Nonprofits That Tweet: Roundup of lists, resources, and examples

Why Twitter Matters

View more presentations from Laura lee Dooley.

Presentation by Laura Lee Dooley a metrics and social media geek for a nonprofit.  Check out blog for in-depth posts on Twitter tools, for example this one about url shorterners.

There is a terrific article on Mashable by Lon S. Cohen titled "26 Charities That Tweet."  In the introduction, Lon talks about how he uses Twitter everyday in his nonprofit job.   I'd like to point a few examples that were not on his list and share some good nonprofit Twitter resources.

Where To Connect With Other Nonprofits

Nonprofitorgs on Twitter is an aggregator of nonprofits on Twitter and is following over 2,000 nonprofits.  Follow them and you can quickly scan what nonprofits are doing on Twitter.

TwitterPacks/Nonprofit has a list of over 300 nonprofits (not all are on nonprofitsorgs on Twitter)

NPTech Twitter Group is a list of 263 nonprofit technology geeks.  If you want to find more, follow ntenhross from NTEN, the nonprofit technology network.

Where To Find Resources and Case Studies

The WeAreMedia Wiki has several excellent collections of Twitter how-tos, case studies, and other resources for nonprofits.

WeAreMedia: Participation Module:  Collection of good stories about how nonprofits are engaging their stakeholders on Twitter.

WeAreMedia: Spreading Buzz:  Many examples of how nonprofits are using Twitter to spread the word about their programs and services.

Twitter Tool Box:  A collection of Twitter tools, tips, and how-tos assembled by nonprofit techies.

Examples

Brooklyn Museum
With over 21,000 followers, the Brooklyn Museum, one of the oldest and largest museums in the country, is having discussions about art with art patrons and other art museums on Twitter.   The organization's chief geek, Shelley Bernstein, runs the Twitter profile.

Capital Area Food Bank
The organization takes a different approach to Twitter.  All staff members are active and have their individual profiles.  All of them talking about hunger issues.  Their accounts are their individual's names, but include the organization's logo.    Even senior management is tweeting.

Cleveland Foundation and Columbus Foundation
Here are two community foundations that have a growing Twitter presence.  They tweet about important resources, charities, and funding programs in their region.  In addition to the institutional accounts, staff members have accounts.

American Heart Association and American Stroke Organization
Both organizations have been actively using to scan and connect with stroke care givers.   This listening and engaging was useful in convincing staff of the value of Twitter.

Chronicle of Philanthropy
The Chronicle has been on Twitter for almost a year now and uses it to engage readers, crowd source research, and share articles about philanthropy.

Social Actions
Check out their action twitter packs by issue area.  These are twitterfeeds of aggregating calls to action by particular issues area.   Social Actions feels strongly that Twitter can save the world!

NTEN and TechSoup and NpTechBlogs
These are hubs for nonprofit technology on Twitter.  You'll find lots of value in these twitter streams, pointers to useful resources.  NpTechBlogs is an aggregated feed of blogs written by nonprofit techies.

What charities, foundations, or nonprofit folks are using Twitter in innovative ways?  If you work for a nonprofit and have an amazing Twitter story, leave a comment.

Comments

[Stacy Monaghan]

Wow - what a great and valuable list of resources! Thanks for posting this :)

[Tara Pringle Jefferson]

Hi Beth! I think the link to our Twitter account is off. It's CleveFoundation. :) And we're following you now! (Don't know why we weren't to begin with.)

Tara
Cleveland Foundation

[Alyssa Gardina]

Thanks for putting all of these resources in one place! This post will be incredibly useful for new users as well as those of us who have been on Twitter for awhile.

The Women's Museum twitters at @thewomensmuseum and we've had an amazing response to our social media outreach. The experience that has impacted us the most to date is the suggestion from a Twitter follower (@ninotchkab) that we screen the film "Who Does She Think She Is" in Dallas. The documentary, which follows the lives of 5 female artists, will screen next week - the first time it's been shown in Dallas.

This is just one example of how we've connected with an audience member to improve the Museum's exhibits and programs. I also love how we can connect with other women's organizations and band together to reach our common goals!

[Elaine Nagey]

How do you get the technology for a real seat of the pants operation -- a food bank-- that puts all its energy into getting food.

[as7ab3rb]

Thank you very much

[Steveffeo]

Beth brilliant list, we are huge fans of your work, and are working on creating a central community where anyone with Internet access can help Non-Profits and prosper at the same time.

[Lon S. Cohen]

Thanks for the shout out to my article, Beth. While my post was limited to non profit organizations that Twitter, your blog and Tweets have been invaluable to me. Thanks again.