PICnet Blog

When individuals give the ultimate gift of life to others, the Washington Regional Transplant Center is there to support families and recipients. The hard work of the men and women at WRTC ensure that those in need of organs are given the best shot of receiving them.

WRTC’s new Non-Profit Soapbox site has an emotionally moving Memorial Quilt, which gives families of donors an ability to share their stories with the world.

Many thanks to our friends at Free Range Studios for their beautiful design work.

People of faith in our country have been challenged by today’s world violence. The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) is a growing membership organization committed to ending U.S.-sponsored torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. To better communicate their message, they have recently launched their new Soapbox Web site.

“Nothing less is at stake in the torture abuse crisis than the soul of our nation. What does it signify if torture is condemned in word but allowed in deed? Let America abolish torture now — without exceptions.”

This Soapbox site works in conjunction with our friends at Democracy In Action and Wired for Change.

The National Arboretum in Washington, DC, is an amazing collection of our country’s beautiful trees. To enhance the support of the National Arboretum, the Friends of the National Arboretum (FONA) provides a variety of important services to the arboretum and the community.

We’re excited to announce the launch of FONA’s new Non-Profit Soapbox site! Congratulations to the FONA team for their hard work.

What happens when politically inspired young people get their hands on a bio-fueled bus? An amazing revival of hope and energy in Washington state politics takes place before your eyes. The Washington Bus recently launched their new Non-Profit Soapbox site, and we’re extremely pleased with the results.

“Put yourself on a bus full of young people and experience first-hand the revival of hope and energy in Washington politics. It’s not just any bus, of course. It’s the Washington Bus. And on any given Saturday it rolls into a town somewhere in our state, full of volunteers eager to work for positive change.”

Many thanks to Nica Lorber for her fantastic design skills, and our friends at Democracy In Action for their tools to empower the Bus.

In our country’s current military involvement around the world, there are more than a few opinions. For those proud Navy, Marine, and Coast Guard reservists, the Naval Enlisted Reserve Association has stood by their side for more than 50 years, representing their best interests.

“In more than 50 years, NERA has been responsible many of the pay and benefits gains reservists enjoy today and take for granted. Why NERA? Today, more than at any other time, Reserve Enlisted members are called upon more often to mobilize frequently to serve our nation.”

Congratulations to the team at NERA for building a terrific online resource for those men and women in uniform.

With our roots in international policy, we’re excited at the opportunity to work with groups focusing on US international relations. We’re pleased to announce the launch of the USA*Engage Web site, an organization representing individuals across the US who are concerned about the proliferation of unilateral foreign policy sanctions at the federal, state, and local levels.

“Ten years ago, U.S. foreign policy seemed to turn frequently to unilateral sanctions,” said USA*Engage Co-Chair Bill Reinsch. “Today, the pendulum seems to be swinging back in the same direction. This new Web site will be an excellent tool as we seek to reinforce the benefits of U.S. engagement and diplomacy in the world.”

Many thanks go out to our design partner Free Range Studios on their design work on this new Web site.

Over 7 million people, or one in every 32 American adults, are behind bars, on probation or on parole. Thousand Kites is a national dialogue project by Appalshop addressing the criminal justice system.

With assistance from our design partner Free Range Studios, the Thousand Kites site launched with links to a variety of social networks that the project connects individuals, video and audio, and other multimedia links.

Many of our organizations are using Non-Profit Soapbox for their CMS, and when doing so also elect to utilize Google Apps for their email services. This means they receive two great tools: a content management system and an email administration system. Unfortunately, it also means that they have to utilize two different systems to manage these functionalities.

What if we could bridge that gap? What if we could provide an administrative control panel for Google Apps within the Joomla administrator?

After a point in the right direction by a good friend, it seems like this could become a reality. Google provides rather detailed PHP API for their provisioning system, including even an API for the Zend Google Data Client Library to access the Provisioning API functionality.

Using the API, one could build remote functionalities such as:

• managing user accounts
• managing nicknames
• creating email lists

Anyone built on top of this yet?

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A new generation needs new ideas to help lead our country’s politics in the right direction. It it needs to do it with funk. That’s the noble mission of New Era Colorado, whose Web site was recently launched with the design and project management assistance of Nica Lorber from Skyline Public Works.

Check out their site: http://www.neweracolorado.org

In the great expanse of the American North, a new model for political participation is budding. Forward Montana is an organization training and recruiting the political leaders of tomorrow, and having a fun time doing so. We’re pleased to present their new Non-Profit Soapbox Web site, made in conjunction with Skyline Public Works’ Nica Lorber.

Check out their site: http://www.forwardmontana.org.