DISQUS

Thanks for blogging about socialbrite! I'm proud to be a contributor.

And, maybe commenting in the blog posts will make a come back too!

Just wrote a piece that is reflection after sitting in on a seminar by lawyers about social media policy. It was more about whether or not employees can be fired to doing something stupid. Control issues, but different area.


Don't Moon People With Cameras (unless you hide your face)
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2009/06/more...

Thanks so much for the nice write up! Yes, nonprofits are really embracing social media and having those skills would be very attractive to potential nonprofits looking to hire.

Great piece! I thought your tweet was asking for suggestions or crowdsourcing advice - not promoting the post! Silly me!

I think that the first tip should be "Create a Fan Page first as your home base and main facebook presence" then add a Cause. Use groups for smaller, more intimate organizing. But only branch out to these other presences if you have the capacity and strategy to support them. That was the advice that Randy Zuckerman offered in the NTEN webinar. I agree with that.

Also, on your last tip - stats stats stats -- well stats alone are meaningless - unless you mapping against your strategy and reflecting on what works and what doesn't - you won't make much progress.

That's a common response - it's helpful to show inspiring examples or show the benefits/values. I've written a lot about this on my blog - about the change management issues - but it isn't any different when the web was first introduced.

@thom see you in a few weeks!

@shan I agree charity:water is a great organization and it was mentioned - although not directly - through the innovative fundraising event called "Twestival" which raised over $250,000 through distributed fundraising events.

@tim thanks for pointing to Joe's great post over at Netsquared - as I was quoted in the article that getting jaded is part of the cycle - I've been working in this space for 30 years (nonprofits and tech) and all I can say is that inspiration ebbs and flows - and that stories can be great for flowing the inspiration

Great point Gradon. If you visit the WeAreMedia wiki, you'll see lots of resources and stories about nonprofits small and large! I think all nonprofits need to think about using social media and working in a networked way ... it's more than just fundraising that is being impacted.

I dunno - Virgin America has cheap fares, better experience and WIFI .. I as frequent commuter between Boston and SF - I won't fly anything else but Virgin unless I have to - just for the wifi alone

This is similar to a contest that TripAdvisor ran last fall, although the number of organizations competing is larger as is the pot.

The contests do some good for the companies - but also have a down side, contributing to cause fatigue.

http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2009/05/targ...

There's a recent survey from NTEN that looked at the baseline for social networking use by nonprofits - includes all sizes
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2009/05/port...

All of my fundraising has been for a small organization as a board member - documented here
http://gsp4good.wikispaces.com.

There is a soon to be published study based on the results of the America's GIving Challenge -- most of the participants were small organizations. Should give us some more clues.

I think we're still early in all this --

This is a clever twist for a fundraising campaign on social networks. But, let's look at the definition of Altruism. It means loving others as oneself or behavior that promotes the survival chances of others at a cost to ones own. In other words, self-sacrifice for the benefit of others.

So do you really think that social network sites can be altruistic (http://www.atruists.org)-- it's the people on those sites. And, is donations the right metric?

And, I suspect the amount of money raised on each site has to do more with how much they have built a following and relationships on those different sites.

thanks for the update!

I wrote a comprehensive article about this last month with pointers to different policies
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2009/04/soci...

Thanks for this great post

I just wrote this up too - Brian Reich wrote a great piece too
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2009/04/wash...

Maybe they have a policy around not responding in the comments? Perhaps you ask the ombudsman?

This is hilarious .. I didn't see that video - I pointed to another. But having attended a music school as a classical flute major, you can't escape that Carnegie Hall joke - I wrote about it in my post. So, of course, I thought of that joke and the line, but didn't realize that they used in the promotional materials. The joke is very very very familiar to anyone who aspired to be a professional classical music or attended a music school or conservatory. Now I have trace down the origins.

Thanks so much for including me on this illustrious list! Sniff ... but in a couple of months I'll be relocating to Palo Alto after being a Bostonian for almost 30 years

Thanks for notes here! When I came up with the idea of doing the Nonprofit ROI Poetry Slam for SXSW and pitched it - I never thought they'd accept it! When they did, I was grateful that I had such willing colleagues who got into it! Even willing to rehearse!

Chad, you did an awesome job of taking notes of the sessions! Thanks

Great post summarizing the fundraising efforts that use social media during the last few months - it's been going on for the last few years, although we're just reaching critical mass.

For some context:
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2008/11/twit...
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/fundraising20/
http://personalfundraising.wikispaces.com
http://widgetfundraising.org
http://gsp4good.wikispaces.com

Thank you everyone for sharing your experience and glad you are finding the data useful.

Thanks Maddie. Holly had some video coverage and I wrote a reflection follow up post with some takeaways.