App It Up for Nonprofits and Libraries

Hello there! I just would like to give you a huge thumbs up for the fantastic information you have here on the blog post. I may be coming back to your blog for more in the future.

Thanks for asking. CyberLynx in Bandon Oregon makes a lot of use of Doodle, a free on line ap to find a date and time for a meeting. A link is sent out to all who should be at the meeting, they click on the link and are presented with a web page on which they enter their name and check off all the suggested times when they would be available. The convener can see who and how many can make the various times and decide when to meet. We even use Doodle for a virtual Board Meeting. Motions are made and discussed by email and a vote by Doodle: Monday = No, Friday = Yes.

But probably the most valuable ap is plain old email. Many organizations make access to email a prerequisite to volunteering. Many also send out a newsletter on email and if a member does not have email, they do not get the newsletter.

A really useful ap would be an email client that has a built in html editor to format newsletters etc.

I have been interested in designing am app for the organization that I work for, it would be very helpful if you could post some resources for non-profits on how to develop an app, what programs to use, or simply list some design resources that would point us in the right direction.

Thanks, oscardriver! That's fantastic feedback. I'll dig around and see what kind of resources I can come up with. It's also a great idea for a future blog post or webinar for us! In the meantime, can you say more about what type of app you'd like to develop? What would the app do and how does that relate to the mission of your organization?

Since I have no smartphone or tablet, I have no interest in using apps.

There is no apps for the PC except for Chrome browser.  Google has added some apps which work only in browser.  I like the weather and news apps and you only use the mouse to control the screen.   I tried other program which would load apps into their software.  But the choices of apps was very limited and I deleted the software.   I do know Android is working on x86 version (PC) but any apps would have to be recompile for x86 machines.  Then you have Windows 8 with it's Metro which will run Apps from MS store.  At this time there is no apps for x86, maybe this time next year there will be 50,000 apps for PC platform.

Thanks for all of this information! I was looking at the App Wish List and the first one can be accomplished with Razoo! news.razoo.com/.../product-updates-mobile-giving

-Gilad

I work for an animal shelter & have seen only one app that is about shelters. It's called AnimalHaven (for iPad) and it's just information about who, what, where, when & how but people that are interested in them have a handy bit of reference.  

Our shelter is pretty cyber intense with facebook, PetFinder, blog, website and Chip-In widgets when we have a special project.

 I did want to share with you a site that will let legitimate non-profits send out both HTML & text newsletters. It's www.verticalresponse.com

  You have to sign up as a regular person then make application for the non-profit but once approved, they give you an insane number of credits every month. High praise for their generosity!

-Lynne

I noticed that you mentioned you were looking for Public Art Apps.  Fortunately we've been working on one for several years.  cultureNOW's Museum Without Walls is a way to utilize smartphone technology to get beyond gallery walls, create an 'acoustiguide to the environment' and take the 'Museum out of the Museum'.  It works on the iPhone and Android.  There are currently over 60 public art collections nationally on it, about 10,000 sites and over 450 podcasts by artists, architects, curators and historians as well as more than 20 self guided tours.

The app won a NYC Big Apps 2.0 award as one of the Best Cultural Apps of NY in 2011 and just won the National American Institute of Architects 2012 Collaborative Achievement Award.  

www.culturenow.org

Hello all  -  great to find this group. here in Adelaide, Australia our legal aid service has launched our firts free community legal iOS app - LegalAidSA for South Australiasn to access online our justice, information and face-to-face support services. Working now on Android app yes for Feb release. Very happy to discuss with CLCs etc the journey of this this great app project that commenced in July this year.  pls DM via @LegalAidSA - cheers.

I read the wish list, and I made a not-for-profit search engine. You can use it here:

www.canadiantheatrehub.ca/search

There is also a link to download the code so you can insert the search engine into your own website if you like.

michael@canadiantheatrehub.ca

From the wishlist, I think down the line my organization may be interested in the credit card donation and volunteer apps.  Our group doesn't currently do a lot of interaction directly with the public, but we are looking to grow.  So I can envision those being handy.  I can't think of anything new at this time.  Thanks!