UK

Comic Relief must take a bow. In one night, they have managed to convert a supporter into both a donor and an advocate — high praise indeed.

Online fundraising, marketing and CRM specialist Convio has announced its first delivery partners ahead of the full launch of its Common Ground® product in the U.K. later this year. Purple Vision, Westbrook International and Third Sector IT are becoming certified Convio Solution Providers to ensure U.K. charities get the maximum return on their Convio investment. All three partners will consult around and deploy Convio Common Ground.

The Royal British Legion, RSA and Comic Relief are the top three U.K.-based charities with the largest “social media presence” — in terms of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube engagement — according to a major briefing, Social Media League Table.

By specific social media “platform”, the Royal British Legion heads the Facebook rankings, with 1,875,926 ‘likes’; the Tate heads the Twitter rankings, with 304,987 ‘followers’; and the RSA heads the YouTube rankings, with 79,341 ‘subscribers’.

December 29, 2009, Philanthropy News Digest — Hit by the global recession and falling donations, international aid agencies have been forced to scale back operations during 2009 and are facing the possibility of having to take more extreme measures in 2010, Reuters AlertNet reports.

November 3, 2009, Third Sector — Charities are likely to lose millions in income if the postal strikes continue into the Christmas period, according to a report by the Institute of Fundraising.

With the global number of users on Facebook now fast approaching the size of the U.S. population, it’s surely clear that time is up for anyone who still wants to ignore online social networking as a passing fad. However, while nonprofits now generally recognize the need to take it very seriously, most still struggle to understand how they can best fit it into their fundraising programs.