MAPLight.org (http://www.maplight.org), a groundbreaking public database, illuminates the connection between campaign donations and legislative votes in unprecedented ways. Elected officials collect large sums of money to run their campaigns, and they often pay back campaign contributors with special access and favorable laws.

This common practice is contrary to the public interest, yet legal. MAPLight.org makes money/vote connections transparent, to help citizens hold their legislators accountable. They even have a useful widget to incorporate into your advocacy website.

Thursday January 17, 2008
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
RSVP here (seats are limited)

Without knowing what our government is really doing behind the scenes it is difficult to effectively advocate for policy changes. Thankfully, several websites have emerged in recent years to shine a bright light on these inner workings. This month we feature an in-depth discussion on how these resources can help your organization be more effective advocating for your causes.

Join us on Thursday January 17 for the Internet Advocacy Roundtable discussion with our panel of experts who are providing an open window into government activities.

February 6-8, 2008 in San Francisco, CA - Fort Mason Center

Learn from expert practitioners, pioneers, and colleagues in the fields of new media, online organizing, technology, advocacy, membership-building and fundraising. This is the New Organizing Institute's second training held specifically for non-profit organizations and the first on the west coast. It is designed for leaders and staff in the departments of communications, membership, fundraising, advocacy, Internet and IT. Discover how to better leverage both emerging and tried-and-true technology to multiply your impact. We strongly encourage organizations to send more than one person that serves different roles in the organization.

For those interested in voter advocacy work in Florida there is a statewide voter database for all 10 million plus Florida voters at www.florida-voters.org.

Web Demo and Conference Call October 24, at 2:00 PM Central

Learn from the experiences of other organizers

PTP has something new for community organizations! We have created a special website for community organizers, technology support people, and funders interested in learning more about how to increase and sustain civic participation. We have structured it for you to see and hear directly from organizers who have engaged in successful voter projects that have become permanent programs of their organizations. If your organization is interested in voter projects that go beyond voter registration and you are wondering how other organizations do it, you will want join our upcoming web demonstration and conference call on October 24, 2007 at 2:00 PM Central time.

Oneworld.net is hosting an online meeting for folks to learn about and discuss how to do an online audit and create an effective online strategy.

Presenting will be:

Alan Rosenblatt, Executive Director of Internet Advocacy Center & Editor of Moving Ideas, will talk about how you can do a strategic audit of your online advocacy program and create an effective online strategy to achieve your goals.

Ryan Ozimek, CEO of PICnet, will provide an overview of content management systems (CMS), constituent relationship management (CRM) tools and other online tools that can be used to implement your online strategy.

Technical Tips for Small Nonprofits and Social Change Groups:
Purchase a Voter Database Over the Web

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This is a new area and as far as we know there is only one company offering this service nationally: http://www.VoterListsOnline.com. They are a division of Aristotle, Inc. If you would like to obtain information for a municipal campaign, however, your best source is your local election commission, who will usually make the information available to you as a set of diskettes or on a zip disk, for a nominal cost.

Technology for managing offline campaigns