What We’re Reading, Week of 10/12

From Acronym…
What have your members taught you?
A great way to wind down week! This post from Acronym reminds us that we should not only look at what we can DO for association members, but what we can LEARN from them.

From AFP Blog…
New Video Series Helps Exempt Organizations Understand Redesigned Form 990 Requirements
AFP posted a link to a helpful video for exempt organizations that explains recent changes to the Form 990.

From NTEN…
Blog Action Day 2009 Climate Change: Technology in the Climate Movement
NTEN and 9,427 other blogs from 150 countries with 12,896,974 readers are smashing the debate  about what impact the online world has on offline action with these numbers and think about the over 12 million people around the world who are raising their consciousness about climate change. NTEN posts some highlights.

What We’re Reading, Week of 8/17

From AFP Blog…
Super Bowl of Conventions Under Way in Toronto
This post from AFP Blog talks about the American Society of Association Executives and the Center for Association Leadership’s annual meeting and exposition. Dubbed the “Super Bowl of conventions”.

From Acronym…
Living through short-term pain
A fantastic article looking at the speech made by Fareed Zakaria at the ASAE closing general session and one of his final points; that “we have got to learn to impose short-term pain for long-term gain.”

From Frogloop…
Online Video: Why I’m a Believer
Changing gears, this post from Frogloop is written by a video convert. Shirley Sexton discusses her initial hesitance at jumping on the video bandwagon and what changed her mind!

What We’re Reading, Week of 8/3 part 2

From AFP: Nonprofit Technology Blog…
Nonprofits use pilot site to post events, causes
Linking to an article from Democrat and Chronicle.com, the AFP blog calls attention to the use of pilot sites by nonprofits. According to the article, over 100 nonprofits are using the “Do Good” pilot site that connects readers with information about a variety of charitable causes. It allows users to post information about events, causes, and nonprofit jobs. Tools like “Do Good” can help drum up support and interest in nonprofit activities in an easy, cost-effective way.

From Beth’s Nonprofit Blog…
Crowded Roads Ahead for Charity 2.0: How to address scaling and cause fatigue?
As the use of the internet and social media continue to expand, it’s important to address the inevitable issue of media clutter. Beth’s Nonprofit Blog discusses the recent coverage given to nonprofit clutter, and offers some insights on how organizations can continue to raise funds and promote their causes in a crowded field.According to Beth, building a movement around a cause rather than a brand, and ensuring that social media initiatives are properly scaled, will allow nonprofits to succeed amidst competition.

From Frogloop…
Is Your Nonprofit Complying with State Charity Regulations?
This week, Allyson Kapinat Frogloop blogs about the regulations that accompany online nonprofit fundraising. If a nonprofit raises money on the internet, than it needs to ensure that it is in compliance with state laws. These regulations can be complicated: for example, as Allyson points out, a charity based in one state may have to register itself in other states if the residents there make donations. Nonprofits should be aware of these rules, and should stay up-to-date on compliance.

What We’re Reading, Week of 7/27

From Frogloop…
Taking Advantage of Wikipedia
Millions of people look to www.wikipedia.org as a starting point when they are searching for information about specific topics. Allyson Kapin of Frogloop encourages nonprofits to bear this in mind, and to create or update their organizations’ Wikipedia entries. She writes that Wikipedia can be a powerful promotional and educational outlet. As Wikipedia becomes ever more fixed in the internet culture, nonprofits should be aware of its potential uses.

From the Nonprofit Communications Blog…
The First 100 Hours: Turning Media Spikes Into Fundraising Leads
Kivi Leroux Miller’s post discusses the importance of turning media coverage into fundraising leads. According to Kivi, media coverage of an organization will lead to a window of roughly 100 hours of increased traffic and search engine hits. This time frame represents an opportunity to raise funds and increase interest. Kivi recommends using customized search ads, a strong landing page devoted to the issue that brought media attention in the first place, and social media. It is important for nonprofits to strike while the iron is hot, and media attention represents a prime opportunity to generate awareness and bring in revenue.

From AFP: Nonprofit Technology Blog…
Twittering for a cause: Web 2.0 and its philanthropic impact
Linking to a post from The Daily Tell, the AFP Blog discusses the impact that Web 2.0 has had on philanthropy. In particular, the post discusses how Twitter has become a fundraising avenue. Through campaigns such as “Tweetsgiving” and “tweet4good”, Twitter users have proven that they are generous to charitable causes. As the use of social media for charitable causes spreads, nonprofits that are not currently taking advantage of social media ought to find ways to get into the game soon.

What We’re Reading, Week of 7/20

From AFP Blog…
InfoSpace Launches Charity Search Engine
Linking to an article that appeared on www.seattlepi.com, the latest AFP Blog post discusses the launch of a new search website specifically focused on charity. www.DoGreatGood.com is the engine’s name. It will compile search results from Google, Bing, and Yahoo, and will donate money to charity when used. This represents an innovative new fundraising technique that internet-savvy non-profits may benefit from.

From Beth’s Blog…
The 4C’s of Social Media
Beth’s Blog features a guest post by Gaurav Mishra, in which he discusses the 4Cs of social media. Each “C” is an integral component of a strong social media offering. They are: Content, Collaboration, Community, and Collective Intelligence. Following this framework could provide nonprofit social media users with a reference point on how they can best establish and maintain their social media presence.

From NTEN: Non-Profit Technology Network
Passwords: The Biggest Lesson from the Twitter Hack
The latest NTEN blog post discusses the major Twitter hack that occurred last week. The avenue that the hackers used was very simple: they found a way to steal the passwords of Twitter employees. Though it might seem like a minor detail, the importance of creating strong passwords and changing them from time to time can’t be underestimated.

What We’re Reading, Week of 7/13

From Small Change…
The Multi-Year Gift
Jason Dick discusses the prospect of asking major non-profits donors to contribute multi-year gifts. By talking to potential donors about what kind of difference they would like to make within the organization, and by giving them the opportunity to assist in an area that they are passionate about, nonprofits can enhance their own programs and the experience of their donors. It will be interesting to see if multi-year gifts can help non-profits to achieve greater financial security during the recession.

From Frog-Loop…
10 Tools and Strategies to Market Your Nonprofit on a Shoe-String Budget
In her latest blog post, Allyson Kapin discusses ten marketing tools and strategies that nonprofits can use to promote themselves in cost-effective ways. Kapin sees the value of social media as a marketing tool, encouraging the use of social networks, RSS feeds, and Youtube. By using these tools, nonprofits can generate interest and awareness without breaking the bank. Kapin’s post is indicative of just how valuable social media marketing has become to the nonprofit community.

From The Nonprofit Communications Blog
Getting the Personal-Professional Mix Right in Social Media
Using a helpful FlickR slideshow, Kivi Miller tackles the issue of how to mix personal and professional information when using social media. She provides pointers for people who use social both at work and on their own time, and offers suggestions on what information is (or is not) appropriate to share across different situations. As social media become more prevalent, individuals who use social media for both work and play should think about this issue.

What We’re Reading, Week of 7/6

From Katya’s Non-Profit Marketing Blog…
How to convince your skeptical boss that social media has merit
In her latest blog post, Katya gives social media advocates a few pointers on how to convince their bosses that social media is an effective tool for promoting and publicizing an organization. She recommends signing up skeptical bosses with Google Alerts and Tweetbeeps, setting clear and understandable social media policies, and sharing progress frequently. These tips could be quite helpful to those who want to bring social media into their organization, but need to gain upper-level support first.

From Non-Profit Communications…
Non-Profit Blogs: Five Reasons You Do & Don’t Need One
Kivi Miller runs through five reasons that starting a blog could be helpful for a non-profit- and five reasons why not. He illustrates the different ways that organizations can use blogs, whether they want to merely “share the small stuff” or react quickly to a crisis. However, he also shows that blogging has a downside: blogging can do more harm than good if the tone is wrong, updates are too few, and transparency is an issue. Non-profits should carefully weigh out the pros and cons of blogging; a useful tool for one non-profit could be a bad option for another.

From Your Non-Profit Technology Community: NTEN…
Four Reasons Innovations Matter Now More Than Ever
The NTEN blog offers advice about the importance of innovation in the non-profit sector. While acknowledging the tough competition within the sector as well as the impact of the recession, non-profits need to continuously focus on innovation by reevaluating business models, offering high-quality services, and finding ways to work around slashed budgets and reduced donations. It will be interesting to see which tactics and strategies will help non-profits to weather the storm and continue to operate successfully.

What We’re Reading, Week of 6/29

From Tactical Philanthropy…
Philanthropy’s Trifecta: Information, Wisdom, and Relationships
Inhis latest column for The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Sean Stannard-Stockton writes about the important combination of information, wisdom, and relationships. He views social media as an avenue for bringing together these three elements, in turn providing non-profits with increased opportunities for raising awareness and funds.

From AFP Blog: Nonprofit Technology…
What’s the Right Offline Event for your Organization’s Online Community?
This blog post explores ideas for bringing an online social media community together for in-person social events, citing an article on the same subject that appeared on www.netsquared.org. The post features real examples of events that organizations have used to bring together their social media communities in person. These examples provide insight into how social media can lead to real human interaction and relationship building.

From AFP Blog: Non-Profit Technology…
Nonprofits Get a Social Media Mentor in Socialbrite.org
Reed from the AFP Blog reports the launch of a new website that showcases social media tools. The site, www.socialbrite.org, was created by eight leading experts in the field, with the intention of helping non-profits to raise awareness and effect social change. It will be interesting to see if websites like Socialbrite can encourage non-profits to more frequently adopt social media as public relations tools.

What We’re Reading, Week of 6/22

From AFP Blog: Non-Profit Technology…
Internet Surfing Helping Non-Profits
Linking to an article in the Delaware Online news journal, the AFP blog discusses a new avenue of non-profit fundraising: search engines. One engine, www.goodsearch.com, donates a small amount of advertising revenue to charity every time someone performs a search with it. This is an innovative, easy way for non-profits to raise funds. It will be interesting to see if this concept catches on elsewhere.

From Beth’s Blog…
YouTube Video Volunteers Launch Program
Beth discusses a new YouTube initiative in which Youtube users can volunteer to make promotional videos for non-profits of their choice. Beth includes some sample videos in her blog post, so that readers can see what type of work the video volunteers have come up with so far. The program provides an interesting new avenue for volunteerism, allowing people to give their time for charitable purposes from their own computer screen.

From Katya’s Non-Profit Marketing Blog…
Secrets to Social Media Campaigns: New Case Foundation Report
This article discusses a report that the Case Foundation published in light of a major social media philanthropy campaign that they undertook recently. After raising $2 million dollars for charity by encouraging social media users to solicit donations and matching awards, the Case Foundation analyzed the fundraising drive. They found many factors that contributed to the campaign’s success, including its competitive structure, limited time frame, and the use of personal connections to raise funds.

What we’re reading, week of 6/1

From FrogLoop…
Why Nonprofits Need to Grow their Online Lists
Allyson Kapin provides some insight on why organizations ought to grow its online lists, and provides tips for non profits on how to do just so.

From A Small Change…
Fact or Stories?
“Information is always more powerful when it is connected to real people,” Jason Dick states. Nonprofits should be more personal when sharing information/news.

From Beth’s Blog…
8 Nonprofit CEOs Who Tweet
Beth lists 8 CEOs from nonprofit organizations who use twitter. She also lists the benefits of having your CEO tweeting.