Chad Norman's Webby Things : NPTech

50 Social Media Tactics for Nonprofits

Chad Norman — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:48:00 GMT

During Blackbaud's 2009 Conference for Nonprofits, Melanie Mathos and I lead a two-part social media workshop. Part I of this pairing was a new session we developed called 50 Social Media Tactics Nonprofits Use to Meet Their Mission. It was a real blast delivering this content, and people seemed to react well to it.

The idea behind the session was to provide tactics and tools nonprofits can use to meet their social media objectives. The presentation is full of examples that can easily (and sometimes not so easily) be implemented once you have a social media plan. I've been to so many sessions in the last couple years that focus on high level social media strategy, discuss why these networks are important, or cover how organizations can begin a social media program. 50 Social Media Tactics assumes you already have a plan, and are simply looking for tactics to plug into that plan that can help meet its objectives.

Below is the Slideshare of our presentation...I hope you're find it useful. What other tactics does your organization use? What important tactics are missing from our list? What social media tactic have you used sucsessfully? Let me know in the comments.

Power to Your Peeps! Why Real-time Fundraising with Twitter Works

Chad Norman — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:22:00 GMT

I dig speaking at nonprofit conferences and events, and one of my favorite topics to cover is the real-time use of social media. It's the perfect mix of emerging technologies, social media, communities, and the web - some of my favorite things.

The conversations inevitably get stymied around Twitter - which is no surprise, as every nonprofit is trying to figure out what the tool means for them. A channel for promoting your mission? A monitor for listening to chatter about your cause? A way to connect your org to your community? It's all of those things, but it's also something else: a real-time fundraising tool!

Raising money on Twitter is happening all the time. Beth Kanter stood on stage at Gnomedex and used Twitter to help raise $2,657 in 90 minutes. Last November, Tweetsgiving used Twitter to raise over $10,000 in 48 hours for a school in Tanzania. And just last month, I used Twitter to raise $350 in a couple hours to help send the NTEN staff out for a relaxing excursion. These examples show just some of the ways Twitter can enable real-time fundraising. Clearly it works...but why?

Tara Hunt calls it Whuffie. Chris Brogan calls it the Trust Economy. I call it the Deep Network. Real-time fundraising works because of social capital...because we tend to trust the people in our network. When an org sends an email, the open rate can be low - but when a person sends an email to friends, the open rate is 90%! This is because of trust, and works the same way with Twitter or any other people-based network. When we build up large, diverse networks consisting of supporters, friends, and peers, we are creating a bank of trust to draw upon when needed. When it comes time to ask your network for something, they will not need the time to interpret your motivation - because they know you and your org. And some will be ready to act...right then!

So use Twitter for listening, communicating, and promoting, but don't overlook the platform as a vehicle for real-time action. Build your network around mutual trust, a sense of community, and personal attention. If you've taken the time to cultivate a trusting, loyal, and engaged following, you should be able to turn that social capital into financial capital - and in a hurry if need be. After all, when you're among friends, it's never hard to ask!

Lights. Camera. Help. Brings DoGooding to the Big Screen

Chad Norman — Tue, 05 May 2009 12:43:00 GMT

While in San Francisco last week at The Nonprofit Technology Conference, I ran into one of my favorite dogooders: David Neff. Never short on energy and enthusiasm, David was even more pumped than usual. And why not?...he was just about to launch a great new nonprofit!

Lights. Camera. Help. is the premiere film festival exclusively for nonprofit and grassroots organizations, and they officially opened their submission process last Friday. A film festival for nonprofits like this is the first of its kind in the nation, and will provide a valuable platform for organizations and grassroots movements to be recognized for their work.

Anything that promotes the use of video is OK in my book, as almost nothing can engage and go viral like a thought-provoking film. Nonprofits have been using services like YouTube and DoGooder.tv for a while now, so recognizing orgs for their hard work feels like a natural next step. If you've got a great feature, short film, PSA, or other video content, submit it for entrance into the festival by June 30.

Aaaaaaaannnnnnnnd, scene.

Hey, Your Org Was Just Named Nonprofit of the Year!

Chad Norman — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:50:00 GMT

What if all of your organization's wishes came true - instantly, overnight, in a flash, or maybe even granted via genie? That would certainly change things. Million dollar gifts, an unending supply of volunteers, loads of Whuffie - it could happen, right?

Check out what a scenario like that might look like with this customizable video report from Nonprofit Network News. Just enter your org's name, your name, and hit customize. Hilarity ensues.

» Customize Video

And while I'm a huge fan of magical impromptu windfalls, it probably isn't the best strategy to wait around for this to happen. Like Santa Clause, The Great Pumpkin, and possibly Big Foot, genies are technically fiction. (Though, if you're an actual genie reading this blog post, feeeeeeel free to stop by my house and prove me wrong. I only need one wish!)

If you want to do something today to help your nonprofit thrive, all of us Blackbaudian's are here to help. We've featured some resources on our nonprofit wishlist page. You can also read our blogs, check out an event, chat us up on Twitter, or download some white papers. Be sure to check out our Internet Solutions team blog at www.NetWitsThinkTank.com, or visit Blackbaud Labs for the latest in nonprofit tech.

Lets stop wishing and start doing - together!

Online Giving Smackdown :: A Very Special Baudcast

Chad Norman — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:18:00 GMT

When Target Analytics released its 2008 donorCentrics Internet Giving Benchmarking Analysis, the sector responded with keen interest. The study is packed with insightful nuggets, but one trend is capturing everyone's attention (including The New York Times): First time online donors are often migrating to other channels, like direct mail. Yikes!

Will online giving, with it's higher average gift and youthful appeal, prove not to be the silver bullet everyone thought? The blogosphere and Twitter lit up looking for an answer, but I really liked this post on The Agitator: is online fundraising Too Important for Techies?

We decided to dig into the issue on episode 24 of The Baudcast (iTunes | direct), so key players were invited on the show for an epic online giving battle (or at least a lively conversation). Joining me was Roger Craver (founder of The Agitator and Craver, Mathews, Smith & Company), Hildy Gottlieb (president of The Community Driven Institute and author of The Pollyanna Principles), and Rob Harris (co-author of the 2008 donorCentrics Internet Giving Benchmarking report). I had a great Blackbaud crew on hand as well: Steve MacLaughlin, Allison Van Diest, and Melanie Mathos.

The conversation was GREAT to say the least, as both Roger and Hildy blew us away with their understanding of multi-channel integrated campaigns. Steve posted some quotes from the show over on Connections, and we were all live tweeting comments during the call. Near the end of the conversation, I asked the panel what nonprofits could do tomorrow to better integrate and support online fundraising efforts...here are the responses:

Have a strategy that goes beyond fundraising. A good strategy should start with what your organization wants to accomplish, who you want to reach, and where those people are - then decide on the channels and tools.
Find other organizations that are doing multi-channel communications well, and copy them.
Listen carefully to what people are saying on blogs and social networking sites. Then use these feedback mechanisms to solicit information from your audience. Testing should used online as much as it is with direct mail - because it works.
Invest in good copy. Not just a good writer, but looking at your audience and what drives them. Then craft a message based on that.
Use your online channel to improve stewardship and increase the value of your donors.
Leadership is needed at an organization to break down the silos between the direct mail, email, and phone-a-thon teams. An integrated campaign is a successful campaign.

There you have it. Hear the rest on The Baudcast: (iTunes | direct)

Things I Liked from SXSW Interactive

Chad Norman — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:58:00 GMT

If you're reading this, there's a good chance that you're a social media hipster doofus internet geek just like me. If that's the case, go ahead and make your plans for next year's SXSW Interactive Festival, because it's the one event you simply cannot afford to miss.

I realize that I may have lost some geek cred by not live blogging the entire event, but that was never part of my plan. I wanted to focus on building relationships with my fellow nonprofit geeks, actually pay attention to some sessions in an effort to learn a thing or two, and keep my Twitter feed updated with nuggets I could use later. After a day in the office, here are some things I liked:

The Social Media Nonprofit ROI Poetry Slam
Nonprofit Social Media rawk star Beth Kanter moderated the Social Media Nonprofit ROI Poetry Slam, which brought together experts from around the sector. The four participants included Danielle Brigida from the National Wildlife Federation, David Neff from the American Cancer Society, Carie Lewis from the Humane Society of the US, and Wendy Harman from The American Red Cross - we couldn't have been in better hands. Each person used a poem to tell the story of how social media was used at their nonprofit, and what the results were. The format was a creative way tell stories, but the best info came of of the insightful questions from the judges and audience. Things like: Charity Water did well with the Twestival because they were willing to let go of control, the Humane Society made $650,000 from a $5,000 Facebook app, and you have to know what to do with executive sponsorship once you get it (view all my tweets from this session). We all learned a lot, but everyone recognized that the disconnect between social media and donations is still large, but getting smaller every day. Be sure to check out Beth's reflections on the session, which includes slides, pics, links, and videos.

The Beacon Lounge
People kept telling me that out of the 11,000 attendees at the event, 1,000 were from nonprofits. I was a little shocked at first, but after a few days I realized this presence was real. Michael Cervino and Beaconfire hosted The Beacon Lounge, a place where SXSW attendees could chill out, do some good, and help nonprofits. Organizations like Operation Smile, OptInNow.org, and The Capital Foodbank of Texas got a lot of attention from this techie crowd, and we (Blackbaud) were pleased to help out Feeding America by sponsoring lunch on Monday. The lounge also became a rally point for all of us NPTech geeks who often needed a place to read email, get a drink, or just meet some new people. It was a great vibe, and really helped bring awareness to the nonprofit movement at this massive event. I'm excited that Beaconfire will be back next year for more of the same!

Gary Vaynerchuk
OK, I'm not going to beat around the bush - I love Gary Vaynerchuk. I would walk 1000 miles over lava-covered glass shards just to hear him speak. I watch his video blog at WineLibrary.TV, even though I hate wine. I send his short presentation from Web 2.0 Expo NY to friends at least once a month. None of that prepared me for the mind-bending, though-provoking talk he gave at SXSW. Already dubbed this year's unofficial keynote, his presentation blew the room away. Gary put his honesty, energy, and intelligence out there for everyone, which is what he is all about: being yourself and doing what you love. Some of my favorite quotes from the session include: 1) "If you live for the weekends and vacations, your $hlt is broken." 2) "Content is king, but marketing is queen - and the queen rules the house." 3) "I think about legacy over currency every second I breathe." 4) "Delegate everything, except what you love." There's a bunch of great quotes here (someone needs to make "v-shirts" with these quotes on them!), but do yourself a favor and watch/listen to the whole presentation. Get inspired, plan, act, repeat. Watch out for Gary at next year's SXSW, and in the mean time you can follow him on Twitter.

Delivering Happiness
Tony Hsieh's opening remarks about Zappos' success and company culture is something every HR and Customer Service leader should listen to. Zappos takes a very common sense approach towards dealing with both employees and customers: deliver happiness. Zappos is willing to take a 25% hit on revenue just to provide an amazing customer service experience (24-hour service, free shipping, special treatment, etc.) They believe that every customer service dollar should be looked at as a marketing expense. When more and more companies are scaling back phone support in lieu of online self-help, Zappos has grown to $1 billion in revenue by taking the opposite approach. And the same goes for their employees, who are offered $2000 during training to walk away - not to get rid of the bad apples, but to make the good apples more engaged because they "turned down the money". Half of the interview is about culture fit, with questions like, "On a scale of 1 to 10, how weird are you?" Tony advised that companies often hire based on talent rather than fit, which is fine once in a while...but over time it poisons the whole staff, creating a dysfunctional, poor-performing company.

Other sessions really stood out to me, like Tara Hunt's "Making Wuffie". Be on the look out for her upcoming book...it's going to be good. I also went to a great online community panel and learned things like, "Your community will not grow into the vision you had for it...you have to grow and adapt with it." The rest of the time I spent stumbling into texting walkers, networking at events, searching for food on 6th street, and learning from my friends. It was great being in a bubble-world with others like me, and I'm already looking forward to 2010.

All the rest of my photos are up on Flickr. But if you don't feel like clicking though the photostream, check out the video made from them on animoto.com . See you at next year's SXSW!

Nonprofits and SXSW Collide

Chad Norman — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:45:00 GMT

The nonprofit presence at the 2009 SXSW Interactive Festival has exponentially increased, and I'm really looking forward to all the amazing sessions and panels waiting for all of us do-gooders. And while I'll certainly be attending sessions without a nonprofit focus, here's a few events that are on my NPO radar...

I'm most looking forward to the Social Media Nonprofit ROI Poetry Slam, featuring Beth Kanter, Danielle Brigida, Holly Ross, Wendy Harman, Carie Lewis, David Neff, and Katie Paine. Using a poetry slam format, each panelist will present for 5 minutes on how they are using social media at their organizations. Check out this preview of Danielle Brigida's nonprofit interpretation of The Raven to whet your whistle.

If your organization wants to tap into the giant pool of mobile phone users, check out The Mobile Web for Good: Hype or Reality? The session called Nonprofts: Be the Web You Wish to See looks good if you are working on an internet strategy. Why Nonprofit is the Right Choice for your Startup covers how going the nonprofit route with your tech startup might give you a competitive advantage. Jessica Kizorek will do a book reading called The Digital Future of Philanthropy: Engaging Donors with Online Video. PBS will be hosting an Interactive Social Media and Online Video Studio to record interviews with the many visionaries that will be on site.

Beaconfire Consulting will be sponsoring The Beacon Lounge - the coolest place for nonprofit tech geeks to hang out at SXSW. Blackbaud will be sponsoring a lunch in The Beacon to benefit Feeding America (Saturday, March 14th from 12-2), so stop by and say hi! There will also be a special event at Stubb's BBQ called Social Media for Social Good that I'm hoping to attend, not to mention the NP Tech Bash on Monday.

What other sessions do you think do-gooders should attend?

7 Webby Things I Have a Crush On

Chad Norman — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:31:00 GMT

If you're a web geek like me, you probably spend every day getting inundated with new tools, services, products, processes, posts, feeds, people, etc - it's mind bending! Finding a useful tool in all that noise sometimes comes down to luck - some weeks nothing will stick, while other weeks it's like having breakthrough after breakthrough. Here are a few helpful webby things that have crossed my screen over the last couple weeks.

BackTweets.com
If your organization is using Twitter to measure engagement, two of the main components worth tracking are retweeting and incoming links to your website. With all the Twitter-friendly URLs being used (tinyurl.com, SnipURL.com, is.gd, etc), search.twitter.com does a poor job of finding people linking to your site. BackTweets solves that by digging into all those short URLs, and returning results showing exactly who is linking to your website. Very cool! www.backtweets.com

Blackbaud iPhone Browser Simulator
A couple weeks ago, Blackbaud CTO Shaun Sullivan released iBBDemo - a demo and test platform for iPhone web content that runs from within Windows. Initially developed to demo iPhone content during presentations, this app is a great tool for any developer working on the platform. Check out Blackbaud Labs for a free download.

The Social Media Elevator Pitch
Whether you're in the nonprofit or for profit world, selling your social media strategy to your internal stakeholders can be a common source of pain. Beth Kanter wrote a great blog post featuring Wendy Harman, the "professional listener" for The American Red Cross, discussing her social media elevator pitch. Social media is still very new, and many executives want to learn why it's important, but need the message to be clear and concise. Check out the post for some great ideas you can use to get your pitch ready.

monitter.com
I'm a huge fan of the real-time social web, and so you can imagine my excitement when a friend turned me onto monitter.com (Thanks, Lindsey!). Monitter is a Twitter aggregator that displays keyword-based tweets in a real-time stream. www.monitter.com

Gmail fixes attachment annoyance
Oh my, some times it's the simple things. Gmail will finally allow you to select and add multiple attachments at one time. Oh yes, that's right. This is one of those features that was painfully missing, and it should make anyone's Gmailing a little more efficient.

N2Y4 Mobile Challenge
Mobile technology is becoming a common partner to social action, and organizations like NetSquared are doing amazing work to see that innovation thrives. The N2Y4 Mobile Challenge brings together mobile tech junkies and social activists for collaboration and competition. And with a target audience of 2.2 billion, a little innovation can go a long way...

Change the Web Challenge
The work Social Actions is doing is changing the way the world acts. The Change the Web Challenge reaches out to the development community to create innovative tools that help people share opportunities with those ready to act. Check out the stuff that's already running on the Social Actions API. If you're interested in the $10,000 prize, you've got until April 3rd to submit your entry.

Beef Up that Twitter Bio to Get More Followers

Chad Norman — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:00:00 GMT

If you are using Twitter to connect with and engage your constituents, you're not alone. The popular micro-messaging service has become an inexpensive, valuable, and effective way to reach an audience, and can really help communicate and personalize your message. Of course, this is an opt-in service, so to develop it into an effective channel you must attract followers to your Twitter profile.

Sharing your Twitter account via your website, blogs, newsletters, and other electronic content is a great way to get started. The network effect will get you additional followers, as people retweet your updates or find you in the follower lists of other Twitter users. You also want to make sure your background, avatar, and color scheme reinforce your organization's brand. And then there's the Bio field - the one place in your profile where you can add text that tells the world who you are. Having a great Bio full of related keywords is one of the best ways to draw in potential followers.

With this in mind, I took a look at my organization's Bio field. Back when I setup our Twitter account, I had used our simple tagline in the Bio field: "Living green. Here." Clearly that is very non-descriptive, and devoid of any keywords that might interest people. So back on February 2, I changed it to read: "Go Green Charleston is a local guide to sustainable living. Environmental news, education, and events." I immediately began to see an increase in new followers, and it hasn't slowed down. @GreenCharleston had 373 followers on February 2, and only 18 days later we have almost doubled that. In the chart below, generated at TwitterCounter.com, you can see the follower growth rate of @GreenCharleston compared to my personal account @ChadNorman. Can you see where I changed our Bio field?

While this has helped more individuals find us, most of the new followers are organizations and businesses with similar missions. Adding these types of followers may or may not help you get the word out, but it can't hurt if your mission has a wide appeal - or if you want to have conversations and listen to a diverse audience. Measuring engagement is important when determining the success of your social media strategy, so having similar organizations retweeting or replying to your Twitter updates is a positive outcome. So be sure to mind your Bio feild when setting up your profile, as it can clearly make an impact on how sticky your Twitter account is to potential followers.

Beth Kanter and the Real-Time Social Web Make Fundraising History

Chad Norman — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:50:00 GMT

On Friday evening, I watched something amazing unfold online - all while trying to get my kids into the bath and get their rooms ready for bed. Saying things like, "Hang on guys, I'm trying to copy and paste some of these tweets!" had little effect, but I couldn't help it. This was exciting, powerful, historical - This was Beth Kanter at Gnomedex!

For me, it all started with a simple tweet from Robert Scoble providing a link to a Ustream.TV feed of Beth's presentation. Click, and I was watching Beth rocking the Gnomedex 8.0 crowd with her tales from the front lines of the nonprofit social web. She was discussing her fundraising efforts in 2006 and 2007 that were geared towards sending a Cambodian woman to college, and then it happened.

Her challenge was simple: Can this room of highly connected gnomedexers get 250 people to donate $10 by the end of the conference?

She tweeted this challenge to the masses, and a few attendees kicked things off by donating onstage. That's when the real-time social web flexed its muscles, and the tweets, retweets, and donations began flying around the Twitterverse.

At the conclusion of the 90-minute presentation, $2,657 had been collected from 112 online donors (not to mention the $902 in cash given onsite). The goal had been to reach $2,500 by the end of the conference, and the real-time social web had done that (and then some) in 90 minutes. Hello world, meet the future!

We already knew the social web could get things done, but Beth's successful experiment demonstrated that it can be used to get things done RIGHT NOW. A well connected online community can make things happen when called to action, and nonprofits are in a great position to harness this power for social change. Combined with an engaged online community, real-time technologies like Twitter, Ustream.tv, and smart phones can be used as an immediate system for change.

I'm glad Beth is our nonprofit tech ambassador, and that she continues to inspire anyone who will listen. I'm glad that Scoble, Chris Brogan, Danny Sullivan, Chris Pirillo and the rest of the tech elite helped bring so much mainstream attention to this cause. I'm glad nonprofits can use this as an example of how emerging technology is changing fundraising forever.

In the time it took me to bathe my boys and put them to bed, a young student named Leng Sopharath was given the life-changing gift of education. That 90 minutes of furious tweeting, texting, and giving will ensure her housing, tuition, and medical bills are paid as she continues her college journey.

Is this a one-time thing that can only happen when well-connected geeks decide to make a difference, or can this be repeated by other nonprofits? I'm not sure, but I can't wait to find out. In the mean time, I'll be sure to read Because a Little Bug Went Ka-choo to my boys a few more times, and remind them that the butterfly effect actually has wings.

8 Webby Things That Are Now Sticking to Me

Chad Norman — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:25:00 GMT

Startup costs are at an all time low, ideas are everywhere, and there are millions of content-creating users out there ready to help out. It's never been a better time to be a webby guy who's into webby things. These are good times. These are the salad days.

New services, tools, and sites bubble out of the ether each week, and it's awe-inspiring to watch startups of all shapes and sizes roll down the front pages of blogs like ReadWriteWeb and TechCrunch. It's safe to say that a lot of us are finding daily use for tools like Twitter and Facebook, even though they were mere distractions a year ago. While these may be the big box sites, I've noticed the adoption rate of smaller services is picking up - at least for me.

I signup for more sites than I know I'll ever use long-term, so the exodus often occurs as the new car smell fades. I just like to see the feature sets, check out the design, and get inspired. That said, lately some of them have been sticking, and I find myself using them on a regular basis. Here are 8 webby things that are living large in my world...what are you using?

Summize
If you want to know if people are talking about your organization, company, product, boyfriend, or favorite band/show/book/game, then this is the tool for you. Summize performs real-time searches of Twitter, and should have more streams coming soon. I initially used TweetScan, but Summize has a better advanced search and is just prettier looking. www.summize.com

Flock
Relatively new to me, Flock is pulling me in and I'm using it almost daily. It's basically a pre-customized version of Firefox geared towards the social media power user. The built in sidebar manages major social sites (cool!), a media stream bar pulls in content, integrated blogging and search is handy, plus it has all the Firefox goodness. And that's nothing - 2.0 is in beta! www.flock.com

SocialThing!
This is basically a social aggregator, but I love its look and feel. Seeing all your friends in one place is really useful, and Socialthing is especially handy if you are following a lot of Flickr/YouTube/Digg/del.icio.us junkies. And while FriendFeed may have threaded discussion and rooms, my friends don't need to join Socialthing for me to follow them. This type of tool could be useful to organizations following large groups, especially if they add the ability to tag and filter. www.socialthing.com
Plurk
This site could be called a Twitter-clone, but the similarities stop there. They have implemented this amazing horizontal scrolling timeline for updates, and it simply looks gorgeous (though, I've heard that when you're following lots of people, it gets crowded). Similar to FriendFeed, threaded discussions are attached to each update - this is great, and is one of the reasons early adopters are finding the platform handy for distributed online meetings. www.plurk.com

FriendFeed
Currently the darling of the early adopter set, FriendFeed is growing by leaps and bounds because of its nimble feature set. It feels effortless to use, and makes it easy to "like" updates, join threaded discussions, and form ad-hoc groups. The "Rooms" feature is something that both Twitter, SocialThing, and Plurk (they are using "cliques") desperately need. Beth Kanter did an experiment for NPTech folks that gave us a reason to play with the features - and now we're all hooked. Twitter, you're on notice! www.friendfeed.com

Twhirl
This was one of the first Adobe AIR apps that actually stuck for me, and I use this desktop Twitter client every day. Very functional, great options, and easy to deal with - I've had no problem turning other people onto this tool. www.twhirl.org

Alert Thingy
Basically like Twhirl, but for FriendFeed. You can do most of your FF business within this sidebar desktop app. www.alertthingy.com

Snurl, TinyURL, is.gd, etc
OK, when you want to post a big, long, nasty URL into a microblogging service, you've got a problem. That's why so many short URL generator sites have popped up, and why I continue to use them. I used Snurl for a long time, but lately I've been using is.gd, as the average URLs are a few characters shorter. www.snurl.com, www.tinyurl.com, and www.is.gd.

So, what webby things are getting sticky for you?

Interact with NTEN Office Hours

Chad Norman — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:39:00 GMT

Yesterday I participated in the NTEN Office Hours program by hosting a session in the Communication Track...which we all know these days means webby things. I was a bit nervous going into the session, but I have to say it was a lot of fun - and a great example of using web technology to provide real-time results (on of my favorite things.)

Basically, NTEN reached out to its members seeking volunteers to host hour-long chat sessions once a week in their area of expertise. Using freely available tools like Google Calendar and meebo, the office hours program provides a conduit for sharing knowledge. Cheers to Anna, Holly, and the rest of the NTEN crew for setting up such a useful program!

Participating is easy. First, check out the calender to see which experts are signed up and when. Second, visit the chat room at the scheduled time for the expertise area of that volunteer: IT Staff, Communications, Fundraising, Program, or Leadership. And third, ask away!

I'll be hosting a session every Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET in the Communication room...stop by and chat!

Sessions to Catch at the 2008 NTC

Chad Norman — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 20:38:00 GMT

The 2008 Nonprofit Technology Conference kicks off in less than 3 weeks, and I'm stoked to finally be going. Not because it's in The Big Easy, but because I can't wait to rub elbows with some of the brightest stars of NP tech. The thought of meeting the tireless Beth Kanter in person is enough to send my geek-meter to DEFCON 1.

So, anticipation of an amazing event, here are 10 NTC sessions I don't want to miss:

I'm really excited for the copyright, mapping, and mobile devices sessions. As content and the technologies that contain it become untethered by traditional means, these three issues will become even more necessary.

What sessions are you hoping to attend?

Searching for Dollars at GoodSearch.com

Chad Norman — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 21:08:00 GMT

Each week, billions of searches generate millions of dollars for companies like Google and Yahoo!. It's hard to believe this much revenue can be generated simply from clicks and data retrieval. What if some of that cash could be diverted to your organization? That question was on the minds of Ken and JJ Ramberg when they launched GoodSearch.com back in 2005. GoodSearch donates 50% of their ad revenue to nonprofit organizations...and the kicker is that users choose which ones. Here's how it works:

On the GoodSearch homepage, choose from thousands of organizations or add your favorite cause to our list. Search the Internet just like you normally would — the site is powered by Yahoo!, so you'll get the same high-quality search results you're accustomed to. Fifty percent of the revenue generated from advertisers is shared with the charity, school or nonprofit organization of your choosing.

Sounds so simple, doesn't it? There may be some room for fraud here, but I still like the concept and attitude. I performed a few searches with some of my favorite nonprofits, and it's nice to know that a few pennies of that ad revenue will be going somewhere useful, rather than to a corporation's bottom line. GoodSearch has some great information on how to get your nonprofit listed, and how to link to them from your site. So setup an account, educate your donors, and put those billions of searches to work.

DoGooderTV to Provide Nonprofit Video Sharing

Chad Norman — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 21:05:00 GMT

I recently ran across a new video sharing site for nonprofits, DoGooder.tv. Very cool. The site is live right now, though in alpha, and allows nonprofits to post high-quality videos for a small fee free. They plan to include more community and online donation functionality down the road, so this is pretty exciting. But will nonprofits flock to DoGooderTV instead of free alternatives like YouTube or Google Video? DoGooderTV will always have a captive audience looking for nonprofit content, but whether or not organizations will be willing to pay for that placement remains to be seen. Tracking… Update: Michael says:

The site is 100% FREE! A new version is online now that allows nonprofits to create basic home pages and upload video.

That's great news from the DoGooderTV camp - not only because the the service will be free, but social elements like creating pages are coming sooner rather than later.