If you're working with advocacy organizations and you're located close to NYC, this looks like a great event:

The Tactical Tech Collective is working with Organizing 2.0 to promote their new film, Ten Tactics for Turning Information into Action. The New York premiere is this coming Wednesday, Feb. 17, at 7pm. Get your advance tickets here.

In addition, they sent us copies of their associated droolworthy toolkits. You can have one of 'em too. Just tell us why you or your organization should get one, and how you might put it to good use. Then, show up at the event, and you stand a good chance of winning! We have twenty of these suckers, so your chances are not bad. Tell us on our blog or over at the GrassrootsCamp Meetup site.

The film, included in half the toolkits, covers 35 examples of grassroots activists doing something nifty online. One of my favorite examples is the story of the pink chaddis in India. (Chaddis = women's underwear in Hindi.) Feminist activists protesting a violent, right wing group's efforts to punish women for visiting bars called on supporters to send pink chaddis to the group's leader. On Valentine's Day, of course. This Facebook based campaign worked and received international attention.

Other examples cover bloggers in Egypt, text messaging in Kenya, crowdsourcing in Mumbai, fighting corruption in Morocco, capturing human rights abuses on video in Burma and Iran.

Ten Tactics does a great job of laying out precisely how and why activists chose particular tools, what obstacles they faced and overcame, and what the results where on the issue in question. There's a bias at work - the Tactical Tech Collective wants to make online tools accessible to as many people and organizations as possible. So they chose many examples that rely far more on creativity and courage than on technical skill and equipment. Most of the examples are from developing countries, highlighting the fact that online activism is not some kind of elite strategy only relevant for well resourced groups like MoveOn or the Obama campaign.

Apologies for the late notice on this one. The Tactical Tech Collective has always done impressive work, and no doubt this will be equally amazing. Look forward to some report backs. (Via Charles Lenchner at Organizing 2.0)

This just in from Donald Lobo and the CiviCRM team:

Hey folks:

Just wanted to let you know that we'll be having our very first CiviCon on April 22 at Mitch Kapor Foundation offices. We hope to see all of you at the conference. Save the date and book your tickets: CiviCon, April 22, 2010

Information and registration is here. Please register as soon as possible :)

Would be great if folks could propose a few sessions here. We'd love to organize the conference into various tracks (fundraising, advocacy/political, membership/association, education). The success of the conference depends on our combined involvement.

We are also having quite a few trainings around that time in Atlanta, GA around NTEN (April 7, 11, 12). There is an affinity group session and panel discussions around CiviCRM during NTEN.

We are also having trainings the day before DrupalCon April 18.

If you are in the area or attending either of those conferences, we could use your help. Please contact us via email.

A complete list of our events is here

lobo

Exciting to see a product evolve so far in such a short timeframe. If I recall correctly, my own introduction to CiviCRM began on the Kleercut campaign in 2005. It's been a reliable friend several times since then and just keeps on improving. Kudos to all the folks that make this open-source software project possible.

This is one event that I might just have to attend. If you're considering CiviCRM for your organization, you might want to think about it too.

Looks like long-standing friend of Web of Change and post-President of Donor Digital has decided to change the face of online advocacy and fundraising (again!). Madeline Stanionis announced today that she's started a new company the remove the "talk. talk. talk" and "hype. hype. hype." from e-dvocacy. She's also signed up The Watershed Company to be the first sponsor of the 2007 Web of Change gathering. This is all very exciting! The announcement is below ... and, if you haven't read her book, you really should get a copy.

Announcing a new online relationship building company

THE WATERSHED COMPANY ONLINE FUNDRAISING AND ADVOCACY San Francisco & DC (888) 516-8580

When it comes to new media have you had enough? Enough...

Talk.Talk Talk. Hype. Hype. Hype.

Let’s face it. Everyone talks about the awesome promise and potential of the internet. Few have experienced it in any sustained way.

Sure, with a Tsunami and a Hurricane Katrina, billions were raised online by a few organizations.

And yes, the presidential candidates like Howard Dean and John Kerry and even George Bush also attracted millions upon millions - volunteers, activists, donors. Not to mention the bragging and blogging (largely unmeasured) that went on in the 2006 mid-term elections.

But, if you’re not the Red Cross or a popular presidential candidate, and you really have to show some online results, you’re probably asking, “What about the rest of us?”

Introducing WATERSHED ... A whole new company designed expressly to build, grow and sustain relationships with your constituents online. And, thoroughly integrated with your other channels like field organizing, education, direct mail, telephone, and donor services.

No, WATERSHED isn’t a software solutions company, even though we know what software solutions are likely to work best for you. And, no, WATERSHED isn’t some magic silver bullet that offers the latest in blady-da-blah blogging, or oh-so-cute video, although we know more about the latest and most effective technologies than those who so casually throw those terms around.

WHAT WATERHED IS ... We’re a consulting company made up of very experienced, successful folks who understand the power of the internet AND integrated fundraising and advocacy, and are, well, a little fed up with all the un-tested myths and nonsense that pass for “insight” and “expertise” in the online world.

Fortunately, we've done more than just shake our heads and complain. Instead, we've gathered the best and the brightest from online and offline marketing and organizing and pulled together a pretty kickass team.

And, we’ve put all the skills of these great virtuosos under the baton of Madeline Stanionis, one of the most experienced online fundraising, advocacy, and marketing experts in the country. From her stint as President and Creative Director at Donordigital, she brings a string of real successes from Amnesty International to CARE to Human Rights Campaign to NARAL Pro-Choice America, and dozens of groups across the alphabet. Not to mention her breakthrough book on online fundraising, The Mercifully Brief Real World Guide to Raising Thousands of Dollars with Email.

The result? Well, frankly, results.

Results from our specially tailored online fundraising, advocacy and donor loyalty campaigns, custom-designed for you. Watershed works with you to develop:

· Online strategies · Engaged online constituents · Advocacy campaigns · Comprehensive online fundraising · Cultivation, viral, and communication programs · Social networking know-how · Hands-on, day-to-day management · Results-oriented planning and evaluation

To better understand how we can help you be successful online, give us a call at (888) 516-8580 or send us an email at breakthrough@watershedcompany.com.

One more thing: Yes, we’re hiring. If you like the idea of working with a smart, dedicated, creative, and fun team to help build the company you always wanted to work for, then send your resume and cover letter to kickassjobs@watershedcompany.com.