Dear Mr. Stamm and the MMT,
Thank you for your vision, for doing what creative pros like me call 'concepting' opportunity for Oregon. The MMT is a powerhouse for our communities, look forward to watching and to contributing to the new platform as it takes seed. I think Oregon Unlimited has the potential to make a real difference in people's lives. Very best wishes.
Doug, oregonunlimited is an awesome idea - a unique opportunity for Oregonians to collaborate on making the future we desire. Thanks for helping us take this step forward together!
Just wanted to drop a line to say thank you to MMT. This project is something very innovative and will be very useful for our community capacity building. Thank you again.
By the way, PDXTech4Good are having a meeting about payment processors on Wednesday, February 6 at 6pm. It is not specifically related to Drupal, but might be interesting to you and might also offer some alternative approaches and/or useful tools. Meetings are free and open to all and are usually great places for networking and learning. You can learn more from the meeting announcement: How to Evaluate Payment Processors.
Kathy, I'm sad to say that I received no clear answer to this issue, which is not unexpected I suppose. Payments and donations have always been a complex issue and have inspired not just modules, but entire sub communities within Drupal. I last had to do something like this over five years ago and ended up going with Ubercart, which is a full shopping cart and quite the overkill solution for donations. At the time, lm_paypal was a simpler module to use, but could not be tied to donors in any meaningful way. Since then I'm sure all sorts of things have changed and my input would be well out of date... even if I remembered all I did, which I don't (still when Drupal 5 was new).
One final terrific resource worth mentioning is the Portland OR Drupal User Group. The group meets twice monthly and is a great place to ask questions, both at meetings and in person. There are also other Drupal User Groups groups in Oregon, if you are further afield, and indeed related groups in Portland (for front-end stuff and CIVICRM). Community can be a terrific resource.
That would be great. I have something going using lm_paypal but it doesn't mesh with a separate table that tracks the donor's name, addy, donation amount, date. You know, the basics needed to keep the IRS happy.
Quite right, Kathy. We nonprofit techies do what we can with too little time. Doing it right is a luxury I often don't get, but I'm very lucky that do get more opportunities than most of my nonprofit peers.
I'm also leaning very strongly towards skipping Drupal 7 on our upgrade path and going straight to 8, just to avoid the pain you describe. I will likely blog about that. I have not blogged about taking paypal/visa donations and a donation thermometer/tracker though, and I'm unlikely to since it is not something I'll ever do for MMT. I will however reach out to a couple of folks and see if there is an article I can point you to.
I agree, Grant, the less visible your spam control the better. I've decided that any posters will need an account. So I'm stopping the spammers at the door with registration. I'll try mollom some day but I'm still smarting from my 6->7 upgrade and spending a few weeks learning to theme. :/
I'm a super small nonprofit in Oregon so I don't have the luxury of doing it right.
An article on taking paypal/visa donations and a donation thermometer/tracker would be great. I'm still working my way through your articles so I apologize if you cover that.
Nice, Kathy. I love hearing success stories like that. Thanks for sharing. I like simple elegant approaches like that, which is also why I like honeypots. I remember having a simple "Reason for contacting me" question on a contact form on my personal site a few years back, where the answer needed to be selected from a drop-down list and the default was "I'm a spammer!" No bot ever cracked that test for the couple of years I had it up. I'm sure they would now.
In MMT's case I decided on something more comprehensive. I love that most commenters don't even see Mollom's CAPTCHA, that it only shows up if it thinks the comment might be spam. No CAPTCHA is the best CAPTCHA of all :).
I also like that Mollom uses the power of community and has a honeypot thrown in for good measure. Further, I like that it is an active service that responds to any advances made by spammers, because while I love simple, it falls apart very fast if they do crack it. This can of course be mitigated by adding a honeypot module like Spamicide, Honeypot or Hidden CAPTCHA.
I was getting 20 fake registrations a day with captcha (Drupal 7). I put in the puzzle one (where I say what is the third word in the header of this website) and it has put a stop to it. I still get new registrations and haven't had a complaint.
Congratulations to all of you- Kim, MMT and grantees and Matt! This is so exciting and I am really looking forward to digging into these results and gleaning from your lessons learned. All of the innovation and the commitment to looking at the big picture, long-term impact is much appreciated. Huzzah!
Debra Lippoldt
Growing Gardens
We believe the seeds of a healthier world are planted in our own backyards and schoolyards....
Thank you so much, Marie, for inviting me to be part of this fabulous event! More so, thank you for creating an opportunity for so many diverse resource providers to connect with local nonprofits and changemakers. It is thrilling to see people move from thinking they just can't do all "those other nonprofits" do with their communications, to feeling excited and ready to really use the tools and strategies themselves. You're a master facilitator - thank you!
Any idea when the webcast video will be up and available, and where the link will be available? I was dropped out and when it reconnected the cast started over from the beginning, so I was cut off once the cast was ended and missed the last 30 minutes. Thanks for the info!
You just have to keep watching. The stream starts when you visit the link above, but it startes from when we started recording, which was about 5 minutes before the first speaker starts. We will be recutting a video on all this, so stay tuned.
Great remarks and synthesis of some key challenges and opportunities we face in the coming decade. I appreciate your perspective and MMT's leadership. I'm excited about Oregon Unlimited's potential.
Thank you so much for setting this up. Saves me 10 hours of driving. Do we need to let you know if we are now joining you this way rather than in "person".
Thank you so much, Sue
Sue Densmore
Friends of the Oregon Caves and Chateau
Dear Mr. Stamm and the MMT,
Thank you for your vision, for doing what creative pros like me call 'concepting' opportunity for Oregon. The MMT is a powerhouse for our communities, look forward to watching and to contributing to the new platform as it takes seed. I think Oregon Unlimited has the potential to make a real difference in people's lives. Very best wishes.
Doug, oregonunlimited is an awesome idea - a unique opportunity for Oregonians to collaborate on making the future we desire. Thanks for helping us take this step forward together!
Just wanted to drop a line to say thank you to MMT. This project is something very innovative and will be very useful for our community capacity building. Thank you again.
Thanks for sharing your experience about speaking at the conference. Does MMT have any presence in the Midwest?
From one accountant to another, cheers to taking a break from the spreadsheets during this busy time of year!
By the way, PDXTech4Good are having a meeting about payment processors on Wednesday, February 6 at 6pm. It is not specifically related to Drupal, but might be interesting to you and might also offer some alternative approaches and/or useful tools. Meetings are free and open to all and are usually great places for networking and learning. You can learn more from the meeting announcement: How to Evaluate Payment Processors.
Kathy, I'm sad to say that I received no clear answer to this issue, which is not unexpected I suppose. Payments and donations have always been a complex issue and have inspired not just modules, but entire sub communities within Drupal. I last had to do something like this over five years ago and ended up going with Ubercart, which is a full shopping cart and quite the overkill solution for donations. At the time, lm_paypal was a simpler module to use, but could not be tied to donors in any meaningful way. Since then I'm sure all sorts of things have changed and my input would be well out of date... even if I remembered all I did, which I don't (still when Drupal 5 was new).
I'm afraid some nontrivial legwork will likely be required. All I can suggest is that you check out the Drupal StackExchange site, Drupal Answers. At a quick glance I see two relevant discussions, Taking Donations on a Drupal site and How do I create a single page non-profit donation form using Commerce in Drupal 7? These are just at a glance and show various alternatives, but the two big commerce modules (Ubercart and Drupal Commerce) are currently the top answers there.
One final terrific resource worth mentioning is the Portland OR Drupal User Group. The group meets twice monthly and is a great place to ask questions, both at meetings and in person. There are also other Drupal User Groups groups in Oregon, if you are further afield, and indeed related groups in Portland (for front-end stuff and CIVICRM). Community can be a terrific resource.
Good luck on this one.
That would be great. I have something going using lm_paypal but it doesn't mesh with a separate table that tracks the donor's name, addy, donation amount, date. You know, the basics needed to keep the IRS happy.
Quite right, Kathy. We nonprofit techies do what we can with too little time. Doing it right is a luxury I often don't get, but I'm very lucky that do get more opportunities than most of my nonprofit peers.
I'm also leaning very strongly towards skipping Drupal 7 on our upgrade path and going straight to 8, just to avoid the pain you describe. I will likely blog about that. I have not blogged about taking paypal/visa donations and a donation thermometer/tracker though, and I'm unlikely to since it is not something I'll ever do for MMT. I will however reach out to a couple of folks and see if there is an article I can point you to.
I agree, Grant, the less visible your spam control the better. I've decided that any posters will need an account. So I'm stopping the spammers at the door with registration. I'll try mollom some day but I'm still smarting from my 6->7 upgrade and spending a few weeks learning to theme. :/
I'm a super small nonprofit in Oregon so I don't have the luxury of doing it right.
An article on taking paypal/visa donations and a donation thermometer/tracker would be great. I'm still working my way through your articles so I apologize if you cover that.
Nice, Kathy. I love hearing success stories like that. Thanks for sharing. I like simple elegant approaches like that, which is also why I like honeypots. I remember having a simple "Reason for contacting me" question on a contact form on my personal site a few years back, where the answer needed to be selected from a drop-down list and the default was "I'm a spammer!" No bot ever cracked that test for the couple of years I had it up. I'm sure they would now.
In MMT's case I decided on something more comprehensive. I love that most commenters don't even see Mollom's CAPTCHA, that it only shows up if it thinks the comment might be spam. No CAPTCHA is the best CAPTCHA of all :).
I also like that Mollom uses the power of community and has a honeypot thrown in for good measure. Further, I like that it is an active service that responds to any advances made by spammers, because while I love simple, it falls apart very fast if they do crack it. This can of course be mitigated by adding a honeypot module like Spamicide, Honeypot or Hidden CAPTCHA.
I was getting 20 fake registrations a day with captcha (Drupal 7). I put in the puzzle one (where I say what is the third word in the header of this website) and it has put a stop to it. I still get new registrations and haven't had a complaint.
Congratulations to all of you- Kim, MMT and grantees and Matt! This is so exciting and I am really looking forward to digging into these results and gleaning from your lessons learned. All of the innovation and the commitment to looking at the big picture, long-term impact is much appreciated. Huzzah!
Debra Lippoldt
Growing Gardens
We believe the seeds of a healthier world are planted in our own backyards and schoolyards....
503.284.8420
growing-gardens.org
What a kind thing to say! Wish I could thank you personally. Glad you enjoyed the video, I can't watch it enough.
Thank you so much for sharing this video. Marie what you've done with this communications report is magical.
Thank you for this opportunity, I've shared on our Facebook page as well as posted in office. I will be nominating several volunteers as well.
There are many good people doing helpful things in their community, it's great to be able to recognize them.
Joan
Thank you so much, Marie, for inviting me to be part of this fabulous event! More so, thank you for creating an opportunity for so many diverse resource providers to connect with local nonprofits and changemakers. It is thrilling to see people move from thinking they just can't do all "those other nonprofits" do with their communications, to feeling excited and ready to really use the tools and strategies themselves. You're a master facilitator - thank you!
Thanks for a great event, all!
Any idea when the webcast video will be up and available, and where the link will be available? I was dropped out and when it reconnected the cast started over from the beginning, so I was cut off once the cast was ended and missed the last 30 minutes. Thanks for the info!
We will also be sharing all the slides.
You just have to keep watching. The stream starts when you visit the link above, but it startes from when we started recording, which was about 5 minutes before the first speaker starts. We will be recutting a video on all this, so stay tuned.
Do you know when the first speaker is expected to start ? Just wondering - and waiting here at the computer....
So glad you will be joining us!
No need to let us know, Sue, just join in tomorrow morning! Here's hoping it goes as well as it did when we tested it :)
Doug-
Great remarks and synthesis of some key challenges and opportunities we face in the coming decade. I appreciate your perspective and MMT's leadership. I'm excited about Oregon Unlimited's potential.
Thanks much
Steve Rudman
Thank you so much for setting this up. Saves me 10 hours of driving. Do we need to let you know if we are now joining you this way rather than in "person".
Thank you so much, Sue
Sue Densmore
Friends of the Oregon Caves and Chateau