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TAPPING INTO THE STRENGTH OF A GENERATION – THE MILLENNIALS

Christina Smith, YourMembership.com Inc.

With multiple generations in the workforce and fundraisers trying to reach all segments of the population, it's necessary to tailor your fundraising and volunteer need requests to fit your audience. You can no longer use one sweeping cattle call of a request to round up dollars and people.

Generation Y has a reputation for being peer-oriented due, in part, to their reliance on instant communication technologies and the Internet, including email, IMs, texting and social media.

When targeting Generation Y's approximately 60 million people, you need to give some thought to who they are and what motivates them.

HOW TO: CREATE A LISTENING DASHBOARD FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION

Amy Sample Ward, NetSquared

There are so many blogs, news sources, and conversations happening at the same time, every day, the chances that you'll be able to find them all without trying is pretty unlikely. There are hundreds of millions of blogs according to Technorati -- and that's just blogs!

Think of all the places your organization's name, staff, projects, programs, or focus area could come up in the news, in campaigns, or in online conversations.

To stay on top of it all, you need to create a listening dashboard for your organization. Here's how to do it!

TWITTER: I THINK I GET IT. NOW WHAT DO I TWEET?

Elizabeth Ricca, Big Duck

A little while ago, we got a question from a client about Twitter. They have the basics down pat: they know the lingo, and they understand the importance of conversation. But they were curious about what kind of content they should tweet, and how to strike the right balance between carrying on conversation and self-promotion.

It's a good question, and it got me thinking about the kind of content nonprofits might want to share on Twitter on a day-to-day basis, and how an organization can get the most out of microblogging.

(Need more Twitter? Check out Dawn Crawford's "Why 140 Characters Works".)

WRITING FOR THE WEB: TIPS FOR NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

Denise Moorehead, Third Sector New England

A recent study by the Pew Research Center found that more than three-quarters of all Americans expect to find information about a company, government agency, or nonprofit organization on the Web.

That means the majority of your nonprofit's stakeholders expect to find current, relevant, and thorough information about your organization on your website. And a number of potential clients, volunteers -- and donors -- will visit your website to determine if they want to build a relationship with you.

You need to make sure your website is not only visually easy to navigate but also written from the perspective of your web visitors.

WHAT'S MORE AWESOME THAN SHARING? PUBLISHING, WITH FACEBOOK CONNECT

Matt Koltermann, Cross-Cultural Solutions

Facebook is kind of a big deal.

With two billion pieces of content shared every day on Facebook, influentials confirming that Facebook has been the largest gainer of online usage over the past three years, and recent deals with Microsoft and Google to bring public status updates to search results, getting your nonprofit organization to appear in Facebook's news stream needs to be a marketing priority for the new year.

If you delight in keeping-up with tech news, you may have heard that Facebook recently relaunched its "Share" button to include customizable text and a handy little count bubble that shows how many times a link has been shared, which is pretty nifty. As great that is, what if you could have even more control over the content that's shared, increase your brands visibility, add a call-to-action, and get started on creating a deeper level of engagement?

You can do all that with Facebook Connect.

WHAT YOU ARE NOT DOING CAN HURT YOU

Meg Murphy, Convio

Do these statements sound familiar?

"I don't have enough resources to do online fundraising and marketing", and

"I'm not sure I can afford to invest in online fundraising."

Those points are common in the nonprofit sector despite the growing number of studies and reports that show that online fundraising continues to grow — even during the tough economy.

Do you need help getting your leadership or board on board to make the move to a more robust online fundraising program? Organizations of all sizes can get into the game, you just need a playbook.

CASE STUDY: INSIDE AN INTEGRATED HOLIDAY FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN

Ali Cherry, Beaconfire

It seems like "integration" has joined "strategy," "social media" and "ROI" as part of a family of words that we all agree are important to online fundraising campaigns but everyone seems to use slightly differently.

In addition to combining the traditional tried and true with experimental techniques, we have seen four different approaches to online fundraising integration:

• Online/Offline
• On site/ Off site
• Individual/Corporate
• Dollars/Action

If you can achieve all of these at the same time, bravo because for most nonprofits, integration is a goal with many challenges.

MEMBER APPRECIATION: BEST OF THE REST

Thanks to everybody who contributed an article for Member Appreciation Month. While these didn't do quite as well statistically as the featured articles, they're all great reads, on subjects ranging from IPv6 to email campaigns to chocolate zucchini cake.

Here they are, in handy reverse alphabetical order:

• Zucchini and Websites: The Power of Analogies
• Will It Take a Village to Bring Our Communities Online?
• Why 140 Characters Works
• What Nonprofits Should Know About Launching a Social Networking Community
• The Power of Personalization
• Technology is all about the Eyeballs
• Take-aways from Voluntweetup Event
• Social Media and Technology: What Nonprofits Need To Know
• Is Your Network Ready for the Future? Getting Involved with ARIN and Preparing for IPv6
• How To Use Information You Already Have To Personalize Constituent Experiences Online
• Email Campaigns That Work for Nonprofits
• Don't Over Invest in Your Website
• Be Sparkly and Other Tips to Rise Above the Social Media Clutter
• As Location is to Real Estate, Timing is to Social Media
• A New Marketing Paradigm: How Affordable, Active and Agile Technology Can Change Nonprofit

THINGS WE LIKE

1. The James Irving Foundation has published a terrific report: "Convergence: How Five Trends Will Reshape the Social Sector" (PDF).
2. Feuds. In case you missed it, Stephen Colbert parodied Miracle Whip's so-hip-it's-atrocious anti-mayonaise campaign. Then, Miracle Whip fired back with an ad in some major newspapers, a fine example of the old adage, "When life gives you lemons, huck 'em right back at those who oppose you." Wait, that's not right. It's an example of being playful in response to criticism. We should all be able to do that. Just remember this basic tenet: never take on someone funnier than you.
3. The NTEN community: you folks rock.
4. We might like KISSmetrics, we're just not sure yet. All we know right now: it's probably not a system that tries to determine how many times you listened to "Rock and Roll All Nite" in high school. But somebody should invent that, too.
5. Google Grants has changed the process to make it both faster to set up and more understandable for approved grantees.
6. November 19th is World Toilet Day. They're running a great awareness campaign.
7. And now for a brief update from our obsession with charts:
• Possibly the most impressive chart ever. Seriously, how long did this take?
• So true.
• Find out the chances you're going to get away with something.
• And there's so much more at Chartporn.org, which, in spite of its name, is totally safe for work.
8. Salesforce.com used gag teeth to introduce their new initiative, Chatter. Google has collected its special holiday logos all in one place. What's your organization trying?
9. Pomplamoose. Check out their version of "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)".
10. And, of course, elk. [Ed. note: What? Elk? Not kitties?] No, elk. That is one cute elk calf.

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