I first started reading articles on Idealware's web site in early 2006, and immediately found myself referring others to a resource that was both pertinent and knowledgeable about the challenges that people who work in nonprofits face as they try and make good, practical use of technology. Practical is the catch-word here. Idealware has consistently focused on providing information that is timely and important for nonprofits, be that software comparisons of donor management or web site management applications; studies on the effectiveness of fundraising or social media strategies; or targeted training on using the tools that Idealware discusses.

As I was blogging on similar topics, I soon took a role as a content-provider to Idealware, writing articles on document management, data integration, and software evaluation. After a few years, I joined the Idealware board. Throughout all of this, I've had a close eye on Idealware's growth and remarkable consistency at providing high quality, practical information to our sector. I've been impressed by CEO Laura Quinn's professional and focused approach to running her organization, and Andrea Berry's creativity and enthusiasm for both doing idealware's work and identifying resources to support it. Not a week has gone by when Idealware hasn't played a critical part in helping one or more worthwhile organizations make better choices about the technology they implement and how they deploy it. I'm proud to be a supporter and contributer to Idealware.

So I'm setting out to raise a modest amount of money for them. I will personally match any donations up to $375.00, but hope to exceed my $750.00 goal. if you, like me, benefit from the work of Idealware,; share my belief that what they do has a huge, positive impact on small nonprofits and their ability to succeed at their missions (as well as good work for larger orgs, like mine); or both; please join me in contributing to their work.