Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

Guest Post by Carie Lewis: Sharing is the New TAF

Submitted by Carie Lewis, publisher of Carie Lewis | Social Media Evangelista

If you haven’t implemented sharing tools on your emails yet, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to engage existing advocates, recruit new ones, and drive substantial traffic to your website and campaigns.

Granted, this is no small feat. For us, it took 2 weeks for me to figure out how to rig the code so that it worked in our content management system and pulled the right information when posting to Facebook and Twitter. But the payoff was well worth it. Preliminary results showed that just in the first day of enabling sharing features on our email, we got 500 tweets and over 15,000 visits to the web version of our email from Twitter alone.

Now, that’s great, but it wasn’t perfect. As Beth has stated before, I’m a HUGE advocate for the listen, learn, adapt method and not afraid to fail before I succeed. It’s frustrating but I don’t give up; I learn from my mistakes and apply the lessons to future campaigns. This project was no different.

I was so excited that I got the sharing features to work properly that I didn’t even think about tracking. When we sent out the email (you can see it here.) and my boss asked me how it did, I blanked. He wanted to know how many people shared and viewed it per service, and how many people viewed the web version of the email.

I had no idea.

I could see in Tweetdeck that people were sharing it on Twitter, because I have keyword searches set up for our brand. That was really exciting to see all the activity, but I wanted actual numbers. I was able to scrounge some stats by using Tweetmeme and bit.ly for Twitter, but had no idea what the Facebook impact was or how many people viewed the page. We didn’t have a unique URL for Facebook, and we didn’t have Google Analytics tracking codes set up on the web version of the email. Oops.

So, for the next email we sent out, I used trackable URLs from Google Analytics for both Facebook and Twitter. The URL you shared on Facebook now looked like this:

http://community.hsus.org/humane/notice-description.tcl?newsletter_id=34514987&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=share&utm_content=34514987&utm_campaign=email

And the URL you shared on Twitter was a shortened bit.ly URL linking to this:

http://community.hsus.org/humane/notice-description.tcl?newsletter_id=34514987&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=share&utm_content=34514987&utm_campaign=email

Oh yeah, and I made sure the Google Analytics tracking code was installed on the web version of the email. Don’t forget that.

Now, I was able to see stats in Google Analytics for each separate medium. My predictions were correct; sharing on Facebook almost doubled that on Twitter. The numbers were significant, and when I shared them with my team, they were floored.

By adding this simple feature, we’re enabling and encouraging people to spread the word, and making it as easy as possible for them to do so. And we’re seeing how well its working by making sure we can track everything.

Here’s how to enable sharing for your emails:

For Facebook Share: Grab the code off the Share Partners page on Facebook, but take out any javascript. There’s also some great info on that page about how to configure your code to make sure Facebook pulls the right information into the title and description when sharing. Replace the URL with the web version of your email.

The trick: if the web version of your emails begins with “https”, you have to take off the “s”. Sharing functions are not fully compatible with secure pages just yet.

For Twitter, you can set someone’s status by using “http://twitter.com/home?status=check+out+this+link:+http://bit.ly/xxx”.

The trick: make sure you use the + signs in place of any spaces. Then, shorten the URL to the web version of your email using bit.ly or your favorite URL shortening service. We add “(via @humanesociety)” in there to give our Twitter account a little extra exposure.

Note: You might be wondering why we didn’t use an existing tool like AddThis or Share This. While those tools are great (we even use them on our website), they just didn’t do everything we needed for email.

Some best practices:

• If you’re using a CMS like us you’ll need to make sure you’re using an email wrapper that pulls unique meta data into each email.
• Take the time to tweak and customize your sharing code. By simply adding “via @humanesociety” anytime someone shares on Twitter, we’re giving our Twitter account huge visibility.
• Make sure you use tracking codes from your stats program so you can track your success. Use unique URLs for Twitter and Facebook.
•  You’ll get better results if you ASK. Basic constituent engagement – if you ask, more will participate. We did a “PS” in our first sharing-enabled email asking people to share it.
• If you’re sending out a big campaign email, set up keyword alerts with something like Tweetdeck or Tweetbeep. Some people like to customize the Tweets that they share, so you may not see it. For instance, when we sent out the first email, I started monitoring the keyword “Petland” so even if someone took out the “via @humanesociety” or changed the title, I still saw it.
• Don’t be afraid to respond to people who aren’t following you when you come across something. I found many people talking about going to Petland and thinking of buying a dog there. I replied and introduced them to our campaign, asking them to consider adoption instead. Starts the conversation in hopes of educating and changing behavior.

Traditional Tell-a-Friend methods like email and web forms are not dead; but like any other emerging technology that’s out there, we have to recognize that people are sharing information in new and different ways than they always have. And we have to adapt by fitting these methods into our communications strategies or we’ll simply fall behind.

Has anyone else implemented sharing features on their emails? I’d love to see examples of how other organizations have made it happen and how it has worked for them.

This article was originally posted on Carie Lewis | Social Media Evangelista at http://cariegrls.blogspot.com/2009/07/sharing-is-new-taf.html by Carie Lewis:

Carie is the Internet Marketing Manager at The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and uses social media to make the world a better place for animals.

Guest Post by Chad Norman: Power to Your Peeps! Why Real-time Fundraising with Twitter Works

Submitted by Chad Norman, publisher of I dig webby things...and I bet you do too

I dig speaking at nonprofit conferences and events, and one of my favorite topics to cover is the real-time use of social media. It's the perfect mix of emerging technologies, social media, communities, and the web - some of my favorite things.

The conversations inevitably get stymied around Twitter - which is no surprise, as every nonprofit is trying to figure out what the tool means for them. A channel for promoting your mission? A monitor for listening to chatter about your cause? A way to connect your org to your community? It's all of those things, but it's also something else: a real-time fundraising tool!

Raising money on Twitter is happening all the time. Beth Kanter stood on stage at Gnomedex and used Twitter to help raise $2,657 in 90 minutes. Last November, Tweetsgiving used Twitter to raise over $10,000 in 48 hours for a school in Tanzania. And just last month, I used Twitter to raise $350 in a couple hours to help send the NTEN staff out for a relaxing excursion. These examples show just some of the ways Twitter can enable real-time fundraising. Clearly it works...but why?

Tara Hunt calls it Whuffie. Chris Brogan calls it the Trust Economy. I call it the Deep Network. Real-time fundraising works because of social capital...because we tend to trust the people in our network. When an org sends an email, the open rate can be low - but when a person sends an email to friends, the open rate is 90%! This is because of trust, and works the same way with Twitter or any other people-based network. When we build up large, diverse networks consisting of supporters, friends, and peers, we are creating a bank of trust to draw upon when needed. When it comes time to ask your network for something, they will not need the time to interpret your motivation - because they know you and your org. And some will be ready to act...right then!

So use Twitter for listening, communicating, and promoting, but don't overlook the platform as a vehicle for real-time action. Build your network around mutual trust, a sense of community, and personal attention. If you've taken the time to cultivate a trusting, loyal, and engaged following, you should be able to turn that social capital into financial capital - and in a hurry if need be. After all, when you're among friends, it's never hard to ask!

This article was originally posted on I dig webby things...and I bet you do too at http://forums.blackbaud.com/blogs/webbythings/archive/2009/05/26/why-real-time-fundraising-with-twitter-works.aspx by Chad Norman:

Chad is an internet marketing, social web geeking, podcasting, skateboarding, family-oriented web guy running a green nonprofit at www.GoGreenCharleston.org/

Guest Post by Rebecca Leaman: Social Media for Non-Profits: 26 Great Slideshare Presentations You Can Use

Submitted by Rebecca Leaman, publisher of Get your sanity back, Wild Apricot's non-profit technology blog

Great new presentations on social media are coming out almost daily, now that we're deep into conference season, and many are directed specifically to the needs of non-profits. If you've been thinking of launching or expanding your organization in social media, Slideshare is a good starting point for information and advice. But it can be time-consuming to pick through a wide range of slideshows to find those that are up-to-date, actionable, and appropriate to nonprofits.

Here's a hand-picked selection of presentations to get you started.

Some of these have become popuar standards, while others are new material that you may not have seen before. In fact, a few of these presentations were just made available in the past few days! And, as always, if you have a favorite social media presentation to recommend to other nonprofits, please tell us about it in the comments.

Social Media for Non-Profits: Overview
What is social media, why should a non-profit care, and who has the time for it anyway? Beth Dunn’s presentation covers the basics, complete with case studies, and suggests Quick start and Advanced Quick Start tactics to launch your nonprofit into social media.

Social Media for Non Profits and Special Causes
John Sheridan’s presentation at at Pod Camp Halifax 2009 gives an overview of social media and social networking, with plenty of non-profit examples.

Social Media for Non Profits
Primal Media’s sideshow is loaded with information on trends, recent statistics, and examples of social media used by nonprofits.

Social Media for Non-Profits: Succeeding in a Social World
Beeline Labs made this presentation to a United Way chapter in Boston: see especially the “10 Guiding Principles” and “Most Common Mistakes.”

Social Networking Strategy

How To Think Like A Nonprofit Social Media Genius
Beth Kanter breaks it down:

• Understand organizational change theory
• Use the Rule of Thirds (1/3 web presence, 1/3 one-way, 1/3 social)
• Listen first
• Build relationships with influencers
• Make it easy to re-mix your content
• No instant gratification — results require effort over time
• Use metrics to discover what works and what doesn’t

Creating Your Organization’s Social Media Strategy
Beth Kanter walks through the process of developing a non-profit social media strategy, with many practical examples.

Nonprofit Soc Media Overview
Maren Hogan says “These are the things that I would do”: here’s a step-by-step overview of the basic tools and tactics of social media, starting with a website and blog.

Return on Investment (ROI)

Social Network Fundraising is a presentation by Justin Perkins, Director of Nonprofit Services at Care2.com, featuring research on Social Network Fundraising and use of new media for nonprofit marketing — and an excellent analysis of the ROI for nonprofit social networking campaigns.

Using Social Media to Increase Website Traffic
A look at the return on investment (ROI) for using Digg.com and StumbleUpon.com to increase visitors to your website, using the National Wildlife Federation as a case study.

E-Metrics: Followers, Friends, and Fans: Expanding Your Online Community
Beth Kanter’s presentation advocates “ROI thinking” to help build a community around your blog: using measurements to tell you what works and what doesn’t.

Tips and Case Studies
Who’s Doing What, Where, and How?

• An Introduction to Facebook and Twitter for Nonprofits (Nathan Wright)
• A New Tool for Online Campaigns: How to Show, Tell, and Activate with a Video-centric Microsite (Michael Hoffman)
• Blogging for Nonprofits (Shirley Sexton)
• Energizing Word of Mouth through Social Media (Lee Aase / Mayo Clinic)
• Getting The Word Out About Your Cause With Blogs, Podcasts & Social Networks (Britt Bravo)
• Googe 101 for Nonprofits (Mike Heslin / Google)
• Practical Examples of Social Media for Non-Profits (Laura Lacy)
• ROI of Listening: America Red Cross Case Study (Beth Kanter)
• Sharing Your Story: Podcasting (Britt Bravo)
• Social Media and Social Change in New Zealand (Simon Young)
• Social Media for Non Profits - Tapping into the motivations of The People to change the world around us (Ed Schipul)
• Social Media for Social Good (Ian Schafer)
• Social Media Campaign Report: Tour de Kids (Sarah Allen)
• Social Media Marketing for Non-Profits (Laura Lacy)
• Twitter.org: What, why, who and how for Nonprofit Organizations using Twitter (Amy Sample Ward)
• Upgrading Your E-Newsletter (CanadaHelps.org)

Tip: Whenever you view a slideshow at SlideShare, do scroll down below the presentation area to check for helpful notes on the slides and/or interesting information in the comments thread. And remember — SlideShare is a social networking site, itself, so take a few minutes to explore its features and consider signing up to connect, share, comment, or just to build a library of your own favorite presentations!

Can you add to this list of resources?

Does your nonprofit have a social media how-to or a case study presentation to share?
Please tell us about it and leave a link in the comments.

This article was originally posted on Wild Apricot at http://www.wildapricot.com/blogs/newsblog/archive/2009/05/12/social-media-for-non-profits-26-great-slideshare-presentations-you-can-use.aspx by Rebecca Leaman:

Rebecca Leaman is the primary writer for Wild Apricot's non-profit technology blog.

Guest Post by Steve MacLaughlin: Creating a Social Networking Strategy (Part 0)

Submitted by Steve MacLaughlin, publisher of Connections

For a while now I've been talking with a lot of nonprofits about using social media and social networking in their organizations. I thought it would be useful to blog about how to create a strategy for using these channels.

Before starting to create a strategy it makes sense to set a baseline. Where are we today? What's going on? Haven't we seen this before? Why does any of this matter? This is Part 0. Phase 0. Let's go...

Déjà Vu All Over Again
Web 2.0 in 2009 reminds me of Web 1.0 in 1999. Lots of talk. Lots of uncertainty. Lots of buzzword bingo. Lots of new vendors. Lots of tools. Few experts. Few owners. Few results. Many of the same questions are being asked. Will people give online? Will people give through Facebook? How can we use email? How can we use Twitter? Who owns the website? Who owns the blog? I've seen this movie before and you probably have too. Don't use the same thinking, structures, or processes as you did with Web 1.0. Don't repeat the same mistakes. This is evolutionary ― not revolutionary.

Silo Syndrome
And just like with Web 1.0, many organizations are initially focusing on using social media as a communication and awareness tool. I recently had a chance to discuss social media strategies with members of our Target Analytics Customer Advisory Board. Many of them expressed concerns that there is not an organization-wide strategy for using social media, and that in the absence of ownership there are more data and interaction silos being created. Don't fall into the silo syndrome trap. Learn from the mistakes of the past. Ask questions about the total relationship with the supporter now. Is that MySpace friend an activist? Is that LinkedIn connection a donor? Is that Twitter follower also on the direct mail list? And don't invest in solutions that only create more islands.

The Illusion of Control
Web 1.0 was about controlling the one-way message. Web 2.0 is about engaging in two-way messages. The only remaining control is the illusion of control. You can avoid having a conversation. You can even pretend the conversations aren't happening elsewhere. Good luck with that approach. I'm sure it will work out just fine. This is just as true as when I first blogged it. If you want to succeed using Web 2.0, then you need to give up some control. Control of the message. Control of the messengers. Control of the control. Lose control. Find success.

Friendraising Not Fundraising
If the reason why you want to use social networks is just to raise money, then stop now. It doesn't work that way. An article in the Washington Post notes that "fewer than 1% of those who have joined a cause have actually donated money through [the Facebook Causes] application." The premise of the article misses the point and ignores a fundamental principle of fundraising ― you need to build to build relationships with people before you try and raise money from them. Later in this series I'll go into some reasons why the thinking and practice around these kinds of applications are flawed. Focus on friendraising first. If you do a good job, then the fundraising will follow.

Hope from the Hype
So why does social networking matter? It's not merely just another communication channel. It's the most human channel. In the book People to People Fundraising, I talked about the "Changing Nature of Community" and how "never before have people been able to transcend the physical boundaries of location, language, or other limitations to connect with one another in such powerful ways." Communities matter. Social networking matters. The other important aspect is that social media represents a cost effective way to engage potential new supporters in large numbers compared to traditional channels. And it is the lingua franca for dealing with Generation Y and younger-minded supporters. There is still a lot of hyper-hype, but the opportunity and potential is very real.

The First Step
Get a champion in the organization. They don't need to understand the latest techno widget or the nuances of StumbleUpon vs. Digg. They don't have to be social media butterflies, but they need to have influence and support in the organization. Your champion is going to make some of the choices and challenges ahead of you a lot easier to overcome. Who's your champion? Find one now before Part 1 begins.

This article was originally posted on Connections at http://forums.blackbaud.com/blogs/connections/archive/2009/04/22/creating-a-social-networking-strategy-part-0.aspx by Steve MacLaughlin:

Steve MacLaughlin is the Director of Internet Solutions at Blackbaud and is a frequent blogger, presenter, and writer about technology trends in the nonprofit industry.

Guest Post by Jordan Viator: 5 tools nonprofits can use today to enhance their online presence and efficiency

Submitted by Jordan Viator, of Connection Café

Hundreds if not thousands of online tools are available to help nonprofit organizations with online communication. But with the plethora of tools available, it can be daunting to keep up with what tools can help your nonprofit organization build a stronger web presence, become more efficient and to know just which tools are easy to start using immediately.

David J. Neff, Director of Web, Film and Interactive Strategy at the American Cancer Society High Plains Division, sat down with me for our Connection Newsletter this month and shared his top 5 recommendations for online tools for nonprofits in 2009. Amid his top picks, David harped on a few tools and sites in particular

David's top picks include:

1. Social Networks
2. Video
3. File Sharing
4. Email
5. User Experience

Have any personal favorites in the way of online tools for your nonprofit? What tools do you think will be the best and easiest for nonprofits to use in 2009?

This article was originally posted on Connection Café at http://www.connectioncafe.com/posts/2009/may/5-online-communication-tools-for-nonprofits.html by Jordan Viator:

Jordan Viator is the Interactive Communications Manager at Convio, and manages the Connection Cafe blog, all things new and social media related and all the company's corporate Web sites.

Guest Post by Holly Ross: The Second Coming of the Online Community Manager

Submitted by Holly Ross, publisher of NTEN

Your job isn't going to exist in a few years, and it ain't the economy's fault. Blame it on social media.

If you're implementing social media smartly at your organization, you already know it raises more issues for nonprofits than it solves. Chief among them: who does it? If social media is about individuals conversing authentically with a community, who's in charge of the conversation?

You'll find most people responsible for social media in marketing departments. But shouldn't program staff be involved, as well? How about leadership?

I'm fascinated by the ways social media is changing how organizations structure themselves -- and in particular, how social media is redefining job titles in our sector. To whit: the second coming of the online community manager.

ReadWriteWeb has a new report out, "The Read Write Web Guide to Community Management", that marks the ascension of the online community manager (2.0). They do a great job summarizing exactly why the role is so challenging:

The job is part customer service, part marketing, part public relations, and part web savvy. Some of the skills required are timeless and some are very new and unique to the web.

Yeah, what they said.

We used to organize our jobs by who we were talking at: people with problems (customer service), the population we want to engage (marketing), the media (pr). Now, we don't have the luxury of simply talking AT people. Those same people are talking to us, and each other.

We all need someone to be part of that conversation.

But how are you supposed to write a job description for that? Doesn't it sort of sound like you're hiring someone to goof off online all day? The ReadWriteWeb report has a price tag, but it's well worth it if you're really considering these issues.

I'll summarize some of my favorite bits for the rest of you:

Are communities any more engaged when there's an official community manager?

• Well, yes. There's a great case study from Tom Humbarger. Watch the engagement levels drop as soon as he's laid off.

Is the ROI all about the web metrics?

• Not so much. The report points out ways community managers contribute to innovation, recruitment, and other key areas of an organization.

How to Frak it all up

• I love the list of ways to screw up online community management. My favorite? Be afraid. Sound familiar?

Oh, and there's a plethora of case studies. I loved the report so much I twisted MarshallK's arm -- OK, I just asked -- and he gave us three copies to give away free to NTEN members!

Here's the deal members: Leave a comment below telling us how social media is changing your job description, and we'll pick three at random to get the prize!

This article was originally posted on NTEN at http://nten.org/blog/2009/05/13/second-coming-online-community-manger by Holly Ross:

Holly has spent more than five years at NTEN, combing through all the technology fads and listening to the NTEN community to line up the webinars, conferences, and research that will help members use technology to make the world a better place.

Women in Nonprofit Technology Who Rock: Adding to Fast Company's Most Influential Women in Technology List

In December, Fast Company published an article called "The Most Influential Women in Web 2.0" featuring about a dozen amazing women who work in the Web 2.0 world. The list included BlogHer founders Elisa Camahort Page, Jory Des Jardins, and Lisa Stone.  Kaliya Hamlin, who is the founder of She's Geeky, a women and technology conference taking place in Mountain View, CA on January 30-31st was also on the list.

The post sparked heated debate. Fast Company responded with "The Most Influential Women in Technology."

I'm humbled to be listed in the "Activists" category!

But as with any "best of" or "most this or that" list, it's bound to be incomplete. So, when Lynne Johnson from Fast Company asked me to blog a list, I thought I'd create a nonprofit technology category and acknowledge the work of these awesome women:

Nonprofit Technology
Marnie Webb is the Co-CEO of TechSoup Global and creator of Netsquared and was voted most valuable person in the nonprofit technology field in 2008.
Holly Ross is the executive director of NTEN and expert in everything nonprofit tech.
Susan Tenby is the community manager at TechSoup responsible for their Second Life efforts.
Megan Keane blogs at TechSoup community site.
Rachel Weidinger is senior consultant for Common Knowledge and covers the sustainable food community.
Amy Sample Ward writes a blog about nonprofit technology and social media and is the community builder for Netsquared.
Laura Whitehead is the queen of nonprofit technology in the UK.
Laura Lee Dooley is an online engagement strategist for World Resources Institutes and in her spare time writes a blog about using metrics for nonprofit web advocacy.
Michelle Murrain is an open source software guru who writes the some best posts on that topic.
Judi Sohn is Vice President of Operations of C3: Colorectal Cancer Coalition and was one of the first nonprofit technology bloggers.
Jordan Viator writes for the Convio Connection Cafe Blog.
Deborah Finn is a nonprofit technology consultant and long-time blogger.  She's also the woman behind the hilarious lolnptech spoof.
Laura Quinn is the founder of Idealware, which offers a consumer reports like analysis and comparison of nonprofit software.
Heather Gardner-Madras is a designer and strategist for progressive nonprofit campaigns and also writes for the Idealware blog.

Social Change Activists
Georgia Popplewell is the managing editor for Global Voices.
Britt Bravo covers social change and is the founder of Changebloggers.
Christine Egger is a thought leader over at Social Actions.
Katrin Verclas is the visionary founder of MobleActive and the nonprofit expert on mobile technology for activism, fundraising, and program delivery.
Qui Diaz works for Livingston Communications and leads their social good efforts.
Mary Joyce is the founder of digiactive and long-time online social media activist working in countries around the world.
Leslie Poston also known as "geechy_girl" on Twitter writes about social media and is a trainer.
Rebecca Corliss is Boston area social media activist and one of the leaders who helped raised over $20,000 for Jane Doe, Inc.
Allyson Kapin, founder of WomenWhoTech, is now blogging for Care2.
Alexandra Rampy, also known as Social Butterfly, covers social change and nonprofits on her blog.

Big Picture Thinkers
Lucy Bernholz is the queen of nonprofit philanthropy predictions.
Allison Fine, author of the book Momentum, writes about social activism in the nonprofit sector and the implications on the ground and at the big picture level.
Michele Martin writes about career development and professional development for nonprofit professionals.
Case Foundation bloggers Kari Dunn Saratovsky, Sokunthea Sa Chhabra, and Megan Stohner cover philanthropy, social change, fundraising, and activism.

Nonprofit Social Media Strategists
Wendy Harman is the social media strategist for the Red Cross.
Heather Holdridge is a strategist for Care2.
Danielle Brigida is the social media strategist for the National Wildlife Federation.
Connie Reece advises nonprofits on social media strategies and is the visionary behind the Frozen Pea Fund.
Johanna Bates is the nonprofit technology strategy for Community Partners in Massachusetts.
Nina Simon is the author of the popular Museum 2.0 Blog that covers how museums are using social media.
Rebecca Krause Hardie overs the arts sector and use of social media.
Rebecca Leaman writes for the Wild Apricot Blog and offers strategy advice for small nonprofits.

Nonprofit Marketing and Fundraising
Katya Andresen is Vice President at Network For Good and her blog is the best of the best on nonprofit marketing and fundraising.
Maria Thurrell is the founder a marketing and PR agency that works with nonprofits.
Nedra Weinreich is social marketing guru.
Maddie Grant and Lindy Dryer work with associations to help them integrate social media.
Jocelyn Harmon writes about marketing and nonprofits.
Nancy Schwartz, author of the popular Getting Attention Blog, is known for her sure fire marketing tips.
Kivi Leroux Miller is a writer and trainer who covers all aspects of nonprofit communications, including annual reports.

Update

I knew this was going to happen.  I looked over this list and realized I forgot a few, plus a couple of colleagues made a few suggestions.   Apologies:

Ruby Sinreich is an activist, long time nonprofit tech bloggers and should be first on the list
Alexandra Samuels is the founder of Social Signals and has been working in the online engagement space for a long time - and did I mention she's one of the smartest people I know?
Madeline Stanionis is a legend in the online fundraising and email marketing nonprofit world.  Her book on email marketing is a bible with many nonprofits.
Heather Mansfield, founder of Diosa Communications, is the nonprofit social networking expert. 
Stacey Monk is the founder of Epic Change and ran a very successful Twitter fundraising campaign last Thanksgiving.
Tori Tuncan is the founder of Lend4Health, a unique micro loan organization.  She knows anything and everything that's happening on Twitter related to social actions.
Michaela Hackner is social media strategist and blogger who works with nonprofits and simply amazing.
Mitchell Baker, Chairperson of the Mozilla Foundation and Chairperson and former Chief Executive Officer of the Mozilla Corporation
Susan Mernit is a blogger and consultant and served as the Knight News Challenge evangelist.
Suzanne Seggerman is the co-founder of Games for Change
Jayne Cravens, who is the go to guru on online volunteering
Jill Finlayson or @socialedge for all things social entrepreneurial

This list is by no means complete.  Who are your favorite bloggers who write about nonprofits technology?

From Kiev With Love: Teresa Crawford's New Blog

Teresa Crawford is in Kiev doing a workshop on Web2.0 for NGOs there.  She used the  Social Media game developed by David Wilcox.   We had a few Skype conversations about this week.

She's also just started a blog called the "A Spot" with colleague Matthew DeGroot. They work for the Institute for Sustainable Communities. 

Her first post is about her experience leading a social media workshop for staff from NGOs in Ukraine. This was part two of a series of workshops sponsored by the Ukrainian Citizen Action Network which is a USAID funded program based in Kiev but serving all of Ukraine. Her organization, Institute for Sustainable Communities, is the parent organization to UCAN.  The first workshop was an all day event introducing the basic tools and concepts of social media. For this second workshop they focused on strategies for using these tools.

On her post, she describes the scenarios that the groups identified.  Here's an example:

In this case a loose group of NGOs and individual activists wanted to launch a campaign about the Right to Freedom of Movement with a goal of reforming the process for receiving passports. To do this they would build a small team, connect them with an e-mail discussion list and an ICQ network, arm them with digital cameras (every cell phone has one) and digital video cameras (many cell phones have them) and send them out to film the long queues for passports, these would be posted to youtube and a video/photoblog. Once they built up a set of resources and developed a common set of demands they would enlist the citizen journalism community to blog about the issue. They would use a website forum to field questions and complaints from citizens about this issue and compile a top 10 list of issues related to freedom of movement which would form the basis of an online which would be physically to submitted to the Ministry. Using crowdsourcing and flashmob technologies they would bring people together for demonstrations, protests and community actions to draw attention to the issue.

Teresa notes that the game was effective in helping participants move away from focusing on the tools or what has been dubbed  "fondling the hammer" and focusing on strategy.

I've done the game in different ways -- sometimes have left up to the small groups to come up with a scenario or have give them a scenario (an organization, mission, goal, and context).   Either works.   With the groups are charged with identifying a scenario,  often there is the starting with a blank page panic.  What happens sometimes is that a member of the group offers up their organization and the rest of the group provides peer assistance.

Giving the groups scenarios also works, particularly in all-day workshops and if groups also do work on the metrics and how they might measure success along with a strategy.   This is harder to do when you are introducing social media for the first time. 

Here's Teresa's presentation.

The Bloglines Plumber Has No Idea ...

I read a lot of feeds for a lot of different projects.  I use two different readers - Google Reader and Bloglines - and have multiple accounts on each to manage projects.  There are a couple of reasons for that --

• Easy to manage multiple projects with lots of feeds - and I don't get distracted.  If I had better discipline, I might be able to do with folder organization.
• I train people on both RSS readers, so I like to keep my fluency on both.

I keep all my NpTech feeds (there's like 200 of them) in a bloglines account.   Bloglines experienced a major outage over the weekend according to TechCrunch which explains why I have chunks of my NpTech feeds missing and otherwise screwed up.  Ugh, it's time for me to come up with a new tool or switch everything to Google Reader, and perhaps rethink my work flow.

Anyone else out there read 500-1,000 feeds for different projects?  What tools/workflow do you use?  Well, off to export my OPML files from bloglines.

The NpTech Tag Summary will be coming shortly -- blame the plumber.

Susan Mernit's Question about Nonprofit Software

Susan Mernit asks:

I'm wondering who can point me to good info on the following questions:

• Which foundations have funded development for software for non-profits to use for blogging, community development and decision support?
• Who are the key developers and what are the *most useful* packages?
• What's lacking in these services--and who's building it?

I recognize this is a conversation for the years, but if you give me seconds in directional pointers, I will be grateful!

Nonprofit Blog Exchange Post: The Raiser

The Nonprofit Blog Exhange was dreamed up by Deborah Finn back in August 2005.  The idea was that nonprofit bloggers would write about a fellow blogger in the sector and these exchanges would be aggregated at the Nonprofit blog exchange.   Emily Weinberg has been working hard to implement the project over the past 3 years.

I signed up for the most recent round and the blog I got assigned was The Raiser's Razor.

There's a great post called "Do Us A Favor Don't Open a Food Pantry" The two paragraphs that resonated were about how we, np sector, might complain about our lack of pay, benefits, and working long hours for minimum wage ..  but that we should be grateful our work has purpose.

I am so tired of hearing from my peers that we're making a sacrifice being employed in a non-profit organization. Making less money than we might earn in another pursuit? Perhaps... though few of us would be candidates for my organization's food pantry, I suppose we could argue that we -- like many of this blog's readers -- disappointed our dear financial planners when we made the choice to join this sector instead of pursuing more lucrative ventures.

But please, dear friends and fools of charitable intent, do not for one moment pretend that you are making a sacrifice. The opportunity costs are minimal in this regard when we look at the enormous gains we have made in other areas: seeing the impact of our work every day, feeling the sense of ownership over our actions, revelling in the glorious triumphs of lives changed through a series of events that we set in motion... we make no sacrifices to be here. Indeed, we might even be seen to be selfish.

Welcome to the Blogosphere: Nonprofit University

The Nonprofit University blog has just posted its first post!

I’m approaching my new blog like it’s a virtual Hyde Park Corner and I’ve never lacked soap boxes to climb upon. I see it as a very large classroom (certainly a venue I’m familiar with), where I throw out ideas and have people react. So, with that, we introduce Nonprofit University of The Nonprofit Center at La Salle University.

One word of advice ... successful bloggers read (subscribe) and comment on other blogs.

Good luck!

 

Small Nonprofits: Beware of this Scam

There is a new scam going around where small non-profit organizations are being targeted by a “Barbara Moratek” of the “Ivete Foundation."  If you google the name, it leads to malware.  Here's more.  Hat tip Bill Snyder.

Tagging on Twitter? #nptech

A few days ago, Amy Gahran and I exchanged some musings on social media tradeoffs.  We agreed that it was much easier to share information on Twitter, that the immediate gratification was addicting, but that retrieval on Twitter is a not easy.  Amy and I have noticed how our usage of RSS and social bookmarking seems to be less.   

In the comments of a Read/Write post, Vanderwal.net also observes this problem.

I like the microblogging tagging as I have been wanting to add a small set of tags to my 4,500+ favorites I have starred in Twitter over the last 18 months or more I have used the service. Some of the best info I come across is flowing through Twitter and I stamp it for later, but I am missing an easy means to get back to it. Tags are one easy option, if I can get nice mobile access as the food and travel/city relevant info does me more use from a mobile.

Alan Levine also wrote a reflection about wanting to see a resurgence of blogging but also admitting how much fun it is share information via twitter.

From Marshall, over at Read/Write Web has wrote a piece called Five and Half Reasons To Fall in Love With Tagging Again.  His point 5 is something that sounds like a dream come true to me to monitor Twitter for NpTech related items

I know I'm not alone in finding it much easier to share information over Twitter than by blogging or tagging in a social bookmarking app. Enter Hashtags. Like tagging for Twitter, hashtags are terms you put after a # in a post. Hashtags.org then aggregates all the tweets using a given tag and publishes an RSS feed. Reading a feed of short messages sent from the #sandiegofires was very interesting, for example.

Though you can certainly just subscribe to a search feed through a service like Terraminds - Hashtags let you do all the things in microblogging that you can do using the methods described in numbers 1 through 4 above. See also Dave Sifry's new project Hoosgot - a service he calls the Lazyweb for the age of Twitter.

Chris Heuer (who was on a tagging panel at Netsquared with Marshall and me two years ago) has some additional thoughts on tagging.

Some reflections:

• So, if we add tags to Twitter we have a merge between object sharing and people sharing.   What's nice it is that with social booking sites like del.icio.us, it is difficult to know who has shared the item unless their account is appropriate marked.  This combination of tagging and tweets gives you both.

• I am hoping that those nptechers on twitter might adopt using hashtags and share information this way.
• I can't figure out how to subscribe to the RSS feed for #nptech at hashtags.  Help!

Update: Here's the feed

Happy Birthday Amy Sample Ward!

Today is Amy Sample Ward's Birthday!  Happy Birthday!   I've been reading Amy's blog now since she started it back in October.  I got a chance to meet Amy when I was in Portland, Oregon a few weeks back to do a workshop and really appreciated the opportunity to geek out about nonprofit tech and social media!   

Amy is also one of the awesome bloggers who is helping to promote the Sharing Foundation's America's Giving Challenge, along with Michele Martin, Roger Carr, Rebecca Krause Hardie, and more. 

Happy Birthday Amy!

 

NY Times Story about Convio Security Breach

Here's the link to the NY Times story.  Here's Allan's commentary. More at NTEN.

Update:  TechSoup posted an update to its blog about the security breach, mentioning exactly when they were notified and how they disclosed this information to TechSoup subscribers, including me.

Last Monday, November 19, TechSoup learned that it was one of the organizations affected by the Convio/GetActive break-in, in which hackers stole email addresses and passwords of subscribers to various nonprofit newsletters.

Within a matter of hours, TechSoup contacted the 3,000 subscribers whose passwords may have been stolen. We also took the further step of sending out a general email advising all subscribers of the problem and cautioning them to be on the lookout for emails that appeared to come from TechSoup requesting personal or financial information. TechSoup has also posted notices on its site alerting visitors of the security breach.

If you are TechSoup email newlsetter subscriber and have specific questions or concerns,  post them over at the TechSoup forum.

Security Update for TechSoup Subscribers

Allan Benamer reported on the Security breach at Convio on November 4.  Last week,  he wrote a post about some suggested security guidelines, also noting that only four out of 92 organizations affected had disclosed it to their subscribers.  Today, TechSoup alerted it's email subscriber. Go here to read.  Go here to ask questions.

Choosing and Using Free and Open Source Software: A primer for nonprofits

Go right over the NOSI (Nonprofit Open Source Initiative) site and download the primer now!  Enough said.

My Guest Author Blog Post on Read/WriteWeb!

I was honored to be asked to write a guest author blog on Read/WriteWeb!  It's called Notes from the Real World!   Enjoy!

Is the Web Still a Windfall for Nonprofits?

I slacked off on my Sunday RSS reading because I had a board meeting, so I missed this post.  This Read/Write Web feature series on Read/WriteWeb feature is about non-profits and the Web.  They are exploring how non-profit organizations use the Web and the tools available for them in the last three years or since this Wired article was published (For Nonprofits, Web Is Windfall). 

This is a topic, that you, dear reader, know a little bit about!  So, I'm sure you can answer the discussion question: "Please let us know your favorite Web-powered non-profits. Also, what Web tools and resources are you aware of that non-profits can use?" 

There some a thread of comments, from nonprofits, consultants, bloggers, and vendors.  I even discovered a Cycling Advocacy Network blog.  Here's a few:

Jonathan Coleman takes the opportunity to call attention to his organization's work and some great examples on flickr and googlemaps

The Nature Conservancy is the leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. We turn to "web 2.0" technologies and sites to find people who are passionate about nature and concerned about conservation around the world.

He also asks a great question on that I was pondering over with a reporter today:

Beyond the big MySpace and Facebook social networks, how are nonprofits getting their message out and finding supporters on smaller, niche networks?

Allan Benamer, of the nonprofittechblog, gives us an answer:

The three biggest success stories so far are modestneeds.org, globalgiving.com and Kiva. None of those three are social networking properties. The biggest nonprofit social network is Project Agape's Causes with 4,000,000 users and counting. I would suggest that your readers visit my blog at www.nonprofittechblog.org for a much more in-depth view of all these nonprofit and for-profit players.

Katrin Verclas from NTEN points  I Love Mountains, a campaign by Appalachian Voices using Google Earth and You Tube to vividly showcase the environmental degradation caused by mountaintop mining. She notes, "It is a stellar example of how to tell a story for effective social marketing and change."

There is more to read in the comments.  Why not add your voice to discussion?  What about the challenges to adoption?

Welcome to the Blogosphere: Bill Snyder: A Life Beyond Traditional Media

Bill Snyder emailed about his new blog, "A Life Beyond Traditional Media"   The description:

Technology blogs often look at how technology is changing the ways we communicate. [A Life Beyond Traditional Media] looks at how the ways people choose to communicate are changing the ways they use technology (more or less). This is a place where I’m tossing out ideas from that perspective, and I’m looking for people to respond, especially those who view things from a different perspective or flat-out disagree.

He most recent post is about reflecting on where we've been (Web2.0) and where it is headed (Web 3.0).

Two Excellent Nonprofit Technology Professional Development Opportunities

I wanted to make sure to I blogged this before I take off for Cambodia.  Two upcoming workshops/conferences to put on your fall schedule.  Expect a few more posts over the weekend pending Internet access while I'm waiting for my connection to Singapore from LA.

She's Geeky - Kaliya Hamlin, the expert of unconfernces, is putting together this unconference for women who work in technology, both nonprofit and for-profit.   I'm going to try to make it.  Will you?

John Kenyon is doing a series of Webinars for NTEN on technology leadership.  (In fact, I'm joining him for the one on social media)  Anyway,the first one is on September 12th and is about "Getting the Big Picture"

We know that information technology touches many aspects of our work in nonprofits. From accounting to programs to fundraising, we use technology to organize and analyze data, to communicate, and to deliver services. In this session, we’ll examine the role of information technology in supporting the essential functions, business processes, and mission of a nonprofit organization.

Nonprofit Techies: Please Share Your Knowledge With Cambodian Bloggers From NGOS! T-Shirts Too!

 

Source:  Tharum

Dear Nonprofit Tech Colleagues:

I am seeking contributions of t-shirts for the Cambodia Bloggers Summit.  Participants will include bloggers who work for NGOS.  When asked what I should pack in my suitcase, the response was "tech t-shirts."

I've also been cruising the blogs written by Cambodian colleagues.  A few work for NGOs.  They are exploring technology, open source, social media, and more.    Please take a moment to visit their blogs and leave a comment sharing a little something you know. 

You can find links to the "Clogger" Team here:

Also, Tharum

Thank you.

KM4DEV Journal: Stewarding technologies for collaboration, community building and knowledge sharing in development

The KM4D Journal is produced by the KM4Dev-community and I was honored to participate on the editorial team for the the recently published issued on "Stewarding technologies for collaboration, community building and knowledge sharing in development."  Nancy White and Lucie Lamoureux lead a team editors which include myself,  Partha Sarker, Oreoluwa Somolu, Beverly Trayner, and Brenda Zulu.   The issues contains articles, case studies, interviews, and community notes. 

While the focus is on organizations and contexts in development work, anyone who works for a nonprofit, and needs to learn about how to integrate web2.0 in terms of adoption issues, knowlege management, and online community building should read this.   The articles are all good, so I can't pick out a favorite.

I enjoyed, along with Nancy White, interviewing  ethnographer and blogger Dina Mehta, about the role of technology steward in the context of voluntary online disaster relief work.  We covered the choice and deployment of software, volunteer organization, mutual support and distributed leadership.

How To Cost and Fund ICT: Publication

My Flickr Stream

Download the GUIDE in pdf

I posted this to my flickr stream and had a blog post in draft when I had intended to hit publish. My bad.  Anyway,  I was reminded about this when Michael Gilbert pointed it out earlier this week:

Marc Osten and Beth Kanter have recently completed a step by step guide on How to Cost and Fund ICT (76 page PDF). It's written for a Britsh audience, but that makes very little difference as far as its utility goes to voluntary organizations outside of Britain. In essence, the guide uses a series of worksheets to help lead an organization through some basic logic model development in order to connect impacts with an ICT initiative. Although I think it would still be easy to end up with a technology driven project, this goes a long way toward helping an organization tie their ICT to their program objectives. It's as good a self-guided process for a challenge of this scope as I have ever seen and I hope it gets very wide circulation.

I did all the interviews via skype.  I had fun revisiting the technology benchmarks and revising according to organization budget and by type of organization.   I also got into the habit, briefly, of spelling organization as organisation. I want to think about benchmarks for social media usuage or integration.  Hmm ...