I wrote yesterday about the importance of giving back during the holiday season – no matter what religion you practice (if any) and despite the gloomy economy. Smaller chapters and small-staff associations especially have a great opportunity to help their local communities. Even a little bit can go a long way.

But what are those of us here at MemberClicks doing to help our own community — Atlanta — to close out 2009?

In addition to our traditional Thanksgiving potluck lunch next Wednesday, we’re hosting a food drive and giving donations to the Atlanta Food Community Bank. We’ll also be accepting canned goods through mid-December and we’re looking forward to giving even more right before Christmas. The Atlanta Food Community Bank donates to 800 nonprofit partner agencies in 38 metro Atlanta and North Georgia counties. To date, they distribute about 2 million pounds of food each month! We’re proud to be a part of such a great cause.

Additionally, to help make the holidays brighter for some Atlanta children, we’re hosting a company toy drive through mid-December. All the toys and gifts we collect will be donated to the Atlanta Children’s Shelter, and they’ll be distributed to children without homes. The Shelter hosts a Holiday House event each year, when low-income and homeless families “shop” the contribution (free of charge). There are 13,000 people in Atlanta without homes, and 2,500 are children. We’re excited to have the opportunity to help our community.

Finally, we will make a corporate donation to Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child initiative. OCC solicits contributions and provides millions of children in impoverished areas worldwide with holiday presents in shoeboxes. Our contribution will assist Samaritan’s Purse with some of the shipping costs to brighten the lives of children in Asia, Latin America, Europe and Africa.

If you need help finding a charity, be sure to check out CharityNavigator.org or eHow’s great resource on how to get started. No matter how you choose to give back to your area, we wish you all good luck on your efforts this holiday season!

By Adam Kearney, MemberClicks Creative Director and Shannon Otto

For many of us, this time of year is a season of celebration and thanks. We take time out of our lives to give gifts and show our appreciation for one another.

Maybe your association takes part in the festive season by throwing holiday parties, holding potluck meals or encouraging gift exchanges between members.

But another way to celebrate the season is to give back to our communities and help people in need. Despite the gloomy economy, your members are probably already in a giving mood, and even giving a little bit can go a long way.

Here are a few suggestions:

1. Start a drive amongst your membership. Collect food, clothing, toys or anything local charities might want. Choose a particular organization — the Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, local shelters, veterans associations or any other nonprofit organization. You can find potential organizations in your phone book, on the Internet or through a church or religious institution.
2. Encourage members to donate their time. Most community centers, hospitals, retirement centers, humane societies and charitable organizations are always taking volunteer assistance, and the holidays are an especially busy time.
3. Create care packages for soldiers. Contact the USO about sending personalized gifts overseas or start a donation drive for men and women serving over the holidays.
4. Donate to a local food bank. A donation of 20 to 30 canned goods can help a family in need. If you’re holding an office potluck or gift exchange, encourage members to bring along an extra can or two. A little bit can truly go a long way, and canned goods are fairly inexpensive.
5. Donate blood. It’s 100 percent free and there is a constant need for donors. Visit www.givelife.org for more information.

To find a charity, try visiting CharityNavigator.org. We suggest perhaps choosing one of the less popular (but no less important!) charities. eHow also has a great resource for how to get started helping various charities, food drives or toy drives.

Giving back to your community is a ideal way to liven up your members during the holiday season. The holiday season is about more than turkey and presents and ornaments — and as we all gear up for 2010, donating your time or efforts to local charities doesn’t cost much, but can create a world of good in your community.

Tomorrow, we’ll take a rare break from the Friday Top Five to give you a few more ideas of how to give back during the holidays — and we’ll highlight what the MemberClicks team is doing to help its community, too!

(Image Credit: Flickr)

A day in the life of Huck

As many readers and customers might know, MemberClicks has its very own CTO (Canine Technology Officer), Huck. Technically, he lives with our president, Thomas Howard, but he roams the office each day, keeping us in line and keeping us company. Huck is a pocket beagle and he weighs 15 lbs. He is almost 2 years old, and brings us happiness each day — it’s so much fun having a dog in our office!

In fact, there are tons of human health benefits for companies that allow pets in the workplace, according to a 2008 American Pet Products Manufacturers Association study. Whether you have a dog, cat, bird, reptile, fish or another creature, the perks of pet-ownership — including lower blood pressure and reduced stress levels — often translate to an office space. Pets inherently create relaxing and creative work environments!

Does your organization allow pets in the workplace? If not, would you ever consider it? Who knows? Maybe having your pet in-office will get those creative juice flowing and lower your stress levels!

At the end of the day here at MemberClicks, though, we all get to go home to our own special pets. And team members don’t have just dogs … cats and rabbits are represented as well, and all are equally important to us.

To showcase our pets’ priceless faces and personalities, we created Huck’s Club over at Flickr. Want to show off your own adorable pet, in-office or not? Join the club and add a photo or two of your dog, cat, rabbit, fish, bird or other loveable critter.

If you’re not on Flickr but want to show off your pet to the world, don’t worry! Just e-mail any photos to shannon@memberclicks.com, and I’ll be sure to add them to the group (giving you and your association credit, of course). Please include your pet’s name, species/breed and age, as well as your own name and organization.

And there’s more! Everyone that participates will receive a treat for their pet on us! We’re an office of animal-lovers and we can’t wait to learn all about your own pets, and hear your thoughts on in-office pets!

(Video credit: MemberClicks Director of Product Experience Kevin Patrick)

This is the second in an ongoing series called “Beyond The Big Three,” which will highlight social networking sites other than Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. There are tons of other social media outposts on the Web, and they’re great places for associations to curate content. The first installment on Flickr can be found here. Stay tuned.

You know when you find a cool blog post, video or Web site and add it to your Web browser’s “Favorites” folder to reference later? What if there was not only a better way to organize your Favorites, but a Web site that let you access them from any computer or Internet browser?

Such a site does exist! Maybe you’re already familiar with Delicious, but in my opinion, it’s one of the most underrated social networking sites. It’s a great way to jump into social networking without devoting your entire marketing or PR strategy to the social web.

Upon creation of a Delicious account, you can sign in and bookmark any Web sites from any computer or browser, and you’ll be able to access them from anywhere. Additionally, you can tag your bookmarks – some of my favorites for the MemberClicks account include “socialmedia,” “associationmanagement” and “strategy.” (Tags must be one word only.)

You can search your bookmarks by multiple tags, which makes cross-referencing bookmarks a snap. Want to find all your bookmarks that include “socialmedia” and “strategy?” Easy! Want “socialmedia” and “associationmanagement?” No problem!

Delicious also allows for interaction between users. Your bookmarks can be public or private, but this is after all a social media site, so going private is a little counterproductive. (After all, this isn’t your private diary we’re talking about. They’re just Web sites you liked!)

Therefore, when your bookmarks are public, others can find them based on the tags you give them. You can also add other users to your network and search their bookmarks. Delicious even shows how many times a link has been added and ranks bookmarks based on popularity – when you go to the homepage, you have the option of viewing the newest bookmarks, or the most popular ones.

Delicious recently added a “Share” feature, so you can e-mail your bookmarks to contacts whom don’t use the tool.

There are lots of add-ons for Delicious. For example, I use the Firefox add-on so when I right-click on a Web site, there’s an automatic option to bookmark it in Delicious. Very handy.

I highly recommend Delicious for sharing useful information with your association’s staff and members. The URLs are easy to remember (ours is delicious.com/memberclicks) and it allows you to aggregate relevant and important content to refer back to whenever you (or your members) like.

Are you already using Delicious, or does your organization? Don’t forget to add us to your network so we can share links!

Happy Monday! I can’t believe we’re already halfway through November – where has 2009 gone?! I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend. Who’s looking forward to Thanksgiving next week (if you celebrate the holiday, that is)? This girl sure is.

To kick off the week, I want to welcome some of the newest members of the MemberClicks family. Our customers are our top priority, and here are just a few of the newest.

The International Association of Front Line Managers helps leaders grow by offering resources to improve communication skills or improve employee engagement. The association is brand new and  offers articles, book reviews, webinars workshops and other great tools for managers. This may be a new organization but there’s lots of potential — the founders even designed the beautiful Web site themselves!

We’d also like to welcome the Professional Photographers Guild of Houston. Founded in 1950, PPGH has more than 180 active members active in all areas of photography, including professional portrait, wedding, corporate, videographers, students, industrial and more. The organization’s main purpose is to help its members achieve a higher level of excellence in photography, and PPGH is proud to be a chapter of the Professional Photographers of America.

Last but not least, we want to give a shout-out to the Overseas Association for College Admission Counseling. Comprised of professionals worldwide who work with students as they consider attending postsecondary school overseas, OACAC is affiliated with the National Association for College Admission Counseling. OACAC brings students, counselors, admission and financial aid officers and others to help students attend college abroad.

We’re excited to work with all our new organizations! Welcome aboard!