Tag Archives: Foundation Center

Why Your Nonprofit Needs a Mobile Website

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Below are some highlights from Why Your Nonprofit Needs a Mobile Website which I presented on Mar. 23 at the Foundation Center in NYC,  celebrating the launch of GrantSpace Mobile.

  • 25% of US cell phone subscribers use mobile as their only way of accessing the Web;  30% of email messages are opened first on phones
  • The best time to implement mobile is when you’re already planning to redesign your website or if you’re rolling out a new content management system (CMS)
  • For most nonprofits, mobile websites are far more beneficial than developing a mobile application, which is far more difficult for constituents to use
  • Your web content must load quickly; mobile uses will not wait for slow pages
  • Consider responsive design or using any CMS which allows you to write content once to be displayed on multiple platforms (so you don’t have to maintain many versions of your website)

(During presentation, Usablenet and Mobify were identified as good tools for a nonprofit that wants to go mobile  I would also add Mofuse for mobile content management.)

For a great look at how your mobile website should look, take a look at GrantSpace Mobile from your phone.  How does your organization’s website look on a small screen?

Thoughts After a Hurricane

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It’s been an eventful week in New York.  First, we were shaken by a rare East Coast earthquake.  Then, we were faced with a Hurricane Irene which forced many of us to relocate to higher ground.  While not as severe as anticipated, this weekend’s storm has caused massive damage and electrical outages for many.  I was extremely lucky;  my thoughts are with those who are facing major clean-up efforts.

Is your nonprofit prepared for a disaster?  Care2 offers a webinar this week on Surviving and Thriving When a Crisis Hits.    And while this week’s events were a major inconvenience, find a way to Put Your Cause in the Eye of the Storm to tell stories about how your organization helps its target audience.  Here are some Tools to Help Any Nonprofit Tell Stories Online from Amy Sample Ward.

For yet another reason to use social media, read why Nonprofits Are Expected to Use Social Media During Disasters.  For many great ideas on how to implement a social media strategy at your organization, learn from Jereme Bivins in his Social Media Case Study on how the Foundation Center uses Thrive and other tools.  Per Pew Internet, 65% of Online Adults Now Use Social Networking Sites.

Most of us make presentations, but it’s always challenging to keep listeners engaged, especially when you’re on a webinar.  I participated in last week’s Nonprofits Live: Great Presentations, offered by Tech Soup.  You can watch and listen to the event here or search the #nplive hashtag on Twitter  which include many of my comments.

Help Nten to make next spring’s Nonprofit Technology Conference the best yet by tweeting your ideas to #12NTC.  Work for a really great organization?  Nominate your organization as one of the 50 Best Nonprofits to Work For In 2012.

Social Media for Social Good

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This week I had the pleasure of listening to a panel of social media experts at the Foundation Center’s Social Media for Social Good event.  Speakers included Renee Alexander from US Fund for Unicef, Julia C. Smith from Idealist, Farra Trompeter from Big Duck and Nten‘s Amy Sample Ward, preceded by a presentation by Small Act‘s Casey Golden.

As might be expected during an event on social media, there was an active stream on Twitter, which you can review with the #SM4SG hashtag.  Below are some highlights:

  • Mentioned several times this week and also by Danielle Brigida who recently spoke at the NYC 501 Tech Club, social media involves a lot of trial and error and experimentation.  Often you will have to try different tactics before you find what will work best with your audience.   Don’t be afraid to fail.
  • Engagement = stimulating a conversation and encouraging constituents to take action on issues.
  • Developing a social media policy for your organization will help guide your staff how to speak about your nonprofit online – look at the social media governance policy database and the social media policy generator for help.
  • Your social media policy should be a fluid, living document that is reviewed with staff and updated regularly, not in a book that is stored on a shelf.
  • On Twitter, in addition to sharing ideas from others you find worthwhile, make sure to include your own ideas too – the best Twitter streams have a mix of links, no links and original content.  See this example of a Twitter engagement formula.
  • If your management is still uncertain whether social media is worth the effort, show what your competitors are doing online to engage and build their constituent base.

Want more resources?  For a step by step process on how to use social media, download Idealware’s Nonprofit Social Media Decision Guide.  For more guidance on developing a social media policy – Big Duck’s Measuring Your Impact and Creating Policies for Social Media.  And for general tips on Twitter, read Mashable’s Twitter Guide Book

Social media is sexy, but don’t forget the online basics: make sure your website and email marketing program is in place.  Social media works best when part of an overall communications strategy that includes any way you connect with your constituents, whether online or offline.  Focus not only on your organization’s programs, but on the issues which your organization (and constituents) is most focused on.

Thanks to the Foundation Center’s Vanessa Schnaidt for moderating the discussion and to social media guru Jereme Bivins (who manages the Foundation Center’s Twitter stream) for planning this event.

What’s New in ePhilanthropy

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Attended an interesting session on email marketing and social media at the All About Email Virtual Conference and Expo yesterday, reviewing how these channels can be used to complement each other.  An important point – since you don’t ‘own’ information on Facebook and Twitter, it’s still important to build your own email list.  (Sessions were recorded and will be available for listening starting Mon, Nov. 15.)

While we’ve seen reports on social media and email marketing, there’s been little to guide nonprofits on website statistics until the new 2010 Website Benchmarks Report available from Groundwire.  Although the report focuses on small environmental organizations, its findings are useful for all nonprofits.

When deciding how to do fundraising, do you rely on data or on your own instinct.  Jeff Brooks in Future Fundraising Now suggests that you use facts and past experience as your guide.   And if you think that a multichannel approach to fundraising / marketing is something new, take a look at Hank Rosso’s classic Achieving Excellence in Fundraising, last revised in 2003 (see chapter on using the Internet as a fundraising vehicle).

If you still need help with your year end fundraising drive yet, get some help from Network from Good’s upcoming webinar as well as this tool from Blue State Digital which analyzes your Google Analytics data.  (Tip – don’t wait until the last week of 2010 to frantically prepare an appeal.)

Like to be on the cutting edge?  Try RockMelt, a soon to be released browser which integrates social media.

If you’re in NYC next week, attend the Foundation Center’s Open House on Tue, Nov. 16 and Nten‘s 501 Tech NYC meeting Wed evening, Nov. 17, which will feature Allyson Kapin, from Rad Campaign, Women Who Tech and lead blogger at Frogloop offering tips on nonprofit technology and social media.

Online Fundraising Strategies for Tough Times

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Reminder: Thursday evening, January 8, I will moderate a panel discussion at the NYC Foundation Center, Online Fundraising Strategies for Tough Times.  Guest speakers will include Allan Pressel of Charity Finders and Cristine Cronin of NY Charities.  Due to a large number of registrations, the Foundation Center has closed registration, so unfortunately you won’t be able to attend unless you’ve already signed up.  However, I will offer a follow-up webinar on Wednesday evening, January 21 on ephilanthropy strategies.  Watch for details in my next post.

Addendum 4-21-09
If you were unable to attend this event, you can now listen online at the Foundation Center’s events archive.

Upcoming Program at Foundation Center in NYC

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On Thursday, January 8, 2009, from 5:30 – 7:30 PM EST, I will be moderating a program at the NYC Foundation Center, Online Fundraising Strategies for Tough Times.  My speakers will include Cristine Cronin, President of NY Charities and Allan Pressel, CEO/Founder of Charity Finders.  We will discuss ways to continue to fundraise effectively during tough economic times using online techniques.  Our target audience will be mostly small to mid sized nonprofits that already have a web site, but want to raise more money onlne.

Attendance is free, but early sign up is encouraged.  Thanks to Charlotte Dion, Director of Foundation Center’s NY Library / Learning Center,  for helping to arrange this program.

Meantime, here’s an interesting portal prepared by Nonprofit Consulting which links to a presentation and other resources on the topic we’ll be discussing next month.   Also see some Online Fundraising Myths.

Hope to see you at the Foundation Center.

Making the Most of your Web Site

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This week, the Foundation Center’s column, The Sustainable Nonprofit featured this targeted article on Spending Your Web Site Dollars Wisely.  Major points:

  • Delegating responsibility to the lowest level staff member or volunteer is foolhardy.  In a world where many will visit your web site as the first step in learning more about your organization, the web site must be professional and kept current.  It should not be primarily maintained by Information Technology, except for the back end responsibility of keeping it online
  • When to use a content management system (CMS) – “the more content you have and the more you plan to change or update it, the more you’ll need (and want) such a system”
  • Use professionals to create copy and images.  Hire a professional designer (if you don’t already have one on staff) so that your site is more about marketing than about information technology
  • Design your site for the visitors’ perspective, not your organization’s
  • Take the time to examine other web sites and to create a site map.  Think about what your constituents are most likely to look for and how can find it easily.

At my current organization, I’ve recently been instructed to review all of our web sites, and fix what’s wrong and make sure the information is correct.  Yes of course, but this should be the responsibility of everyone, not any one individual or department. (sigh!)

Wishing everyone a healthy and peaceful holiday season.

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.