CharityBlog

MS Research has launched a Fan Page on Facebook in the non-profit category. Choose the category carefully: first click on institution then non-profit. Charities in the UK cannot yet use the Causes application for secure donations but there is always a way around this and I am very happy to share this with you.

Once the moment of creating the page is done with you may start adding some useful apps. Creating the page took longer as the webmaster email of the charity which is redirected to my own was not accepted. Did Facebook find out I was disguising myself? I settled this by using our spare email at Google as I always think the job of webmaster is not mine for life. So webbie got accepted in the end. Rabbit was made admin with no hesitation.

Some tabs at the top of the wall page were not so useful so they could be placed in the back (the >> and + tabs). Click on Edit page, settings need to be edited first, decide if you want the whole world to know or just the UK…Wall settings decide if you want post by fans as well as the charity. Set where the post will go if the fan and others cannot post on the wall. Boxes is quite good for that.

Now the Page has some donation buttons for Justgiving and CAF on the right. These have been added using the Static FBML is what I used I recommend getting Learn FBML visiting Learn FBML might help use Static FBML. Once anything is created using Static FBML it will be visible in Boxes. From there you can make it go on the Wall on the left. So the size of the button is important. The wider buttons will stay in Boxes. Update the Fans about your new additions. I did it like this because the Justgiving apps on Facebook is not yet workin on Fan Pages. That was very frustrating.

 A button code as the CAF one will not show at all without placing the code in <div></div> , some useful html coding works in FBML so I used <b> and <i> to stress what I was saying. I think that colour can be added using <span></span> so whatch it! Creativity can be released. At the bottom of the Edit Page the is the More Applications facility, click on the right and browse for more applications: other than Static FLML and Learn FBML I think I added Notes and the blessed Drop.io which is brilliant and can be used for uploading pdf documents to share with your fans. Reviews and Discussions are also useful but can be coming into action later. Extended Info is very good as the info tab is limited. There is Poll too So there is always a reason to update your existing fans and welcome the new ones. On the right of the Edit page you can find some helping information, the examples are not always useful for the UK. This is why I thought of helping you with this. Then I tweet about it too, follow me?

The website of the charity has a new layout, a new design and some new volunteers. The need for help is as poignant as ever. Reports of dramatic falls in charitable giving are overblown; volunteering should not be depleted as time and commitment are two things that are needed. That is also giving. Volunteers are always needed for collections, information days and there are two posts in particular that are vacant: Development Officer, Southern Region and Training Officer.

We have found a Development Officer for the Northern region. She is going to be extremely busy with facilitating Phil and Ian’s Coast to Coast Fundraising. Have you got what it takes to help us with something like this? That is  run (on average) 7 marathons in 7 days!!! If not, you could become a Development Officer for the Southern Region. It needs the same level of commitment. Please contact us or use this form.

So, MS Researh has made it easy for single or regular donations to be made on the Charity Aid Foundation (CAF) and with Justgiving the possibilties are endless to donate or create some pages for fundraising all over the UK and Northern Ireland.

The website is now on an easy to maintain  Content Management System (CMS). The webmaster has not retired! She still needs to train the researchers to publish some more of their news. MS Researh charity decided to upgrade to CMS as it was not wise to expect one volunteer only to know how to update and publish.

VOLUNTEERS URGENTLY REQUIRED
FOR A COLLECTION in AID of the MS RESEARCH CHARITY
at THE MALL CRIBBS CAUSEWAY near Bristol
on FRIDAY 18^TH and SATURDAY 19^TH JANUARY 2008

The collections will take place all day on both of these days, and if you are able to help for a couple of hours, please contact:

BRIAN PAGINGTON
on Tel: Home 01454 320141
Tel: Mobile 07776 341 601
Please forward this request to anyone you know who might be able to help with these collections.
Thank You

It may not be news to some of you but I am pleased to tell you you that the CSE from Google works well and is easy to set up with no ads on Google for a charity. This existed previously and was changed without letting the user know. So I had the search for non-profit organizations still running with the old settings and wrong links to the site. I also had no way of changing anything! It had taken so long to Google to notice that they were offering this to US non-profit only. I was worried to change the search (what is not broken…) but the improvement is that you can design your own result page!

I am pleased to show this to you:

1. search for “rehabilitation” on MS Research search page (this is not what we have at the moment; the idea is still good to use 10/01/09)
2. see the results page.

I said it was simple to use but it took a while for the penny to drop as you need to write the url of the results page in the search page code.

Last week I have published a new design for the MS Research charity website. It is using a free template from D. Carter who gives away some of his designs on his own site or with others on the Open Source Design. I provide the work free and I have been a volunteer for many years. At the same time, things are changing at the MS Research and Resources Unit and a new volunteer is writing a newsletter which will give no doubt some details about the Project on Fatigue started last month…Then there will be another round of updates.

We are delighted to announce that Andrew Heygate-Browne, President of the University of the West of England ’s (UWE) SU Badminton Club and his team, are going for a World Record attempt on 2nd and 3rd June 2007, and…raising funds for MS Research!

The current world record for the longest badminton doubles is 24 hours, 21 minutes and 19 seconds, held by Sylvia Campion, Aubrey Cox, Maureen Dunne and William Stevenson, of Ireland, set in December 2005.

The attempt is taking place at UWE’s recently opened Centre for Sports, Frenchay Campus, Coldharbour Lane , Bristol . If you can help at the event, please let us know! I’m sure you’ll join us in wishing them the very best of luck!

If you would like to be part of this event, in any of the above areas, or would like further information, please contact us on 0117 9286332 as soon as possible. If you would like to sponsor Andrew and the team at UWE, please contact the Fundraising Team for a sponsor form.

Contact Rosie! Telephone 0117 9286332 if you wish to raise funds for MS Research.

I was amazed to find that someone from Lambeth had spent more than 12 minutes having a look at my blog Multiple Sclerosis - MS Research Seeks Help ! Then, even more amazed that my blog is listed as an example to give ideas to charities.

I did it because it was there and free. I joined this blog for the same reasons. Also, I love using languages and writing websites using html, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) or xhtml is very interesting. So, it is part of the new day job. I am a webmaster for two charities: MS Research for the charity helping to fund the MS Unit (I started by setting up a website saying that the MS Unit needed help with the website MS First) and Clover House Therapy. Every week, I help find research news on the internet for the researchers at the MS Research Unit in Bristol. When I have a moment of free time I find out what is new and free for volunteer webmasters.

Now, I wonder how long it took me to find out about the links to my blog from this blog?

Hey, I know, I could give you a link. Oh, it is so enjoyable…