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.
