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Madison.com, the online portal of Madison Newspapers Inc., has launched a free section for nonprofit groups they hope will bring attention to low-profile organizations in the community while boosting its own traffic.

The Community Pages, at communities.madison.com, debuted in April. About 70 nonprofit groups, organizations and clubs now have pages hosted at Madison.com, and another 90 will soon be online. Madison Newspapers also publishes print and online versions of The Capital Times and the Wisconsin State Journal.

These pages give groups, regardless of official nonprofit status, free access to 15 MB of server space and a template on which to build their own Web presence. People don't have to know computer code or be versed in Web design to post information including events, meeting minutes, volunteer or job opportunities, or articles and a logo.

Community Pages moderator Stephanie Cowan said a secure shopping basket feature through which groups can sell things like club hats and T-shirts or collect donations online via visitors' credit cards will be added this summer. Other features will include a search engine and a monthly calendar listing all Community Pages group events and meetings.

"Madison.com has become the area's number one Web site with a high volume of traffic, so we want to help direct that traffic to the nonprofit sector and help people become more aware of the opportunities out there," Cowan explained. "More people, hopefully, will come to look at madison.com."

Madison.com reports that it receives 400,000 unique visitors and 2.2 million page views per month. The addition of Community Pages is expected to boost traffic significantly. Madison.com is promoting the new listings in newspaper ads and on billboards.

The Community Pages is not the first community Web resource. But, Cowan said, it's the only one that gives groups without the technical skills to build their own Web site the opportunity to do so at no cost.

DANEnet (danenet.wicip.org) was founded in 1994 to provide community information on the Web. The nonprofit volunteer group is widely thought of as Madison's first connection to the Internet.

In the beginning, the organization offered low-cost dial-up service to individuals and groups and offered Web hosting and links to local nonprofits on the Internet. Today, the resource still exists, but its focus has changed to education programs and volunteer technical support.

"What we've seen is that hosting has become a commodity. A lot of people are able to get hosting through where they get their Internet connection or volunteers provide hosting. We tend to do hosting in conjunction with other projects we're dong with groups," said DANEnet manager Eric Howland.

Howland said the biggest Web challenge for nonprofit and community groups is freshening site content.

Although he's not sure whether the Community Pages will compete with the low-cost service offered by DANEnet, Howland said that if it's a resource that helps nonprofit groups, all the better.

Another recently launched site, www.danecountycharities.org, aims to get information about Dane County charities to potential donors. This online database, run by the Madison Community Foundation, lists charities' basic information for $30 annually. A more extensive charity group profile can be posted for a $100 yearly fee.

The site, which launched last month, lists 12 charity organizations. Site administrator Amy Overby said she expects about 40 groups to be online this month.

"Its purpose and kind of target audience is really donors and financial advisers," she said.

A public demonstration of Danecountycharities.org is scheduled at Promega Corp. on Aug. 6.

Published in The Capital Times, 9:38 AM 6/06/02