<img src="//bat.bing.com/action/0?ti=5065582&amp;Ver=2" height="0" width="0" style="display:none; visibility: hidden;">
Update from Care2
A community for good
helping you find great people
Contact | +1 (888) 655-8345
Request a Quote
  • Home
  • Recruit New Supporters
    • Overview
    • Audience Profile
    • Methodology
    • Pricing & ROI
    • Partner Network
  • Resources
    • Guides
    • Case Studies
    • Webinars
  • Advertise With Care2
    • Overview
  • Care2 Engagement Blog
Care2's Digital Engagement Blog
Learn how to grow your nonprofit through Donor Recruitment, Online Fundraising, Advocacy, and Social Media with Care2’s team of expert nonprofit professionals.

Top Three Platforms Your Nonprofit Should Use

by Hatef Yamini on May 17, 2010

All the nonprofits I work with have one thing in common: they're working overtime just to keep up with the sheer volume of work on their plates. Adding new tools or tasks to their workload wouldn't make me popular, so I've searched high and low to find things that will increase a nonprofit's productivity at little or no cost.
Along the way, I've found three platforms or programs nonprofits should seriously consider. These suggestions aren't sexy but they're free and they can be very powerful tools. Two of them (SlideShare and YouTube for Nonprofits) go a long way to increasing a nonprofit's visibly in Google searches and who wouldn't want that?
The third, Salesforce, is not very well understood and takes some explanation. But it's an incredible value. In fact it's $15,000 worth of software as a service at zero cost to nonprofits.
So let's dive deeper into each of these:
1. SlideShare

What is it?
Social media for professionals and a place to share presentations online.
 
Why is it important?
You've probably heard of SlideShare by now or even watched a presentation or two. But I don't see many nonprofits taking advantage of this platform. One reason might be that the audience on SlideShare is mostly comprised of business and IT professionals.
I can see why this would make nonprofits shy away from SlideShare. But that doesn't mean nonprofits can't begin to use it. For one thing, it's a powerful search engine optimization tool. It's also experiencing explosive growth - over 100% growth over the past year.

According to Rashmi Sinha, the CEO, SlideShare is the worlds largest professional sharing community. SlideShare gets 28 million unique visitors per month and 80 million unique page views per month. The average time on site is 8 minutes (that's a lot) with an average of 20 slides viewed per visit. All of this translates into a lot of search engine visibility - meaning your nonprofit's slides could show up on Google searches for your keywords if you optimize the keywords for your slides.

What to do:
  • Upload your materials to SlideShare. 
  • Create slidecast webinars by syncing audio to your slides. Easy to do with any laptop with a built-in microphone, for example. 
  • Embed your SlideShare content in your blog posts and on your website. Easy to do with embed code provided on SlideShare.com for each of your slides.
  • Create new content or repurpose your existing presentations, case studies, white papers and brochures on slideshare.

2. Salesforce Nonprofit Edition

What is it?
It's a CRM or customer relationship management platform. Effectively it's a sophisticated and customizable database.

Why is it important?
You may have heard of Salesforce but wondered what it is or how you could use it. You may have even thought that it was expensive (and you would be correct if you were a for-profit). But what a lot of nonprofits don't know is that you can get $15,000 worth of Salesforce service at no cost. Yes, that was not a typo...I said $15,000. 

That's because Salesforce has decided to help nonprofits as part of its corporate social responsibility strategy. With Salesforce CRM product donations, your nonprofit can get up to 10 donated Salesforce CRM licenses. Each seat is worth $1,500 per year.

And because it's a completely hosted, cloud base solution, there's no software to install or maintain. Your data is safe and automatically backed up. Your team can access the system from any internet connected computer. All you need is a modern browser and Internet access. There's even a Nonprofit Starter Pack that's been built from the ground up as customized Salesforce implementation for nonprofits.
 
What can you do with Salesforce? A lot, but here are some highlights:
  • You can replace all your Excel spreadsheets and standalone databases
  • Track donations and donors and group them into households
  • You can track your Google Grants program and Google AdWords outreach
  • Track your contacts, volunteers, allies, constituents and donors and run reports of their activities and contributions
  • Create dashboards and reports to instantly see visualizations of your data
What to do:
  • Watch the 7-minute program introduction video here.
  • Go here to to learn more and apply.
  • Yes, these are pitchy...but read the Salesforce case studies to increase your understanding of the capabilities of the platform.
  • In addition to the Saleforce for Nonprofit donation program, Salesforce has a grant program. Learn more and apply for a grant here.

3. YouTube Branded Nonprofit Channel

What is it? 
This one's easy because everyone knows what YouTube is. It's the the world's largest online video community.

Why is it important?
Simple. It's really important to make the most of this platform because YouTube is the second most visited destination after Google.

YouTube is a great way for your nonprofit to share its story and get found on the internet. But I've noticed that some nonprofits haven't taken the important extra step to take advantage of the Google YouTube for Nonprofits program. It lets you customize the branding of your channel and gives you additional features and tools:

You'll get:
  • A branded YouTube channel with increased upload capacity
  • A fundraising option with integrated Google "Donate" button
  • The option for a "call to action" overlay
  • A listing on Google's nonprofit channel and nonprofit videos page
  • The ability to post volunteering opportunities on the YouTube Video Volunteers platform
What to do:
  • Watch the introductory video and apply for a YouTube non-profit channel 
  • Brand your channel by uploading your logo and matching the background color scheme to your brand
  • Upload all of your available video footage and tag the content
  • Join the YouTube for Nonprofits Google Group to get the monthly newsletter

Related Articles:

  • Four Useful Apps for Nonprofits - Frogloop
  • Top 8 Social Media Tracking Tools - Frogloop
  • 5 Ways Non-Profits Can Increase Engagement With YouTube - Mashable

*This article was written by Hatef Yamini, a leader and entrepreneur experienced in developing the Web presence, strategic communication plans, and online marketing campaigns for nonprofits across a wide range of sectors including human rights, energy and healthcare. He can be reached at hatef@simpliconsulting.com or (202) 596-1430

 

 

You should follow Frogloop on Twitter.

 

 

Topics: Social Networking, Technology, Trends

Hatef Yamini

Subscribe to Email Updates

Subscribe to RSS feeds
New Call-to-action
New Call-to-action

Recent Posts

Posts by Topic

  • Online Fundraising (334)
  • Social Networking (333)
  • Trends (303)
  • Web 2.0 (230)
  • Online Marketing (160)
  • Online Advocacy (157)
  • Technology (127)
  • Nonprofit Events (90)
  • Marketing Research (89)
  • Email Marketing (80)
  • Online Organizing (75)
  • nptech (63)
  • Nonprofit (62)
  • Misc. (60)
  • Mobile (48)
  • Care2 Webinars (44)
  • Care2 News (38)
  • Video (37)
  • Nonprofit Benchmark Studies (33)
  • Integrated Marketing (27)
  • Metrics (25)
  • Guest Blogs (23)
  • Lead Generation (23)
  • fundraising (21)
  • Case Studies (20)
  • Conferences (18)
  • Digital Strategy (17)
  • Direct Marketing (17)
  • Volunteering (17)
  • Social Media (16)
  • Cause Marketing (13)
  • Care2 Case Studies (12)
  • Direct Mail (12)
  • Online Advertising (12)
  • Crowdsourcing (10)
  • Awards (8)
  • Marketing (7)
  • SEO (7)
  • Blogging (5)
  • E-newsletters (5)
  • email fundraising (5)
  • COVID19 (4)
  • Social Justice (3)
  • research (3)
  • crowdfunding (2)
  • data (2)
  • remote work (2)
  • CRM (1)
  • Democracy (1)
  • Election2020 (1)
  • Giving Tuesday (1)
  • Politics (1)
  • Qgiv (1)
  • ROI (1)
  • SMS (1)
  • Twitter (1)
  • Voting (1)
  • activism (1)
  • advocacy (1)
  • analytics (1)
  • board management (1)
  • business (1)
  • cyber bullying (1)
  • donor data (1)
  • eBooks (1)
  • harassment (1)
  • mobile fundraising (1)
  • mobile giving (1)
  • monthly giving (1)
  • online harassment (1)
  • organizing (1)
  • payment processing (1)
  • report (1)
  • survey (1)
  • web development (1)
Expand all

Authors List

  • Allyson Kapin (578)
  • Justin Perkins (54)
  • Hatef Yamini (41)
  • James OMalley (40)
  • Clinton OBrien (26)
  • Avi Kaplan (25)
  • care2team (24)
  • Jocelyn Harmon (17)
  • Ned Baker (16)
  • Jordan Wait (14)
  • Eric Rardin (13)
  • Justyn Hintze (9)
  • Lesley M. (9)
  • Geoff Livingston (8)
  • Karen Taggart (8)
  • Randy Paynter (8)
  • Carrie Saracini (7)
  • Amy Sample Ward (6)
  • Claire Kerr (6)
  • Matt Howes (6)
  • Alan Rosenblatt (5)
  • Neal Gorenflo (5)
  • Rob Wu (5)
  • Salima Mangalji (5)
  • Adrienne Royer (4)
  • Caitlin Ochs (4)
  • Heidi Bucheister (4)
  • Kara Fujita (4)
  • Ryann Miller (4)
  • Shayna Englin (4)
  • Allyson Kapin and Jared Seltzer (3)
  • Craig Newmark (3)
  • Dana Weissman (3)
  • Heather Holdridge (3)
  • Mark Rovner (3)
  • Michael L. (3)
  • Nancy Schwartz (3)
  • Susan Higgins (3)
  • Abby Jarvis (2)
  • Agata K. (2)
  • Alia Mckee (2)
  • Amil Husain (2)
  • Ann Yoders (2)
  • Care2 Team (2)
  • Colin Delany (2)
  • Deanna Zandt (2)
  • Frank Barry (2)
  • Garth Moore Michael Silberman and Liz Butler (2)
  • Gerard Tonti (2)
  • Ghazal Vaghedi (2)
  • Hilary Treat (2)
  • Holly Ross (2)
  • Ifdy Perez (2)
  • JD Lasica (2)
  • Jared Seltzer (2)
  • Jill Foster (2)
  • Justin Perkins and Mirm Kriegel (2)
  • Karen Zapp (2)
  • Kelly ONeal (2)
  • Kevin Carroll (2)
  • Kevin Gilnack (2)
  • Larissa Lawrence (2)
  • Maddie Grant (2)
  • Rachel Hartwick (2)
  • Robin Reed (2)
  • Shabbir J. Imber Safdar (2)
  • Steve Daigneault (2)
  • Steve MacLaughlin (2)
  • Ted Fickes (2)
  • Ailea Sneller (1)
  • Alejandra Guerrero (1)
  • Alexandra Bornkessel (1)
  • Ali Cherry (1)
  • Allison Fine (1)
  • Allison Van Diest (1)
  • Allyson Goldsmith (1)
  • Andrew Berry (1)
  • Anna Richter (1)
  • Annaliese Hoehling (1)
  • Ashley Hansen (1)
  • Beth Kanter (1)
  • Bethany Hertel (1)
  • Candace Clement (1)
  • Candace Cody (1)
  • Casey Golden (1)
  • Charles Lenchner and Elana Levin (1)
  • Chris Burley (1)
  • Daniel Bennett (1)
  • Danielle Marshall (1)
  • Darian Rodriguez Heyman (1)
  • David M. Lawson abd Lori Hood Lawson (1)
  • Debra Askanase (1)
  • Duane Raymond (1)
  • Elissa Leif and Barbara Haupt (1)
  • Elliot Greenberger (1)
  • Farra Trompeter (1)
  • Garth Moore (1)
  • Grant Cobb (1)
  • Gretchen Barry (1)
  • Hilary S. (1)
  • Holly DeRuyter (1)
  • Ira Horowitz (1)
  • Jacob Smith (1)
  • Jacqueline Christy (1)
  • Jared Schwartz (1)
  • Jason Mogus (1)
  • Jeb Banner (1)
  • Jen Nedeau (1)
  • Jenna Sauber (1)
  • Jennifer Jones Ingram (1)
  • Jessica Edmonson (1)
  • Jessica Teal (1)
  • John Haydon (1)
  • John Killoran (1)
  • Joleen Ong (1)
  • Karen Kitchens (1)
  • Karen Uffelman (1)
  • Kari Saratovsky (1)
  • Katya Andresen (1)
  • Kayla Coleman (1)
  • Kira Marchenese (1)
  • Kivi Leroux Miller (1)
  • Lars Hasselblad Torres and Kate Mytty (1)
  • Laura Quinn (1)
  • Lori Finch (1)
  • Luis Hestres Kimberly Fountain and Alex Bea (1)
  • Madeleine Milan (1)
  • Mal Warwick (1)
  • Mari Tikkanen (1)
  • Marisa Taylor (1)
  • Marnie Webb (1)
  • Melanie Mathos (1)
  • Michael Hoffman (1)
  • Michael Khoo (1)
  • Michael Silberman (1)
  • Michelle Coyle (1)
  • Michelle Murrain (1)
  • Moira Edwards (1)
  • Rachel Phan (1)
  • Rella Kaplowitz (1)
  • Riche Zamor and Matt Kelley (1)
  • Robert J. Rosenthal (1)
  • Sara Choe (1)
  • Sarah Massey (1)
  • Seth Oldmixon (1)
  • Shabbir Imber Safdar Kate Harle Dale Anania (1)
  • Shana Glickfield (1)
  • Shaun Dakin (1)
  • Shayna Englin and Shabbir Safdar (1)
  • Shirley Sexton (1)
  • Stacy Laiderman (1)
  • Stephen OKeefe (1)
  • Steve Andersen (1)
  • Steve Peretz (1)
  • Suki Lee (1)
  • Theresa Anoje (1)
  • Tim Forbes (1)
  • Tim Robinson (1)
  • Tracy Viselli (1)
  • Veronica Wilson (1)
  • Wayne Elsey (1)
Expand all

Logo-white

Care2.com is an online social action network with over 50 million members around the world. Hundreds of nonprofits and socially conscious brands work with us to connect with our highly engaged members and recruit new donors, members, supporters, and customers.

+ Learn more about Care2

Overview

  • Recruit New Supporters
  • Audience Profile
  • Methodology
  • Pricing & ROI

Contact us

Redwood City, CA
94065
United States
+1 (888) 655-8345
nonprofitservices@care2team.com

Learn with Care2

Care2's Digital Engagement Blog

Community Building Resources

Follow us:

Copyright © 2015 Care2.com | All Care2 terms of service and privacy policies apply
Featured logos are trademarks of their respective owners. Third party trademarks, logos and trade names appearing on the site are the property of their respective owners.