Wired Causes

You are browsing the archives of 2010 March.

Today, I stumbled across another reason why I’d like to blow up online contests that use “vote for me” or popularity to make funding decisions. If a contest or program does not lead with social outcomes and if big money…

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Next week, the US Government will launch Global Pulse 2010, an unprecedented, online brainstorming event focused on global sustainability and development. This forum will give participants a chance to engage with thousands of people from around the world on 10 major challenges facing the global community. The discussion topics will focus on issues related to Global Development, Democracy and Sustainability.

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The Nonprofiteer is preparing her April 6 presentation at Chicago’s Axelson Center for Nonprofit Management, the euphoniously-titled “They’re Not a Frill if You’re Using Them Right: How to Save Money and Get More Done Using High-Skill Volunteers.” It should be simple: skilled and experienced people walk into nonprofits; nonprofits use them for their skills and experience.  [...]

Note: Some of my most popular posts this month, including the one below, are part of my newest eBook for Network for Good, called The 8 Online Fundraising Changes You Must Make in 2010.

Get the full eBook - for free - here!

Dear Nonprofit Marketing Friends:

Help!  I don’t have time for all of this Internet stuff!

Does that sound like something you’ve said lately?

Well, here’s what I have to say about that.

You should not be thinking in terms of shortages of time and scarcity of resources. This year, that has to stop. You should be approaching your donor – and your life – from a place of abundance. (No, you’re still in my eBook and not an ashram.) I’m serious. If you’re focused on fundraising, you’re probably focused on inspiring generosity in other people. But how generous are you? I’ve found in life, in fundraising and in social media, the more generous I am, the more successful my efforts. Scrooges in terms of sharing information, credit and/or time get little.

When you’re doing your online outreach, give credit to your supporters instead of yourself. Listen and follow more than you talk and recruit. When people re-Tweet your content or spread the word, profusely thank and highlight them. Spend more time pointing to the work of others and celebrating what they say than you do talking about yourself. Rather than pontificating on a topic, share the thoughts of another person and praise their insight.
The more you do this, the more popular you become. It sounds paradoxical, but it works.

Which brings me to laziness. The more you choose to highlight the work of others – and point to their content – the less you have to produce yourself. This is a lovely benefit of being generous – it saves you time.
For example, if you’re panicked at the thought of blogging, don’t. Identify the influential bloggers who are talking about your issues (with google blog search or http://www.technorati.com) and research their posts. Comment on their blog and engage them on their content. Over time, send them customized emails about why your organization’s campaign is relevant or compelling to their readers.

If you don’t have time to Tweet, don’t. Highlight the Tweets of people discussing your issue area on your site and in your outreach. Point to their content rather than generating your own. It’s the generous – and lazy – approach, and it works well as an engagement tool.

Remember:
1. Point, don’t build.
2. Share, don’t create.
3. Applaud more than you hold forth.

Dear nonprofit marketing friends,

You’ve spent the past decade or so getting a website together and trying to drive people to it.

You need to turn that model inside out.

Now is the year to drive your content out into the web – and not just through your own efforts but also through your supporters. Instead of looking at Facebook, Twitter, widgets and others as tools for you to start conversations about your organization, think of them about ways to listen - and tools for your supporters. The ultimate power of these tools is not what they can do – but who is using them. And if it’s only you, that doesn’t do much for you.

Every single thing you do has to include a way for people to take your message to their own circles of influence. You want people to pack up anything they like and transport it online, like a super-duper cyber suitcase.
One reason this is so important this year is tempo. The speed of information flow has gotten so fast – virtually instantaneous – that you simply can’t be the only one communicating online. You need other, passionate people taking your content into their own communities often and adapting that content to their needs and interests. None of us can keep up alone.

So how do you ensure this happens? Here are some tips.

• Have great content. If something is fascinating and wonderful, people will want to share it.
• The next step is making it easy to share. Network for Good estimates that about 5% of your donors might be uber-activists who would champion your cause and recruit others. Make sure you are making it easy for these supporters to take your content to where they congregate online. First step: do you have RSS on your website?
• Next step: do you have links to your presences on Twitter and Facebook on your home page?
• Do you include ShareThis or another service throughout your website that allows supporters to share your content on any social network they inhabit? You want to make it easy for your supporters to integrate your cause into social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Change.org. Your supporters’ presences on these sites have implied viewer trust and therefore the greatest potential for converting viewers into a new community of donors.
• Do you have logos in a format that people can grab to put in their own posts and content?
• Think low-tech too. Is it easy to print great content from your website in case people want to share information that way?
• Create campaigns for specific needs that your supporters can promote. Charity Water has gone as far as to create a tool for supporters to build their own fundraising page (see below). But you can do this with tools as simple as tell-a-friend on your email campaign tool (Network for Good’s EmailNow does this nicely), as well as tell-a-friend features on your donation forms (Network for Good’s DonateNow service has this built in).

I had the pleasure of serving on a panel yesterday at the Legacy Foundation’s event to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Truth Campaign, one my all-time favorite examples of stellar social marketing. You should check out the slides from my fellow panelists (Peter Zollo of TRU, Paul Farhi of the Washington Post and Nick Shore from MTV), which you can find here. Among these panelists’ fascinating observations:

1. NOT rebels and NOT without a cause: Teens today compared to teens a decade ago (when the Truth launched) are different. While the prevailing characteristics of teens ten years ago were prevailingly rebellious, irreverent and focused on friends and fun, today’s teens show more conformity, respect for family and responsibility. And while the number that describe themselves as religious has dropped precipitously, far more say they want to make the world a better place.

2. Glued to screens: Teens spend most of their waking hours in front of screens - on their phones, on their computers, etc. I only need my sample size of one to agree this is true (my 11 year old texts all the time). Technology is accelerating means of connection, intimacy and self-expression for them. Moreover, they trust the Internet as a leading source of information.

3. Wildly optimistic? One in five believes they will be famous. And 80 percent believe they’ll reach their life goals by age 30. MTV has tapped into this ethos with its Buried Life series, which shows teens accomplishing their bucket lists.

4. Self-organizing: Teens are using social media to create and pursue their own causes. Given the above, charities had better go out, listen, and engage with them where they play online. A whole virtual universe is out there growing by the day - and we can’t afford to stay on the sidelines.

I had the pleasure of serving on a panel yesterday at the Legacy Foundation’s event to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Truth Campaign, one my all-time favorite examples of stellar social marketing. You should check out the slides from my fellow panelists (Peter Zollo of TRU, Paul Farhi of the Washington Post and Nick Shore from MTV), which you can find here. Among these panelists’ fascinating observations:

1. NOT rebels and NOT without a cause: Teens today compared to teens a decade ago (when the Truth launched) are different. While the prevailing characteristics ot teens ten years ago were prevailingly rebellious, irreverent and focused on friends and fun, today’s teens show more conformity, respect for family and responsibility. And while the number that describe themselves as religious has dropped precipitously, far more say they want to make the world a better place.

2. Glued to screens: Teens spend most of their waking hours in front of screens - on their phones, on their computers, etc. I only need my sample size of one to agree this is true (my 11 year old texts all the time). Technology is accelerating means of connection, intimacy and self-expression for them. Moreover, they trust the Internet as a leading source of information.

3. Wildly optimistic? One in five believes they will be famous. And 80 percent believe they’ll reach their life goals by age 30. MTV has tapped into this ethos with its Buried Life series, which shows teens accomplishing their bucket lists.

4. Self-organizing: Teens are using social media to create and pursue their own causes. Given the above, charities had better go out, listen, and engage with them where they play online. A whole virtual universe is out there growing by the day - and we can’t afford to stay on the sidelines.