Social Media

Chirpify, the Twitter commerce platform, announced the launch of its new Twitter Fundraising for Politicians platform, and a commitment for at least 25 U.S. Senate and House candidates to use Chirpify for their 2012 political campaigns. Chirpify’s Twitter Fundraising for Politicians enables politicians to raise money for and donors to contribute to campaigns via Twitter with a simple tweet.

Because social media is by definition social but today is also a necessity in your business toolbox, it blurs the black and white lines of personal and professional.

You should never start Facebook with the goal of fundraising. Your first goal should always be to develop relationships through conversation. Because of those relationships and conversations, you get an opportunity to ask your Facebook community for support.

In a nutshell, your mantra should be, ‘Community first, monetize later.’

FundRaising Success e-chats with Blackbaud's Melanie Mathos and Chad Norman about their book, "101 Social Media Tactics for Nonprofits," and social media.

Attention! 
Social Media Does Not Equal 
Fundraising! In a nutshell, your mantra should be, ‘Community first, monetize later.’

FundRaising Success e-chats with Blackbaud's Melanie Mathos and Chad Norman about their book, "101 Social Media Tactics for Nonprofits," and social media.

Last week, I asked the question: How do smaller nonprofits compete — and even beat some of the bigger, established players? Keeping your mailings highly personal, having well-understood programs, offering matching-gift challenges and being highly relational are four important ways multitudes of smaller organizations stand out from the pack. But wait! There's more.

With a socially enabled website and CRM solution, you can initiate, respond to and listen in on conversations about your organization. And your donors can gossip their love for your cause to their friends and followers. That is partly made possible by the deep integration capabilities offered by the recently released Facebook Open Graph. This allows the latest website-CRM solutions such as iMIS to associate donors’ Facebook profiles — with their permission — to their constituent records in your database. That means they have granted you access to their social networks.

Ted Hart speaks with Blackbaud's senior public relations manager, Melanie Mathos, and Internet marketing manager, Chad Norman, about their book, "101 Social Media Tactics for Nonprofits: A Field Guide," on his Nonprofit Coach radio show.