Tag Archives: Change.org

Thoughts for a New Year

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If there’s ever a good time to get a major snowstorm, it’s probably the week between Christmas and New Years, when many of us are either off from work or working a lighter schedule than usual.  Fortunately, the temperatures in NY have been rising in the past few days, so maybe I’ll be able to move my car soon from where it’s been parked since last Sunday :>).  (Even if I could get it out, where would I park it when I return?  These are times to be grateful if you have a garage or driveway.)

For those of us in nonprofit, late December is prime fundraising season;  I hope you’ve been successful with your year-end appeals.  But it’s also a time to take stock on what your organization has achieved in the past 12 months, and what you have planned for 2011.  Make sure to tell your constituents what their support has allowed you to accomplish, and thank them for their help.

In the past few years, I’ve worked for a large nonprofit, as a consultant to smaller organizations, and as a staff member of a consulting firm that services nonprofits. Recently, I’ve also helped a startup foundation to create the essential building blocks: donor database, email marketing outreach, website.  Immediately after the holidays, I will begin a new full time position with Jewish Funds for Justice.  So how can you help your nonprofit to succeed in 2011?

  1. Take the time to develop a compelling case for giving.  Just because your organization does great work doesn’t necessarily mean that others will want to donate.  Hank Rosso’s Achieving Excellence in Fundraising is a great resource if you need help.
  2. Online products are great, but you won’t get the full benefit if you don’t involve your staff in selecting and implementing new tools.  Make sure you’ve planned to provide the training and ongoing support to help your employees to get the most from new software.
  3. If your organization uses consultants, make sure they take the time to understand your needs before recommending any solutions.  But it’s also your responsibility to clearly define your requirements so the consultant can best address them.
  4. Develop a content strategy for what online platforms you will be on, and how frequently / what type of information will be placed on each (and who will create it).  Social media is very popular now, but your nonprofit still needs to have a website that fully explains its mission and how you’re serving your target audience.
  5. Get to know your supporters.  Trying to build a list quickly without segmenting on interests will make it difficult to prepare targeted communications.  Organizations like Care2 and Change.org can help you reach constituents who are most likely to be interested in your cause.

Finally, make the best of whatever curves come your way.  While this week’s snow was an inconvenience for many, I saw some people enjoying skiing on the beach in Coney Island and others taking advantage of the opportunity to slow down for a few days.

Have a healthy, peaceful and joyous 2011.

Using Social Networking Sites to Attract Constituents

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At the quarterly Not-for-Profit Webmaster Round Table meeting this week, I initiated a discussion on social networking, stimulated by Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal article, A New Generation Reinvents Philanthropy. In addition to the popular MySpace and Facebook sites, the article mentioned many new ways in which our supporters are finding to raise money for their favorite causes.

David Milner, who has run the webmaster group for several years, raised an interesting question.  If pages are created on these new sites and successfully generate interest in the organization, this will hopefully increase traffic to the nonprofit’s main web site.  But if the nonprofit maintains the MySpace and Facebook sites while neglecting its own web site, how will this come across to the constituent?  I also asked – how does the nonprofit decide which content to put on these sites while making sure there is consistency with its own web site?

The social networking sites present an interesting opportunity for us to engage a new audience.  It is likely that visitors will seek out an organization on these new networks before visiting an organization’s main web site.  So we’ll need to make sure that our nonprofits have a presence on these new sites while also keeping our own web sites fresh.  This will be a challenge, but it’s easier to go where our constituents are than hope that they’ll find our organization web sites.

In addition to MySpace Impact and Facebook’s Causes, other sites mentioned in the article that are attracting interest especially among younger constituents include Change.org, DoSomething, Firstgiving, GiveMeaning, Kiva and SixDegrees.

Innovative ways to use technology in nonprofits

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Spent some time recently at the Foundation Center (a great resource for information about nonprofits) and scanned articles from the Chronicle of Philanthropy.  (While the web is wonderful, sometimes it’s nice to be able to read through a written publication.)  Below are some organizations using technology in interesting ways, some which have been around for many years and others that are new:

  1. Change.org – 2007 – social network for variety of causes
  2. Donors Choose -  2000 – helps school teachers
  3. Genocide Intervention Network – 2004 – end genocide
  4. Give Meaning – 2005 – donations for specific projects
  5. Invisible Children – 2004 – helps kids in northern Uganda
  6. Kiva – 2005 – small loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries
  7. Nothingbutnets – 2006 – ‘send a net to save a life’ in Africa
  8. Rednoseday – 1988 – comic relief in UK & Africa
  9. Takingitglobal – 1999 – online community for young people

Also see Squidoo’s list of the 59 Smartest Organizations Online, which includes some of the above nonprofits.

These are great examples of how to raise money and support social causes with technology in new and exciting ways.  Take a look.