Believing in the Power of Technology to Help Nonprofits: Cabell Foundation and Legal Aid Justice Center

Today’s guest post is by Laurel Henneman. Laurel, the Foundation Relations Manager for the Legal Aid Justice Center, in a former life was a transactional attorney for a large firm in New York City. She now lives in Charlottesville with her family, where she is active in the community and enjoys both local food and Facebook. She appreciates the invitations she has received for Google+, but says they will have to wait until her children are grown or the laundry figures out how to wash itself.

Do you believe in the power of information technology to improve nonprofits’ services, spread the word about important developments, and reach out to supporters? The Cabell Foundation does, and is providing the Legal Aid Justice Center with a $64K “challenge grant” to upgrade our systems. $136K more is needed by December 2011 to meet this challenge. Please contribute if you can, and spread the word to others who might be interested in supporting our work!

For more than 40 years, we have been meeting the civil legal needs of our low-income neighbors with a special focus on vulnerable populations, including children, immigrants, the elderly, and the institutionalized. We now face an urgent need to upgrade the information technology used by our program, in order to meet the increased needs of our clients in a challenging funding environment.

While there are currently some signs of recovery in the broader economy, there are also signs that for the foreseeable future, we should prudently prepare for a “new normal” level of doing more with less. Strategic investments in information technology (including telecommunications, case management, and e-advocacy) are essential for improving the efficiency of our work on behalf of clients, sharing the learning of our advocates with others, and reaching potential funding sources.

As you know so well, state-of-the-art tools in online advocacy now allow nonprofit organizations to disseminate information easily through email and social networking channels, and guide recipients of this information—through simple navigation and a few mouse clicks—to join their cause, contact legislators and other officials to express views on important pending issues, and donate to the continued work on causes they believe in.

Join us in investing in the future of our program and its important service to our low-income neighbors! Click here to donate, or learn more about the Legal Aid Justice Center at www.justice4all.org. If you have questions or want additional information, contact Susan Kruse: susan at justice4all.org, our Donor Relations Manager.

Editor’s Note: Jaggers Communications supports Legal Aid Justice Center with time, talent and dollars and we hope that you will, too.