by Hannah Brazee Gregory Nonprofits are flocking to social media as a way to communicate with stakeholders. While that effort to engage donors and supports is laudable, it's also fraught with challenges. Be aware of these seven pitfalls when venturing out into the world of social media. 1. Setting up your nonprofit's Facebook account as a person instead of a page. This is of the most common mistakes made by nonprofits when they first begin using Facebook. Some do it on purpose for a variety of well-meaning reasons, while others simply don't know any better. A nonprofit should always create a page and categorize it properly as a nonprofit organization. Ideally, nonprofits want to have thousands of supporters on Facebook, and personal accounts allow a maximum of 5,000 … Continue Reading
eJP Launches iPad Optimized Version
With the aim of increasing choices, and providing an improved visitor experience, eJewish Philanthropy today launched an iPad specific-version of their website. Built on the same framework as eJP's popular touch mobile version, this is not an app, but rather a fast-loading, smooth display designed specifically for iPad reading. Utilizing native touch and scrolling features familiar to all iPad users, this option is based on the latest technologies available, including HTML5, CSS3 and advanced JavaScript. Among the many options now available is the ability to save a post for future reading (as of today, this option is also available on the touch-mobile version). Recognizing the importance of being at the forefront with ever-changing technology, over the past few months, eJewish Philanthropy has … Continue Reading
If You Film It, Will They Come?
by Ephraim Gopin Background: This past Sunday, Bank Leumi, Israel's second largest bank, cancelled their 2 million Shekel YouTube/Facebook contest for nonprofits in Israel - in mid-contest. The basic rules were the same as last year: NPOs were encouraged to sign up and submit a promotional video. Over 15 days, people could "Like" their favorite video/s on the Bank Leumi YouTube channel. At the end of the contest, the top vote-getters would receive a monetary prize from Bank Leumi. The entire premise of the contest was challenged already last year by many and the debacle of cancelling the contest in the middle this year may spell the end of this type of contest here. I'd like to look at this contest from the view of nonprofits; specifically, what were they thinking by entering the … Continue Reading
Technology in Jewish Schools
by Rabbi Jason A. Miller I still remember the time in 1st grade when my father brought our Apple II Plus into the classroom in an effort to show my classmates the wonders of Turtle Graphics. It was 1982 and each little 1st grader waited in line to get a chance to touch the odd looking keyboard and try to make the little turtle move. My father beamed with pride as he watched each child get their three-minute opportunity to try to program the blinking green turtle cursor to move across the black screen. That day was the only day that entire school year that we students would touch a computer at Hillel Day School in Metropolitan Detroit. Today, thirty years later my own children attend Hillel and the Head of School, Steve Freedman, has just announced a new technology plan he hopes to implement … Continue Reading
Priorities When Deciding to Accept Donations Online
[eJP note: While this post is geared to Israeli amutot and Friends of organizations, the checklist in the conclusion poses good questions all organizations should be asking when deciding to/how to accept online donations.] by Shuey Fogel Online donations are rising every year, becoming an increasingly important fundraising tool for nonprofit organizations. To facilitate the growing demand and varied needs of charities, the number of online donation processors has been expanding accordingly. As a result, charities have expressed their difficulty in sorting through the nuances and assorted extras to find the online solution(s) that’s right for them. For this reason, I was thrilled to co-produce an event early in July that hosted representatives from the leading Online Donation … Continue Reading
The Value of Your Housefile
Online fundraising is the fastest growing channel for nonprofits. … Continue Reading
It’s All About Return on Engagement: Design and Measure It
Last week I spoke at the NYC Social Media for Nonprofits conference on creating and measuring return on engagement. In fact, social media engagement should have been the untitled conference theme. Almost every speaker presented a case study or spoke about his/her use of social media for successful engagement, from how to use video to engage (Charity:Water’s September Birthday campaign) to how to create multi-channel fundraising engagement (Big Duck). And you know what? They’re right. Without engagement, social media ultimately fails. However, you can design your social media activities to create online engagement, which is the focus on my presentation. My conference presentation covered five core concepts about how to design real online engagement for the highest return on … Continue Reading
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