Online Fundraising, Advocacy, and Social Media

Nonprofit Weekly Picks

Written by Allyson Kapin | 2010/1/20

Every day I carve out at least 30 minutes to read articles by some of my favorite nonprofit practitioner bloggers filled with useful new data and thoughtful analyses of fundraising, online advocacy and social media. Below are my top picks for the week. 

To the Point: Get Ready to Rummage
Time to toss what’s not working and make a new plan for 2010.

Care2's Jocelyn Harmon wrote up a great list of six suggestions for Fundraising Success Magazine's blog on how nonprofits need to step up their marketing game in 2010. Her list includes:

1. Stop thinking tactics.

2. Stop being passive about press coverage.

3. Stop debating which channel is best.

4. Stop worrying about losing control.

5. Stop saying you're not tech-savvy.

6. Stop flying blind.

Read the full article here.

5 Social Media Lessons From the Haiti Earthquake Relief Effort

Has your nonprofit been monitoring the outpour of donations by people all over the world to support Haiti relief efforts? What role has social media played in helping to connect people with relief organizations like Oxfam or the American Red Cross? Geoff Livingston of Zoetica Media wrote up a post for Mashable that examined:

  • The maturation of mobile giving
  • How CrisisCamps were organized to develop technology to help Haiti relief efforts
  • Integration of social media with traditional media
  • How the story was emotional, but not fully told
  • How immediacy and impact aren't the same

Read the full article here.

Crimes Committed Against Email

Steve MacLaughlin's post over at BlackBaud is one of my favorite reads of 2010. In his spot-on post he discusses the 57 email messages that he received from nonprofit organizations during the last week of 2009. The following "are some criminal acts perpetrated by nonprofits using email"

  • Missing person in the subject line
  • Attack of the giant image
  • Subject line originality
  • Action only listed in the callout box
  • Land of the lost donation pages

Read the full article here.

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