The 501 Talks Tech training series is a free service for nonprofits covering a variety of technology topics. The focus is to expand the nonprofit sector’s use of technology by providing information, as well as free and low-cost tools, to increase community resources and improve outcomes. Each interactive workshop lasts an hour, with the goal that you'll walk away having learned something that can be directly applied to your organization.
If you are interested in technology trainings, tools, and resources, register below, or you can check out presentation slides and resources from previous workshops in our Technology Knowledge Center.
Recent Trainings
For more information on previous trainings and other tech resources, please visit the Technology Knowledge Center.
Microsoft Teams for Nonprofits
A few of our 501 Commons technology experts shared a walkthrough of capabilities for Microsoft Teams:
- More awareness of Teams' capabilities and features, including using Teams as a phone system
- A better understanding of the platform so you can determine if it is a good fit for their organization
- The ability to assess the benefits of Teams over other platforms
- Tips on using Teams to support collaboration inside and outside the organization
- Information on getting Teams set up for your organization
You can watch the YouTube video of the presentation here!
WordPress Plugins for Nonprofits
We were glad to welcome Ten Forward to come in and present on selecting and implementing plugins for WordPress websites!
- How to choose the right plugins (including recommendations for some of our trusted favorites)
- Securing your site against malicious attacks
- Backups and recovery
You can find the slides here!
Measurement for Impact: Google Analytics for Nonprofits
Google Analytics is a popular tool for gathering information on who visits your website, how they got there, and what they do once they're there.
Do you know how you can use this information to your advantage?
Understanding your online audience can help you make informed decisions related to your mission, operations, services, and fundraising. You can also gain valuable insight after asking questions like:
- What programs and partnerships successfully get new visitors to critical services, events, and pages?
- Where do people start on your website, what do they find from there, and what percentage take action?
- What is the profile of visitors to your website? Does it match your client target?
- What about your website is working and not working for users and clients?
Here are the slides!
Project Management for Nonprofits
Looking to learn more about project management, or just trying to find a better tool for team productivity?
Every organization needs strong project management practices to help drive their missions forward. This training covered free or low-cost easy-to-use technology tools that may help you collaborate better as a team. It also covered qualities that make a successful project manager, as well as the "big picture" of project management.
You can check out the slides here.
Video Strategies that Boost Fundraising
Ready to make fundraising videos that boost donations?
The results are in: telling your organization’s story through video can drive fundraising event goals and increase traffic to your social media channels and website. You know video needs to be part of your marketing mix, but how do you tap into this tool to help amp up engagement and reinforce your mission?
Hand Crank Films is an experienced and recommended consultant found in 501 Commons' Nonprofit Resource Directory. You can see their slides here.
Microsoft Teams for Nonprofits
501 Commons hosted a webinar to walk through Microsoft Teams!
Design Thinking for Nonprofits: Creating Real Solutions to Real Problems
Design thinking is a framework, or process, that helps organizations and project leaders deliver innovative, inventive, and practical solutions to real problems. See slides from this design thinking workshop that provides tools and methods for developing empathy for your customers, creating a problem definition, identifying solutions and then evaluating the viability of those solutions.
More About 501 Talks Tech Trainings
These small-scale events are directed for community members and small-budget nonprofits. Trainings range from application overviews to more focused methods of tech use. Tech usage will be communicated comfortably for various skill levels. Specific training topics will be based on common tech needs and related challenges of the nonprofit community.
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Request a training or propose one
Please let us know which technology topics or tools you’d like to learn more about! Complete a brief survey or share your suggestion with jim@501commons.org.
If you are interested in leading a training session, please read more about the Technology Trainer position.