
Social Media

How do you become your donors' favorite cause — you, the one that they want? Here are five things you can do to increase engagement
Wow, we here at FundRaising Success had a collective Sally-Field-winning-the-Oscar moment — you know, "You like me! You really like me!" — yesterday when we realized that we were just 12 "friends" away from 1,000 on our Facebook page and 18 followers away from 3,000 on Twitter.
I had time to reflect on the topic that is on every marketing professional's mind these days: What is the return of our investment in social media — in my case for a general interest museum?
In the October 2007 feature, "OMG! Comment Me!" then FS Associate Editor Abny Santicola took a look at how organizations large and small were using social media.
As nonprofits have increasingly turned to social media, policies to govern their use have become the new frontier. It can be difficult for organizations to find examples that fit their needs. A good social media policy will provide clear guidelines as to what staff should and shouldn’t do when posting and interacting with the community on a day-to-day basis, freeing them up to think more strategically. But what’s involved in creating one?
A few years back, folks were talking about the possibility of fundraising in that weird, little world called Second Life. Thinking it might be fun, like the self-contained world of The Sims I was into at the time, I tried to jump in to that realm — without much luck. Here are my columns outlining that sad effort — one from July 2008 and another from July 2009.
The question today is not whether a charity should use social media, but how it should use the information that supporters are sharing on social media to attract more people to its mission and increase fundraising. The answer to the question lies in understanding social media constituents and identifying which ones are the most “social” — those who best interact with and influence others across their online networks — because, while each constituent is a potential donor, some are more adept at spreading the word and energising others.
If your organization’s retention efforts aren’t fine-tuned, this is the perfect webinar to help you focus.
When it comes down to it, crowdfunding is just a form of fundraising, reframed for the 21st century. Basic fundraising principles still apply: You have a cause or a project, you tell people about it, and they pledge their support. But there are some intriguing differences that make crowdfunding a very modern way of fundraising.
Ted Hart, CEO of Charities Aid Foundation of America
(CAFAmerica) and CEO of P2P Fundraising
, GreenNonprofits.org
and TedHart.com, speaks with nonprofit trainer Beth Kanter, co-author of "The Networked Nonprofit," about social media in this archived episode of his Nonprofit Coach radio show.