Foursquare recently launched the ability for brands to create Pages on Foursquare. Until then, nonprofits were limited to simply claiming their nonprofit’s Venue Page making it almost impossible to be proactive on Foursquare. However, in recent weeks the site has made a number of upgrades that have rendered the site and it’s tool set much more interesting and relevant...
Hot off the presses and just delivered via Fed Ex! It’s a surreal moment, exciting, nerve-racking, but it’s great to see the words off the screen and onto paper. Tangible, in my hands. There will be an e-book version of course, but I am so grateful to have been given this opportunity to publish a book while books are...
No doubt. I absolutely believe in the power of the Internet and social media to foster social good and create social change, and I’ve written plenty of blog posts that say as much, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t also acknowledge that the rise of the Social Web has created some very real and serious challenges for the...
The rise of the Social Web in recent years has dramatically changed how your supporters consume and share your nonprofit’s blog content. Odds are, if your blog has not been redesigned in the last few years, then it’s time to consider a relaunch. Just a few years ago multiple-column blogs with numerous widgets and plug-ins ruled the design aesthetic...
Date: Thursday, September 29, 2011 Time: 9:30am – 3:30pm Cost: $149 per person. Location: Meetup.com Headquarters 632 Broadway, New York, NY (Google Map) How to Register: Sign up! View: Training Agenda (PDF) View: Trainings in Other Cities This one-day intensive social media and mobile technology how-to training is ideal for nonprofit communications and development staff. Presented by Heather Mansfield...
The average Internet user today is barraged with a constant stream of messages in the form of tweets, status updates, shouts, bulletins, e-mail, and “Breaking News!” Social media is not only changing how we communicate online, but it’s also changing how our brains process information. That said, nonprofits would be wise to consider the effect of the Social Web...
A “Google+ icons” search in Google Images reveals numerous free Google+ icons available for download, however most are embedded in images files. Many of you have to tools to extract and crop the icons for your website, blog, and e-newsletter, but for those of you that don’t, simply right-click on the Google+ icon in the right-hand column of this blog...
My guess is that 99.99% of nonprofits (or more) have not yet been invited to beta test Google+ (sign up here), but if you are a regular reader of Mashable, TechCrunch, or The Next Web, you might be feeling like your missing out on the fruits of being an early adopter (before the site is even out of beta...
At about the time I quit working for the day (6pm in Missouri, USA), nonprofits in New Zealand, Australia, and Asia are coming online for another work day. Then, over the next 12 hours, on comes nonprofits in India, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. It’s amazing what happens on Twitter during our off hours and while we are...
Source: Social Good: Charity and Technology in the Online Universe Written for the March 2011 issue of Fundraising Success Magazine, where I am writing a quarterly column throughout 2011. * * * * * * * * * * * In the summer of 2000, I launched an e-advocacy portal called eActivist.org. It was a fiscal project of the...
A Few Words of Caution: Small to medium-sized nonprofits should take Facebook case studies and best practices based on the success of large nationally and internationally well-known nonprofits (with huge email lists and multiple communications and development staff) with a heavy dose of skepticism. 99.9% of nonprofits just can not duplicate their success, and such case studies and best...
Email is still queen. No doubt about it. The vast majority of online donations come from a click in an e-newsletter, as do most new Facebook Fans, Twitter Followers, and text alert subscribers. It’s even the number one activity on the Mobile Web. E-newsletters will likely be eulogized at some point, but for now and in the near future,...
Written for the June 2011 issue of Fundraising Success Magazine, where I am writing a quarterly column throughout 2011. For the past six years I have spent 50 to 60 hours a week utilizing Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, MySpace, LinkedIn, and Foursquare to promote nonprofits. I’ve watched the early adopters of MySpace in 2005 propel themselves into the...