6 posts tagged “nten”

I've learned much of what I've learned about ephilanthropy and using online tools for attracting and engaging constituents by participating in webinars from several organizations which are usually provided at minimal or no cost.  Some of my favorites are:

Nten - always has a full schedule of pertinent topics, such as this week's session on how to get executive buy-in for technology projects.  The most cost effective way to participate is to purchase a block of three sessions or purchase an unlimited pass through 2009.

Idealware is the place to go to learn about software for nonprofits and also offers online seminars.  Try out a free session on Online Communications on a Shoestring next week.

Fundraising123, a service of Network for Good, always has interesting teleconferences available, usually for free,  If you can't attend at the time they're given, you can download slides and MP3 recordings and listen to them on your MP3 player, as I've recently started to do.

My suggestion: take advantage of the learning opportunities available and make sure that you participate in the discussion, either through online chat or phone chat.  Most presenters encourage interaction, and this is how you will get the most value from the information provided.

More from Craigslist Foundation's recent NYC Nonprofit Boot Camp;  Big Duck's Farra Trompeter offered an engaging session on social networking - is this a tool that nonprofits should be taking full advantage of now?

If your organization does take the plunge, expect that it will require a 2-3 hour investment daily.  A recent feature at Philanthropy Journal confirms this, also describing who is best suited to fit this role:

• Knows and enjoys social media
• Is tech savvy (but doesn't have to be a geek)
• Knows your organization and is committed to its mission
• Has a personable, outgoing writing style

Is your main goal is to raise funds or to attract and interest current / prospective constituents?  So far, few nonprofits have successfully been able to prove that the potential return is definitely worth the dedication of resources to social networking activities.

Farra recommended these first steps in Facebook:

1. find out whether other organizations with compatible missions are already there, and what they are doing
2. create fan page
3. create cause

Some nonprofits have been also to receive donations through text messaging, although this also is a relatively new initiative.  Twitter is already used by nonprofits such as Red Cross and ASPCA to distribute information.

Starting and maintaining a presence on social networking sites confirms the trend that your constituents may never find your organization's web site, so why not go to where they already are?

Other good resources on this topic:

• Beth's Blog - How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media
  
• Media Rules - book & blog 
• Nten's We Are Media Project - social media starter kit for nonprofits
  

Nten and M&R Strategic Services have released a fascinating study which provides metrics for online messaging, fundraising and advocacy.  Some highlights and observations:

• open rates (compared to a study in 2006) declined from 21.3% to 17.6%;  click-through rates dropped from 4.9% to 3.6%.  I've found that many NPO staff don't take the time to analyze reports which clearly demonstrate that most constituents who get email are not bothering to open them, fewer are clicking on any included links.
• on the average, constituents are emailed 4 times / month.  Seems like once a week is still too often, making more of a case to use segmentation to target content to selected constituents.
• About 20% of an email list 'goes bad' each year due to unsubscribes and other changes in email addresses.  So a nonprofit that wants to grow its list needs to first make up for this loss in numbers first.
• Advocacy mailings consistently show higher response rates than other types of mailings.  How many of these constituents can be effectively converted to other types of engagement?
• $1000+ gifts were only 1% of the total number of donations, yet represented over 20% of online giving revenues.  Major gifts still deserves consistent attention.

Thanks to Holly Ross at Nten, and Sarah Dijulio at M&R  for collaborating on this report and the 21 nonprofit organizations that participated in this analysis; a webinar discussing the study is available.

Thanks to Holly Ross and the entire Nten staff for last week's annual Nonprofit Technology Conference, held in New Orleans.  With so many worthwhile sessions taking place during the three days, the hardest part was choosing which sections to attend.  I was also fortunate to receive what was clearly the most valuable prize at the Sponsor Fair, a $1000 donation to any nonprofit of my choice, generously contributed by Jay Frank of Nice Touch Communications and Telecom for Charity.

Kudos also to Beth Kanter who organized the Day of Service to assist local nonprofits in New Orleans on the first day of the conference.  Working with Nancy Schwartz, (who writes Getting Attention to help nonprofits with marketing tips), I gave a quick ephilanthropy tutorial to Casa New Orleans.

I also participated in two conference sessions:

Tug of War or Pulling Together? Building Teamwork for Better Online Campaigns, David Hollender, Jed Cohen and I reviewed strategies for how an organization can work collaboratively instead of in silos.  Sharing information regularly can help, as well as a current intranet site and 'lunch and learn' where departments are invited to learn about each other's projects.  While it is helpful to build relationships with those in other departments before you are assigned to work on a project with them, it's also important to make sure that your own department's goals are met.

The Joy of CMS: Implementing Sustainable Content Management Systems (The Painless Way to Keep Your Web Site Current): I moderated a panel of three CMS experts: Andrew Cohen, Nathan Gasser and Jeff Herron.  Instead of focusing on available products (of which there are many), we discussed how the idea of content management can be successfully deployed.  Having a current web site is easier when the responsibilities are shared throughout the organization, and when management accepts this as part of everyone's job.  We also discussed work flow - how web pages are reviewed and released, and how to insure that web content is consistent with other communication vehicles.

I also want to commend Laura Quinn and Dahna Goldstein who moderated two sessions on data integration which I attended.  Since most of us have data in many locations, it is always challenging to share information between multiple products.  Memorable takeaways: when evaluating products, data integration must be on the list of requirements, and it may be best to consider vendors who have been 'open' from the start rather than those who have changed mostly due to market demands  Let's keep this discussion going on Nten's Data Standards & Integration affinity group!

It was also wonderful to return to New Orleans, which clearly is still recovering from the effects of Hurricane Katrina.  My wife and I were serenaded one night by a couple who lost their home and were struggling to make ends meet.

If you're planning to attend, please consider participating in the two sessions I'll be participating in:

1. The Joy of CMS: Implementing Sustainable Content Management Systems (The Painless Way to Keep Your Web Site Current). I will ask three experts in building web sites how nonprofit organizations can build a culture which supports up to date online content.
2. Tug of War or Pulling Together? Building Teamwork for Better Online Campaigns. We will discuss how departments can work together within a nonprofit organization to develop and implement online strategies.
   

Nten's Annual Nonprofit Technology Conference, expected to attract over 1,000 nonprofit staff members, consultants and vendors from across the United States, will take place in New Orleans, LA from Wed, Mar. 19 - Fri, Mar. 21.  It is always a wonderful event.,  Hope to see you there.

In addition, here is a useful resource on creating online donation pages and forms 

Thanks to everyone who attended my Feb. 12 Nten webinar on Project Management for Nonprofits, discussing how
nonprofits can make better use of project management techniques to achieve organizational goals.  Some major points on how to establish project management within your nonprofit organization:

1. use a variety of communication techniques
2. don't use IT terms with non-IT staff
3. find a supporter on business side
4. use agile techniques to split projects into smaller phases
5. educate your organization on how project management techniques will allow it to better meet its goals.

We also discussed Idealware & Aspiration's recent conference on Managing Nonprofit Technology Projects - see wiki. However, project management is useful for all types of initiatives, not just those involving technology..

Please let me know if you'd like a copy of my presentation.  Thanks to Holly and Anna at NTen for giving me this opportunity to speak.