Live Wire: December, 2006

In This Issue: THE Progressive Holiday Bash: Join us this Thursday DIA Events & Trainings Coming Soon: Salsa! Meet the Staff; Join the Staff! Around the DIA Community DIA receives funding

Dear DIA Friends & Members,

This fall has been an exciting time for progressives and for DIA. We've had a blast watching our community grow and meeting so many of our new members at recent happy hours and trainings. We'd love to keep the momentum going and see you at our holiday party at Utopia in DC this Thursday, December 14th. Be sure to RSVP and let us know you're coming!

Events and Trainings

• Internet Advocacy Roundtable: Message Strategy for a New Democratic Congress. December 21, 2006
• DIA 101 Webinar: December 18th
  
• "Salsa" Orientation & Training; San Francisco. January 12, 2007
• DC and NY "Salsa" Training: TBD. January, 2007
  

Coming Soon: Salsa!

Perhaps you've already heard the exciting news: our user interface project (aka "Salsa") is nearing completion and we're looking forward to deploying a much sleeker and more user-friendly HQ in January. And it's not just a design make-over. We're introducing a slew of new concepts not yet seen in the nonprofit tech space to help our members launch the most effective campaigns and gather the most important stats.

We've built in an amazing amount of flexibility with customizable pages, reports, drag and drop dashboards, and workflows that will make the DIA platform relevant for an even wider range of organizations both here and abroad.

Meet the Staff

Please welcome the latest additions to our team: Chelsea, Megan and Erin.

After a brief stint as an intern last summer at DIA, Chelsea discovered that all other job opportunities paled in comparison. She returns to DIA as Client Support Specialist. Interested in conveying technological concepts to fellow “non-techies” while also developing her writing and research skills through fundraising and marketing development, Chelsea looks forward to learning how to better serve DIA's diverse community of progressive members. Say hi: Chelsea at democracyinaction.org

Erin comes to DemocracyInAction from the Friends Committee on National Legislation, where she did programming, database administration, systems administration, and user support. She is happy to make the transition to software development at DIA and has been rockin' on "Salsa" for a couple of months now. Say hi: erin at democracyinaction.org

Megan recently returned to her hometown of D.C. to pursue a Masters degree in Communication, Culture and Technology from Georgetown University. Her interests in online communication strategies and progressive politics ledher to DIA. She looks forward to applying the Marketing skills she acquired at a Boston-based start-up to maximize DIA's outreach efforts during her internship this fall. Say hi: Mweintraub at democracyinaction.org

Who are those people on the other end of your tech support call? Find out each month as we feature one of our own. Meet Mara!

Our Online Communications Manager, Mara, was recently featured in IPDI's Person-to-Person-to-Person: Harnessing the Political Power of Social Networks and User-Generated Content. She drew from her experiences with DIA and her background in Public Anthropology to write about identity formation in online social networking sites. Besides preaching the joys of Myspace to the DIA staff, she helps us integrate new users into the DIA community, plan community events and trainings, and write strategy guides and Case Studies. In her spare time, Mara plays roller derby for a DC league.

Want to Help Us Build a Progressive Infrastructure?

We are looking for 2 rock star developers and a Director of Strategic Services to join our growing team.

Around the DIA Community

The Genocide Intervention Network took to social networking and ran with it. Flickr, Myspace and Facebook have all been fully integrated into their strategy of creating a permanent anti-genocide constituency so that when mass atrocities occur, the world will be well-positioned to respond quickly and effectively. For the full story of how GI-Net is reaching new supporters, visit our blog.

• The Campaign For a Commercial Free Childhood is telling Walmart that Nagging is Not a Family Value.
• Give a gift of peace and support Episcopal Peace Fellowship.
  

• Watch the new video from The Center for Health, Environment and Justice: Sam Suds and the Case of PVC, the Poison Plastic.

• Help PROTECT tell Congress to Sign the War on Child Predators Pledge.

• Flex Your Rights holiday gear.

• Does Ann Coulter speak for you? Find out what she's saying and sign the petition from The Center for the Advancement of Women.
  
• In celebration of the holidays, each time you purchase a gift or make a general donation in a friend or family member's name, CIVIC will send a special edition holiday card to them on your behalf.

Lastly, we're excited about the recent funding we received from the Open Society Institute and their support of our efforts to extend our service and make DIA an even stronger organization capable of permanently sustaining the progressive space in the future. We're also thankful for the continued support of the Surdna foundation.

Warm wishes for a peaceful holiday season,

The Whole DIA Gang,
( April, Jason Z., Chris, Nick, Elissa, Brian, Andy, Anthony, Yonathan, Megan, Chelsea, Erin and Mara)

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