Our Blog from Simon Solutions

Hello Again Friends,Well, at long last we have finished the new Oikos. I’d like to outline a few of the improvements.

One of the new features in Oikos is the What’s New window. It’s the place to catch up on everything that has happened since you last logged in. You can view a list of what your friends have been up to, or you can view a list of activity in the groups you belong to.

The new Oikos makes full use of your computer screen, it expands to completely fill your browser window. The bigger your screen, the more you can see.

The Wall is the most exciting new feature of Oikos V2. There are widgets for uploading photos, videos, audio and text. You can place these widgets anywhere on your wall. You can also set a background color, or upload a background image.

Check out the new Oikos and sign up for a free account!

Oikos Provides Online Tools to Connect Small Groups and Enhance Community Outreach

FLORENCE, AL, May 29, 2008 - The Internet is fast becoming one of the best ways to strengthen the Body of Christ by keeping people connected in a safe online environment. Oikos (http://www.tryoikos.com) is one way for small groups to connect, share, and build one another up as well as enhance outreach into the community and beyond. Oikos beta has been available since September 2007, and today’s release marks the fully-enhanced version with many new features.

“People desire deeper personal connections with one another, and are constantly looking for ways to accomplish this within their busy lifestyles,” says Mike Simon, President of Simon Solutions Inc., developer of Oikos. “The Internet is becoming the number one method of Christians to stay connected to their small groups, encourage and support Christian relationships, and draw others to Christ.”

More and more people have begun using social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, and there are now a myriad of different Christian networks out there to connect people; however, these networks are open to outsiders and paid for by advertisers and do not provide a secure way to communicate privately. Oikos is like having your very own private social network just for your church’s community.

“We are excited about having greater customization, more intuitive interface, and the ability to interact with Oikos from cell phone SMS and group chat,” says Luke Thomas, youth pastor for The Father’s House (http://www.tfhny.org) in Rochester, NY. “However, it will be the enhanced customization that will really appeal to the youth. The ability to embed YouTube files and HTML will also help keep interest high. In today’s world we are competing against MySpace, Aim, and YouTube and the church needs to be able to offer our youth the same type of technology tools.”

Oikos provides an enhanced and user-friendly look, lighter and faster functionality, highly customizable personal profile pages for each member called “walls” that are easy to work with and set up, and a “What’s New” section that gives users a way to keep track of friends and news feeds while you’re logged off. In addition, it also provides small groups management, online calendars to help people keep up-to-date on events and activities within your organization, multimedia tools such as image and video sharing, improved photo commenting, an online chat with quickly updated information, forums, and online prayer.

About Simon Solutions
Simon Solutions desires to empower people through technology by building innovative and interactive online connection tools. With an aspiration to help organizations translate their visions into action, the company has developed three core solutions that they hope will stretch the boundaries of how churches, ministries, and nonprofits share community: Oikos, a revolutionary private online community platform; CharityTracker, a collaborative network to track charitable assistance; and PrayerPipeline.net, a transformative 24/7 online prayer network.

What a last couple of months it has been. So much is happening and so fast. Sometimes I wonder if I can keep up with it all.

We added a new member to our staff. His name is Aaron Stedman. He will help us keep up with growing demands in our research and development department. We’ve got plenty of work cut out for us.

We’ve added new components to our marketing and customer service strategies. This will enable us to better connect with our customers and handle their needs.

We’ve also establishing many new CharityTracker networks all across the country. This up coming week Larry and Greg are traveling to Portland, Oregon to be at a United Way of America conference. We were invited to show CharityTracker to UW attendees from all across the country.

And we are talking with community transformation leaders in Florida, California, and Texas about using Oikos to bring their entire communities together in making a difference in people’s life. This is something that I have wished to happen for many years. Now we have the community-building tools for making this happen.

I will keep you posted as more stuff happens.

Mike

Just a few days ago we got a phone call from Lauren Hunter, our public relations consultant. She said that USA Radio wanted to interview one of us.

They contacted her and wanted to do a story on how CharityTracker was impacting communities all across the U.S.

Larry did a great job on the interview. This was a great opportunity for us to share how CharityTracker is helping to bring communities together.

It seems that CharityTracker is becoming newsworthy. Just a couple of weeks ago, we were featured on the evening news in Huntsville, Alabama.

CharityTracker is good news for any community in America. I hope we get to tell more people.

On Friday night, a week ago, I received a phone call from Larry, who was pretty excited. He said, “Mike, guess what just happened? We were on the evening news!” He went on to say that the local NBC affiliate in Huntsville, AL aired a special report on CharityTracker.

Needless to say, I got very excited too. Larry told me to go to the TV station’s website and see the report online. I read the report, and even found they had video of the segment posted on the website.

Featured in the report were our good friends Tina Scott, Executive Director of the United Way of Northwest Alabama, and Ashley Butler, 211 Information and Referral Specialist. Both women shared how CharityTracker was fighting the problem of scammers.

“We have been able to identify a lot of people who were scamming the system; people who were going to different agencies to get the same bill paid.”

- Tina Scott

They also shared how the network was bringing people together and building relationships with other service providers.

“The best thing is the networking and relationships we now have with agencies and churches in Colbert and Lauderdale Counties, that we didn’t have before [CharityTracker] was made.”

- Ashley Butler

I had a chance to talk with Tina the other day. She said that calls are coming in from all across the country. People are hearing about CharityTracker and calling to see if it is “for real.” After hearing Tina’s story of the success of CharityTracker in our community, these callers are filled with hope.

My hope is that this simple tool, which is now becoming a community-builder, will find its way into communities all across America and help make a difference.

- Mike

Head on over to the CharityTracker blog and hear about the meeting in Guntersville. AL. We were blessed by the warm reception of the Marshall County folks, and we’d like to share it with you.

And don’t forget, we’re giving an Introduction to Oikos V2 at the Oikos blog.

When people work together, great things happen!

“Loving the Shoals” is a community awareness campaign that launches this month and is expected to draw support from churches, businesses, and civic groups from all across the Shoals.

The Shoals community is located in Northwest Alabama. We have four cities that make up the Shoals– Florence, Muscle Shoals, Tuscumbia, and Sheffield. All of these cities have a rich heritage and lots of wonderful residents. Many people have great passion for community-building. They truly care about our people, our possibilities, and our potential.

The Loving the Shoals campaign is about people partnering together to make a difference in our community. It is a chance for Shoals residents to celebrate the things that unite us - a chance to come together on common ground. We believe this starts with a willing heart and a helping hand. As each of us does our part in reaching out and caring for people in our everyday lives, wonderful things begin to happen. As our caring power grows and multiplies, it impacts everyone and everything in its path.

Working together, we will breathe new life into the heart of the Shoals.

This 3-year community awareness campaign will connect people with like-minds for community-building in strategic partnerships, built on trust, authenticity, and common purpose. Once mobilized, the full potential of our community’s caring power will be unleashed throughout the entire Shoals area.

We hope the story of our endeavors will inspire other communities throughout Alabama and beyond. I will keep you posted as our campaign progresses.

Larry LaBarge and Greg Hammond, two members of our team who go around spreading the word about CharityTracker, came back from Montgomery and Clanton, AL with a glowing report about the communities they met.

Their first meeting was in Clanton. It was with United Way (UW) Directors at their annual meeting. We were invited by UW directors to show CharityTracker to other Alabama directors. Everyone was so delighted that someone finally developed a piece of software that was inexpensive and simple to use.

The next meeting was with leaders in Montgomery. Everyone at that meeting was really excited about working together and having a simple way to collaborate using CharityTracker.

Needless to say, Larry and Greg had a great trip down to the middle of Alabama and we have high hopes that CharityTracker will be helpful to these communities as they move forward in working together.

You can read Larry’s blog about their Clanton meeting here.

Oikos Version 2 (V2) is just about finished. We’ve been working long and hard to complete it, and we’re days away from Beta testing.

Throughout the coming days, we’ll be highlighting why Oikos V2 will be worth the wait. Read the first installment of the Introduction to Oikos Version 2 here.

In the “for sale” section of a local newspaper appeared this ad:  “Kittens for sale.  5 dollars or for Free!” I’m sure anyone looking at this ad would immediately say, “Why pay for something that you can get for free?”

We at Simon Solutions are occasionally asked, “Why pay for Oikos when we can get MySpace or Facebook for free?”  Well, there are some obvious and some not so obvious reasons.

Oikos costs as little as $14 a month.  That’s a small price to pay for lots of amazing stuff that MySpace or Facebook does not have.  People are thrilled with the look and feel of Oikos.  Parents like having peace of mind, knowing that their children are safe and secure in an Oikos “gated-community” environment.

Churches like the multiple levels of security and customized administrative features.  They also like how Oikos can be used for mass communication, community development, and organic small groups.

I could spent a lot more time answering the obvious reasons for a small fee, but I want to shift to the unobvious reasons.

Oikos was birth out of great passion and purpose. 

Simon Solutions is a testimony as to what can happen when individuals, each fueled with great passion, are transformed into an interdependent team with common purpose.  The results have been amazing!

This same force that drives us, also drives our reason for existing.  We all want to put into people’s hands powerful tools for building healthy relationships and community.

Although this is our synergistic purpose as a company, each of us has passion and vision for other endeavors.  One of our team wants to build orphanages in Russia.  Others are involved in giving a “hand-up” to disadvantaged people.  One of our team is helping to build community among youth leaders.

As a whole we want to continue to invest resources into our local community.  We want to build strong families and neighborhoods.  We also want to mobilize the caring power of our community for transforming our entire city.

As you can see, we all are deeply passionate about empowering people and community.  So, when someone pays a small price for our software, they partner with us in a larger vision for restoring hope and making a difference in people’s lives.

I believe investing in the health and well-being of thousands of people’s lives is well worth a small fee for services rendered.  Don’t you?

Our company has come a long way in the last couple of years.  We are very thankful to all who helped us make this journey.

We are blessed with a great team of gifted/talented people who have great passion for community and serving others.

This year we look forward to making new friends and connecting with others who share like-passion for integrating new technology with community-building.

Many opportunities await us this year.  New projects are in the works.

Oikos V2 launches soon.  CharityTracker networks are being planted in communities all over the U.S. 

Using our software, community leaders here in our own backyard of Northwest Alabama are planning a 3-year campaign for community transformation.  It’s entitled “Loving the Shoals.  Making a difference…together.”

The Lord has been good to us, and we are very thankful.  We truly expect great things to happen this year. 

My prayer is that the Lord will bless your life as well.  May He birth hope and anticipation in you this year.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact:
Lauren Hunter Public Relations
916-838-2184, lauren@laurenhunter.net 

United Way of Northwest Alabama Connects Community Through Effective Case Management Software  

CharityTracker.net Helps Community Assistance Organizations Share Resources and Stay Informed  

FLORENCE, Al., December 5, 2007 – The United Way of Northwest Alabama in Florence, Alabama (www.uwshoals.org) recognized a need to improve the way services were given out, and wanted to provide a way to work with churches and nonprofit social service organizations in its community more effectively. They looked to Simon Solutions (www.simonsolutions.com) to build them a unique, simple-to-use online case management solution that could be used by all organizations offering assistance in their community.CharityTracker.net (www.CharityTracker.net) was thus created and has since become the primary way that United Way and other local organizations track charitable services.

“This software has done something that nobody else has done in the community, says Tina Scott, executive director for United Way of Northwest Alabama. “In the past, getting everybody to work together was a problem. Now, CharityTracker.net provides us with a simple, inexpensive way to unify our community and get everyone on the same page. Not many organizations can say that they’ve brought together everyone from faith-based organizations to government agencies using one piece of software—it’s very unique.”

With United Way leading, CharityTracker.net has assisted them in connecting organizations such as the American Red Cross, Saint Vincent DePaul Ministries, Community Action Agency, the Alabama Public Department of Health, and community churches, just to name a few of the thirty plus organizations working together through CharityTracker.net in Alabama.“CharityTracker is making a real difference in the way that these charitable organizations are able to help those in need,” comments Mike Simon, President of Simon Solutions. “We are so pleased that this application is having an impact in the community and making it possible for more organizations to reinstitute assistance programs since it helps to cut down on fraud and conserve resources.”

Any verifiable 501c3 organization, agency, or religious organization with a benevolence program can purchase CharityTracker.net, which operates as a secure online network that organizations subscribe to and utilize over the Internet. There is no software to download, making this the perfect application for sharing information over multiple organizations and locations.

Oikos V2 will accelerate missions around the world.  This is especially true of large organizations with distributed workforces.  I am very excited about the missionary organizations that will use Oikos V2 for communication and collaboration.

With Oikos V1, missionaries are able to keep in touch with family, friends, and each other anytime, anywhere in the world via the Internet.  They can directly connect with sponsors and local churches.

Oikos V1 can handle hundred of users.  Oikos V2 will be able to handle hundreds of thousands of users.  With unlimited usage and global connectivity, users will still be able to gather together in small online communities for team projects and collaboration. 

Collaboration between missionaries, financial partners, and local communities is made simple.  The impact on local communities can be made more visible and measurable.

Each week I sneak back to R&D to see the latest features of Oikos V2.  I am very excited about the project.  Oikos V2 will bring unprecedented opportunity to the Church for worldwide evangelism and discipleship.

This technology will impact the lives of millions of people.

The passion that burns deep within my heart is bringing people together.  Then once connected, watch as  they work together to  impact their  community.

This gives hope to people with passion and to people with need.

We all are passionate about something.  Passion is the fuel that motivates us, gets us up each morning, and drives our personal mission.

We all want to connect with others of like passion and make a difference with our life; being fruitful and fulfilled.  This gives us hope and purpose.

Now, turn passionate people loose within a community and watch the sparks fly.  This is especially true about those who are very passionate about feeding the poor and helping the downtrodden.

Just one person can make a difference; in addition, two can make a greater impact.  I like how the Bible references this.  One can put one thousand to flight, but two can put ten thousand to flight (see Deut. 32:30).  This is pure synergism.  Together, we can do more!

CharityTracker is a dream come true for me.  It is accomplishing what I envisioned it would do.  It helps bring passionate people together for a common cause.  It connects powerful passions that have the potential of impacting entire communities with hope and positive measurable results.

In these latter years of my life, I am seeing the fruit of my life’s passion and labor.  I consider this a wonderful blessing of the Lord.

I am very excited that CharityTracker is now spreading all across the country; empowering passionate people and impacting entire communities.

Larry and Lee Ann traveled to Meridian, Mississippi this week to meet with community service providers who wanted to start a CharityTracker network. 

Everyone at the meeting was deeply involved in helping meet the needs of people within their community.  Hurricane Katrina really hit this community hard.

The United Way and others saw CharityTracker as a powerful solution for getting  people on the same page in communication and collaboration.  They are formulating long-term plans in getting everyone involved in using Charity Tracker.

I am very thankful to see communities like this take full advantage of technology in helping them work together.  This has been one of my personal dreams for “relational synergism” - people working together for greater purposes, realized only through concerted efforts.

Mike