your organization’s overall themes. With many charitable blogs, the focus is quite straightforward, as the theme will be the cause itself. With community service blogs, the topics might be more wide ranging, and the blog might have more than one theme. With a multiple theme blog, try to tie the themes in together with one another. Make the posts relevant to the rest of the blog. Refer to and link to previous postings and other blogs that also cover that topic. Google and the other search engines value theme relevance. Be sure to keep it in mind.

Posts and the post titles should contain the keywords and keyword phrases that your organization is targeting. More importantly, the keywords and phrases should be the ones actually searched by real life people. The two sets of phrases are not likely to be the same lists. Check your visitor logs for actual searches that found your organization’s blog. Use those phrases in your posts and titles in various forms. Flip the words around and use different forms of the words. Searches are made in different ways, and you want to rank well for them all.

Your blog title tags, which appear on the very top of your browser on that blue bar, should reflect the most important keywords for your blog. The title tags tell the search engine the themes and topics on the page, like a chapter title in a book. List that phrase first on the very left, and your organization and blog title second, and to the right. Search engines consider the words on the very left to be most important, and decreasing in importance as you move to the right.

My blog appears to violate that rule, but business blog and blog business are my most important keywords and are part of my blog title. If you can get your keywords into you blog title, and the blog descriptiom, they carry powerful weight with the search engines. Be sure to have the blog create separate title tags for every inside archived page. Many, but not all, blogging platforms do that automatically for you.

When you link to other blogs, think in terms of value to your membership. While that appears at first to not be search engine friendly, it is very good for rankigs. The search engines are seeking to provide relevant results, and to provide rankings that reflect what searchers want to find. When you link to your own previous posts, or to other blogs, be sure to use the keywords when creating the clickable link. The words that appear on the link are referred to as link anchor text. It is important to search engines as they tell the search engine what the linked blog or post are discussing.

As a result of theme relevance, what is good for your readers is good for the search engines. Provide useful, and informative links and content for your readers and they will thank you. The search engines will reward you as well.

Non-profit organizations can achieve powerful and very tangible benefits from basic blog SEO. Better search engine rankings means more potential members, donors, and volunteers visit your blog. The media can find your blog as well, keeping your organization in the news. The general public can also find out about your programs and events more easily.

Good SEO rankings means a stronger non-profit organization.

Improve your not for profit association blog’s search engine optimization today.

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Wayne Hurlbert provides insigtful information about marketing, promotions, search engine optimization and public relations for websites and business blogs on the popular Blog Business World.

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The company announced late last week that it is offering not-for-profit organizations two new ways to more securely deliver email messages complete with links and images at no charge.

The first new option was to allow not-for-profit organizations to qualify for AOL’s Enhanced Whitelist, thereby receiving the same assurance as for-profit entities also on the free list. Qualification for the Enhanced Whitelist includes abiding by AOL anti-spam and email policies and standards. Mail sent through the Enhanced Whitelist program will not be marked as “certified” but will be handled and delivered on an identical basis to Certified Email.

The second option available to not-for-profits is to use an AOL-approved list of third-party email accreditation service providers to authenticate their email. To offset the qualifying fee of these third-party providers, AOL offered to pay for initial sign-up fees.

AOL said it will begin releasing the approved providers within the next 30 days and hopes to implement the program within the next 90 days.

In what AOL first called a misunderstanding and then misinformation, the company caught a tremendous amount of fire when it was perceived by major media outlets that it would begin charging a type of email postage to senders by phasing out the Enhanced Whitelist. Many speculated that not-for-profit organizations would also be greatly affected by the change.

AOL was quick to deny such a plan was ever in place and took the opportunity to reiterate its promise to retain its Enhanced Whitelist program.

“We announce this today to make sure that there is no further confusion or question about what not-for-profits would need to do to be able to communicate to AOL members on a level commensurate with large, commercial email providers who opt to use Goodmail’s Certified Email program,” said AOL Postmaster Charles Stiles.

“There will be no requirement, ever, for not-for-profits who deliver email to AOL members to pay for email certification and delivery.”

Stiles said further details on the program would be offered in the next 30-60 days.

The end of the press release also included some Q&A to further dispel rumors, to offset future communication problems, and to reassure bulk mailers the company had once put on the brink of cardiac arrest:

Q.What about individuals? Does AOL have any plans to start charging them for e-mail?

AOL is not making any major changes to its current e-mail delivery system while it overlays these new validation procedures. In other words, if an organization’s mail is getting through today, it will likely get through tomorrow. AOL is not going to start blocking legitimate e-mail, although we will obviously continue to apply our anti-spam and e-mail standards rigorously.

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At first, this sounds like the classic act of “selling out”, but don’t be so quick to criticize Mozilla. They still plan to distribute their software for free, and create it under an open-source license.

“Its (the corporation’s) goal is not return on investment,” said Mozilla Foundation President Mitchell Baker. “It can generate revenue, but its primary purpose is to promote the Mozilla Project, to continue to ship great, free open-source software. . . . It’s not set up to maximize revenue.” Ingrid Marson with ZDNet UK reports:

The Foundation will predominantly focus on community-related activities, including formalising the governance structures of the open source project.

The Corporation, which will begin operations immediately, will not offer stock options to its employees and will not consider a public stock offering, according to information on the Mozilla Web site. Thirty-six of the organisation’s employees will be transferred to the commercial arm, while three employees will continue to work for the Foundation.

The Mozilla Corporation will be responsible for developing, testing, and distributing new open-source products. As a non-profit ogranization, Mozilla’s commercial presence was limited.

“It is difficult to determine what ways of generating revenue make sense for a non-profit and which ways of generating revenue are not appropriate,” Baker wrote. “The Mozilla Corporation has been created to address this. The Mozilla Corporation is a taxable entity and so is legally permitted greater freedom of action than is the Mozilla Foundation.”

Chris is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.