(originally posted on BlogBaud)
The folks over at NetSquared, GetActive, and Squidoo have assembled their list of “The 59 Smartest Nonprofit Organizations Online.” This list appears to be the follow-up to Seth Godin’s Org2.0 Cheat Sheet and Squidoo happens to be a company Seth founded. (Just connecting some dots.)
The list includes some well known organizations, some very innovative groups, and also a good number of Blackbaud clients. According to the list, “these organizations are winners because of their web 2.0 smarts and a willingness to engage their constituents far beyond asking them to dig into their pockets.”
The Agitator likes the idea of the list but gives poor marks for their overall execution. I wouldn’t be so harsh. The value in a list like this is that it is a conversation starter. It will get people thinking, talking, and sharing in their own organizations to drive change. These are all very good things and lead to steps in the right direction.
The Top “X” list idea is not a new one. We see it in print, on TV, radio, and the Web. Most of the rankings have some inherent bias or the selection criteria are sometimes murky at best. Someone is always missing that shouldn’t be and someone is always included that gets odd looks. All hope is not lost as other such lists are sure to follow.
“The 59″ list is a conversation starter that can only help. While some dodgy criteria like “Are they stuck in the land of direct mail, control, and offline fundraising?” could be the subject of a blog post all its own, I don’t want to loose site of the bigger picture.
For many organizations, the notion of what Web 2.0 actually is, why it’s important, and how others are using it is still a giant question mark. (Most of the for-profit world and general public is equally in the dark.) So a list like this can help to demystify things a bit and hopefully get the wheels of progress in motion.
A common theme we see are individuals at organizations trying to convince leadership or key stakeholders that they need to be more progressive online. Examples of organization’s already doing it well tend to get more of a response than presentations or articles on the subject. There’s the perception of less risk when others you know have taken the plunge and gotten positive results.
Right now someone somewhere is using this list to start a conversation. Right now someone somewhere on the list is using it as leverage to go another step further. Right now someone somewhere is compiling a list of organizations doing these things and getting meaningful results. Right now someone somewhere is really glad some people took the time to create the list. It’s a good start…
(originally posted on BlogBaud)
The play on Marshall McLuhen’s famous phrase may be obvious, but the meaning it has for nonprofits may not be. We’ve just closed out a year where TIME’s Person of the Year was you, me, and everybody because of our participation in the Web 2.0 revolution. Congratulations!
I’m not so sure about the revolution part, but clearly the growth of personal content and collaboration has transformed the Web. We’re now in a new year where many nonprofits are trying to make meaning of all this stuff.
The Internet has always been more like radio than TV. You tune into things that interest you and the experience is so much more personal. The number of “stations” and strength of signal have only helped to drive greater online personalization. That perception of the Web is now taking on a new twist.
Up until recent years the Web has been dominated by text-driven experiences. Gerry McGovern just brought up this point in his latest weekly enewsletter issue that’s entitled “The Web at 15.” Gerry argues that “the Web is evolving, sure, but its foundation stone is the written word.” Clearly, we’re all now building on top of that foundation with some different materials.
Now you have online communities, weblogs, podcasts, videoblogs, social networks, and other examples of the collaborative Web becoming mainstream. They’ve been slowing evolving for a few years now and have finally “crossed the chasm” enough to capture the eyes and minds of meaningful numbers of people.
Jeff Jarvis has been blogging a lot about small TV and I agree with his comment that “the winners will be those who create and enable it.” I think that same sentiment applies to nonprofits that embrace these new capabilities and use them to create something remarkable. We have already witnessed a lot of nonprofit organizations that are leveraging YouTube, MySpace, and Second Life to reach their constituents in new ways.
The online medium has allowed nonprofits to communicate and engage people to help fulfill their missions. These new capabilities only push things to the next level. Smaller organizations need to leverage these high traffic places to establish more visible contact points. Larger organizations need to make them a part of their multi-channel communication efforts.
Many nonprofits have resolved in the new year to embrace aspects of Web 2.0. But the technology itself is no silver bullet. While the medium can shape the message there still needs to be a clear message to begin with. So don’t overlook this important point in all the buzz.
Make sure that your online communication, wherever it takes place, clearly conveys who you are, what is your mission, why it matters, how people can get involved, and what is the impact of their involvement. Choice abounds on the Web and someone else’s site is just a click away. Your message needs to be compelling and coherent enough to rise above the clutter. Don’t let your message get lost in the medium.