Computer Mentors Group, a local nonprofit organization comprised of computer professionals dedicated to encouraging and guiding at risk youth toward a career in the computer industry, became the latest recipient of a “Greenback” technology donation. The organization received seven desktop workstations donated from various Tampa Bay business organizations.

“This donation will be used to facilitate our programs which includes our Youth Computer Certification and Ownership Program.  The “at risk” youth in this program are striving to earn a personal computer, that they will refurbish, and an IC3 computer certification which will also earn them a college credit,” says Ralph Smith, Executive Director of Computer Mentors.

“We are so fortunate to have the opportunity to engage with the local community in this way and thankful to the Tampa Bay area business for their donations,” says CEO Ilene Rosoff. Aside from good will and green IT, these donations have the added incentive of providing a tax write-off for the contributing businesses.

On October 23rd Computer Mentors will be hosting their 5th Annual Technology Bowl. The event is described as a “Family Feud” style panel competition where teams of teenagers will use their knowledge of computers and technology to compete for some great technology prizes.  To learn more about the event or to sponsor a team, please visit Computer Mentors or contact Ralph Smith at (813) 236-1191 or RSmith@computermentors.org.

The Launch Pad’s Greenback Community Outreach Program  helps nonprofit organizations with their technology needs by repurposing gently used computer equipment.  Nonprofit organizations can take advantage of this program by visiting our website and filling out a wish list.  We will tweet and blog your requests and as well as post them requests in our newsletter.  If you are a business interested in donating equipment, list the items in our GreenBack™ program form on our website and indicate if you wish to designate your equipment to be donated to the local nonprofit of choice or the next in need on our list.

Our Easy-to-GreenIT Initiative helps businesses to implement green technologies, sign up for a complimentary Green Technology Audit or contact Megan Meisner at mmeisner@launchpadonline.com or 813 920 0788 x210 for more information.

Implementing a few smart paper saving techniques is a relatively painless yet effective way to go green and save green.  This post details a number of key printer settings designed to conserve paper for printed documents.  Stepped instructions are provided for making these settings the default for your new documents and resource conserving ways.

Margins
Margins are set to 0.5” on all sides, to maximize available print space.

Using headers and footers: If you plan to use a header or footer for your document, you should adjust the top or bottom margin or change the header or footer distance from edge setting in the Page Layout dialog box.

To use these margins for all documents: Open a new document (which will be based upon your Normal template), and set your margins and header/footer distance as desired. Click the Page Layout tab, click the Dialog Box Launcher below the Page Setup group, and then, in the Page Setup dialog box, click the Default button.

Styles
The Traditional style set has been selected for this document, with some modifications to eliminate excess white space. There is no Widow/Orphan control set for paragraph formatting, paragraph spacing before heading styles has been decreased, and the Office theme fonts have been selected.

Line Spacing:
If you wish to adjust the spacing above headings and between paragraphs, modify the corresponding Heading and Normal styles.

Character Spacing:
If you wish to compress the spacing between characters to fit more characters per line, Word provides a kerning feature. On the Home tab, in the Font group, click the Font Dialog Box Launcher. In the Format Font dialog, on the Character Spacing tab, select the Kerning for fonts check box and set the value you want.

To use these styles for all documents:
Make any additional style changes to suit your needs. When you are happy with your settings for fonts and line spacing, on the Home tab, click Change Styles, point to Style Set, and then click Save as Quick Style Set. Type a name for this style set, then click Save. You can now apply this style set in new documents by selecting it from the Style Set list.

Save More Paper When Prinitng

Automatic Paper-Saving Adjustments:
When printing, have Word reduce the number of pages in your document by using the Shrink One Page option available in Print Preview.

Printing Multiple Pages per Sheet:
Print multiple sheets per page using the Zoom option,  Page per sheet, in the Print dialog box. Many printers also offer this type of option in the printer Properties dialog box, and you may get faster output by making this choice with the printer rather than through Word. (Use the setting in Word or your printer only, not both.)

Duplex Printing:
If your printer supports this option, consider using duplex (or two-sided) printing.

Columns:
For documents with a large number of short lines, consider using table columns to place multiple columns of data across the page.

Distribute Electronically:
Consider saving your document to XPS or PDF format and distributing electronically (via e-mail, shared server, or web site) for online viewing rather than printing.

For more information on Green IT strategies view our Easy-to-GreenIT™ page or download our webinar, “Simple Green Technology for Small Business.”   

Megan Meisner, Easy-to-Green Program Services Director:  mmeisner@launchpadonline.com or 813-920-0788 x210.

The Launch Pad’s Technology Team has been serving the needs of nonprofit and community service organizations since 1992.   To assist nonprofit organizations in learning about technology grants and funding opportunities, The Launch Pad offers a Quarterly Technology Grant Review.  The Review is a summary of local, state, and national foundations and grants programs with mandates to provide technology or operations funding to nonprofit organizations.  We are pleased to announce the release of our updated Quarterly Technology Grants Review for 2010.

To receive a copy of our latest Quarterly Technology Grant Review, download our Nonprofit Technology Savings Kit. The kit also includes our latest RevITup™ Easy-to-GreenIT™ Webinar featuring our GreenBack™ Program for nonprofits and a bonus white paper, “The Top 10 Tech Hit List  for 2010 - Technology Mistakes Small Businesses Make & How to Avoid Them.”

Want to learn more?  Sign up to receive our Free Nonprofit Technology Assessment.  Our RevITup™ Business Care Nonprofit Series offers a broad range of discounted, fixed-fee technology services designed to help nonprofit organizations meet their technology needs within their budget.

For more information about RevITup™ Business Care Nonprofit Managed IT Service Series, contact Megan Meisner, mmeisner@launchpadonline.com or (813)920-0788 x210.

Ask yourself: Are you operating the most efficient and cost-effective infrastructure?  Have you analyzed the efficacy of software-as-a-service for your key applications?  Is managing your IT environment a core competency?  In capital-constrained times, the upfront cash outlay and financial risk of on-premise solutions can prevent many new projects from being funded.   IT executives have been stretching their budgets even before today’s weak economic conditions.   Median IT spending per user this year fell to more than 7%, consistent with the fact that IT managers are supporting an increasing number of users without corresponding increases in IT spending.

Efficiency, patience and being open-minded to new ways of doing things is the approach to technology  that will most benefit your organization in challenging times.   This a a good time to ask some thought provoking questions about your technology management and be open to creative ways to maximize investment.  How can you do more with less in IT?  In this time of economic uncertainty, what strategies should you employ? A creative, cost-effective and out-of-the-box approach can set your company apart from those operating in head-down, panic mode.

1. Implement Cost Reducing Technologies
Selected technologies such as Software-as-a-Service and Virtualization can significantly reduce costs.  SaaS can provide a lower total cost of ownership TCO) if you are paying high software maintenance fees and suffering expensive upgrade processes. SaaS enables organizations to eliminate costs associated with upgrading installed software, acquiring and managing hardware, staffing an IT help desk, and using internal IT staff to configure and code changing workflow or reporting requirements.

2.  Take measures for green IT
The top motivation for pursuing green IT is to reduce costs — and in a down economy, every dollar helps. Becoming more environmentally friendly typically consists of making small changes over a period of time. Little by little, organizations can save money, operate IT more efficiently and reduce their overall carbon footprint by implementing some, if not all, of the suggested “green” IT methods below.
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There are many collaboration tools available to help manage local and virtual teams but they tend to be fairly complex to use and can be expensive to deploy and manage.  New web-based applications promise to make it easier and more affordable for small business owners to get things done.  Offering a simple and elegant user-experience, SmartSheet may have raised the bar for online collaboration tools.

At first glance, SmartSheet may look like a run-of-the-mill spreadsheet interface but if you dig a little bit deeper it becomes evident that SmartSheet is anything but typical.  This web-based project and work management program has a multi-faceted app-like interface that can be customized to support any aspect of your business.

To get started, users can browse through a library of templates and choose one that will help jump-start their project or start a project sheet from scratch.  The beauty of SmartSheet is how flexible it is.  Every aspect of your project can be accessed from the dashboard view.  The project manager can organize and prioritize milestones and tasks in an intuitive way.  Projects can be managed in real time with up to the minute status updates, file sharing and task alerts and reminders.

SmartSheet’s unique interface is just one more blow to the old concept of comprehensive software suites for your desktop loaded with programs that are rarely if ever used.  It’s an interesting idea.

Want to learn more about The Cloud?  View our archive recording of our latest webinar, “The Cloud Has Finally Landed.  Should Your Company Head In?”