The State of the Nonprofit Industry (SONI) Survey

Two weeks ago, I had the good fortune of attending the "Better Together" Conference sponsored by Blackbaud.  There were over 2,200 people at the conference.  During the conference I attended a press event in which a few results of The State of the Nonprofit Industry Survey were reviewed.  I found it interesting that such a broad survey could be conducted (worldwide) and that there could be found "global" trends in nonprofit management.  Given the cultural and social differences between us, the nonprofit community is unique as a unifier worldwide!  And, we all face similar challenges when it comes to accomplishing our mission.  Bunnie

The State of the Nonprofit Industry Survey

from a Press Release by Melanie Mathos, Public Relations Manager, Blackbaud

Blackbaud, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLKB) today announced the release of the results from The State of the Nonprofit Industry (SONI) Survey, a global report covering general operations, fundraising, technology and Internet usage, and accountability and stewardship. Responses were received from 2,383 individuals in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, India, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The survey was conducted in partnership with L’Association Française des Fundraisers, the Fundraising Institute of New Zealand (FINZ), the German Fundraising Association, Philanthropy Centro Studi, and the Resource Alliance.


“There is an increasing interest in the nonprofit sector in improving governance, planning, and fundraising, and investing in training and equipment to enhance organizational performance,” said Amy Comer, Blackbaud’s director of market research. “Blackbaud has conducted the State of the Nonprofit Industry Survey for six years to provide an overview of trends that can help nonprofits assess their operations and compare their performance with other organizations.”

Four global trends that emerged from the data include:

1. New fundraising and communication channels, although growing, are not replacing traditional channels.

Most organizations continue to leverage traditional channels, even while they are increasingly using new interactive channels. This use of new channels is placing a tremendous strain on organizations because revenue has not risen significantly in aggregate and yet costs for each communication channel have risen. This situation creates a demand for more integrated communication tools and database platforms.

2. ROI and organizational effectiveness are under scrutiny and more important than ever.

Baby boomers, which have entered their prime giving years in the United States, are not as trusting of government and institutions to solve problems and want to see greater evidence. However, this trend is clearly not just a United States phenomenon. Donors worldwide want to see evidence that their money is being spent well and that nonprofits are being run as efficiently as possible.

3. There is a new focus on the total supporter journey vs. traditional “donor management.”

In light of an increased focus on donor retention coupled with increasing costs for acquisition, constituent relationship management (CRM) is transitioning from transactional fundraising to a relationship-focused supporter journey. To have a constituent-centric focus, nonprofits need to consolidate data on supporters and eliminate silos so everyone in the organization has the same view of the many ways supporters interact with their organization. Technology is essential for helping them track the supporter journey, from service recipient to volunteer to event participant to donor.

4. Fundraising is emerging as a widely-recognized profession around the globe.

The vast majority of nonprofits around the world are expecting to increase their investment in fundraising staff, according to the SONI survey. It is clear that fundraising is no longer someone’s “part-time” responsibility. Techniques and data are becoming more complex, and the rate of change is increasing. What was once mostly art is rapidly becoming science, requiring new tools and techniques, partnerships, and better skilled staff.

To download the complete report, which includes an in-depth look at general operations, fundraising, technology and Internet usage, and accountability and stewardship around the globe, visit State of the Nonprofit Industry Survey
About Blackbaud
Blackbaud is the leading global provider of software and services designed specifically for nonprofit organizations, enabling them to improve operational efficiency, build strong relationships, and raise more money to support their missions. Approximately 24,000 organizations — including University of Arizona Foundation, American Red Cross, Cancer Research UK, The Taft School, Lincoln Center, Tulsa Community Foundation, Ursinus College, Earthjustice, International Fund for Animal Welfare, and the WGBH Educational Foundation — use one or more Blackbaud products and services for fundraising, constituent relationship management, financial management, website management, direct marketing, education administration, ticketing, business intelligence, prospect research, consulting, and analytics. Since 1981, Blackbaud’s sole focus and expertise has been partnering with nonprofits and providing them the solutions they need to make a difference in their local communities and worldwide. Headquartered in the United States, Blackbaud also has operations in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.blackbaud.com.

Media Policy for Nonprofits

My favorite nonprofit marketing professional from Australia, Bob Crawshaw, raises an important point...how many of you have a "media policy"?  Probably not many.  And while I wouldn't want developing a policy turn into a cumbersome process (I hate when that happens) it is worth having a simple policy that outlines what your central messages are; who is authorized to speak to the press or give interviews; social media guidelines; and appropriate adverstising vehicles.  

Additionally, if you have chapters or associated organizations, it is important to conduct media training at least once per year.  Provide them with toolkits, talking points and basics of the interview, to include crisis management (as Bob suggests).  If you think you need help in this area, feel free to call or write me.  Or if you are in Australia...do contact Bob!  Bunnie

Media Policy for Nonprofits
by Bob Crawshaw, Maine Street Marketing

Recently I worked with a not for profit, with member clubs spread across two states, to develop a policy to help clubs and the Executive manage proactive and reactive media relations.


The policy featured:

•The objectives or why the organisation will engage the media in the coming 12 months.

•An encouragement for clubs to proactively engage their local media outlets as way of telling communities what they and the larger organisation is doing.

•Tools to help clubs such as pre-packaged media backgrounders, fact sheets, templates, speaking points and standard paragraphs for media alerts and media releases.

•Advice on how to access localised media contact lists.

•Guidance on handling media relations in crisis and advocacy situations.

•A media release review process - for all levels - so key players in the organisation know what is to be presented to journalists and what might make news.

•Tips for recycling earned media coverage so that office holders, members and key supporters know what the press is reporting.

•Social media guidelines so what is presented online is consistent with what is presented to traditional media.

And because it is often so expensive, a media policy should spell out the why, when and where advertising will be undertaken and how it will be blended with media relations.
 
Contact Bob at http://www.blogger.com/profile/12058326512528241097

Social Media IS Effective for Nonprofits and Small Business

I always enjoy the insights of Debra Askanese of Community Organizer 2.0.  And this article is a great one to give the naysayers in your membership or on your board of directors who may not be using social media tools and may not understand why you should be using Twitter or Facebook to market your nonprofit.  One thing Debra points out, which I have heard elsewhere, is that fundraising using social media is not that successful.  However, that being said, I think social media helps you identify potential donors or members and also helps you keep in touch with those potential donors or members.  It's also a great way to educate people about what it is you do. Bunnie

Social Media IS Effective for Nonprofits and Small Business
by Debra Askanese, Community Organizer 2.0

Two new data sets about the value of social media came across my laptop recently: Idealware’s “ Using Social Media to Meet Nonprofit Goals” survey of nonprofit staffers using social media, and the State of Small Business report from Network Solutions and the Center for Excellence in Service.


The results are so similar to the nonprofit survey results that the conclusion is hard to ignore: social media actually is an effective tool for customer retention and attraction.

Social media is actually perceived by those doing it to work! In particular, the top benefits are seen as reaching new audiences and enhancing existing customer/audience relationships.

Here are some highlights from the Idealware survey of 459 nonprofit staffers using social media:

1. Nonprofits believe that social media is helping them to enhance relations with their existing audience and reach new audiences through the top platforms.

Most organizations feel that most social media channels are effective for enhancing existing relationships and reaching new supporters. The least effective platforms are MySpace and Linkedin. Blogs, video-sharing, Twitter, and Facebook are felt to be the most effective tools. The surprise to me is that video-sharing is perceived as highly effective for enhancing relationships.

2. Most nonprofits are using a combination of Facebook, Twitter, video-sharing and blogs to reach out and enrich relationships online. The data shows that there isn’t a relationship between the size of the organization and the number of channels it is using. The responses show that, in general, nonprofits are using and regularly updating one to three social media channels.

I’m not surprised that Facebook is the most popular channel used, but I am surprised that 56% of nonprofits are using Twitter and 80% of them update Twitter regularly. Two other points to consider: the blog is not dead (45% of nonprofits have one) and video sharing sites once again prove to be popular (49% have them).

Conclusions: Nonprofits are finding value in Twitter, Facebook is widely adopted and “known to work.” These platforms must be seen as engagement tools to be taken seriously at this point. The blog, though time consuming, is the long form to express your message and enhance relationships with existing supporters. Video-sharing is the crouching tiger. Regularly maintaining one to three platforms is an industry standard.

3. Nonprofits are not yet satisfied with the results of social network fundraising. I don’t think this is any big surprise, as both social network donors and donation strategies are still in their infancy. The survey reveals that, of all the social networks, 41% of respondants believe that Facebook is most effective for raising money. (And that is the highest percentage of approval of any network channel.) I suspect respondents mention Facebook because it has an affiliated fundraising platform, Causes, that is simple to use and easily accessible. Let’s see what next year’s survey results bring: I’m guessing that they will bring higher satisfaction and a stronger sense of nonprofit social network fundraising effectiveness.

This is also the only platform where Linkedin is rated on par with Twitter, video-sharing, and blogging, at 30% effeciveness. The Idealware study remarks that this is surprising, but I don’t find it surprising at all: Linkedin is an incredibly effective channel for targeted donor research and deeper interaction with potential donors and foundations within Linkedin Groups.

Here’s one more set of similar survey results: the performance of social media tactics for US small businesses in December 2009.

According to “The State of Small Business” report, small businesses are also using social media to successfully attract new customers, increase awareness, and stay engaged with existing customers.

Two data sets, two different user groups, same results: social media is effective for reaching new customers and strengthening existing relationships. Irrefutable evidence of the power of engagement.

Read more of Debra's thoughts on all things marketing at http://www.communityorganizer20.com/

Adapting to Social Media

I am not sure why this happens, but nonprofits tend to be late adapters.  I think it may be a matter of time and resources and having too little of each.  I can't imagine any nonprofit not having at least a Facebook page (it is free after all), but I know of many who do not.  Juan Munoz goes through five points regarding social media and gives examples of how social media helps turn interested prospects into donors.  Enjoy.  Bunnie

Adapting to Social Media
by Juan Munoz, CEO, Open Global Marketing

This article might look like repetitive for some of you, but there are many non-profits that have not adapted fully to the new social media boom. Here are five points to successfully convince your Executive Director (or you) about the benefits of using social media in your organization.

The non-profit world has been always reluctant to adapt new technologies. Sometimes they stick to proven techniques and are attached to their Grantors or Founders as a source of income. The new online landscape has changed andnonprofits are flocking to the social web, although mostly in the last two years. Nonprofit organizations that have embraced social media in a short period of time have see astonishing results. But still the masses of nonprofits act late.

Social media is beginning to transform nonprofits both in the way they work as well as their relationships with their donors.

Here are five points about how this is happening:

1. Building stronger relationships with donors and constantly updating them.

Over the past two years, one of the non-profits that we advise have been seeing an increase in their current donor list and have tripled their prospective donor list. The Roberto Clemente Health Clinic, an emergency and primary care clinic located in the south of Nicaragua created a blog to inform their prospective donors about their project while the current donors get a different and more personalize email about their semester performance. Now, the conversion rate using this technique is around 15% compared with 3% in previous years. Many people identify with the project but are not ready to donate immediately. Once you keep them informed they feel at ease to send their money for a good cause! Also we updated the website to make it more donor-friendly, creating different programs and different levels of donations. The website is called http://www.nicaclinic.org

2. Individuals & small groups are self-organizing around non-profit causes

Social media is enabling individuals to create, join, and grow groups around issues they care about outside of the direct control of a non-profit. Whether it is healthcare issues, minority women owned business or fundraising events activities, you can communicate easily by email or using a tweeter account. One example is the Maryland Hispanic Chamber of Commerce where we created a LINKEDIN profile as a group to advertise their events. They also have the regular newsletter and their website. We have created a PowerPoint presentation that teaches you the difference between Social Media and Search Engine Optimization.

Social software design is also helping accelerate this trend. Look no further than the Facebook Causes Birthday application that encourages an individual who is a member of a Cause to use their birthday as an excuse to raise money for a non-profit organization. DonorsChoose recently launched a similar feature called “Birthday Give Back,” with Stephen Colbert leading the charge. And keep an eye out for more social apps with a conscience that will offer even more creative ways for supporters to self-organize and take action around causes.

As non-profits begin to engage their own communities in these online conversations, they are able to reach more people than ever before, and use less effort doing so. 100 letters sent to donors might cost around $350 including the time of putting them together and stuffing envelopes, plus printing and shipping but anEmail campaign cost $0.02 cents per email on average.

3. Facilitating collaboration with international and national organizations.

The social web lets non-profit organizations connect and collaborate formally and informally with international organizations quickly and inexpensively. Nonprofit organizations are also collaborating with their supporters by using them as fundraising battalions. You can bring volunteers (well-known) or regular people within a big network and provide them the tools to fundraise in their name. One example of this is when people jump into running marathons and 5K races and the contributions go towards a specific cause.

Another example is WeAreMedia, a wiki project where over 100 non-profit technology professionals have pooled knowledge resources and developed training materials to help nonprofits learn how to use social media effectively.

4. Social responsibility spreads faster in the green era.

One of the perplexing things about corporate social responsibility (CSR) is that it has long meant different things to different people. To some, an action only counts as true CSR if it is unprofitable and hence motivated by altruism. Socially beneficial actions that increase profits are merely strategic CSR. However, even advocates of altruistic CSR admit that most CSR actions can be viewed through a strategic lens. Nonprofits are taking advantage of this trend using specific causes and spreading the news in blogs and social media sites. This type of project also impact a community specifically when corporations feel identified with the project.

4- A good cause is more important than the Mission of your Nonprofit.

We’re just at the beginning of seeing how social media is impacting how nonprofits engage with their supporters and do their work. As more and more nonprofits adopt social media and their practice improve over time, we will no doubt see a transformation of the nonprofit sector. In our website http://www.openglobalmarketing.com you can see how Search Engine Optimization is as important, if not more, as social media is. SEO is the art of making your website more visible for the searchers.

In the wake of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, the Red Cross has raised over $140 million largely through text message and online donations.

This recent disaster has cast a new light on social media tools for nonprofits. Their benefit is simple: Social media provides a compounding effect on your message.

The element of trust is critical to nonprofits. People trust messages from friends and colleagues more than from organizations. A recent Aberdeen study on the value of online communities states that 77% of people trust friends, family, and other consumers above retailers and manufacturers.

Therefore, using these five points, I hope you can start investing resources and money into Social Media in 2010.

Contact Juan at http://www.openglobalmarketing.com

Don’t Start What You Can’t Maintain: The Backside of Social Media

I've been noticing lately that there is a wide range of nonprofit use or lack of use of social media. Some organizations create their Facebook pages and do a terrific job of updating, providing fresh content, connecting with their fans, etc. Others create their Facebook pages and then rarely update them or rarely connect with their fans. Some organizations do a great job of using Twitter while others seem almost afraid of the commitment it takes. Debra Askanase of Community Organizer 2.0, asks some important questions of organizations and emphasizes the "relationship" building aspect of social media. Bunnie

Don't Start What You Can't Maintain: The Backside of Social Media
by Debra Askanase, Community Organizer 2.0

Social media is FUN. You get to make new friends. And pass along really interesting information. You get to ask others to help you change the world and support your cause. You meet all sorts of wonderful, generous people. But what are you really doing? You are creating gathering places, living rooms for discussion, kitchens for cooking up ideas, in order to develop real stakeholders. Social media is, after all, an engagement strategy. You want to create online ties that engage, create relationships, and move people to act on behalf of a cause, company, or organization. After you spend all that time creating those relationships, you have to commit to maintaining them.

What happens when you can't be there all the time that your stakeholders want to drop by? Or if you decide it's just too much work to cook meals regularly for all of those guests? Maybe your organization realizes that it's hard to maintain all those relationships, and just as difficult to post regular content.

This post is a look at the back side of starting a social media presence: the obligations of maintaining it.

It takes three to six months of work to build up an organization's social media presence. I think it takes a minimum of three months to start seeing a return on that engagement. Don't start if you can't commit to maintenance. Select your platforms carefully – what do you have time to maintain, and which platforms will take more time and resources than your organization has currently? The hard truth is that you have to commit to keeping that virtual kitchen stocked with food, and the virtual living room accessible. That means keeping the blog fresh with new content, communicating regularly, creating real relationships on social networks, and offering information and conversation topics on platforms regularly.

If your company's social sites are not tended to with care, then your organization is actually risking its online and offline credibility.

Here are some quick thoughts on the repercussions of not tending to your online presence:

People stop caring.

In the hyper-paced world of social media, your followers and fans quickly lose interest and forget you. Here's the test: the last time you or your company took a break from creating regular online content (conversations, news, articles, etc), how many people asked you where you were? There are a lot of organizations vying for time and attention online. Tend to those relationships regularly and cultivate lasting ones. The real test is creating relationships where someone writes to ask: "How are you? Haven't seen you posting much lately."

People stop spreading your news.

Viralness is a key factor in social media. If you aren't maintaining connections, people are less likely to pass along your content. Relationships strengthens the desire to "do good" for others, whether that's passing along content, recommending your site, or suggesting someone become of fan of your Facebook Page.

You lose friendship credibility.

If you're not there for them now, will you be there later? If you post content randomly, or only sporadically engage online, how can they count on you? If you are a regular news source for information in your field, you need to continue to do that. What if you posted content regularly, gathered a following, then stopped? When your organization decides to resume, it's lost its credibility for being dependable, and for maintaining the site. It may very well have lost viewers it cannot ever regain.

It's tempting to think that "no one will notice" if you are not maintaining your homes regularly, but someone always drives by. It's also tempting to think "it's all right if we don't put up any new content for a month." But someone cares, and misses it. That fan who would've done anything for your cause is a lot less likely to do that when they don't know why you went away for a while…or when you are coming back.

There is a marketing credo that it is much cheaper to keep a regular customer happy than find new customers. No matter what type of organization you are, it's easier to keep your existing following than to build a new one.

What do you think? Is your organization struggling with this very issue? How are you addressing the issues of time/maintenance/engagement?

You can contact Debra at http://www.communityorganizer20.com/

The Case of 4,000 Twitter Followers Who Don't Care

Social media, social media, social media...blah, blah, blah. There is just the existence of social media (all quite fun and good) and then there's the true effectiveness of social media. Debra Askanase, a nonprofit social media consultant in Israel, takes the Twitter and Facebook craze to task by really examining the loyalty numbers on the back end of these applications. Just because someone is your "friend" or "follower" doesn't mean you have a relationship. This one is a good cautionary tale for business too! Bunnie

The Case of the 4,000 Twitter Followers Who Don't Care

by Debra Askanase, Community Organizer 2.0

This is the Case of the 4,000 Twitter Followers Who Don’t Care - and why 4,000 followers means nothing without engagement.

I recently took on a new client that wants to leverage its existing social media assets (Facebook Page/Fans, Twitter followers) to drive more visits to the website. This company has been building a social media presence for over a year, and is unhappy with the lack of website visits resulting from social media.

I was told that the Facebook Group was active with almost 500 fans, and that the Twitter account had over 4,000 followers. I was also briefed that, though there was not a lot of online fan feedback, the Twitter account included some committed followers. The highest priority for the client was to figure out why social media was not driving more people to the website – and come up with a better strategy.

I took on this challenge, and want to share a few observations about why social media isn’t working for this client:

Case Observation #1:

The most important number isn’t the number of followers, it’s the number of engaged followers.

4,000 Twitter followers seems like a lot. But how many really care about your organization? How many are willing to act on its behalf?

I evaluated “the 4,000 followers” on Twitter and “almost 500 fans” of the Facebook Page. I used Twerpscan, Twittalyzer, Twazzup, and Tweetmeme to analyze the Twitter asset, and discovered: almost 400 of their Twitter followers were pure spammers no one cared what the client was tweeting, and…most of the retweets were from twitter profiles related to the company the company did not engage in conversation online, and rarely thanked retweeters there was absolutely no Twitter strategy

What I discovered was that, of the 4,000+ followers, only three were truly interested enough in what the organization was tweeting. Three.

Twitter utilizes the concept of social media karma: give and give and then others will give back. This company didn’t offer help, advice, support or anything else personal. Obviously, Twitter did not drive people to the website – no one cared enough about the company to go there.

Of the 400+ Facebook fans, most didn’t care enough to “like” a Wall post. The ones that did comment or “like” a post were often friends of the CEO or employees. All the posted was to its Facebook Page was company stories or related news. Of the 400+ fans, only one was an (unrelated to the company) engaged fan! Facebook drove little traffic to the website, which again is not surprising.

Case Observation #2:

Be wary when the CEO or Executive Director isn’t using social media on behalf of the organization.

This CEO was absolutely unwilling to be personally involved in using social media for the company. This is indicative of a CEO that does not understand the basic principles of social media. It’s critical that everyone in the organization have some direct contact with social media. An Executive Director that isn’t directly responsible for some piece of the social media is missing important information by not connecting with stakeholders directly. Not every CEO has to be responsible, but he/she should be intimately involved with the social media activities, and understand the basic principles of social media.

This CEO was using social media to “drive numbers to the website,” which completely misunderstands the basic fundamentals of social media. They are:

Engage with people first, create relationships, then move them to act.

Case Observation #3:

Their social media sites offer no real value to fans and followers

The company hadn’t taken the time to figure out what people were interested in reading on their social sites. Since the organization was not actually creating individual relationships with its fans, then it had to offer compelling and relevant news and data. However, it wasn’t giving followers information that mattered to the followers. Not surprisingly, no one wanted to visit the website to find out more.

Case Observation #4:

You need a strategy for each and every social media platform.

Their overall social media strategy consisted of posting news and information. This is an appropriate strategy for social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon and Digg, but not at all for social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Additionally, the company usually posted the same information on both Twitter and Facebook. Fans of both sites were not even receiving unique value or reward for following the company in two places.

It’s important to realize that no two communities are the same online. Each has its own rules, expectations, and needs. You need an engagement strategy for each one of these communities. The strategy should consider the qualities of each social media platform, the needs of followers, how to best engage, and what your organization can offer its followers in terms of both engagement and value.

It’s Elementary, My Dear Watson

Social media is a tool to help your company meet its goals. But it’s more than that: if you aren’t using these tools properly, then it doesn’t matter how many fans, followers, or linkedin connections you have. They won’t care enough to do anything for your organization or company.

This case illustrates that it’s not about the number of fans and followers. It’s about the engagement. Create a strategy that brings your organization engaged followers and real relationships.

4,000 followers means nothing without engagement. And it never will.

You can contact Debra at: debra at communityorganizer20 dot com

Leveraging Social Media?

Mark Buzan is back with us again on that topic that is all the buzz...social media. Do you know that in the last six months Facebook has exploded with older users, cause groups, politicians and Nonprofits? I just keep finding Facebook to fascinate. I like the way it pushes information out at me and how I can push information out to my "friends." Mark explores how you can use social media to keep your organization in the communications loop, recruit new members and even fundraise. Bunnie

Leveraging Social Media?

(Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, blogs, and podcasts - what are all these internet forums and are they really applicable to non-profits?)

by Mark Buzan, Action Strategies

Interestingly, it is the internet’s depth and vastness that mystifies many association executives. Sadly, I hear many associations express veiled excuses for not involving social media in their outreach efforts. Commonly thought of as the domain of Gen-Yers, and twenty-somethings, social media and internet viral marketing offer practical and sensible applications for all audiences. Social media strategy depends from case to case and will require an investment of time. Used correctly, social media can:

· Build networks and community, connect and mobilize members on the key issues confronting your association
· Build a donor base and gather emails
· Tell your story –Put a face and a personality to your organization
· Share information and resources quickly
· Promote brand and cause

If carried out correctly, viral web marketing techniques can be very effective in boosting your member list and getting your organization’s name and message out. Many non-profits are using “Tell a friend” buttons or links on their websites and email newsletters. Whether used for connecting or recruiting members and donors, and developing advocacy can take different channels through the various goals sought.

Recruiting members and soliciting donations:

The very essence of making online “friends” and developing a base of followers through social media extends this ability far beyond the reach of the amount of people or prospects you could physically reach in one day. With one of my charitable clients, the Success Factory, we have just begun an online campaign through Facebook to raise money and build word-of-mouth awareness for its employment training programs. Using the “Causes” application, Facebook is allowing board members and staff of this brand new organization in one full sweep to: 1.) Demonstrate the mission of the Success Factory, 2.) Engage other Facebook members to recruit their friends as supporters of the cause, and 4.) Allow a forum of communication for Success Factory supporters, thereby spawning the creation of new innovative ideas.

Facilitating communication between association staff, members, supporters and the board
The concept of sharing ongoing association business with the entire world on Facebook is less than appealing. To answer this situation, there are social media options such as Ning.com and Google Friend Connect that can create either a separate network for an association or integrate social networking elements right within an association’s website. The Canadian Table Soccer Association is one association that has effectively utilized Ning (http://tablesoccerca.ning.com/) as an opportunity for members to connect, share ideas, and announce events.

Within an association website, there are means a communications team can take to ensure that it remains current and relevant for members. Using Google Friend Connect, a free set of customizable tools offered by Google, associations can embed html code within their website that easily invites friends from social networks and contact lists to visit and join your site.

If associations are not blogging, they need to begin. Integrating a blog into your web presence provides regular information for members and board to follow. For those associations less inclined towards a full blog, Twitter comes to the rescue offering a micro-blog option. Creating an account is free and each blog entry is limited to 140 characters. As a result, your association’s ability to be found in search engines is increased.

Building recognition with the Media and Influential Bloggers

The internet is crawling with bloggers on issues as vast as the internet itself. Social media also changes the presence of how non-profits present information to journalists. With the Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC), I have been working their media relations and internet teams to promote collaboration between these two fields. Journalists will also be kept up to date with every story development of via an RSS subscribe option. Even the delivery of traditional press releases changes with social media. Instead of the typical boiler plate press release, a photo was embedded along with clickable links over to the organization’s website. To best ensure the internet is leveraged as a communications vehicle, make sure the message you devise is clear, well presented, and easy-to-follow. This includes replying to personal messages and posting constant updates. Online profiles can be time-consuming, but their targeted visibility is unparalleled.
_____________________________

Mark Buzan is Principal and Chief Magnifier in Action Strategies, a full service Strategic Communications, Public Relations and Public Affairs Consultancy for non-profits and associations. His blog can be found at: http://actionstrategies.blogspot.com/

The Cat Network Finds New Ways to Thrive

There must be a special place in heaven for people who rescue animals. I asked the question, "What are you doing to cope with financial challenges?" Jill Steinberg, Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Cat Network, Inc. wrote back. Often, here on Nonprofit Conversation, we feature big Nonprofits with big ideas and every so often, I like to feature small, local Nonprofits who are tackling the world's problems one person, animal or issue at a time. The Cat Network in Miami rescues cats, provides spay, neuter and adoption services. And they are amazingly creative in their fundraising efforts! If you are in the Miami area, give them a hand, donate to this cause or adopt one of their lovely foster cats. Bunnie

The Cat Network Finds New Ways to Thrive

by Jill Steinberg, Secretary of the Board, Cat Network, Inc.

Bunnie,

The Cat Network, Inc, http://www.thecatnetwork.org/ is using social media to promote our mission to spay/neuter feral and stray cats as well as to adopt cats.

We have helped the public spay and neuter over 50,00 cats and have adopted out over 6500 cats to the public.

Without the use of Facebook, Twitter and Linked In, I could never achieve getting more members giving as easily as we have in the last 4 months. With two challenges, we will have raised over $4000 in 4 months and added about 100 new members to our non profit group. We also have added JustGive Donation buttons and are currently working on adding PayPal and Signing up for Mission Fish/Giving Works to do EBAY auctions. I have also been able to connect to other people in small non-profit animal welfare groups and we have shared ideas on grants, donations, and web presence.

We have also partnered with the Humane Society of Greater Miami and Miami Dade Animal Services to get maximum penetration to our target audience

Since we are so hands on as a board and we have no Executive Director, only volunteers, we do everything except the vetting ourselves.

We have a van, known as the Miami Meow Mobile which is manned by local vets as well as using certificates for our Spay/Neuter Program

We have various fund raisers during the year, Toast to Cat Network(for our large donors); Pet Fest(for the public) and various small fundraisers at our adoption venues.

We have recently partnered with a retail chain that will give us 10% of the proceeds of the day we are there showing our cats. It averages about $250 each time we are there and we can go once a month thus hopefully netting about $2000 for this venue and also hopefully being able to adopt more cats to the public

We have also partnered with the cities in Miami Dade County for more exposure.

One of the things, remarkably that has helped us was the Cat Killings in Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay, here in Miami. We were involved in disseminating information to the public and we received numerous amounts of publicity around the world for our involvement.

Jill can be reached www.thecatnetwork.org

or info@thecatnetwork.org

Writing an Effective Membership Renewal Letter

Writing an Effective Membership Renewal Letter

by Bunnie Riedel, Host of Nonprofit Conversation

Some time ago, in the blog “Membership Renewal and Retention” (http://nonprofitconversation.blogspot.com/2009/01/membership-renewal-and-retention.html) I promised I would offer a sample membership renewal letter. And my Google Analytics is telling me that people are frequently searching for sample membership renewal letters, so I guess I better make good on my promise. Rather than providing a sample, I decided to provide step-by-step instructions because every nonprofit is different and it would be impossible to write a pristine one-size-fits-all letter.

Additionally, we have spent a great deal of time here discussing social media and technology, so now I’d like to advocate for good-old-fashioned-letter-in-the-mail membership renewal letters. There are a couple of reasons. Strictly sending a membership renewal via email will lower returns. People are inundated with email and the likelihood the recipient will delete the email without reading it is high. Your email may be seen as just another communiqué from the organization and easily dismissed. And while people are also inundated with postal mail, your chances are much better the recipient will add your renewal letter to their “bill” pile and write the renewal check while taking care of their usual obligations. You can do both, email the renewal letter and mail the renewal letter, that way all your bases are covered.

The Greeting

It is important to personalize the greeting. The address block should look like any business letter you do and the greeting should be “Dear Person’s First Name.” Example “Dear John.” If you are in a culture in which using a person’s first name is prohibited, then at least use a proper “Dear Mr. Smith.” But don’t use “Dear Member” or “Dear Supporter.” You should establish that your organization has a personal relationship with the member and that they are important to your organization and not just some anonymous check writer. Mail merging is a simple process, if your membership person doesn’t know how to do it, they need to learn.

The First Paragraph

The first paragraph must be an acknowledgement and a thank you to the member for their loyalty to your organization. Do not jump into “It’s membership renewal time!” Write a few lines thanking them for their past membership because after all, you are grateful for their membership, without it you wouldn’t have an organization.

Second and Third Paragraphs

Briefly tell them what the organization has accomplished in the past year. When I say “briefly” I mean “briefly.” Your organization may be the greatest on the planet but people do not have time to read a dissertation on its accomplishments. Personally, I am a fan of bullet points. And I am a fan of the rule of three’s (it’s actually an obsession I have). Tell me three great things you did with their membership dollars.

“Your membership enabled us to accomplish so much this year.

• We were able to beat back legislation on Capitol Hill that would have prohibited farming collectives in the Tennessee Valley. Our defeat of this legislation means that family farms will continue to thrive just as they have for over 150 years.

• We held our first-ever conference on “Why Water Matters” in Las Vegas, Nevada. Over 300 people attended the four day conference and we were able to award 50 conference scholarships to graduate students from universities throughout the country.

• We developed a media relations campaign with public service announcements for television and radio on why water conservation is so important. The “Waste Today, Thirst Tomorrow” campaign aired on over 400 television stations and 1,200 radio stations throughout the nation. The video public service announcements garnered a Telly Award as “Most Effective TV Campaign by a Nonprofit.”
  
  We’re proud of what we’ve been able to do and we could not have done it without you!"

Next Paragraph

Now tell them what you have planned for this year. Note, I said, “this year.” Not the next two or three or five years. You need their membership commitment to accomplish even greater things in the coming year. List a few of those great things you are going to do. Again, bullet points are my preference; short, sweet, bullet points. Also show some excitement about what you have planned…you just can’t wait to get to the projects! If some of what you have planned is continuing the programs you are already doing, that’s fine, but do emphasize why those programs are so necessary and important.

Finally “The Pitch”

The pitch or closing the deal,, whatever you prefer to call it. This is not the time to be shy, ask them to renew their membership and make it urgent “Please renew your membership today!” This is the paragraph (or two) where you might even include a premium for renewing quickly, such as: “If you renew your membership in the next two weeks, we will send you our lovely low-flow shower head so you can begin to conserve water right away!” This is also the place where you can ask them to renew at a higher level or add an extra amount to their membership.

The Close

Thank them again, let them know that if they need anything they can contact you and you will be happy to assist. The closing must be from the highest officer (Executive Director) or Chair of the Board, not the membership director. Make it warm and friendly, I think “Sincerely” is just fine but you can go beyond that with a “Your partner in water conservation, Jane Doe” if you choose, just make sure it’s not cheesy.

Technically

Here are some technical points:

• Try not to go over 2 pages. I once was in a seminar in which a direct mail consultant said the appeal letter had to be 4 pages. I completely disagree. People do not have time to read 4 pages, the mail package will cost you a lot more and nowadays, people see lots of paper as being wasteful. I recommend 2 one-sided pages so it has some weight, but if your organization is highly concerned about conservation, you can do a double sided letter (not my first choice).


• Do use recycled paper and envelopes, people notice things like that.


• Include a return envelope. You don’t have to provide postage and in fact, I recommend you do not provide postage as some will view that as waste. If they really like you, they will spring for the stamp.


• Be sure the outside envelope has “Address Correction Requested.” While you have to pay the return postage, in the long run it helps keep your list clean.


• Don’t forget to include the membership application.


• Be sure the signature of the Executive Director or Chair is in blue, not black. Even while most people understand that the membership letters are computer generated, having the signature in blue makes it look more personal.


• Be sure to send a thank you note, it can be brief, but acknowledge their membership. Many organizations like to provide membership cards, you can do that, but it’s very expensive, so unless having a membership card entitles them to some discounts or special events, you don’t need to do that. A nice thank you will suffice.

In the previous post I talked about when you should mail, how often you should mail, etc. You cannot mail one time and expect good results, you just can’t. Read the Membership Recruitment and Retention post mentioned at the top of this one for a membership renewal mailing strategy.

And, please do write me if you have any questions or need assistance info at riedelcommunications dot com

Thanks for reading! Bunnie

Old Media: Yes, It’s Still Relevant

We’ve had a couple of posts regarding “new” media. Wonderful advice on how to build SEO rankings and using social media sites to connect and engage. There will be more discussion on this blog as I have asked a range of nonprofit managers and advisors to weigh in on how they are using technology, especially in this down economy.

For a moment, I want to turn attention to “old” media and it’s relevancy. Every time a new way to communicate has come along, people have heralded the death of the incumbent technology. Radio would displace newspapers. T.V. would replace radio or T.V. would replace the movies. The internet would replace everything. Social networking would make in-person conferences obsolete. The truth is we add tools to our battery of communication, but we don’t necessarily get rid of the old tools altogether or we integrate the new with the old to create an even more robust platform.

At the core of old communication is building relationships between your organization and those who would pay attention to them. That requires a good list of T.V., newspaper, periodical and radio reporters. It requires making sure you are always pitching them what they can use, and being straight to the point about it. It also requires developing a relationship over a long period of time until you or your organization become the one they turn to for an opinion, quote or contacts.

There was a very expensive daily industry publication (the kind where the subscription is $3,000 per year) with which I developed an important relationship. I started by inviting the editor to one of our conferences and followed up by having an in-person meeting with him and a few staff. I made sure they got every press release we sent out. It didn’t take long until I was being called on a regular basis to comment on an issue or a story. And given this publication ended up on the desks of staffers on Capitol Hill, our having a presence in it was a coup.

And while new media, especially the blogosphere, has enhanced print publications, the concept is the same. Organizations now require a good list of reputable, reliable bloggers to get their message out and organizations need to develop relationships with bloggers in the same old way, personally and one at a time.

If you don’t have a list of old media reporters and writers, get one. If your organization is strictly local, that shouldn’t be too hard. If your organization is national in scope, there are companies that will sell you a list. The bloggers require a bit more work because you have to go looking for them and sometimes you don’t always find their contact information readily available.

If you’re tired of waiting for T.V. to discover your organization, I have the perfect solution. There are literally thousands of Public, Educational and Government access television stations in this country. These stations are filled with local producers and loads of talk shows. Contact your local stations and ask for producer contacts; who might do the kind of public affairs show that will fit well with your organization? How can you become a guest on that show? Larger organizations with more capacity invest the $15,000 to $20,000 to produce a thirty minute segment and then distribute them to access stations all over the country. One of my clients, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, has programming on addiction out on 457 access channels nationwide. Each of these channels air the programming an average of 12 times per month. The return to the federal government is now over $10 million per year in free airtime. Access channels are always looking for content and nonprofit organizations have plenty of content.

I love all the new ways we can communicate, there are so many new tools that are changing the way nonprofits do business and how they get their unique stories out. But, while we celebrate the amazing world of cyberspace, we must never forget the power of old media, the necessity of the well-written press release and imperative of forming solid relationships with those work in it.

So...what does your media list look like?

Bunnie

info@riedelcommunications.com

Utilizing Social Media in a Non Profit: The Anita Borg Institute Story

I asked the question...how are nonprofits using technology in this "down" economy? Jerri Barrett, Director of Marketing for the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, answered with some amazing examples of how they are using social media to stay in touch with their members and drive organizational loyalty.

Utilizing Social Media in a Non Profit: The Anita Borg Institute Story

by Jerri Barrett

One of the new rules of non-profit communications is that you need to communicate in multiple ways so that you reach your constituency in their preferred method of receiving information. Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, and Linked In are just some of the ways to reach out to build your communities of supporters.

The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology is the host for the online listserv Systers, the oldest online community for women in computing and after 21 years has over 3000 members. Other early social media activities included the launch of a blog, located on our website (http://www.anitaborg.org/) , and My Space pages being established to support our conference “The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing.” We learned from these early efforts that our constituency was not using MySpace but that other Online Social Media groups were more promising. In 2008 we invested in the effort by hiring a dedicated Communities Manager.

A central lesson in the successful launch of online communities is tying their activities to one’s nonprofit mission. As opposed to strictly a marketing channel, online communities that become an integral part of delivering your organizations’ mission are poised to significantly increase not only your reach, but your impact.

Late 2007, we launched our LinkedIn for Good Anita Borg group. That group grew rapidly as 2008 progressed. After little more than a year, we now have over 1300 members in our LinkedIn Group. The group exists primarily for networking, though we do continuously communicate to the group about the Institute’s programs and activities. Part of the success can be attributed to the recognition of the critical need for networking in a recession economy for finding new positions. In addition to our core constituency of technical women, this group has attracted recruiters. This combination is a huge benefit to the participants who are seeking support during a job search. We exist to promote the recruitment, retention, and advancement of technical women, so the LinkedIn group has become another tool in our program arsenal.

For the Anita Borg Institute (ABI), 2008 was the year of Twitter. Our Community Manager actively tweets about all aspects of our activities. In addition, our events frequently have participants tweeting throughout. Creating a community of people tweeting is critical to raising the profile of your organization and its events, and keeping your constituency engaged with and inspired about your programs.

Blogging also achieved greater visibility in the organization in 2008. In addition to maintaining our Institute blog, we launched our CEO’s blog (techher.blogspot.com) and a Fast Company blog (http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/caroline-simard/advancing-women-technology/). We engaged more of our community in blogging to support our Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing.

Our Facebook presence has scaled tremendously in the past 18 months. We now host a primary Facebook page that is focused on all things related to the Institute. The content of the page is fed from our website so any new blog posts, articles or press releases on the main site are automatically updated on the Facebook page. The main ABI Facebook Page has 435 fans. In addition to the main page, event pages have also been created that event attendees can check for the most current information and updates about the events. Currently we have the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing 2009 page and the Women of Vision 2009 Pages in place. Each event page launched in late 2008 and the Grace Hopper page already has over 250 participants.

The Grace Hopper Celebration itself incorporates multiple kinds of social media. The Conference is the largest gathering of Women in Computing in the world and in 2008 attracted 1450 attendees from 22 countries. The attendees range from undergraduates to senior level technical women, so Social Media becomes critical to communicating across a wide ranging constituency. We recruit volunteers to post fresh content into our various groups. Photographers actively post their photos on Flickr; video bloggers post footage on YouTube and their Facebook pages, bloggers sit in sessions and blog, and tweets are flowing from all aspects of the event. We took blogging to a new level last year by having an official blog dedicated to the event and recruited presenters at the conference to preview their presentations and recruit audiences throughout the summer. The role of online communities has taken an increased importance in our annual conference. We estimate that over 40% of our Grace Hopper Celebration attendees were part of our Grace Hopper Facebook group; YouTube, the GHC Blog, and Twitter scored high in terms of participant’s views of which tools most enhanced their conference experience.

So what are our next steps in Social Media? We are currently finding ways to more actively engage people in the communities and call them to action to help support our mission of changing the culture of technology to achieve greater numbers of women in the technology pipeline. We are also constantly working to generate more value added content to each of the communities to keep them engaged in our mission. We work to add new content through both the efforts of our staff, guest bloggers, and guest writers from other non profits and technology companies. You can access all our communities through our website at http://anitaborg.org/community/connect/.


Jerri Barrett, Director of Marketing, Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology
Email : jerrib@anitaborg.org Web: http://www.anitaborg.org/ http://www.gracehopper.org/