Social Media

Arnon Shafir, CEO and co-founder of give2gether, explains how fundraisers can understand and engage the next generation of philanthropists — and raise funds — through social media.

Having a social-media strategy is not its own objective. Rather, social-media strategies can support your existing objectives. Reflect on your organization's current objectives: Do you want to cultivate supporter relationships, build cause awareness, do online fundraising or connect with new supporters? Those are all goals social media can help support.

I honestly don't know how nonprofits could go so far as to send their friends and followers gifts for joining in the online conversation, but there is definitely a lesson here from Pepperidge Farm about the power of taking the time to talk to the people who take the time to talk to you.

With the new year now well under way, U.S. nonprofit groups have indicated that they likely will place heavy emphasis on social media and mobile solutions to drive stronger fundraising and marketing results in coming months, according to Charity Dynamics’ 2012 Digital Marketing Survey.

The survey, which includes feedback from 70 Charity Dynamics clients, revealed shifting priorities in some areas of nonprofits’ marketing plans for the year ahead. 

Among them, 73 percent of respondents indicated that their organizations plan to address social media strategies in 2012.

The longer a donor has been involved with an organization, the more loyal and valuable that donor is. Thus, fundraisers must always be on the lookout for ways to engage young donors now to establish a relationship that will bear fruit for years to come.

Artez Interactive is proud to announce the launch of a new social fundraising app. The Friendship Powered Fundraising™ app enables friends to share the charities and social causes they support on their Facebook Timeline. The Artez app is designed for people who want to tell their friends on Facebook that they donated to a cause they care about.

Blue Calypso announced the launch of 'Calyp for a Cause,' an expansion of the company's patented Calyp platform. Blue Calypso is enhancing Calyp to provide nonprofit organizations with an unparalleled way to fulfill their vision and mission using social media. The first nonprofit to leverage of the Calyp platform is The Partnership at Drugfree.org.

The Case Foundation is asking people who witness random acts of kindness this holiday season to capture those moments in photos and post them on their favorite social network. They may get a nice reward for that good deed: up to $500 for themselves and up to $5,000 for their favorite charity. The goal of the program, called #GoodSpotting, is to honor “little acts of good that go unsung” by recording them with pictures, says Allyson Burns, a spokeswoman for the Washington foundation started by the AOL founder Steve Case and his wife, Jean.

Marketing email vendor Silverpop launched a Facebook "marketing innovations" sweepstakes campaign, in which marketers can win prizes while Silverpop makes donations on their behalf to charity: water. The nonprofit organization seeks to bring clean, safe drinking water to developing nations.

The campaign, which began on Nov. 21 and will run through January 2012, is geared toward marketers and is running on Silverpop's Facebook page. For each new fan, the company will donate $1 to charity: water, with a maximum of $5,000 over the course of the promotion.

Executives have come a long way in understanding the social Web. However, as I travel the country this year giving trainings on social and mobile media to nonprofits of all sizes, I'm somewhat flummoxed that the No. 1 complaint by nonprofit social-media practitioners is still that, "My boss doesn't get it! What can I do to make him understand?"