studio 501c

series offers an excellent overview of web trends and tools for nonprofits

A recent series from the popular Read/WriteWeb blog provides a great overview of best practices and resources for nonprofits in using the web, including Facebook and MySpace.  I couldn't find links to all of the articles listed in one place, so I've gathered them below.  (And don't forget to read the comments to these posts--they also have lots of good info):

• Is The Web Still a Windfall For Non-Profits?

• Non-Profits on Facebook and MySpace

• Non-Profits Web Tool Kit

• Non-Profits: Plenty of Web Resources, But How Much Success?

• Non-Profits & Web 2.0: Notes From The Real World

nonprofits, nota bene:  This series would be helpful to any group of nonprofit staff members and volunteers considering ways to use the web more effectively.  If your organization has hired a web designer or consultant who is not totally familiar with web strategies for nonprofits, you may want to forward this article to him or her.

Know some nontechie nonprofit leaders?  This blog, studio 501c, is just for them -– the ones who are brilliant and busy and who want to use the web more effectively to promote their nonprofit but who don’t know where to start.  Use the "email this" button below to tell them about studio 501c.  Don’t forget to add that they can sign up to get updates via email. Thanks! 

take note of these clear and quick explanations on how to use rss and wikis

Thanks to Dissident, a delightful blog discovery, I've also discovered the Common Craft Show and two video presentations -- the best I've ever seen for newbies on using RSS and Wikis.  They're also quite amusing.

Click To Play RSS in Plain English by Common Craft


 

Click To Play Wikis in Plain English by Common Craft

nonprofits, nota bene: If you want tools to improve productivity, learning, and internal communication (including communication with volunteers), run, don't walk, to share these presentations with your colleagues.  Also consider a subscription to the Common Craft blog.  This couple knows how to teach.

 

***********************************************************************************************************************

swipe this: check out the sites and practices of these web-savvy nonprofits

Having been on hiatus, I thought I would jump back in with an easy post: This list of the 59 Smartest Orgs Online from Squidoo.com, Net2, and GetActive is a great one to explore.  See what nonprofit marketing expert Nancy Schwartz has to say about it.  She likes the list and reminds us that "whether any or all of these strategies are right for your organization depends on your marketing goals, and other communications strategies in play."

nonprofits, nota bene: If you're interested in using the web more effectively, ask different staffers or volunteers to each review a few sites and to report back to the group on their findings.  Make sure to examine the sites of those with missions that are close to yours as well as a few that aren't.  If you have a narrow goal, e.g., improving your online donation capacity, concentrate on what the different nonprofits are doing in that area.

P.S.  Very interesting that Barack Obama decided to announce his presidential exploratory committee via the web yesterday.  It was a great way to get a very personal message (as compared, say, to a press conference announcement) out to millions and millions of people.  That video, which features Obama speaking directly to the camera in a home setting, has been featured on major news sites and blogs around the world.

3 posts = a great primer on blogging and web communications for nonprofits

Two of my favorite bloggers recently published posts that, together, provide a great overview of the importance and potential of web-based communications for 501c3s. These articles would be good to share with an executive director or team that is beginning to explore how to use the web to build relationships with donors, volunteers, clients, members, and other stakeholders.

Check out Nancy Schwartz's Everybody's Talking About You--Why Your Nonprofit Needs to Listen, and Listen Hard. (Be sure to click to read the whole article.)

And if you haven't seen it yet, go to Netsquared to read Using New Tools in Non-tech Orgs: An Interview with Seth Mazow of Interplast by Marshall Kirkpatrick. Seth shares practical advice that is within the reach of many nonprofits.

If Marshall and Nancy's posts inspire you to investigate blogging, don't miss Idealware.org's great report, Getting Started With Blogging Software.

Like Seth Mazow, I recommend Typepad, which I use to publish this blog. I also recommend ExpressionEngine, which I plan to use for another project.

Technorati tags: net2 nptech nonprofit_blogs nonprofit Typepad Idealware ExpressionEngine Web2.0

report compiles good blogging advice for businesses and nonprofits; as always, beware of absolute truths

A University of Massachusetts marketing professor has published an interesting report based on a survey of bloggers.  "Behind the Scenes in the Blogosphere: Advice from Established Bloggers" contains useful information, and I recommend it if your nonprofit has a blog or is considering one.

However, in terms of using the report to drive decisions about business or nonprofit blogging, keep the second half of the study's title in mind: the ideas in this paper are based on the "self-reports" and opinions of bloggers who responded to an open call in May 2006 to participate.  The study did not measure the opinions of the blogs' readers, readers' use of the blogs, or the effect of business blogs on customer or stakeholder behavior.

Also consider that not all 74 of the survey respondents were truly "business bloggers," i.e., bloggers blogging as an employee of a company or organization.  As the author notes, 27% of them were "independent bloggers" such as Marketing Monger.

Therefore, I take the assertions in the report with a grain of salt.  I do agree that these "blogosphere truths," as author Dr. Nora Ganim Barnes calls them, are generally true:

1. Blogs take time and commitment.
2. Blogs must be part of a plan.
3. A blog is a conversation.
4. Transparency, authenticity, and focus are good. Bland is bad.

However, there are some assertions in the report that have been contradicted recently by other established bloggers:

-- "A good blog is one where posts are fresh and new posts are frequent."
-- "One respondent says, 'Don’t start a blog unless you have people in your organization to post to it daily in an open, friendly, and excited tone.' "
While regular posts are essential, the MarketingProfs blog recently argued that frequent posts may not be desirable.  Now that readers can elect to automatically receive new blog posts via email and RSS (news feeds), the promise of a new post daily is not necessary to lure readers, and the volume of daily posts can overwhelm readers and bloggers both.

-- "Participation is essential in the blogosphere. One respondent says... 'A blog is a conversation. Don’t open the line unless you’re ready to really talk.' ”
-- "It is important not to be afraid of giving up the mono-directed control that usually characterizes an organization."
While I believe that allowing for comments is beneficial for most business bloggers, Steve Rubel recently discussed why two popular independent bloggers don't accept comments.  More important, in my opinion, is that the content and tone of the blog are conversational, even if it is a one-way communication.

-- "Blogs will make or break your business."
-- "Blogs are not a fad. They are no longer even an option. Those businesses that choose to remain outside this online conversation, will be sidelined. Eventually they will become extinct."
While I believe that most businesses and nonprofits could benefit from some kind of blog, no less than Nicholas Carr, a former executive editor of the Harvard Business Review, argues the contrary, and offers some cautionary advice on corporate blogging: In advising businesses not to blog (or at least to be careful in doing so), he says, "And don't buy that nonsense about needing to have 'conversations' with the marketplace. That's an ideology, not a strategy."

I would turn Carr's statement around to say that blogs as conversations are a strategy, not an ideology.  For most organizations, blogs are extremely effective ways to build relationships with customers and stakeholders (in a nonprofit's case -- donors, volunteers, clients, and members), and I highly recommend them.  However, as I argued in my earlier post, "a blog can be like a business lunch," there are no absolute truths about business blogging.

Thanks to Dr. Barnes for the study and to the smart and succinct Steve Rubel for the tip.

Technorati tags: net2 nptech blogging nonprofit blogosphere business corporate marketing research study reference Web2.0 business_blog blogs bloggers

e-newsletters better than web site or RSS for building relationships, study suggests

Any nonprofit interested in effective online communication should check out the executive summary of a fascinating study -- by the highly regarded Nielsen Norman group -- on e-mail newsletters, how to make them user friendly, and their value compared to web sites and RSS (also known as web feeds or news feeds). A couple of excerpts:

On e-newsletters vs. web sites: "Users tend to glance at websites when they need to accomplish something or to find the answer to a specific question. In contrast, newsletters feel personal because they arrive in users’ inboxes, and users have an ongoing relationship with them. Newsletters also have a social aspect, as users often forward them to colleagues and friends."

On e-newsletters vs RSS (web feeds): "Feeds are a cold medium in comparison with email newsletters. Feeds don’t form the same relationship between company and customers that a good newsletter can build. We don’t have data to calculate the relative business value of a newsletter subscriber compared to a feeds subscriber, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out that companies make ten times as much money from each newsletter subscriber. Given that newsletters are a warmer and much more powerful medium, it is probably best for most companies to encourage newsletter subscriptions and promote them over feeds on their website."

Hmmm, among other things, this suggests that a free service such as Zookoda, which allows bloggers to send a weekly branded newsletter with digests of blog posts, would be more effective than RSS at building relationships with readers. I'll have to check it out. If anyone has used Zookoda, I'd be grateful for your thoughts in the comments section.

Thanks to the ultrapopular Merlin Mann at 43 folders for the tip.

Technorati tags: net2 nonprofit nptech social sector NGO Jakob Nielsen JakobNielsen Norman NielsenNorman usability newsletters e-newsletters feeds web2.0 Zookoda site relationship building relationshipBuilding

fake newspaper: a fun, fast way to honor nonprofit volunteers, donors, staff

I discovered fodey.com's newspaper snippet generator via popular blogger Steve Rubel, who always has interesting and instructive posts on marketing and PR.

As the image below shows, this free and easy tool provides a fun way to recognize staff members, volunteers, and donors.  Some ideas:

• Use your nonprofit's name in the name of the newspaper, e.g., "YMCA Times." If it's too long a name, use "Great News" or "Hope Times." (Play around with the text -- long titles get cut off.  You'll also have to play around with the body of the story, as spacing between words can get funky.)
• Use your town's name in the "dateline," as in the example below.
• Include quotes from leaders of your nonprofit, and, with permission, from kids and adults who have benefitted from the work of the person you're honoring.
• Use the story images on your Web site, in email newsletters, and in flyers.
• Create and save your story in a Word or a text editor before generating the image with the snippet generator. You can then re-use parts of it or revise it. (Once you save the story in the snippet generator, you can't edit it.)

Please share your ideas for using the newspaper snippet generator in the comments section below.

Technorati tags: net2 rubel fake newspaper nonprofit nptech fundraising email volunteer staff donor recognition web2.0

choosing web tools and software? start at Idealware.org

As nonprofits adopt more web-based tools and software for building relationships with their stakeholders, many are understandably perplexed by which brands to choose.

Raiser's Edge or salesforce.com for a constituent database? Constant Contact or Google Groups for email communication? eTapestry or Auctionpay for accepting online donations? These are important decisions with great implications for how the staff spends its time and budget.

Thank goodness that www.Idealware.org has arrived. To quote the site, "Idealware provides candid Consumer-Reports-style reviews and articles about software of interest to nonprofits....Through product comparisons, recommendations, case studies, and software news, Idealware allows nonprofits to make the software decisions that will help them be more effective."

This objective and intelligent resource was sorely needed in the land of 501c's. A nonprofit itself, Idealware was founded in the fall of 2005 by Laura Quinn, who has a strong background in nonprofit Web strategies and software, and she's recruited stellar advisors and board members to help her out.

Some of the articles and reports to date include online petition tools, membership and constituent databases, online donation tools, and content management systems. The monthly newsletter is a great way to keep up with the latest reviews.

Technorati tags: net2 salesforce salesforce.com nonprofit software nptech tools fundraising email databases web2.0

convert docs to PDFs for free

Even in well-funded nonprofits, not everybody has access to the version of Adobe Acrobat that allows you to make PDF files from Word and Excel documents.  Using a PDF (which stands for Portable Document Format) is often more convenient -- a PDF with images will be smaller in file size than a Word document, and thus easier to send via email.  And even though some folks have the software necessary to edit PDFs, a PDF is less likely to suffer at the hands of overeager editors than is a Word document.  There's just something much more final about it.

Lifehacker, an incredibly popular blog on productivity and "helpful hints" (read more about the editor here) recommends ExpressPDF, a free Web-based service.  If you have experience, good or bad, with ExpressPDF or the similar services popping up (see the responses in Lifehacker's comments section), please share your thoughts here. (Note that ExpressPDF is not totally secure so find another solution for sensitive documents.)

Technorati tags: net2 nonprofit nptech tools Adobe Acrobat PDF web2.0

foldera: a cool (and free) tool for nonprofit project management

There are tons of good, free Web applications and services available now, but foldera seems especially promising for nonprofits that want to to give staff and volunteers (especially volunteer board members) an easy way to organize their communications, information, documents, and workflow.

Having first learned about foldera.com through one of its contractors, the highly regarded Web designer Emily Chang, I went on to find that it was getting great reviews from many respected bloggers. So, I've signed up for the free beta launch.

I will be curious to see how foldera can contribute not only to project management, but also to the knowledge management function in nonprofits, a function that is often overlooked as they struggle with increasing demands for their services and decreasing sources of funding.

Technorati tags: project knowledge management net2 nonprofit NGO nptech tools web2.0 foldera collaboration

email sigs as marketing, and other smart advice for nonprofits

I don't know Nancy Schwartz, but her advice on communications for nonprofits is smart, succinct, and important. Reading her articles could be considered a crash course in nonprofit marketing communications. Take, for example, this article about a free and underused marketing opportunity, e-mail signatures. Employees can convey key messages about your mission, programs, and events through consistent signature formats and regularly updated and hyperlinked taglines.

In this age of information overwhelm, I am picky about recommending subscriptions, but I highly recommend her newsletter, Getting Attention.

Technorati tags: net2 nptech signatures

welcome to studio 501c

This is a resource for ordinary people doing extraordinary things -- social entrepreneurs and nonprofit staff and volunteers, i.e., those who work hard every day to make positive change.  I'm a nonprofit professional, too, and I'm interested in the ways that the Internet, personal technology, and other tools can help advance the goals of those in the social sector (which, by my definition, encompasses the nonprofit sector, but also goes beyond it to include those in the private and public sectors who are pursuing social innovation). 

As a result of my interests in personal tech and communications, I often find myself telling friends and colleagues about a Web site for tracking down the address of a prospective donor, or an easy way they can keep up with the issues their nonprofit addresses or a free Web-based calendar, task, and contact management application that can help individuals and teams be more productive.   I hope to do the same thing with this blog -- to share information and tips from time to time that will help people accomplish their social-change goals more effectively.

I won't pretend to be definitive or even authoritative.  In fact, much of the advice here will be pretty basic, as I find that even many brilliant leaders in the social sector know little about RSS, blogs as communications tools for nonprofits, or all that Google can do for them!  (Watch for more info on these tools in future posts.)

I'll just share what has worked for me, as well as what others with far more knowledge and experience are recommending.  I plan to review what experts in personal tech, life hacks, productivity, cool tools, and nonprofit tech are publishing, and then share the best of it here, adding ideas for how nontechies in in the social sector can apply the tips to their particular concerns. In that sense, I hope studio 501c will be a time-saving filter blog.

I also hope that it will offer a practical perspective to current discussions on how nonprofits can use the Internet and technology to further their missions.  These discussions, though well intended, sometimes become unrealistic, especially when they involve nonprofit techies talking with other nonprofit techies.  With studio 501c, I'll aim to address the everyday concerns of nontechies in nonprofits and other social-sector organizations.

I hope that you can help with this effort.  Please post your ideas, advice, and experience in the comments section of this blog so that we can all learn from each other.

Cheers,
Celeste W

Technorati tags: net2 blogging nonprofit NGO nonprofit blogging marketing nptech fundraising social sector social entrepreneur AirSet ZabaSearch small business studio 501c nontechie nontechie