It seems like every other day we hear a news story about a major site being hacked and users' information and passwords being stolen. A new service called onetimesecret.com won't stop hackers but it will make a common thing we all do much more secure. How often do you have to send passwords, logins, or other sensitive information via email or IM? All the time, right? Well, onetimesecret.com is an ingenious way of making that task much more secure.

Your email could be absolutely amazing, but if it has one obvious typo or error, that's all anyone will remember about your message. It's easy to let something simple and obvious slip through if you don't have a system to catch things. Here's a quick checklist you should use at minimum for anything you send:

You have a spreadsheet you need to print. The spreadsheet is longer than 1 page. You want the first row with the column headers to print at the top of each sheet. Adding a header/footer will not work, because a header spans across columns rather than labeling them.

Last year at Rootscamp, I presented a session about one of my favorite topics, the intersection of online organizing and direct action. It was a good time, and I’m very flattered to have been asked to write a post about presenting an effective session at Rootscamp.

So you want to fix a problem in your local community, maybe get all those pot holes filled, or that local park cleaned up. You probably need to take this up with local government, but which kind of local government? There are tens of thousands of governments in the United States, many in obscure types you never think of.

January is the month when we typically see the highest number of jobs posted to Idealist, and this year has been no exception. It's fun to imagine thousands of hiring managers out there, armed with fresh strategic plans and eager to share their workload with talented newcomers. And of course, it's most fun to imagine those newcomers being the best possible fit for their roles.

If you're on Twitter, you've probably seen a few tweets that look something like this: ".@neworganizing, what time does tonight's event start?" Recently, I've gotten questions about the dot (.) at the beginning of a tweet. It all comes down to how Twitter determines what to show people. When your tweet starts with the handle of a person or organization, Twitter assumes it's a reply. So why does that matter?

On Thursday, January 26th, the New Organizing Forum hosted an exciting and informative panel discussion and talkback about the extraordinarily successful Tar Sands Keystone XL Pipeline battle. Hosted by the Sierra Club, the forum focused on the history of the campaign, the strategies used, and actions planned.

Here's one way to re-think your communications strategy: focus on messengers, not just messages. The specifics of a particular messaging strategy are often less important than the predisposition of your audience towards receiving your message. Elevating the voices of highly motivated messengers in your communication strategy helps open up new audiences to hear your message, and adds color and depth to your communication strategy to build the quality relationships needed to encourage bold action.

Ever look up at the clock at the end of the day and wonder where the time went? Do you freak out because something you needed to get done fell through the cracks? Start your day with a list! If you work in a fast-paced environment with lots of demands on your time, give yourself time before you jump into the day to organize yourself.

I spend a lot of time speaking to businesses to secure donations of goods. Whether soliciting an in-kind donation of food for the opening party of your campaign office, or asking for donated space for an event, one of the biggest keys to success I've found is coming prepared. What's that mean?

The Millennial Project aims to capture the largest growing population of students at the community college level through a program based in student outreach, recruitment, retention, and enrichment. Through the development of extensive strategic partnerships, NOU seeks to train and develop leaders and community organizers for youth and young adults within the California Community College system.