How Telecommunications Is Changing Work for Nonprofits

Jacob Griscom, BetterWorld Telecom

Thanks to advances in communications technology, the daily commute to work for many people has transformed from a stressful car ride through heavy traffic to an easy stroll to the home office. This growing trend, often described as telecommuting or e-commuting, reflects a fundamental change from the traditional concept of work (performed in an office, on a nine-to-five schedule) to a more adaptive, results-based one.

Telecommunications -- including Internet, mobile, and radio technologies -- is allowing an increasing number of organizations to efficiently operate in ways that previously could only be accomplished in person. The potential impact of this shift in work is financial, social, cultural, and environmental.

The Social Media Response to Disaster in Haiti

Amy Sample Ward, NetSquared

When disaster strikes, we want information as soon as possible -- and we want to help just as quickly.

The social media response to the January earthquakes in Haiti all leverage a powerful technology we can hold in our hands: our mobile phones. But the way we think about, and turn to, social media in a time of disaster is changing.

Just Being Ourselves: Storytelling with Social Media

Roger Burks, Mercy Corps

One of my biggest takeaways from last year's Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC) in San Francisco was this oft-repeated advice on social networking: you can't make them come to you. You have to play in their space.

For my particular organization -- Mercy Corps, a large international relief and development agency -- that didn’t seem like such a compelling prospect. Our goal is getting people to come to our web site and take some sort of action for us, most preferably a donation. In our one attempt at soliciting action through social media, we'd tried getting our Facebook fans to donate through Causes, with next-to-no success.

But then, in our ongoing conversation about social media, my colleagues and I realized something: we didn't have to reinvent the wheel. We didn't have to do anything radically different from what we were doing on our own web site.

Online Engagement and Giving: Making the Most of Real Numbers

Alan Cooke, Convio

There is little debate that online communication, fundraising, and advocacy have become an important part of the modern nonprofit's fundraising and marketing mix.

While system data and trends show online giving is growing, consumer research reinforces the need for nonprofits to focus on how they integrate online and other technology into their marketing and development programs -- not just for today, but for the future.

Some of the key trends supporting rapid adoption of technology by nonprofits are:

• Online lifestyle behavior and giving of consumers and donors leading to success
• Mobile technology
• Technology that equalizes the playing field for all nonprofits

Tips for Writing Your First Social Media Policy

Maddie Grant & Lindy Dreyer, SocialFish, LLC and Leslie T. White, Croydon Consulting LLC

Ready to adopt a social media policy for your organization staff? Awesome. You probably have some ideas about the risks you want to avoid and how you'd like your staff to interact on the interwebs. Easy peasy, right?

Until you end up staring at a blank page.

It's easy to get caught up in all the different audiences and guidelines you want to include. Here are a few tips to get you past the writer's block and get something down on paper.