[Cialug] Promotion Idea

[Claus]

On 3/24/2005 1:24 PM, David Champion wrote:
> We've talked about doing something like this in the past...
> 
> http://www.dmregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050324/BUSINESS04/503240393/1029
> 
>  From the article, they're using dotnetnuke - which is similar to 
> phpNuke. Of course, certain folks on this list would probably reccommend 
> geeklog...
> 
> cialug.org has done hosting for non-profit groups in the past, I don't 
> think it would be a problem for us to do this. Of course, we could also 
> host elsewhere.
> 
> What do you guys think about this. Any ideas for organizations we could 
> do web sites for?
> 
> -dc

I'm on the board and technology committee of an non-profit organization 
here in Ames.  So I can provide a little feedback from the other side if 
desired.

The approach of the Iowa .NET user group is pretty impressive.  From the 
article it looks like they aren't just creating a fancy looking web page 
but also address the issue of keeping the site updated by non-tech 
people, something that's very important.  Also providing the 
organization with contact to low cost hosting is also a nice and useful 
service to non-profit organizations.  Another thing that's valuable to 
the non-profit is to be able to approach the group in the future in case 
a new feature is desired to be added to the site.  I'm not sure if they 
provide that or not.

One thing that's missing though is email.  Non-profits also are in the 
need for multiple email accounts with their domain name.  Along with 
that virus and some spam filtering would be useful.  Often the need to 
get to the email from multiple places is needed.  Mailing lists would be 
quite useful as well.

If you are interested in doing a project like that we could talk about 
it.  <plug>Also if you are living in Story County and like to volunteer 
otherwise check out our site, especially the "Local Volunteer 
Opportunities" link at http://www.volunteerstorycounty.org/ .  You also 
can volunteer by becoming part of one of our committees or participate 
in a disaster response training.</plug>.  Sorry, just couldn't stop 
myself. :)

   Claus