More Informations

The term “sprout” seems to be well-liked among webmasters. Perhaps that is why the guy behind Sprout Software thougt it would be unfair to have all that people on his page just because of his in SEO-sence “strong” domain sprout.com, even though they have been searching for something totally else. So now visitors who have gone astray are welcomed by a smiley to a link page with numerous alternatives. I consider this a fair and sweet gesture.

Yesterday I got a mail from the European Youthpress (a non-profit-organization which is by the way doing quite impressing work) that featured a blogentry on a american Google blog about special tools for non-profits. And indeed on www.google.com/nonprofits/ a new page has been created that shows in detail a list of services which either save time and money or help to find and engage supporters.

Of course something like Gmail, Docs or Calender is known and expected in such a list. But honestly I have to confess that I have never before heard about the Google Grants programme. It offers organizations from the US and 15 other countries (here is a list) a certain amount of free Google Adwords-Ads to gain more visitors for their own webpage. Another nice thing that I have never heard of seems to be Google Checkout (Wikipedia, official page). It is a online payment system that under certain circumstances can be used by non-profits without a fee until 2009. (Just a side information: The German GoogleWatchBlog criticized in november that the system could only be used with credit cards: link.)

Those guys from Google are really amazing, aren`t they. Regulary they start something new that is so practical and simple that everyone uses it. Just look at the list of tools, they already offer. Of course I like the possibilities they are giving to non-profit organizations to work more efficient. Unfortunately in the cold light of the day maybe the company gives things away for free, but the more people use their services, the bigger is their monopoly.

Sad but true: Even though I think of myself as beeing aware of the dangers and risks, such a monopoly can bring to us and our digital society in the future, I still use a lot of this stuff myself. Maybe I am just to lazy to look out for alternatives, maybe there are in most cases no appropriate alternatives or maybe I am just a big optimist. Anyway: If you run an NGO, a club or any other institution that meets the requirements, why don`t you try the Google Grants programme as the testimonials on their page do really sound promising.

I absolutely hate it, when my computer starts to make funny things, that I do not understand. Recently he created a new folder on my hard disk and thought out a quite creative name…

More Informations