Social media, online fundraising, going to the dentist — these are all things that tend to scare traditional fundraisers regardless of age. It’s often believed that older professionals are reluctant to embrace new technology. But that shouldn’t be the case. This new medium is cost-effective and environmentally responsible. It gives nonprofits nontraditional ways to acquire, profile and cultivate donors and new constituents. When a fan/user/friend retweets you, promotes or fundraises for your cause, your organization has the access to his or her personal information, given the user's privacy settings allow for it. Social media helps you learn more than you currently know or have on your housefile from traditional direct-mail or special-event donors.
Social Media
April 22, 2010, Reuters — Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, billionaire Bill Gates and Queen Rania of Jordan will put their fame to work this week as they join a Twitter campaign to end malaria deaths.
Ashton Kutcher, Ryan Seacrest and other Hollywood celebrities have also joined the Twitter campaign. Starting on Wednesday, the participants will send out "tweets" encouraging the public to donate to buy bednets which guard against the mosquitoes that spread malaria in Africa.
Gates will also take part in TV charity fundraiser "Idol Gives Back" on Wednesday to promote the fight against malaria and other health causes.
Organizers of the Twitter fund-raising push are working with the United Nations Special Envoy for Malaria, Ray Chambers.
The fast pace and apparent shallowness of sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, as well as blogs and other online communities, seem to be the antithesis of what major-donor fundraising is all about. Not so, according to fundraising consultant Carolyn Appleton, who presented her case at the Nonprofit Technology Conference held in Atlanta earlier this month. In her session, “Major Gift Fundraising and Social Media,” Appleton tackled the old-school perceptions of social media.
It’s happening all around us — marketing is changing. It has to. Many traditional marketing methods (where we pushed our messages at the audience) are becoming more expensive and less effective, as people get better at tuning out marketing messages blasted at them. For example, we use TiVo to record TV shows and fast-forward through the commercials, and we use caller ID to screen phone calls and spam filters to protect against unsolicited e-mails. More and better tools help us screen out messages we don’t want — and other tools have emerged to help us find the stuff we are interested in. Our ability to screen out the "noise" and find the "good" stuff forms the underpinnings of inbound marketing.
FundRaising Success magazine's "Making Social Networks Work for Your Organization" whitepaper explores the world of social media and tells you:
- A simple, six-step plan for entering into the social-media universe
- Specific dos and don57;ts for successful online engagement
- How to get buy-in from the top of your online-engagement ideas
March 18, 2010, Los Angeles Times — Chris Hughes, a Facebook co-founder who helped launch the social networking phenom and then the tour-de-force online organizing campaign for Barack Obama’s presidential bid, on Thursday unveiled his latest endeavor: A website to connect individuals and organizations striving to help the world.
It was a typically Sunday morning for me in Chicago. I had my Starbucks, my free Wi-Fi and my Google bookmarks to keep me busy for the next hour until I was fully caffeinated and ready to face the world. I came across a great article that I was really excited to share with my fellow social networking enthusiasts — but then a very troublesome thing happened. When I went to utilize the “share” feature of this article, I was redirected with an error message. After a bit of scoffing at the thought of actually having to copy and paste the URL into my Twitter account, I began to think about how many other organizations are utilizing sharing tools and other social media widgets and tools without troubleshooting their functionally.
In the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, important lessons are unfolding that underscore how the nature of fundraising is evolving as a direct result of technology and social media.
“Do more with less.” You hear it from your boss, or maybe even your board in these tough times. Exasperated, you look back at your last six months: You’ve cut costs, backed off your most expensive programs, and maybe even made some painful staff decisions. So, now what?
Feb. 15, 2010, Californian — Nonprofit organizations looking for new ways to spread word of fundraisers and upcoming events are using a source that's free and accessed by an estimated 350 million people worldwide.
