Nonprofit Nerd

Out of Office by EverJean

Oh boy, another list!

Every blog in the world has lists. That’s largely because SEO (Search Engine Optimization) gurus say that lists are great for attracting web site traffic. They are also relatively easy to write. Lists are maddeningly overused, in my opinion. They are what you write on your blog when you don’t know what to write on your blog. In general, you won’t see a lot of them on this site.

But…

There are a few really good applications out there that can be incredibly useful for people who don’t have big bucks to spend on software. For small nonprofits, these applications can be an enormous productivity booster, saving both time and money. I will be writing extended posts on each one of these individually, but it occurs to me that it might be useful to have a quick guide to some good free applications. The items listed below will fulfill many of a small nonprofit’s basic software needs.

So, before I talk myself out of it, here’s my (shudder) list of four free apps that any small nonprofit should seriously think about using. All of these are free to download and have versions that are compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux systems:

1. OpenOffice. You want this one. It is essentially a free version of Microsoft Office, with nearly all of the same features. Documents, spreadsheets, and presentations can all be created using an interface that will feel very comfortable to Office users. The files can be saved in the standard Microsoft filetypes (doc, xls, etc.). OpenOffice has been around for several years now and is a mature, well-supported application.
2. GIMP. Also known as the GNU Image Manipulation Program, GIMP works very much like Photoshop. Actually, having used them both, I like GIMP better. If you need to make graphics for flyers, postcards or the web, this software is indispensable.
3. Inkscape. Another really great, free graphics tool. If GIMP is like Photoshop, then Inkscape is like Illustrator. Although it’s missing some of the fancy extras of Illustrator, you will find that for most purposes, Inkscape works just fine. If you need to create scalable, vector-based graphics, this will do the trick.
4. Scribus. This one is a real gem. If you need to do professional-looking desktop publishing (a newsletter, for example) and can’t afford InDesign, you will really like Scribus. And before you say,”oh, but I can just do it in Word”, please think again. I once worked on a 30-page report, complete with photos and graphics, that was created in Word, and it was an utter nightmare. On the other hand, I put together a 110-page ad book with Scribus. It was far easier, and the results looked tons better. Scribus also makes it very easy to create nice-looking pdf files for distribution.

That’s the list. There are lots of others out there, and I’ll be adding more detailed posts on this topic soon. With these four applications, you can do most basic office tasks and some not-so-basic stuff besides.