Wired Causes

You are browsing the archives of 2009 July.

Friday’s roundup: Latest perspectives on the nonprofit world

Social Media Explained View more presentations from kanter. Allison Fine and I have been busy working on a book about how social media and connectedness is changing the way nonprofits are creating social change. Today, we had an amazing conversation…

Here at OpenIssue, we think a lot about the web. I mean, a LOT. And we’ve been thinking a lot about web hosting, and the varied flavors it comes in. We’re working to figure out what makes sense for us to use and implement, and what makes sense for us to recommend to our clients. [...]

Last week I was in Michigan to do a training for Chapter Leaders of EPIP. We were are all leaving Detroit at different times and the taxi to the airport wasn’t exactly cheap. So, EPIP provided a self-organizing platforn (a…

My Silver FLATs, by Joey 989 via Flickr

Is giving up or down?  Lucy Bernholz has the answers here.  As she noted, flat may be the new up.  (She was quoting a Tweet there.)

Read her whole post.  The highlights:

1. Giving was down in 2008 from 2007 by 2%, the first decline since 1987.  This year, a third of nonprofits say their budgets are down, but 1/3 say they’re up, probably due to stimulus dollars.

2. Expect more scrutiny of your nonprofit at all levels, thanks to scandals, budget pressures and the new 990.

3. The Foundation Center and Guidestar are both projecting 2009 foundation and individual giving to drop between 9-13% each over 2008 and again 2010 over 2009.

4.  We don’t know how many nonprofits are going under, but some predict 10% could this year.

So if you’re flat, congrats.  That’s pretty great in this climate.

News and notes from around the nonprofit world

Note from Beth: This week I’m researching and thinking about the topic of creating movements. If you have written a mini-case study about nonprofit movement using social media and would like me to consider it as a guest post, please…

Meeting of nonprofit leaders draws fire

So says Trendwatching.  Here’s the logic.  People are disgusted by the forces that led to the recession.  They are seeking authenticity and meaning.  Which is making giving the new taking:

Passionate, empowered individuals (if not entire generations) being more willing and able to give, to share, to collaborate; to be more ‘generous’ in many ways. Which in turn has made generosity one of a new set of status symbols… The most important driver behind GENERATION G is a wide variety of consumers and citizens being more generous. We’re talking the collaborative / free / creation / crowdsourced / gift / sharing movement that—especially online—has unlocked in entirely new ways the perennial need of individuals to be appreciated, to be loved, to feel part of the greater good, to contribute, to help… To basically find status and gratification in something other than consuming the most or the best.

I find this concept intriguing, and there is plenty of evidence in the growth of social networks that we are sharing more than ever - and sometimes oversharing.

Don’t think this means the dollars are going to start rolling in.

It actually means more work.  You need to be generous too.  You need to make your donors feel seen and heard.  The days of monologues are past.  Think conversation, not conversion.  Read all the tips for companies.  I think for nonprofits, this means:

1.  You need to make donors feel included in your organization and how it conducts itself.

2. Make it easy and convenient to support you. 

3. Make your donors feel very appreciated.  You don’t have to buy them lattes, but at least thank them profusely.

4. Let your donors support you the way they want.  Let them decide how and when they want to hear from you.

The payoff?  Trendwatching says for companies it is:

It doesn’t hurt that in turbulent times like now, generosity will find an extra-appreciative audience, and certainly won’t be forgotten.  Not only will your customers be more appreciative, they’ll also return your favors by being more willing to spread the word about you. And being more willing to collaborate with you, co-creating or co-inventing or co-improving. Which would get us to CUSTOMER-MADE. See, we told you this would be an umbrella trend.  And last but not least, to manage a company with a caring, generous mindset can actually be good for your soul, too

Dear nonprofits, I think the same applies to us.