The 50 nonprofits listed below are tackling some of the most important economic, social and political issues of our time. They are active in our communities, in our schools, and have valuable knowledge and experience that our nation’s elected officials could learn from and be inspired by, and yet very few U.S. politicians follow any nonprofits on Twitter. They mostly only follow other politicians. These sorts of echo chambers are common inside the Twitterverse – it’s the same with most celebrities and musicians who also tend to only follow each other, but in the case of nonprofits and politicians who are working on many of the same issues, not following the nonprofits listed below is a lost opportunity. Even if you don’t agree with the mission of a particular nonprofit, following them doesn’t need to signal an endorsement. Rather, it can simply demonstrate a tiny step towards better understanding the other side’s point view.
1. Alliance for American Manufacturers :: @KeepItMadeInUSA
2. American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) :: @AARP
3. American Cancer Society :: @AmericanCancer
4. American Civil Liberties Union :: @ACLU
5. American Farmland Trust :: @Farmland
6. American Heart Association :: @American_Heart
7. American Red Cross :: @RedCross
8. American Rivers :: @AmericanRivers
9. American Solar Energy Society :: @ASES_Solar
10. Americans for the Arts :: @Americans4Arts
11. American Wind Energy Association :: @AWEA
12. Amnesty International USA :: @Amnesty
13. Ashoka :: @Ashoka
14. Autism Speaks :: @AustismSpeaks
15. Campaign to End Obesity :: @ToEndObesity
16. Change the Equation :: @ChangeEquation
17. Children’s Defense Fund :: @ChildDefender
18. Coalition for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans :: @CIAV
19. Coalition to Stop Gun Violence :: @CSGV
20. Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children (CASA) :: @NationalCASA
21. Crisis Group :: @CrisisGroup
22. DoSomething.org :: @DoSomething
23. Education Week :: @EducationWeek
24. Electronic Frontier Foundation :: @EFF
25. Feeding America :: @FeedingAmerica
26. Goodwill Industries :: @GoodwillIntl
27. Habitat for Humanity :: @Habitat_org
28. Human Rights Campaign :: @HRC
29. Humane Society of the United States :: @HumaneSociety
30. Junior Achievement :: @JA_USA
31. Maplight :: @MapLight
32. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People :: @NAACP
33. National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy :: @TheNC
34. National Coalition for the Homelessness :: @NTL_Homeless
35. National Council of La Raza :: @NCLR
36. National Museum of American History :: @AMHistoryMuseum
37. National Parks Conservation Association :: @NPCA
38. National Wildlife Federation :: @NWF
39. Natural Resources Defense Council :: NRDC
40. Ocean Conservancy :: @OurOcean
41. Operation Homefront :: @OP_Homefront
42. Oxfam America :: @OxfamAmerica
43. Pew Research Center :: @PewResearch
44. Ploushares Fund :: @Plough_Shares
45. Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network :: @RAINN01
46. Special Olympics :: @SpecialOlympics
47. Trevor Project :: @TrevorProject
48. Union of Concerned Scientists :: @UCSUSA
49. UNICEF :: @UNICEF
50. World Wildlife Fund :: @WWF
Finally, with more than 1.5 million registered nonprofits in the United States alone, of course I missed a few (and some whose very mention is politically divisive were left off the list intentionally). If there is a nonprofit that you would like to add, please do so in a comment below (political rants not necessary, thank you). And if you are an influencial blogger in your local community, state, or country, may I suggest you create a similar list of nonprofits to follow relevant to your corner of the world. Politicians have a lot to gain by being more connected with nonprofits on Twitter. We just need to point it out to them. 🙂
Related Links:
Social and Mobile Media Webinars for Nonprofits and Government
Social Media for Social Good: A How-To Guide for Nonprofits
