Flickr Fan Art on a Typewrtr by CoCreator
True confessions. I am a member of the Flickr Fan Art Group. But you all probably knew I was a fan already.
So, it was actually fun to write this TechSoup article "How Nonprofits Can Get The Most Out of Flickr." It is ten tips for those who are new to Flickr to get the most out of it. (My research notes and other links can be found here and here.)
In the article, I describe five nonprofit "starter" use profiles - easy ways to get started.
- Photo Bank: An international organization sends volunteer doctors to developing countries around the world to perform medical services. The physicians document the impact of their work through photos that they upload to the organization's private Flickr group. Not only does Flickr help the volunteers exchange photos and information, it also creates an image bank from which the organization can select photos for its Web site and blog.
- Photographic Documentation: An environmental organization that supports organic farmers had literally thousands of amazing photographs documenting the development of organic farming techniques over the last decade. Before using Flickr, no one had organized or categorized the photos, which were scattered on various hard drives in the office and on volunteers' computers. The organization uploaded the photos to Flickr and were able to enlist the help of volunteers and members to document the techniques.
- Internal Planning: A museum was mounting a special collaborative exhibition with institutions located in five cities around the world. As the group prepared the installation, they used Flickr to share photos with one another, allowing them to see what a "textured plaster" wall finish looked like before approving the contracting work; get a visual reference of the exhibition space when selecting picture frames; and see work completed to date. Flickr provided a way for the collaborators to easily upload and share photos publicly and privately.
- Presentations: An executive director wanted to use photos to make her points during a presentation, but disliked clip art and lacked the budget for stock photography. Using Flickr's Creative Commons licensing search feature, she was to find appropriate photos that she could use for free with attribution.
- Make Stuff: Volunteers and talented photographers for an animal shelter had taken beautiful photos of some the dogs and cats at their facility. The organization wanted to create special cards featuring the pets that they could use as thank-you notes. Uploading the photos into Flickr, they were able to order cards and other items.
There are, of course, many other nonprofit uses - but I wanted to get at some beginner use profiles. So, if this is Flickr 101, what is Flickr 201?
And, if you are not on Flickr. TechSoup just launched a donation program. Read more about it on the Flickr blog.
Beth,
Flickr makes uploading and dealing with images easy enough that we have seen some great examples of groups using it as a light engagement touch for members. "Submit your favorite photo," "Photo Petitions" sorts of things are great with Flickr. This can be accomplished in other ways, but frankly doing it with Flickr is both easier and provides a higher ROI.
User submitted is always good :-)
Posted by: Drew Bernard | March 06, 2008 at 03:23 PM
Drew:
Do you have some examples of such projects? Like links in Flickr? And, do you have any ROI studies on use of Flickr? Or have you written about this on your blog?
Posted by: Beth Kanter | March 06, 2008 at 03:43 PM
Excellent list of suggestions in making the transition from toy to tool!
Posted by: Jeff Trexler | March 07, 2008 at 07:12 AM
Photos are a great way to share information, so I'm really curious to see how this will grow now that there are free Flickr PRO accounts for non-profit (http://blog.flickr.net/en/2008/03/05/flickr-for-good/ )
This is a good news!
Andrea
Posted by: Andrea Vascellari | March 07, 2008 at 12:59 PM
Beth I think the funnest/perhaps best example I have seen in a LONG time is the http://pictureny.org/ campaign. I am sure you've seen this, given where you call home. But the interesting thing to me what just how low-budget this thing was and yet how effective. Becka Economopoulos showed this at a recent NOI session in San Francisco and it gave me a smile for the rest of the week.
Here's the back story:
http://www.democracynow.org/2007/8/2/independent_artists_lead_fight_against_proposed
Posted by: Drew Bernard | March 09, 2008 at 08:26 PM
In response to your request to Drew for flickr URL examples, there exists the Twitter Pea Fund avatars found @ flickr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/frozenpeafriday/
Still an active fundraising effort for cancer research @ Twitter.
Thanks for all you do here, Beth.
Posted by: BarbaraKB | March 14, 2008 at 05:50 PM