Tag Archives: ntc

2011 Nonprofit Technology Conference Report

This year’s Nonprofit Technology Conference in Washington DC was by far the biggest event we’ve ever had with over 2,000 attendees, plus many others who participated through the Online NTC. In addition to the many opportunities for learning, I particularly enjoyed connecting with many nonprofit colleagues from around the country, some which I had only previously met through email or phone.

These are some sessions I found especially rewarding (with Twitter hashtags):

Opening Plenary, featuring Dan Heath, co-author of Switch (#11NTCSwitch) – I’ve always been fascinated with how change affects our lives; Dan clearly demonstrated how we can learn to welcome change rather than to fear it. His advice that we analyze our successes instead of our problems and ‘do more of what is working’ is also consistent with my life philosophy of looking for the good. This is particularly relevant at our nonprofit organizations, which are almost always changing.
E-mail Design Workshop – Don’t Let Bad E-mail Code Ruin Your Day or Your Results (#11NTCemail) Shana Masterson and Sean Powell provided an eye opening look at how we can prepare emails that will look good on whatever device or browser our constituents use to view them. Sadly, Shana recommended that we give up working in WYSIWYG, as many email programs provide, and stay with HTML for the best results. Emailonacid was mentioned as a good way to preview emails and test deliverability. Unfortunately, email design is very different from web design and can’t fully utilize common web technologies such as CSS (cascading style sheets).
Secrets of the Engagement Pyramid (#11NTCeng) presented by Karen Uffelman and Eric Magnuson, featured an interesting approach to evaluating the engagement level of our constituents, and how we can move them to higher levels to commitment. As many nonprofits are learning, social media followers may or may not become more involved with our organizations. But those who take advocacy actions are strong donor prospects (and vice versa).
Not convinced that segmentation yields better results? In Scientist in Your Communications Department: Segmenting Messages, Customizing Content, and Delivering Results. (#11NTCsegmt). Jeff Schuck used the success of sites such as Amazon and Netflix to provide customized recommendations based on its knowledge of user preferences. The simplest way to get started? Separate your donors from non-donors, and prepare different content for each. I asked why so many nonprofits struggle with targeting groups of constituents; Jeff replied that many organizations keep data in too many places. Another point: it’s much easier to get a donor to increase their gift than to get someone to donate for the first time.
Marketing gurus Kivi Leroux Miller and Nancy Schwartz led the session on Weaving Your Marketing Loose Ends into a Strong, Tight, Powerful Plan (#11NTCweave), which demonstrated the importance of developing a marketing plan template as well as doing a communications audit to insure that your communications are consistent across channels. Nonprofit marketers Tara Collins and Karen Secular also shared their experiences in managing the sometimes difficult balance between development and communications, showing why it’s so critical that these departments work together to build relationships with constituents
In The Social Website: Integrating Social Media into Website Design and Function (#11NTCSocsite), Debra Askanase and Seth Giammanco discussed many websites which use a variety of techniques to engage visitors using social media links – view the slides for details. They then challenged us to develop ideas for a fictional nonprofit which wanted to do the same.

Notes from these and other sessions are all publicly available, as are recordings of several of the presentations. Also download these newly released reports,: e2011 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study (#11NTCbenchmarks) and the Nonprofit Social Network Survey Report (#11NTCBench), which I will analyze further in my next blog post.

Kudos to Holly Ross who, together with her Nten staff, put together such a wonderful event. Kudos also to my friend Peter Campbell who received special recognition, those who won the NTENny awards (which I helped to present) and to those nonprofits who produced winning videos. If you couldn’t join us in DC, hope to see you in San Francisco next year.

Why Technology is Core to Your Mission

Back when I was focused mostly on technology, my role was often viewed as a back end function, not really part of the core mission of the organization I worked for. Currently, technology is no longer a niche specialty, but something that everyone is involved in through the huge influence of cell phones and portable computers. And while I still help nonprofits to make the best use of technology, my role has expanded to include communications, marketing and fundraising.

Blackbaud’s new report, Top Trends in Technology offers a great overview of how technology now influences an organization far beyond the original emphasis of desktop and network computing. Definitely worth reviewing in detail; some of my takeaways are:

Continually evaluate how well your website is serving your constituents. Many nonprofits still only focus on the website while it’s being redesigned, then allow it to stay dormant until the next makeover. Remember that your web presence serves many audiences, those who already support your cause and others who are new to your organization and are seeking an overview of your services. Give your website a health check.
Know who your strongest supporters are and help them to spread the word about your organization. Most nonprofits already focus on those who have given major gifts or who are strong candidates to do so. But many other constituents want to help you to engage others in your mission, not only by making donations. Find out how to help with fundraising without asking for money.
The idea of a single supporter database is difficult to implement, but do your best to reduce islands of data that may develop when staff aren’t adequately trained to keep their data in a central, sharable location
Establish a culture where technology is implemented to achieve specific organization goals, not because a vendor or consultant tells you that it is a good strategy.

Fortunately, technology is no longer a back end service, but affects the overall success of how well your nonprofit achieves its mission. Establish a partnership between IT and other departments, as suggested by how fundraisers can manage and work with IT departments.

P.S. Hope you’ll join me at Nten‘s Nonprofit Technology Conference, coming up in March in Washington DC. It’s always a great event, and we talk a lot about these topics.

What’s New in ePhilanthropy

I’ve long advocated using web based applications, but are we ready for a cloud operating system? Here’s a first look at Google’s Chrome OS, planned for release next summer. (Why not just focus on Android, which is already in wide usage on the mobile platform?)

Need help in planning a social media and online engagement strategy? Here’s a great overview of what’s involved, thanks to Big Duck‘s Farra Trompeter. For example, pick the channels where you have the time and resources to participate (you can’t be everywhere).

Will you join me at the Nonprofit Technology Conference in March in DC? For a preview of some issues we’ll be discussing, Nten summarizes the best of nonprofit technology in 2010.

In social media, a key principle is to listen first. Janet Fouts recently offered a terrific webinar on Streamlining Your Social Media Workflow , and offers this useful list of listening tools.

Only two weeks left to get out your year-end appeals. Here’s why you need to act now, and some last minute advice, more tips on making the ask and best practices for year-end fundraising.

While this is a busy time for fundraisers, I hope you still find time to celebrate the upcoming holidays.

Enabling Donors to Choose How Money Is Used

This week I was invited to take a look at GiveLoop, a new software platform for processing online donations. Inspired by sites such as Kiva and DonorsChoose, GiveLoop allows nonprofits to empower constituents to decide exactly how their donations will be used by ‘voting with their money.’ Benefits for the nonprofit are to increase donation size, increase donor loyalty and increase donor volume, as well as providing more transparency. If you’ve looked at direct mail appeals you’ve received lately, you will probably notice how donation levels are often associated with what each amount will allow the nonprofit to do, but doesn’t obligate the organization to use the funds for that purpose.

While GiveLoop offers an interesting new way to do online fundraising, most organizations I’ve worked with have been wary of collecting restricted funds, partially due to the accounting requirements and partially because they really don’t want to give constituents this level of control. But this reminds me of the difficulty some nonprofits have had in embracing social media because they want to control the messaging. But as Clay Shirky pointed out at last year’s Nonprofit Technology Conference, ‘you’ve already lost control.’

However, I like the idea of GiveLoop as continuing the recent trend of giving donors more information about what their money will be used for, and then reporting back on how the donations were actually used. GiveLoop also tries into social networking, although co-founder Todd Spitz told me that it was too early to tell whether constituents who have given through GiveLoop have been successful in becoming fundraisers for the causes they support.

For a nonprofit that is considering using a product like GiveLoop, a question to ask is whether the organization is really interested in listening to their supporters, or if they are doing it simply to raise more money. If it’s the latter, then the effort is less likely to be successful as constituents will eventually realize that their input is not welcome. There also needs to be full transparency about what will happen if the requested funds for a specific project are not raised; will the balance be made up by another donation source or will the donor be asked to consider supporting another initiative?

Interestingly, GiveLoop’s FAQ clearly states that the nonprofit is not obligated to use the money in the way donors select. But to make the most of this type of program, an organization clearly has to be willing to give constituents a much greater role in how funds are spent, similar to why it’s so important to listen first in social media and not simply treat it as another way to send out nonprofit updates.

Report from NYC 501 Tech Club

Attended another enlightening NYC 501 Tech Club meeting last night, featuring mobile text messaging. Speakers included Katrin Verclas of MobileActive, Jed Alpert of MobileCommons and DoSomething‘s George Weiner.

First, we were treated to a summary of 10 take-aways from South by Southwest for Nonprofits by Matt Koltermann of Cross-Cultural Solutions, an international volunteerism organization which I served as Director of IT and Internet Strategy from 2000-2003. Matt’s comments echoed many thoughts I shared in this blog, such as the importance of cross-channel brand / message consistency and how segmentation of constituents allows your organization to utilize a targeted communicated strategy (i.e. don’t send everything to everyone).

Katrin reviewed the recent 2010 Nonprofit Text Messaging Benchmarks report and explained the importance of not only sharing stories, but looking at real data. Clearly mobile outreach isn’t right for all organizations – it’s still a bit challenging to setup, is subject to strict rules on how it can be done, and donations are limited to either $5 or $10. And in response to my question, mobile strategy isn’t only for nonprofits that are advocacy focused, but for any nonprofit that has a ‘forward thinking’ communications department. At least until it becomes more widespread, mobile is still a great way to get someone’s attention quickly for a pressing issue; emails often don’t get read and are buried in a flood of other messages.

Jed emphasized that mobile doesn’t supplant other types of messaging, but is best implemented as part of an integrated communications campaign , not as a standalone strategy (hmmm – seems like I’ve said this before). He also added that supporters that receive a text message after email are 77% more likely to donate. Interestingly, it was also pointed out that since many of us use mobile phones to check Facebook and Twitter, a nonprofit doesn’t necessarily have to do SMS messaging to reach constituents by phone – even if you don’t have their mobile number.

George provided a different perspective for his organization, which is clearly targeted towards encouraging young people to volunteer. While this is a noble objective, it was a bit worrisome when an audience member’s question was responded by ‘you’re not in our target audience.’ (She pointed out that she had nieces and nephews that were in their target audience.) While it’s true that you can’t build a web site that will appeal to all constituents, this might be taking things a bit too far.

Thanks to event organizers Charles Lenchner, Thomas Negron and Farra Trompeter. If you’re coming to Atlanta next month for the Nonprofit Technology Conference, be sure to join the NYC 501 Tech group for a get together on April 8.

Are Nonprofits Effectively Using New Social Media Tools?

This week has featured a flurry of comments about whether nonprofits are taking advantage of new social media tools such as Twitter. Seth Godin says no but the Chronicle of Philanthropy gives several examples to show how some nonprofits are doing things right. See also social media guru Beth Kanter’s attempt to reconcile the two sides.

My take: smaller organizations such as Charity:Water will continue to take the lead on showing larger nonprofits how to raise funds and engage constituents in a variety of new ways. Larger organizations are still trying to deal with what Clay Shirky‘s observation during his year’s Nonprofit Technology Conference: nonprofits have already lost control of their branding and messaging .

Here’s a newly released report on How Nonprofits are Using Web-based Technologies to Reach Their Goals. Not surprisingly, many organizations are still experimenting to discover what works. On the for profit side, some companies are using outside firms to manage their Twitter and Facebook presence; my take – social media works best if it’s coming directly from organization staff.

News From NTC: New Reports on Social Media, Donor Management Systems

During this week’s Nonprofit Technology Conference, two new reports have been released:

Nonprofit Social Network Survey Report by Nten, Common Knowledge and The Port shows that social networking has become an integral part of nonprofits’ online strategy. A recent Washington Post article suggested that Facebook’s popular Causes application has not been successful in fundraising in comparison with email appeals and other more traditional ways to generate donations. But Beth Kanter points out that the value of tools like Facebook can’t be measured only in terms of money raised. I agree – when my marketing director recently asked me for fundraising results from our Facebook page, I pointed out that generating buzz and engaging constituents in our organization is also valuable. Beth suggests we seek a metric to measure this.
Idealware and Nten‘s Consumer’s Guide to Low Cost Donor Management Systems suggests looking at what features you need in managing your donor relationships before reviewing specific products. Sadly, how often do our organizations go through this type of detailed evaluation before selecting a product? Sometimes the problem isn’t the product, it’s the processes within the nonprofit and the training (or lack of training) that is provided to staff. Make sure your database has a way to integrate with your existing systems – see my recent post on Reporting Across Multiple Systems.

Nten has also provided a way for those of who couldn’t attend NTC this year to participate online. Make sure you take a look at Holly’s version of Beyonce’s Single Ladies.

Help Holly Reach Her Goal for the NTC

Due to the financial challenges that many of our nonprofit organizations are facing this year, many of us (incuding myself) may not be able to attend the annual Nonprofit Technology Conference in April. To respond, Nten Executive Director has setup a scholarship fund to help send nonprofit staff who otherwise wouldn’t be able to participate. This event is always wonderful and provides an opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with colleagues from across the US and beyond. There are two days left for Holly to reach he goal of $10,000, of which Convio has agreed to match. I’ve already donated – can you help?

Report from 2008 Nonprofit Technology Conference

Thanks to Holly Ross and the entire Nten staff for last week’s annual Nonprofit Technology Conference, held in New Orleans. With so many worthwhile sessions taking place during the three days, the hardest part was choosing which sections to attend. I was also fortunate to receive what was clearly the most valuable prize at the Sponsor Fair, a $1000 donation to any nonprofit of my choice, generously contributed by Jay Frank of Nice Touch Communications and Telecom for Charity.

Kudos also to Beth Kanter who organized the Day of Service to assist local nonprofits in New Orleans on the first day of the conference. Working with Nancy Schwartz, (who writes Getting Attention to help nonprofits with marketing tips), I gave a quick ephilanthropy tutorial to Casa New Orleans.

I also participated in two conference sessions:

Tug of War or Pulling Together? Building Teamwork for Better Online Campaigns, David Hollender, Jed Cohen and I reviewed strategies for how an organization can work collaboratively instead of in silos. Sharing information regularly can help, as well as a current intranet site and ‘lunch and learn’ where departments are invited to learn about each other’s projects. While it is helpful to build relationships with those in other departments before you are assigned to work on a project with them, it’s also important to make sure that your own department’s goals are met.

The Joy of CMS: Implementing Sustainable Content Management Systems (The Painless Way to Keep Your Web Site Current): I moderated a panel of three CMS experts: Andrew Cohen, Nathan Gasser and Jeff Herron. Instead of focusing on available products (of which there are many), we discussed how the idea of content management can be successfully deployed. Having a current web site is easier when the responsibilities are shared throughout the organization, and when management accepts this as part of everyone’s job. We also discussed work flow – how web pages are reviewed and released, and how to insure that web content is consistent with other communication vehicles.

I also want to commend Laura Quinn and Dahna Goldstein who moderated two sessions on data integration which I attended. Since most of us have data in many locations, it is always challenging to share information between multiple products. Memorable takeaways: when evaluating products, data integration must be on the list of requirements, and it may be best to consider vendors who have been ‘open’ from the start rather than those who have changed mostly due to market demands Let’s keep this discussion going on Nten’s Data Standards & Integration affinity group!

It was also wonderful to return to New Orleans, which clearly is still recovering from the effects of Hurricane Katrina. My wife and I were serenaded one night by a couple who lost their home and were struggling to make ends meet.

Nonprofit Bridge Web Site Now Live

While I still expect to post most of my content in my blog, I’ve added additional sections which will include further details on my background, past presentations I’ve given, upcoming events of interest to the nonprofit community and feedback I’ve received from co-workers and clients over the years. As an experiment, I’ve also setup the site initially using the free ‘Site Builder’ provided by my hosting company, but I will eventually switch over to either the Joomla or Drupal CMS platforms, two of the strongest content management options available today – and they’re both open source.

Visit my new Nonprofit Bridge web site. Hope to see you at next week’s Nonprofit Technology Conference in New Orleans, LA.

(Addendum 11/1/08 – switched blog to WordPress – simpler to manage than either Joomla or Drupal.)