Every day of the year, OK probably not on Yom Kippur, the Jewish blog-o-sphere is alive with dynamic content, interesting news and STORIES. Here, is just one, from a blogger, telling a great story showcasing a slice of Jewish life in New York City: from Jewlicious, The Murray Hill Song: A Piece of Jewish New York History "The Lower East Side of Manhattan will always be remembered as a place of Jewish beginnings in contemporary American Jewish culture. Escaping from Czarist pogroms, harsh anti-Semitism and stifling shtetl life, many Jewish American families began their new lives in die Goldene Medina by alighting from boats on Ellis Island and setting up homes in this traditionally impoverished New York City neighborhood. Today, the Jewish imprint on the Lower East side is greatly diminished … Continue Reading
The Power of Blogs (Bloggers)
As we posted several hours ago, the JTA sent an ill-advised fundraising solicitation letter out to its newsletter readers. OK, they need money - what nonprofit doesn't today. But, the JTA took aim at the blogging world by saying “Without a strong JTA, the storytelling will be left to bloggers, twitters, and non-professionals. Is this the best way for our future Jewish stories to be told and recorded?” Now the JTA has a huge PR headache on their hands. Last summers First Annual International Jewish Bloggers Convention (sponsored by Nefesh B'Nefesh) drew some 1500 participants (times how many thousands of readers?). Judging by the emails, Facebook and blog posts floating around, JTA has made a significant number of them unhappy. Here are just two of the many I've read (and both are … Continue Reading
I’m Sure It Is Only a Coincidence, But…
Yesterday - in a widely circulated news story - Rupert Murdoch, who owns one of the few U.S. newspapers that makes people pay to read its news on the Web, said more papers will have to start doing the same to survive. Today, the JTA sends out an email titled "What does this service mean to you?" and asking newsletter readers to pay $50. to become a member. Is this a prelude to the JTA following the practice of other publications including The Baltimore Jewish Times and The Jewish Advocate? Will some content be available only to paid subscribers? By the way, according to the JTA, “Without a strong JTA, the storytelling will be left to bloggers, twitters, and non-professionals. Is this the best way for our future Jewish stories to be told and recorded?” Considering that the JTA has … Continue Reading
Ignore Social Networks at Your Own Peril
The recently released Nielsen Online Global Index report should finally put to rest the notion that social networks and blogs are just teenage fads that will soon disappear. Nielsen’s report confirms that these two communications channels are fast becoming the most popular online destinations for internet users around the world. Facebook, the social network category killer, is the primary driver of this growth. Its 35-49 year old user audience grew by 24.1 million between December 2007 and December 2008. Facebook also added another 13.6 million 50-64 year old visitors - almost twice the number of new, under 18 year old users during the same period. The phenomenal increase in social networking and blog popularity is only half the story. The amount of time people spent at these destinations is … Continue Reading
Blogging Tips, Traps and Tales
Whether you already have a blog, or are thinking of beginning one, here's a comprehensive article on what you should know - focused to the nonprofit world. from Fundraising Success: Blogging Tips, Traps and Tales In the webinar "Blogging for Nonprofits: Tips, Traps, and Tales" last month, Kivi Leroux Miller, founder of EcoScribe Communications and keeper of the Nonprofit Marketing Guide, covered blogging inside and out, including information about the types of blogs nonprofits can create and questions organizations should ask themselves to make sure a blog is right for them. … Continue Reading
Edgar Bronfman’s New Pastime: Blogging
According to a just released Nielsen report, Global Faces and Networked Places, two-thirds of the world’s Internet population visit social networking or blogging sites, accounting for almost 10% of all Internet time. Based on information collected during 2008 the percentage is likely to grow as time spent on social network and blogging sites is growing more than three times the rate of overall Internet growth. Not Just For The Young While social networks started out among the younger audience, they’ve become more mainstream with the passage of time. Not surprisingly the audience has become broader and older. This shift has primarily been driven by Facebook whose greatest growth has come from people aged 35-49 years of age (+24.1 million). And from December 2007 through December 2008, … Continue Reading
Links As a Resource Tool
We've added a number of articles to our Resources section in recent days that are informative and thought provoking. We hope some will be useful to your organization: A New Year's Resolution: Don't Cut Off Your Nose Last year was a tough year, and 2009 might be even tougher. Nonprofits are hunkering down, trying to weather the economic storm that is dramatically reducing their revenues yet increasing demand for their services. Often one of the first functions to go is communications. Social Networks Grow: Friending Mom and Dad The share of adult internet users who have a profile on a social networking site has more than quadrupled in the past four years. Rethinking the Relationship between Subject Line Length and Email Performance In general, shorter subject lines are associated … Continue Reading
The Power of Links
Do you check your Website analytics? We do - probably to often - and last week we discovered that when we put up a post with the various new links added to our site it was an immediate hit. So, now we will separately list the new links and articles we have added to our Resources section - both organizational resources and how-to articles culled from professional fundraising blogs and magazines around the world. You should still take a look; you'll never know what hidden gems you may find. Even the long-time CEO of a major American fundraising software provider told me he discovered some organizations he was not familiar with. Here's what we posted recently. For more, don't forget, check out eJewish Philanthropy’s Resources section. How About A Microblog With Your … Continue Reading
Have You Checked Our Resource Section Lately?
If you haven't, you should take a look. We are regularly adding new links to organizational resources and how-to articles culled from professional fundraising blogs and magazines around the world. Here are the new article links we posted yesterday. For more, check out eJewish Philanthropy's Resources section. 5 Tips for Raising Funds Through Social Mobilization Tips to help organizations get the most out of their social-mobilization platforms How Much Does a Nonprofit Website Cost? How much should I expect to pay for a website? And how can I find out some answer other than "it depends" without actually building the sucker? It can be really difficult to define what communications approaches make sense for you when website costs appear to be all over the map. Blogging for the … Continue Reading
The Advantages of New Technology
New Media Fundraising New interactive technologies are swiftly becoming a key element in the fundraising mix. Innovations generated during the last decade include Internet applications, mobile technologies and interactive television. Charities are now gearing up to use some of them in their fundraising programs. This article provides a summary of the most important new technologies, their features, and their advantages for fundraising. Internet It’s now been little more than ten years since the Internet, and especially the worldwide web, really became part of our daily lives. Ever since, more and more non-profit organizations have started using this medium; clearly, the Internet is changing philanthropy. By using the Internet, charities can reach a large number of people at relatively low … Continue Reading
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