CanadaHelps & Toronto Net Tuesday

We are very excited to be speaking at February's Toronto Net Tuesday event: "Know your options for accepting donations online" on Tuesday, February 21 at 5:30 PM.

Toronto Net Tuesday is organized by our friends at Techsoup Canada, and is a place for nonprofits, social enterprises and social purpose businesses to come together to learn about technology trends, issues and tools, share stories and build new relationships.

The event on Tuesday will discuss online giving trends and tools:

Online giving is increasing in popularity each year - according to one study, it increased 25% from 2010 to 2011. Online donations are a convenient and popular way to give money, and they are here to stay. You may be surprised to learn that it’s not just for younger donors - baby boomers in particular give online in large numbers. If you don’t yet offer donors a way to give online, or would like to learn more about the basic alternatives for online giving, then this Net Tuesday is for you.

The key to being able to accept online donations is being able to process payments from credit cards or direct debit. There are different approaches to payment processing, which have different advantages and disadvantages.

We will cover, at a high level, three common approaches to processing donation payments for Canadian charities:

• CanadaHelps - a simple method of accepting online donations that any charity can get started with right away
• Online donation service providers - these simplify the process of accepting credit cards or direct debit, dealing with the nitty gritty details for you
• Do it yourself - set up an account with PayPal or a similar service, which offers increased flexibility but more management from your side

Kirstin Beardsley, Marketing & Communications Manager at CanadaHelps, will be on hand to explain their program and answer questions.

Hope to see you there! Register here: http://www.meetup.com/toronto-net-tuesday/events/51706732/

CanadaHelps & Social Media Week Toronto 2012

We are very excited to be on the panel for "From Slacktivist to Activist: Partners in change, one small act at a time" on Monday, February 13 as part of Social Media Week Toronto 2012.

This will be our first year participating as a speaker in Social Media Week Toronto, which is part of a global event with 21 participating cities. Each city offers a series of interconnected activities and conversations on emerging trends in social and mobile media across all major industries.

"From Slacktivist to Activist: Partners in change, one small act at a time" will be a panel discussion about the how these small acts like a Facebook "like" or a Twitter retweet can strengthen relationships and lead to greater collaboration with your supporters.

The panel includes:

• George Irish, Digital Fundraising and Marketing Specialist at Amnesty International Canada
• Tierney Smith, Community Manager at Techsoup Canada
• Karen Luttrell, Owner at Karen Luttrell Communications
• Boyd Neil, SVP and National Practice Leader, Social Media and Digital Communications at Hill and Knowlton Canada
• Amy Sept, Owner at Nimbyist Communications

Join the conversation by following @canadahelps & @smwto on Twitter, or by searching the hashtag #SMWTOslacktivist.

Hope to see you there!