Don't Abandon Your Blog

A recent Harris Interactive/Verilion survey showed that a small percentage of charity supporters use social media to engage with organizations. The headline from The Chronicle of Philanthropy (Few Charity Supporters Read Nonprofit Blogs; subscription req'd) probably scared a few good organizations off blogging or even engaging with Facebook or some other social network site. However, the article does point out that 43 percent of those surveyed indicated they were interested in receiving information from these organizations through these media. So, don't abandon your comment tools or social bookmarking links just yet.

OK, so 36 percent say they wouldn't be interested in receiving updates through a blog... have they read your .org's blog? Have they discovered that your organization has an engaging voice and tons of information about the programs and resources you offer? Have they even noticed that they already read your blog because your blog is so seamless with your website? Ah, well, don't abandon your blog just yet.

Most charity supporters may not know if you have a blog or a Facebook page. You have to let your constituents know where your organization has a social network presence. Try promoting your social media with a homepage link, a webpage with links to all your social media (and don't bury it), a newsletter link, a donor newsletter article, or even as an action item on a donation acknowledgment page. Engage your existing social network constituents and donors to also help spread the word with their friends and colleagues.

Also, it's important to engage within these media once you establish them. Send newsletters, updates, and even appeals through them. Make sure friend requests or group access is granted on a rotuine basis. Update media files and build links back to your website. Ultimately, see if your CMS or CRM tools can help you capture constituent data and update content more frequently through these social media interfaces.

The cost? Well, it depends on how deep you go with your development and how much you want to market your social media presence. However, even the simplest blog, the one or two YouTube or DoGooder videos, or a Facebook Cause could catch fire with the right amount of patience attentiveness. Your 43 percent could be waiting for you online right now.

NTC 08: A Few Updates

A few thoughts and announcements as NTC 08 wraps up here in New Orleans today:

* DoGooderTV has posted the winners in the 2008 Video Contest. Congratulations to the Humane Society of the United States for their Best Overall Video win.

* Best Overheard Quote and Overall Sentiment: "Don't judge ROI by donor dollars, judge it by the results of the lives you change and how you make your donors feel about this change." Well put.

* Best Treats: Coffee and beignets from Cafe du Monde and Jelly Bellies from GoLightly. Both were addictive.

* Check out the blog posts on Technorati for more feedback from NTC 08.

* Finally, one of the best sessions came from See3's Mike Hoffman on video for nonprofits. A great session and I'm glad they posted it:

2008 NTC Day Two Wrap-Up

Day two: Sessions, sessions, sessions!

NTC 08 Day Two started off with a hilarious plenary speaker, New York Times Tech guru David Pogue. Pogue spoke about the three trends for the future: cell phone technologies, television and movies whenever you want them, and Web 2.0 user content. The most interesting example he gave was Google's Grand Central, a service where one phone number will ring or text any phone in your life, which means you are always accessible, whether you like it or not! Pogue ended his talk with a grand piano performance of his famous (at least for NYTimes site junkies like me) iPhone song (And yes, I held up my iPhone for the ballad). Here's the video of Pogue in action:

There were plenty of breakout sessions today ranging from communications, IT, fundraising, and community building. The morning sessions focused heavily on e-mail campaigns, mobile phone fundraising, analytics and social networking. The afternoon sessions continued the Web 2.0 discussions and discussions built on analyzing campaigns. The key question that seems to be on a lot of minds is understand the value of social networking. Does it work? Does it build awareness? Does it raise money? How do you measure the ROI of social networks? Should your organization be doing social networks? How will it affect your organization?

A lot of organizations were quick to share their stories and curious to hear feedback from what other have done. It's a bit unruly and uneven to navigate, but the social network gurus gave strong advice for sticking to your guns and pursuing new audiences with these tools, even though the ROI was difficult to measure. Of course, onLine always says go for it! If you can build an online with social networks, social bookmarks, or any micro-group, you should pursue it. You never know when a channel could open a very big door. It's all trial-and-error and even the best experts can't predict which organization will have a groundswell.

The evening wrap-up featured afternoon ice cream and a Network For Good-sponsored reception, followed by a night out on the town in New Orleans. I have a feeling I may be one of the few people at the morning sessions.

2008 NTC Day One Wrap-Up

Ah, New Orleans: the palm trees, St Charles Avenue streetcars, the Mississippi River and rolling, morning clouds, and the more than 1,000 techies who descended upon the Sheraton New Orleans for NTEN's NTC '08. The tech conference started with a Day of Service, as more than 80 tech professionals helped almost 30 local groups and organizations. Check out Beth's Blog for more information on this great service from NTEN.

Today's sessions focused on Affinity Group Meetings, ranging from an informal gathering of the Information Systems Forum group to discussions on Salesforce.com and Google Apps groups. If you don't belong to any affinity groups, you should. Join a listserv or online group and expand your techie or service knowledge with your peers. These groups can help you find a solution to your particular tech issue without having to do all the research or re-invent the wheel. Very informative peer groups today and a nice serve-up for tomorrow's big sessions. Plus, as almost moderator mentioned, it's all about networking.

The day ended with this year's Science Fair, as vendors and service providers set up their booths to show their wares and expertise. Food and drinks were served as bags and bowls were filled with business cards and pamphlets. The best tchotchke of the event was the red, flashing antennae from digital media platform gurus Red Antenna--very cute.

The big push this year was all about open source tools and how you can tie them into social networking tools and databases, whether it's MPower, Convio, or Salesforce. There were also groups like NPower, TechSoup, and Network For Good promoting their networks and services. Whether you were a social networker, fundraiser, database manager, or a communication manager, there was something for you to see and learn.

Tomorrow, the big sessions, with more chances to hear what challenges nonprofit techies and vendors face and more solutions.

Last Call for the DoGooderTV Video Awards

I finally checked out the finalists in the 2nd Annual DoGooderTV Video Awards. I won't tell you who I voted for--you have to see them yourself. I can tell you that one of the videos made me laugh quite a bit (you'll know which one). But, I really liked them all and I'm glad more organizations are using online video to reach out to constituents and enter these types of contests. DoGooderTV had more than 160 entries in this year's contest--an astounding number. Plus, DoGooderTV is a really great place to post and stream your online videos.

Voting is open until Thursday, so go now. This year's contest has video choices in three categories - PSAs; short videos from a minute to four minutes; and long videos over four minutes. You can vote on one overall winner across all categories. Winners will be announced on Friday, March 21 at NTEN's National Technology Conference. We'll post the winner here at onLine and on our media> blog. Hopefully, this will inspire you and your organization to grab a camera, find some creative thinkers among your staff, and get to work for next year's contest.

Join onLine from 2008 NTC Central in New Orleans

Join us this week as onLine's Garth Moore blogs every day from NTEN's 2008 Nonprofit Technology Conference in New Orleans. More than 1,000 attendees will come from organizations and vendors far and wide to connect with colleagues and share information on technology, communication, fundraising, and more. This year's plenary speaker is New York Times personal technology guru David Pogue.

If you can't make it to this year's event, then stay in touch with onLine this week for news, analysis, and photos from the conference. And, if you are at the conference, say hello to Garth Moore as he bounces between sessions and the coffee stands.

Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

How often have you asked your volunteers or constituents to help with your online fundraising? Yes, that can be a scary thought at first; but, there are probably a few people out there who love to help your organization with a friendraising campaign, creating a tribute fund, or helping raise friends and funds through a social network. These peer fundraisers can be the best connectors for your organization.

The success of the recent America's Giving Challenge campaign exemplifies how peer-to-peer fundraising can be effective. It's easy to get started: start with an online survey or announcement in your online newsletter or enlist active members of your online social networks to help. Ask them about their experience with online tools and technologies--they may know more than you! Introduce them to your online fundraising or event tools and get them involved.

Sarah Hoddinott, Fundraising Product Manager at Advanced Solutions International, offers a few best practices for successful peer-to-peer fundraising, regardless of what technology you use to facilitate it:

Integrate peer-to-peer fundraising into your current fundraising strategies.
Inventory your current communications tactics (email, physical mailers, website, etc.) and examine the messaging. Has it been watered down to reach many different audiences? Through peer-to-peer campaigns, you maintain the core messaging but enable your donors to personalize the message for their own networking and recruitment efforts.

Introduce online events to the list of ways a donor can help.
A-thon-based events can be launched and managed online far quicker, with less overhead cost, than multi-location physical events. Peer-to-peer Internet-based events eliminate the need to physically go to an event, allowing participation from across the globe, right from their computers.

Identify campaign ‘champions’ and give them the tools to rapidly expand the donor network.
Take the time to find your top supporters, reach out to them first and show them how to use peer-to-peer tools.  Once they understand how easy it is for them to create their own personalized campaign website, carrying their own messaging, they will be able to reach out to their networks far quicker, and with no added costs.

Understand, motivate and thank your donors.
In peer-to-peer fundraising, you can easily focus on keeping your participants involved in the campaign by quickly sending them personalized automated emails that provide fundraising tips, solicitation reminders, encouragement and your gratitude. Traditional means of communicating with donors are costly, time intensive and slow.

Create friendly competition and build individual and team incentives into your campaigns.
Create accurate, real-time responsive leader boards that allow campaign champions to see how their fundraising efforts stack up against fellow champions. Offer prizes to the top fundraisers and top teams.  Encourage team captains to motivate their team members and offer them easy ways of communicating within their team. 

Reduce unnecessary administrative efforts from each campaign.
Peer-to-peer tools automate many administrative functions of fundraising programs. Donor communications becomes automated, personalized donor websites can be created by the donors themselves, tax records and receipts are automatically generated and distributed. By using online-based events, the costs and coordination associated with physical venues is eliminated.

Automate your donor acquisition strategy.
Peer-to-peer tools that fully integrate with your donor management systems will allow you to capture new donor information and donation habits. By allowing your donors to create their own online networks, all donors that interact with those personalized websites can be captured, collecting money and expanding your database at the same time.

New Pew Internet Study: Digital Footprints

If you have ever wondered what your online constituents think about providing information to your organization, then take a look at the new Pew Internet and American Life study: Digital Footprints: Online identity management and search in the age of transparency. It seems few folks monitor their online information, most people don't mind what information they find about themselves online, and people use search to find others. More importantly, as constituents post their information on social networking sites, they  become "not only findable, but knowable." If your organization has ever worried about the types of information it gathers from constituents and the security of that information, it might be time to re-think your constituent management strategy.

In Case of Emergency, Use Twitter?

Micro-blogging escapes me, I admit it. Blogging, yes, of course. Social networking? Do it. But, micro-blogging on places like Twitter always seemed to granular to be taken seriously as a nonprofit communication device. It falls somewhere between blogging and an SMS or chat. Do you really care what people are doing right this instant (I'm building a report in Excel! I'm going to lunch with a client!)

However, Beth's Blog posted a YouTube video called "Use Twitter in Emergencies." The video is part of a series called "21st Century Disaster Tips You Won't Hear from Officials" and comes from David Stephenson of Stephenson Strategies, a homeland security firm. Stephenson has a whole YouTube channel called Homeland Security 2.0. The synth intro music and graphics aside, he provides some excellent tips using wikis, flash drives, and Twitter to distribute emergency contact information.

Can nonprofits use micro-blogging in a disaster? Absolutely. Nonprofits should use their website, blogs, social networking groups, anything to get the message to constituents and donors. Every channel is an opportunity for success.

And just when I thought Twitter was hopeless. I'm going to go post this on Twitter.

 

For Younger Donors, Philanthropy begins Online

Established charities, entrenched in their traditional fundraising ways, are going to have to step outside of their fundraising comfort zones as younger donors are increasingly satisfying their philanthropic urges online. Young people, who spend a majority of their time online, are turning to social networking web sites and blogs to spread the word about and raise funds for their favorite nonprofits and charities.

As The Wall Street Journal (requires subscription) recently reported, social-networking sites are doing their part to attract nonprofits and contributors too. Facebook's “Causes” program allows members to create online communities to advocate for issues and charities. “The program has attracted more than 2.5 million Facebook users and raised some $300,000 for nonprofits and politicians,” says Joe Green, the project’s co-founder.

Network for Good launched SixDegress.org allowing users to create charity badges for their favorite cause and send it out to their contacts. The badge keeps a running tally of how much has been raised and how many donors have contributed. The Wall Street Journal reports, “Since the program launched in January, users have created some 6,000 charity badges, raising some $740,000.” Even bloggers are doing their part. Through programs like DonorsChoose.org’s “Challenge,” bloggers compete to raise money among their readers.

In addition to those mentioned above, other web sites appealing to younger donors include Change.org, Firstgiving.com, GiveMeaning.com and Impact.MySpace.com, to name a few.

Where's Your Video?

A recent Pew Internet survey about online video reported that 57% of Internet users watch video online and 75% open a video link that a friend shares with them. it's all over the Internet, yet nonprofits are still scrambling to create YouTube channels and promote their videos. DoGooder.tv, Ourmedia, and oneworld.tv also help nonprofits post their video pieces. So, the question shouldn't be "Does your organization have an online video(s)?", it should be "When will your organization post an online video?"

There are a lot of great videos out there to inspire you. Check out Nonprofit Technology Conference's recent online video contest on DoGooder.tv. A colleague of mine loves the video on the Millennium Promise website. I recently asked one of my technology lists if they had any inspiring videos out there and the lists came flooding in (very YouTube heavy). And of course, check out our sister blog, media>, to watch a wide array of videos and podcasts aimed at nonprofits and philanthropy. Hopefully these will inspire you to take your organization to the next step.

What are those steps? If your group or organization already has in-house video, get it digitized and throw it up on your website. In fact, put it on your homepage. Then, open a YouTube account and post it online. Check out some of the above links to post your video. 

If you don't have a video, er... well, make one. yes, OK, maybe first consider hiring outside resources to help you film and edit your video. Perhaps you have enough existing footage (or b-roll) from events that you can hire an editor to splice it together with your logo and some music. But, when all else fails, do it yourself.  Film your own piece, write your own script, and pick up some editing software. Then, pick up Digital Video for Dummies and DV Filmmaking, two great starter books that will really expand your DV vocabulary. You and your cohorts will be hooked on video and your organization will have a nice marketing/fundraising piece that you can spread across the Web, show major donors, and stick on your homepage.

Case Foundation Asks You to "Make It Your Own"

The Case Foundation's new "Make It Your Own Awards^TM" contest is an interesting opportunity for a small or fledgling nonprofit to earn money to jump start their online technologies. The Foundation is awarding more than $35,000 in grants an prizes to the top four individuals or nonprofits who can demonstrate the best "citizen-centered approach"--basically a Web 2.0 idea They also have tiers for other prize packages. It's nice to see a Foundation that recognizes the importance of technology for an organization--and that a couple of thousand bucks won't cut it for tech development costs.   

So, if you have a great project and idea for marketing it or work for a small organization, go apply. Even if you win $100 for landing in the Top 100, it's better than nothing. And if you get nominated, let us know.   

The Buzz about Widgets: We told you so...

The recent Nonprofit Times article (by Beth Kanter, who is part of our blogroll) about widgets really hit home with a lot of people. I belong to a few lists who noted the article. The techies' response: "Eh, 'bout time someone noticed... know any good developers?" The marketers' response: "Yes, we know already." Everyone in the nonprofit world: "WOW! CHECK THIS OUT! LITTLE THINGS ON PEOPLE'S WEBSITES AND WE CAN MAKE MONEY. "

*Ahem* Easy now. Don't rush. Single file, people!

That story, along with the Chronicle of Philanthropy's report about online giving (subscription required), and Tom Watson's great article about Facebook, has really got people buzzing about online giving again. Online giving didn't really go away, but in the face of fewer immediate, media-hyped disasters and relief efforts (there are still plenty of slow, agonizing disasters in the world), it didn't get full attention from traditional resources for awhile. But, development departments are finally ready to sink their teeth into widgets, and just in time for developing those fall and holiday season apps.

If you still aren't sure, check out our post about donation widgets from a few months ago. Now, remember that widgets go beyond "the ask." They can incorporate all kinds of functionality: content, RSS feeds. blog posts, etc. Remember three things about widgets (along with all the other advice you've read thus far):

• They're fun and can be useful tools for spreading the word. But, they are gadgets. Don't blow your budget getting a few developed. Ease into and it find the right widget and builder.
• Develop a marketing plan to get them to your users: e-mail announcements, site links, and social network posts. Heck, find some bloggers who like your organization or cause and contact them directly. And give it three months. Don't junk it until you know it has completely stalled.
• This won't be a windfall. It will augment giving and traffic, but it's not THE killer app... yet.

Check out Squidoo's Widget Finder for more information. Also, if you have a killer widget, let us know! Leave a comment with a URL so everyone can ogle and covet your idea!   

Facebook Opens Up - Philanthropy Rushes In

One of the few large and still independent social networks announced huge changes last week - changes that may well have a large effect on causes and philanthropy online. Facebook opened its platform to outside developers, allowing members to create applets and leverage its 24 million active users. Inevitably, this means e-commerce and linking other social tools and blogs to the Facebook experience, which had been a closed network.

And it also means philanthropy.

One of the new mini-applications within Facebook is Causes, added by San Francisco's Blake Commagere. The applet allows users to invite "friends" to join campaigns for nonprofits, issues, and political candidates. Dozens have already been added. It also allows for donations -and then ranks Facebook users by how many supporters they've recruited and how much money they've raised.

The money is, well, peanuts at this point - the system measures single dollars and most causes have raised less than $100. The upside is probably in the network of peers that savvy causes can attract using the platform.

Here at onPhilanthropy, we've seen just how potent that platform can be. Just months after creating a Facebook group for our Future Leaders in Philanthropy community, there are more than 200 members signed up. We'll be watching to see how Causes develops - and how the philanthropy sector uses the growing Facebook platform in general.

Widgets? Badges? Making Sense of Online Donation Badges

Network For Good made donations widgets/badges official last winter with their donation badge tools. NFG plopped right into a competitive market: the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) providers were already working furiously on donation widgets and there were already a few out there in the market. The field opened for development and technology officers to stretch their fundraising efforts by empowering members and supporters to help drive online donations.

The first thing I heard from my nonprofit colleagues and counterparts was, "Wonderful... something else I have to monitor." Now, is that any way to embrace technology and the future of fundraising?

A few truths about donation widgets: it's easy to get lost among all the different widgets and badges, they'll never bring in millions to your organization (not for awhile anyway), and they do take some marketing and monitoring. But, your nonprofit can't afford to not give it the effort. So, what do you need to know?

Widget Providers:
Here are just a few widget providers. each one will provide complete instructions to create and download a donation widget. Keep those FAQ URLs handy for staff and widget hosts.

ChipIn - www.chipin.com

FirstGiving - www.firstgiving.com

Network For Good - https://www.networkforgood.org/pca/PcaLandingPage.aspx?SOURCE=SIXDEG&CMPGN=SCB

Change.org - www.change.org/mywidget

CareBadges - www.carebadges.com

Expectations:
Millions? No. Thousands? Possibly. Hundreds? Yes, with some work. OK, so how much can you expect to raise online with your donation widgets? As much as your supporters can reach into their networks and ask for donations. So, it's up to you to find those supportive bloggers and social networkers to help you raise money. You can also take a proactive step and post one on your blog (you still don't have a blog? Oh boy... next time).

Strategy:
You need a strategy once you have your widgets and expectations in place. First, do some searching on Google and Technorati. Find some blogs that talk about your organization and mission. Maybe they touch on your topics (animal welfare, women's rights, or poverty). Reach out to them with an e-mail or comment about helping your organization with a widget. It's a lot of work and some bloggers may bristle at the type of contact. But, they are low-hanging fruit and fair game for your organization. Here are some other methods to consider:

• Make a mention in your newsletters and online mailings to drum up supporters.
• Enlist school or religious groups to post a badge on their personal or group sites.
• Post a widget page on your website to show your offerings.
• Conduct a survey to see how many of your site visitors or registered users use MySpace or similar pages and reach out to them with information on your widgets.
• Mention widgets in your offline marketing materials (magazines, newsletters, conference materials).

Workload:
Yes, you will need to monitor these badges (ugh). Most of the time, it's just a matter of keeping a spreadsheet of bloggers and sites with widgets. Most tools come with administrative dashboards for monitoring and reports. You can also get a glance of that bloggers running total by just visiting their site. You might want to also make sure the blogger/page owner truly represents your organization and doesn't make your organization uncomfortable. The whole monitoring contact and minoring process will take up to 20-30 hours at first, then slow down to maybe five hours each week. easy work for a young admin, development officer, or even a volunteer to handle as part of their workload.

Mixed Results
Don't expect tons of money per each blogger (sometime, it may only be $20 or as high as $4,000). It's often a cumulative effort to raise these kinds of funds. It won't make a huge difference to your overall goals, but every little bit helps. try not to make assign a dollar amount to the number of work hours for each widget, you might be disappointed. One immeasurable effect of social widgets is the visibility they provide for your organization. They could lead potential donors to your website to complete a transaction or for a different kid of transaction (newsletter registration, event registration, survey, etc). Just getting your name into the blogosphere or MySpace is important enough to help spur your widget efforts.

It's just one more thing you'll get to monitor.

More reading:

Charity Badges: Turn Your Supporters into Fundraisers (TechSoup)

Change.org launches fundraising widget (NetSquared)

Kevin Bacon may give your charity $10,000 (Katya's Non-profit Marketing Blog)

Heretical Notion: Do Social Networks Really Work?

The always-thoughtful Albert Ruesga has a great post up over at White Courtesy Telephone that really goes to the heart of the matter on using social networks and online communities to get real work done. He tells the sad tale of "Joe Sector" (love the name) who goes "in search of wisdom, but the results are less than satisfactory." Four scenarios that are probably familiar to all of us always seem to crop up:

1. Light’s on but nobody’s home   Joe submits a question to a listserv here, a message board there, but can’t depend on getting a timely answer (or any answer at all). Sometimes it takes days to get a response. In any event, Joe wants something that feels more like a real discussion.

2. The wrong people at the right time   Joe has to contend with the usual trolls, flamers, and ninnies who throw discussions off-topic. He visits various chat rooms and networking sites for activists, but, as is often the case, few people are present and contributing, and the best minds and moderators are absent.

3. Drive-by commenting   Joe finds a few warm bodies willing to engage in a discussion of the upcoming election, but they keep straying off-topic. Because nobody really “owns” the discussion, it gets sidetracked easily.

4. A million vases for a thousand flowers   Nancy, a communications wizard, likes to hang out at Omidyar.net, but Mary, a master strategist, would never darken Omidyar’s cyber-door. She much prefers Change.org. And so it goes. Joe has to visit twenty sites to have a prayer of finding the best wisdom on the upcoming election.

Then there's part two, which takes the question further: "We fill with frenzied points and clicks the time we might otherwise spend banging our collective heads against a shared problem." A heretical notion? I'm not so sure - I've had the same experiences as Mr. Sector, and I'm sure you have too.