Nonprofit Speech Rights

New Posts

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

read in full
Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

read in full
Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

read in full
Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

  UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

read in full
more news

Free Software for Suites

We were challenged to come up with low-cost alternatives to commercial office suite products that could accomplish the same (or similar) tasks. In order to highlight free tools whenever possible, we wanted to present a sample of what is available in the land of freeware. This is not intended to be a comprehensive listing, but a starting point for further exploration. Please be sure to read notices on the individual product pages for important user information, bug reports, and warnings. NPTalk cannot assume responsibility for any use of the products listed below.

read in full

Internet Accessibility Resources

A number of nonprofits seek resources that help explain how to make Internet and Web efforts more accessible to visually and hearing impaired visitors, or to folks who lack equipment that can take full advantage of certain sites. In the eagerness to take advantage of streaming media, chat, Internet fax, or the newest gadget, basic principles of website design or Internet resource planning can sometimes become an afterthought.

read in full

Web Based Language Translation Services

The World Wide Web, despite its potential to bridge cultural gaps, is still predominately a medium for the English language. Currently, it is estimated that some 87 percent of documents on the Internet are written in English. According to Global Reach, a marketing communications consultancy that develops international access for websites, English speakers make up slightly more than 51.3% of the world’s online population though they only represent 32% of the world’s total economy. Additionally, some 32 million Americans speak a non-English primary language.

read in full

Remote/Hosted Search Engine Services

One of the benefits of the World Wide Web is the ability to navigate among different sources and types of information. The central element of this navigability are search engines, the mechanisms through which users enter certain words or phrases, that return lists of documents containing those terms. The success of search engines rests, in part on the tools themselves, and, in part, on the sources of content.

read in full

Online Polls and Surveys

Online Survey and Polling Tools The need for nonprofits to collect information and survey others is critically important, especially in research and message development activities. There are usually, however, two limitations: cost and expertise. There are a number of online tools and services that may make it easier and less costly to do surveys and polls.

read in full

Commercial, Nonprofit, and Not-For-Profit Online Voter Education and Participation Resources

Internet and Voter Participation A while back, Microsoft ran an interesting paid advertisement/essay in a number of newspapers entitled, "The Internet and Democracy". It presents a series of statements emphasizing the Internet's increasing role in the interaction between people and government, as well as candidates and the electorate. In particular, the ad emphasizes the notion of the Internet as means for:
  • organizing and expressing citizen opinions among the body politic and with elected officials,

read in full

Unions and Technology

Unions and the Digital Divide Unions and technology have had a good amount of attention lately. You have probably heard the news that the Ford Motor Company, through PeoplePC is offering their 350,000 employees computers with Internet access for US$5 a month, including shipping. This arrangement came about when Ford and the United Auto Workers (UAW)- which represents 100,000 Ford workers in America- negotiated a four-year contract last fall. The UAW suggested the idea for computer access for workers during the negotiations.

read in full

Free Electronic Mailing and Discussion List Hosting

The now commonly-used term "listserv" refers, in fact, to the original e-mail list hosting software (called LISTSERV) first introduced in 1986. Now, just about any electronic discussion list is called a "listserv." Moreover Lsoft, the company that produces the LISTSERV brand of software, has started to clamp down on use of this term. In referring to the generic tool, one should use "e-mail list" or "e-mail-based discussion group."

read in full

Instant Messaging

One type of technology that forms a logical extension between the notion of community building and the work of nonprofits is instant messaging (IM). Reportedly some 80 million folks are using IM technology daily to generate a low-end estimate of some 500 million messages a day.

read in full

Stakeholder Analysis Tools

The following information is drawn from September 19, 20, and 23, 1999 postings on the NPTalk discussion list. Introduction Stakeholder analysis is an aspect of organizing and mobilizing activity often overlooked by smaller community groups but not by larger entities interested in creating effective campaigns and strategies to help push their interests in the policymaking process.

read in full

Pages

Resources & Research

Living in the Shadow of Danger: Poverty, Race, and Unequal Chemical Facility Hazards

People of color and people living in poverty, especially poor children of color, are significantly more likely...

read in full

A Tale of Two Retirements: One for CEOs and One for the Rest of Us

The 100 largest CEO retirement funds are worth a combined $4.9 billion, equal to the entire retirement account savings of 41 percent of American fam...

read in full

Blowing Smoke: Chemical Companies Say “Trust Us,” But Environmental and Workplace Safety Violations Belie Their Rhetoric

Large chemical companies a...

read in full

Gasping for Support: Implementation of Tougher Air Quality Standards Will Require New Funds for State Agencies

New scientific research shows that the current levels of...

read in full
more resources
  • ©2025 Project On Government Oversight
  • All Rights Reserved.
  • This an archive site of the materials produced by the Center for Effective Government (formerly OMB Watch) and is maintained by the Project On Government Oversight.