Back again to “around the web” we took a short break with the Mini-Conference. So this week I might have a few from more than a week.

1. A better way to Produce an Annual Report a guest blog from Michael Hoffman,  See3 Communications makes a good argument for not printing an annual report [...]]]>

Image via CrunchBase

Back again to “around the web” we took a short break with the Mini-Conference. So this week I might have a few from more than a week.

1. A better way to Produce an Annual Report a guest blog from Michael Hoffman,  See3 Communications makes a good argument for not printing an annual report and using a tool called Treesaver: Treesaver divides content into pages, automatically adjusting to the size of any screen. Michael also give good reasons NOT to use .pdf’s.

Beth Kanters’s overview:

My main takeaway was that nonprofits need to think differently about content.  There are  different media forms  that mandate different types of content  — and nonprofits must consider this as part of the online content strategy.   People who reading content on their smartphones or tablets will not be consuming text heavy information – it has to brief text and visual or videos.

2. Google Launches Google for Nonprofits If you work for a nonprofit, the program provides your organization with several new benefits. Instead of applying to each Google product individually, you can sign up through a one-stop shop application process. If approved, you can access their suite of product offerings designed for nonprofits.   Details.

3. Ten Reason to Give People to Like you on Facebook from John Haydon

These are just ten reasons – out of hundreds! The point is that you have to offer something that makes sense, and you have to spell it out very clearly.

4. From Frog Loop: How much Money should you be Raising Online? Jocelyn Harmon gives an overview with 9 key findings on a report, by Convio and some things you should do now.

5. Storytelling: The First Best Thing from Network for Good. Stories help us remember, influence how we decide, and are linked with our sense of generosity. The post outlines structure and what types of stories to tell.

Join Us April 12 for music & wine at the South Shore Conservatory in Cohassett. Our next networking event, details shortly.

1. Why Viral Campaigns Can Still Be Challenging for Non-Profits from Mashable, they talk with Katharine Mansell, the media relations manager for WSPA UK, about Not In My Cuppa campaign, and raise some hard questions about how to [...]]]>

Well, I missed last Friday with “around the web” so there was so much to choose from this week!

1. Why Viral Campaigns Can Still Be Challenging for Non-Profits from Mashable, they talk with Katharine Mansell, the media relations manager for WSPA UK, about Not In My Cuppa campaign, and raise some hard questions about how to use social media to create change, and how to measure the impact of viral elements like YouTube videos.

Take Aways: If you’re launching any campaign — viral or otherwise — set up alerts for keywords and phrases to help measure where your message is being shared off-site.

2. Learn more about Ja-nae’s Revolution Road Trip, discovering Social Good to SXSW from Steve Garfield on Steve Garfield.tv (if you are in the Boston South area, she will be speaking at the SSWBN Breakfast in April, after her return from the trip!) [more information on the breakfast sponsored by the Ed Foundation]

3. HOW TO: Claim Your Nonprofit’s “Company Page” on LinkedIn from Nonprofit Tech 2.0, a good step-by-step.

LinkedIn is now the 12th most visited website in the United States and with almost 100 million active users, you should claim, enhance, and monitor your nonprofit’s Company Page.

4. A grant program aimed at the heart & soul of your nonprofit from Socialbrite a guest post by Juan A. Garcia Cid
Marketing and Media Manager, Community TechKnowledge.

This year’s Heart & Soul grant program, put on by the CTK Foundation Fund, is designed to refine the sense of mission that exists in the hearts of your staff, board members and supporters. To win, you have to channel your creativity to write an original four- to eight-line poem or stanza that reflects the work or mission of your nonprofit. No poets on staff? Ask your supporters to write a poem for you. The first place winner will receive $10,000 and will have their submission turned into a song to be used in public education or awareness.

5. Spring Ahead, Fundraising Look Back from Frogloop. What are your fundraising plans, read this post before you solidify your plans!

Blackbaud issued the 2010 Online Giving Report last week.  Download your FREE .pdf copy here.  The report includes online giving data from over 1,400 nonprofits.  These organizations represent $5.1 billion in total fundraising.

A couple of key findings of the report: Online giving grew 34.5% in 2010. 7.6% of total fundraising now comes from online giving.

1. An Opinion for Philantropy.com: Foundations Should Offer Thoughtful Support to Struggling Charities. by Douglas B. Bauer. (thanks Susan Hammond for alerting us to this post). Mr. Bauer writes about how impressed he is by how well nonprofits are surviving  in these tough times.

How, then, should foundations respond to best help [...]]]>

Image by Dystopos via Flickr

1. An Opinion for Philantropy.com: Foundations Should Offer Thoughtful Support to Struggling Charities. by Douglas B. Bauer. (thanks Susan Hammond for alerting us to this post). Mr. Bauer writes about how impressed he is by how well nonprofits are surviving  in these tough times.

How, then, should foundations respond to best help our grantees deal with what experts call the new normal?

The grant dollars we allocate certainly cannot fill the gaps created by reduced government support—nor should they. But we certainly can be more thoughtful about how we focus our giving. For maximum impact in real time, one could suggest increased attention on four item.

General operating support, management training, access to working capital and making advocacy a priority.

2.Five Ways Nonprofits Can Use Social Media to Build Their e-Newsletter List from Nonprofit Tech 2.0

And though some reports claim that email use is dropping, others claim its use is steady and even on the rise. Reports and predictions of the death of e-mail fluctuate seemingly on a quarterly basis. However, one thing that is certain is that the ROI (Return on Investment) from e-newsletters is still relatively high compared to other Web-based channels.

Blog, convert Facebook fans to subscribers, convert twitter followers to subscribers, add subscribe to videos, add subscribe to photos and slideshare.

3. From John Haydon: What’s the best way to post as a Facebook Page? There have been drastic changes to Facebook’s pages, here is a “how to” and some thoughts on using the new tool best.

4. $100,000 in three days: How #TeamAutism did it from Socialbrite Guest post by Amy Sample Ward
amysampleward.org. Great article/interview on how they did it.

That’s a whole lot of donations in just three days! So, I connected with Sloane Berrent, founder of The Causemopolitan and a partner in Socialbrite, to learn more about this success story. She’s working with the creative agency JESS3 on this entire campaign. They created the infographic and pulled her in for the overall digital strategy.

5. From Beth Kanter:Tips for Shooting A Winning Video For Your Nonprofit guest post by Dawn and Brian Crawford

Note from Beth: After you read this guest post, you’ll have lots of great tips for your nonprofit’s video.   And don’t forget, The 5th Annual DoGooder Nonprofit Video Awards is now  open for submissions from members of the YouTube Nonprofit Program until March 2nd. This year, for the first time, in addition to awards for Best Small, Medium, and Large nonprofit organization videos, there is also a Best Thrifty Video category for videos produced for under $500.

Have a great week!

Thanks to Deborah Elizabeth Finn for reminding me about the fine resource library of short videos being created by our friend Steve Garfield.

Third Sector New England has been compiling very short videos (usually 1-2 minutes) talking about Collaboration, Diversity and Inclusion, Executive Transition, Going Green, Human Resources and Workplace Culture, Organizational [...]]]>

Image by stevegarfield via Flickr

Thanks to Deborah Elizabeth Finn for reminding me about the fine resource library of short videos being created by our friend Steve Garfield.

Third Sector New England has been compiling very short videos (usually 1-2 minutes) talking about Collaboration, Diversity and Inclusion, Executive Transition, Going Green, Human Resources and Workplace Culture, Organizational Development and Strategic Planning.

Here’s one I especially like by Phillip Davis, TSNE, Grant Coordinator:

Related articles

• Steve Garfield Explains How to Use Online Video for Marketing (hubspot.com)

It doesn’t matter how experienced a speaker is, when I put a camera in front of them for the first time most of them tend to get really nervous.  They start to lose track of their thoughts, their eyes start to dart around and their bodies become fidgety.  This happens so [...]]]>

Speaking on Camera is Different

It doesn’t matter how experienced a speaker is, when I put a camera in front of them for the first time most of them tend to get really nervous.  They start to lose track of their thoughts, their eyes start to dart around and their bodies become fidgety.  This happens so often that helping the speaker to relax and become comfortable with the camera in the room is part of the process of getting great video.

It is true that speaking on camera is different than speaking in person.  You can’t see the reaction of the person you are speaking to and attention spans of viewers is really short.  With this in mind there are a few things to keep in mind that will really help.

The first thing I do is to help the presenter with where to look.  It’s really important to keep eye contact somewhere.  Just like keeping eye contact with the person you are speaking to in person develops trust, the same works for the camera.

The second – do not memorize lines.  Unless you are a professional newscaster with a teleprompter or and actor, reciting memorized lines will sound fake.  Instead, have an outline of what you want to say and internalize your thoughts.  You are an expert in your given field and talk to people all the time.  Internalize what you think the most important points are and just tell them like you would in person.

Keeping these two simple ideas should really help.  If you would like to learn more about making great presentations for video, join us for our next Networking for Non-profits on the Cape, September 29th at Cape Cod Children’s Museum!

Join us for our next Networking for Non-Profit Event September 30th!

One of the benefits we offer to sponsors and speakers for the Non-Profit Toolbox is video.  We use the video interviews to promote our events, workshops, speakers and sponsors.  We use video from the event so people that couldn’t make it to the event can see what they missed [...]]]>

YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine

One of the benefits we offer to sponsors and speakers for the Non-Profit Toolbox is video.  We use the video interviews to promote our events, workshops, speakers and sponsors.  We use video from the event so people that couldn’t make it to the event can see what they missed and learn about the topic presented.  It is one of the most powerful benefits we offer – search juice.

So what does that mean to you?  Not much, unless you’d like to be found easier on the web.

Stephen Melanson spoke at our June meet-up about verbal branding.  We did a video interview before the event and videoed the presentation.  We posted the videos on YouTube (the second largest search engine behind Google), transcribed the audio portion and used it in the description, and embedded the video into our blog.

Here is what it’s done for Stephen:

• It’s on the first page of Google Search for Verbal Branding
• A Video and blog post of the video is on the first page on a google search for Stephen Melanson
• The video’s are in 3 of the 1st four positions on a YouTube search for Verbal Branding
• The videos are now embedded in other blog posts

Did any of the videos go viral? No.  Did they greatly improve his search rankings?  Yes they did, quite a lot.  We met Jane B Ford ( who speaks and blogs for us) yesterday and she told us that because of the videos and blog posts she now owns the first page of google search for her name, which she didn’t before.

Video, if used properly, can be a very important tool in your marketing mix.

Join us for our next Networking for Non-Profit Event in August!