OStatic

You know those little windows that pop up on some Web sites that allow you to connect instantly with a live customer service representative? Typically you find that type of service on Web sites built for big companies, but non-profit organizations can also benefit from the personal touch with patrons and potential donors. Unfortunately, the cost of help desk and live chat software can be prohibitive.

Live chat and CRM software vendor Kayako wants to help charitable foundations and open source software projects provide better customer service to users, so the company has announced it's offering free and unlimited licenses for all help desk software and add-ons to charities and teams developing open source software.

Earlier this week I wrote about ways museums are turning to open source software as one way to deal with declining attendance and lack of funding to cover operational costs. Of course, there's more to running a nonprofit organization than managing collections or scheduling volunteers to run exhibits.

Web-based open source constituent management solution Orange Leap (CMS) helps nonprofits maintain and manage relationships with the patrons, sponsors, and community members whose donations help keep their doors open.

Open source collaboration platform vendor, MindTouch, announced a partnership this week with SaaS integration company SnapLogic to deliver Deki for CRM to customers who want to enhance the capabilities of customer relationship management (CRM) software like Salesforce.com and SugarCRM.