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Non-profits lead the way in social media

admin — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 23:30:41 +0000

New study shows that non-profits organizations are still outpacing the business world and academia in their use of social media.

Conducted By: Nora Ganim Barnes, Ph.D., Eric Mattson CEO, Financial Insite

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research recently completed one of the first statistically significant, longitudinal studies on the usage of social media by United States charities.

The new study compares organizational adoption of social media in 2007 and 2008 by the 200 largest charities in the United States as compiled annually by Forbes Magazine. For complete details on Forbes Magazine’s list of the largest charities, please visit their website at Forbes.com.

In 2007 (using the 2006 Forbes list), the first study of this group’s use of social media was released. It revealed that these large non-profits were leading both corporations and universities (see our previous research) in their familiarity with, usage of, monitoring of and attitude towards social media.

This new research shows that charitable organizations are still outpacing the business world and academia in their use of social media. In the latest study (2008) a remarkable eighty-nine percent of charitable organizations are using some form of social media including blogs, podcasts, message boards, social networking, video blogging and wikis. A majority (57%) of the organizations are blogging. Forty-five percent of those studied report social media is very important to their fundraising strategy. While these organizations are best known for their non-profit status and their fundraising campaigns, they demonstrate an acute, and still growing, awareness of the importance of Web 2.0 strategies in meeting their objectives.

via umassd.edu

5 Essential Tips for Promoting Your Charity Using Social Media

admin — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:00:27 +0000

For non-profit organizations and other charities, social media is potentially an incredibly powerful tool to get the word out, connect with constituents, rally support, and even raise money.

But, like for any business, social media will only pay dividends for charities if they utilize it properly. You can’t just sign up for a Twitter account, create a Facebook Fan Page and then watch the donations roll in. It unfortunately just doesn’t happen that way.

Getting the most out of social media is hard work and requires patient diligence. But the eventual rewards are potentially enormous. Here are five essential tips for charities to get the most out of social media when promoting their cause.

via mashable.com

Social Media Provide Untapped Opportunity to Engage High Dollar Non-profit Donors

admin — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:22:19 +0000

The social web offers a welcome place for individual philanthropic activity. New research funded by the Columbus Foundation, The San Francisco Foundation and The Saint Paul Foundation demonstrates that High dollar donors — especially 30-49 year-olds — use the social web, but have yet to be engaged by strong, trustworthy philanthropic organizations. This was among the key findings of the new research study, “Community Philanthropy 2.0,” conducted by Beth Kanter, Society for New Communications Research Fellow Geoff Livingston, and Qui Diaz of CRT/tanaka.

The Community Philanthropy 2.0 research study examined the use of social media by non-profits and causes, as well as existing donors and Internet “savvy” users’ traditional and social media usage patterns. The research was designed to determine if and how social media can be used to engage and cultivate high dollar donors. Objectives of the research included.

via newcommreview.com