Today's topic is social bookmarking.  When I first heard that phrase, it conjured up images of women reading their favorite passages from Nicholas Sparks novels aloud to one another while drinking white wine.

How wrong was I? Social bookmarking is now part of my everyday online experience.  I use Delicious -- thanks for getting rid of all those goofy periods Yahoo! -- to keep track of articles and blog posts I may want to come back to.  I search Delicious to find information about topics I'm interested in.  I keep track of what other people tag with "NTEN" in Delicious, as well. 

I haven't gone the extra step of building community around my tags.  Have you?  What social bookmarking site do you prefer, and why?  Share with us in comments, below, or on the wiki.

They both had big ideas, but weren't sure where to get started.  For all of you in similar circumstances, See3 has a fun little series of (what else?) videos to get you started.  The Guide to Online Video is an informative series because See3 share a lot fo useful tips, and because they demonstrate how to do it right.  The videos are short, simple, and accessible -- the kind of thing that ANY organization could do.

So check out the series and get inspired!  

As usual, the people in the session were more interesting than anything I had to say, and we had some great conversations, especially around metrics.  Several folks asked me to share some resources, so I figured I'd throw them up here in case anyone else might find them useful.  

First, I use a chart in my general social media slide that gives a great visual overview of how folks use social media, and different ways they can particiipate:

(Click on the chart to go to its source and see it in clearer detail.)

Since we ended up doing a lot of talking about measuring ROI, I went ahead and shared the dashboard NTEN uses to track its online programs.  As I've written before, we're rethinking a lot of these metrics, and these are by no means what every orgnization should be tracking, but if you think it might be helpful, check out this version of our dashboard.   

Keep your eyes peeled next week, because all month long, we're going to "fondle the hammer!"  We'll be talking about social media tools just for the sake of how cool they are.  (Because let's face it, they are wicked fun.)

Every day, we'll ask you to share the tools you use to listen, share, and build community.  All we need you to do is tell us what tools you use, and why you love them. 

You'll get two great rewards:

• First, you'll get the satisfaction of helping to build a curriculum that will help other nonprofits learn how to use social media effectively.
• AND, you'll get the shirt. (You know you want one!)

Flickr Photo: Snow_girl

Take a read through these highlights, then go sign up for the NTEN Discuss email list (or one of the many other Affinity Groups that might suit you).

Michelle
Murrain shared the exciting news that NOSI (the Nonprofit Open Source Initiative) has officially become a project of Aspiration. This work will involve maintaining the NOSI Primer, enhancing the Social Source Commons, and continuing Penguin Days across the country and around the world. (We sure love those peguins and are glad to know they're safe).

A few days ago, Mary Henton, Director of Integrated Media Initiatives, National Middle School Association, asked if anyone used any of the free wikis to assist in project management and if anybody had recommendations. Many a response came rolling in.

Peter Campbell, IT Director, Earthjustice, advised that, "Wikis can be used for project management, and might be a good choice if everyone is comfortable with the tool and you have a shared methodology for updating, task management, etc.  I've found them to be great for simple tasks, such as keeping track of computers that have been upgraded.  But for more serious, long-term project management, I would look at an online tool like Basecamp , or any of the wide number of project management tools out there that will let you tie your schedule, resources, and dependencies together, and integrate them more directly with your email/ personal calendars.  Wiki's are very free-form, which means that there are a lot of things you can do with them, but they suffer a bit at storing tabular data,such as calendars and task lists, and they lack features that a tool designed fror project management will provide."

Sonny Cloward, Business Systems Analyst, Rainforest Alliance, suggested checking out Central Desktop "if you have time dependent tasks. It takes some configuring... but I find it much more useful then Basecamp for non-Agile Development Projects."

Ari mentioned Zoho, which "offers a whole suite of project management and Community of Practice tools, including wiki, an MS Office replacement suite (including their version of a schedule/resource tracking tool replacement for MS Project). If you have simpler projects, Basecamp is worth using because it is simple and easy to use. If you need more, it seems worth checking out Zoho."

Michelle Murrain advised that a "tool in no way can replace (or ameliorate) bad project management (by human beings.) I've been involved in *very* complex projects where the project management was just a wiki and a mailing list, and it was very well managed because the project manager was ace. I've been involved in other projects using Basecamp, and the project basically didn't have management because the human piece was missing - basecamp didn't really help. She warns, don't rely too much on the tool, or necessarily expect a better tool to provide better project management."

Gavin Clabaugh agrees and adds, "'it's a poor carpenter that blames his tools.' I personally *hate* most project management tools.  I find the best tool a simple calendar. That, along with actually having the time it takes to do the project ... The tools never seem to actually give me more time."

For more thought provoking discussion and words of wisdom, join an Affinity Group today!

John talks almost as fast as I do, but he thinks even faster -- and bigger.  In our hour together, John switched seamlessly from the impact of Digital Natives on the future of democracy to privacy to productivity. 

While all of it was fantastic, my favorite bit came at the end: the Berkman Center does not have a communications department.  Instead, they have community organizers.  I've written about this subject before, so I was excited to find a compatriot out there thinking similar thoughts.  Is communications part of community organizing?  Yes.  Is community organizing part of communications?  We want it to be, but it isn't yet.  

Over the last 60 years, marketing and communications have been centered around the idea of talking AT people.  Think about it in terms of the language we use when we talk about communications: we "deploy" "campaigns" to "target" markets.  It's all militaristic and linear.  I'm guilty of using the same language and thinking the same way.

But the way people expect to be communicated with -- and WITH is the operative word here -- is different now.  They don't want to be talked to, they want to be part of a conversation.  You know that.  I know you know that.  But the steps  we're taking to create that conversation are not good enough.

• You can't just have comments on your blog, you have to comment on THEIR blogs.
• You can't just ask people to email you with ideas, you have to respond to those emails.
• You can't just start a group in Facebook, and then only message at them.

Communications is more about listening than it is about talking -- and demographics and user surveys don't count as listening any more. 

You need to go deeper.  You need to listen harder.  You need to add value to existing conversations as much or more than you try to start your own.  You need to hear what people are asking for, and then help them get it.  That's what community organizers do.

So let me ask you: do you really need your communications department? 

Share with us in the comments (be sure to include your name), and we'll select a few of you to receive John's book!

As nonprofits escalate their focus on the Internet for fundraising and base-building, there is, increasingly, a recognition that the online channel can be a constituent-friendly, cost-effective means of building relationships and raising money from individuals.  

New online fundraising programs, however, bring new challenges:

• How to acquire new constituents?
• How to cultivate this virtual constituent community?
• How to produce fundraising revenue (quickly)?
• How to reduce the payback period for the program investment?

For nonprofits with growing online fundraising programs, there is a similar set of challenges:

• How to continue to grow the base?
• How to keep program costs in check?
• How to increase revenue?
• How to increase net proceeds (revenue less costs)?

Rapid Donor Cultivation

To address these questions, Common Knowledge developed a program we call Rapid Donor Cultivation, inspired by best practices in the online retail industry. In this sector, savvy retailers noticed that online prospect affinity is typically highest for the first 30 days after the visitor opts in to the retailer’s email list. This honeymoon period -- the high-affinity phase -- is characterized by higher email open, click, and conversion rates. It turns out that this behavior is also demonstrated by new nonprofit e-subscribers.

You can capitalize on this high affinity period by sending a stream of carefully crafted emails with select content and calls-to-action to the new subscriber over the first 30 days.  We typically use a ten-email stream, ending with a targeted fundraising ask.  

Via this process, you'll be able to realize direct benefits, including:

• Decreasing the elapsed time to the first gift,

• Maximizing the size of the first gift,

• Maximizing the lifetime value of a new subscriber, and

• Reducing the cost of fundraising by using an automated email queue.

Ultimately, your goal should be to optimize your investment in email fundraising and to produce a reliable, cost-effective revenue stream from individual giving. In addition to the direct benefits, you may also realize several ‘soft’ benefits:

• An increase in constituent comprehension of nonprofit programs and mission,

• Reduction in the number of unsubscribes, an

• Increase in brand awareness, and a

• Growth in subscriber affinity

Project Description

Common Knowledge helped the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), an international animal rights group, set up just such a program. It's been running for 15 months (since July 2007), and includes a series of ten emails sent over five weeks. These emails start going out to subscribers shortly after they opt-in.

The email series looks to educate and engage new subscribers with a sequenced, in-depth introduction to the organization and IFAW’s key issues. For IFAW, the emails educate readers about each of the major animal issue campaigns important to the organization. To engage subscribers, the email series incorporates advocacy actions, surveys, photo gallery tours, and other ‘active’ calls-to-action. The Internet, while virtual, offers a host of interactive and transactional opportunities; extensive use of these engagement tools is a central theme of the program. IFAW's program culminates with a fundraising appeal centered on support for a Russian bear sanctuary -- historically, a high-performing fundraising issue for them.

One of the most intriguing aspects of the program is the frequency and volume of communication with supporters: two emails per week for five weeks. This frequency and volume of focused communication is cost-prohibitive via direct mail -- and even online if attempted manually. In order to dramatically reduce the program cost, we implemented an automated email sequence using IFAW's eCRM solution -- Kintera. It's possible your CRM has similar functionality.

Results

The results of the program since its initial launch with IFAW have far exceeded their expectations. Overall, the program has reduced the time to the first gift, increased the number of subscribers who give, and -- in initial estimates -- increased the lifetime value of new subscribers.

In order to get a better idea of how this stacks up against receiving no specialized email communications, we compared the donation activity of new supporters who subscribed during three months in 2006 (before we launched the program) with those who subscribed during the same months in 2007 (who participated in the program). We analyzed all financial transactions made by supporters over the first six months they were subscribed to the list. We found:

Diagram 1: Table Comparing RDC Participants to New Subscribers from 2006

• The time to first gift decreased by 17 days

• The conversion rate subscribers to donors increased by 83%

These initial results give a good indication of the extent to which this type of program can improve donor cultivation and suggests that, in addition to improving the results for the first gift, it also increases the lifetime value of new subscribers.

Key Lessons:

• Frequent communications during first 30 days of subscription increases donations.

• Interactive features in emails increase engagement and affinity for organization.

• Automation of email series is critical to making high frequency email communications cost effective.

Resources

A more-in depth analysis of the IFAW Rapid Donor Cultivation (RDC) program is available in a white paper available on the Common Knowledge website.

Common Knowledge is offering a free RDC Webinar on Wednesday, October 1 at 11:30 PDT/ 2:30 EDT

Jeff Patrick and Cassandra Koenen (Director of Online Campaigns and Marketing, IFAW) will discuss ways to:

• ensure a strategic stream of email communications,

• engage new supporters frequent, targeted, high quality messages, and

• rapidly cultivate new prospects.

Register here: https://cc.readytalk.com/registration/e6kkzs8yfwut/5d3ue50delh9

Authors

Jenny L. Feinberg - Senior Consultant, Fundraising

Jenny provides marketing and fundraising analysis and web campaign strategy, using her experience to build growth and retention in emerging online environments. Her work on the 2007 IFAW Seal Campaign resulted in 30% growth in revenue.

Jeff Patrick - President & Founder

Over the past decade, Jeff has assisted more than 100 nonprofits with their Internet initiatives. Working with large national and regional organizations, Jeff pioneered the tools and software for online fundraising, email communication, advocacy, and outreach.

About Common Knowledge

Common Knowledge, a consulting agency founded in 2002 provides comprehensive consulting services for online fundraising, advocacy, marketing and communications to nonprofit organizations. CK offers Online Strategy (including interactive media), Web Site Design and Development, Online Community Development (including social networking websites), Online Campaigns (including email), and Related Support Services. The current base of 30+ nonprofit clients includes Arthritis Foundation, Sierra Club, International Fund for Animal Welfare, Partnership for a Drug Free America, and Equality California.

Many nonprofit professionals today are nervous. The economy, while showing hopeful signs such as slightly lower oil prices and a stronger dollar, is still not in a good place. That means donors have less money in their portfolios and their pockets.

As a result, giving is down across the board. This is not how we want to enter the all important year-end giving season. With up to half of all donations coming in the last quarter of the calendar year, nonprofits need to start planning now so they can end the year strong and minimize the impact of these difficult times.

There are five simple things any organization can do to not only increase year-end results, but also maintain and even strengthen important long-term relationships with donors.

Connect with your donor’s pain

First and foremost, identify with your donors pain. Higher gas and food prices affect everyone, everyday. Acknowledge this joint burden while relating this to how much more these increased costs impact your organization and those you serve.

Americans are the most empathetic and generous donors on earth. Donors can immediately relate to how much more food and other rising prices affect poor parents struggling to feed and house their children. They can now easily understand the transportation cost burden for an organization serving elderly, shut-in people or a group helping a needy college student travel home for the holidays.

Articulating the challenges we all face in a difficult economy creates a sense of community and can be a welcome reminder for donors that, even in challenging times, they have much for which to be thankful.

Call Mid to Major Donors Now

Do not wait until November and December to connect with your most valuable donors. Assign key organizational leaders or representatives to call top donors to discuss year-end giving and planning.

Convey your understanding of and empathize with the challenges they may well be facing with their personal finances. At the same time, be clear and honest about the challenges your nonprofit is facing.

These are your organization’s “closest friends,” so treat them as you would a friend. Naturally, providing for their families welfare must come first and they may need to reduce the size or number of contributions they make this year. Encourage and help them in this, and you further cultivate an even stronger relationship that will provide significant support for your nonprofit for years to come.

By doing this in September, you’ll create more accurate projections for income from this key group. Contact them in the November/December time frame as things can change even in two months (schedule this follow-up call when you talk the first time), but at least you will not be caught unprepared if giving levels do not meet budgets and expectations created last year when the economy was better.

Begin Year-End Campaigns in September with Installment Options

Begin your direct marketing appeals earlier. Not only does this help get your messaging in front of donors first, it allows you to offer donors installment options.

These options can make giving at previous levels more manageable. While a single $300 or even $75 gift given last December may seem too much when cash is tighter this year, donors may be more receptive to giving a year-end gift in three monthly installments of $100 or $25.

Provide this option online or by sending a special reply device (or even three return envelopes, which has been very successful) with your mailing. You are providing the donor value by creating an innovative giving option that recognizes his/her immediate needs, while still allowing him/her to help others.

Use alternative giving vehicles

Most organizations are aware of the success of giving catalogs and other alternate giving methods like adoptions. Create attractive giving vehicles that donors can use as presents for others.

For zoos, aquariums and also wildlife and animal welfare groups, a special animal adoption that includes a certificate, a fun educational book and a plush toy is a great gift for children that also supports the organization’s work.

For an arts organization, use premiums like tickets, a poster print or an exclusive music CD sent when a donation is made in someone else name.

Create tangible premiums related to your mission and allow the donor’s friends or relatives to receive an actual gift of value as a reminder of your organization’s mission and what has been done in their name.

Focus on segmentation and target total net income (not return on investment or revenue)

This is a great time to evaluate your donor segmentation and ensure that you are focusing on the most productive donors. Evaluate each segment by the net income it produces (profit after all costs).

The common mistake is allowing return on investment (ROI) or response rates to drive decisions about not mailing or calling certain donors. The reality is that while response rates or ROI could improve by cutting certain donors, your total net income will decrease. This means you have less money at a crucial time to spend on programs and services.

Contacting donors with lower response may involve greater cost, but that is inconsequential if more dollars come in the door and segments are still reasonably profitable.

Now -- versus the thick of the holiday season -- is the time to get creative and innovative about your fundraising. Focus on empathy, not guilt or scare tactics. If you empathize with your donors and allow them to empathize with you and the people you serve, this year-end could produce results that sustain you through a difficult economy and also build long lasting donor relationships.

About the author: Randy McCabe is the founder and CEO of MPower, which provides the most open, flexible, and powerful suite of software and services for fundraising and constituent relationship management for today's nonprofit. For more information and also to download and begin using MPower without licensing fees, please visit www.mpoweropen.com

(If you're under 25, you are excluded from the next paragraph: you don't remember a time WITHOUT it!)

First, we got excited because email made communications  cheaper and faster; you could send out 1,000 messages in no time at all, and for very little money.  Then, we realized email had a little secret sauce to it. Unlike direct mail, emails could acutally change hands and reach NEW audiences pretty easily.  So, we all started adding "Forward this to a friend" pleas to our messages and waited for our campaigns to go "viral."

What we were hoping to do was tap the power of networks.  Just like the old shampoo commercial, we wanted our supporters to get our message and tell it to friends, ad infinitum.

Sometimes it worked.  Most of the time it didn't.  Usually, external forces affect how viral a campaign will go -- like if your issue or topic gets big news coverage.  No matter how well-crafted or compelling your message, it wouldn't work as a viral campaign unless some external forces were in place. (And yet, I get the same "sisterhood" message forwarded from my mom over and over again.  Go figure.)

I'd argue that the reason those messages had a hard time going viral was that they weren't personal. 

At the end of the day, a marketing message is a marketing message, whether you're Coke or Amnesty International.  And it's really hard to write a marketing message with which everyone can make an emotional connection.  

Social media changes all of that.  Social media allows your stakeholders to tell their own stories, and their networks will respond to that. Whether it's through photo sharing, blogging, or video, telling your story and then letting your network retell it their own way is a powerful force.

This week in We Are Media, the fabulous Beth Kanter is leading us through the process of sharing our stories.  We're asking you all to help us answer a few questions:

• Why is sharing your story social media-style important?
• What are some easy ways to get started?
• What are the tips and techniques of getting your stakeholders to share your story?
• What are some of the best of the best nonprofit examples? (Here's your chance to brag about your project!)
• What are the best how-to resources on this topic?
• What are the tools?

You can share your responses in the comments here, or on the wiki.  I'm looking forward to your stories about stories!

Flickr Photo: VisualAge

Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and blogs are all about helping individual actors share, and by so doing, meet other individuals.  The central question of Twitter is, "What are you doing?"  Facebook has Groups, but the Groups are designed to be expressions of individual enthusiasms, and aren't really geared toward organization-speak.

Another way of putting this: Organizations don't make friends.  People make friends.  

In the friend-crazy world of social media, you've really got to think about how the people who work for and empower your organization can build your organization into their social media brand.  How will you make sure that when Staffer A blogs, tweets, or friends someone else as part of her work with you, that her posts, tweets, and friends are representative of your organization and your brand, while still being personal?

It's a tough line to walk.  I do it all the time.  On the one hand, I want to make sure NTEN's values are imbued in all my social media contributions.  On the other hand, sometimes I'm just looking for a good cornbread recipe.  Are those two things at odds?  I don't think so, but I actually do a lot of self-editing in my head.

One resource I've found helpful over the last week is a handy guide from Chris Brogan, "Personal Branding for the Business Professional."  I think the guide should be an exercise organizations go through with their staff who use social media on the org's behalf.

I also just found a post from one of my favorite women in tech, Deborah Schultz.  Looks like we're on the same brainwave lately.  She writes:

No matter how you slice it - everything is personal.  Not personal
as in taking things personally [tho there is plenty of that taking
place], but personal as in this is 'personal to me'.  Social web tools
are just that social and personal. They are a reflection of their
creator - without a personal voice and tone there is no "there there". 
And they are changing the dynamics of how we interact, relate and do
business.

The challenge for a business or political campaign is how do you
infuse the personal without over-sharing and how do you find the
balance of what is appropriate? 

Neither Chris's guide nor Deborah's post actually contains answers.  Nope.  Instead, they have pointers.  That's the fun of all this: no one has the answers, but we're all required to try.