Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Social Media Aggregators

Ok, so I have been really really bad about keeping up with my Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook recently. It is REALLY hard to keep up with all of this stuff! So I did a little research to see what I could do to keep up with my different social media accounts, and I found one called "yoono" that seemed to get some good reviews. I installed it today, and I love it so far--I can keep up with Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn in the side of my browser window. It's awesome! I love it so far--but will keep posted to see if this is love at first click or if it will a deep, meaningful relationship.

I also joined a new social networking site today called Young Asssociation Professionals---its a networking site from the ladies at SocialFish.

Saying "No"

During one of my informational interviews, I was informed about a local nonprofit named "Young Women's Alliance". Last week, I was able to attend one of their meetings--it was a general meeting, and one of the best meetings of the year! It involved a panel discussion of the advisory board for YWA, and we were given the opportunity to listen to the women speak, and then ask them questions. It was interesting to hear their perspectives. I believe all three of the women were entrepreneurs and each of them were also on the boards of various nonprofits and had even started some nonprofits. It was really interesting to see how these women have dealt with juggling their personal and professional lives. One of the things that they mentioned was getting the ability to use the word "no" and how much that has changed their lives. I think that all of us (especially women) have had trouble using that word and how big of an impact it will have on their lives. I have a very very hard time saying no, but I am slowly learning how to. When I tell some people that I am interested in working for/with nonprofits, some make faces and say that nonprofits just burn their people out. Learning how to say no will be crucial to making sure that this doesn't happen to me!

Coke should give this guy a call!!

I came across this article a couple of days ago, and I am amazed! The iconic Coke bottle has become synonymous with the brand, and it would be interesting to see how an amazing idea like this would be able to revolutionize (look at the numbers!!!!) of Coke and it's environmental impact. Kudos to this guy for coming up with such a great idea!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Lining up people and their passions

I read this blog post and I thought it was pretty amazing site with a pretty cool concept. Most people know what they want to become involved in, but they don't know how to find an organization that does exactly what they want.

60 Minutes Per Day Social Media Maintenance Plan

Check out this SlideShare Presentation: I thought that this was really powerful...and it's so easy to see and follow, and the more familiar you become with the social media tools, it may only take only 45 minutes! or it can be amended according to your organization's specific needs. Either way---I think that this is a great starting point!

Lights. Camera. Help. Party

Last night I went to a party that I found out about on the YNPN list serv. My friend Renee and I went and we decided to go to check it out. We weren't sure what it was about or what to expect, so we were pretty nervous. It turns out that Lights. Camera. Help. is a new non-profit here in Austin and their mission is to help nonprofits create movies or short videos for marketing, social media or fundraising for their organizations. Lights. Camera. Help. gives classes to other nonprofits in what they need to do to make movies. They also host a nonprofit film festival and give cash prizes to those nonprofits who have the best films. We were able to watch a few of them last night at the party--they were pretty powerful. One that struck me the most was from a local organization here in Austin that works with students who have dyslexia in a free after school program. The students in the short film were all very well-spoken and so willing to learn! They spoke about what an impact this particular nonprofit had on them and their learning at school. It was incredible--and I wanted to donate to them right away!

Lights. Camera. Help. is also debuting a new volunteer match-up system. This will allow nonprofits and volunteers to be auto-matched in their system to get the skills in the time-frame that the nonprofits need. This is great--and hopefully this model of matching volunteers automatically to nonprofits' needs will become more and more powerful and exact so that it will be mutually beneficial!

Bumpin' Bumpin'

One of the apps on my iPhone has an ad that runs before it starts. The ad is for PayPal and it says that there is an app where two iPhone users can bump each other to get and accept a payment. This got me thinking-this could probably work for accepting donations! Picture it--a grassroots fundraiser is having a dinner to support a cause. In addition to collecting cash donations, donors can "bump" with the event organizers to collect funds. No money has to exchange hands--it could just be bumped! And then the peer-to-peer fundraising tool would make sure that it was billed and the donor was recognized!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Status messages the automatic way!!

Recently, I became part of the Progressive Exchange Listserv. Yesterday, someone from water.org or one.org sent out an email asking all of the PXers to join World Water Week. There was a link to the Facebook application for the week, so I was immediately intrigued and clicked on the link. I was given the opportunity to choose exactly how involved with the campaign I wanted to be. I had the option of donating my status messages and/or my profile picture for the campaign. I decided that I would just do the status message, and I have posted a couple of status messages from water.org already encouraging others to donate their messages, and to learn more about World Water Week and the plight of those who do not have access to water.
I am happy to donate my status messages—I didn’t even have to do anything since the app does all the work for me. I am a little afraid that this is a “Big Brother-y” type app since it automatically updates my status messages and it can change my profile picture. I hope that my friends aren’t getting spammed by the app, and I can always check and update my preferences for the app at any point during the week.
A few days ago, I wrote about how our social networks have become our editors for news, videos, issues, etc. I don’t know if my network on Facebook is clicking on the links or not for these posts, but I feel good knowing that my friends and family (the only people in my Facebook network) know that this is important to me.
Has this become the future for advocacy in nonprofits? Will it be as easy as creating an app that will give you access to status messages and profile pictures? Will this be cost prohibitive for some organizations? But does this cheapen advocacy for an organization? I don’t feel like I am really a part of World Water Week—sure I gave my status message, but I’m not doing anything more than that…It will be interesting to see if this catches on or not.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Nestle Meltdown on Facebook shows Sticky Side of Social Media

Nestle Meltdown on Facebook shows Sticky Side of Social Media


This article is what most nonprofits list as one of their biggest fears and reasons for not implementing social media--they can't control what is being said about them on pages and comments. The firestorm that Nestle is experiencing has affected the price of its stock and it is receiving wide spread attention. People who may not have heard about the issues with Nestle are now going to be exposed to the issue.
We talk about how our social networks have become our news editors. We learn from what our friends are interested in, and in turn we pass along what we are interested in. In fact, there are people in my social network (especially on Twitter) that I have never met and probably will never meet, but I respect their views and find them interesting so I will read their opinions and click on links that they post. In this way, news and opinions can spread quickly.
It will be interesting to see how Nestle responds to this and how they can possibly make a comeback. Perhaps in this 140-character world our attention spans and memories are so short that the majority of people will forget the issues getting attention right now.

Friday, March 19, 2010

A little rant or What not to do to your donors....

I love my alma mater. I hope to one day have a scholarship named after me there. However, because of the economy and other competing interests (like the cost of going there), the scholarship will need to wait.

I am on the committee for my 5 year reunion. Our contact person has asked all of us to make a donation to the college's annual fund. Completely understandable, I get it. I would expect that the people on the committee would be one of the first to donate. So, last night I got some money together and made my donation online.

Now, let me tell you this. My alma mater is a warm and fuzzy place. They are smiling people, a small college where everyone knows everyone and you feel good about yourself for going there. I made my donation pretty easily online. No big deal. Then I waited for the thank you email after the confirmation that I was sure would come. This place is warm and welcoming and they thank everyone all the time, so I was sure that a thank you would be on its way.

Immediately after I made the donation, I received an email. I will copy and paste it because it is that unbelievable.

From: xx_prod@infinet-inc.com
Subject: Standard Notification
Date: March 18, 2010 11:25:29 PM CDT
To: Molly Heinsler


Molly Heinsler,

A credit card payment in the amount of $51.00 was approved on 03/19/2010 at 00:25 AM.

The confirmation number is 124870.

Regards,

QuikPAY Online Services





this is the only thing that I have received from the college. I received a "Standard Notification". It doesn't even have a thank you.



Please do not do this to your donors.

In this economy, with my lack of a "big girl" job, I had to sacrifice to make a donation. And all i got was a standard notification.

Ouch.

Five insights into the behaviors of social media users

Five insights into the behaviors of social media users

This article is particularly interesting to me because social media seems so ubiquitous, but that's only because we are really immersed in it. If you are following a bunch of people, how do you remember who is following you and who isn't on Twitter and whether or not they are posting? I certainly don't remember, and don't have the time to check because I am too busy updating my other sites or reading blogs. :)

One thing that I found really amazing is the line in the article that says "Social media users of all ages are still spurred to check things out online as a direct result of face-to-face communication". I find this to be true, and thanks to the iPhone, I can check it out almost immediately. Word-of-mouth is still extremely important, and it wasn't so long ago when most companies were finding ways to guerilla market their products, and now they seem to be neglecting this in favor of social media. Oh, but both need to be focused on. Both are extremely important!!!

What does this mean for non-profits? So, many non-profits are doing one or the other--they are not using social media at all, and are trying to focus on their constituents in person or only via email. Others have foregone the in person focus for social media. Neither of these is good! Granted, I do want to work in a job where I can use my the knowledge that I have gained about social media, but I still want to be able to interact with people face to face.

Moral of the story--Face-to-face communication is still important. So is social media. Use your resources wisely!!!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Ok, so it’s been a while since I’ve talked about my job search. Maybe I haven’t even spoken about it at all on my blog. I’m not quite sure. Anyway, I was turned down from my dream job. I thought this job, company and I were meant to be—it was seriously just about everything that I could dream of. And it was in DC! It just wasn’t meant to be.
I have to admit the job search has me just a little jaded. I am currently working at 3 other jobs that are just to tide me over until I get my “Big Girl” job. I hear on the news all the time about people who have been unemployed for months, weeks, etc. I don’t want to think about how long it has been for me to under-employed (or “unemployed” according to the people hunting me down to pay my student loan debt), but it’s been a while. I’m holding out though—I know what I want in a job and in the organization that I work for. I’ve become astute enough through my education and my information interviews to know that I shouldn’t just take ANYTHING no matter what.
Anyway, after the dream job fell through, I found a similar job posting with another organization. I have a contact there, but he is on vacation until next Monday. Which means that he won’t even respond to my email until…maybe Wednesday at the earliest?
This is a for-profit SaaS company with offices in Austin and the job that I want is in DC, where they have other offices. I have been contemplating taking out some Facebook ads that are targeted only toward people with this company’s name in their profile. The ad would like to my personal website, which has my resume and other personal information on it.
I think I’m going to go for it—nothing to lose right? As one of my friends said “In this economy, you have to do whatever you can to get a job!” So, I guess I am just going to go for it. Maybe.

The Merit of Merit Badges

Remember when you were little and you got a badge in Girl or Boy Scouts for learning a new skill or going on an overnight trip? The feeling of being able to proudly show the badge, of knowing that you had done something good and were being recognized for it was, well awesome.
Lately, I have been obsessing using the CauseWorld app on my iPhone. At first, I received many badges for where I was checking in. I got a frequency badge for checking in a bunch of times at one location (ok, it was one of the places that I could be in my apartment and check in from), an All-nighter badge for checking in at 3 am (couldn’t sleep), a Nomadic badge (for checking in at 5 different places) and various others. Now that I have been using it for a while, the badges are more infrequent, but I am obsessed with getting them. I don’t know which one I am going to get next, but it has become a compulsion to check in wherever I go! And the thing is—every time I check in, I receive more karma points, so it all goes towards a good cause. I have donated all the points to great causes, so it’s all good!
My yoga studio has something similar. We receive wrist bands in different colors for attending classes. Just like CauseWorld, we receive more at the beginning of our journey, and they become more and more infrequent, but somehow more rewarding. It’s a point of pride for me to wear my 200-class wrist band, and I can’t wait until I get the 350 class band in front of the people that I practice with. They present the wrist-band at the beginning of class and the teacher gives a little speech. It’s nice to be recognized for hard work!
I listened to All Things Considered today on NPR, and they had an Austin local contributor talking about the interactive part of SXSW. When asked what the next big thing is, Omar Gallaga said that it would probably have to be 4-Square and Gowalla, GPS based apps where people can check in at locations and let their networks know where they are. People earn badges for where they check in (similar to CauseWorld), and the ultimate honor is being declared the Mayor of a certain place on 4-Square. This is given to the person who has checked in the most times at a specific location.
Anyhoo, what does this mean for non-profit organizations? GIVE BADGES. Our inner Girl or Boy Scout still wants badges. Perhaps organizations can give badges to people that volunteer. They can get badges for frequency, duties performed, etc. Maybe Convio, Blackbaud or any of the other CRMs can allow badges to become part of their peer-to-peer fundraising pages. It’s like the equivalent of the sashes that we used to have our mother sew our badges on! But seriously, nonprofits need to jump on board with this stuff. I am all about recognizing people for their hard work and making a big deal of people who are doing good things for your organization. Do it!!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Alternative Spring Breaks

It’s spring break time again. Lots of college students are headed down to various tropical locales to drink, sleep and sun themselves on the beach. However, more and more schools and organizations are offering alternative spring breaks. Students who sign up may travel to an area that needs help and volunteer for several days, or stay where they are and volunteer locally. Most students coming back from Mexico say that it was “the experience of a lifetime”. The students on the alternative spring breaks would probably say the same, and actually mean it.
When I was in college, our campus ministry department had a staff member whose sole responsibility was to organize and recruit students to go on multiple trips “mission trips” throughout the year. This was not to say that the students were out preaching—it was faith through action and social just oriented than anything else. There were local trips, national trips and even a few international trips. All of them were amazing, and some even gave college credit!
When I was a sophomore in college, I traveled to Americus, GA to work with a group from my school and to learn about the history and mission of Habitat for Humanity and to help build a house in one of the Habitat communities. During the few days that we were in Americus, we lived together in a large Habitat-owned house, and cooked, cleaned and entertained one another.
I remember calling my father after our first day of working on site and giving him a stern talking to because I was 20 and had just learned how to use a hammer! I was absolutely horrified that I had just learned this basic life skill.
During this trip my eyes were opened to more than just my lack of manual labor—I also saw some poverty, and learned about what a great mission Habitat for Humanity was. We met Millard Fullard (the founder of HoH) and his wife, who were able to talk to us a bit about how they live and why they have done everything that they have. We spoke with people who have been recipients of Habitat homes and how their lives along with their living situations. Because of my experience, I continued to volunteer for the local Habitat chapter during my college career, and support Habitat as much as I can.
I support these alternative spring breaks very much, but only if the students are in the frame of mind where they WANT to volunteer, learn and experience. The traditional spring breaks are good—students work hard and they should have fun. But sometimes, they feel the need to give back. As these alternative spring breaks become more popular, graduating students will have a more worldly view and know what it feels like to give back, and to make a difference in someone’s life.

know yourself

Yesterday was another informational interview. I have recommended to anyone that I know who is looking for a job to go on as many as early as possible. Anyway, back to the informational interview. I had coffee with a friend of a friend who makes her living as a professional grant writer. Sometime over last summer, I decided that my life work was going to be grant writer. I literally read every book in the Austin Public Library system on writing grants, researching grants and how grants are evaluated. I learned a lot, and tried to apply for some jobs, but before I could get a job, I needed experience. So, I have volunteered to write a grant for an organization that is looking to do something that I am actually passionate about! I was very lucky to be able to write my first grant on something that I actually like!
Anyway, we chatted about how her experience as a contractor/consultant has been and the unique challenges facing grant writers who do not work directly for an organization. She mentioned that she does not just do grant writing, she also will work to develop programs, evaluate past (failed) grants and mentor someone who is looking to expand their career into grant writing. She said that one of the biggest things to focus on right now is the services that I will and will not provide. Creating boundaries within my work will help me to be most effective at my job, most effective for the organization and efficient.
I think that this was the thing that struck me most about our conversation—that setting boundaries for when I pick up the phone, should a client call, what to agree to do, etc. is the most important because you know your own strengths and capabilities better than anyone. I believe that acknowledging these things will help you to become successful!

SXSWi

SXSW Interactive is just wrapping up here in Austin. I wish that I could have gone because there were so many different amazing resources for nonprofits and other geeky things that I am interested in. There were a lot of panels and talks on social media and the ways that nonprofit organizations can use them to their advantage.
Last year, the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas decided to do something unique during SXSW. Using a 4 person street team and 50 Bloggers, Twitterers, and Facebook users they were looking to increase donations to the CAFB. Tyson Foods said that it would donate 100 lbs of food for every person who went to a specific website and filled out a form.
Neither Tyson nor CAFB knew what would happen next. Over 4800 people signed the pledge! Additionally, 714 people who signed the pledge gave an additional $28,000. 95% of these donors were first time donors!!
One of the most amazing things was that one single Tweeter was the source of 967 visits to the website to sign the pledge. Who would have thought that one single person could drive so much traffic?
The age of social media is here and nonprofits can clearly be successful by using it. SXSWi may be a unique case because it attracts techie, social conscious people. This was a perfect thing for Tyson and for Capital Area Food Bank to launch last year.

This year, Capital Area Food Bank just came out with an iPhone app. I was curious what the “iPheedaneed” app was all about, since they are one of the first (possibly only?) nonprofit to have an app. The app includes news and facts about CAFB and their mission, recipes and events. One of the most innovative things is a game called “Catch the Can”. I tried to play it and failed miserably, but kudos to CAFB for having something interactive on the app!!

Friday, March 12, 2010

Just listen while you work

I have gone on many informational interviews recently. They are amazing and helpful, and I have met and spoken with many interesting people. It is far out of my comfort zone since meeting with people I don’t know makes me sweat. Not like exercise sweat, but nervous sweat.
I did what any perfectionist, type-A over-achiever would do—I prepped. A lot. I researched the organization that the person worked for, Googled them and then came up with a list of about 30 questions to ask. When I met my interviewee, I bombarded them with awkward questions and took notes on my paper.
As I have gone on more and more of the informational interviews, I have become more comfortable. They still make me sweat, but at least it is not pouring off of me like before. I have put away the questions and the pen and paper, and now focus on having a genuine conversation with this person who has taken the time to meet with me. I still ask questions, only this time, I remember the questions and it isn’t so awkward.
To my shock, I think I have gotten pretty good at them! One of things that I make sure to ask at every interview is “What skills do you think are the most important for someone in the nonprofit industry?” The answers have ranged from learning HTML to having the ability to have many different roles in the organization and be comfortable with it.
This past week, I went on one of the best informational interviews to date. When I asked the skills question, my interviewee thought for a second and then said “Listen, you need to be able to listen”. Wow.
The nonprofit side of my head started thinking that this was a great idea. If someone is donating their money or spending their free time volunteering, there must be a reason behind it. Listening to them—figuring out what motivates them can strengthen your mission as an organization. People want to be heard, and for the most part they enjoy telling their stories. Listening to them makes them feel like a valued member of your nonprofit community.
Then the for profit side of my head started thinking—if you can listen effectively, you can figure out how to market your organization most effectively to that person. You can figure out which way to approach them so that their passion can be utilized most effectively.
As we continued to chat, my great interviewee spoke about how difficult it was to actually listen. To be present and actually listen is an incredible skill. This may be a huge challenge for nonprofits with limited resources and stressed staff, but if they can just find a few moments to listen to the stories of their constituents, it will surely pay off in the long run.

"Call to Action" buttons

I came across this link today and I thought that it was really relevant, especially for those organizations to look at their website quickly and determine whether or not they are using the best practices that are listed in the article. A nonprofit may have a lot of different "call to actions", so making sure that they are not cluttered on the page, or losing their effect is important.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Another Benefit of Nonprofit having a strong social media presence

Many nonprofits already know the benefits of becoming involved with social media and how it can bring in new volunteers, donors, and advocates. Yes, that’s true, but having a strong social media personality can also benefit an organization by showing a corporation that your nonprofit is a “cool” and that this is something that a corporation would like to partner with for a sponsorship.
Think about it—a corporation wants to improve its image by supporting a nonprofit. The corporation has a strong Facebook presence with a few thousand fans, a Twitter account with a lot of followers and an iPhone app. When the corporation is looking for a nonprofit, will they choose the nonprofit with the template website and Facebook page that hasn’t been update in months? Or will they choose the nonprofit with the strong social media presence?
There may be some overlap with the followers of the corporation and the nonprofit, but each would get more “eyes” on them with a partnership. They would mutually benefit from a sponsorship, and everyone would be happy.
If your nonprofit is approached for a corporate sponsorship, it is important to talk about what your social media obligations will be. Most nonprofits think about what the signage will be at their events and to include their logo on the programs and website, but what about the social media aspect? How many times will the corporation mention your cause and how many times do you need to mention the corporation?

Where in the world is your non-profit?

One of the newest social media tools to catch on is 4-Square. The user sets up an account and then “checks in” to different companies using the GPS on their mobile device. For instance, if you went to the coffee shop down the street, you would check in using 4-Square. You could then see who else had checked-in in the businesses around you. You can also see who has been dubbed “Mayor” of the business you checked in to. This is the person who has checked in the most.
For profit companies (like coffee shops) have a pretty easy connection to 4-square. They can give prizes to the “Mayor”, then can give a small discount to anyone who checks in, etc.
How can nonprofits use this to their advantage then? Most nonprofits do not have a place where people frequently go—like a coffee shop or a grocery store. At a fundraising event, they can give prizes to anyone who checks in. They can partner with a local business who can give a penny for every person that uses 4-Square to check in.
It will be interesting to see whether or not 4-Square is something that takes off, or whether it will be a flash in the pan, and fizzle out quickly. I don’t think that this should be one of the first social media presences for a nonprofit, but if an organization already has established itself with social media and wants to know another tool that they can use, 4-Square could be a great thing to “check” out!

Monday, March 1, 2010

Communication Personalization

As part of research for a job interview, I signed up for multiple email campaigns. I wanted to get the experience from the user's point of view, and to see what things are good about an email campaign and what aren't. So my inbox has been inundated with emails from these nonprofits.

I wanted to see what the sign up process was like--how it easy it was to find on the website, whether there were options for which communications to receive, etc. Some of the websites were incredibly easy to use and there were others that took a bit of hunting to find. If an organization wants to get new supporters, advocates and donors, it needs to be easy to find!! I know that everyone blogger says this, but it is really important!

Most of the organizations that I signed up with sent an immediate confirmation email and I began receiving emails immediately. This was great--i signed up and while I was still feeling passionate, I was given the tools to do something about it!

However, one of groups that I signed up with took over a week to send me a confirmation! Everyone today wants immediate gratification, and taking over a week to start receiving emails made me question whether or not I wanted to support this organization that takes that long to send a confirmation!

I think the moral of the story is that nonprofits should have an immediate response or confirmation to strike while the iron is hot for their supporters. Nonprofits should also have an "outsider" try to use the website and give feedback on its ease of use. Sometimes we get so familiar with our own websites that we forget what it's like for someone on the outside, so asking a volunteer to investigate it will help to get another perspective.