Microsoft Corp.

Advanced Solutions International (ASI), the largest, privately-owned global provider of web-based software for member and donor-based non-profits, today announced results for the past 12 months ending December 31, 2008.

Virtual Iron Software (www.virtualiron.com), a provider of enterprise-class server virtualization and virtual infrastructure management software, today announced organizations in the non-profit sector are leveraging the company's virtualization platform to further extend the reach of their services. Customers such as Convoy of Hope and Goodwill Industries of Colorado Springs have been able to cost effectively improve their IT infrastructure enabling employees to more efficiently reach the maximum number of people.

The X PRIZE Foundation, an educational nonprofit prize institute dedicated to fostering radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity, today announced the appointment of Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.D., as Chairman of its Life Sciences Prize Group Steering Committee (GSC). Under Dr. Soon-Shiong's direction, the GSC will steer the direction of future Life Science related X PRIZEs to ensure that they address the audacious grand challenges where market failures currently exist. The Life Sciences GSC will address such subjects as healthcare, genomics, proteonomics, bionics/human augmentation, rapid disease detection, disease prevention, human longevity and artificial intelligence in medical diagnosis.

You’ve almost certainly had the meeting. You know, the one about how to survive the crunch, the crisis, the catastrophe — or whatever you want to call it. The meeting where you probably were uncertain about what to do and even about what the impact might be on your organization. Maybe the only thing everyone agreed on was that it’s a difficult situation in fundraising at the moment with few clear answers on how to survive.

Today saw the global launch of bettertheworld.com, the world's first, effortless fundraising platform that provides tools to empower millions of people to raise money for charity simply by surfing the web. The platform targets internet users who have no money to give to charity and charity supporters who want to do more.

The Centre for Social Innovation in connection with TechSoup Global, Microsoft Canada Co., and the Information Technology Association of Canada today launched the TechSoup Canada portal  — offering Canadian non-profits access to technology donations.

A Porter Novelli Styles survey reveals a significant service gap between Americans who say they are concerned about causes and those who are willing to volunteer their own time and energy to support them.

If 2008 has been an exceptionally challenging year, 2009 promises even greater opportunities to do more with less. These difficult times demand that nonprofit organizations become as efficient and organized as possible and that they employ technology more effectively than ever before to reduce overhead costs while speeding project implementation.

Organizations can take a number of steps right now to keep their technology up-to-date, secure the safety and availability of crucial data, and help ensure that their operations remain healthy in the months ahead. Consider this start-of-the-year checklist to put technology to work for your group in a way that will help you meet the difficult tasks ahead.

Forty-five minutes and $240 can change a child’s life forever. That’s about how long it takes and how much it costs for Operation Smile to fix one child’s cleft lip. The organization has been fixing smiles and changing lives for more than 25 years. The worldwide medical charity, based in Norfolk, Va., has been providing free surgery to children in developing countries who were born with facial deformities since it was founded by Dr. William P. Magee Jr., a plastic surgeon, and his wife, Kathleen, a nurse and clinical social worker, in 1982. With the help of a crew

Ed Note: This article, which originally appeared Sept. 9 at TechSoup, is courtesy of Idealware. Idealware provides candid information to help nonprofits choose effective software. For more articles and reviews, go to www.idealware.org. Do you want to create letterhead for your nonprofit, or lay out a monthly newsletter or report? Send thank-you cards to donors? Create an invite for your next event? All these tasks fall under the umbrella of page layout. If you have a complicated project or need a polished result, it probably makes sense to hire a freelance designer. Professionals in that field have an eye for design and a broad