Hello!

Welcome to GMT's monthly e-newsletter for August! We hope you are keeping cool in the summer heat and are taking advantage of much deserved vacation time. Keep an eye out for a new section to be posted in September e-newsletter that will include tips from media alumni!

We are sending out this e-newsletter on the first Monday of every month to share feature announcements, membership tips, links to recent articles from environmental reporters, new members and other helpful resources.

You are receiving this as your organization is a member of Green Media Toolshed and you are currently a registered GMT user. Should you wish to opt out of this monthly communication, please see the instructions in section 8 below.

In this issue you will find:
1. Member Connections.
2. Buzz from the Beat.
3. Link(s) of the Month.
4. Community Coverage.
5. GMT's Newest Members.
6. Be in the Know: Why You Need GMT's Tools.
7. Support options.
8. Opt out instructions.

1. Member Connections: Take GMT's next skill-building training!

# This month's skill-building training will focus on effectively targeting your audience. Remember: your audience isn't everyone! You should be trying to define a specific group or groups of people to reach out to so that you can focus message, resources and strategy where it counts. But how do you know who is your audience? Too often non profits target more people than they should, and their message becomes unheard in the large crowd. This training will help groups to focus on who they should be targeting and how to get their audience to respond to their requests for action using the Activation Point, the point of persuasion. Sign up soon by replying to this email - space is limited!

We are excited to announce that this month's guest trainer will be Kristen Grimm of Spitfire Strategies. As the founder and president of Spitfire Strategies, Kristen has helped hundreds of nonprofits find communications solutions to support their efforts to create positive social change. Recent highlights of her work at Spitfire include creating multi-year strategic communications plans for clients including the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Center for the Future of the Oceans and Democracy Alliance. She has served as strategic communications counsel, guiding positioning and implementation work for the Defenders of Wildlife for their Endangered Species Act efforts. In addition to helping clients develop plans for their social change campaigns, Grimm also helps nonprofits and foundations build their own capacity to conduct high-impact communications efforts. In 1999, she won the Silver Anvil for her work on SeaWeb's "Give Swordfish a Break" campaign, which successfully mobilized hundreds of chefs across the country to stop serving swordfish until the U.S. government adopted a sustainable fisheries management plan. In 2006, she was a runner up for Washington PR Woman of the Year. Today, Grimm sits on the board of directors for the Grist Magazine, Transfair USA and Future of Music Coalition.
# Four Green Festivals will be happening over the next year. Each festival is a celebration of the environment and what people and organizations are successfully doing to help protect it. The next two festivals will be occurring in Washington, DC from October 6th to 7th and in San Francisco from November 9th to 11th. These events are a great way to network with other like-minded organizations and provide opportunities to gain new supporters. If you are attending one of the festivals, please let GMT know! One of GMT's members, Grist Magazine, is a featured partner.
# The Land Trust Alliance is holding its annual National Land Conservation Conference October 3rd through 6th. Rally 2007 will be held in Denver, Colorado and over 2,000 leaders from across the United States who are dedicated to land conservation will be attending. This conference is the only one specifically for and about land trusts and is the largest land conservation conference in the country. If you are a land trust haven't registered, visit their site to learn more.

2. Buzz from the Beat: Looking to the past for future warnings...

Elizabeth Shogren of National Public Radio recently wrote about how United States officials are using the effects of past climate change to help dictate what future climate change might do to the current landscape of the Southwest. The people who lived in the ancient pueblos of Colorado Plateau abruptly abandoned their villages in the 1200's and archeologists having been trying to figure out the reason why for over a 100 years. Archaeologist Kristen Kuckelman thinks they moved due to climate change. For example, after examining the garbage left from the village of Sand Canyon Pueblo, she determined that the villagers abandoned the village due to a drought which caused crop failure and the loss of their turkey flock. Other scientists have studied tree rings along the Colorado River and have found past periods of long droughts as well. They are worried that this doesn?t bode well for the present drought in the Southwest. Eric Kuhn, the chief water manager for western Colorado, feels that this current drought isn?t going to go away anytime soon. The past is dictating the future and he "predicts homeowners will get used to cactus gardens instead of lawns." Read the full story here.

3. Links of the month: Add these to your blog feed!

# Enviroblogs is a list of environmentally-focused blogs compiled by the Society of Environmental Journalists on Blogdigger. GMT's blog, along with Sightline Institute's Tidepool, are listed. Take a moment to see if there are any blogs listed that might interest you.
# Wild Apricot's nonprofit technology blog has many useful tips on everything from Web 2.0 to social media trends. Recent topics include how your organization can use instant messaging to engage members and an overview of Google?s new Optimizer tool, which tracks how well your website is motivating visitors to take the actions you want them to take.
# Don't have a way to link to your favorite blogs? Two great sites to check out are www.bloglines.com and www.netvibes.com. Both allow you to feed in the latest content from blogs, online news, podcasts and much more.
# If your organization is wishing to boost the coverage it receives on blogs, this post from Getting Attention has several useful tips. Don't overlook the mainstream bloggers! Subscribe to this blog to also gain tips on cultivating relationships with bloggers, how to use a blog reader and how to start your own blog.

4. Community Coverage: Lights, camera, land conservation!

LandChoices, a land conservation nonprofit based in Michigan, was recently featured on Michigan Magazine Television. Kirt Manecke, Founder and President, was on the air to explain the different land preservation choices that are available to planners and land owners. The goal was to get the word out to the Michigan Magazine Television audience about the alternatives they have regarding effective environmental land planning.

Kirt elucidated how he obtained this great coverage of LandChoices. He pitched the story idea to the news director at the public radio station in northern Michigan, who taped a phone interview with him and ran two billboards (announcements alerting people to the upcoming segment) during the afternoon drive time on July 26the and in the early morning of July 27th. The news director then broadcast the seven minute interview during the July 27th morning drive. "I also pitched it to our local county and town papers and they both placed their own articles about LandChoices and the TV appearance. I submitted the press release statewide to individual news outlets and this should garner some additional exposure," Kirt further explained.

Learn more about Land Choices.

Read the full press release here.

Read about issues GMT members are working or post your press release to the GMT News Feed.

Do you have a success story you'd like to share? Submit it to yvonne@greenmediatoolshed.org to be featured in our next e-newsletter.

5. GMT's Newest Members: Please welcome the following groups to the GMT network!

1. Connecticut League of Conservation Voters is working to make the environment a priority to Connecticut's elected leaders. You can view the scorecards on their site that show how Connecticut Senators and Representatives have voted on significant environmental issues.
2. The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights "is a strategy and action center working for justice, opportunity and peace in urban America." Their Reclaim the Future campaign is focused on creating opportunities in the green economy to lift people out of poverty.
3. NTEN - the Nonprofit Technology Network is "the membership organization of nonprofit technology professionals." Check out the NTEN blog for tips on social networking, online technology and more, and view their site for a list of upcoming events.

6. Be in the Know: Why You Need GMT Tools: Social networking is all the rage!

Green Media Toolshed and its staff have been adding themselves to several social networking sites, realizing the benefit of reaching out and connecting through these sites. Your organization can use these sites to easily and effectively connect with other groups sharing the same goals, gain new supporters to your cause, and allow millions of people the chance to learn more about what your organization does. Several members are already on MySpace, including Rainforest Action Network, CODEPINK and Earthworks. View GMT's profile and add us as a friend. GMT staff has also added themselves to LinkedIn and to Facebook. If you are on either of these sites, do a search and add us to your network.

GMT has compiled several useful guides on how to use and get started on social networking site that you can access here. Ruby Sinreich, former Web Maven for GMT who blogs at http://lotusmedia.org/, recently republished her top 10 list of tools for social activists. Another very useful list of tools is posted on the TechSoup blog.

7. Support Options and Monthly FAQ: How do I delete my lists within the media database?

GMT office hours are Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm Eastern Standard Time. For a full list of web browser requirements and support options for the media database, please visit here.

For web tools or general GMT support, contact Yvonne Archer at 202-464-5357 or yvonne@greenmediatoolshed.org.

*FAQ of the month: How do I delete my lists within the media database?

Every couple of months, your organization should take a few moments to examine the lists you've created within the media database. Delete any lists that are no longer being used. To do this, click on the Admin tab, then select click on Lists in the left-hand gray sidebar. Select from the type of lists you'd like to view - for example, if you created your lists under the Media Contacts tab, select Media Contacts. Scroll down until you find your lists and select the ones you wish to delete. Select Delete from the top of the page. *Remember to double-check that the lists you are deleting are ones created by your organization.* Going through this process will help to keep the media database running efficiently and the list of lists tidy. Thanks for doing this!

8. Opt out or Submit feedback: Come on, ask me a question?or better yet, pay me a compliment!

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View past e-newsletters in our monthly e-newsletter archive section of the GMT Training Center.

Hope you have a great rest of summer!

Take care,
Yvonne

Yvonne Archer
Green Media Toolshed
(ph) 202-464-5357
yvonne@greenmediatoolshed.org