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Esri Nonprofit Specialty: Enabling Nonprofits to Use GIS for Greater Impact

Esri Nonprofit Specialty

Blue Raster is a proud member of the Esri Nonprofit Specialty. Partners receive this Nonprofit Specialty designation for their alignment with and their knowledge and expertise of Esri’s Nonprofit Organization Program. Additionally, we demonstrate experience with projects in many nonprofit industries: conservation, humanitarian, disaster response, food security, community development, racial equity and social justice, health research, and more.

Esri Nonprofit Specialty

The Esri Nonprofit Program provides nonprofit organizations low cost licenses and access to a Esri's vast offerings of location intelligence tools and training. We are proud to support a wide variety of nonprofit clients in using these location intelligence tools to help inform decisions and shape programs that meet the needs of their constituents. Receiving the Esri Nonprofit Specialty designation is an exciting next step in furthering our mission to help nonprofit and NGO clients achieve their goals.

Nonprofit Experience

Blue Raster has deep expertise developing platforms for managing and disseminating geospatial data and analysis to support conservation efforts with the Esri ArcGIS platform. Since our founding in 2002, we've had the honor of working with over 70 nonprofits and NGOs. For example, we work with leading nonprofit conservation organizations including the World Resources Institute, the Jane Goodall Institute, The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, Wildlife Conservation Society, NatureServe, National Audubon Society, Stimson Center, and more.

Nonprofit logos

Blue Raster continues its commitment to bringing the latest in geospatial technologies to leading conservation, global development, humanitarian & disaster response, social justice, and health research & advocacy organizations.

“We look forward to expanding our work in the nonprofit sector as part of this Esri specialty,” commented Michael Lippmann, Principal/Founder of Blue Raster. “Our team thrives on helping organizations make connections between data to better communicate and power their impact.”

Esri Nonprofit groups

Are you a nonprofit looking to better utilize your data?

Contact us today to learn more about the Esri Nonprofit Organization Program!

Nonprofit Specialty

Jane’s Green Hope: Blue Raster supports 87 Years of Jane Goodall’s Impact

For over 60 years, Dr. Jane Goodall has inspired and motivated millions of people around the globe to live in greater harmony with nature and to take action on behalf of the planet we share. To celebrate her 87th birthday, Dr. Goodall is asking you to pledge to make a difference via the Jane’s Green Hope campaign,

Jane’s Green Hope Pledge

In the fight against biodiversity loss and the Climate Crisis, restoration, regeneration, and protection of global forests are some of our greatest hopes. Join Jane and thousands of people from around the world in taking action to create a greener future for all by making a pledge to the Jane’s Green Hope (#JanesGreenHope) campaign.

Jane and the Jane Goodall Institute’s efforts to protect and restore forests are part of the Trillion Trees initiative. It emphasizes the potential of forests to improve wellbeing and livelihoods for local and indigenous communities, combat climate change, and protect global biodiversity. Every individual can make a difference.

To support this goal, the Jane Goodall Institute asked longtime partner Blue Raster (read about past efforts here) to develop a pledge action response form and dashboard using Esri’s Survey123 , ArcGIS Online Web Maps and ArcGIS Dashboards.  At the end of the campaign, the map will be presented to Dr. Goodall so she can see the global reach of the campaign. YOUR efforts will be on that map if you take the pledge and follow it up with action! Join the  Jane’s Green Hope campaign today!

Jane's Green Hope campaign celebrates Jane Goodall's 87th birthday

Jane Goodall and the Blue Raster Team

Jane's Green Hope campaign celebrates Jane Goodall's 87th birthday

Action Response Form developed by Blue Raster

TAKE ACTION FOR FORESTS & GREENING YOUR COMMUNITY

Pledge to plant, protect, and/or restore native trees and forests, and engage in greening your community. Visit Jane’s Green Hope on the web and take action for the world today!  https://janegoodall.org/make-a-difference/janes-green-hope/

2019 Esri Mid-Atlantic User Group Conference: Five Major Takeaways from our GIS Team

Blue Raster was a proud sponsor of the Esri Mid-Atlantic User Group Conference in Philadelphia, PA. In addition to showcasing our work and connecting with Esri users, members of the Blue Raster GIS Team attended technical sessions and workshops. The two-day event brought together over 400 Esri users and GIS professions from around the region seeking to advance their organizations and workflows with the latest GIS technology offerings.

Esri Mid-Atlantic User Group Conference

The Plenary featured presentations by Esri’s cartographer and user experience designer, John Nelson, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, and technology presentations by Esri staff. This year’s conference theme was titled “GIS - The Intelligent Nervous System,” a reference to the intricate communication system in the human body responsible for detecting, transmitting, and communicating vital information across complex network of nerves.

Esri Mid-Atlantic User Group Conference
Esri's cartographer and user experience designer, John Nelson, led the plenary session.

5 Takeways from the Esri Mid-Atlantic Conference

The Esri Mid-Atlantic conference helped provide answers to these questions: What is new? What has been improved and updated? What can we anticipate in the future?

1. GIS technologies are constantly advancing.

As an industry leader in GIS software, Esri’s applications and tools are constantly evolving to suit the needs of an increasingly diverse range of customers. From education to AEC (architecture, engineering and construction), Esri is at the forefront of product development for an increasing number of GIS users. It is important for Blue Raster to attend Esri’s conferences to ensure we remain informed about the latest developments in the field. As a result, this allows us to build capacity in our team and our clients when it comes to GIS workflows.

2. Building connections face-to-face improves our understanding of what GIS users need.

Throughout the conference, we had the opportunity to meet and speak with GIS users from around the region. These face-to-face interactions allowed us to gain a more nuanced understanding of how organizations are using GIS to address problems at a variety of scales. This only reinforces the importance of stepping away from our desks and attending these conferences. The importance of face-to-face discussions in a constantly evolving industry is just as important as the work we do from our computers.

Esri Mid-Atlantic User Conference

3. For local and state governments, GIS happens at the smallest scales.

From water utilities to curbside maintenance, city governments are eager to leverage GIS workflows to track and manage their assets and workforce. Unique to this scale is the need for precision and accuracy. As a result, government GIS users must have a deep and intimate understanding of their cities. Esri products cater to these needs through a large selection of highly customizable field and web applications.

4. For small municipalities and city governments, Emergency Management Preparedness and Mitigation is happening right now.

Adjusting and preparing for a changing global climate can often seem like an overwhelming task, but for local governments and municipalities being prepared to face this change is happening right now. Furthermore, small municipalities are keenly aware of the specific risks and needs of their communities and are eager to leverage whatever technology is available to manage assets and personal in times of crisis. This desire to be ready and up to date on the newest uses of GIS for Emergency Management was evident in the high attendance of all three Emergency Management focused session of the conference.

5. GIS technology isn’t just for the GIS industry.

Throughout the two day Esri Mid-Atlantic Conference the Blue Raster team had the chance to talk to attendees, other sponsors, and Esri professionals. An overarching theme was that GIS is involved in countless sectors of business and professional industries, from architects to civil engineers and city planners, GIS professionals, non-profit community development groups, educators and students, and local and county government employees. We are excited to see how The Science of Where continues to expand.

GIS Day at Blue Raster

GIS Day is a day dedicated to showing, teaching, and inspiring others. For the eighth year in a row, Blue Raster hosted students from Washington-Liberty High School and demonstrated real world applications of GIS. Led by teacher Ryan Miller, the students have the chance to learn about geospatial technologies through a program called Geospatial Semester.

GIS Day

The Blue Raster team shared real-world GIS success stories through a round of lightning talk presentations on recent and ongoing projects. Despite the cold November weather, we ventured outside and collected temperature data from around the Arlington area. Then, the students collaborated on an Esri Operations dashboard to visualize the data.

GIS Day Dashboards

GIS Day
GIS Day
GIS Day

We wrapped up our day with a pizza lunch and ice cream from the Penn State creamery. We look forward to next year and a new group of students!

 

 

 

Read more about Blue Raster's past GIS Day activities here.

A Look at the Ohio River: Past, Present, and Future

Ohio River

Image is courtesy of the NASA Earth Observatory, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. The satellite image captured March 2018 flooding at the confluence of the Ohio and Wabash rivers.

Blue Raster partnered with The National Geographic Society, Lenfest Institute, and seven nonprofit newsrooms on a project entitled, Good River: Stories of the Ohio. The Ohio River runs 981 miles from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Cairo, Illinois, where it joins the Mississippi. It provides drinking water for five million people, and is also a thoroughfare of business, supporting jobs and communities. But it is also commonly cited as the most polluted river in the United States. For this project, PublicSource and six other participating newsrooms are producing a series of stories about the environment, economy and culture of the Ohio River watershed.

Good River Newsroom Partners

Ohio River StoryMap

To give readers a sense of how big the Ohio River watershed is, Blue Raster created a series of map graphics for the site’s landing page. The maps touch-upon topics including population concentration and impaired waterways. To create the maps, our team used data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and leveraged ArcGIS Pro to style the map graphics.

In the series, journalists share the beauty of the Ohio River and threats facing the region. To take readers on an interactive tour of the Ohio River, Blue Raster produced a StoryMap called Highlights of the Ohio for the project launch. The StoryMap features points of interest along the river and the watershed region.

The Good River News Partners will be publishing multiple stories from November 2019 through January 2020. To follow along with the project and share stories or questions, text OHIO to 412-528-6575. Additionally, you can follow #OhioRiverStories on social media.

Good River: Stories of the Ohio is a series about the environment, economy, and culture of the Ohio River watershed, produced by seven nonprofit newsrooms. To see more, please visit ohiowatershed.org.

 

To learn more about StoryMaps, you can start here.


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