Newsletters

Common Connection

Volume 4, Number 5: March 15, 2004

This archived newsletter is from Harbinger Partners, before it
joined forces with the Corporate Volunteer Network to become Common Impact.

BEA Systems is pleased to announce our new partnership with Harbinger Partners. Since we are in the business of technology and because community service is a high priority within our company, BEA had been interested in providing non-profits with technology assistance for some time. Harbinger Partners has taken the guesswork out of locating organizations that want to use technology effectively, and have assumed responsibility for project management activities that generally require much time and effort. Harbinger Partners has already proven themselves to be a responsible, trustworthy organization, and BEA is happy to provide volunteer resources who can focus on what they do best.

-- Jen Hocko, BEA Foundation Core Committee Member and Burlington Volunteer Committee Chair

Our Technology Pioneers: An Update on Progress to Date

A New Partnership!

We're kicking off spring with a brand new partnership with BEA Systems under our belt. They are so eager to get involved that we've already matched a team of enthusiastic technology volunteers to Talking Information Center, one of our Fall Technology Pioneers! We are excited to work with BEA Systems and can't wait to see what fruit this relationship will bear.

Welcome, Spring Technology Pioneers!

We're bursting with good news this month! In addition to the new partnership, we're proud to welcome five new Spring Technology Pioneers:

  • Alternatives for Community and Environment

    • Alternatives for Community and Environment builds the power of low-income New England communities to achieve environmental justice and to eradicate environmental racism and classism. It provides legal and technical support, educational programs, and organizing assistance to community groups throughout the region to solve environmental problems and develop local environmental leadership.
  • Cradles to Crayons

    • Cradles to Crayons puts new and gently-used children's items--from strollers and car seats to books and clothing--into the hands of Boston families who need them most. It partners with community-based organizations and corporations to collect these items, inspects and sorts them at its warehouse facility, and then redistributes them through partner hospitals, homeless shelters, and parenting programs.
  • Eagle Eye Institute

    • Eagle Eye Institute uses the power of nature to transform urban youth and is committed to diversity so that more people can be involved in the conservation of the earth's natural resources. It engages underserved urban youths in hands-on environmental education programs, introducing them to natural resource careers and inspiring them to care about their urban environment.
  • Tutoring Plus

    • Tutoring Plus aims to support the academic, personal, and social growth of underserved youth in Cambridge through the use of volunteers and existing community resources. Its programs include an homework center for low-income students in the first through eighth grades, one-on-one mentoring for students seeking individual academic and personal support, and a high school student-athlete tutoring center.
  • Vietnamese-American Civic Association

    • The Vietnamese-American Civic Association promotes family self-sufficiency and well-being, and facilitates community empowerment among the Vietnamese population of Boston and its surrounding communities. It offers programs and services ranging from health education to youth development to job training and English literacy for the Vietnamese community.

Many Thanks

Thank you, thank you, and a thousand times more we thank you. Once again, Harbinger Partners is blessed with dear friends who help us all do good, just a little bit better. Specifically, hats off to:

The 484 Phi Alpha Foundation, for a $36,000 grant in support of the Technology Pioneers Program. We are so grateful for their continued interest and support.

Christina Lamkin and Jen Hocko for their invaluable help setting up the partnership with BEA Systems. Stay tuned for progress on the work of BEA Systems' technology volunteers with Talking Information Center!

What's News...

We Respect Your Privacy

We want to make sure you know what we do (and don't do) with your contact information:

  • We do not sell our mailing list to third parties or share any data with marketers in a way that personally identifies you.
  • We may use some of the information you provide to us in the aggregate. For example, if you submit an application to one of our programs, we might use that information to discuss the state of technology in the nonprofit sector in general. However, this information will never personally identify you.
  • You can opt out of receiving communications from us at any time simply by contacting us.

View our new privacy policy in full here: http://www.harbingerpartners.org/go/privacy/.

Hurry and Register for the 2004 N-TEN Nonprofit Technology Conference!

It's coming up on March 25th through 27th in Philadelphia, but you can still register. N-TEN members save $100--more details are online at http://www.nten.org/ntc.

Grants for Technology Training!

The Verizon Foundation offers computer training grants to employees of nonprofit organizations. If your nonprofit is seeking technology training, the Verizon Foundation's eTraining grants might just be what you need! Two reasons to apply: 1) the online application is short, simple, and takes less than 15 minutes to complete, and 2) the Charles River Public Internet Center (CRPIC) in nearby Waltham is a Verizon ePartner--one of the few places in New England that offers classes covered by these eTraining grants.

The Verizon Foundation recently released new guidelines for requesting these grants, so be sure to check the guidelines out here: http://foundation.verizon.com/06003a.shtml.

Best of the Web

Open source software is one of the latest trends to be buzzing around the nonprofit sector--what is it exactly? And why does the nonprofit sector care? Briefly put, open source software is any software whose code is available for users to look at and modify freely. On the one hand, free software can mean great cost savings for nonprofits; on the other, smaller nonprofits without extensive IT support may find it difficult to fix technical problems for this non-mainstream software.

GuideStar's latest newsletter provided an interesting and thought-provoking discussion about this trend. We recommend you take a look: http://www.guidestar.org/news/newsletter/open_source.jsp.

The Small Print

Thank you for reading the quarterly newsletter of Common Impact! We welcome your comments and contributions. Please send all inquiries to:

Common Impact
The Athenaeum Building
215 First Street, Suite 25
Cambridge, MA 02142-1236
Phone: (617) 492-3105
E-Mail: info@commonimpact.org