11 Holiday Gift Programs that Benefit Nonprofits and Make the World A Better Place
If you are reading this now, then of the world’s 6.8 billion people, you are likely one of the lucky ones. You have Internet access, a computer, a roof over your head, and likely planning some holiday shopping this year. By spending consciously, your consumer power can change the world.
Did you know that in the United States more than 70% of holiday gifts end up in the landfill within 6 months? Much of those are plastic toys that will remain on this Earth for hundreds of generations. Is that a legacy we want to leave behind? Your money really could be much better spent. 
Below are 11 great holiday gift programs that benefit nonprofits and make the world a better place:
1. Oxfam America Unwrapped: Unique charitable gifts that do good. Gifts range from $12 to $10,000. You’ll receive a free card with the image of your specific gift. You can personalize the card online and have it sent directly to your friend or loved one. Or you can have the card delivered to you to write your own message. View Gifts. [In the UK]
2. Species Adoptions from the World Wildlife Fund: Give a gift that helps protect life on Earth. Adoption Kits range from $25 to $250. All kits include an adoption certificate, photo, and species information card. With a $50 donation, the kit includes a plush toy. These make great gifts for kids and people that love animals. View Gifts.
3. Hope Gift Book from St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital: Get into the holiday spirit with ornaments, decorations and other gifts that inspire hope and help fight childhood cancer. 100% of profits after related expenses benefit the children at St. Jude. View Gifts.
4. NPR Shop: Ideal for the people in your life who are fans of NPR, every purchase supports NPR programming. View Gifts.
5. Gifts of Hope by Heifer International: Choose a meaningful gift to give a loved one and help children and families around the world receive training and animal gifts that help them become self-reliant. Gifts range from a flock of chicks for $20 to a heifer for $500. View Gifts.
6. Global Exchange Fair Trade Store: With beautiful gifts fairly traded from producers all over the world, the Global Exchange Store is the online source for socially responsible goods. View Gifts.
7. Defenders Marketplace: Show your love of wildlife and help fund effective programs that save endangered wildlife and its habitats for future generations to enjoy. From ornaments to stamps to wildlife adoption, the Defenders Marketplace is a good place to start your holiday shopping. View Gifts.
8. Save the Children Gift Shop: Give the gift that gives twice. Buy a gift for family or friends and help Save the Children at the same time. View Gifts.
9. Global Goods Partners Fair Trade Gift Shop: Shop for change! The gifts that you give and the items in your daily life all provide an opportunity to contribute to a movement for global justice, be it the paper you write on or the bag in which you carry your groceries. Beautiful gifts, great cause! View Gifts.
10. ShopKomen.com: Purchase with a purpose to help end breast cancer forever. 25% of your merchandise purchase price will benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure. View Gifts.
11. ASPCA Store: Help the ASPCA provide refuge to the million of unwanted pets in America by purchasing holiday gifts for the animal lovers in your life from the ASPCA Store. View Gifts.
I know there are many others. Please feel free to post them (with a link) in a comment below. Thank you. Happy holidays, and happy shopping!
Last week a study came out that said small to medium sized nonprofits were not gaining much from using social media. I believe it, and here’s why: 1) Most nonprofits are still at the dabbling stage. When they should be integrating their social media campaigns into their primary communications and development plans, they still tend separate social media from traditional media and marketing. 2) Many nonprofits just are not properly trained to utilize social media. A common mistake is to assume that because a person is “young” and has been using Facebook for years to stay in touch with friends and family, then they must be good at using social media for branding an organization. Wrong. So wrong. 3) The vast majority of nonprofits don’t know how to monitor or measure ROI [Return on Investment]. Most nonprofits are experimenting with social media, but few can or are measuring its impact.
I have been doing the social media thing for almost 4 years and I took granted that most nonprofits are doing the basics in terms of measuring ROI, but recent polls I presented on Twitter speak otherwise. So, let’s get back to basics in terms of measuring social media ROI and if you can, try to put these strategies in place before the end of the year fundraising/giving season is in full swing.
1. Monitor your website traffic.
During the Era of Web 1.0, nonprofits were very keen on increasing website traffic. They spent relatively large amounts of cash on SEO and invested many hours is getting listed on portals. E-mail marketing took off and promotional materials were loaded with plugs to “Visit our website!”. Website traffic was the number one indicator to measure ROI.
Today, I think most nonprofits that are not monitoring traffic would be surprised by how little traffic their website is actually getting. Of those that are monitoring their traffic, many are not aware that “Unique Visitors” is the number to watch and that “Hits” are meaningless. Those that are not monitoring traffic are just completely in the dark about the effectiveness of their web campaigns.
Every website out there has stats to monitor. How many unique visitors by day, month, year? Exactly what pages are visitors viewing? How long are they on your website? What websites were your visitors on right before they visited your site [Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace]? Every nonprofit should be monitoring this data.
Furthermore, if your traffic has not increased significantly from social media, then you are doing something wrong. Are you correctly using the “Links” and “Static FBML” Apps on Facebook? Are you putting a “http://” in front of all website links in Facebook Updates? Are you building community on Twitter or just pushing out press releases and blog posts [that in time people start to ignore]? Do you have an account on Bit.ly to make sure that the links you are posting are actually interesting to your Twitter community? If not, you may be surprised what people click and what they don’t. Having an account on Bit.ly is a must to Tweet successfully!
On average, my website gets about 5,000 unique visitors a month. Nonprofit Tech 2.0 averages about 15,000 (WOW). And it’s not “empty traffic”. It’s traffic that leads to new clients and new Webinars attendees. If it wasn’t for social media, I’d be getting less than 1,000 and entirely dependent on my e-newsletter, referrals, and search engine results. So, I think this poll is very telling:
Most nonprofits are not even monitoring stats. Those that are monitoring stats are split on whether social media has increased website traffic. If you are not getting traffic, then your mission and programs just might not be sexy enough for social media (for lack of a better word), and it may be time to re-evaluate.
Or, and in my experience, those that are not getting much traffic from social media need some training. A bit harsh, but true. Overconfidence in one’s social media skills can be a problem when it comes to social media ROI. Even the most self-proclaimed social media maven, expert, guru, miracle worker, etc. could use training from time to time. Me included. Good social media training is essential.
On a final note, many nonprofits will be launching mobile websites in 2010, and much of the traffic on those sites will be going to or from social networking sites. Social media has gone mobile and that will be an entirely new set of data to monitor and track.
2. Poll your donors.
Another very telling poll:
81% answered no. 81%! You can’t judge your social media fundraising success from how much has been donated to your Facebook Cause or a fundraising widget. It’s pretty clear that online donors do not yet trust these new tools, and why would they when more than half of fundraising Causes and widgets have a great big $0 on them? [Donate to your own Cause and widgets to get the ball rolling!]
My guess is that we will be pleasantly surprised that many online donors that are following you on Twitter or Facebook will indeed go to make a donation on your website during the year-end fundraising season. I know my giving has changed dramatically. I now give to smaller nonprofits I never heard of 2 years ago. I watch them on social media sites, and then when I have the cash to give, I go to their website or donate to them on Change.org. Not only do 40% of folks fan brands on Facebook, but 34% of those folks then go visit their website before purcahsing or donating. And yet, as many as 81% of nonprofits are not tracking this behavior!
So, how about after someone makes a donation on your website, you ask them on the next page to answer a poll about what message prompted them to donate and where did they read it? End-of-Year print appeal, e-newsletter, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Linkedn, YouTube?
3. Ask people to subscribe to your email newsletter and mobile lists.
Just having an e-mail newsletter and mobile list sign up box on your Facebook Page or MySpace does not work. You have to ask people to subscribe. Post a Tweet or a Status Update:
Text NONPROFITORGS to 41411 to receive text alerts (2-3 monthly) from Nonprofit Tech 2.0!
Sending out my Web 2.0 Best Practices e-Newsletter on Wednesday. To receive a copy, please subscribe: http://bit.ly/2VeW7A
Over the years I have been consistently surprised by how many people will subscribe once asked on a social media site, but not until I asked. I have tabled a number of events over the years asking people to sign up for e-mail newsletters. The number of subscribers I get from social media trumps tabling any day of the week.
4. Ask people to become volunteers.
The study listed above argues that social media is worthless to small and medium sized nonprofits because they aren’t getting any donations or new volunteers from social media campaigns. The flaw in fundraising ROI I have already discussed. Personally, I have a hard time believing that nonprofits are not getting volunteers from social media campaigning. I get asked at least once a week by random strangers if they can volunteer for me. So, I know potential volunteers are out there.
Are you asking that they volunteer for your organization correctly? Make sure you are using social media to ask, to call out for volunteers. Don’t just assume they are going to click on a “Volunteer!” link on your Facebook Page and then ask to be signed up. You have to ask them. Do you have volunteer testimonials on your website? Are you mentioning that your organization would be good a good reference? Are you pitching the social aspect of volunteering with your organization (meet new friends online and offline)? Are you giving them good reason to want to volunteer with your organization on your website, and then using social media sites correctly to drive them to that page?
Now that I think of it, in four years of using social media 40-60 hours a week… I never seen one nonprofit message me on Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace asking me to become a volunteer. Something to ponder.
5. Plot fans, followers, friends, subscribers.
I think 1-4 are much more important than this, but plotting your fans, followers and friends on an Excel spreadsheet will at least give you a sense of how quickly or slowly your social media communities are growing. Create a spreadsheet. On the far left column list the social media sites you are using, and then create 12 columns on the right… one for each month of the year. Then on the first day of every month post the number of current friends, followers, fans, and subscribers. Combine this with monitoring your website and e-mail/mobile sign up stats, how your online donors and volunteers found you, then you are well on your way to successfully measuring your social media ROI.
One final note. I give social media webinars that focus on detailed, How To… not just big picture “Social media is great!” webinars. My primary audience is small to medium sized nonprofits, and my goal is to make sure they know how to use social media beyond the obvious [90% of nonprofit social media campaigns that I see are not operating beyond the obvious]. The New Organizing Institute and NTEN also give webinars on social media. I have never taken one from them, but they both have a good reputation.
That said, I have taken a number of social media webinars and the vast majority are really big picture, based on case studies of large national and international nonprofits with massive resources [even worse, the Obama Campaign!]. Completely not relevant to small and medium sized nonprofits. When it comes to training, just because you take one webinar and you don’t get much from it, don’t think that they are all the same. They are not. Seriously. I haven’t really said this much before because I didn’t want to appear as self-serving, but good social media training is essential, particularly for small to medium sized nonprofits on a budget. Without it, many nonprofits will be disappointed by lackluster results (as mentioned in last week’s study).
POLL: Have you ever taken a webinar about how to use social media?
Designed in Dreamweaver and updated weekly, Nonprofit Tech 2.0 has launched a mobile Website for those who like to read Nonprofit Tech 2.0 on the go. The URL is:
The design is intentionally very simple so it’s easy to read on smartphones and mobile phones. The mobile web’s growth is exploding as well as the use of social networking sites on the mobile devices. That said, I am firm believer that the mobile web is the next frontier in nonprofit communications.
The new site features blog posts relative to mobile technology for nonprofits, a featured nonprofit mobile Website that will change monthly, links to the “NonprofitOrgs” profiles on the mobile versions of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, etc, and prompts readers to subscribe to receive text alerts from Nonprofit Tech 2.0. Currently, 4.1 billion text messages are now sent daily, but few of those are coming from nonprofits. Hopefully that will change in 2010!
I would greatly appreciate you checking out the new site on your mobile phone and letting me know how it looks in a comment below. Be sure to let me know what kind of mobile phone your viewing it on. I have been able to view it on mobile phone browsers that range from 170-320 pixels in width, and and on a iPhone. Nothing fancy, but it works! Feedback? Suggestions?
Since the popular Facebook fundraising App Causes was built using GuideStar’s database of nonprofits in the United States and Canada, only nonprofits in the U.S. and Canada can utilize Causes’ fundraising tools. There are some amazing nonprofits at the grassroots working miracles daily with relatively small amounts of cash, but unfortunately, since no international database of verified nonprofits exists, these nonprofits are consistently unable to utilize most online fundraising tools. Not any anymore… thanks to Ammado.com.
Based in Dublin, Ireland, Ammado is a social network just like Facebook or MySpace, but whose primary focus is to empower people and nonprofits worldwide to fundraise and donate online. In addition to online donation capabilities, they offer giving circles, giving vouchers, and Facebook widgets. Considering that 70% Facebooks users are outside of the United States and that most of its growth is occuring internationally, Ammado’s timing is very good.
That said, nonprofit’s inside the United States and Canada can use Ammado too. One obvious advantage that Ammado has over Causes and most online donation processors, is that it accepts and distributes donations (via wire transfer) in 31 currencies (!!). As the world goes global, so does charitable giving.
Therefore, how nonprofits worldwide can get started on Ammado:
1) Nonprofits that want to use Ammado must read and agree to their Nonprofit Recognition Policy and then sign up to be added to their database of nonprofits. Ammado has staff dedicated to vetting nonprofits and researching their legal status. This vetting includes checking registration with proper authorities, reviewing of websites, calls or inquiries, personal referrals, etc.
2) After your nonprofit is approved, you then create a profile. You can add a summary of your organization, photos, post news and articles, join/create communities, etc. Once your profile is up and running, you can then apply to accept online donations by clicking the “Apply for Donations” button on your Ammado profile. Donations are accepted in 20 formats (Visa, AMEX, PayPal, Diners Club, JCB, Carte Bancaire, etc.) and the processing fee of 5% is used to cover donation processing fees. Nonprofits are responsible for wire transfer fees. See their Giving Policy for more information.
The minimum donation amount is $5 US and donors are emailed a receipt. Unlike Causes, nonprofits on Ammado can use internal email tools to message donors individually and get access to the donor’s email address. I made a donation. No problems. In fact, I was prompted to add a “Donate Now” box onto my Facebook profile after giving. I agreed. A screenshot is below:
The great thing is that nonprofits can add this “Donate Now” box to their Facebook Fan Pages as well. Seemingly something so simple, but something incredibly necessary that has never been done. Nonprofits can also can also push/post the “news and articles” that they post on their profile on Ammado directly to their Facebook Page. You can learn more at Ammado’s Facebook Page.
3) Ammado provides some interesting fundraising tools to both individuals and nonprofits. Much of it based on peer-to-peer fundraising, like Causes. The idea is to empower people to fundraise for your nonprofit online and on Facebook. I am 50/50 on peer-to-peer fundraising. I think it works great for marathons and in lieu of birthday, wedding gifts, etc., but most donors give to nonprofits of their choosing that are working on issues that they care about. Keep that in mind. Pitch Ammado’s peer-to-peer fundraising tools in that context. After 3 years at Change.org, the only peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns that ever worked were based on marathons, birthdays, weddings, etc. Occasionally when the campaign was about an issue of timely importance (gay marriage, legalization of medicinal marijuana, etc), peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns would work, but only if the organizer was incredibly dedicated and online savvy with lots of friends and connections.
That said, Ammado’s giving circles and giving communities are a pretty slick new take on peer-to-peer fundraising that supporters/creators can also embed on their Facebook and Bebo profiles:
They also offer giving vouchers and giving widgets which can be embedded on blogs and Web sites by both your nonprofit and your supporters:
4) There’s also an interesting corporate giving component that no other social networking site has addressed. There’s a lot of potential there for large donations and corporate social responsibility Web 2.0 style. I am honestly surprised that it’s taken this long.
In closing, I got to say muchos kudos to Ammado.com for empowering nonprofits worldwide… for taking it upon themselves to invest the time and resources necessary to vet and empower nonprofits outside of GuideStar. They also have some great widgets and Apps, and the corporate giving angle is just damn smart. I hope they do well. In fact, I am so impressed that I am going to start covering them in my How Nonprofit Organizations Can Successfully Use Facebook Pages and YouTube Webinar on Thursdays at 2pm GMT. My Thursday Webinars are specifically for nonprofits outside the United States. Also, after you set up your profile, make sure you grab Ammado’s Web 2.0 icon and embed it on your Web site, blog, Facebook Page, etc.!
I was fortunate enough to get two Google Wave invites last week (thanks to @nonprofitdaily and @donortools). It’s a good thing because I messed up the first invite and attached it to my personal Gmail account. When in fact, I wanted to attach it to a newly created “NonprofitOrgs” account, as in nonprofitorgs@gmail.com.
Now, I am still figuring out how Google Wave works. It’s not immediately intuitive and the complete tool set is not yet live, but it definitely looks to have some potential for nonprofits. That said, I wanted to let nonprofits know that I think it would be a good idea to grab a Gmail account that matches your nonprofit’s Web site and social media URLs (if it is still available), because seemingly your Gmail account becomes your Google Wave persona, if you will.
For example, I Tweet @nonprofitorgs. So, I grabbed nonprofitorgs@gmail.com which then on Google Wave becomes nonprofitorgs@googlewave.com. You then add contacts and participants to your Waves by searching for their googlewave.com address. Your nonprofit’s googlewave.com address is also attached to a profile with your logo and a blurb about your organization.
First step for nonprofits on Google Wave:
1) If you are already on Google Wave, you can add me to your contacts by searching for nonprofitorgs@googlewave.com. Just like on Twitter, I’ll be functioning as a portal to nonprofits on Google Wave.
2) If you are not on Google Wave, it will be available to the masses worldwide early next year. In the meantime, grab your organization’s username at Gmail.
3) If you are nonprofit that has been using a Gmail account for a long time with an extensive contact list, it may turn out that you’ll want to use that account for your primary presence on Google Wave. I don’t think we will know that for sure until Google Wave goes live to the masses. But it wouldn’t hurt to grab a Gmail username that matches your Web site just in case. It also may turn out that staff with lots of Gmail contacts will participate on the Wave a “collaborators” and as themselves. Still, it doesn’t hurt to grab your Gmail username if it is still available.
As I dig deeper into Google Wave, I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, muchos kudos to @bullyinguk for seemingly being the first nonprofit on Google Wave (at least that I could find). You can add them to your contacts via bullyingukonline@googlewave.com. Know of any others? If so, please post their googlewave.com address below. Thanks!
How Nonprofits Can Easily Accept Credit Card Payments on Mobile Phones at Fundraising Events and Over the Phone
A few weeks ago I was at a fundraising event that had a silent auction. So many fabulous items had been donated, but unfortunately bidders could only pay in cash or by check. I haven’t had more than $5 in my pocket for years and I can’t even remember the last time I carried a checkbook with me. So, I opted out of the silent auction. My guess is many others did too for the same reason.
A new service called Intuit GoPayment enables nonprofits to accept credit cards on mobile phones (View Supported Phones). There is a one-time setup fee of $59.95 and a monthly fee of $19.95. For small nonprofits on a tight budget, that may be a little high, but the good news is that you do not need to sign a contract. You can cancel at any time and your first two months are free (ideal if you just want to try it for this year’s holiday fundraising season). Cards accepted are MasterCard, Visa and Discover and the credit card processing fee is 2.44% plus $.27 per transaction. A signature is not necessary to process the donation and payment is immediately transferred to your nonprofit’s bank account. You can use the system to email or text a receipt, but I strongly suggest that you follow up with an e-mail thank you letter.
If your organization is one that hosts or attends a lot of events (galas, silent auctions, walkathons, protests, conferences, etc.) throughout the year, then this could be an easy, cost-effective solution for accepting credit cards on the go. It also allows nonprofits to accept credit card payments verbally over the phone. Maybe your nonprofit does a year-end phone banking campaign? Or perhaps you want to notify donors in e-mail newsletters or on your website that they can also call in their donations if for some reason they don’t feel comfortable entering their credit card information on the Internet? In this competitive fundraising climate, donor convenience and on-the-spot fundraising may be just what your organization needs to stand out from the rest.
You can learn more at mobilepayment.intuit.com and if you are interested in being an early adopter of mobile technology, be sure to check out my Webinar on How Nonprofit Organizations Can Successfully Use Mobile Technology and Social Media. 2010 is going to be a big year for nonprofits and mobile technology. In the meantime, good luck with your year-end fundraising campaigns!
Twitter’s new Lists are a great way to organize your followers, and with a little intention and a dose of good will, Twitter Lists can also be used to promote your favorite nonprofits and the causes you care about. Here’s how:
1) Create a “Favorite Nonprofits” List
Lists can say a lot about your character and what’s important to you. Personally, I am quite saddened by the rapid loss of wildlife around the world, so my “Favorite Nonprofits” list has quite a few wildlife conservation organizations [@diosacomm/favoritenonprofits]. What issues are important to you? Create a Twitter List of your favorite nonprofits to tell Twitterverse what issues you think are most important and deserve attention.
2) Promote Lists created by nonprofits or Lists that feature nonprofits
Another easy way to help nonprofits, particularly those in your “Favorite Nonprofits” list, is to Tweet out their lists to your Followers. Example Tweets:
Good use of Twitter Lists by @NationalNOW to organize NOW chapters @NationalNOW/nowchapters!
Great list of animal rights and animal welfare organizations @nonprofitorgs/animals. Please RT!
Following a list created by a nonprofit also helps the nonprofit by increasing the “Follow” count on their list and having their list show up on your View All Lists page. That’s good… but Tweeting out their lists to your Followers is even better.
3) Create Birthday or Holiday Wish Lists
If you are the type of person that would rather have your friends donate to a nonprofit in your name for your birthday, the holidays, or in lieu of a wedding or graduation gift, then create a “Nonprofit Gift List” [@diosacomm/nonprofitgiftlist]. Select 3-10 nonprofits to feature on your list and then occasionally Tweet out the list to your followers. Hopefully they will make a donation and then let you know in a Reply or RT!
4) Create Causes Lists
Global Warming. Wildlife Conservation. Breast Cancer Research. Human Rights. Women’s Rights. Global Poverty. Corporate Accountability. @diosacomm/sustainability. Create Twitter Lists for causes that are important to you and then add nonprofits and activists that are working on that cause.
Lists have only been live a few days and I am sure we will see some creative use of Lists over the next few months. If you work at a nonprofit, make sure you create some Lists [Campaigns, Events, Donors, Volunteers, Chapters, Allies, etc.] and ask your followers to help support your Lists. If you don’t work at a nonprofit, but use Lists to promote nonprofits and causes on Twitter… thank you.
If used correctly, #hashtags can be very useful to nonprofits on Twitter. Hashtags allow your organization to participate and inspire conversations (and in the process get new followers) and organize the Twitterverse around campaigns (#climatechange) and events (#openwebawards). The problem is that there so many hashtags floating around on Twitter, that’s it tough to keep track of which hashtags work best and reach the most individuals.
Below I have posted 10 hashtags commonly used by nonprofits. A word of caution though… use them strategically. If you use hashtags too often, then you dilute their usefulnesses by fragmenting the conversation. If every one of your tweets has a hashtag, some people will question your intentions for using them. There is such a thing as hashtag spamming. In the case of hashtags, I am a firm believer in less is more.
Hashtags and their usefulness are definitely open to interpretation. Some love them, and some don’t use them at all and find them distracting. I am somewhere in the middle, and I don’t think that they are as useful or necessary as they used to be. When Twitter first launched it did not have a search function, so to be able to have conversations via Tweets beyond Replies, hashtags were necessary. That’s not the case anymore, and may not be the case at all in the future as Twitter evolves. That said:
1. #Nonprofit: Occasionally, you can replace the word “nonprofit” with “#nonprofit” in a Tweet, or tag it on to the end of Tweet that mentions a nonprofit or nonprofit trend.
Example Tweet:
Nice use of Animoto by United Cerebral Palsy: http://bit.ly/leTYj || #nonprofit
2. #CharityTuesday: This hashtag is very popular on Twitter, but people use it in different ways. I use it to call people to action to benefit a nonprofit/charity:
Example Tweet:
#CharityTuesday :: Add a “Cause” Twibbon to your Twitter Avatar: http://twibbon.com/charity
3. #FollowFriday: This is probably the most popular, most commonly used hashtag on Twitter. You use it to send a shout out to your followers. It’s a great way to build partnerships and show appreciation.
Example Tweet:
#FollowFriday || Wildlife Conservation || @WildlifeTrust @WildlifeRescue @JaneGoodallInst @gorilladoctors @polarbearsintl @seaturtle
4. #fundraising: This hashtag is best used when tagged on to a Tweet that discusses fundraising trends.
Example Tweet:
Nonprofit Raises $8,550 With In-game Text Messaging Campaign: http://bit.ly/4hQfCX || #fundraising
5. #nptech: This hashtag stands for nonprofit technology and can be used in any Tweets relevant to how nonprofits are use technology and social media.
Example Tweet:
Nominate your favorite nonprofit for the “Best Non-Profit Use of Social Media” http://bit.ly/4mQJQF || #nptech
6. #mobiletech: This hashtag stands for mobile technology and can be used in any Tweets relevant to how nonprofits are using text messaging, mobile websites, and/or iPhone Apps.
Example Tweet:
Social Media is Going Mobile, and So Should Your Nonprofit: http://bit.ly/L4AIt || #mobiletech
7. #[event] and [campaign]
These are the most creative and useful hashtags being used by nonprofits on Twitter. If your organization is using Twitter to promote an event or campaign, make sure your decide on a #hashtag and consistently use it while your are promoting the event and/or campaign.
[Event] Example Tweet:
UNICEF is using RapidSMS in 23 countries, many more users who download the open source software. #mhealth09
[Campaign] Example Tweet:
WATCH: Flash mob takes off shirts, stops traffic in Hong Kong http://bit.ly/2VGdc1 || #350ppm
Important: If you do create a hashtag for an event, make sure you regularly Tweet out what the hashtag means. Don’t assume people will get it automatically. They are much more likely to adopt your hashtag if they have a clear understanding of what it stands for.
8. #philanthropy: This hashtag works best for anything related to grantmaking, foundations and donor trends and behavior.
Example Tweet:
130 Foundations That Tweet: http://bit.ly/UDJAd || #philanthropy
9. #[yourcity]: If your organizing an event, make sure to tag on your city hashtag to broadcast the event to folks in your area.
Example Tweet:
Hey fans! If you happen to be in SF tonight, drop by for a Plunge Kick-off party at Sports Basement. http://bit.ly/3BqCmw || #SanFrancisco
10. #volunteer[s]: This hashtags can be useful to send out a call for volunteers, to thank volunteers, or to promote the work of your volunteer community.
Example Tweet:
“#Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart.” – Elizabeth Andrew
A final note. You can use hashtags in combination with one another:
Example Tweet:
Five Most Common Mistakes Made by #Nonprofit Admins on Facebook: http://bit.ly/1Fowuk || #nptech
How about your nonprofit? Any hashtag success stories?
2010 is going to be the year that the large national and international nonprofits launch iPhone Apps. Many of those Apps are already in development (@Kiva4iPhone), but at this early in the game hiring someone to develop an iPhone App for your nonprofit is expensive. Very expensive. Large companies and some nonprofits are spending as much as $50,000 to build and launch an a iPhone App.
Below you’re going to learn how you can launch an iPhone App for your nonprofit and have it added the App Store on iTunes and ready for download by the end of the year. But let me just say straight from the beginning that these Apps are very basic. This is absolutely first generation, do-it-yourself iPhone App development. Over time, design and functionality will likely improve significantly, but if you want to be a very early adopter and wow the world with your cutting edge adoption of the Mobile Web, then Sweb Apps is for you.
While these Apps are far from fancy, the PR value can be very high. Your organization can create a page on your Web site announcing the new App and promote it in your e-newsletter and on social networking sites. As an iPhone user, I personally would love to download the Apps of my favorite nonprofits and have their avatars displayed on my iPhone. In the coming years it will become commonplace to see Tweets and Status Updates reading “Check out our new App on iTunes!” so early adoption is the key to getting the most downloads. A quick search of the term “nonprofit” in the iTunes App store returns less than 50 Apps, and most of those are miscategorized Apps. That’s how new it is for nonprofits to have iPhone Apps.
Through December 31, 2009, Sweb Apps will defer all set-up fees for nonprofits organizations and all you are required to pay is $25 a month to host the App. You can choose between 4-8 buttons that can be easily edited and utilized through a Web-based Sweb App Management System. You can cancel your App hosting at any time, but if Sweb Apps comes out with new buttons and tools in the future, upgrades will not be discounted. That’s something to keep in mind. Down the road you may need to pay a few hundred dollars for new buttons and upgrades. It is also quite likely that more do-it-yourself iPhone App services will be popping up over the next year.
All that said, I created an iPhone App for Nonprofit Tech 2.0 using Sweb Apps and hope to have it available for download by the end of the year. The approval process by Apple can take 3-6 weeks. And speaking of Apple, and since I know you will ask, “Donate Now” buttons are not allowed on iPhone Apps. A few Apps have gotten through with Donate Now buttons in the past, but as of right now Apple will reject an App with a Donate Now button. They give no explanation as to why. My guess is some sort of “Donate Now” App is in the works. 2010 will be a big year for nonprofits and iPhone Apps.
Now, how to launch an iPhone App for your nonprofit. First, watch this video about an App created by the nonprofit AIGA Houston so you can get a sense of the Sweb App service:
Second, create an account and enter the your organization’s EIN number. Don’t start building your App until you have created an account.
Third, don’t add any buttons yet. Simply select “Finish Later”. You will be asked to upload your Avatar/Organization’s Logo which will become your App Avatar. It must be 512 pixels by 512 pixels in .JPEG format. You will also be asked to name your App, describe your App, select “Categories”, and enter keywords for the App Store. I would suggest “nonprofit” be one of them.
Fourth, log back in and start building your App. Select the “Nonprofit” category. Pick the buttons you’d like to have on your App’s interface. Each button is then edited individually by adding either a link, a RSS Feed, or by checking a box indicating you will add further information later in the Sweb App Management System. If you would like, you can design and upload your own buttons. They must be 108 pixels by 83 pixels in .PNG format.
Fifth, if you have Photoshop, you can create a custom background. The image must be 320 pixels by 480 pixels in .PNG format. If not, simply select a color or one of Sweb Apps pre-designed backgrounds.
Sixth, I recommend purchasing the App Tracker for $10. It allows you to login to your back end and track the activity of your App. How many downloads have you had? What buttons are being used and how many times are they being accessed? This information will be important to track over the coming months.
There is also an option called “Client Sign-Up” that prompts supporters to enter their email address and mobile number when they load your App on their iPhone for the first time. They can easily opt-out of providing that information and just skip directly to the App, so I would suggest checking the box to include this option. This is unchartered waters. We have no idea what the opt-in rate for iPhone Apps will be, but it looks like we are going to find out very soon. And yet again we enter a whole new era in nonprofit communications. Some even think Web 3.0 = The App Economy. How about you?
Six months ago I came pretty close to complete social media burnout. I was running over 20 social networking profiles, logging in seven days a week, and at minimum pulling 60-hour work weeks. My brain was completely fried and those around me were getting pretty fed up with the fact that I was never present, only connected… online, all the time. Even when I wasn’t at home at my desk, I was on my iPhone updating Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc. I have spent the last few months making some significant changes. I am now down to 7 profiles, 5 days a week, and a 45-50 hour work week.
My chosen profession requires complete dedication to social media and not everyone is as extreme as I was/am, but as social media continues to penetrate the nonprofit sector, more and more nonprofit staff and interns will experience social media burnout. Here’s a few tips on how to deal with it:
1. Don’t update your organization’s profiles on the weekend.
If you are managing numerous social networking profiles Monday-Friday, then you need some down time on Saturday and Sunday. Social media can be addictive and for some it’s hard to turn it off on Friday afternoons, but for long-term sustainability, it’s necessary to draw the line in the sand and shut it down on the weekends.
The good news is that I have found using Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc. on the weekends is actually counterproductive. I tend to lose more followers, fans and friends on weekends than during the week, and my stats show that there is very little ROI [Return on Investment] in terms of traffic, e-mail newsletter and mobile subscribers, event sign ups, etc. from working on the weekends.
2. Pick a time to quit in the evening and stick to it.
I work from home and my office door closes at 6pm. I don’t go back in until the morning. What happens after 6pm can wait. If you work in an office, then when you leave for the day, leave the work in the office and don’t login to your organization’s profiles when you get home.
3. Pick one social networking profile and keep it entirely for fun and your personal life.
This an important one. If social media is all work and no play, then you aren’t going to enjoy it as much and not in the same way that many of your friends, followers, and fans do. Justly recently I deleted over 200 Facebook “Friends” and decided that my personal profile on Facebook was going to be exactly that. Personal. I am only friends with people I know and a few work colleagues who have been filed under a list called “Work” friends. I only see their Status Updates when I want to. It’s the one profile where I can be myself… not a Nonprofit Tech 2.0 Blogger. I rant on politics, and rave on my friends and the milestones in their lives, and do not use it for work. I do use the Nonprofit Organizations Facebook Page for work.
Whether you want to use Facebook or another social networking site for fun, I strongly recommend keeping one profile where your personality can really come through. And yeah, de-friend your boss. Tell her or him that it’s for the sake of the organization. “Hiding” her or him is not enough. Subconsciously, you know they are still there reading your Status Updates.
4. Sometimes just leave the smartphone at home.
Smartphones and Apps are changing the way we use Internet. It’s 24/7 now and almost every occurrence and occasion can be spinned as real-time reporting for your organization. I do think this is the future for nonprofit communicators, so lay down some good habits now. If you’re going out with friends or loved ones, just leave the smartphone at home so you can be present and in the moment. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t break the news on Twitter or if you’re 4 hours behind on the Next Big Thing. And don’t you dare bring it with you on your vacation!
5. Take time for lunch.
This is true whether you work at an office or at home. Don’t work through lunch. Get away from your computer. Enjoy your lunch. Get more greens. People watch. Connect to the world around you.
6. Breathe, exercise, and treat yourself. Seriously.
Working intensely at a computer all day does not contribute to good deep breathing habits. Deep breathing helps you relax. Put a Post-It on your computer to remind yourself to take deep breaths during the work day. Talk a walk on your lunch break. If you can afford it, join a gym or take a yoga class. Massages are great for those of us constantly hunched over a computer, Tweeting and ReTweeting, uploading, updating, copying, pasting, etc., etc., etc. If you are low on cash, go to a local massage school. They usually give massages for $20 to $25. Treat your body well. Seriously. Or your going to have a hellish old age of aches and pains from coming of age in the Age of the Internet.
7. Make time to connect with friends… in person or over the phone!
It’s great to stay in touch with friends on social networking sites, but make sure you keep it old school and connect on the phone or in person. As human beings, we need that.
8. Ignore, block, and delete grumpy, mean people.
I have written about this before. Most people online, particularly in the nonprofit sector, are very friendly and supportive of your organization. But every once in awhile a mean, grumpy person comes along and trys to ruin your day. How to handle them? Disengage, delete, block, and move on. Not only does it save your time and energy for better things, but it feels good. Your mental health is essential to a successful social media strategy for your organization. I can not stress that enough. A good social media strategy is only as good as the human being behind it.
Of course, you will occasionally have people who engage with your organization online that may not agree with a program or statement made by your organization, but they are respectful in their comments. This is community building. What I am talking about is demanding, rude, competitive people that are emboldened by being able to be anonymous online. They are 1 in 1,000 and just looking for fight. Nothing you say will make them happy or keep them quiet. They always have to get the last word. Just ignore, delete, block, and move on.
9. Stay focused on the Good.
If you work at a nonprofit and run their social media campaigns, then you are going to be bombarded with depressing content all day long from the nonprofit and social change sector. That’s the nature of our work and usually what fuels us to get into the nonprofit sector in the first place. From Tweets and Status Updates about Rape as a pre-existing condition to the slaughter of dolphins and whales to children dying from dirty drinking water, the injustice of it all is enough to drive most people into apathy and ignorant bliss. But you are different. You can take it, but you have to find a cause that is making progress and remind yourself that it is getting better. Making periodic small donations to nonprofits and causes you care about helps too.
10. Make sure your work is appreciated by the higher ups in your organization.
Your boss may not understand the important work you are doing for your organization on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. They may just think this a fad or that you’re the lucky one that gets to be on Facebook during work hours. In reality, you’re laying a foundation for what is to come… the Mobile Web. Social networking sites are going mobile, and so will your nonprofit in the near future, as well as your donors, your supporters, your volunteers, and your board. Not only that, your Website traffic has likely has increased significantly since you’ve started using social media, as well as e-newsletter subscriptions. Make sure you are tracking that data, and presenting it to staff at meetings. If your not getting this ROI, then you are not using the sites correctly and it’s time to get training.
Over the last three years, I have presented at almost 50 difference conferences and events about social media and given well-over 200 Webinars on the subject, and the number one issue/complaint/frustration from nonprofit social media practitioners is that their boss doesn’t get it, doesn’t appreciate it, and is more consumed with the worst-case scenario (that never happens) than actually supporting a comprehensive, strategic social media strategy. Make sure your boss understands why this is so important. Be strong. Spell it out. Give her or him the stats, and present to him or her the worst-case scenario which is that the Web is evolving quickly and not keeping up with 21st Century communications will be detrimental to the organization long-term. And while you’re at it, tell her or him to write a smartphone into next year’s budget. You’re going to need it.
