Social Media

There’s a lot of debate in the blogosphere and elsewhere these days regarding the efficacy of different fundraising and marketing channels. It goes something like this: “Is direct mail dying?” “Will social media kill e-mail?” “Will mobile rule the marketing roost?” “Should I tweet … or blog?”

"It's just a new way to do old business."

So said Danielle Brigida, associate operations coordinator for the National Wildlife Federation, in the session "Using Social Networking to Build Affinity, Community and Brand" at Fund Raising Day in New York 2009 presented by the Association of Fundraising Professionals Greater New York Chapter in early June. In her session, Brigida discussed the need for nonprofits to clearly articulate a strategy for utilizing social-networking sites to enhance brand, build affinity and expand reach.

June 23, 2009, Bloomberg — When young Yale graduates need to hit up other alumni for charity, they tap the Old Boy and Girl Internetwork.

Used strategically, the Web offers myriad opportunities to raise funds from wealthy donors.

In the session "Taking Leadership Online: What's Hype and What Works in Online Fundraising" at Fund Raising Day in New York 2009 presented by the Association of Fundraising Professionals Greater New York Chapter in early June, presenters Nancy Haitch, deputy vice president of development for International Rescue Committee; Alia McKee Scott, principal at Sea Change Strategies; and Jono Smith, vice president of nonprofit marketing at Network for Good, discussed management strategies that trail-blazing organizations have followed in using the Internet to begin, sustain and enrich relationships with top donors, prospects and volunteers.

AUSTIN, Texas, June 23, 2009 — Charity Dynamics and FreeCause today announced a partnership that will provide nonprofit organizations with a unique and powerful social networking solution to drive greater constituent involvement and take special event fundraising to new levels.

June 16, 2009, Herald News — While your local doctor likely won’t be “tweeting” your diagnosis in an 140-character snippet anytime soon, SouthCoast Hospitals Group is among local entities to venture into the brave new world of social networking.

REDWOOD CITY, CA, June 15, 2009 — StrongMail Systems, Inc., the leading provider of commercial-grade solutions for marketing and transactional email, today announced new survey data that points to the emergence of social media as a direct marketing channel and significant planned investment in email marketing and social media programs in the second half of 2009. StrongMail also announced a new framework to help direct marketers effectively leverage the two channels beyond the common "sharing" tools offered by other providers. The results and recommendations outlined in this announcement are based on data from more than 500 marketers who responded to an online survey from May 21 to June 1, 2009.

NEW YORK, June 9, 2009 — Today, digital communications agency 360i published the Social Marketing Playbook, the first comprehensive report written by marketers for marketers that establishes a foundation for strategically approaching the growing social media landscape in order to devise programs that achieve measurable marketing objectives.

June 6, 2009 — In its "Employee Engagement Survey,” the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Research Foundation teamed with Buck Consultants, an ACS company, to determine how organizations are communicating with employees to keep them engaged and productive. The survey includes responses from nearly 1,500 participants representing a broad industry and geographic base. The survey results are being released today at the annual IABC World Conference in San Francisco.

June 8, 2009, Huffington Post — The setting was an amphitheater filled with attendees from around the globe. The scene sounds fairly usual, although the attendees were sitting amongst a Panda -- wearing a shoulder-ferret (looks exactly like it sounds), a bald English woman levitating in lotus position; a small penguin; a punk-rocker girl, replete with a bull's style nose ring; and yours truly, Glitteractica Cookie (Susan Tenby by human/legal standards), a pink-skinned cat-lady, emblazoned with paw-print tattoos, wearing a tuxedo T-shirt and a tutu, though I was both virtual and present in real-life, which is not as tricky as it sounds.