Thursday, May 24, 2012

Causes Reinvents Itself as a Campaign Center

In late February, I noticed that things looked different on Causes.com. The Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN) began running a campaign to send 50 nonprofits to the Nonprofit Technology Conference, and the new layout and actions within Causes caught my eye. Causes features videos, commenting, sharing, and of course full Facebook integration with the new Timeline. Causes looks and feels different from its previous iteration; it feels like a campaign center and no longer a Facebook add-on or a stand-alone online fundraising website. Raising funds for a cause isn’t just about asking for money; successful fundraising campaigns include storytelling elements, peer to peer fundraising, and a campaign center. Causes has all of these elements built into its new platform, including video integration, … Continue Reading

Facebook Timeline for Nonprofit Organizations

by Rebecca Saidlower and Miriam Brosseau The social media revolution means big things for nonprofits. Social media demands a kind of openness and authenticity that can be challenging, but also empowering. Now more than ever our friends, fans, and followers can connect with us (and we with them) immediately and personally. The recent release of Facebook Timeline for Pages provides a new opportunity for your nonprofit to share your story in a rich, engaging way, with both those outside and inside your organization. Here are a few ways you can take advantage of your Page’s new Timeline: Document the history of your organization since way back before Facebook. You can add milestones with short stories, links and photos going back to whenever your organization was founded. Visitors to our … Continue Reading

Communications for Smaller Nonprofits in the Era of Twitter

by Jo-Ann Mort Over the last few years, the world of communications has simultaneously become both more accessible and less manageable. With the explosion of social media came the democratization of communications - one Tweet can reach more people than a press release, and a Facebook post can receive just as much attention as coverage in traditional media. This change in how news gets out can benefit, smaller nonprofits that may not be budgeted for large communications outlays. But just because social media is accessible to all of us does not mean it should be approached without an airtight strategy. It is true that people and organizations now have many more opportunities to get out their story than they did in a pre-digital age. Absolutely and without a doubt. If your local newspaper … Continue Reading

Social Development: Turning Prospects into Followers and Friends into Donors

by Ken Gordon Jewish day school development lives or dies on the strength of an institution’s philanthropic kehillah. If you create robust, honest relationships with donors and prospective donors, you have a viable development program. If not, not. Social media functions precisely the same way: great relationships create success. Interact well in the online world, and you’ll project a vital digital presence. And if you don’t, you won’t. So it’s no secret that smart schools intentionally build social media into their development strategy. They employ these virtual bridges to construct and maintain the long-term connections that ultimately lead to a successful fundraising program. Let’s call this shidduch of social media and day school development, social … Continue Reading

Social Media and Journalism: Key Impact Areas

Last Friday, I gave a presentation on how social media is impacting journalism and the newspaper industry for the New England Press and Newspaper Association‘s winter conference. I had the honor of sharing the panel with Boston Globe reporter Milton Valencia and Crowdsourcing author Jeff Howe. Milton spoke enthusiastically about why Twitter matters to journalists, and Jeff explained the virtuous cycle of reporting and online community that makes reporting better. During the presentation, I identified four areas impacted by social media: the changing definition of an authoritative news source, the concept of news participators, how news is shared, and the changing news cycle. Authority = Trust In the age of social, a newspaper and its journalists must earn authority; who is an authority is … Continue Reading

Social Media and Jewish Nonprofits: Missing in Action?

by Robert I. Evans and Avrum D. Lapin So much attention is focused today on technology and especially social media as a platform to inform, educate and organize. Not a day goes by without some mention of the dynamics of Facebook and Twitter, and even eJewish Philanthropy almost always includes citations about the power of technology for nonprofits. This has prompted us to conduct an unofficial survey of a number of Jewish nonprofits, investigating how they are utilizing social media and how it enables them to meet the demands that they and their leaders are facing. The picture is not entirely positive. The bottom line, as summarized by Jim Gelles, of Membership Management Services, developer of MM2000, a synagogue software system used by more than 200 congregations: “most of the Jewish world … Continue Reading

Creating a Social Media Strategy: The Secret Sauce

A few days ago, I had the opportunity to offer a workshop on the topic of creating a social media strategy to a group of budding entrepreneurs. It’s a big, meaty topic, and no two strategies are ever developed in the same way. Over the years, I’ve developed a methodology of what goes into strategy development, and focused on that methodology for the workshop. There are four elements to developing a social media strategy: evaluating current organizational assets, researching competitors (and comparables), choosing appropriate channels for ongoing participation, and measurement. I might add developing online campaigns (as relevant) to that mix. Before creating a strategy, however, organizations should have a sense of these three things: Realistic commitment to social media (time, personnel, … Continue Reading

Leaders Follow Twitter?

by Jeff Rubin A nationally renowned Jewish public affairs group just “followed” my organization on Twitter soon after joining the social media site. Welcome, warmly and belatedly, to the Twitterverse! This organization has apparently learned what others have yet to understand: Twitter isn’t a gimmick or a toy; It’s an essential information source for leaders and an important strategic management tool. In fact, it’s become as basic as email to staying on top of events locally and around the globe. Not that long ago, I too was a Twitter nonbeliever. I thought that a “hashtag” was a Middle Eastern dessert. I feared that monitoring Twitter would absorb all of the free time left to me by Facebook, emails, text messages and phone calls. It took a strong kick in the posterior from a … Continue Reading

Jewish Family Educators Unite Online

by Robyn Faintich While teachers look to inject technology into classrooms and other learning settings, they must not overlook its power to build community among themselves to enhance skills, share and gain new ideas, and collaborate. Aiming to equip Jewish family educators with resources, creative ideas and connections to strengthen their work, passions and outcomes, Shevet: Jewish Family Education Exchange is utilizing digital technology to coalesce the field and empower it. In Digital Habitats: Stewarding Technology for Communities, authors Etienne Wenger, Nancy White and John Smith say that Web 2.0 and 3.0 tools “facilitate the convergence of content and networks of people, creating new possibilities for communities to develop and grow,” and that communities of practice “help us … Continue Reading

When a Like Is Worth a Buck: How One Day School Made FB Pay

by Ken Gordon There I was, on January 15th, at the North American Jewish Day School Conference, conducting an intense, face-to-face social-media consultation with Oakland Hebrew Day School’s Rabbi Yehudah Potok. R.Y.P., as his Board President fondly calls him, was deeply focused, asking good questions, making all kinds of notes. Yet as we yammered away, I couldn’t help but wonder, “Could a Head of School really be that interested in social media?” The answer I later learned was this: R.Y.P. is totally serious and smart about Facebook. Y’see, our man at OHDS had asked me about how to increase the size of his school’s FB fan base. I casually suggested that he: Figure out how many Fans his school had at that moment. Pick a reachable Fan goal. Select a date to reach that … Continue Reading