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.

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?

• 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!

1. Ask some friends (who aren’t familiar with your organization) to critique your nonprofit’s website.  Are they able to quickly understand what you do?  Is it easy to donate or sign up for your email list?
2. Analyze your website analytics, Facebook insights data so you know what’s working best with your constituents.  And don’t forget to segment your audience.  Debra Askanase explains more
3. Go back to the basics – find new ways to build your email list (via Idealware)
4. Encourage your staff’s professional development by supporting their participation in organizations such as Nten, which will have its annual conference in April and sponsors informational webinars and live 501 Tech meetings throughout the US throughout the year.
5. Saying thank you to donors is always an good idea, but it’s also crucial to make sure your staff and volunteers feel appreciated for their hard work.  As my friend Shana Masterson recently tweeted, “You might not be in a position to reward someone (financially), but u can always acknowledge the work they’ve done.”
6. To make your meetings your effective, make sure an agenda goes out to participants in advance and a summary is sent shortly afterwards – it’s a simple project management technique that can insure that everyone’s on the same page
7. Help someone who is in transition.  While unemployment figures seem to be dropping a bit, there are still many people who are struggling.  Reach out to colleagues who need encouragement and support.

Have a healthy and peaceful holiday and a wonderful new year.

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

1. Do something special for those who have supported your organization for many years, even if their gifts aren’t considered ‘major.’  In my view, regularity of donations is as important as larger contributions which arrive less frequently.  Make sure you segment out these loyal donors so you can customize your messaging communications.
2. Say thank you without necessarily asking for another donation.  Describe a recent accomplishment that has been made possible by the constituent’s gift.
3. Ask supporters in what channels and how often they want to be communicated with – and then respect these preferences.  Sometimes I get so many solicitations from organizations I support that after a while, I stop paying attention – especially if they all come through direct mail (I prefer online)
4. Make it personal – ask board members or staff to acknowledge and thank contributors through recognition at events, brief phone calls or personalized emails / letters
5. Review auto replies that are sent when an online donation is received – and then send additional thanks through other channels (even a well written auto reply is still an auto reply)

And don’t forget to thank your nonprofit staff, who probably earn less money for more hours than if they worked in the for profit sector, and your board members, who are giving their valuable time (and money) to help your cause.  Expressing appreciation costs nothing, so why not make it a practice year-round – not just at Thanksgiving.

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.

Probably the most important takeaway is the recommendation to first decide what you want to accomplish and who you want to reach.  Without taking the time to establish your goals, it’s impossible later to evaluate whether social media is a worthwhile use of your staff’s time.  Idealware’s report offers several examples of how social media can help to achieve a nonprofit’s typical objectives: fundraising (although social media should NOT be primarily be used for this purpose), advocacy, recruiting / engaging volunteers, supporting events (both before and during) and outreach.

As I’ve said in the past when discussing multi-channel campaigns, social media works best when integrated with other channels.  But messaging content and frequency need to be appropriate for each channel;  don’t just post the same information everywhere.

If you take the time to apply the ideas from this wonderful resource, you will be able to measure the effectiveness of your social media campaign. Thanks to Idealware, and Balance Interactive, Trellon and New Signature for their support in helping make this report available to our community at no charge.

I still spend most of my time online on my desktop either at home or at work, but I do use my smart phone, mostly to stay up to date with Facebook and Twitter.  But everywhere I look, smart phones are everywhere.  So if I was to assume that nonprofit constituents feel the way I do, I would be losing out on an opportunity to connect with supporters on their preferred platform – mobile.

Recently I attended a Convio webinar on mobile strategies for nonprofits.  While I encourage you to download their free guide A Guide to the Mobile Web: Best Practices for Nonprofits, I found these points by presenter Misty McLaughlin especially interesting:

1. There are many approaches to mobile, such as a ‘mini site’ which highlights your highest value content or a ‘mobile optimized site’ – unless your organization is primarily providing information as your mission, it is usually not necessary to replicate full website content on your mobile site
2. A good rule of thumb – when mobile visits in your web stats exceed 5% of your overall traffic, it’s time to have a definite strategy to communicate with mobile users
3. For most nonprofits, it is usually better to focus on a mobile version of your website and not rush to create an app.  In addition to the expense of having to handle multiple platforms (iPhone, Android, Blackberry etc.), there is a much higher barrier to entry since constituents have to find the app, download it, and then remember to use it.
4. If you’re currently redesigning your website, creating your mobile presence first will help you to provide a richer, more focused and integrated online presence
5. Although tablets are the rage these days, it is usually not necessary to create a separate ‘tablet’ site since most desktop websites convert well to a tablet screen.
6. Scrolling on mobile pages is more acceptable than while browsing on a desktop, but you should still limit scrolling on your home page (OK on secondary pages)
7. If you’re CMS shopping, pick a product that will allow you to:
• create content once for multiple platforms by separating presentation from content
• provide auto device detection (so mobile users get the mobile site)
• allow device-specific tailored displays

Key takeaway – mobile forces us to be smart about our content.  What are the most important actions we want constituents to take?  What is our key message – is it succinct, understandable and repeatable?  We only have our supporters’ attention for a short time, so it’s more important than ever to use that time wisely.

For examples of great nonprofit mobile sites, visit the US Fund for Unicef’s main website and then view its recently designed mobile version. Also, compare the  World Wildlife Fund main website with its corresponding mobile site.   When you look at your organization’s website on your phone, can you quickly find the information you’re looking for without getting frustrated?

For more mobile tips, listen to Nten’s webinar, Mobile for Nonprofits.   And remember that however you feel about using smart phones, you are not your constituents.

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.