LOG ON TO THE BIGGEST EVER SOLIDARITY RALLY FOR ISRAEL Participate without leaving home This Thursday, March 20th, the eve of Purim, help us make history in solidarity with Israel. Show up no matter where you are. Together4Israel.org, along with many worldwide partners, is putting together the largest ever online rally in support of those living under fire in Israel. To attend all you need to do is go to www.together4israel.org to watch a live broadcast of solidarity rallies from around the world.

Thursday, March 20, 2008 11:00 pm Israel Time

9 p.m. GMT / 5 p.m. EDT / 4 p.m. CDT / 3 p.m. MDT / 2 p.m. PDT

Stretching across 7 continents and featuring as speakers Alan Dershowitz, Natan ...

From the Blog World...

“Online media rooms, and journalists’ expectations of them, have evolved. Many nonprofit organizations now feature ‘virtual press kits,’ but an effective online press room is more than just a media kit.

Your online press room should provide what you used to include in your hard-copy press kit, and then some. Here are the top ten must-haves:

• The absolute latest news
• Downloadable photos and graphics to accompany stories
• ...
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  Tags: social networking, web 2.0

If cost has been one of the barriers to using Flickr in your nonprofit's outreach efforts, this may tip the balance. The photo-sharing service announced today that it has teamed up with TechSoup, in a new program called Flickr for Good, to give away 10,000 one-year Flickr Pro accounts to nonprofits and public libraries. According to Flickr... "A photo gives us the ability to see what goes on in the world, but can also move us to ...

Since launching the acclaimed Shabbat Across America Program in 1997, the National Jewish Outreach Program has brought hundreds of thousands of Jews together for an annual fun-filled Friday night event. In an unrivaled display of Jewish unity, approximately 700 synagogues across the continent simultaneously open their doors to practicing and non-practicing Jews alike, so they may join together to experience and rejoice in a traditional Shabbat service and festive meal. Designed to teach a generation of unaffiliated Jews about the beauty and significance of the Jewish Sabbath, Shabbat Across America/Canada is the first nationally orchestrated program to appeal to members of all major Jewish denominations. This year, the newest Shabbat Across American locations will be virtual, ...

Social networking does come with drawbacks.

A lead story in today's Jewish Week begins... "Old-guard groups seen slow in recognizing viral threat from Facebook, YouTube. More than 35,000 people have joined the Facebook group “Israel is not a country! ... Delist it from Facebook as a country!” Two weeks ago in the JPost we have the President of Israel, Shimon Peres, urging young people to fight anti-Semitism using Facebook. And from today's JPost, "Israel loses Monopoly on capital as Hasboro makes Jerusalem stateless. The battle for Jerusalem took a new direction this week, when a reference to Israel was removed from an on-line poll to select the cities to be featured in the international version of the popular Monopoly board game." The ...

The proliferation of the Internet is creating a new type of constituent that carries a different set of behaviors and opens a door to a larger group of potential fundraisers. Nonprofits know that the most engaged constituents can become some of the most successful fundraisers for the organization. According to Debbie Snyder, vice president professional services for Kintera in San Diego, the trick is capturing these online constituents, converting them to supporters, then converting the supporters to donors before finally converting donors to fundraisers. Avid Internet users are also more likely to share information with others online and the ...

We admit, social networking is not for everyone. As you evaluate the goals for your own organization you will need to consider...

• All publicity is NOT good publicity
• How will (potential) donors react to your organization on a social platform
• Will social drive donations?
• Is social traffic worthwhile traffic?
• Will social traffic convert?
• Is social cost effective?

As you consider the various pros and cons, here is one extraordinary example of the power of social marketing in our Jewish world... Sent to us by Rabbi Charles Lebow

How I reached 10,000 Young Jews for Free

facebook.com is an on-line social network that is used by most college and high school students. You can use it to send messages, invite people to ...

If you are interested in learning about social networking, and are convenient to D.C. here is an announcement for an upcoming seminar geared specifically to the non-profit world. Facebook, MySpace, Orkut, Digg, Delicious, Flickr, Twitter, and other social networking and social media web sites are experiencing tremendous audience growth. It's now clear that most effective issues-based organizations in 2008 will extend their internet strategy to connect with supporters across these social web sites. The opportunities to build new audiences are as great as the complexities. In this Web Executive Seminar hosted by Forum One, presenters will present strategies for how policy organizations and other nonprofits can take advantage of social media and social networking sites in support of their mission. They ...

Everyone says video is hot online. A recently released Pew Internet report confirms the rapid growth in viewing videos online during 2007 - 48% of internet users. Growth is highest in the desirable demographic groups of women, 50-65 year olds, college graduates, and those in the highest income brackets. growth. Most importantly, every demographic group surveyed experienced significant growth "The daily traffic to such sites on a typical day has doubled in the past year. The audience for YouTube and other internet video sites has risen sharply... Nearly half of online adults now say they have visited such sites. On a typical day at the end of 2007, the share of internet users going ...

If you're sitting at your computer hugging your organization's mission statement, branding guide and/or special event brochure (the one that was approved by everyone in your office, your board, your babysitter, etc. etc.), it's time to take a deep breath-this idea might scare you. It's time to turn your message over to your constituents. That's right: let your fundraisers spread the word for you, outside of your direct reach. People are most likely to donate to a cause if asked by someone they know. Unless you personally know everyone in your town, city, state, country, etc., you need to call in the big guns: your wired fundraisers. Wired fundraisers come in two varieties: passionate fundraisers who happen ...