Care2's Digital Engagement Blog

After hearing about Twestival, I was intrigued. Could that concept be translated to help a local nonprofit? As the director of development of Girls Inc. of Chattanooga, I'm always looking for new ways to raise money. I reached out to John Hawbaker, the editor of Chattarati, a local Chattanooga blog, to see if we could adapt Twestival to help Girls Inc.

Judith Freeman of the New Organizing Institute and Liza Sabater of Culture Kitchen joined me on a panel recently at the Fem 2.0 Conference to discuss the importance of incorporating Web 2.0 tools as part of an organization’s communications strategy. We had a lively discussion with several senior nonprofit executives about embracing the Web 2.0 world, without mistaking it for "the solution" to your online advocacy and online fundraising needs. The truth is, Web 2.0 is a buzzword. It’s important to recognize that you will not recruit millions of new people to your organization and raise tons of money just because you have a profile on Facebook, or because your staff Twitters. So if your organization can’t recruit millions of new supporters and raise lots of money, then why is Web 2.0 so important? Here are my top five reasons why every organization should have a solid presence in the Web 2.0 world.

I love the concept of “patch-through” telephone call campaigns because it promises to help organizations empower their constituents to call their Members of Congress offices and directly express their position on important legislative bills. However, for many years these kinds of campaigns have been tricky – to say the least – to pull off successfully. For one thing, the staff time and budget it takes to run patch-through call campaigns can be overwhelming. You have to coach constituents effectively so they don’t end up stuttering and confused at the moment when they suddenly find themselves on the phone (thanks to you) with their Congressional office. Plus it’s difficult to measure results, because there aren’t many good reporting tools.

Lets be frank, daily doom and gloom reports about the economy are scary. Nonprofits are facing challenging times with leaner resources.