March 3rd, 2010 by Elizabeth Ricca
Looking for inspiration for your nonprofit’s next social media campaign? Look no further than the Robin Hood Foundation’s “I Fed” campaign, a volunteer-driven, social media fundraising effort to provide 120,000 meals to New Yorkers in need over the 2009 holiday season. The six-week campaign played out on Facebook and Twitter, mobilized hitherto-unknown ranks of volunteers, and brought in hundreds of new donors. In fact, 82% of contributors to the campaign were new to Robin Hood.
A number of the campaign’s collaborators came together a few weeks back, along with some fellow experts from the world of nonprofit social media campaigns, to participate in a panel for social media week on “Social Media: Working Your Online Charity Mojo” and share their insights. I’ve summarized a few highlights from the conversation below.
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February 26th, 2010 by Elizabeth Ricca
- Earlier this week, Google added Facebook Page status updates to its real-time search results, which means that if you post something to your nonprofit’s Page about, say, education reform, that update could show up when someone Googles “education reform”. Time to dust off the old status updater.
- Does your nonprofit have a process in place for communicating with donors who give to you through Network for Good? If not, you may be missing important opportunities to connect with your supporters. Kivi Leroux Miller explains the whys and hows.
- Social media come and go—case in point, the recent appearance of Google Buzz. John Haydon offers tips and advice for creating a social media plan that can roll with the punches of the ever-changing social media landscape.
- Nancy Schwartz shares some interesting lessons learned from a recent foray into video communications and suggests a step-by-step plan for nonprofits ready to roll camera.
- If you’re writing copy for your nonprofit’s website, check out these tips from Kevin Cesarz on how to appropriately “layer” your content so that the important stuff is right up front.
- If you’re looking for a way to celebrate this lovely snowy Friday, I suggest becoming a fan of the Norwegian Curling Team’s Pants.
A weekly roundup of interesting reads from the online world of nonprofit communications. Check out my Delicious bookmarks for more noteworthy links.
http://www.nonprofitmarketingguide.com/blog/2010/02/19/why-you-must-work-with-network-for-good-and-how-to-follow-up-with-donors/
Tags: excellent pants, facebook, Google, Network for Good, nptech, roundup, social media, video
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February 24th, 2010 by Madeleine Milan
If you don’t already know who Jamie Oliver is, chances are you soon will (for better or worse…)
Jamie’s a British celebrity chef on a crusade against the obesity epidemic. He wants everyone – from British school kids to ‘ordinary’ British people, and now, all of America – to ditch junk food and learn to cook healthy, happy, sustainable meals. On February 10, he won the 2010 TED prize for “transforming the way we feed our children” and at the end of March he has a new show starting on ABC about bringing his “food revolution” to America.
Being a Brit, I’ve known about Jamie Oliver for about 10 years, and have seen him change from a lone cheeky (read: annoying) TV chef into a global brand and powerful healthy food advocate (it’s widely accepted that his 2004 school lunch campaign was the catalyst for the UK government’s overhaul of school food spending and standards over the past five years).
He now not only has 10 cookbooks in print, a magazine in his own name and an MBE (that’s a shiny badge awarded by the Queen for services to her country), but he also has a foundation that helps disadvantaged young people learn a trade in the restaurant industry, and three ongoing campaigns to get healthy food to more and more people.
“That’s all well and good,” I hear you say, “but what’s it got to do with nonprofit communication?” Three things, that’s what:
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Tags: campaign, messaging, personality
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February 19th, 2010 by Elizabeth Ricca
- Bet you thought I couldn’t find a tie between the Olympics and nonprofit communications. Well, stand back: on MediaShift, Craig Silverman talks social media with Graeme Menzies, director of online communications for the Vancouver games, who raises some very interesting points about how critical it is to have a flexible approach online tools. Just think: four years ago, as the Vancouver team was putting together its plans and learning lessons from Turino, Facebook was still just for college students, and Twitter was hardly a twinkle in Jack Dorsey’s eye. The takeaway: make sure your approach to social media includes clear goals and a coherent strategy; tactical plans based on specific tools will have a pretty short shelf-life.
- You’ve written your blogs; crafted your tweets; posted your videos to YouTube. On to the next event: live streaming. Joshua Tabb offers some tips for how nonprofits can make use of live video streaming sites like Ustream.tv on Case Foundation’s blog. (Speaking of which, have I mentioned the live-streaming puppy cam? They’ve gotten so big!)
- Facebook not quite cutting it for your nonprofit? Set up your very own social network with the help of these great guidelines on building cause-based communities from Geoff Livingston.
- Jaime-Alexis Fowler has some handy suggestions on NTEN’s blog for making the most of online video, even if your budget and technical know-how is limited. Wield your Flip cam with pride!
- Not an expert at search engine optimization? Begin at the beginning with these ideas for writing search-engine-friendly website copy from Jason Falls on Social Media Explorer.
A weekly roundup of interesting reads from the online world of nonprofit communications. Check out my Delicious bookmarks for more noteworthy links.
Tags: copywriting, live streaming, nptech, puppies, roundup, search engine optimization, social media, social networking, strategy, video
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February 17th, 2010 by Sonny Mui
I’ve been swept up with 2010 Winter Olympics fever over the past couple of days, not because I’m a huge fan of figure skating or ice hockey, mind you, but mostly because my wife is pretty obsessed with the Games (yes, I’m blaming her for my watching sports).
credit: Vancover2010.com
As I started watching the opening ceremony and the subsequent individual competitions, it struck me how the Olympics brand is such a global venture. And I don’t just mean global in the “countries-around-the-world” sense. I mean from a designer’s standpoint, it’s a dream opportunity to design things on a scale that can vary from the size of a pen to something akin to a literal architectural village, across multiple disciplines.
With all the elements that would need to be designed for the Olympics, you can bet that design is one of the first major tasks to be tackled for a host city. Heck, even before a final city is selected, the candidates will design a visual campaign system around the push to be picked. Anyone remember the bids for Chicago or New York City ?
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Tags: brand, design, Olympics
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February 15th, 2010 by Farra Trompeter
Last month, our friends at FundRaising Success Magazine ran a column chock full of advice about what nonprofit fundraisers can expect in 2010. It’s got some great ideas and predictions from a range of folks — including a few names you might recognize. Here’s a few excerpts from these pros. Notice how many of them swirl around the theme of being smart and consistent with how you communicate with and engage donors.
- Some organizations will continue to prosper while many will struggle to meet last year’s results. The groups most likely to prosper are those that provide basic services like food and shelter; have kept their cause top-of-mind with donors and the public with smart, consistent marketing efforts; and have maintained or expanded their acquisition and lapsed reactivation programs. … In 2010, nonprofit fundraisers should build on their wins from 2009 and find new ways to tell their donors how important they are. – Lynn Edmonds, president, L.W. Robbins Associates
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Tags: Brandraising, fundraising
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February 12th, 2010 by Elizabeth Ricca
- In case you haven’t heard, there’s a new social network in town. Is Buzz a Twitter-killer? Should Facebook be running scared? No one knows (although some people think they do). While you’re watching the drama unfold, make sure your nonprofit has claimed a Gmail address and that you’ve set up your Google profile.
- Happy sixth birthday, Facebook. My, you’re awfully big for your age. Check out this very interesting information visualization from Muhammad Saleem depicting Facebook’s growth (did you know that about 200 million people log into Facebook every day? That’s about 2/3 the size of the U.S. population).
- All this data is making Facebook ads sound pret-ty appealing right about now. If you’ve considered factoring a Facebook ad campaign into your fundraising or advocacy efforts, this detailed how-to from Nonprofit Tech 2.0 is a must-read.
- Kaitlin LaCasse at Idealware shares examples of a few nonprofits who’ve set up online “dashboards” to monitor progress toward key goals (fundraising, memberships, you name it). Fun with online tools can be practical, too!
- Your organization has it’s social media game face on. But is your executive director ready to tweet? Beth Kanter shares some examples of EDs and CEOs who blog or tweet, as well as some tips to help you decide when it’s time to push your executive leadership into the deep end of the social media pool.
A weekly roundup of interesting reads from the online world of nonprofit communications. Check out my Delicious bookmarks for more noteworthy links.
Tags: advertising, buzz, facebook, nptech, roundup, social media, social networking
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February 10th, 2010 by Dan Gunderman
Over a recent weekend, my wife and I attended two grassroots fundraisers for two very different causes.
It was the best of times.
Four words can sum up why the first fundraiser was awesome: Peruvian chicken house party.
Even though we live in the most diverse borough (sorry, Brooklynites: that’s Queens) in the most diverse city in the world (sorry, Boise: that’s New York City), my wife and I have a relatively homogeneous life. So when we had the chance to attend a party thrown by Peruvians, we were all for it. The host was trying to raise money to bring her daughter here from Peru. So she made a traditional Peruvian chicken dinner, which she sold for $10 a plate.
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Tags: audience, fundraisers
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February 5th, 2010 by Elizabeth Ricca
- On Katya’s Non-profit Marketing Blog, Katya Andreson shares her list of must-have elements of a good nonprofit homepage and takes a look at a recent successful nonprofit website makeover. Ineffective websites are so last summer.
- While we’re on the subject, how will you know when your nonprofit’s website is due for a new look? eJewish Philanthropy highlights some of the reasons it might be time for a redesign.
- And don’t forget to accessorize: no website is complete without a great URL. If you’re venturing out into the World Wide Web for the first time or just relaunching your site, these tips from Marc Pitman at The Fundraising Coach on choosing an effective URL might come in handy.
- It’s cold and flu season. What better time to plan for some viral fundraising? Joe Garecht shares some of the key symptoms of a successful viral campaign on A Small Change.
- Social media is the future, and Shannon Aronin shares some reasons why on Buzzmarketing Daily. (At a panel this afternoon for social media week, Ari Wallach suggested that asking whether nonprofits should be on social media is like asking whether nonprofits should have websites back in 1995.)
A weekly roundup of interesting reads from the online world of nonprofit communications. Check out my Delicious bookmarks for more noteworthy links.
Tags: nptech, roundup, social media, viral fundraising, website, website redesign
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