What we’re reading, week of 9/15

From The Raiser’s Razor…
Is it really the economy, stupid?
Another perspective (and a timely one indeed) on the impact of the economy on fundraising. Jeremy points us to this article from FundRaising Success on how nonprofits can respond to economic challenges.

From NTEN…
Vote Now for Your Favorite 2009 NTC Sessions
The nominees are in, and it’s now time for NTEN members to vote on member-submitted session proposals for the 2009 NTC. Voting is open until October 3.

From Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology…
Social Network Management Systems?
Michelle Murrain writes about private and public social networks for organizations, making the point that “People are getting more and more used to social networks as the vehicle for connecting to others, and this is one way to provide this in a private setting.” This point was explored in great depth earlier this week, in an excellent NiUG presentation by GoLightly – who would suggest that private social networks provide this type of connection even for constituents who made not already be accustomed to these types of tools. See Sarah Golightly’s article for more.

News about the ASI/GoLightly partnership

Earlier this week, ASI officially announced a partnership with GoLightly, a Web 2.0 leader whose technology will power a brand new iMIS module: Social Networking for iMIS. Using “SNfi,” organizations can build online communities to support activities and relationships between members, donors, and other constituents. This type of platform was discussed at length in the Chronicle of Philanthropy article we linked to last week. Needless to say, it is very exciting to be making these capabilities a reality.

David Sims has profiled the partnership in TMCnet’s Contact Center:
GoLightly, ASI Combine for Non-Profit Social Networking

Here at iOn, we’re looking forward to the ongoing contributions and commentary from our new partners at GoLightly!

Fundraising with wikis

Having read a lot of buzz lately in the blogging community about the potential for fundraising with wikis, we wanted to open up the topic for discussion among readers. We asked Chris Dworin, VP of Business Development for GoLightly, a provider of collaborative online communities, for his take on it:

I have a feeling that a lot of that buzz in the blogging community would find its origins in companies that offer only wiki tools.

Remember:  when you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail!

I’m not at all convinced that wikis are the best, or even a great fundraising tool, and haven’t heard any specific examples of successful use of wikis for this purpose.  That doesn’t mean, of course, that there aren’t any.  But, few of our clients are using the community tools specifically for fundraising, and I haven’t seen any demand for wikis for that purpose.

So now we open up the question to you, readers: Have you worked with organizations that are successfully using wikis as part of their fundraising strategy? Could you share strategies, practical advice, or ideas beyond the basics? Do you think this is an area that will continue to grow, or where you see large innovative strides in the near future?