Tag Archives: nten

Blackbaud Will Buy Convio – My Thoughts

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Having watched many nonprofit vendors combine over the years, I probably shouldn’t be surprised by this week’s news that Blackbaud intends to acquire Convio.  But since the companies have taken such different paths with contrasting cultures, it’s hard to imagine that a merger will go smoothly and provide significant benefits to nonprofit customers.

Blackbaud’s most popular product has long been Raiser’s Edge, which provides unmatched functionality but is also beyond the financial reach of many small to medium nonprofits.  Despite efforts recently to make it more web based, RE is still primarily locally installed.  Of course Blackbaud has bought many other companies over the years which provide web options, such as eTapestry, Kintera, and PIDI, so many that it’s often hard to know how the multiple products all fit together.

In addition to its foundation online marketing platform (now Luminate), Convio took a significant risk by developing Common Ground, a web application built on Salesforce.  While Common Ground offers much less functionality than software like Raiser’s Edge, it offers the strong advantage of being able to connect well with other products due to its Salesforce infrastructure.  (Integration between platforms has been a major issue at every nonprofit I’ve worked for.)

While Blackbaud has been most active in acquisitions, let’s not forget that Convio also bought GetActive – and the transition of GetActive customers to the Convio platform was long and painful.

As many of my colleagues have said this week, it’s hard to know how this acquisition will pan out, and which products will continue to be maintained.  I have friends at both Blackbaud and Convio, and I can only hope that the inevitable personnel shakeup will be handled respectfully.

In my view, this merger may have the effect of reducing competition and innovation, which is always a bad thing.  However, this may also be a wake up call for those organizations who have not discovered the benefits of using open source solutions which are not tied to the fate of a particular vendor.

If you’re on the Progressive Exchange and Nten email lists, I encourage you to read the comments of my colleagues Peter Campbell, Michelle Murrain, Robert Weiner , Allen Gunn on Aspiration Tech and Alyson Kapin’s on Frogloop.  Also see Nten’s take and then join the free Nten conference call this Wednesday to further sort out what is likely to come next.

Have You Seen These Recent ‘Top 10′ Lists for Nonprofits?

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Apparently, like many of us start off a new year by making resolutions, so should nonprofits.  Recently I’ve noticed many top ten lists, focusing on online fundraising, communications and technology.  Kivi Leroux Miller’s offered 10 Changes to Make in 2012, Network for Good published 10 Resolutions to Make (and Keep) for Online Fundraising and Marketing Success in 2012, and Convio provided 10 Ways to Kick Start 2012 Fundraising.

My favorite takeaways (mentioned in many of these lists):

  • Examine how your website and email communications read on mobile phones and tablets.  This is how more of your constituents are accessing your content now
  • You don’t have to recreate the wheel.  Our nonprofit colleagues are incredibly generous with their knowledge.  Learn from other people (like Beth Kanter or Nancy Schwartz) and organizations (like Nten and Idealware) that offer multiple resources to help your nonprofit succeed online (and off)
  • Learn more about your supporters by analyzing information you probably already have: website statistics, email analytics, registration forms, polls / surveys – then use this data to better segment your communications

But as Kivi said during her webinar that described her recommendations in detail, it’s not enough to just read or listen to these suggestions.  What will you do this month to apply these ideas at your organization?

Reviewing 5 Years at Nonprofit Bridge

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Next month will mark my fifth year since beginning my blog at Nonprofit Bridge.  Since my first post on Jan 23, 2007, I’ve expanded my focus well beyond technology and providing a place for ‘positive thoughts.’  Below is part 1 of my favorite posts (to be continued next week):

More highlights from past posts next week.  Meanwhile, thank you for reading my thoughts for the past five years.  I wish you a wonderful 2012!

Are You Working Between the Holidays?

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I’ll be in the office next week, as I suspect many of you will be (especially if you are wrapping up your year-end fundraising campaign).  Here’s some ideas to contemplate for for 2012:

  1. Ask some friends (who aren’t familiar with your organization) to critique your nonprofit’s website.  Are they able to quickly understand what you do?  Is it easy to donate or sign up for your email list?
  2. Analyze your website analytics, Facebook insights data so you know what’s working best with your constituents.  And don’t forget to segment your audience.  Debra Askanase explains more
  3. Go back to the basics – find new ways to build your email list (via Idealware)
  4. Encourage your staff’s professional development by supporting their participation in organizations such as Nten, which will have its annual conference in April and sponsors informational webinars and live 501 Tech meetings throughout the US throughout the year.
  5. Saying thank you to donors is always an good idea, but it’s also crucial to make sure your staff and volunteers feel appreciated for their hard work.  As my friend Shana Masterson recently tweeted, “You might not be in a position to reward someone (financially), but u can always acknowledge the work they’ve done.”
  6. To make your meetings your effective, make sure an agenda goes out to participants in advance and a summary is sent shortly afterwards – it’s a simple project management technique that can insure that everyone’s on the same page
  7. Help someone who is in transition.  While unemployment figures seem to be dropping a bit, there are still many people who are struggling.  Reach out to colleagues who need encouragement and support.

Have a healthy and peaceful holiday and a wonderful new year.

Recap of Nten Webinar – Project Managing New Drupal Website at NYPL

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When I first heard Michelle Misner describe her success implementing a new Drupal website at the NY Public Library at the September Not-for-Profit Webmaster Roundtable Meeting, I thought it would be great to share her experience with others in our nonprofit community.  So Michelle and I presented a webinar yesterday for Nten where she reviewed the project management process, and I asked questions on how things went.

In addition to the tips I provided in my earlier blog post, here’s some additional takeaways from yesterday’s session:

  • Do a content audit before starting a website redesign;  you probably have more content than you think; allow plenty of time for migration into the new CMS
  • Picking the product is easy compared to instilling a culture within your organization so everyone assumes responsibility for online content – if only the communications department has updated web pages in the past, this will be a major shift
  • Training is a continual process – not just when you roll out the new system;  Drupal has a steep learning curve, so make sure you allow the time for internal staff to learn the software, especially the person(s) who will be managing the site
  • Make sure you coordinate what’s on your website with other communication channels, e.g. social media, and use an editorial calendar to plan content updates on all platforms
  • Plan who will be responsible for content updates and then trust your staff to post them; not every piece of content needs to be reviewed before going live, but some parts of your website may need to be more closely monitored than others.  (Drupal does not have a built-in way to notify approvers that content is awaiting review.)
For more details, please listen to the recording from yesterday’s Nten event.  Michelle’s experience offers much wisdom about how to roll out a new website using a content management system, whether or not you choose to use Drupal.

How to Run a Successful Webinar

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As many of my friends know, I’m a big fan of online learning, especially by attending  webinars offered by organizations such as Nten. Next Tuesday, I’ll be on the other side of the computer, joining Michelle Misner of the NY Public Library to present How the NYPL Successfully Project Managed a New Drupal Website.  We had our final prep session today – here’s some tips if you’re planning an online event:

  1. Find out in advance who will be attending so you can prepare the most relevant content.  (You can also learn about participants during the event by asking questions with a few short polls.)
  2. Allow plenty of opportunity for audience interaction, preferably throughout the session – not just at the end.
  3. Keep your slides short.  While it’s good to summarize major points, don’t offer so much information that it overwhelms your viewers.
  4. If possible, ask someone to monitor the back channel – it’s a bit difficult to present and to also handle incoming chat questions.  Provide a hash tag so those who couldn’t attend live can easily follow the live tweets.
  5. Be prepared to switch to a web browser to show something that isn’t available in your slides (and practice how to do this before you actually are in the webinar)
  6. Offer to respond after the event to questions you didn’t get to, or for which you want to provide more information for later –  but don’t promise what you can’t deliver
  7. Offer online resources to others in our nonprofit community for attendees who want to go deeper
Please join us live Tue, Nov. 29 at 2 PM EST (it’s free if you’re an Nten member). If you’re planning to roll out a new content management system (whether or not it’s Drupal), you’ll find Michelle’s story very helpful.  If you can’t attend, read my summary of the event in next week’s blog posting.  Meanwhile, I wish you and your loved ones a safe and joyous Thanksgiving.

What’s New in ePhilanthropy

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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.

Why You Should Design for Mobile Now

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For a long time, I resisted getting a laptop, saying that I preferred the more comfortable keyboard and larger monitor with a desktop.  Similarly, I waited until late 2010 to get my first smart phone, not wanting to pay a premium to navigate the web on such a small screen.

I still spend most of my time online on my desktop either at home or at work, but I do use my smart phone, mostly to stay up to date with Facebook and Twitter.  But everywhere I look, smart phones are everywhere.  So if I was to assume that nonprofit constituents feel the way I do, I would be losing out on an opportunity to connect with supporters on their preferred platform – mobile.

Recently I attended a Convio webinar on mobile strategies for nonprofits.  While I encourage you to download their free guide A Guide to the Mobile Web: Best Practices for Nonprofits, I found these points by presenter Misty McLaughlin especially interesting:

  1. There are many approaches to mobile, such as a ‘mini site’ which highlights your highest value content or a ‘mobile optimized site’ – unless your organization is primarily providing information as your mission, it is usually not necessary to replicate full website content on your mobile site
  2. A good rule of thumb – when mobile visits in your web stats exceed 5% of your overall traffic, it’s time to have a definite strategy to communicate with mobile users
  3. For most nonprofits, it is usually better to focus on a mobile version of your website and not rush to create an app.  In addition to the expense of having to handle multiple platforms (iPhone, Android, Blackberry etc.), there is a much higher barrier to entry since constituents have to find the app, download it, and then remember to use it.
  4. If you’re currently redesigning your website, creating your mobile presence first will help you to provide a richer, more focused and integrated online presence
  5. Although tablets are the rage these days, it is usually not necessary to create a separate ‘tablet’ site since most desktop websites convert well to a tablet screen.
  6. Scrolling on mobile pages is more acceptable than while browsing on a desktop, but you should still limit scrolling on your home page (OK on secondary pages)
  7. If you’re CMS shopping, pick a product that will allow you to:
    • create content once for multiple platforms by separating presentation from content
    • provide auto device detection (so mobile users get the mobile site)
    • allow device-specific tailored displays

Key takeaway – mobile forces us to be smart about our content.  What are the most important actions we want constituents to take?  What is our key message – is it succinct, understandable and repeatable?  We only have our supporters’ attention for a short time, so it’s more important than ever to use that time wisely.

For examples of great nonprofit mobile sites, visit the US Fund for Unicef’s main website and then view its recently designed mobile version. Also, compare the  World Wildlife Fund main website with its corresponding mobile site.   When you look at your organization’s website on your phone, can you quickly find the information you’re looking for without getting frustrated?

For more mobile tips, listen to Nten’s webinar, Mobile for Nonprofits.   And remember that however you feel about using smart phones, you are not your constituents.

What’s New in ePhilanthropy

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Most nonprofits are on Facebook now, but fewer are using Twitter well.  Read these 24 Twitter best practices, and 8 nonprofit Twitter superstars who especially do it well, led by Charity:Water, which I highlighted in a recent post.  Also, don’t make these seven Twitter mistakes.

If you’re trying to figure out how to use content curation to benefit your cause, Beth Kanter offers this great primer as well as Content and Curation for Nonprofits on Scoop.It!  New tools such as Storify and Paper.li also offer interesting ways to consolidate great content.  (But make sure you take the time to digest content you are curating.)

Not hearing as much lately about Google Plus even though it’s now open to the public, yet I keep receiving connection notices from people I don’t recognize.  Strange.

There’s no magic bullet for how to succeed in the nonprofit sector, but thanks to Big Duck and the Taproot Foundation for offering these suggestions.

Were you able to attend the recent Blackbaud Conference for Nonprofits or the Convio Summit?  Here’s some ways on how to live tweet from an event from M&R (but make sure you participate in the live discussion – some of my best insights are from Q&A that takes place at events)  Also, Frogloop offers these takeaways on What Your Nonprofit Needs to Know.

If you missed last week’s chat with Andy Goodman on story telling, you can still get the recording from Nten.  Unfortunately, Andy reminded us that many nonprofits are ‘great at what we do, but not good in talking about it.’

Finally, if you’re spending a bit too much time on social media, here’s an important reminder from Jocelyn Harmon – put your most important relationships first.

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.