It's that time of year - What to get mother!

As you all know, Mother's Day is this Sunday, May 11. If your mom is like mine, she'll say, "oh, you don't need to get me something, a card will do." This is simply a test so see how well I know her. All hell would break loose if I didn't get her something on Mother's Day.

Here are few gift-giving ideas from our member groups. Also consider donating to these groups, or other DIA member groups , on behalf of mom.

(so start thinking about your mobile strategy)

That’s right, more Americans in 2007 said it would be harder to give up their cell phone over, well just about anything that truly matters, including internet, TV, landline telephone or watching the Office.

Those who say it would be very hard to give up:
Cell phone 51%
Internet 45
Television 43
Landline telephone 40
Email 37

The study, called
Mobile Access to Data and Information, also concluded that “62% of all Americans are part of a wireless, mobile population that participates in digital activities away from home or work”. Texting was the most popular activity.

The following podcasts are now available at WomenWhoTech

Check it out!

* Breaking Through the Digital Ceiling
* Get Your Local Campaigns On!
* Tooting Your Own Horn
* Build an Online Campaign and Change the World
* Women and Social Capital
* Firing Up Your Online List
* Women and Open Source
* Improve This Blog Pitch
* Mobile Activism
* Web 2.0: Hot or Not?

DIA recently co-sponsored the first-ever women’s telesummit organized by Women Who Tech . There were over 650 participants with a ton of great panels , all led by women.

This is amazing! I mean how many conferences have you been to where all the participants AND panelists were women. No wonder it worked so well.

One thing that struck me was how natural all of this felt. I had to remind myself that most panels about anything technology related, comprise of largely men. The bottom line is that us gals are underrepresented in the tech sector and it’s time we get out there.

Apply Today Green Corps’ Field School for Environmental Organizing.

GreenCorps is an awesome advocacy organizing training program for recent college graduates interested in pursuing a CAREER as an environmental organizer. I went through (most of) this program in 1997 and highly recommend it for the right person.

The deadline is February 1st - apply here

Feel free to contact me with any questions - jnet (at)democracyinaction.org or 406-880-jnet (5638)

Tired of laying awake at night wondering what the deal is with preparing photos for the web or email? Here are some quick tips on how to get the most from your online images.

File Size: Keep your file size small (25KB to 100 KB (kilobytes) and about 300 to 500 pixels in dimension for the web and smaller for email. It’s important to keep images small for dial up, mobile phone users, to prevent flagging large images as spam, and to retain look of email for users who block images.

Image Quality: Email and web pages display 72 ppi (pixels per inch), which determines the image resolution or quality.

Attention women of DIA. I thought you'd like to know about an upcoming virtual conference called Women Who Tech: A Teleconference for Women in Technology.

It's designed to engage women in the non-profit technology sector (that's you) who are interested in learning more about our field with other talented women (that's you too).

3 things I love about this conference:
- You don't have to live in the center of the universe (DC) to participate
- It's free
- Everyone will speak womentalk (no translators needed!)

Here's how the conference organizers describe this unconventional event:

Did you know that the last 5 days of the year are the most giving?

As such, this is the best time of year to raise money from your supporters.

Here are a few tips to increase your holiday fundraising success:
- Develop a holiday fundraising plan. See sample plan
- Incorporate your end of the year holiday mailing with 2-3 supportive emails.
- Send a final fundraising email during the last 5 days of the year.
- Include a holiday “ask” on your homepage.
- Temporary brand your donation landing page with holiday language (or create a new landing page).

More holiday fundraising resources:

DemocracyInAction -
Holiday Fundraising webinar

Sea Change Strategies -

WARNING: Attending a Bioneers conference may cause an uncontrollable desire to seek innovative and practical solutions to restore the earth and its people.

Beyond the gates of Yellowstone National Park, over 500 Montanans gathered in Bozeman to plug in to the 18th annual Bioneers conference that was held in San Rafael, CA.

Before attending the conference, I had the notion that Bioneers was a progressive solutions-based network.

It is, but it's also has this going for it:

Bioneers Defined - Bioneers is a hub of practical solutions for restoring the Earth and people. It's a thriving network of visionary innovators who are working with nature to heal nature.

The name of the mirco-fundraising game is this: Turn strangers into friends, friends into donors, and donors into fundraisers.

I got this sage advise from Peter Dietiz of foik, who offered an insightful webinar on microfundraising through NTEN’s webinar series.

Finally, there are a variety of tools that make this easier said than done recipe for success achievable. Mirco-fundraising is also referred to as group, peer, or person-to-person fundraising. This strategy essentially gives someone the tools they need to collect money on behalf of the cause of their choice.