Were migrating the site to a new hosting service and changing the way that users register and log in during the break between Christmas 2012 and New Year 2013.

The most noticeable change for existing users is that you'll be asked to log in with your email address rather than your 'username', via the independent, secure and not-for-profit 'Persona' service.

Persona is a new service from Mozilla (the Firefox and Thunderbird people) to help users and developers manage identity information on the Web. You'll increasingly be able to use Persona logins on a variety of sites, which should help reduce the number of passwords you have to manage.

Unlike 'log in with Facebook' and similar services, Persona is operated by a not-for-profit foundation, Mozilla, who say: "Many sign-in systems carry your profile data with them; some even share that info with other sites and social networks. We believe you should control how your personal information is shared. Persona lets you get started with just your email address; you can add your profile data later, when and where you think it’s appropriate."

Persona is already in use on the infrastructure support site that NCVO operate on behalf of BIG Lottery fund, http://www.bigassist.org.uk/. If all goes well, it's likely to spread to other NCVO sites to provide a single identity and log-in.

Transition

We're also moving the KnowHow site to a larger, faster, webserver to allow the next phase of growth.

These changes are a big deal technically, and we'll have to take the site down for at least several hours while we migrate the code and data, then check that everything works in the site's new home.

So the site will be unavailable for parts of 30 and 31 December 2012, and we apologise for the interruption.

We are Golden Giving (GG), an organisation that offers a free donation and fundraising website. GG charges no fee for fundraising and direct donations. GG is completely free for charities, fundraisers and donors.

Golden Giving was established in 2011 by highly skilled individuals who have been active supporters of charity. By providing the most effective free donation and fundraising website, GG hopes to help transform charitable organisations fates and improve lives.

Golden Giving perceives giving as a social necessary activity; it is all about investing in our society, were our children are raised in a world where together, we can give more to charities and good causes.

Golden Giving will not charge charities, or donors subscriptions, or set-up fees, or commission. GG can provide their service free to use, as they are sponsored by respected individuals, public and private companies, from around the world. The only charges will be handling fees levied by credit and debit card companies. Charities can also receive Gift Aid from UK taxpayers who donate using the Golden Giving website.

Golden Giving said it has worked with a number of fundraisers and the help of their charity partners, to develop the new GG website to ensure it is a service that the sector wants. The service has been designed to be inclusive to all UK registered charities as well as good causes. GG is working closely with the CVS’s groups to make their local charities aware of how they can benefit from using the GG services.

Golden Giving continues to work with their charity partners to develop charity branded fundraising and donation experiences; research shows that donations are driven by the relationship between a charity and the donor or fundraiser. Golden Giving’s launch is backed by research showing that donors and fundraisers were influenced to donate to a particular charitable cause by how much of their money actually would go to their intended charity. Most donors and fundraisers felt that all of their online donation should go directly to the charity.

Between 5% to 10% of every online donation is automatically deducted due to charity business management and operational costs, or due to the use of third party commercial organisations and their associated fees. The money that charities spend on business costs is money that is not directed towards charity front line causes.

Golden Giving makes it easier for donors and fundraisers to give more online, as it guarantees that 100% of all donations go to their chosen charity – excluding debit/credit card bank charges.

Golden Giving eliminates the business costs that are incurred by charities, to support online donations and fundraising, thereby freeing much needed funds that can be re-directed toward charity front line causes.

Nathan Perez, founder of Golden Giving, said: “We have created Golden Giving as we want to ensure 100% of the public fundraising efforts and donations go to their intended charity. The professionals working for GG are delighted that they have the experience and technological expertise to help world-wide charities become more effective in their vital causes.”

To apply go to: www.kingsfund.org.uk/gskimpactawards

Closing date Friday 21 September 2012

I've been following Marie Faulkner's blog describing the project's development and it inspired me to write a few lines about why wikis are useful and how they can have a huge impact. There's a whole host of reasons why this project can make a big difference to the sector and why I'd encourage everyone to get involved. In no particular order, here's a few.

You don't need to be an expert to make a contribution – Wikis are collaboration tools accessible to everyone. You don't need to know everything, be a PhD or have been working in the sector for 40 years to have something worthwhile to contribute. Have a think – there will be something you've worked on or been involved with that will be of use to your colleagues in the sector. Share it.

Shared experiences are a powerful resource – We've all got experiences that can help out others. Whether you've dealt with a thorny governance issue, managed a charity's expansion, adjusted to working in the sector after a career elsewhere - your experiences can help others. 

What starts slowly grows quickly – When wikis begin they often take quite a while to get going. The truth is that until a wiki becomes useful or well known, it seems like nothing much is happening, but that's not the case – it just takes a while to appear significant and it doesn't happen overnight. In the meantime, add some content, tell your friends and colleagues and eventually the project will take off.

Sharing knowledge leads to individual, organisational and sectoral development – A sense of continuous improvement is important to any person or organisation working to achieve their goals. The only way we learn is if we have resources and people to help us. By collectively creating those resources on a wiki we are pooling more knowledge than we could ever have on our own – and it will all be at our fingertips, for free.

Free support when funding is hard to find – Lack of funding (and cuts) are big issues in the voluntary sector (let's not go there!) but with a collaborative resource like the iKnowHow wiki at the sector's disposal eventually there will be an extensive resource bank that will enable practitioners and workers of all kinds to save time and money – and it's there for everyone, for ever. I think that's wonderful.

Wiki collaboration is a great way to build connections and become more visible – When you contribute on a wiki you become recognised as someone with something to offer a community, such as expertise, enthusiasm, insight or attention to detail. When you contribute regularly you may just find that people contact you for your opinion or suggestions – and, likewise, you find people to contact. It's a great way to network.

If everyone gives a little, we all receive a lot in return – Know How Non Profit's website receives about 80,000 unique visitors per month. If each of us who visited the site spent just ten minutes making a contribution each month iKnowHow would very quickly grow into something special.

There are a whole host of other reasons why contributing to wikis is a great idea. I could go into long and passionate detail about how such collective endeavours (or crowdsourcing, if you prefer) help us to manifest our collective wisdom. I could wax lyrical about how simply being a part of a project like this provides a great sense of satisfaction. I won't – but what I will do is urge you to have a go. You'll soon find these things out for yourself!

It was great to get their expert insight into wiki development, and hear all about the amazing work they have been doing around the UK. This includes the world's first Wikipedia town in Monmouth, South East Wales - see Monmouthpedia.

From our meeting I realised that it isn’t just individual editors that come in and edit Wikipedia (although there are many of them); there are also many wiki projects all over the world, bringing together teams of experts who work collaboratively to make sure that their specialist subject is a) on Wikipedia an b) accurate and up to date.

Take for example, Susan Hewitt - she's facilitating a team of experts on gastropods (one of the largest taxonomic classes on the planet, better known as snails and slugs). Or Cancer Research UK - they recognized that Wikipedia articles on cancer ranked higher than their own on Google, but noticed ‘there were problems with accuracy and clarity on some of the pages’. So with the support of Wikimedia UK, they are now working to improve them.

This idea of getting experts or (existing teams) together to work collaboratively on a particular subject struck a chord with us at iKnowHow. We'd been targeting individuals - but most people don't work alone, and don't like to work alone. So here are some reasons why we think iKnowHow could be great for your team or expert community:

1. It’s way more fun working on joint projects than doing it alone.
2. It's a more rewarding way to work with colleagues, piecing together all your knowledge into one ‘finished’ product.
3. It gives old projects that may have already produced content a new life, giving new people the chance to share their opinion.

And at the end of it, you really have a piece of work that could:

• help further your charity's mission 
• demonstrate impact and evidence of good work
• help your personal / team / departmental objectives

So, we think that wikis could be a great way to bring teams together and focus their thinking in a fun way. But what about you? Have you tried it before - we'd love to know what you think.

Next week we hope to have a guest blog from our new friends at Wikimedia UK. Watch this space!

The five reasons why academics don't contribute to Wikipedia

This discussion was all over the internet including Guardian online last year: Wikipedia wants more contributions from academics. So, after further research I summarised the most common reasons to why academics have been so reluctant.

1. Not enough time
2. Issues over self promotion - how can I talk more about what I do?
   
3. Worried that their work will be edited/distorted
4. Why should I give it away for free when I can get paid?
5. Wikipedia not valuing their 'expert' status - offering them different rights from 'regular' users etc.
   

These issues have been addressed by Wikipedia in many ways including the encouragement of collaboration projects amongst sets of subject experts; and allowing academics more opportunities to promote their own particular projects. The trouble is Wikipedia is mainly used by the general public and it's not clear whether they need detailed analyses or a just a brief summary of quantum physics - and given the freedom of Wikipedia I'm not sure there is an answer to that.

Why is this relevant to iKnowHow, you ask?

Well, given that iKnowHow only attracts those already in the voluntary sector, we shouldn't have the same problem of spammers or amateur charity professionals (is there such a thing?). And before I go any further, please don't get me wrong, I am not comparing charity professionals to the phycisists referred to in the Guardian article. But I am sure many still have similar quibbles over allowing other people to add to or edit their work. Well, this was a big reason why I put together the previous blog - the purpose behind the persuasion, listing seven points why iKnowHow is for you. Would academics and experts be so fussy about their content if they really knew how it could help them professionally as well as the rest of their industry/sector?

What do you think?

There are alot of questions here, and since we have spoken so much about engagement I believe it is important to discuss these issues as possible barriers to the wiki model being a success for us.

It would be great to hear:

• whether you agreed with any of the reasons listed?
  
• how precious you are about your content?
• do you believe taking more of a project orientated approach might be more successful?
  
• are charity professionals that different from the academics in the article? (We say YES)

Quality contributions

There have now been a total of 19 contributors and a number of others who have expressed an interest in writing new guides. So, I would like to take the opportunity to say thank you to all of those who have contributed to iKnowHow and continue to do so.

The following examples reflect the quality iKnowHow has attracted so far:

• ehjp wrote a guide on tendering strategy and followed up on users comments
  
• TPP and TB55 adding their advice on building a board
• makeadifference significantly edited the section on Charity mergers.

Every contribution is helping educate, expose or reaffirm knowledge or experience about the voluntary sector, that will help with development of our own knowledge and others.

Not all useful though

But on a less serious note, i'd like to share with you a few examples of not so helpful contributions. These illustrate some of the drawbacks to allowing anyone and everyone to come in and share their views via iKnowHow. Despite our spam controls and terms and conditions, individuals can still post inappropriate material if they have the energy and time. However, we'll always spot spam and remove it.

This first example is a new page entitled Lady Heaven on saturn which shares KnowHow about angels and creation. We decided that this was not very non-profit specific or related to one of our iKnowHow sections so deleted it.

The second example is 'Old Single Women Seeking Men', lots of useful links but removed asap.

These are just a few chosen examples. Count yourself lucky that we didn't show you the shamelessly devoted how-to guide dedicated to pop boy band JLS! If you're looking at how you can have a go at taking on some of are 'real' guides see below.

Wiki's that need your help

• Can you share your views on the pro's and con's of becoming a charity?
• What tips could you add to campaigning in collaboration?
• What could you add to the page on monitoring and evaluation of commissioning and procurement?
  

A point well made but iKnowHow has been as much about building relationships and networks as it has been convincing people of the purpose of the concept as it is still surprisingly new in this context. Although pretty much everyone has heard of wikipedia, helping them to understand how the model could work when applied to sharing professional experience and then encouraging them to personally share, has been tough.

We recognise that people are short of time and want them to understand the real significance of their contribution. Editing or adding their knowledge is still that  *scratchy head* moment - they ask what a wiki really is, what's the point and what is in it for them.

Seven reasons why iKnowHow is now

So in true wiki fashion our team at the NCVO worked in collaboration to come up with the reasons why the time is right for iKnowHow and why it needs you. So here's why you should play your part in the future of sharing knowledge in the nonprofit sector.

1. iKnowHow could reduce web editing and publishing costs. As a sector we have less money to spend on maintaining online advice and support. Yet the demand for it is as big as ever. As people become more technically confident, iKnowHow invites everyone to share their knowledge and contribute. Through mass contributions, iKnowHow will become a resource packed with relevant, useful and practical advice. This could reduce the burden on web teams to create and edit web content. It could become a more sustainable model of web publishing, reducing costs across the sector.
2. iKnowHow makes it easy for anyone to publish their knowledge online. Because we have developed a user-friendly interface for all contributions, anyone can write their own guides and edit others. Involvement can be small or large with a range of options - from making small language or grammatical changes to writing whole new guides from scratch. Each form of contribution has been thoroughly user-tested so that even the less technically minded will find it easy.
3. iKnowHow isn’t about everyone else. It is an opportunity to develop your knowledge. Consider your own learning; iKnowHow stimulates reflection, knowledge sharing, and critical thinking.
4. When you contribute to iKnowHow you have the opportunity to promote yourself. Use your KnowHow profile to show what YOU do and add your iKnowHow contributions to your CV. Show potential employers that you are proactive as well as knowledgeable.
5. iKnowHow is first and foremost a collaborative platform - it makes collective, 'hidden' knowledge available in explicit form to the sector. In so doing it raises the sector’s intelligence level.
6. Some of the content on iKnowHow pages was written in 2005. Allowing any user to update this content means our information and guidance will be more up to date and relevant to current user needs; reacting faster to the latest issues facing the voluntary sector.
7. The future of the web is collaboration - so the sooner we all dip our toes in the water the better. There has been a change in the way we learn and work; the web is an interactive ‘social’ medium that increasingly requires active participation and collaboration. The days of passive, top-down learning are over. We're all experts now. So, come and join us in a more democratic online learning space!

Got the message?

Please do tell us what you think. Are these good enough / clear enough reasons? Do they make you want to contribute? What other points should we add to the list?

Want to go ahead and get started? 

• Share what you wish you'd known before you set up a charity:
  
• Add a top tip for successful collaboration
  
• Give a good example of decommissioning
  

In the meantime we wanted to share with you what we have learnt since last week.

1. Direct communications with established contacts are more like to result in a contribution than a general call-out (tweet / newsletter / blog post). This is not really surprising but is worth saying. When we directly invite a contact or an offline working group to share their knowledge through iKnowHow this gets results. Clearly this takes time but in the early stages of iKnowHow is valuable. It may be that if iKnowHow were to continue into 2013, the momentum would be self-sustaining but at this stage it needs to be managed.
2. General communications to big groups are worth doing for awareness raising but do not generate much activity. We tend to think that because the people who receive our communications (ie those who receive newsletters or are our followers on Twitter) have self-selected to find out more about what we do, they are likely to want to contribute. But this assumes many things including that they even open or read our message, that they are inspired by the invitation and then that they have the time and skills to get involved. Because we can’t segment messages for example on Twitter – everyone gets the same message which means it’s not personal. The splatter-effect hasn’t really worked so far. Even with our large networks at KnowHow and NCVO, the best results come from more a more dedicated approach.
   
3. The personal touch is key. iKnowHow needs a person to drive it, to celebrate contributions and invite new ones.

In conclusion

So, the communications starting point isn’t really how you write (ie the words you use to be persuasive) but building and nurturing relationships and networks and then writing to them in a persuasive way which inspires them to contribute. Easy!

Coming next

Next week I will talk about the purpose behind the persuasion. If people really knew how meaningful it would be for themselves and for the sector to take part in iKnowHow would they more likely to respond to our call-outs?

A flurry turns into a drip

We launched the first iKnowHow wiki section (collaborative working) just over a month ago and instantly got a flurry of contributions. It was very exciting after all our planning to see people keen to try out this new 'thing' and join in with the fun - sharing their knowledge. However in recent weeks contributions have dripped rather than flowed. Why? And what can we do about it?

Online persuasion techniques

We've done lots of thinking and reading about designing for persuasion. We have applied good practice to remove barriers and create an online space which is easy and appealing to interact with. For example:

• we made the language and design of the wiki pages as clear as possible
  
• we tested and tested and tested the usability and amended as needed
  
• we built in many different levels of effort so that people can interact in very small ways (by sharing a page or editing one word) or more substantial ways (adding new pages or case studies)
• the contributors gallery gives a sense of community and activity to inspire others and recognise effort
• we award BlueDots for effort; using an established sector currency rather than coming up with a points / kudos scheme of our own.
  

Communication vs 'noise'

So, assuming we have got the 'build' right, the slow-down in activity must be down to awareness. We used all our channels and networks to shout about the launch and this generated lots of activity. But now that that's over, we can't just rely on people finding the iKnowHow pages on their own and deciding to take action. Instead we need to remind people what iKnowHow is all about and write about it in a way that inspires them to do something.

So we've used our usual channels (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, our newsletter) as well as this blog and contacted off-line groups and individuals. Each of these reaches a wide audience and we've talked about iKnowHow in different ways depending on which channel we were using. We're being cautious of generating too much 'noise' - there is a danger that we communicate too much about iKnowHow to the same people and turn them off completely - but at the same time, this is a 3-month project and we need to give it everything we've got!

Motivation

But persuasive design and frequent communication is really just scratching the surface. In order to be properly persuasive we need to understand someone's motivation for contributing (sharing their knowledge) and the barriers which mean they won't.

Simply saying "iKnowHow is a wiki for the sector, add your knowledge to help others" sadly isn't enough. How many people are motivated by altruism when the barriers of time are so significant?

We need to think about what drives individual action and build these into our communcations. Motivators may include:

• ego / confidence - "iKnowHow is just another way I can share my expertise"
  
• self-interest - "My contribution shows that I know what I am talking about" (good for job seekers and consultants)
• frustration - "everyone gets this task wrong, I can share my insight here to help change behaviour".
  

Barriers may be:

• time - "I am too busy"
  
• fear / shyness - "I don't want to appear online"
  
• self-doubt - "I don't know anything / enough"
• laziness - "someone else will do it".
  

Of course there will always be people who just aren't going to be active but for those who could be encouraged, we need to be better at incorporating these thoughts into our communications. This is easier on some channels than others. For example a 140 character limit on Twitter presents challenges.

Focus on Twitter

Twitter is great as a call to action for small, immediate tasks. So it should be a great opportunity to inspire small edits. Here's what we've tried so far and some of the dilemmas.

Here's a tweet inviting contributions to a particular page:

Please take 5mins to add links / tips to our 'what I wish I'd known before I set up my #charity' page. http://bit.ly/iKHsettip

But which is more effective - a politie plee (please) or a question?

Could you spare 5mins to add links / tips to our 'what I wish I'd known before I set up my #charity' page. http://bit.ly/iKHsettip

This tweet is quite long and not easy to RT but shortening it is hard without losing some meaning.

What links / tips helped when you set up your #charity? Spare 5mins to help others. http://bit.ly/iKHsettip

In these cases there is no space to mention BlueDot rewards or other motivators. We have to choose a primary motivation for each tweet and hope that it does the trick. However, this does mean sending out multiple tweets over a period of time trying different things. It is hard to work out which words / terms / methods will spark interest.

Given that one of the barriers is time, we have experimented with sending messages outside office hours. Evenings, Bank Holidays and weekends are when people are more likely to have time on their hands. We use a different tone of voice and show that we are in the now but other than a few RTs, it's not generated any action. Maybe everyone has switched off from work and is just watching the football?

Bored? Nothing on the telly? Eaten all your eggs? Do something useful - share your nonprofit knowledge?! http://bit.ly/iKHsettip

One month to go....

With just over a month of the project left to go, we need to make sure that we are doing all we can to make iKnowHow a success. Our aim is to find out whether the sector is ready to share its knowledge in this way. We can spread the word about the project and invite people to contribute but actual activity is the real marker of success.   

Share your tips

We'd been keen to hear your ideas of effective motivational persuasive communications. What's worked for you? What could we do better?

We've been looking and couldn't find much about key motivational words to use within a 140 character limit for example! Please share links / tips here and help make iKnowHow a success.

Useful links

For those interested in this topic, here are some of the references we found about online persuasion:

• 5 ways to encourage user-generated content (LevelTenDesign)
• 7 ways to persuade people to buy (WebCredible)
• Persuasive web design in ecommerce (Nomensa)
• Why wikipedia is losing editors (eConsultancy)
• 10 timeless persuasive writing techniques (CopyBlogger)
• How to persuade someone (squidoo)

This post is also published on the NCVO and Nominet Trust blog sites. 

So, back to the issue of this blog: how to strike the right balance between creating a good reading experience and making it obvious that a wiki guide is editable? After all, most people come to our site to read information and advice – they don’t want their reading experience interrupted by big edit buttons and menus. However, wikis thrive with lots of editorial input – it needs to be obvious that people can edit them (and easy for them to do so).

If you’re Wikipedia this is not so much of an issue. How many people can honestly say they’ve noticed the little ‘edit’ tab in the top right of every article? I hadn’t before I started on this article. But Wikipedia doesn’t need me to, it’s doing just fine. When you’re starting out, like iKnowHow, you probably need to be a bit more brazen about the editorial access you’re giving everyone.

Our decision to make the editing tools as prominent as they are was arrived at during user testing. Early designs had subtle, discreet wiki tools that only the most attentive would have noticed. Everyone we tested said – if this is a wiki, I want to know about it, I want to see a sense of community around each article, I want to know how I can get involved. The other issue at stake here appeared to be: the subtler the editing tools, the more they conferred a sense of elitism. People we spoke to were suggesting that if only the very best could notice the editing tools, maybe only the very best would use them.

Of course, we want everyone to use our wikis.

So, we make it pretty clear that our guides are for editing. However, we’re careful to protect the reading experience. At every stage in user testing we asked our volunteers whether the changes we were suggesting would negatively affect their opinion or experience of the article as a reader. If they said yes, we would reconsider.

Now we face our biggest challenge – and it comes in the form of a glossary. This being a ground-breaking wiki and all, we didn’t want a conventional glossary that simply listed lots of words in alphabetical order. Too dull. We wanted an interactive glossary – one where people could mark words they didn’t understand and contribute definitions to words that other people had marked.

This creates highlights on important words throughout the text – but in so doing starts to impact the reading experience in ways that no other wiki would.

I remember looking for the largest and most popular wikis and finding it difficult to get past the many heavy duty computer game and ‘Star Wars’ wikis – both with a high majority of male contributors. My colleague Luke's best attempt at finding a wiki for women was one set up for ‘Twilight’ (with a fraction of the articles most computer game wikis get, and hardly the best representation of ‘wikis for women’).

Well Sue Gardner's article looks at why women don't wiki and lists nine reasons:

1. Some women don’t find the Wikipedia editing interface very user friendly.
2. Some women say they are ‘too busy’ to wiki.
3. Some women don’t feel self-confident enough to wiki, and editing Wikipedia requires a lot of self-confidence.
4. Women tend to be more conflict-averse and don't like Wikipedia's sometimes ‘fighty culture’.
5. Some women think the information on Wikipedia is too likely to be reverted or deleted.
6. Some women find Wikipedia’s overall atmosphere misogynistic.
7. Some women find Wikipedia culture to be sexual in ways they find off-putting.
8. Some women find it off-putting that Wikipedia refers to people as male by default.
9. Some women don’t edit Wikipedia because social relationships and a welcoming tone are important to them, and Wikipedia offers fewer opportunities for that than other sites.

Like many other women who commented on this article I found some of these explanations patronising. But whatever we may think about them, the startling statistic remains: only 15% of contributors to Wikipedia are female.

Here at iKnowHow, we’d like to think we’ve created something that both men and women can embrace equally. Here’s why:

• From the outset, we aimed to create a platform that is user friendly, so that anyone, with any level of web expertise can use it. We had several rounds of user testing (with both men and women) to make sure it was easy to use, approachable, intuitive and attractive. We’ve had no complaints yet!
• The wiki is designed to suit every user, and actively encourages even micro edits, such as typo changes and adding links. Those with only 5 minutes on their lunch break can add a paragraph to an existing page. Those who set time aside can share their experiences by writing a case study. All contributions are rewarded with Blue Dots.
• Unlike Wikipedia, or many other user-generated sites out there, iKnowHow can only enhance not distract from your work. Not only is it a place to add your knowledge and experience, it is also a place to learn from others and network.
• Above all, iKnowHow is a supportive environment. One lady in Gardner's article said: ‘I am not thick-skinned enough for Wikipedia’. Well iKnowHow is a bit different. It exists in a sector that thrives on collaboration and altruism, not competition and selfishness. We hope it will seem welcoming to all.

With 68% of the voluntary sector workforce being female, it is very important that we erase the trend of Wikipedia and all embrace iKnowHow for the good of the sector. So far it looks like this is happening, with over 66% of iKnowHow contributions coming from women.

It would be great to hear what you think? Why do you think women don’t wiki? And how can iKnowHow continue to buck the trend?

StudyZone one year on...

• is the only e-learning platform for the voluntary sector that is user-led, sector-specific and delivered in a multimedia format

• 27 courses have already been published, one more to be released before Easter
• courses cover a wide range of topics including fundraising, leadership, strategy, communications, impact and more (see full list of courses)
• Strategy made easy, Setting up a social enterprise and the Trustee training pack are our bestsellers
• we've received 30 requests for new courses and have accepted 24
• we've worked with 24 trainers, both from the voluntary and the private sector.

In November, we launched StudyPass, our subscription service for individuals and organisations. Now you can get all our courses from just £9.99 a month. The subscriptions for individuals and small organisations are our best-selling StudyPasses.

What we've learnt along the way

StudyZone has been a big learning curve for us and there are a few key lessons we want to share:

• giving away lots of free videos helps people decide if this type of learning is right for them 
• many of our users find the transcripts to the videos very useful and say they re-enforce the learning
• each 30-minute course takes us an average of five days to produce
• people often use the videos as a way of finding out whether a particular trainer might be useful to them offline too
• some of our trainers have got work as a result of delivering training on StudyZone
• listening to our users and doing lots of user-testing is the only way to make StudyZone better.

Celebrate with us and get free training for a month!

Whether you're an individual or an organisation, drop us an email at studyzone@knowhownonprofit.org, write to us on Facebook or Twitter and send us one thing:

• your suggestions on how we can make StudyZone better for you.

All participants get a virtual StudyZone cake via email and one of you gets a free StudyPass subscription for a month.

More free stuff!

We’ve got three courses for you to watch for free. If you like what you see, and more importantly learn from it, why not get a StudyPass subscription to all our courses from just £9.99 a month?

• Write a winning fundraising bid
• Organisational values: how to practise what we preach
• Career reboot: getting a job in the voluntary sector in tough times

Who has learnt with StudyZone?

Here are just some of the great organisations that have become StudyZone learners over the past year:

• St. John’s Ambulance
• YMCA
• Age Concern Exmouth
• Horsham Area Council for Voluntary Service
• The Old Operating Theatre
• Community Action: MK
• British Trust for Conservation Volunteers
• Southampton Solent University
• Vitalise
• Vanilla Ventures
• Holbeck Elderly Aid
• Minginish Community Hall
• Walk With You

Who has delivered training on StudyZone?

We have worked with some amazing trainers and voluntary sector experts to produce the courses in StudyZone. Our training library wouldn't exist today if it weren't for their generously given time, effort and expertise. 

• The Cass Centre for Charity Effectiveness
• NCVO
• Charities' Evaluation Services
• Be Inspired Films
• nfp Voice
• Careers for a Cause
• Msizi Africa - Lucy Caslon
• DHA Communications
• PA Consulting Group
• Tara Daynes HR
• Fifth Estate - Gill Dandy
• Rob Jackson Consulting
• John Lees Careers
• Anne Nichols Communications
• Side Step 4 Ltd. - Mark Craddock
• Mark Freeman and Associates
  
• Tristan Callaghan

What you’ve said about StudyZone

We’ve received some lovely feedback from you! Re-reading your comments is even better than cake! Here's a selection:

Ash Daswani, StudyZone learner

“All my Trustees are new to the role, so the guidance and information that I have picked up from the online training guides has been second to none. The courses are well presented, the videos are precise, informative and offered in plain English, making them so easy to understand and apply. I would recommend anyone working within the nonprofit sector to use the guides as an ongoing support tool when running a charity”.

Gareth Eglinton, Community Action MK, StudyPass subscriber

"Thanks again - we'll be resigning up after this three months. It's an incredible resource for an organisation like ours, especially when training budgets are getting tighter and tighter."

Trainer Tom Rowson, PA Consulting Group

"KnowHow made the experience of being a trainer smooth and positive. In advance, the KnowHow team provided me with a combination of a clear brief and top tips to enable me to prepare. While on the one hand, KnowHow expressed warm gratitude for me giving them some of my time, on the other, it was a positive learning experience for me!"

Send your birthday wishes to StudyZone

If you have a birthday wish and a suggestion on how we can make StudyZone better for you drop us a quick email at studyzone@knowhownonprofit.org or write to us on Facebook or Twitter and we'll put your name in the hat for that free StudyPass.

So, I believe this is a good a time as any to show you the value in iKnowHow by highlighting some of our latest contributions:

• Bev Hepting created a new guide on planning, vision and mission to our setting up a charity wiki
  
• TPP, the charity recruitment agency, added content to our setting up a charity wiki on the importance of diversity when building a board
• Amazon PR created a new guide on merger communications

These are just a selection of contributions made to iKnowHow since the launch. You can see who's been contributing to each guide by checking out the profile names and avatars at the top right of each wiki page.

Now we have a successful launch behind us, the test is to keep the momentum going. At the moment I am very busy here at NCVO HQ speaking to charities and individuals across the sector about how and why they should be a part of iKnowHow.

Given that the NCVO has more than 60,000 people on its various mailing lists and KnowHow NonProfit gets over 100,000 visits a month, we are confident of building good community of editors for our guides. But we still need your help. In particular, I'm looking for:

• people who've set up charities or social enterprises from scratch, or been involved in a charity start-up in any way
• people with experience in commissioning and procurement
• people with experience in any forms of joint working or formal collaboration between organisations. 

If that's you, or you know anyone who first the bill, drop us a line at hello@knowhownonprofit.org.

The new public service delivery wiki goes live next week - so keep an eye out for that. And keep those contributions coming.

• Some charity law remains in other places however, including:Some types of fundraising activity remain regulated by Part II of the Charities Act 1992 and some surviving parts of the 2006 Act
• House to house and street collections are still subject to a hotchpotch of legislation dating back to 1916
• Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own charity law and regulation.

Separately, a review of the Charities Act 2006 (the law now moved into the 2011 Act) is ongoing, led by Lord Hodgson. Various public consultations are open for comment. The review might lead to a new Charities Bill in 2015 (or later).