Idealist.org

The 5 tools you NEED to be using right now. The 10 reasons why you MUST be on Pinterest. 7.5 ways to increase your tech impact TODAY! Sound familiar? 

There are lots of tools out there that are low-cost or even free, but how do you know which ones are worth using? More importantly, how do you use them effectively—in a way that moves you closer to achieving your mission?

We'll share some case studies of high-impact tools that have been useful for nonprofits and activists. We'll also highlight helpful resources for 501(c)(3)s, who can get access to commercial tools at deep discounts. More information to come!

PRESENTER

Sara Rasmussen coordinates marketing at Pyramid Communications. She blends design, digital, and project management chops to connect nonprofits, tribes, and government entities to communications that amplify their impact.

TWITTER

Event: Use the #pdxt4g hashtag, and/or mention @PDXTech4Good
Presenter: @sararasmussn / @pyramidcomms 
Venue host: @Idealist 
Sponsors: @NTENorg and @NetSquared

AGENDA

Networking and refreshments: 6pm-6:30pm
Presentation: 6:30pm-7:50pm
Q&A: 7:50pm-8pm

ACCESSIBILITY

Mobility Access: This venue is wheelchair accessible. 
Hearing Access: We will not have access to a PA.
Sight Access: Presentations will use a projector.

We want everyone to be able to participate in the PDXTech4Good community and events. Please don't hesitate to contact us and let us know what we can do to accommodate your needs.

WHAT YOU'LL GET OUT OF PDXTECH4GOOD EVENTS

Nonprofit staffers will find a friendly, welcoming atmosphere for those not experienced with technology, and many chances to ask questions of tech-experienced nonprofits and experts.

Techies will find opportunities to hear the real-world stories of nonprofit clients, and put their own expertise to social good — as well as the potential for lasting relationships (be they paid or volunteer) with leading organizations in our community.

Activists and community organizers will see and be given the chance to present on successful uses of technology for social change. We'll explore how technology can help support activism and where activism can push it forward.

DOORS AT 6PM, TALK AT 6:30PM

Got a lot to say about a topic? Writing a book can be a highly rewarding challenge. It’s not as hard as you might think, and it helps your knowledge reach many new kinds of people.

Everything you wanted to know about what it takes to write a book for a technical audience. Pro’s and con’s of self-publishing vs working with a publisher, what to write about, the process of writing, how to market, and more.

This talk draws from lessons I learned from writing Hello Web App, my Kickstarted book covering Django web app development for beginners.

We'll be talking about issues of diversity, accountability and representation in nonprofit technology and technology in general. Presenters will cover topics like:

• Building diversity in tech teams, and why diversity is critical to success whether you're for-profit or nonprofit.

• Local and national projects by nonprofits to broaden the types of people who get involved in technology and programming as young people.

• Local and national efforts by nonprofits to address sexism and racism that often plays out within "tech culture."

• The state of the Portland tech community when it comes to inclusion and accountability, especially as it relates to sexism and racism.

PRESENTERS

Melissa Chavez is a digital and physical space UX designer who organizes events for tech and nonprofit communities. Open Source Bridge, the Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference, PyDX, and Portland VegFest are some of the events she helps run. Reading YA novels helps keep her sane. Twitter: @capnleela

Jennifer Davidson works at Intel as a User Experience Researcher and Software Interaction Designer. She recently completed her PhD in Computer Science at Oregon State University, where she researched human-computer interaction, specifically involving older adults in the design and development of open source software. She is Interim Board President of ChickTeck. She strongly believes that everyone should have a say in our technology revolution. Twitter: @jewifer

Robert Raleigh is helping underserved youth build successful careers as technology professionals in the software/IT industries. Robert is a front-end web developer, and the executive director of Log Camp, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) providing technology-focused career-and-technical education for low-income youth, and youth from communities of color. Log Camp's Tech Works Youth Developer Academy and after-school enrichment programming have created a diverse youth talent pipeline. Log Camp works with corporate, nonprofit, government, and educational partners to increase diversity and equitable access to technology, coding, and computer science education for youth in the Portland metro region. Robert is an Alaskan Native (Tlingit), a first-generation college graduate, and a former foster-child. In the past, Robert has worked for the Corvallis Chamber of Commerce, Technology Association of Oregon, and Oregon Health Sciences University. Robert is an active member of the NAYA Family Center Community Leaders Council, and the Portland City Club. Twitter: @RobertGRaleigh

Jennifer Cazares, better known as "Yenni," identifies as a vessel for social change. As a non-binary Queer Latin@, Yenni began the journey in activism at the ripe age of 15 when after taking over the high school Key Club was able to enlist over 70 active volunteers in community events. Despite leaving high school on the suspicion of a queer identity and experiencing fear of coming out due to a Latin@ upbringing, Yenni made it to engineering school in Oregon where due to the lack of support for diversity Yenni was pushed out. Having dedicated the last decade to positive youth development in various arenas of the youth empowerment movement with organizations such as Altamed, Six Rivers Planned Parenthood, ChickTech, Northwest Youth Corps, and currently with LULAC Vancouver. Yenni looks forward to creating change through the power of education and technology. Lover of the outdoors and all things living. "Dropping knowledge and love everywhere I go." (Pronouns: Yenni)

TWITTER

Event: Use the #pdxt4g hashtag, and/or mention @PDXTech4Good
Presenters: @capnleela @jewifer @RobertGRaleigh
Venue host: @idealist
Sponsors: @NTENorg and @NetSquared

AGENDA

Networking and refreshments: 6pm-6:30pm
Presentation: 6:30pm-7:30pm
Q&A: 7:30pm-8pm

WHAT YOU'LL GET OUT OF PDXTECH4GOOD EVENTS

Nonprofit staffers will find a friendly, welcoming atmosphere for those not experienced with technology, and many chances to ask questions of tech-experienced nonprofits and experts.

Techies will find opportunities to hear the real-world stories of nonprofit clients, and put their own expertise to social good — as well as the potential for lasting relationships (be they paid or volunteer) with leading organizations in our community.

Activists and community organizers will see and be given the chance to present on successful uses of technology for social change. We'll explore how technology can help support activism and where activism can push it forward.

Every web project faces a similar set of challenges: how do you keep visual assets and the code that serves them maintainable? CSS, in particular, is notoriously difficult to manage over time. Almost as soon as a project begins, we lose track of everything we’ve made available. Even worse, we become fearful of making changes, because it’s hard to know what the consequences will be.

Instead, we tend to add. We add more code, and we add more components. Before long, our CSS is very difficult to update, and our sites become inconsistent, with a diverse mix of typography and components.

Pattern Libraries can help us with these problems. We’ll talk about exactly what a Pattern Library is, how it is (or isn’t) like a Styleguide, some advantages it can provide, and finally a little about how to go about making one.

Unable to attend the Nonprofit Technology Conference? That's OK! This month, hear short mini-presentations from locals who spoke at the 2015 NTC.

Talks

• How Progressive Nerds are Changing the Future of Political Data and Integration with Lev Tsypin

• Content Strategy 101 with Brett Meyer

• Demographic Data Collection Implications and Opportunities with Yee Won Chong

• Why I Don't Use Volunteers with Liza Dyer

More to come!

Speakers

Lev Tsypin (@levelos) is the CTO and co-owner of ThinkShout. Lev leads a diverse team of forward-thinking engineers, helping ThinkShout's clients achieve their goals through innovation and technical excellence.

Brett Meyer (@brett_meyer) is the Director of Strategy at ThinkShout. He helps nonprofits craft compelling messages and measure the success of their digital campaigns.

Yee Won Chong (@yeewon) has over 18 years of experience working on racial, gender and economic justice. As a trainer and strategist, he helps nonprofit organizations to improve their diversity and ability to fulfill their mission by embodying an inclusive culture that empowers everyone to thrive. As a public speaker, he presented on "Beyond the Gender Binary" at TEDx Rainier in Seattle.

Liza Dyer (@lizaface)

More to come!

Agenda

Networking and refreshments 6pm-6:15pm/6:30pm Presentations 6:15pm/6:30pm-8pm

What you'll get out of PDXTech4Good events:

Nonprofit staffers will find a friendly, welcoming atmosphere for those not experienced with technology, and many chances to ask questions of tech-experienced nonprofits and experts.

Techies will find opportunities to hear the real-world stories of nonprofit clients, and put their own expertise to social good — as well as the potential for lasting relationships (be they paid or volunteer) with leading organizations in our community.

Activists and community organizers will see and be given the chance to present on successful uses of technology for social change. We'll explore how technology can help support activism and where activism can push it forward.

Greetings fellow Reagents!

We are looking forward to our first official ReactJS user group. Dave and Eric from Idealist.org will be sharing some interesting stuff (details below) with us, and we're hoping to have one additional talk. Please let us know if you're interested in speaking/presenting. We'd like to have at least a few lightning talks as well. I have a feeling this will fill up fast, so please RSVP if you would like to attend this event.

If you are new to our group, Welcome! If you would like to get more involved or hear what we're talking about, we'd like to invite you to join our google group to join the conversations or start a new one. Also, please take a look at our code of conduct which let's you know what we think "being excellent to each other" should look and feel like.

Talks:

Notes on the Design of Components (Dave McCabe)

Dave will discuss what idealist.org has learned about designing React components, specifically techniques for promoting simplicity, reuse, statelessness, and separation of concerns, and for dealing with asynchrony.

Isomorphic Webpack Hot Module Replacement Boilerplate (Eric O'Connell)

• Do you want to serve fully-rendered HTML from your React application?
• Do you want near-instant feedback in your browser as soon as you edit your React components?
• How about CSS?

This talk will give the starting point for a very nice dev environment using the webpack Hot Module Replacement feature. It will include a (trivial) Express app that renders the entire React component hierarchy which will then be hydrated on the client. Variations shown will include serving API requests out of the same app, and shared client/server routing.

TBD / Lightning talks

Get in touch with us if you'd like to share your experiences!

PRESENTATIONS

Annual report, impact report, shareholder report... whatever you call it, it's that time of year again. You need a report that shows how your organization made the community more just, creative, cultured, stable, or equitable this year. Join PDXTech4Good for this deep dive into the modern annual report.

First, Joleen Ong will share some "annual report inspiration," specific examples of nonprofits that have been skillful in reimagining the annual report, and improving the reader experience by making the content development engaging and fun. From one page infographics to photo contests to interactive websites, learn about some creative approaches that nonprofits are taking to ultimately share the story of their impact.

Then, join Kris Wittenberger in an exploration of the digital annual report: the what, why, and how of creating a new kind of annual report. 

PRESENTERS

Kris Wittenberger bounces between the worlds of planners, UX experts, developers, writers, designers, and marketers to choreograph digital experiences. As a digital planner and strategist, she loves solving problems and thinking through possibilities with her clients that venture into new territories. She's an unapologetic INTJ who gets along with all types. You can connect with her on Twitter @hellokrisw.

Joleen Ong is a strong advocate of the nonprofit sector's role in bringing about social change, and the power of smart communications and technology to make this happen. At NTEN, Joleen is the editor of NTEN: Change, the quarterly journal for nonprofit leaders, and helps to support NTEN's 50,000+ community members meet their mission through technology. Find her on Twitter at @joleendearest.

AGENDA

Networking and refreshments: 6pm-6:30pm
Presentation: 6:30pm-7:50pm
Q&A: 7:50pm-8pm

ACCESSIBILITY

Mobility Access: This venue is wheelchair accessible.
Hearing Access: We will not have access to a PA. 
Sight Access: Presentations will use a projector.

We want everyone to be able to participate in the PDXTech4Good community and events. Please don't hesitate to contact us and let us know what we can do to accommodate your needs.

WHAT YOU'LL GET OUT OF PDXTECH4GOOD EVENTS

Nonprofit staffers will find a friendly, welcoming atmosphere for those not experienced with technology, and many chances to ask questions of tech-experienced nonprofits and experts.

Techies will find opportunities to hear the real-world stories of nonprofit clients, and put their own expertise to social good — as well as the potential for lasting relationships (be they paid or volunteer) with leading organizations in our community.

Activists and community organizers will see and be given the chance to present on successful uses of technology for social change. We'll explore how technology can help support activism and where activism can push it forward.

AGENDA

Speaker: Brett Meyer (ThinkShout)

Summary: Ensuring that your website is accessible to users of all abilities benefits everybody: content can be handled by any browser software, search engines gain greater visibility, availability is increased for low-bandwidth users, and people using mobile devices gain better and faster access. We'll cover the basics of how to evaluate and improve your website’s accessibility.

The building doors lock at 6:30.

Networking and refreshments: 6pm-6:30pm 
Presentation: 6:30pm-7:45pm 
Additional Q&A and networking: 7:45pm-8pm

ACCESSIBILITY

Mobility Access: This venue is wheelchair accessible.
Hearing Access: We will not have access to a PA.
Sight Access: Presentations will use a projector

We want everyone to be able to participate in the PDXTech4Good community and events. Please don't hesitate to let us know what we can do to accommodate your needs: [masked].

WHAT YOU'LL GET OUT OF PDXTECH4GOOD EVENTS

Nonprofit staffers will find a friendly, welcoming atmosphere for those not experienced with technology, and many chances to ask questions of tech-experienced nonprofits and experts.

Techies will find opportunities to hear the real-world stories of nonprofit clients, and put their own expertise to social good — as well as the potential for lasting relationships (be they paid or volunteer) with leading organizations in our community.

Activists and community organizers will see and be given the chance to present on successful uses of technology for social change. We'll explore how technology can help support activism and where activism can push it forward.