November 5th, 2009 The most common application of social media is for fundraising and
marketing. But what about using social media as part of program delivery.
Do we have examples of using nonprofits using social media for:
Volunteer
or board recruitment strategy
Ooutreach or educational program
delivery
Crowdsourcing ideas for program development
Professional
development
Integrated in other areas
November 5th, 2009 Google may know all about your nonprofit’s website (and your blog, and whatever social media profiles you’ve staked out on the Web), but that doesn’t guarantee that Microsoft’s new search engine, Bing, will automatically index your site as well….(read more)
via http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WildApricot/~3/3kUZS7Tt_nA/does-bing-know-about-your-website.aspx
November 5th, 2009 A few weeks ago I was at a fundraising event that had a silent auction. So many fabulous items had been donated, but unfortunately bidders could only pay in cash or by check. I haven’t had more than $5 in my pocket for years and I can’t even remember the last time I carried a checkbook with me. So, I opted out of the silent auction. My guess is many others did too for the same reason.
A new service called Intuit GoPayment enables nonprofits to accept credit cards on mobile phones (View Supported Phones). There is a one-time setup fee of $59.95 and a monthly fee of $19.95. For small nonprofits on a tight budget, that may be a little high, but the good news is that you do not need to sign a contract. You can cancel at any time and your first two months are free (ideal if you just want to try it for this year’s holiday fundraising season). Cards accepted are MasterCard, Visa and Discover and the credit card processing fee is 2.44% plus $.27 per transaction. A signature is not necessary to process the donation and payment is immediately transferred to your nonprofit’s bank account. You can use the system to email or text a receipt, but I strongly suggest that you follow up with an e-mail thank you letter.
If your organization is one that hosts or attends a lot of events (galas, silent auctions, walkathons, protests, conferences, etc.) throughout the year, then this could be an easy, cost-effective solution for accepting credit cards on the go. It also allows nonprofits to accept credit card payments verbally over the phone. Maybe your nonprofit does a year-end phone banking campaign? Or perhaps you want to notify donors in e-mail newsletters or on your website that they can also call in their donations if for some reason they don’t feel comfortable entering their credit card information on the Internet? In this competitive fundraising climate, donor convenience and on-the-spot fundraising may be just what your organization needs to stand out from the rest.
November 4th, 2009 Photo Source: Indianapolis Museum of Art Blog
Many of us have a love and hate relationship with nonprofit dashboards. We know the power of numbers that tell us where we are headed or how well we are doing. But we also know that numbers don’t tell us the whole story – whether we headed in the right overall strategic direction, taking the right road, and how to get back on course if we get lost.
November 3rd, 2009 Jay Moonah’s presentation on Social Media Best Practices for Non-Profit & Public Sector Organizations was streamed live online as part of The Canadian Institute’s recent “Managing Social Media” conference recently – but if you missed it, no worries! We’ve got the highlights right here. …(read more)
November 2nd, 2009 Twitter’s new Lists are a great way to organize your followers, and with a little intention and a dose of good will, Twitter Lists can also be used to promote your favorite nonprofits and the causes you care about. Here’s how:
1) Create a “Favorite Nonprofits” List
Lists can say a lot about your character and what’s important to you. Personally, I am quite saddened by the rapid loss of wildlife around the world, so my “Favorite Nonprofits” list has quite a few wildlife conservation organizations [@diosacomm/favoritenonprofits]. What issues are important to you? Create a Twitter List of your favorite nonprofits to tell Twitterverse what issues you think are most important and deserve attention.
October 31st, 2009 See larger image here:
Map from: Waddell, Steve. 2005. A Learning History of the CARE LAC – Institute for Strategic Clarity Guatemala Poverty Project. Institute for Strategic Clarity, March 15
October 30th, 2009 Huffington Post is looking for readers to vote for the ultimate game changer in Philanthropy.
And I think the readers have so far voted Perla Ni, head of greatnonprofits.org, to be the ultimate game changer. I’d like her to keep that lead and to do so, I urge you all to consider throwing in a vote. She’s trying to create a Yelp for Nonprofits which is sorely needed in the nonprofit world. Any time I see someone promoting democratic oversight of nonprofits, I’m all for it.
October 30th, 2009 My son, Harry, who some of you have watched grow up on this blog celebrated his 10th Birthday! It seems like just yesterday when Harry’s tooth was loose and Wanna, a Cambodian blogger, taught us about the Cambodian tooth fairy.
As we were singing happy birthday, I realized that Harry is growing up with having social networks and generosity in his life. This is not limited to external trends, but we’re trying to model philanthropic behavior in this house. He has watched his mother celebrate her birthday and use it as an excuse to raise money for the Sharing Foundation, a charity that cares for kids in Cambodia.
October 30th, 2009 Wild Apricot version 3.2 was released on October 1st, as planned. We have since patched a couple of minor problems, but all in all it has been the smoothest version release at least in the last 12 months. My personal thanks to our developers and testers! Also, special thanks to Giuliano Valentino for creating a nice video summary of key updates in version 3.2. Watch 3.2 video We are already at the end of October, which means that our development phase on version 3.3 has just a few more days to run….(read more)
