ejewishphilanthropy.com is up and running; with a low key preview launch just a few days ago we are off to a good beginning enjoying readers from not only Israel and the U.S., but also Canada, France, Namibia and the U.K.

What did we do? a few hundred emails went out along with a couple of facebook posts.
Some of the results: several thousand page views with the average visitor spending close to 4 minutes on the site. Over 30 visitors took the time to send us an individual email; and most gratifying, established Jewish organizations on 3 continents have offered support and are interested in partnering in various ways. Thank you all and please let your friends and colleagues know about us.

I recently sat with the CEO of a major on-line marketing agency focused largely to our Jewish world.
After understanding our site and objectives, he insisted, on two different occasions during the conversation, that even a small organization cannot mount an effective marketing campaign without a minimum $3,000/month expenditure for six months. Now I fully realize he has a revenue model to protect, but I wonder if he has joined the 21st century. Has he heard not only of the various tools for social marketing, but of viral marketing? What the term means and how to use it effectively. Perhaps, for starters, he could speak with my friend Carlton Evans and learn how The Tribe won film festival awards and reached success on iTunes. Or, if he prefers a more traditional organization, he can check out the JNF and see that by leveraging the Internet, they grew support for a college spring break program. BTW, this is a must read article for all interested in how the Internet can widen your reach and increase on-line giving.

One of our main goals at ejewishphilanthropy.com is to bring you information on how the effective use of the Internet can help grow your organization. We will shortly begin posting resources, articles and links you may find of interest. If you have thoughts on additional resources or suggestions for us, please let us know. If your organization has enjoyed success, or even failure, with an online endeavor and you care to share with the rest of us, please be in touch.

I’m off to London for a workshop in Online Giving Trends for 2008; look for some initial thoughts Motzei Shabbat; and in the meantime, Happy Chanukah and enjoy this video. Courtesy of PopJudaica.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m83q1jrCzo[/youtube]