Nonprofit Soapbox

Tired of having a static, unchanging, old-fashioned site for your organization, but afraid of the time, effort, or expertise required to create and maintain a dynamic site? NPower NY has partnered with PICnet to provide the Nonprofit Soapbox,.

What is the Nonprofit Soapbox?

Soapbox is a content management system that allows your organization to have a modern, dynamic site without the headache -- in fact, anyone who can use Microsoft Word can create and run a web site. Features include:

  • A complete CMS solution for static content. The system gives users the ability to and create and edit web site content in a snap using a simple WYSIWYG editor.
  • A complete CMS solution for dynamic content. Dynamic content includes blogs, newsfeeds, press releases, or any other content that is updated and updatable on a periodic basis.
  • An events manager, with interactive calendar. Allows an administrator to manage times, locations, and descriptions of events and display those items on the web.
  • A user manager. Allows an administrator to easily maintain permissions for a set of registeredusers. Allows an administrator to easily set up a "users only" portion of the web site.
  • Content category management. The CMS allows users to categorize content items into categories and sections in order to more easily create pages reflecting certain subject matter.
  • Full blog functionality. The blog system allows quick and easy posting. A full-featured blog solution, including visitor commenting and other features, is available for a small monthly fee.
  • A menu manager. Dynamically creates and updates menus and submenus in real time.
  • A site map creator and updater. Automatically updates a site's site map menus/content is changed.
  • An Odeo(tm) podcast module. Automatically updates a site with Odeo podcasts. A form emailer. Allows an administrator to create a submittable form on the web site and have the results emailed to any email address.

Are you Ready for Soapbox?

Sopabox can be developed and deployed, from design to launch*, in 30 days (Assuming no PICnet design work). But, we can't do it without you. Before your project begins (and the 30-day clock starts ticking), have the following four items ready:

  • A complete site map. Plan and draw out a detailed graphic image showing each of your pages and the links between them.
  • A Microsoft Word document containing all the site's written content. Writing takes time. Save us all from delay by having your web site content written, edited, and formatted (bold, italics,alignment, etc.) in one Word document (use a page break and headings to indicate where each web site page's content begins). If you have images for your pages, copy and paste them right into Word and edit accordingly.
  • A CD-ROM or emailable .zip file containing all of the site's downloadable files. If you have pdf, .doc, .xls, or other files that users will be able to download from the site -- a monthly newsletter in Adobe Acrobat format, for instance -- assemble them and burn them to a CD-ROM or zip them up and send them to us.
  • Your current website's DNS information. Gather your current domain name's DNS host information (including login and password) so we can update the DNS record and point the internet's name servers to your new site when we're ready to launch. If you don't know what this is, don't worry -- ask us. We'll help you with it.