Causes has become a powerful tool in the social web, allowing nonprofits and individuals activists to raise awareness around the issues they care about. Join us for our August Ask the Expert when we'll talk about Causes and answer the NTEN community's questions with Joe Green, co-founder and president of Causes. 

For those of us who have to wear a Human Resources hat along with several others, hiring well is hard -- especially when you're hiring for technology positions and you don't have a tech background.  Fortunately, Katrin found the amazing James and Cassie at CommonGood Careers. They wrote the IT staffing chapter in Managing Technology to Meet Your Mission, and they did a fabulous job. 

One of the most interesting things I learned from James is that a bad hire is really expensive -- like two times the salary expensive. You want to make sure that you're doing it right the first time. 

Luckily, James will be walking us through some of his secrets at the Online Nonprofit Technology Conference next month. If you just can't wait, here's an early listen of some of his wisdom.

In every corner of the NTC, frequently in the NTEN Affinity Groups, and at least two times a week in my in-box, you'll come across a conversation that goes a little like this:

"They hired me to help them create a new data/web/email/IT strategy, but now they don't actually want to DO any of the things I recommend. I've given them statistics and logic, but they won't listen to reason!"

You can be the smartest person in the room when it comes to IT, but a real technology leader doesn't just know what to do, she knows how to get it done.  And getting it done means helping your leadership and staff understand and embrace the changes that will inevitably follow.

This is known as change management. It's what Dahna Goldstein does best.  Dahna will join us for the Online Nonprofit Technology Conference in September.  Here, she takes some time to share a few of the secrets of managing change effectively in your organization.

Do you use CiviCRM in your organization? Are you responsible for configuring and/or maintaining CiviCRM for your organization?  Join Dave Greenberg of the CiviCRM Team while he answers the NTEN Community's questions on CiviCRM.

Okay, so Chris Brogan prefers to say he's not an expert, but that he advises people on social media use. That doesn't change the fact that he's smart and savvy on the social media front. One of his specialties? Starting and maintaining conversations with stakeholders. Join us for our discussion with Chris.

Avinash Kaushik, Analytics Evangelist for Google and author of "Web Analytics: An Hour a Day" will spent a hour with NTEN answering  questions on Web Analytics.

Ramya Raghavan, Nonprofits and Activism Manager at YouTube, will be on hand during this Ask the Expert online chat to help demystify the use of video to reach your audience. She leads YouTube's Agent Change Program for Nonprofits.

Is your nonprofit using maps to geographically show off your work?  Have you thought of the dozens of ways you could use the GeoWeb to make your work more visible?  If you have used or are considering using GIS in your nonprofit's work, you probably have a question or two. Well, Andrew Turner, a neogeographer involved in helping to build the geospatial web, was here to answer GIS questions for our November Ask the Expert session. 

Join us as we talk about the American Red Cross social media experience with Wendy Harman about Social Media Adoption in our February Ask the Expert.  Every organization considering social media has plenty of questions to answer, and most of them have nothing to do with the technology. Plenty of staff at the American Red Cross knew HOW to blog, or how to use Facebook, but before the organization could roll out their social media plan, they had address the bigger issues.

If you can still stomach waking to the news each morning, then you know the economic situation we are in is not too pretty. And just because money is tight, doesn't mean that we can stop spending it. Join us to talk with Michael Schreiber about how technology planning is still possible and more necessary than ever in our April Ask the Expert.

Join us for our May Ask the Expert with the Mal Warwick, author of Fundraising When Money Is Tight: A Strategic and Practical Guide to Surviving Tough Times and Thriving in the Future.  In his new book some simple yet sometimes counterintuitive steps are presented that you can take to ensure that your organization will suffer the least possible damage in a down economy -- and emerge healthy and poised for renewed growth when the economic crisis has passed. 

NTEN and Idealware have teamed up to help you out with an  impartial, detailed comparison of 33 different donor management systems (also called donor databases) that cost less than $4250 in the first year.  Join us for our June Ask the Expert with Laura Quinn and Eric Leland.  Laura, Director, Idealware completed the analysis of the data while Eric Leland, Five Paths Partner, performed the research for the report.

The social media waters are tough to navigate. Join us for our July Ask the Expert when we'll talk about ReadWriteWeb's Guide to Online Community Management and answer YOUR questions about online community management with Marshall Kirkpatrick, editor of the report.

A brief chat with Beth Kanter to define ROI and how to do it right in your organization.  Join us for more conversation with Beth at the Online Nonprofit Technology Conference Spetember 16 and 17: http://nten.org/ontc.