August 15, 2012
IRS Form 990 Posted on SOI Website
The 2011 U.S. Federal tax return for Special Olympics Inc. has been posted on the SOI main websites Governance and Finance page. The form shows income and expenses for the calendar year 2011.
read more ››August 13, 2012
2012 Sport Rule Changes Posted
Changes to rules for several sports are now on the main and Resources sites.
read more ››August 10, 2012
Athlete Registration Packet Posted on Top 10s Page
The Special Olympics athlete registration packet, a PDF document that applies to all Special Olympics athletes who are registering to participate at the local level, is listed on the new "Top 10s" page.
read more ››August 09, 2012
Touching, Amazing New PSA and Short Film for Special Olympics
Videos of varying lengths featuring Special Olympics Illinois athlete Susie Doyens are on the SOI website now. One's a 30-second PSA spot, and the other is a beautiful 9-minute short film. You should see these videos!
read more ››August 09, 2012
Benchmark Email Tips and Stats for First Half 2012
Rafael Pacheco, SOI's e-communications manager, has done a top-line review of Benchmark Email stats for the first half of 2012.
read more ››August 09, 2012
One Cool Tool: The Special Olympics Program Research Toolkit
The Program research toolkit distills more than 10 years and thousands of pages of Special Olympics research data into user-friendly statistics and talking points. It is a toolkit for Programs to use to integrate those facts and stats into a grant application, press release, letter to a policymaker, marketing brochure, or other communications piece.
read more ››August 09, 2012
Impressive Stats on Special Olympics' Worldwide Growth
The 2011 Reach Report is out. Check out the overview page for topline overview and an interesting infographic that spells out some of the most impressive and interesting statistics shown in the report. The 2011 report shows Special Olympics now has over 4 million athletes with intellectual disabilities involved in sports in 170 countries. And that's not all.
read more ››August 03, 2012
2012 Truck Convoy Updates
The Stratetic Properties Department would like to announce update to the Truck Convoy Registration and Schedules for the folllowing State: Wisconsin, Nova Scotia, Missouri, Saskatchewan and North Carolina.
read more ››August 03, 2012
Brand Training Webinar for North America Region Programs
Special Olympics North America has released a Webinar on "Aligning the Special Olympics Brand" for its Programs SEE MORE
read more ››August 03, 2012
New E-mail Tag for the Winter Games in Pyeongchang
A new E-mail Tag has been released this week for the 2013 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, Korea. Click here to download.
read more ››July 27, 2012
New Movement-wide Publishing Infrastructure Coming This Fall
This fall, Special Olympics will introduce a new system for sharing stories, news and events. It's called Simple Stories: Unified Publishing Framework. The most exciting part of this is that anyone from anywhere can submit a story to Special Olympics is any of six languages. All stories that are accepted and published will be published on the Special Olympics main website and can be embedded on Program pages easily.
read more ››July 27, 2012
Most Wanted Resources, Department by Department
Here's a new page that lists most-wanted resources department by department. If you're looking for something, check here first!
read more ››July 26, 2012
Brand Guidelines Sub-Program FAQs
For our athletes and volunteers, to belong is to share skills and show the pride of their programs; but our new visual identity guidelines have been making it a challenging experience for them to do this while still supporting and reinforcing the Special Olympics brand. The Brand Guidelines Sub-Program FAQs explain the movement’s shift in thinking and how we recognize a sub-Program and make it easier for everyone to be “on brand”.
read more ››July 20, 2012
New Young Athletes Curriculum
The Leadership, Development and Education Department has published a new Curriculum which includes an 8 Week Lesson Plans for Special Olympics' Young Athletes Programs.
read more ››July 13, 2012
Reach Report 2011 Published
This week Special Olympics released the long waited 2011 Reach Report with a report summary Infographic that gives a snapshot of all census data in the report and an overview of major milestones reached.
read more ››July 13, 2012
The Guardian Newsletter
The Law Enforcement Torch Run Executive Council has published the Spring 2012 issue of its newsletter - The Guardian, with interesting stories and events from around the world and athletes profiles.
read more ››June 29, 2012
Special Olympics Releases New Communication and Marketing Brand
Under a new brand image Special Olympics recaptures both verbally and visually the power of the human spirit to tell stories of its athletes in a powerful and compelling way. The new brand provides resources ranging from Brand Guidelines, Tools & Templates, to Logos and Factsheets that can be used or customized for use by programs around the world.
read more ››June 29, 2012
World Games Family Registration Form and Instructions Updated
The 2013 World Games Family Online Registration Form and Instructions have been updated. Families atttending the Games are required to use this form to submit personal information for all family members who will attend, along with the name of your athlete who will be participating.
read more ››June 25, 2012
New A Very Special Christmas Site is Up Now
A redesigned "A Very Special Christmas" website went up today. It's a way to take advantage of the expected worldwide interest in the 25th anniversary album of new songs coming out later this year.
read more ››June 22, 2012
2012-06-22: Project Unify Publishes "Education Leaders Network Toolkit"
Project Unify has recently published the Eduaction Leaders Network toolkit for State Education Leaders to improve standards and policies for Inclusive Schools
read more ››June 22, 2012
2012-06-22: Article I of 2012 Sports Rules and Summary of Changes Released
Article I of Sports Rules provides general principles established by the Special Olympics Official General Rules found in the sport-specific rules. In case of any conflict between the Sports Rules and the General Rules, the General Rules shall govern. Right click to download the the 2012 Article I and Article I Summary of Changes.
read more ››June 22, 2012
2012-06-22: General Rules Articles Published in Web Format
The articles of the General Rules published earlier in PDF format are now available page by page in Web format.
read more ››June 22, 2012
SOI Web Publishing System Upgrade in Early July
During the week of July 2, the content management system that SOI uses for its web publishing will be updated to a new version.
read more ››June 22, 2012
EKS Day Section Revised
The new EKS Day page on the SOI main site launched this past week. It has new information about the worldwide celebration in September and has another hard-to-spot feature: the imagery on the page and the social media in the right column change depending on where in the world you are coming from.
read more ››June 21, 2012
New Feature for Board of Directors Page
The SOI website's Board of Directors directory got a nice upgrade this week. Each director now has link to a brief biography and photo. The bios and photos are assembled all on a single page, which makes browsing the list of directors more interesting.
read more ››June 14, 2012
World Games 2013 Head Of Delegation Registration
Registration information about 2013 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, Korea. This includes important dates, registration procedure and processes (Paper Entry, and GMS Exchange/Transfer).
read more ››June 08, 2012
2012-06-08: Family Toolkit Action Tips and Committment Card - Arabic Versions
A collection of action tips and commitment cards for Healthy Athletes, Family Volunteers, Young Athlete Leaders and Community Builders translated into Arabic.
read more ››June 08, 2012
2012-06-08: General Rules 2012 Published
The SOI Board of Directors has ratified CEO Dr. Timothy Shriver’s approval of Amendments to Special Olympics Official General Rules. The new Rules became effective on 1 June 2012.
read more ››June 08, 2012
2012-06-08: New Softball Coaching Guides
This week, the Sports and Competition Department released a new online Coaching Guides for Softball. These guides are the key sources of coaching information for our volunteer coaches worldwide. Written by experts in the sport who understand that people with intellectual disabilities need extra time and attention to master new skills, the guides are helpful to anyone teaching a sport but are especially valuable when coaching Special Olympics athletes.
read more ››May 29, 2012
New One Pager on the PALA Fit For Life Program for U.S. Programs
Special Olympics is promoting the U.S.-focused "Fit For Life" program, which encourages all people to get active five days a week and to eat a healthier diet. The new one-pager covers the program and provides links to related resources.
read more ››May 29, 2012
Newsletters, Calendar and RSS Feed Presentation
Rafael Pacheco's presentation on how to use the Benchmark email tool for e-newsletters, polls and surveys; using the Special Olympics website calendars; and an introduction to RSS feeds is available for review and download now.
read more ››May 29, 2012
Resources News Update Newsletter
Several times a week, new information and files are added to the Special Olympics Resources website. There's a page you can check to mind the changes, there's an RSS feed you can sign up for the same purpose and now, there's an automated newsletter.
read more ››May 22, 2012
Revised Newsfeeds One-Pager, New Resources Feed
Newsfeeds of various kinds and sources will become increasingly important to Special Olympics in 2012. Projects under way now will use newsfeeds to share content directly with Program websites and potentially other third-party sites, too.
To help you understand what's going on, SO has updated the Newsfeeds One-Pager. Read it.
Also, there is a new version of the Resources Newsfeed. Subscribe to it here. This version is produced using a combination of the SO web publishing system and the Google Feedburner service.
read more ››May 18, 2012
2012-05-18: World Games 2013 Family Registration Form
2013 World Winter Games Registration Form
read more ››May 18, 2012
2012-05-18 Choose-to-change Card English Version
Two new “Choose-to-change” card in English given out to athletes at Healthy Athletes events – one on maintaining healthy blood pressure, and the other on proper hand-washing.
read more ››May 18, 2012
2010-05-18: Healthy Athletes Software Forms Updated
The following Healthy Athletes Software forms for 6 Healthy Athletes disciplines have been updated: Fit Feet, FUNfitness, Health Promotion, Healthy Hearing, Opening Eyes, and Special Smiles.
read more ››May 11, 2012
2012 SONA Marketing and Communications Meeting Resources
SONA Marketing and Communications Meeting Presentations and supporting materials from the 2012 SONA Marketing and Communications meeting in Orlando, April 24-16. Note: some presentations were not able to be shared for various reasons. The full Brand session presentation is not available for distribution at this time. SOI will be posting a version of the presentation on this site in the coming weeks.
read more ››May 11, 2012
2012-05-11: World Games 2013 Pyeonchang Games Logos And Guidelines
2013 Pyeonchang Winter Games logos and guidelines on how to use them.
read more ››May 11, 2012
2012-05-11 Family Toolkit Action Tips and Commitment Cards - French Versions
A collection of action tips and commitment cards for Healthy Athletes, Family Volunteers, Young Athlete Leaders and Community Builders translated into French.
read more ››May 11, 2012
2012-05-11: Open Water Swimming Coaching Guides
Open Water Swimming Coaching Guides include a planning a training season, teaching Open Water Swimming skills and Rules, Protocol and Etiquette about the sport.
read more ››May 04, 2012
Highlighting Recognition
The footer at the bottom of every page on the Special Olympics main website at www.specialolympics.org (and the Resources site) now features the four-star rating Special Olympics earned from Charity Navigator. This rating is praise for our fundraising methods, efficiency and transparency.
read more ››May 04, 2012
Sessions for International Staff
Our slate of three brownbags (MySOI, Newsletters and Webby World) will be delivered to regions on May 15, May 22 and May 29.
read more ››May 04, 2012
Sponsor Promotion Changes Coming in Early May
A project to redo the way major sponsors are promoted on the Special Olympics home page and Region section fronts will complete next week.
read more ››April 27, 2012
MySOI Overview
William Awumey presented an excellent overview of the MySOI intranet today in a meeting for SOI HQ and dial-ins. This same presentation will be made to Regions in the coming days. Check out the presentation.
read more ››April 27, 2012
A New Look for the SOI CMS
The revised CMS will bring a variety of improvements, including the ability to sign in with Firefox and Safari. It also uses a different color palette and fonts.
read more ››April 26, 2012
On May 18, Learn 30 Things about the SOI Web World
With the newly designed SOI main website, the new multi-language capabilities, the improved and expanded SOI calendar, a beefier Resources.specialolympics.org site and previously little-known features of MySOI, there are many ways to spread the word about what all of us are doing.
read more ››April 10, 2012
New: Bequests and Estate Gifts Page
We have created a special section on our website called "Bequests and Estate Gifts" that instructs individuals on how they can designate Special Olympics to receive estate assets in the future or make immediate gifts that will not impact their cash flow, lifestyle, or family security.
read more ››April 10, 2012
In April, Major Changes in Multimedia Promotions
In late April, the way we promote videos, slideshows and articles will be transformed. We will claim the Show Your Support area for promoting multimedia on every page. We will make our collection pages more interesting. And the way we organize and publish our multimedia pieces will also change.
read more ››March 30, 2012
Changes to General Rules Posted
The SOI Board of Directors has ratified CEO Dr. Timothy Shriver’s approval of Amendments to Special Olympics Official General Rules. The new rules become effective on 1 June 2012 but in the meantime a detailed description of each amendment and cross-reference to the new section in the reorganized version are available on the General Rules page.
read more ››March 30, 2012
New: How to use Special Olympics Newsfeeds
Check out the new one-pager on setting up and using newsfeeds using the WWW and Resources websites.
read more ››March 29, 2012
Stronger Promotion for Calendars
The Resources website was updated this morning to add a prominent promotion for use of the Special Olympics calendar entry form. The new promo is in the right column on every page of resources.specialolympics.org
The calendar system has seen pretty good usage, but there is much more that can be done. There is also a revised one=pager on the SO calendars and the key role events play in Program promotion.
read more ››March 28, 2012
All Pages on WWW and Resources can be Read Aloud
ReadSpeaker is a great new feature of the site that is meant to help people who have difficulty reading to understand our content by reading the pages out loud.
read more ››March 28, 2012
Trainings in New Web Capabilities Coming for All SO
In April and May, the Special Olympics web team of Will Schermerhorn, Rafael Pacheco and William Awumey will be presenting group learning sessions to make more people at Special Olympics aware of new website features and capabilities.
read more ››March 27, 2012
Reminder: Messages for Programs From CEO and COO
The Special Olympics headquarters office can help you arrange videotaped messages from SO Chairman Tim Shriver, COO Brady Lum and other leaders by request.
read more ››March 27, 2012
GYAS Chaperone and Youth Leader Forms
The applications and informational resources for the 2013 Special Olympics World Winter Games Global Youth Activation Summit (GYAS) are online now. Special Olympics it's the start of an open call for applicants from a wide variety of youth sources and multiple National Programs.
read more ››March 27, 2012
Delegation Forms for World Winter Games Available
Today, the many forms delegations to the 2013 World Games need to fill out were published on the Resources website. There is a 50-page guide to how to fill out the forms, plus the 23 forms and a checklist that the guide mentions.
read more ››March 27, 2012
Find World Games in the Resources Nav Bar
Starting today, there is a Resources nav bar item labeled World Games. It is on the far left, easy to find, and packed with helpful links.
read more ››March 23, 2012
Central America Games Website is Live
Special Olympics Latin America is presenting its Central America Games in mid April. The new Central America Games website in Spanish is now live.
read more ››March 23, 2012
How the Special Olympics Calendar Works
The new Special Olympics Calendar allows anyone in a Special Olympics office, Region or Program to send events. Special Olympics staff in Region offices review and approve each event before it goes live. Check out the Calendar One Pager for more information.
read more ››March 23, 2012
How Nonprofits Can Use Live Streaming on YouTube
Special Olympics social media manager Ryan Eades discovered today that YouTube allows nonprofit organizations to use YouTube for live streaming of video. See below for more details.
read more ››March 19, 2012
Law Enforcement Torch Run Contacts Updated
The list of all LETR contacts was updated today. See the LETR Resources page for the updated list.
read more ››March 16, 2012
Submitting Complete Event Information is Key on Calendar
All events shown in our Worldwide Calendar of Events on the main Special Olympics site and the Master Calendar of Events on the Resources site need to have specific venues and detailed descriptions
read more ››March 15, 2012
Many Additions Made to Main Menu on Resources
In the last few days, we have added sections and individual items to the navigation menu on the home page of Resources.specialolympics.org. Look for entries for Contact Lists, Master Plan, Publications and Graphics and Style Guides.
read more ››March 13, 2012
Search now Works on the Resources Website
After several weeks of outage, Google search results have been implemented on the Resources site. We are in the process of assessing most-used search terms to create suggested search results to make finding key pages faster for you.
read more ››March 01, 2012
Our New Website Has Launched and is Multi-Everything
Our website at http://www.specialolympics.org is a multi-language, multi-platform, social-media friendly site that knows where in the world you are.
read more ››