What we’re reading, week of 5/18

From Katya’s Non-Profit Marketing Blog…
What absolutely must go on your home page
In the continuing discussion of website essentials, Katya calls out the 10 most important things to display right up front. Our favorite is #3: “Clear, intuitive navigation that is organized according to the brain of the people who come to your website and NOT your org chart.”

From NTEN…
09NTC Session Materials – Now Online!
Didn’t get to attended the NTC this year? NTEN announces that over 120 of the conference sessions are now available online.

Also from NTEN…
Small is the New Big: 2009 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study Released
NTEN presents the 2009 eNonprofit Benchmark Study and an associated webinar – some great bits here for discussion and insight.

Girl Scouts takes on social media

By Cheryl Lowe, public relations specialist

Girl Scouts of Central Texas (GSCTX) is one of 109 high-performing Girl Scout councils across the country, all tied together through the parent organization, Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA). Our council’s claim to fame, if we say so ourselves, is being an innovative and technologically advanced council. We had the country’s first Girl Scout computer lab; we have three all-Girl Scout robotics teams; we collaborate with high-tech companies like IBM for advanced programming; we’re even one of a select few councils piloting lmk.girlscouts.org, a national online safety program for girls and their parents.

Yet we’re not using social media.

With our core function (leadership programs) possessing a tech savvy element, its time for our communication efforts to start walking the walk too. Even with a young, tech-savvy communications staff, we’re still a little in the dark about how to use social media to further the mission of Girl Scouts (which is, by the way, to build girls of courage, confidence and character who make the world a better place).

We want the public and our members to interact with us freely; we know our success depends on it. But first and foremost, we have to ensure the safety of our girl membership, who range in ages from 5 to 17 and are still learning to make good decisions. Like any youth-serving organization, we’re worried about the messages that will start floating around once we open up the conversation.

By making smart, strategic decisions and providing educational resources (see the previously mentioned national online safety program) we believe we can be successful. Needless to say though, it’s going to be tricky.

Currently we are researching and defining a strategy the will allow us to establish an effective, authentic and open presence in social media while maintaining an online safe-haven for our girl members. I hope to share our successes and challenges in this process so as to help other nonprofits that are also considering their role in social media. I also hope to garner ideas and advice from others, especially if you have overcome similar issues in establishing a social media presence.

What we’re reading, week of 3/9

From the Nonprofit Consultant Blog…
A Plan to Survive
Ken Goldstein writes about the defining characteristics of nonprofits that will survive a recession – “diversified funding, good management, and “learning cultures”" seem to be common among organizations with a more hopeful outlook.

From The Nonprofit Times…
Remaining Optimistic About the Economy
The NPT urges nonprofits not to respond to a challenging economy with panic and distress, and asks readers to share their advice for maintaining focus and optimism during a recession.

From Non-Profit Tech Blog…
Republicans Issue Terrible RFP for Their Web Site
The dialogue continues on website design! Allan Benamer does a point-by-point analysis of how not to issue an RFP for website development, using the GOP as a case study.

What we’re reading, week of 2/2

From Frogloop…
Why Every Nonprofit Should Embrace the Web 2.0 World
Frogloop shares five reasons nonprofits need to embrace Web 2.0, courtesy of a recent panel at the Fem 2.0 Conference. Also included is a calculator for measuring ROI for efforts on Facebook, MySpace, and the like.

From NTEN…
2009 NTC Preview: Peter Campbell on IT Planning
NTEN serves up an interview with EarthJustice’s Peter Campbell, discussing his upcoming NTC session, “How to Decide: IT planning and prioritization.“

From Non-Profit Tech Blog…
Build a Nonprofit’s Technology Assets from the Ground Up, Part 1 of 2
Allan Benamer begins a series of posts examining the website-before-social-media discussion, and broadening it to set up a “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs” for nonprofit technology. A must-read.

What we’re reading, week of 11/17

From Techsoup…
Nonprofit Web Sites on the Cheap
Beck Weigand discusses some free and inexpensive ways for nonprofits to host and author their websites. We can’t help wondering, however, what the tradeoff is in ROI when an organization doesn’t carefully consider the principles of design and development that make a website a vehicle for donations.

From NTEN…
Debunking Five Myths of Online Fundraising
Thon Morse breaks down the five myths of online fundraising. Some we’ve spoken about before, but we’re particularly interested in his assertion that organizations should be aiming to raise a much larger percentage of total funds online. This is in line with some of the thinking we’ve heard from Artez.

From Tactical Philanthropy…
Nonprofit Effectiveness
Sean Stannard-Stockton returns to a topic near to our hearts: how do you measure your organization’s work? How do you determine the difference in efficacy from one organization to another? Readers are invited to join the discussion in the comments section.