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Google Apps for Places of Worship

February 2, 2012 in Church IT, google, Technology with 0 Comments

Hi, I’m Derek and I don’t blog much…

So I got an email today that I expect to be pretty big news in the Church IT circle. After Google took Places of Worship off the eligible list for Google Apps for Non-Profits the middle of last year, they have now come back and thankfully changed their mind it seems. Places of Worship and some other 501c3s are back on the accepted list as long as they meet the other requirements, here’s the email so you can read it with your own eyes.

Hello,

We are always evaluating ways to improve the Google for Nonprofits Program and we’re excited to share some new developments with you related to our eligibility guidelines for the program.

Organizations under the following categories may now be eligible for the Google for Nonprofits Program:

  • Places or institutions of worship
  • Programs requiring membership and/or providing benefit solely to members
  • Websites with a primary focus on selling goods, products or services
  • Car, boat, and real estate donation websites
  • Consumer credit counseling

All other Google for Nonprofits eligibility guidelines must be met to participate in the program. As always, your organization must have 501(c)(3) status and have received a letter of determination from the Internal Revenue Service to be eligible for Google for Nonprofits. To learn more, please visit GuideStar.

We will be rolling out the updated eligibility guidelines over the next few days. If you believe your organization meets the updated eligibility guidelines for Google for Nonprofits and are still interested in receiving program benefits, you can log in to re-apply here.
Sincerely,The Google for Nonprofits Team

While I’ve had Woodland on Google Apps long before this became an issue and they grandfathered us in when it happened, I know many others are still wanting to have the debate of Google Apps versus Exchange and now you still can!

So in the comments, why do you thing Google changed their mind?

Adding Google Apps account Sync to Apple iPad

July 13, 2010 in Apple, Church IT, citrt, google, Technology with 1 Comment

It’s true I recently got the Apple iPad to use as another communication and connection device when away from the office or home.  While I’m still learning the different apps I’ll want to complete the different tasks I do, obviously one of the main things I want to easily access is my contacts and calendar.  I went through and added my account on the ipad using the GMail button as we use GApps.  It loaded email just fine but my calendar and contacts did not work.  After some further googleing and searching I found and did the following which allowed me to properly do a Google Apps sync on my iPad (instructions i found said Apple device so I assume this will work as well for iphones and touches though I only did on ipad). This is all found on Google’s site on a couple different pages but I want to make sure it was easily found the next time I needed it.

All instructions found on Google’s Support site:

Mail, Calendar, & Contacts:

Set Up Your Apple Device for Google Sync

If your business, school, or organization uses Google Apps, your administrator will first need to enable Google Sync before you can take advantage of this feature.

1. Open the Settings application on your device’s home screen.
2. Open Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
3. Tap Add Account….
4. Select Microsoft Exchange. Yes, choose this even if you are not using Exchange

settings mail calendar contacts on iphone add mail calendar contacts account on iphone microsoft exchange

Enter Account Info

5. In the Email field, enter your full Google Account email address. If you use an @googlemail.com address, you may see an “Unable to verify certificate” warning when you proceed to the next step.
6. Leave the Domain field blank.
7. Enter your full Google Account email address as the Username.
8. Enter your Google Account password as the Password.
9. Tap Next at the top of your screen.
9a. Choose Cancel if the Unable to Verify Certificate dialog appears.
10. When the new Server field appears, enter m.google.com.
11. Press Next at the top of your screen again.

exchange domain exchange server

12. Select the Google services (Mail, Calendar, and Contacts) you want to sync.

13. Unless you want to delete all the existing Contacts and Calendars on your phone, select the Keep on my iPhone option when prompted. This will also allow you to keep syncing with your computer via iTunes.

If you want to sync only the My Contacts group, you must choose to Delete Existing Contacts during the Google Sync install when prompted. If you choose to keep existing contacts, it will sync the contents of the “All Contacts” group instead. If there are no contacts on your phone, the latter will happen — the contents of your All Contacts group will be synced.

iphone exchange mail calendars contacts exchange keep on my iphone

You’ve set up Google Sync! Synchronization will begin automatically if you have Push enabled on your device. You can also open the Mail, Calendar or Contacts app and wait a few seconds to start a sync.

Choosing Which Calendars to Sync

  • Open the Safari browser on your phone and go to http://m.google.com
  • Click on Google Apps user? at the bottom of the screen.
  • Enter your domain name (e.g., YourDomain.com).
  • Click the Sync icon in your domain area (this section has a green background).
  • Sign in if required.
  • Select your device to configure Calendars.

    • Google Wave and Voice Invites

    November 17, 2009 in church, Church IT, citrt, free, google, tech freebies, Technology with 11 Comments

    This is a simple and easy blog post, I have 8 Wave invites and 2 Voice invites.  Leave a comment with what you want and i’ll give them out.  Enjoy!

    logo_preview4232368305-voice_logo_sm

    My Top 10 Apps for Droid

    November 11, 2009 in google, Technology with 2 Comments

    I was one of those people who was at the store at 7am on Friday, i couldn’t wait to get the Droid plus I was hoping to get back to give my wife her phone before her work day started (that didn’t happen). So far I’ve been very impressed with the Droid, it’s quick, it got a great screen, i’ve had no coverage isssues, and i’ve found an app for everything i’ve looked for so far.  The difficulty with apps so far is no one knows which ones to get, it’s a new device for most and there are still a lot of apps to choose from. So far my must have apps for the Droid in no particular order are:

    • Facebook – well for Facebook
    • Twidroid – yup, you guessed it for Twitter, latest version already has lists
    • Bible –  from YouVersion, can’t wait till Live is integrated (hint, hint)
    • Calorie Counter – great app to track what you’re eating and it’s nutrional information, use your camera to scan the barcode and the info will be added automatically
    • CardioTrainer – another great health app that uses your phone’s GPS and as a pedometer to track your routes, call off pace, set goals, etc
    • fIRC chat – As a Church IT guy you always have to be connected to our IRC chat to get your questions answered quickly
    • Key Ring - So you don’t have to carry around all your rewards cards, gym tags, etc
    • OurGroceries – syncs automatically between my phone and the wifes phone, also stores recipes so you can make sure you are picking up everything you need.
    • Slacker – gotta have your radio
    • wpToGo – Mobile access to my blog, hopefully i’ll use this to actually write posts more often

    So what apps are you using? What have you tried that just don’t work the way it should? What apps do you wish you could find?

    I didn’t plan on making this a top 10 list, but when i got done and had 10 well I had to name it that way.

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