What’s New in ePhilanthropy

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Norman Reiss

If you’ve been wondering when you can build your nonprofit page on Google+, now’s the time. Heather Mansfield offers help on How to Create a Google+ Page For Your Nonprofit. Also view this video by John Haydon. Here’s Beth Kanter’s take. But the jury is still out on whether Google+ pages will prove to be as popular as Facebook pages.

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.

The New World of Mobile – Smartphones and Tablets

Posted on April 25, 2011 by Norman Reiss

For a long time, I resisted getting a smartphone, preferring to stay with my trusty desktop computer. I didn’t want to have to work with a small screen and keyboard, and also balked at having to add a data plan to my cell phone bill. I did have an Itouch, but was limited to using it online when wi-fi access was available. When I was given a netbook for work, I enjoyed the convenience, but still spent most of my time online at my desktop connection.

Late last year, I got my first Android, and was able to sign up for a plan which included phone, texting and data at a fixed price which was less than what I had been paying for voice only. Now I use it mostly for social networking, still preferring to use my desktop at home and at work when possible. But as shown in A Mobile Word: How Your Supporters are Using Smartphones and Why You Should Care, many of our organizations’ constituents have taken the plunge to mobile, yet we often develop websites and sending emails as if everyone was still primarily using a desktop computer.

In Walt Mossberg’s recent laptop buying guide, he suggests not buying a laptop now, which was the device that was supposed to be the replacement for desktops, and to consider whether a tablet may fit your needs. I haven’t used a tablet yet, but my boss does and he takes it everywhere he goes and ‘loves’ the device.

Recently I received an email newsletter that had this link on top: view on mobile device, reminiscent of when we were told that every email should have a ‘print friendly’ link. Now, fewer people regularly using printers, but practically everyone has a smartphone and possibly a tablet as well. So it’s critical that we design our online communications to be brief, viewable in narrow columns, and that we test on the most common platforms that our constituents are using (you can find this out through your web analytics or by surveying your audience).

There’s also the additional questions of whether to develop a mobile friendly website or a mobile application, or possibly a tablet specific or Facebook application. As a first step, however, make sure your website and email blasts can be viewed well on smartphones. Even if you have mostly ‘older’ constituents, this is a change that you must start preparing for now. If you need help, look towards Nten or firms that specifically work on mobile strategies such as MobileActive or consulting firms such as Common Knowledge. Also review Five Must-Have Characteristics of Nonprofit Mobile Websites.

See you at NTC This Week?

Posted on March 13, 2011 by Norman Reiss

This week I’ll be at the 2011 Nonprofit Technology Conference, where a record crowd of nearly 2,000 will discuss how nonprofits can optimize their online strategy. Below are some sessions which look particularly interesting:

Stop Chasing Rainbows: Enduring Success In a Shifting Online Landscape (Fri 3/18, 10:30 – 12 Noon) - Jascha Franklin-Hodge will review how we can integrate social media, location based services and mobile to engage supporters
E-mail Design Workshop – Don’t Let Bad E-mail Code Ruin Your Day or Your Results (Fri, 3/18, 3:30 – 5 PM) – email is still the primary way to communicate with stakeholders, and Shana Masterson and Sean Powell will discuss how we can get the best results
Sneak Peek at the Third-Annual Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report (Fri, 3/18, 3:30 – 5 PM) – I helped prepare last year’s report, which is sponsored by Nten, Common Knowledge and Blackbaud. Even if you can’t attend this preview, you’ll be able to download the report soon and attend follow up events to discuss its findings.
It’s Not Direct Marketing If You Can’t Track It! Analyzing the Social Web (Sat, 3/19, 10:30 – 12 Noon) – Social media can be fun to participate in, but you have to be able to show your management how it’s helping. Brenna Holmes will offer some tips.
2011 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study Release (Sat 3/19, 1:30 – 3 PM) – Nten & M&R Strategic Services‘ annual study looks at online messaging, fundraising, and advocacy data from 36 nonprofit organizations; you’ll be able to download this report too, but it’s fascinating to hear the analysis

The biggest problem you’ll probably have at the event is deciding which session to attend – since this is the largest NTC ever, there are even more choices this year. In addition to these tips from Yesenia Soleto, don’t deliberate too much about what to pick. But I’ve found that you can quickly get a feel in the first 15 minutes whether a session is matching your expectations; if not, feel free to go elsewhere. And don’t fret if your first choice is overcrowded and you need to select an alternate session; this happened to me last year and the ‘other’ presentation turned out to be fascinating. Also consider which sessions will be recorded or covered later through follow-up webinars.

If you’re in town early or staying after the conference, consider visiting the US Holocaust Memorial Museum (I’ll be there Wednesday) or attending Penguin Day to learn more about open source software.

Can’t attend the conference in person? You still still participate through the Online NTC.

Don’t forget to thank Holly and her staff for putting this event together. They work hard year round to make this a special experience for all of us. Hope to see you later this week in DC.

Insights Into Developing a Social Media Strategy

Posted on October 9, 2010 by Norman Reiss

Most of us haven’t yet figured out how to best utilize social media for our organizations. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be experimenting to see what works and what doesn’t as we build a closer connection with our constituents. In yesterday’s Nten webinar, How to Develop a Social Networking Strategy for your Organization, Nten’s Holly Ross provided an in depth review of how she has used social networks to interact with the Nten community, joined by Jeff Patrick of Common Knowledge.

Earlier this week, I presented at Nten’s Long Island 501 Tech Club on Social Networking for IT Managers, where I tried to answer questions I often hear from nonprofits that are struggling with how to enter this new environment.

For a perspective from another organization, read Beth Kanter’s blog entry on the Independent Sector, where she discusses the value of using small pilots to get started.

One particularly interesting takeaway from Holly & Jeff’s presentation: the information about constituents that a nonprofit can derive from engaging in conversations with constituents on social networks would normally cost considerable time and money to obtain. This data helps you to understand what your supporters are most interested in so you can communicate more effectively.

In addition, take the time to understand how to best utilize various social networking sites and make sure that you seek to have a conversation, not simply blast out information about your organization.

For more insights about Nten’s development of a social media strategy, register for next Friday’s follow-up webinar. And if you think that your organization is too small and can’t possibly devote the resources for social media, consider that Nten has done a great job with a staff of only 7. From what I’ve seen, small nonprofits actually can do as well or better as larger organizations since they are often better able to experiment and shift gears if their first efforts don’t succeed.

P.S. Happy birthday John Lennon – he would have been 70 today.

What I Learned This Week

Posted on September 25, 2010 by Norman Reiss

What’s especially nice about the nonprofit community is how generous everyone is in sharing their knowledge. This week I attended the Westchester Chapter meeting of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, listened to webinars on Using Online Tools for Year End Fundraising, Rethinking Your eNewsletter Strategy, a session based on the recently released Nonprofit Social Media Decision Guide and Engaging Donors through Social Media . Here’s a sampling of what I learned:

why it’s critical to have a strong case for support to present to constituents, and to make sure all staff understand it (not just development)
the importance of integrating fundraising with an organization’s overall planning process
use social media for stewardship; use email, direct mail and telemarketing to deliver a strong ask
figure out your main objectives before starting a Facebook presence – is your main goal to:
- encourage feedback / discussion
- drive traffic to website
- build email list
- attract event attendees
plan to spend at least two hours / week per channel on social media, but you will need to devote more time in the getting started phase
Facebook will soon be making available more functionality within tabs, so visitors may have less reason to go to main organization web site
when communicating with constituents:
- send fewer words more often
- talk about the future, not mainly about past events
- write more about them, less about your nonprofit

I also raised this issue during the AFP event: how can an organization find a balance between aggressively pursuing its mission with the hope of ‘putting itself out of business’ within a specified time, e.g. Michael J. Fox Foundation, versus long term nonprofits which has been seeking a cure for a disease for a very long time, but still have much ground to cover? My suggestion: keep reminding donors what their help has allowed your organization to accomplish, relating specific examples of how you’ve been able to help your target audience. And keep saying ‘thank you’ – not just when you are seeking another contribution.

Please vote on which sessions you’d like to see at Nten’s 2011 Nonprofit Technology Conference and pick your favorite slogan in the Getting Attention Nonprofit Tagline Awards.

For an example of how powerful video can be in communications, watch this incredibly touching one minute video by ALS Society of Canada.

Report from Nonprofit Technology Conference

Posted on April 15, 2010 by Norman Reiss

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the 10th annual Nonprofit Technology Conference in Atlanta, GA.

Social media was a popular topic throughout the three day event. Jeff Patrick hosted a lively discussion on the just released Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report (which I helped to prepare), co-sponsored by Common Knowledge, Nten and ThePort. While nonprofits’ increased use of Facebook and Twitter were not a surprise, some of the data showed interesting trends about issues such as the use of commercial vs. house (private) networks. You can download the report free here.

Similar to how Twitter forces messages to be limited to 140 characters, the Ignite presentations featured a series of talks which were each limited to 5 minutes and 20 slides. Scott Bechter-Levin encouraged us to share more information with our network; Steve Heye provided a wonderful comparison of how techies and business users interpret the same information very differently.

Friday’s plenary speaker Andrew Sullivan offered a look into what happens when your blog becomes too popular, as is his The Daily Dish. Blog readers expect steady feedback but “expect you to say things they agree with.” But he added that his blog has enabled him to cover international events very quickly and has encouraged a “free flow of data.”

Saturday’s plenary speaker Asi Burak described how games can be used to stimulate thought about difficult world issues, demonstrating PeaceMaker, a simulation of the Middle East conflict. Games allow us to play roles that we’re usually not comfortable with and help us to understand the ‘other side’ of the argument. I’ve often ignored games, but this is a very different focus than the games you see on Facebook.

When it comes to social media, small organizations often get better results than larger nonprofits. In the session Beyond Traditional Fundraising: Utilizing the Web and Social Networks to Secure Donors, speakers from Alix’s Lemonade Stand, Architecture for Humanity and Spirit Jump described how they’ve been able to stimulate interest to their causes. The goal “isn’t always to raise money” but that you “no longer have to have money to raise money.” An interesting observation was that constituents who are most engaged online aren’t always the best donors. Clearly these smaller nonprofits are not only using social media heavily, some are bypassing the more traditional channels such as direct mail completely.

Will Kiva kill your nonprofit? This session focused on the trend of allowing donors to pick specifically the people and causes they will support as well as receive regular feedback on how their contributions have been used. Many nonprofits I’ve worked for in the past have discouraged restricted gifts, preferring to receive funds that can be used for any purpose. While not all types of nonprofits can support this type of giving (e.g. direct service organizations work well but large affiliate based organizations will find it more difficult), clearly this is a trend worth paying attention to. One suggestion was to not stop asking for unrestricted gifts, but to start additional programs that are more targeted.

While not as well attended as the social media talks, the session Diversifying Your Tech and Online Communications Teams provided an interesting overview into why diversity in nonprofit staff can result in better service to diverse groups of constituents – and better fundraising results. One interesting perspective (of a typical nonprofit) was “We’ll help your community but we really don’t want your input.” Another observation: “We’re all a majority in some ways but a minority in others.” A recommendation: “Learn about the communities (you serve) instead of trying to represent people you don’t know.”

Online communications gurus Beth Kanter and Kivi Leroux Miller – offered How to Design and Present Online Training People Will Love. Many of us need to train colleagues in remote locations, so it’s important to understand the differences between live and online instruction. Since many of our attendees will be multitasking, it’s even more important to hold their attention; one suggestion was to use a more visual slide design, using principles from Garr Reynolds’ Presentation Zen. Idealware’s Laura Quinn also offered a look at popular web conferencing tools such as Readytalk and GoToMeeting/GoToWebinar – make sure you take advantage of discounts available to nonprofits through TechSoup. (For a concise summary of nonprofit software options, check out Idealware’s Field Guide to Software for Nonprofits.)

Just for fun, we enjoyed an after-event party at the World of Coca-Cola, which offered a novel ‘tasting room’ allowing us to taste brands from all over the world. (My favorite was Bibo Candy, but I’ll probably have to travel to Africa to find a store that sells it.)

I’ve been a Nten member for many years, and this event gets better every year. Thanks to Holly Ross and her staff for a wonderful three days. If you missed the event, you can enjoy some of the sessions here.

Last Chance to Complete 2010 Nonprofit Social Networking Survey

Posted on March 3, 2010 by Norman Reiss

If you haven’t yet completed the 2010 Nonprofit Social Networking Survey, please do so now. This initiative is co-sponsored by Common Knowledge, Nten and The Port, and results will be announced at next month’s Nonprofit Technology Conference in Atlanta, GA. All survey participants will be entered in a drawing for an Amazon Kindle (don’t forget to include your email address at end) and will receive a copy of the report.

Can’t wait? Below are recent reports on social media usage in nonprofit organizations:

M&R Strategic Services - Nonprofit Social Media Benchmarks Study
Idealware – Using Social Media to Meet Nonprofit Goals
Blackbaud / Charity Dynamics – Successful Event Fundraising with Social Media
Website Magazine (not nonprofit specific) – Social Media Survey

Norman Reiss Joins Common Knowledge

Posted on February 18, 2010 by Norman Reiss

I am pleased to announce that as of Feb. 22, I will be joining Common Knowledge as Senior Consultant. I’ve known President / Founder Jeff Patrick for several years, and have had the opportunity to attend many of his web trainings on a variety of ephilanthropy topics. It is particularly exciting for me to join forces with a firm that matches so closely with my personal passion to help nonprofits develop and implement online strategies, as I’ve done for several organizations for almost ten years. Common Knowledge’s services have resulted in many effective website redesigns and have been on the cutting edge of showing how nonprofits can utilize social media to achieve their goals.

While Common Knowledge is based in San Francisco, I will be working from the NYC area and working with clients mostly on the East Coast. Please see a sampling of the firm’s current clients as well as its blog which I hope to contribute to.

Thanks to everyone who has supported me during my quest for a new position and has encouraged me to continue to focus on ephilanthropy. I am looking forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship with Jeff and his very talented staff, many who I will be meeting soon.

News From NTC: New Reports on Social Media, Donor Management Systems

Posted on April 28, 2009 by Norman Reiss

During this week’s Nonprofit Technology Conference, two new reports have been released:

Nonprofit Social Network Survey Report by Nten, Common Knowledge and The Port shows that social networking has become an integral part of nonprofits’ online strategy. A recent Washington Post article suggested that Facebook’s popular Causes application has not been successful in fundraising in comparison with email appeals and other more traditional ways to generate donations. But Beth Kanter points out that the value of tools like Facebook can’t be measured only in terms of money raised. I agree – when my marketing director recently asked me for fundraising results from our Facebook page, I pointed out that generating buzz and engaging constituents in our organization is also valuable. Beth suggests we seek a metric to measure this.
Idealware and Nten‘s Consumer’s Guide to Low Cost Donor Management Systems suggests looking at what features you need in managing your donor relationships before reviewing specific products. Sadly, how often do our organizations go through this type of detailed evaluation before selecting a product? Sometimes the problem isn’t the product, it’s the processes within the nonprofit and the training (or lack of training) that is provided to staff. Make sure your database has a way to integrate with your existing systems – see my recent post on Reporting Across Multiple Systems.

Nten has also provided a way for those of who couldn’t attend NTC this year to participate online. Make sure you take a look at Holly’s version of Beyonce’s Single Ladies.

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Bridging Technology, Communications & Development to Implement ePhilanthropy for Nonprofit Organizations

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Norman Reiss Joins Common Knowledge