Why Post a Resource? What Kinds of Resources?
RIPPLE aims at serving communities in the rural Northwest by helping them share local resources online that support local economies and community building. The Shared Resources feature on RIPPLE is not meant to take the place of classified ads, which most communities have good avenues for sharing and finding (the local newspaper).
Anyone in a rural town who knows of a local opportunity that would benefit the members of his or her community is encouraged to post. Rural Development Initiatives (RDI) also posts ongoing opportunities for communities throughout the Northwest.
Opportunities posted on RIPPLE must be an event (a book sale benefiting the town library, a town hall meeting); a program (ongoing training, meetings, or networking opportunities); a funding opportunity (a state grant that is applicable to rural issues); or a volunteer opportunity (a call for people to participate in a community event, volunteers wanted for a town cleanup day).
A few general guidelines for good resource sharing:
- When posting a resource, make sure that the information you submit is accurate, especially external links
- If you need to correct a previous posting, just create a new post of the corrected information, with the phrase UPDATED POST at the beginning of the resource text, to alert people that information has been updated
- Make sure that resources are timely: not outdated, or too far ahead in the future
- Resources should be neutral in tone and contain credible information
- Do not include personal email addresses, phone numbers, or addresses unless they are yours or the person has made them publicly available (such as a coordinator for an annual event)
- Do not advertise for-profit products or services; if you are volunteering services, post under the “Volunteer” category
- Resources should include relevant public contact information (phone, email, address) for organizations, dates and times of an event, and any other concrete information that will help people access the resource you are sharing: please do not post vague resources or general comments
- If you need help rectifying or deleting an incorrect post you made, email RDI at ripplehelp@rdiinc.org with “Resource Correction” in the subject line, and include the post date, post URL, your name, and the requested correction
How to Post a Resource
Anyone can post a resource by simply filling in the resource form (all fields are required):
- Enter a valid email address
- Fill in your name — it will appear on the post detail
- Fill in the location of the opportunity you are posting about (likely, this is the town you live in); if it is a state or regional opportunity, put “Oregon” or “Northwest”
- Fill in a title for your resource, something that describes it in a nutshell, like “Junction City Habitat for Humanity Volunteers”
- In the resource text field, paste in or type in the information about the opportunity you want to let others know about, including up to 2 external links if applicable — 2,000 characters including spaces are allowed
- Select the type of opportunity you are posting: a local event, a program for rural communities, a funding opportunity, or a way to volunteer
Hit submit. That’s it!
Our privacy policy outlines how we treat any information you enter on the site.
What to Expect
Please be aware that resources are moderated by RDI. Resources that do not conform to the guidelines above, including advertisements, proselytizing, spam, or sexually explicit materials, will be removed. However, RDI does not guarantee the validity of any information posted and may not be held liable for any incorrect information.
RDI does take posting abuse seriously and reserves the right to delete posts that contain profanities, violent language, or sexually explicit language. RDI may also block users who repeatedly abuse the resources posting feature to post spam.
If you want to flag an inappropriate resource, send an email to RDI at ripplehelp@rdiinc.org with the URL of the resource, and “Flagged Resource” in the subject line. Be sure to indicate why you believe the post to be inappropriate or incorrect. RDI will err on the side of caution in handling such requests, and remove the post.
Otherwise, please help your community thrive by sharing accurate, timely, and useful resources!
