Fundraising Meets Social Networking

This is not yet formed, just thinking outloud. 

I've seen this question posed in a different ways:

• What happens when fundraising strategies get remixed with Web2.0?
• What happens when fundraising meets social networking?
• What happens when fundraisings goes personal and connected versus organizational?

I wonder if we need a new term to describe this approach?  We Philanthropy?  We Funding?  Social Fundraising?  Socially-Networked Fundraising?   Will this approach become the standard practice of all fundraising or will it be a niche or sub-segment of what is now called "traditional online fundraising."

Way back when I actually did fundraising, this was like 20 years ago folks, so my skills and knowledge are a wee bit out of date -- the mantra used to be "Fundraising is all who knows whom." 

I remember when I was doing a fundraiser (in Filene's basement no less) for the orchestra I managed almost twenty years ago.  We wanted a well-known celebrity as a draw.  So, I slapped a piece of paper in the old IBM selectric and created a networking form.   Asking questions about who people knew and for contact information.

I copied the form and distributed it to every orchestra member.   While analyzing our orchestra's "social network,"  I discovered that someone attended high school with Garrison Keilor.  One thing led to another, he ended up being the star of our benefit in Filene's basement, which was aired on National Public Radio and raised $50K!

So the social networking twenty years later and using the Internet, allows you to figure out who people in your network know, but also who is in their networks.   Is that Web2.0 maginfies the offline social networking we used to do before the Internet became a part of culture and lives?

Allison Fine has a blog post over at Personal Democracy Forum called "Fundraising Meets Social Networking" where she reviews the functionality and approaches of three sites that educate and connect donors. The title reminded of a post over at the Yahoo Blog, titled "Fundraising Meets Social Media"  Allison's post looks at the Six Degrees from Network for Good.

So, I started down this list that Lucy Bernholz has created, Online Social Networks and Second Life Philthanthropy. Trying to see a pattern or theme.

There more and more being written about Personal Fundraising and why it works.   There's other terms for this -- micro-philthanthropy and group fundraising.

It brings also to the whole idea of islands and silos and walls. 

There was a post over at Netsquared speaking to the data silos and walls that exist within nonprofits, sparked by the question, "Which division in your association owns the web?" and another good post on this topic from Katya Andresen called Crate and Barrel Nonprofit.   Certainly an issue that has been lurking beneath nonprofits and databases for years.

 

Comments

[Noah]

Hmm, I think the Global Giving pages are snazzier. More importantly, due to less competition, it might be easier to win one of the four 50k Global Giving prizes, than one of the four 50k Network for Good prizes. However, in the interest of full disclosure, I should note that we are also entering the Network for Good contest!

Nonetheless, if we were eligible to participate in the Global Giving program, I would promote that effort over a Network for Good badge.