So Facebook is going public.  How will this affect its relationship with its many devotees, which is expected to increase to 1 BILLION later this year?  It’s a bit sad that Convio, not long after going public, agreed to be acquired by its long term competitor, Blackbaud, apparently to take advantage of a financial windfall.  (Also see my recent blog post.)  It will be interesting to watch the path Facebook follows once its loyalties move mostly to its shareholders.

Pinterest seems to be very popular lately.  Have you used it yet?  With all the social media tools available, Small Act (via my friend Shana Masterson) suggests you choose carefully how many you can manage.  (I’m posting regularly on Twitter and Facebook, but less so on LinkedIn and Google Plus so far, trying to find content which is appropriate to each platform.)

After they donate or take the actions you request, do you make sure to thank your donors? Here are some tips from Guidestar and a quiz from Network for Good.

Are you getting good response from your email marketing efforts?  Use these 7 tips for appeals and also 5 Best Practices for Increasing Email Subscribers Engagement.  (And go here if you need help in getting them to sign up to receive your emails.)

Thinking about getting a tablet, such as the iPad or Kindle Fire?  Here’s a good article to read first.

Blackbaud’s most popular product has long been Raiser’s Edge, which provides unmatched functionality but is also beyond the financial reach of many small to medium nonprofits.  Despite efforts recently to make it more web based, RE is still primarily locally installed.  Of course Blackbaud has bought many other companies over the years which provide web options, such as eTapestry, Kintera, and PIDI, so many that it’s often hard to know how the multiple products all fit together.

In addition to its foundation online marketing platform (now Luminate), Convio took a significant risk by developing Common Ground, a web application built on Salesforce.  While Common Ground offers much less functionality than software like Raiser’s Edge, it offers the strong advantage of being able to connect well with other products due to its Salesforce infrastructure.  (Integration between platforms has been a major issue at every nonprofit I’ve worked for.)

While Blackbaud has been most active in acquisitions, let’s not forget that Convio also bought GetActive – and the transition of GetActive customers to the Convio platform was long and painful.

As many of my colleagues have said this week, it’s hard to know how this acquisition will pan out, and which products will continue to be maintained.  I have friends at both Blackbaud and Convio, and I can only hope that the inevitable personnel shakeup will be handled respectfully.

In my view, this merger may have the effect of reducing competition and innovation, which is always a bad thing.  However, this may also be a wake up call for those organizations who have not discovered the benefits of using open source solutions which are not tied to the fate of a particular vendor.

If you’re on the Progressive Exchange and Nten email lists, I encourage you to read the comments of my colleagues Peter Campbell, Michelle Murrain, Robert Weiner , Allen Gunn on Aspiration Tech and Alyson Kapin’s on Frogloop.  Also see Nten’s take and then join the free Nten conference call this Wednesday to further sort out what is likely to come next.

My favorite takeaways (mentioned in many of these lists):

• Examine how your website and email communications read on mobile phones and tablets.  This is how more of your constituents are accessing your content now
• You don’t have to recreate the wheel.  Our nonprofit colleagues are incredibly generous with their knowledge.  Learn from other people (like Beth Kanter or Nancy Schwartz) and organizations (like Nten and Idealware) that offer multiple resources to help your nonprofit succeed online (and off)
• Learn more about your supporters by analyzing information you probably already have: website statistics, email analytics, registration forms, polls / surveys – then use this data to better segment your communications

But as Kivi said during her webinar that described her recommendations in detail, it’s not enough to just read or listen to these suggestions.  What will you do this month to apply these ideas at your organization?

How a nonprofit is organized can greatly impact its online success.  From mid-2008, here’s Building a Successful Online Team.  In mid-2009, I followed up with a review of Convio‘s study on Why Organization Structure Matters.  Then in early 2011, I offered this Job Description for an Integrated Fundraising / Communications Position.

For more advice on digital strategy, read Tips for Online Success and How to Succeed Online – Even When You Think You Can’t.  It’s always worthwhile to learn from those who are doing it well in Practical Examples of Cross-Channel Success.

Website redesign is often a challenging process.  Here’s some Reasons Why (and Why Not) to Do a Website Redesign, and some additional tips.

Creating great content is key to engaging constituents.  Learn How to Develop Content Your Constituents Will Want to Read, how to Develop a Content Strategy and then What Content to Put in Each Channel.

Most nonprofits need to partner with companies who provide hosted software.  Here’s how to get the most of the relationship in Tips in Selecting and Working With an Online Vendor.

Do you give and attend webinars?  Here’s tips on how to present and how to get the most from participating in online events.

Finally, the hottest topics now are social media and mobile / tablets.  Read Insights into Developing a Social Media Strategy and my take last year on the New World of Mobile.

Thank you again for following my thoughts on the intersection of technology, communications and development for nonprofit organizations.

• A Few Words About Gratitude, on how we can carry the spirit of Thanksgiving throughout the year.  Also see, Thoughts at Thanksgiving on Gratitude
• I’ve often discussed the importance of groups working together within a nonprofit, including facilitation of a panel on Collaboration and Management in Cross-Departmental Web Projects
• I presented an Nten webinar on Project Management for Nonprofits, suggesting that nonprofits use techniques already in use by many for profit organizations
• I asked Who Handles ePhilanthropy in Your Organization, mentioning the trend towards a separate department to develop and implement online strategy  It’s also important to know how what NOT to do online, such as interviewing vendors before you’ve firmed up your requirements.  And here’s why organization structure matters.
• At successful nonprofits, staff are all involved in fundraising and communications, no matter what ‘department’ they are in.  See Why Everyone Is In Communications
• To succeed online, sooner or later we need the help of vendors providing hosted software.  Read my tips on working with an online vendor.
• This year after hearing about Michelle Misner’s wonderful experience at a webmaster group I participate in, I co-presented another Nten webinar on How to NY Public Library Successfully Project Managed a New Drupal Website.  If you’re planning a CMS rollout, whether or not you’re using Drupal, listening to Michelle tips on the recording is a must.

More highlights from past posts next week.  Meanwhile, thank you for reading my thoughts for the past five years.  I wish you a wonderful 2012!

This point was driven home a few days later during a webinar by Convio and HJC on How Nonprofits Become Integrated Fundraising Organizations, which offered these tips on how a nonprofit learn to take advantage of the benefits of a multi-channel approach?

1. Getting buy-in from senior management
2. Planning / investing in systems and process to encourage departments to cooperate instead of compete
3. Remove silos from teams and departments so they naturally collaborate towards mutually developed goals

Frustrated trying to keep up to date with Facebook?  Get help in John’s Tactical Guide to Recent Facebook Changes and sign up for next month’s bi-monthly Facebook features update from Common Knowledge.

Planning to roll out a new website with Drupal?  Have you already launched, but finding it difficult to manage how to manage content edits and approvals?  Join Michelle Misner and I on Nov. 29 to learn How the NYPL Successfully Project Managed a New Drupal Website.  (It’s free if you’re a Nten member!).

Speaking of Nten, I’ve just signed up for next spring’s annual Nonprofit Technology Conference in San Francisco.  Please register now to lock in the lowest rate.  It’s always the premier event of the year for the #nptech community.

It’s year-end fundraising season again.  Get a jump start by reviewing Farra Trompeter’s online fundraising tips, Convio’s How to Get Your Holiday Appeals Opened and Jeff Brooks’ reminder to Avoid Common Fundraising Mistakes, e.g. remembering that you are not your donor.  And of course, don’t forget to plan a multi-channel campaign.

If you’re in NYC, join us at next week’s 501 Tech NYC event;  this month we’ll chat about Google for Nonprofits.  Also if you manage a nonprofit website, sign up for the next quarterly gathering of the Not-for-Profit Webmaster Round Table, planned for mid-December.

I blogged about this issue a few years ago, commenting on a Convio report on Why Organization Structure Matters.  Now almost all nonprofits are online (especially with the continued buzz about social media), but few seem to have figured out the best formula for success.

My take – there is no magic solution.  What works in one organization may fail miserably in others.  Perhaps the best advice I can offer is to be clear about what you want to achieve online, and then encourage departments to work together to develop an integrated approach for online communications, marketing and fundraising.  A dedicated digital group can’t succeed if it operates in a silo.

Updated 10-27-11
The final installment of the Stanford Social Innovation Review series on digital strategy, 7 Patterns of Nonprofit Digital Teams is now available.  Also, the Nonprofit Benchmark Digital Teams Report can be downloaded free from Communicopia.

If you’re trying to figure out how to use content curation to benefit your cause, Beth Kanter offers this great primer as well as Content and Curation for Nonprofits on Scoop.It!  New tools such as Storify and Paper.li also offer interesting ways to consolidate great content.  (But make sure you take the time to digest content you are curating.)

Not hearing as much lately about Google Plus even though it’s now open to the public, yet I keep receiving connection notices from people I don’t recognize.  Strange.

There’s no magic bullet for how to succeed in the nonprofit sector, but thanks to Big Duck and the Taproot Foundation for offering these suggestions.

Were you able to attend the recent Blackbaud Conference for Nonprofits or the Convio Summit?  Here’s some ways on how to live tweet from an event from M&R (but make sure you participate in the live discussion – some of my best insights are from Q&A that takes place at events)  Also, Frogloop offers these takeaways on What Your Nonprofit Needs to Know.

If you missed last week’s chat with Andy Goodman on story telling, you can still get the recording from Nten.  Unfortunately, Andy reminded us that many nonprofits are ‘great at what we do, but not good in talking about it.’

Finally, if you’re spending a bit too much time on social media, here’s an important reminder from Jocelyn Harmon – put your most important relationships first.

1. Ask a question.  Not only is this the best way to get specific feedback for your needs, but it gives you an opportunity to introduce yourself to the group and share a current work challenge you are facing.
2. Prepare in advance by researching the speakers, reviewing the agenda, and coming up with some specific issues you’d like to address
3. While it’s great to reconnect with those you already know, take the time to get to know people you don’t.  (This is easier if you attend an event alone rather than with many of our work colleagues.)
4. Find out the session hashtag and tweet out major points to those in your network who weren’t able to attend the event
5. Thank the speakers for their time and for sharing their knowledge
6. Follow up with those you met after the event;  don’t just take business cards.  Instead, arrange to speak or meet at a later time.
7. Summarize what you learned from the event in writing for your boss and for others at your organization who might be interested in the topic
8. Make sure you offer to help others, not just to get ideas about ‘your’ problem at work.
9. Return to your office with a few strategies that you can apply quickly (if you wait too long, you’ll forget)
10. Give back by arranging to speak about your expertise at a future event.

Fortunately the nonprofit community is a very sharing group, so take advantage of every opportunity to learn – and to share what you know about succeeding with ephilanthropy. (If you’d like an opportunity to apply some of these tips, please join me at the NYC 501 Tech Club meeting Monday night, Sep. 19 to learn how to innovate and thrive in the digital age.

Addedum 10-3-11 – great tips from my friend Ben Lichtenwalner on 25 Ways to Prepare for Conferences, which is helpful even if you’re attending only a one day event.