Tag Archives: 501technyc

Getting the Most from Nonprofit Events

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Whether in person or online, attending a nonprofit event is a great way to learn from others about the latest strategies in online technology, communications and fundraising.  Based on what I’ve observed at some events I’ve participated in lately, here’s my suggestions on how you can really benefit from attending nonprofit gatherings:

  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.

Developing a Content Strategy

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Do you use an editorial calendar to plan what content you will post on your website and other online platforms, or do you mostly create content on the fly?   In Deciding What the American Red Cross Tweets, social media guru Wendy Harman says that it’s a combination of both, and that her organization encourages staff to learn by using social media but also provides training.  At certain times of year or when disaster strikes, the Red Cross uses much more planned content.

At a recent webinar on Content Strategy on a Shoestring Budget, Balance Interactive suggested these books: the Web Content Strategist’s Bible, and Content Strategy for the Web.  Here’s my additional tips:

  • Encourage staff to participate in the content creation process by writing up feedback received from the constituents you’re helping – proactively ask for feedback by phone, email or through surveys.
  • Spend some time organizing your network directories so content is stored in a logical way – and make sure staff know where to find and post data
  • Don’t forget to add photos, videos or podcasts – this is especially effective to quickly post content from organization events
  • Categorize your Facebook and Twitter posts to make sure you’re not overly highlighting one aspect of your work while neglecting other programs
  • Look for ways to tie in current events with your work
  • Decide how many platforms you can realistically post on – better to do a few well than to try to be everywhere
  • When tweeting, make your post worthwhile for someone to read even if they don’t have the time to click through on the link

For more ideas on content creation, view Managing Content on the National Wildlife Federation’s Website.  If you’re in NYC, learn from social media expert Danielle Brigida at this week’s NYC 501 Tech Club meeting.  Finally, sign up for Kivi Leroux Miller’s upcoming webinar, Taming Your Editorial Calendar and Content Creation Process on May 18.

Wishing everyone a healthy and joyous Passover and Easter holiday.

Report from 501 Tech Club NYC Meeting on Foursquare

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At last night’s 501 Tech Club NYC monthly meeting, Foursquare co-founder Naveen Selvadura and Brooklyn Museum‘s Chief of Technology Shelley Bernstein talked about how Foursquare can be used to attract and engage constituents.  Earlier this week, Foursquare received $20 million in financing and currently has over 1.8 million users despite having only launched 18 months ago.

Naveen described his product as ‘software designed to change people’s behavior,’ to ‘get them to do more things, go more places.’  In addition to becoming ‘mayor’ of places frequently visited, Foursquare users can display badges as well as take advantage of promotions offered by participating vendors.  Shelley described how her organization has used Foursquare to get more involved with the community surrounding the Brooklyn Museum.  Interestingly, when she was asked whether the museum’s initiatives have resulted in an increase in museum visits or in donations, she said that Foursquare doesn’t yet offer enough information to be able to evaluate this.  Naveen added that Foursquare currently offers limited demographics on who is currently using its service.

Why has Foursquare worked well for the Brooklyn Museum?  Shelley explained that it was the nonprofit’s ‘social culture,’ which is further discussed in the recently released book, The Networked Nonprofit (Beth Kanter also attended last night’s event).  Another attendee from the Metropolitan Museum also described using Foursquare, but pointed out that it was more tied into the Met’s focus on education (vs. the Brooklyn Museum’s emphasis on community).

Reportedly Facebook is already working on including a similar functionality within its service, so it will be interesting to see how this affects Foursquare.  What I find most interesting is that for many of us who use the web, it really doesn’t matter where we are.  Yet with Foursquare, users are encouraged to ‘check in’ to their location several times daily, and to possibly connect with (in person) other friends who are where you are.  Can this be beneficial for a typical nonprofit?  If your constituents are using Foursquare, it may be interesting to find out.  But as has been done by the Brooklyn Museum and the Metropolitan Museum, first consider your organization’s mission and how this type of product can fit in.

Thanks to group leaders Charles Lenchner, Thomas Negron and Farra Trompeter and to Planned Parenthood who hosted the event and provided snacks.  This was the largest crowd that I can recall for a NYC 501 Tech Club gathering.  See also Farra’s recap.

P.S. Has your nonprofit tried Foursquare yet?  If so, leave a comment detailing your experience.  I will offer a free Nten webinar registration to first person that responds.

Highlights from My Twitter Stream

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Jocelyn Harmon and Geoff Livingston had an interesting discussion this week on the perennial question, Is It Possible to Raise Money with Social Media?  As I’ve suggested, Geoff pointed out that while social media can be used for fundraising, its main value is in building a social community that is engaged with your cause.   While Facebook Causes has worked for some nonprofits, it doesn’t allow organizations to retain contributors’ contact information for further cultivation efforts.   A private, house network may also be a viable option;   Geoff offered the example of TuDiabetes.

At this week’s NYC 501 Tech Club meeting, I also gave a short presentation on the recently released Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report, which also analyzes the results of a survey of almost 1,200 nonprofit professionals conducted earlier this year.  Search Twitter for #501techNYC for more details on meeting.  Nten is also offering a webinar series which explores the State of Social Networking in the Nonprofit Sector 2010.

Another interesting topic is the intersection of Marketing and Fundraising, explored in the Fundraising Well (and also by Steve MacLaughlin in When Marketing and Fundraising Collide).   Nancy Schwartz offers four ways that these departments can work better together:

  1. Start at the top.  Your management team must support this partnership and establish a structure which facilitates collaboration.
  2. Articulate shared priorities to serve as the core of a common agenda.
  3. Focus on what’s working well in both areas – and do more of it
  4. Share success stories where collaboration has resulted in positive results with constituents.

Finally, has your organization considered mission inspired gifts / gift catalogs?  Also see 7 Tips for Successful Online Fundraising.

Please follow NonprofitBridge on Twitter for more.

Report from NYC 501 Tech Club

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Attended another enlightening NYC 501 Tech Club meeting last night, featuring mobile text messaging.  Speakers included Katrin Verclas of MobileActive, Jed Alpert of MobileCommons and DoSomething‘s George Weiner.

First, we were treated to a summary of 10 take-aways from South by Southwest for Nonprofits by Matt Koltermann of Cross-Cultural Solutions, an international volunteerism organization which I served as Director of IT and Internet Strategy from 2000-2003.  Matt’s comments echoed many thoughts I shared in this blog, such as the importance of cross-channel brand / message consistency and how segmentation of constituents allows your organization to utilize a targeted communicated strategy (i.e. don’t send everything to everyone).

Katrin reviewed the recent 2010 Nonprofit Text Messaging Benchmarks report and explained the importance of not only sharing stories, but looking at real data.    Clearly mobile outreach isn’t right for all organizations – it’s still a bit challenging to setup, is subject to strict rules on how it can be done, and donations are limited to either $5 or $10.  And in response to my question, mobile strategy isn’t only for nonprofits that are advocacy focused, but for any nonprofit that has a ‘forward thinking’ communications department.  At least until it becomes more widespread, mobile is still a great way to get someone’s attention quickly for a pressing issue;  emails often don’t get read and are buried in a flood of other messages.

Jed emphasized that mobile doesn’t supplant other types of messaging, but is best implemented as part of an integrated communications campaign , not as a standalone strategy (hmmm – seems like I’ve said this before).  He also added that supporters that receive a text message after email are 77% more likely to donate.  Interestingly, it was also pointed out that since many of us use mobile phones to check Facebook and Twitter, a nonprofit doesn’t necessarily have to do SMS messaging to reach constituents by phone – even if you don’t have their mobile number.

George provided a different perspective for his organization, which is clearly targeted towards encouraging young people to volunteer.  While this is a noble objective, it was a bit worrisome when an audience member’s question was responded by ‘you’re not in our target audience.’  (She pointed out that she had nieces and nephews that were in their target audience.)  While it’s true that you can’t build a web site that will appeal to all constituents, this might be taking things a bit too far.

Thanks to event organizers Charles Lenchner, Thomas Negron and Farra Trompeter.  If you’re coming to Atlanta next month for the Nonprofit Technology Conference, be sure to join the NYC 501 Tech group for a get together on April 8.

Notes on Meetings Near & Far

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The NYC 501 Tech Club returned this week with a new format – presentation + networking.  Big Duck’s Farra Trompeter moderated a discussion on multi-channel fundraising – a topic I often discuss, joined by Simon Moloney of Npower NY and Rebecca Willett of Planned Parenthood.   Also this week, Convio held its annual Summit in Austin, TX.

For those in the NYC audience who don’t yet integrate multiple channels in fundraising efforts, Farra asked that we strive to break down silos within our organizations because “donors see us as one nonprofit.’  So there shouldn’t be a competition between money raised by direct mail versus email marketing or other online fundraising tools.  Multichannel appeals are most effective, especially this time of year (make sure you plan to email your donors on Dec. 30 / 31).  Farra also asked the attendees who we blend personal and organizational priorities in social networking content;  this may be addressed further in a future meeting.  (My take – a personal touch breathes life into a blog posting or tweet, as long as the focus isn’t removed from the nonprofit’s mission.)

Rebecca reviewed Planned Parenthood’s multi-channel strategy which she described as a ‘collaborative effort of the national office and affiliates.’  In response to my question on what content to put on each channel, Rebecca suggested first finding out which audience(s) are on each channel, then asking ‘what are they looking for’?  Planned Parenthood has some interesting enhancements planned, such as a 24×7 chat / text hotline, as well as a mobile phone application.

Slides from the NYC 501 Tech Club gathering on Multi-Channel Fundraising are available on SlideShare.  (Thanks Farra)

While I missed seeing other Convio users at the Summit, I was pleased to see Convio’s Nonprofit Live TV – an attempt to bring the event to me.  Congratulations to those nonprofits that were honored for innovation in in Online Marketing, Fundraising, Advocacy and Email Marketing.

Online tools make it easy for us to keep in touch with colleagues and friends, but it’s still nice to connect in person.  At the 501 Tech Club gathering, I met someone from Catholic Medical Mission Board, an organization I worked at while I was in college – long before I joined the nonprofit community full time.  Although many people I worked with have moved on, it was still nice to make a new connection.  Thanks to Nten and to organizers Charles Charles Lenchner and Thomas Negron for getting our group back in gear.

Addendum 11/24/09 – Here is Farra’s write-up of the 501 Tech Club event.