GenerationYGive

It's a CAUSEWORLD after all!

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kagan) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:07:00 +0000

I have not posted to this blog for a while, but today I came across something that HAD to be shared!

Recently, I received a e-newsletter from one of our clients, and it listed all sorts of ways one could get involved, one of which was "dowloading a Causeworld application." Being the curious bee that I am, I had to go check this out, and I found something totally amazing!

So, what is CauseWorld? The basic concept is a twist on the GPS-based social media apps like FourSquare that are the new Twitter of the social media fanatics. For those who are not super clear on FourSquare, it's a GPS based app--you go somewhere, "check in" and all your friends get to see that you're there. You leave, you "check out" and all your friends see you leaving. To those who are thinking: "why would anyone want to use this?", just remember, this is also what lots of people thought in the early days of Twitter.

So, what's CauseWorld? So, you go to your local grocery store, "check in", buy some groceries. Just for "check in", one of the three major sponsors of the app (Kraft Foods, Citi, and P&G) give you "Karma" points. Once you accrue enough Karma points, you can "donate" them to a participating nonprofit of your choice, and these points are equivalent to doing good things for an organization. For example, donating 95 Karma points to American Forests plants a tree, etc.

Why is this so neat? This allows you to "do good" while 1) not actually donating money (this can be very appealing in a tough economic environment) 2) getting "rewarded" for doing things you would normally do in your day anyway 3)giving you "choice" in how your Karma is spent (you get to choose the nonprofit and also when you use the Karma points), and, as with all social media 4) you get to see how others are spending their Karma points, 5) and if you are Kraft, Citi, or P&G, well, you get super good corporate social citizen Karma and PR points!

I've already downloaded this free app on my phone (5 free Karma points just for doing that), and can't wait to start using it. (Note how I am virally promoting this app and no one is even paying me to do this!)

Democracy 2.0 Summit: The ROI of Gen Y

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kagan) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:35:00 +0000

This week I am joining us 150 Millennials in Chicago and thousands more on the Web will gather to discuss, debate and act on timely topics and ideas on civic engagement and public policy at the Mobilize.org Democracy 2.0 Award Summit Exploring the Millennial Generation’s ROI. BusinessBoomer will provide live and interactive webcasts from Tuesday, November 17th to Friday, November 20th.

Live webcast and webcast schedule are below:

[MOBILIZE.ORG WEBCAST SCHEDULE]

PRE-PARTY: NOV 17TH

7:00 PM: Interviews at the Welcome Reception - The Hard Rock Café Chicago
Meet some of the participants and organizers as BusinessBoomer host Arabella Santiago finds out why they’re there and what civic engagement means to them.
DAY 1: NOV 18TH
9:00 AM: Summit Introduction - Maya Enista, CEO of Mobilize.org, to talk about the week’s events and set the stage for Millennials to discuss solutions on a local, state and federal level.
9:15 AM: Welcome Keynote - David Walker, Peter G. Peterson Foundation, “The Economic Reality for the Millennial Generation.” (Webcast viewers are invited to participate during the Q & A session.)

9:50 AM: Keynote Speaker - Tamara Draut, DEMOS

10:40 AM: Introductions at the tables and conversation on “Which topic is most urgent and why?”
11:15 AM: Short Table Report Outs
12:00 PM: David Hiller, President of the McCormick Foundation introduces David Smith and Shawn Healy and the IL Civic Health Index.
Webcast Break

6:00 PM – 8:00 PM: Dinner (with keynote conversation by Diane Ty, AARP) and Group Reports

DAY 2: NOV 19TH
10:30 AM: Next Steps conversation on priorities from Day 1
11:00 AM: Introduction of Award Summit Process and Expert Sessions
12:00 PM: Lunch off-site
1:00 – 2:00 PM: Millennials in Philanthropy (Rusty Stahl, Executive Director of EPIP and John Sirek, Program Officer of The McCormick Foundation)
2:00 – 5:00 PM: Expert sessions – competing teams and participants engage in rounds of expert advice on their proposals.

DAY 3: NOV 20TH
9:00 AM: Breakfast conversation with Bill Hoagland, and Introduction of celebrity judges.
9:30 AM: Grant Summit Final Round Begins
12:00 PM: Closing Lunch and Winners Announced, Closing remarks: Michael Peterson
1:30 PM: Event Close

Addicted to Sudoku, Solitaire, Popping Bubbles? Even that can do some good

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kagan) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 13:42:00 +0000

Recently, I came across an interesting site. Games that Give appears to be a relatively new site that allows you to play your favorite online games, like say, Sudoku, for free, and the site donates 70% of its ad revenue (say you happen to click on an ad while bursting with joy from solving that Sudoku puzzle), to charities that are part of the site. As a Sudoku addict, I could not be happier about this, but as a fundraiser, it is even more exciting.

So far, relatively few organizations have signed up for this. Users can pick the organization they "play" for. There is now a Facebook Application as well, and I imagine a mobile app is not too far off.

This site is in line with loads of other sites that have cropped up over the past few years like FreeRice.com and others where users are doing something that is useful or fun in their every day lives, and thru ad revenue, doing some good as well. There are shopping sites like this--buy an item thru the site, part of the revenue goes to charity. EBay's been in the game for a long time where you can donate part of the sale of your auction item to a charity of your choice, the list goes on and on.

The key here is that inventive folks on the web are finding ways to marry what people do on the Internet every day to a useful by product. Most of us have gotten used to seeing ads anyway, so why not have those ads do some good if we click on it?

The fundraiser's dilemma, is of course, how to keep up with all these sites, which ones to sign up for, how to even find out about them, and how to get ahead of the game.

One useful resource that all of us fundraisers can take advantage of is the Case Foundation's Gear Up for Giving initiative, going on right now. According to the Case Foundation, Gear Up for Giving: "which is presented in partnership with the Goldhirsh Foundation and See3, includes a series of Q&A sessions with social media experts and video training, along with a compilation of the best resources & tools from across the web for nonprofits and social media. The trainings and resources are free and available to any nonprofit organization or individual that has an interest in learning how to use social media tools to galvanize their networks, raise awareness for their causes and increase donations."

At the end of the 30 day initiative, "nonprofits everywhere will have an opportunity to put their learning into practice when we launch the 2009 America's Giving Challenge, enabling them to compete for donations and raise awareness for their causes."

And, just to help everyone get their week started on a thoughtful note, here is an interesting video from Network For Good care of the Wild Apricot Blog.

My new Sunday Morning Routine

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kagan) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:12:00 +0000

All of us have routines in the morning: wake up, figure out if it's really time to get up, figure out if it's possible to stay in bed any longer...

I used to have a very specific routine on Sunday mornings: this used to involve getting up, contemplating breakfast, watching the Sunday politics shows.

Recently, I've noticed a new habit sneak not only into my Sunday morning routine, but into every morning.

I wake up and feel around on my nightstand for my iPhone. I open one eye and manage to put in my password. I navigate to my four favorite iPhone apps and check them. First, I check the Woot iPhone app and see what's on sale that day. Then, I mosey on over to my Twitter iPhone app and wonder to myself who's already Tweeting this early in the morning. I then check an app that won't be mentioned here for good laughs, and finally, navigate to the new NPR app to see what's happening in the world this morning.

I say this bc I never thought I would turn into a "app" person, never mind that they would become a key part of my morning routine. To date, I have actually purchased 1 song from iTunes. If apps can sneak into my life in such a manner, surely they can sneak into the life of donors everywhere.

Now there are those who will make the argument that apps aren't the be all and end all of mobile and online these days--they provide stats about how many people actually own a smartphone--one capable of hosting applications, and how folks that own such a phone are a very specific section of the population.

This is of course what folks said about email and the Internet back in the early 90's. Smartphones are the fastest growing in sales of mobile phones. And may I note, that if someone has $200 to spend on a smartphone, they are a potential donor I want to be talking to.

There are certainly lots of nonprofits who are getting and already are on the app bandwagon, trying out all sorts of ways to get donors' attention. And apps are expanding the potential for donor and activist engagement, as in the example of the Extraordinaries app, about which I've written here before.

I am fascinated to see which organization's app will make it into my morning routine and why--will it be something regarding the H1N1 during the fall months helping me figure out whether I should even leave the house that day? If I were a pet owner, would it be an app that would tell me whether I should put a sweater on my toy dog that day bc of the weather near my house? Or say I cared about the Sudan, would it be an update from an organization on the ground telling me exactly what's going on that day?

As with everything with marketing, the key to successful apps us relevance. The only nonprofit app that has made it past my relevancy threshold is public radio. But I am sure it is just the first of many.

Twestivals Going Local

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kagan) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:14:00 +0000

At the beginning of the year, I wrote on this blog about an interesting new concept on Twitter: The Twestival."

At the time, I noted that according to the organizers: "In September 2008, a group of Twitterers based in London UK decided to organise an event where the local Twitter community could socialize offline; meet the faces behind the avatars, enjoy some entertainment, have a few drinks and tie this in with a food drive and fundraising effort for a local homeless charity."

My original post was pre-Twestival, and in the subsequent month, as Twetivals were held in 202 cities around the world, raising over $250K, with all the proceeds going directly to the Twestival selected charity, which was charity: water.

Now, some critics have grumbled that these Twestivals did not meet the original lofty fundraising goals, but this does not negate that volunteers all over the world got together in their local cities and with their time, energy, and resourcefulness raised a quarter million dollars for a good cause.

Fast foward a half a year, and Twestival has now gone local. This year, during the weekend of Sept 10-13th, cities all over the world will again be holding Twestivals, but this time, the local city organizers choose the charity that will be supported.

I have been involved in helping organize the DC Twestival. Held on September 10th, all proceeds will be going to benefit Miriam's Kitchen (no relation :)), a local soup kitchen based in DC.

The planning process has been a fascinating study in volunteerism, civic action, the power of social media, and, interestingly enough, Gen Y. I would note, that most everyone helping organize this event in DC is Gen Y. For a generation that is often written off by traditional nonprofit fundraisers, these folks, (including myself) have given up hours on weekends, tapped into our networks, and, I would say, very enthusiastically pursued the planning of this event, and, as an end goal, the raising of thousands of dollars for charity.

The most fascinating part to me is that the folks involved in my local Twestival come from all walks of life--PR, start up, event planning--most of them are not even part of the nonprofit community and were connected thru Twitter--meaning they do not have some default reason for being involved, like say learning something for their job or raising money for a living.

I would also note that the age group and demographic is likely a very unique one for planning large nonprofit events--too young to be involved in huge fundraising galas of the more traditional type, too old to be involved in college fundraising events.

The Twestivals, unlike other charity events, also bring together an interesting new group of "supporters", folks actually paying to attend the event, mingle, and support a charity, potentially opening an opportunity for the selected charities to tap into a whole new group of current volunteers, donors, and potentially, life-long advocates.

As with the efforts I recently wrote about from Operation Smile, folks are exploring new and interesting ways to "leverage" Twitter as a platform to encourage action, and in this case, action in person, continuing the trend that Twitter is becoming an essential tool in the fundraising toolkit.

To find your local Twestival, check out the main Twestival page and search by city.

Living in the DC area? Come join us on Sept 10th at Midtown Lofts and help support Miriam's Kitchen! Tickets are available thru Amiando (cheaper to get before day of even than at the door).

Twitter Fundraising: Operation Smile's 140 Smiles Campaign

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kagan) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 22:22:00 +0000

For a while, most questions one would hear about Twitter would be "what is it?" Most webinars I've sat in about Twitter fundraising have included basics of the Twitter world, like how to post, reTweet, and, in some cases, redirect people to your fundraising page.

Recently, I came across (thru Twitter of course) a case of an organization that has moved far beyond these basic steps to develop a fully integrated, Twitter-based fundraising campaign from Operation Smile (@operationsmile on Twitter for those of you with Twitter accounts).

To see the full campaign in action, visit http://www.140smiles.org/. What I find so interesting about this campaign is it is fully targeted to taking advantage of this social media tool in order to raise money. Most of us, at this point, are using Twitter to tell folks about what we are doing, post interesting stories and accomplishments, maybe ask them to our website to give thru that channel.

But 140smiles, is an entire microsite dedicated specifically to a Twitter-based fundraising goal--140 smiles raised from Tweeple. This is a very hefty goal: at approximately $240 for one cleft operation, the campaign is trying to raise nearly $34K, a whopping number for a Twitter-based, non celebrity sponsored endeavor.

I have been watching this campaign for a few weeks now, and, at approximately 48 smiles, the power of Twitter is being tested. BUT, props to the folks at Operation Smile who made this bold move. And props to them for creating a campaign that is clearly targeted to the social-media engaged donor:

1) The 140smiles.org microsite is specifically for Twitter traffic. It references Twitter, it has a live Twitter feed, AND a "community" accessed thru one's Twitter handle.

2) It has integrated tools making it easy to Retweet any action one has taken: whether donating, asking other people to take notice, or even urging other people to help reach the 140 smiles goal.

3)Prizes: yes, there are prizes and sponsors. What better way to help spread the word thru a viral community than to offer something in return for visiting?

4) Someone from Operation Smile who is actively Twittering about this and constantly encouraging others to keep promoting the fundraiser. (People have even started CauseCast pages dedicated to this).

The campaign is utilizing common social media best-practices: making it easy for people to participate, asking people to tap into their networks to help promote the cause, reinforcement and acknowledgement, and, finally, feedback loop. But it is so exciting to see this applied to Twitter.

Operation Smile may be one of the first to so fully integrate it's social media practice into it's fundraising, but, from this blogger's perspective, hopefully not the last. Even at 48 Smiles, that's over $11,500 raised toward its mission.

Click to give: 4 organizations vying for $100,000 based on most clicks

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kagan) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:30:00 +0000

When it rains it pours, so after my post yesterday about an opportunity for organizations to get a $10K grant by writing their mission in lyrical form, today, another heads up from the Allstate Foundation about a program they have going where all of us can click to vote for one of 4 favorite charities.

I posted about something similar Target was doing recently and promoting thru Facebook, and shared my thoughts on how the organizations involved in that effort were reaching out to folks to get most votes.

The Allstate"Click to Empower" campaign starts today, so the first thing I thought to do was to sign up for these folks email lists and find them on Facebook to monitor how they would be promoting this.

So far, this is what I have discovered:
2 out of 4 already have calls to vote clearly posted on their site
2 out of 4 have easy links to find them on Facebook
3 out of 4 have fairly easy to find newsletter subscription boxes on their site (couldn't find it on one for the life of me).

Excited to see how this develops over the next month!

So below is most of the content of the email I go, and if you are interested, you too can Click to Empower and watch what happens.

"I read on your blog, GenerationYGive, a recent post you wrote on Target’s Bullseye Gives campaign. We are launching a similar contest and need your help (and the help of your readers) to decide which one of four organizations will receive a donation of $100,000 to put towards economic empowerment for survivors of domestic violence.

Following up on last year’s successful click campaign on ClicktoEmpower.org, The Allstate Foundation has created another “click” campaign program that lets voters decide which charity, out of the four below, will receive a $100,000 grant. The organization that receives the most votes will receive the $100,000 grant and the remaining finalists will receive $10,000 each. The highlighted organizations include:

· Safe Horizon: Provides support, prevents violence, and promotes justice for victims of crime and abuse, their families, and communities
· YWCA USA: Works to eliminate racism and empower women
· Charity Cars: Provides disadvantaged families with a free vehicle and vehicle support services to assist in their transition from dependency to self-sufficiency
· National Family Justice Center Alliance: Works to provide training and technical assistance to existing and developing Family Justice Centers in the United States and around the world

To learn more about each of the non-profit organizations and their domestic violence programs go to www.ClicktoEmpower.org or www.facebook.com/clicktoempower, then vote for your favorite charity. When you’re done voting, there are easy share buttons to help you spread the word to your family and friends via text messaging, Twitter, and email.

Voting begins July 15 and ends September 12. To increase the organizations’ chances of winning, you can vote once a day!"

Heart and Soul Grant Award Program

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kagan) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:37:00 +0000

Folks, below is the almost verbatim text of info I received from Lisa at CTK Foundation. Thought some of you all might be interested, so good luck!

"Made possible by the CTK Foundation Philanthropic Fund and Grammy award-winners, Los Lonely Boys, The Heart and Soul (H&S) grant is an innovative and creative way for nonprofits to apply for funding.

To apply for the grant, the organization must submit a 4-8 line poem (lyrics) that represents the “heart and soul” of their mission. After the grant closes a jury panel of recognized independent music artists and producers from around the country will select a winner based on the quality and impact of the lyrics. The selected nonprofit will be awarded $10,000 and have their poem put to song by Los Lonely Boys.

The grant, already open, will close on August 15, 2009 and any registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization can apply. To learn more and apply for the grant, please visit www.ctkfoundation.org and click on the gold Foundation tab.

Thank you and best of luck to all organizations that choose to apply!
-Lisa"

Kiva's Bold Move

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kagan) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:00:00 +0000

I had been hearing rumors about this, but while I was on vacation in Peru, Kiva, a nonprofit organizations that works thru combining microloans, and in my opinion, is an organization that is truly tuned into how a web/mobile driven audience wants to interact with it's charitable giving, announced the launch of a pilot project to allow donors to loan to entrepreneurs in the U.S.

Here are a few things about this announcement that really caught my attention:

1. A U.S. based charity, reacting to the economic crisis and the constant flow of dire news at home, has reacted by allowing donors to choose where their funds go (abroad or help at home). Why is this important? If you are an international relief charity, you know the answer. Now I am sure there are some of you out there who are doing swell in this economic environment, but most of you are struggling with one main problem: not only is donor giving declining, but when given the option of helping someone at home vs. someone far away, donors are, for the most part, choosing to be patriotic (TAG numbers back me up on this, not just pulling out of thin air).

So, instead of hoping for the best, and forcing its donors to make a choice between continuing their giving with Kiva or turning to an organization with a domestic presence, Kiva has taken that choice out of the equation. What to help folks at home? Now you don't have to leave us to do so.

2. It is amazing how quickly the organization was able to make the decision. Less than 5 years old, the organization has quickly shot up to the be the "darling" of what's "innovative" and "new" in the nonprofit community. But roomers has swirled about its financial stability, how long they can keep going with no admin costs taken out of the donations/loans, etc. You'd think with their feet barely firmly planted in the nonprofit ground, now would not be the time to rock the boat.

Perhaps the decision reflects the youth of Kiva's decision-making team (us younger folk don't have a tendency to think and evaluate every possible consequence, or at least we are not so afraid of them) and the upside of having a young organization that has not yet been weighted down by endless nonprofit decision-making red tape. Imagine, a much larger organization making a decision like this. Imagine the endless board meetings, reports, more board meetings, reports, departmental meetings, consultants, accountants, impact studies. Even if the organizational leadership was truly committed, a change like this would take years.

There are good reasons why these processes have been put in place. But seeing Kiva do this also makes one wonder about the pace of change that IS actually possible in the nonprofit space vs. the pace that we are all generally accustomed to.

3. Having made the decision, Kiva has allowed its community to have a full voice in evaluating how the program is going. Kiva's groups have had endless discussion on the matter. I have seen emails floated around from loan groups decrying the decision. Others think it's a good thing.

But the key point here is, the folks at Kiva are not trying to hide the fact that the pilot program is controversial. They are not trying to suppress donors' responses. They have made a decision to try something, but are also allowing donors an outlet to express themselves, which may actually assuage the dissatisfaction some donors might feel, but more importantly shows donors that Kiva is a transparent organization, open to having it's decision discussed in the open.

This to me is really the key takeaway of Kiva's new venture. How open they have been about it and allowing donors to talk back without panicking and retracking.

Sites and Resources Redux

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kagan) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:17:00 +0000

I know I have not been updating this blog as often as I should but hectic travel and work schedule has gotten in my way and now I am leaving for vacation for Peru for 1 week.

Over the past few weeks, I have been gathering interesting articles and new sites to share, so while I am away, here are some interesting reads and to do's:

My new "MUST READ EVERY DAY" is Mobile Marketer's daily email with articles about what people are doing with mobile. A great resource to get ideas and keep up on what's going on in the mobile space. I get a lot of e-newsletters every day, but I actually read this one. You can sign up right on their site.

Another GREAT resource is a post on the Wild Apricot Blog by Rebecca Leaman with links to 26 slide presentations every nonprofit professional should read.

For those of you who have not yet checked out Tube Mogul, do check it out! You upload your video and it gets distributed to multiple video sites across the web.

Follow NPR's series on Generation Next as they struggle to adjust in the new economy.

If you are on Facebook become a fan of the Wildlife Friends of Thaliand. This organization is doing a great job managing its Facebook community and using Facebook to promote its message, provide information about what it's doing, and motivate giving thru the great articles and photos they share. A great way to learn how to manage your own organization on Facebook.

Listen to an interesting story on NPR's Morning Edition about how charities are coping with the economic downturn and who is actually thriving despite the slowdown.

Finally if you are still wondering about whether some application of social media and reaching out to younger donors is right for you, consider this:

For the upcoming Iranian presidential election, all the candidates have launched extensive social media campaigns, including YouTube videos, forming groups on Social Media sites, and sending text messages to their supporters
The formerly unmotivated Iranian youth is turning out in droves to support their chosen candidate, and more generally, becoming involved in the political process.

As the saying goes, if the Iranian presidential candidates are doing it...

Target Gives, Facebook Votes

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kagan) — Sun, 17 May 2009 22:53:00 +0000

For about a year now, the blogosphere and online commentators have been grumbling about Facebook's inability to be a major fundraising platform. I have written here about this topic and my general feeling that to grumble about a platform's lack of fundraising prowess when it was not designed to optimize activism is like grumbling that a car isn't flying you to the moon.

Recently, I received an email from an organization I have supported in the past. This was the headline: "$3M on Facebook." Huh? Someone has managed to raise $3 million on Facebook? Last time I checked,the Causes Application combined has raised just over $2 million.

Clearly, I had to investigate. Organizations, take heed. What I found is an blueprint to how to use Facebook to promote your brand in a feel good kind of way.

Many of us have heard thru some way or other that the Target corporation gives away 5% of its income to various do-gooding, which, as it turns out, comes out to be about $3 million a week. On it's Facebook page, Target is letting people vote for one of ten organizations that should get the cash.

This GenYers first thought? "That's so cool. They wan my input on who to give the cash to."

This marketer's first thought? "How did they get these 10 organizations and what did one have to do to be part of the top 10?"

This is the time to pay attention people. This is what differentiates organizations with a targeted, engaged, and wholistic donor engagement strategy and those who don't.

I am either an email subscriber or online donor to 3 of the organizations featured on the Target Bullseye Gives page. But, only 1 has so far reached out to me via email to get my attention and ask for my vote. Fundraising/marketing peeps at the other two: what exactly are you thinking? In this economic environment, you don't need $3 million dollars, or even say 10% of that? Why aren't you working your toosh off to get me to vote for you? And who do I think I am most likely to vote for--the organization that took the time to tell me all about this campaign, devoted a page on their website to it, and asked for my vote, or you guys, who so far, have done nothing?

My point of the little tirade above is to make a point: if you expect platforms that are not designed for activism, that are not specifically pushing people to give and become involved, setting up a giving page, sitting back, and waiting for the cash to roll in is not enough. The same way you have to work your DM donors, you gotta do some legwork with social and online.

Anyway, I am off to vote for the organization that got my attention (even though they would not have been my top choice). And Target, very smart cause marketing--I am thinking I should start shopping with you guys more often, after all 5% of my dollars could end up in the pocket a do-gooder I care about.

Yep, this is another "Guide" to using Twitter, or as I think of it, the human librarian on steroids.

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kagan) — Sat, 09 May 2009 12:41:00 +0000

This week, I attended an event about, what else, social marketing. This even was targeted and women in technology, but not necessarily, in social media.

During the Q&A, hands shot up like hotcakes and the thing on almost every one's mind seemed to be: "HOW" can I use Twitter to further my goals and "WHY" does it matter?

Sitting in the back row as I usually do, I reflected on my own Twitter path, and decided it was time to share my "wisdom" with the world on the topic. When I first signed up for Twitter, it was supposed to be a one off as part of an RFP for a potential client--showing them how students abroad could communicate with their networks at home when pressed for time and when tariffs for making calls are high.

Other than that, I really did not see how I would personally ever use it, I didn't need to tell people that I had just come home from the grocery store.

Eventually, however, I found Twitter was very useful as a compliment and supplement to this blog. It allowed me to share info when I was strapped for time, share more info than I could ever in one blog, find information and people interested in the same topics I was, drive blog traffic, take notes during conference, and learn to speak in shorthand (OK, this may be a questionable benefit).

So how do you get started and figure out if Twitter is something you should be doing? Read on.

(A caveat here: my Twitter perspective is Twitter for professional use. You won't find anything below about how to best let your followers know what kind of cabbage your planning to use for the soup you cooking for dinner. )

Getting started: The Twittersphere is a huge place. There are LOADS of people on there. How do you figure out the crowd? While there are many Twitter tools out there that can help you find people you might find interesting, sort thru the people and topics you are following, and let the world know about yourself, there are some key things to keep in mind when first starting out that have nothing to do with the tools:

As in may life situations, the first thing to do once you get on Twitter is to listen. Find a few friends or colleagues you know are using Twitter, follow them, and see how they are communicating via Twitter. A key here is not to copy them, but to think about what you like/don't like, find useful/don't find useful about their Twitter approach. It's like learning how to drive--someone has to teach you the basics, we all have to follow the same rules of the road, but eventually you develop your own driving style.

Learn the Twitter text commands. You gotta know the language, to speak to the world.

Once you decide to branch out and follow some people, keep a lid on the following. There is no need to follow thousands of people. Pick Quality of Quantity. Does the person/organization seem like they would be a useful resource for you? Do they consistently post feeds you are interested in? If not, why are you following them? Remember: if you are following too many folks, you'll have a following seizure--too much information to process. Yes, there are tools that can help you sort, organize, and prioritize your network in all sorts of ways. But do you know what all of these do? They help you focus in on the feeds you really care about and that make a difference to you. So why follow ones that don't?

Spreading your wings: So now you've kind of gotten the hang of this Twitter thing, found some folks you're finding interesting, and you're thinking "but what about me and my organization? How can I use Twitter to my advantage?" Let's break this question down into 2 categories: individuals and organizations.

Individuals: As an individual user, Twitter can be a diverse tool, depending on what your goal is:

Information sharing and gathering: if you are looking to find a variety of resources on a topic or broad range of topics, share information, keep track of it, Twitter is like the ultimate real-time indexing tool. A human librarian on steroids. This is actually how I got into Twitter--I would find articles, sites, tools and resources that I felt would be interesting to my blog readers, but, not "big" enough for me to devote an entire blog to about. So, I point you all in the direction, and you choose whether you'd like to explore.

Finding experts and getting answers: Twitter is similar to Wikipedia in that you put a question out there, and the Twittersphere answers, they just have to limit the answer to 140 characters or take the convo offline. This is a great way to conduct poles, get answers, and again, find people who may be able to provide you answers in the future.

Personal brand building and reputation. Yep, establish yourself as a resource, guide, or posted of generally useful info, and people will want to find out more about you. They'll follow you, and then read your profile, and if you've got a website visit it. They'll reTweet you and let their networks know about you, and before you know it, you've got a following the size of a smallish band fan base and you're feeling like a minor league rock star.

Point 3 above leads into what is key to many people on Twitter, especially those who work for themselves or are looking for gigs: Twitter is a great way to find leads, build relationships, and by establishing yourself as a trusted "resource", potentially leading to job leads, ins on RFPs, speaking engagements, and who knows what else.

Organizations: Most of what I wrote above applies to organizations, but there are additional advantages that Twitter offers:

Building site traffic. Give the Twittersphere small snippets of how you all are out there saving the world, and, someone might want to read more about it. They'll come to your site and get to know you.

Talk to your audience-donors, volunteers, activists. Twitter is a great way to ask them what they care about, don't care about, "fish" for reactions to programs you are thinking about launching but aren't sure of. It's also a way to let program staff connect directly with donors, in a quick, easy, and non time-consuming way. Getting someone to send a text message that's 140 characters or less once a day is a heck of a lot less time consuming then getting them to write up a 'field report.'

Sharing information, resources, and tools, with other nonprofits. One organization I follow on Twitter does just that--posts useful info for nonprofits, features nonprofits that are doing neat stuff, and shares cool new tools.

Fundraise. Yep. You can and should use Twitter to raise cash. Tell people about your ongoing campaigns. Tell them how much more you need to raise. Ask them to help. Remind them of your mobile key word if you have one. If you find a viral fundraising campaign spreading on Twitter, don't get upset bc this not part of your "official" marketing plan, get with it, encourage it, and reTweet it.

Don't get in your own way. If you've put someone in charge of Twitter at your organization, try not to get them bogged down in legal, bureaucracy, and the food chain. We all like to control the message, but develop some basic guidelines and put a person you trust at the helm-if they can't be trusted to put 140 characters together, you have a much bigger issue.

Finally, as always, let Twitter be another vehicle to make the compelling case for why folks need to give to you, why your mission is important, why we should care now, and why we should keep caring. For a great example of how to do this, check out John Lepp's post about Twitter and the War Child case study.

Lessons from Mobile Tech For Social Change on using Mobile for Fundraising

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kagan) — Sun, 03 May 2009 01:34:00 +0000

As promised, below is a summary of some key takeaways and lessons from Mobile Tech for Social Change.

A fundamental emphasized by many at the meeting, and something that many of us in the nonprofit world already know innately--mission first, tactics later: first, focus on your mission--who are the people you are trying to reach out to/help and how are you trying to help them? Where are they and how will you reach them? Remember, that just like phone, email, paper, mobile is just a tool, so figure out whether it fits into your toolset.

For those at the meeting who were more focused on the actual social change than fundraising to help people achieve that change, mobile raises questions like fees with local carriers, barriers and bad guys trying to block texting, and amazing applications like turning laptops into little SMS stations that spread messages in remote areas with no cell phone receptions: "refugee camp out of band aids. Need more."

For those of us in the business of raising the dollars, one big barrier stands in the way. In order to get cash and other info from people using mobile, and engage with them in a long-term relationship, you need to get the word out there about your mobile program and build your lists.

So how to do this? I attended a session on this led by Jeff Lee, president of Distributive Networks, one of the service providers that helps nonprofits get into the mobile game. Distributive Networks was used by the Obama campaign for their texting needs, and Jeff shared some key lessons and tactics learned on building Mobile lists.

1) First, once you've acquired a shortcode, put it on every other piece of marketing collateral and call to action you have. Get the word out there, including DM. One great way to engage people in texting via DM may be to ask them to text answers to survey questions.

2) Incentives go a long way to getting people to text in a response. If I text you, will I be part of a special VIP group? (like say on a list to find out a VP pick). Something donors see as of value works great as well--in another session someone gave the example of an animal welfare nonprofit encouraging people to text a shortcode to get tips on pet care.

3) The more "actionable" a call to action is, the better. I.E. give people some reason to text you, not just the goodness of their hearts, and they are more likely to do so, even if it just to let you know their thoughts on a topic. This allows you to start building a relationship with them.

4) Remember that mobile is a tool to learn about donors just as any other method is so don't make it one shortcode fits all. Create separate keywords for donors to text depending on a topic they are most interested in. Let's say you are a human welfare organization. Ask donors to tell you which issues most concern them--food, shelter, education, and this then lets you tailor your future communications to these donors. The learning is invaluable.

So how are people using mobile SMS successfully? Here is a great example of how one human right organization is using mobile, in combination with other DR efforts, to increase donors engagement and giving:

One organization matched it's mobile list to it's email list. For those donors that matched both, they did an A/B split--some donors only received an email, while others received an email and a text about the email, encouraging donors to open, read it, and take action. The impact? An over 70% increase in response for those donors that received the text and email combination vs. those who just got the email.

There were loads of other great ideas and examples--the guys at Mobile Commons are doing some neat stuff with encouraging social action viral through texting and connecting texting with actual phone calls. This is great for those of you trying to do things like getting your donors and activists to call their congresspeople.

Thanks again to the organizers!

Mobile Tech for Social Change and Micro-volunteering

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kagan) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:26:00 +0000

Today, I attended "Mobile Tech for Social Change DC", sponsored by Mobile Active and Google. It was a great day full of learning, sharing, and musing with professionals from all walks of life--community organizers, vendors, academics, nonprofit and government professionals, you name it. PI even got to play with one of those "one laptop per child" laptop's (the little antenna ears are as cute as they look), and let me tell you, they are super neat!

You can follow reports on this event on Twitter (#m4change), and I plan to post a summary of my key takeaways, but there was something so exciting I saw today, I could not wait to get home and blog about it!

During the "Speed Geeks and Applications" session where all kinds of entrepreneurial-minded folks got to show off some of the applications they have been developing using mobile technologies, and one in particular really caught my attention.

First, let me draw your attention to a recent report that estimates the value of a volunteer hour in 2008 to be worth nearly $21. With the down economy and skeletal staffs, this is not something to sneeze at.

And then, let me introduce you The Extraordinaries, a mobile app that promises (and I have seen the demo so it does!) to deliver s micro-volunteer opportunities to mobile phones that can be done on-demand and on-the-spot.

Huh, you say? Well, as Jacob Colker, co-founder and president told me, the idea is to allow people to volunteer any time anywhere, since for most of us, the main constraint for volunteering is having to actually go somewhere and find dedicated hours in a week to do so.

So, how does this Micro-volunteering work? Well, you download an App onto your smart phone (iPhone App is coming soon and believe me people, it's super neat!). And then, say you are standing in line at the grocery store and the lady in front of you is unloading 57 jars of orange juice all of which she considers 1 item in the 10 items or less express lane.

Well, using this app, you could use the time to look through photos archived by the Smithsonian and tag them with common elements you recognize in the photo so people coming after you who are searching for info can easily find stuff in the archive.

Or, you could spend the time recording short MP3 "Thank you" messages to donors that would be delivered to their voice message boxes.

Or, you could spend a few minutes transcribing a piece of a video you saw. Or reviewing homework for a child in a far off land. And you can do this in multiple languages!

So basically, you can harness the power of millions of mirco volunteering minutes into oodles of volunteer hours, worldwide.

Exciting? Yes! A new frontier in volunteer development and management? Yes! Can't wait for the apps to go live and to get my hands on this? Absolutely!

(In our next post, key lessons on growing mobile lists and examples of nonprofits combining mobile with our DR methods).

The Pre-Requiem for the RFP?

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kagan) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 00:21:00 +0000

For those of you who may not have seen this yet, I just had to share a recent blog post from fellow blogger John Lepp.

A controversial topic, and John, you are a brave soul for venturing into this, but so well written!

Here is an excerpt to wet your appetites:

And now you wait…

Within hours, the proposals start to flood in like some great rising
tide.

YAY!
Look at all of these suppliers who want to help us! Wow! Look at
how thick this one is! My gosh, look at the stock this one used -
oooooooooo…

The hours, turn to days, turn to weeks (maybe you shouldn’t have put an end
date so far into the future) and finally the drop dead day arrives and you can
now disregard any more submissions. Whew.

Read the entire post on John's blog, and share your thoughts on the future of the RFP.

Want to get younger donors? Give them themselves.

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kagan) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 17:48:00 +0000

A note to my readers: you may have noticed that blog posts are less frequent lately. That's because I have taken to sharing interesting news and thoughts on Twitter. But, I am still planning to post on this blog when something just can't fit into 140 characters. You can follow my Twitter updates on this blog and also let me know which, if any, of the things I Tweet about you'd like to see more in depth blogging about.

Recently, I came across an article talking about Ford's new Social Media campaign for it's for Fiesta. The bottom line for Ford is trying to bring this very successful European brand, popular with European urbanites, to the U.S.

So what did Ford do? It had a contest where bloggers from all over the U.S. blogosphere could submit their credentials for why they should be allowed to test drive the Fiesta. All Fords asks is that those chosen share their honest opinion with their readers and on the Fiesta's Agent's site. Reeking of James Bond, the Agents also will have Missions to complete that the audience can read all about.

A smart move by Ford? This has certainly generated a lot of buzz and 100 people somewhere in the U.S. are getting free use of a car for 6 months, but what caught my attention here is that Ford's campaign is one in what I believe is a trend that has been around for a while in the commercial world-- creating a sense of "you be the judge" when targeting younger consumers. So, instead of having some actor in a commercial tell us all about the wonderful gadgets on the new car, Ford is challenging 100 people my age to tell me all about it, and, if they don't like something, to tell me about it as well.

With Gen Y's sensitivity to being "sold to" it would only make sense that marketers would eventually catch on to a form of selling without selling-company-sponsored peer reviews of products.

Another example of this is Microsoft, which appears to have finally developed a campaign that grabs some attention away from Apple. "Regular" people just like me are given $1500 and told to buy whatever laptop they like that meets their needs, and whatever they don't spend, they get to keep the difference. Most of the ads show the regular people just like me going for a PC and pocketing some change. These ads have been pretty popular and are widely lauded as successful?

What I find so interesting about this is the similarities in the two campaigns. This is not suprising-once someone figures out how to grab a target group's attention, almost everyone interested in that target group inevitably follows, rendering the "new" technique not so new.

Those of us in DM are pretty familiar with this--someone develops a package that works--say adding multiple stamps onto the RE. Results shoot thru the roof. Word spreads thru the industry and before you know it, everyone is using multi stamp REs, and while results improve, they don't generate the ginormous lifts they did for the first person who thought of it.

Brands have been jumping on the 'real' consumer bandwagon left and right. Just yesterday, I saw a Nesquik ad (remember the bunny), where I could watch videos of people professing their love for Nesquik, including a person talking in French to a vending machine.

So the trend seems to be we consumers want to see ourselves enjoying the various products we are being sold, evaluating them, discussing them. No ad man is going to tell us what to think.

How will this translate into the fundraising world? Well for one, this may mean the phrase many of us cringe at--directed giving. Yes, yes, we know better than our donors how and where the money we need should be spent, and the pain of tracking directed giving, but donors want a say in where the cash goes and they increasingly want it tracked.

This may also mean a change in who is speaking to our donors. Traditionally, DM letters are signed by a senior level person-a VP, founding president, director of fundraising. Should emails increasingly come from field staff sharing their experiences? Should we "edit" them as much as we do for fear of saying anything negative about our efforts?

Or, if say, you are an organization that raises funds for solar ovens to be distributed to women all over Africa to save them countless hours collecting biomass for cooking? How about giving 100 of those things to kids like me all over the U.S. and we send you our favorite solar oven recipes? Maybe we even find a few flaws, but who knows, there may just be a way to make the future generation of donors feel like the ones asking them to help are just a reflection of themselves.

The Mobile Fundraising Tipping Point is Here

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kagan) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 15:10:00 +0000

In my last post I wrote about mobile fundraising and wondered when someone would finally figure out a way to make it work for all of us. And it would just figure, that just the next day, I ended up at an evening session sponsored by Mobile Monday's DC chapter on "texting for dollars"--or how to raise money via mobile messaging.

My takeaway? The mobile tipping point is here, and we are right on the cusp of the mobile fundraising wave. By this I mean, that we are right on the cusp of that point where all the kids starting showing up with those iPod headphones, and a couple of adults here and there, and you notice that some new trend is taking shape--one that will hopefully follow the iPod trajectory into "even grandma has iTunes."

So what happened that evening that made me think this way? Well, first and foremost, I learned that mobile giving is now possible with steps that really are very easy.

Don't believe me?

For those of you reading in the United States, grab your cell phones and start a new text message to the following phone number "20222."

Now, pick your favorite organization and type their mobile giving keyword into the body of your text message. Here are some samples or you can pick from a full list at the Mobile Giving Foundation's Website. (only type in the keyword). Warning, this process may result in you parting with $5 for a good cause.

ASPCA: GIVE

DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: DOB

MAKE A WISH: WISH

OPERATION SMILE: SMILE

Once you have texted your keyword, you will get a text message back verifying your intent to donate $5 to your charity of choice. If you would like to finalize the transaction, simply text back YES. It's that simple for the donor. Two text messages 1 word each.

The donation gets added to the monthly phone bill from whoever happens to be the donor's cell phone carrier.

From a nonprofit's point of view, the process does take a little set-up. While the Mobile Giving Foundation is not the only one making this process possible, since I'll tell you how it works with them since I understand that process the best at this point. First, a little about what the Mobile Giving Foundation does and what it's role is in the whole process:

"MGF serves as the link between a charitable giving campaign, the wireless industry and the 250 million wireless users in the US. We vet all NPOs who use the mobile channel, certify all mobile giving programs, provide industry-wide guidance for charitable campaigns and establish, with industry-wide input, the guidelines and standards for mobile giving. Additionally, we facilitate the text messages through our platform, help NPOs market their campaigns, collect funds generated through mobile giving campaigns from the carriers and then distribute the collected funds to NPOs. "

As a nonprofit, you register with the Mobile Giving Foundation through an ASP: AN approved application service providers (ASP) who will manage the technical components of your mobile giving campaign. A full list of Mobile Giving Foundation approved ASPs is can be found on their website.

OK, so what's all this going to cost you and is it worth it?

Well, registration runs around $500. Then there is a monthly service charge that Mobile Giving charges your ASP, and that becomes part of the charge your ASP charges you. So, you may end up paying a flat monthly fee to your ASP, or a certain % of each donation, or both. Importantly, you pay nothing to the phone companies--they've agreed to do all this for free.

There are still a lot of kinks that need working out, for example:

currently donations are limited to $5 or $10 (mobile operators don't want to take on more risks and the Mobile Giving folk figured the text-messaging target population might balk at a higher rate)

contact frequency--currently, you can't text these people back after the donation has gone thru, but this might change soon

share of DM dollars: to call text messaging fundraising an R&D experiment for most organizations is probably overstating it's share of the direct response pie

But there are several key reasons that I think we have reached the tipping point:

The kinks are getting worked out. Someone has now developed, and gotten the buy in of all major cell phone carries "a could not be easier to use" way of texting donations

The market is huge: "Charitable giving in the US amounts to almost $300 billion a year, with 76% of that coming from individuals. Given the almost total saturation of the US population by wireless devices (250 million subscribers), and the exponential rise of text messaging (used by 68% of 18-24 year-olds, 37% of 35-44 year-olds and 14% of those over 65), it is easy to see how development of a "Mobile Giving Channel" could vastly increase the pool of charitable donors"

From a long-term planning point of view, this is similar to the URL scenario of the mid 1990's. Get your keyword now, or pay someone else to use it later.

And I think, most importantly: if things go as planned, you will be able to, in the near future, send up to 4 text messages a month to someone who donated to you via this method. This will transition mobile messaging from a one-off, to a group of donors prime for cultivation. You will now be able to:

Ask donors for email and other contact info and get them to opt into all kinds of programs

Create a mobile monthly sustainer program. Get donors to agree, and send them a text each month. They reply with a "yes" and you get $5. That's $60 donor on an annual basis. With no DM cost. No bad.

I will continue to keep an eye on this and report back, but I am certainly very excited about the future of this (altho my phone bill, which with all the giddy practicing and demonstration now has an extra $50 in $5 charges, is not so excited).

(picture at start of blog from textually.org)

When Will The "Twitter" of Mobile Payments Hit Mainstream?

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kagan) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 18:09:00 +0000

A colleague recently forwarded me an article from MediaPost about a new study from Pew about the role of mobile web in people’s “digital lives.” (Love that phrase, digital lives.)

As someone very new to mobile web (I was forced into it by the recent demise of my old cell phone), I wasn’t surprised to learn that most Americans (61%) still prefer the good ole PC/Laptop browser to surf the digital waves, but apparently more and more of us are getting the hang of this mobile thing, especially now that we have screens where you don’t need a microscope to read.

The Pew Study defines digital users into 10 groups based on their level of engagement in social networks and mobile media adaptation, which are summarized in the MediaPost Article:

5 groups who are using the mobile web :

• Digital Collaborators: (8% of the population) Very much about continual information exchange with others, as they frequently interact with others to create and share content or express themselves.

• Ambivalent Networkers: (7%) Extremely active in using social networking sites and accessing digital resources "on the go," yet aren't always thrilled to be contacted by others.

• Media Movers: (7%) Active distributors of user-generated content such as photos and videos.

• Roving Nodes: (9%) Active managers of their social lives via basic applications--texting and emailing--to connect with others, pass along information, and improve personal productivity.

• Mobile Newbies: (8%) Many in this group are recent cell phone adopters and very enthusiastic about how mobile service makes them more accessible.

Stationary media users include:

• Desktop Veterans: (13%) Tech-oriented, but in a "year 2004" kind of way. They consume online information and connect with others through traditional means such as email on a high-speed home connection.

• Drifting Surfers: (14%) Have the tools for connectivity, but are relatively infrequent users.

• Information Encumbered: (10%) Spend an average amount of time online, but complain about information overload and need help getting gadgets to work.

• Tech Indifferent: (10%) Have limited online access at home, and while most have cell phones, they bristle at their intrusiveness.

• Off the Network: (14%) Lack the tools for connecting digitally, with neither online access or cell phones.

I would venture to say that Gen Yers, and increasingly Gen Xers, fall into the first three groups of Mobile Users: creating, sharing and distributing content (yes, photo albums count), keeping tabs on social networks, and looking for professional opportunities online.

The Pew Study also notes that shift in trends, which is, in a way a "duh" finding: people in the more mobile-attached group said it would be increasingly more difficult to live without their cell phones. As I discovered a few months ago, for many, their cell phone (or PDA) functions as much more than a way to call someone up and say hello.

With increased screen size, connectivity, storage capacity and ease of use, I wonder when the day will come when I won't need my laptop at all.

But for fundraising, as for many consumer product marketers, there is still one catch that has not been popularized: as a Gen Yers, I like things to be quick and easy. Trying to type my credit card number into a cell phone screen is a huge pain in the behind, plus, I am not that comfortable with the "security" of the whole transaction. This means, that if I want to donate (or if the case might be purchase) something, I still have to log in to my laptop, browse over to your website, fill in all the info...I know this doesn't sound difficult to do, but having to switch technologies can be a roadblock-if this is the only reason I need to turn on my laptop, I may choose not to.

So, when is the "Twitter" of mobile payments going to hit mainstream--concise, to the point, an easily accessible via text, email, or IM? PayPal has a way to transfer funds via your cell phone, but in a recent experiment, this also turned out to be a bit of pain to figure out. More importantly, I have never met anyone actually using it for regular payments, and on a professional levels, most organizations I am familiar with have only recently added PayPal as a payment option on their website, if at all.

Wouldn't it be neat if you could text "Give $15 to Red Cross" to a specific number, and alakazam!, like magic, $15 gets transferred from your checking to the Red Cross?

The technology is certainly out there. Cell phones are used to pay for all kinds of things worldwide, and as Americans catch up to the rest of the world in getting attached to their cell phones for all of life's "information-related" needs, I hope my fears about the fundraising community's pace to "mobelize" will be long forgotten.

I know there are several organizations out there working on creating apps for cell phones that will do just that, and figuring out how to navigate the whole thing from a technological perspective (check out MobileActive for all kinds of useful info), but the tipping point has not yet materialized on our side of the Atlantic.

So what can you do?

• Learn about mobile, and I mean learn it. What does it mean? What are the constraints? Understand the tech side of it: like what happens during those commercials that say "just text YES to 87946"? How does that work? I'm not saying you need to become a telecomm expert, but you need to get it conceptually, the same way you get the caging process for your DM gifts.

• Understand the differences between payment with text or via web. With people using their cell phones to text and browse, learn about vendors offering mobile payment applications, both via text and via a mobile web payment app.

• Find a "mobile" mentor-an organization or company that is doing mobile well and ask your mentor the "what don't we know yet" questions: i.e.-given what you have experienced, what do you think we all still need to think about?

• Start to put a mobile plan in place at your organization. Start at the conceptual level-what could mobile do for us? How will it change the way our donors interact with us? What added value could we provide to them and also, what are the potential pitfalls?

• Ask yourself: are we, as an organization, prepared to handle mobile? If not, what do we need to do to get there? (How will you account for donations via a mobile device in your donor database for example? Or, how will you create "renewal" efforts via the mobile web? Do you have a mobile-browsable version of your website?)

• Keep a close eye on the private sector. Where they go, we will, inevitably, follow.

Where is the Nonprofit "Apprentice"?

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kagan) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:19:00 +0000

The other day, I was watching a show on Style Network called "Running in Heels." In this show, three interns compete for a position at Marie Claire magazine.

What a great promo for the mag, I thought to myself. And, this was just the newest in a myriad of reality TV shows, that while not specifically focusing on promoting a specific company or product, acts a great promo vehicle. Love Top Model? Each and every show they mention the grand prize-a spread in Seventeen magazine. Ever watch Top Chef? Those people at Glad sure must be loving their stuff flashed in front of our eager viewing faces. And the likely most unabashed promotion of stuff I have seen lately is on Biggest Loser,"where the trainers helpfully give advice on "losing weight" by shamelessly exulting the weight loss benefits of a certain brand of gum, or oatmeal, or cereal.

Really, it's a win win for everyone. Someone waving around a box of cheerios isn't going to turn me off from finding out who is going to be voted off that week, and hey, maybe next time I am at the store, I will pick up a box of those Heart-healthy treats.

The best symbiotic reality TV relationship I have seen has to be The Apprentice. For product marketers, Donald Trump must be the holy grail. Not only do they get to launch new products to the American public, BUT they even get free marketing ideas from teams of highly educated, highly ambitious individuals competing to be not fired by the Donald.

(picture from www.businesspundit.com)

Even if they have to pay to be part of the show, millions of eyes glued to their product for close to an hour has to be well worth it, especially compared to the declining ROI of TV ads.

Why am I going on and on about this? Thinking about this, I got to wondering, where is the Nonprofit equivalent of "Running in Heels," or "The Apprentice"? Just imagine the exposure a nonprofit organization could get from its own version of "The Apprentice?" Some are already reaping the rewards from celebrities competing to claim the title on the celebrity version, with huge amounts being raised an exposure for organizations little know nation-wide.

Just imagine the possibilities: What if the top prize wasn't a job with Trump, but say getting to work with Melinda Gates at the Gates Foundation? What if instead of competing to be Paris Hilton's new BFF, the competition was to be Angelina Jolie's travel assistant while she was busy ambassadoring on behalf of the UN?

Maybe some might think that a show centered on a nonprofit would be depressing, but I think it has all the makings of a reality TV show.

Just imagine the tasks the frenzied contestants could compete in:

Plan a huge fundraising dinner, including corralling rich people and their friends, getting goodie bags, and meanwhile, actually making some money on behalf of the organization
Convince "The Board" about a new strategy or project
Put together an annual report (good luck getting that info from the field offices ;) )
Train volunteers
Come up with a great new "a-thon"
Get the most "goods" donated for your cause
Figure out a way to recruit the maximum amount of people to your cause
Recruit the most people to your Facebook group
Convince the IT department to "let go" of the website..

This could be a great show. A great way not only to come up with new ideas, but to provide exposure to the serious business on nonprofit work, from fundraising to helping hands on the ground. A great way to spark people's interests in building a do-gooding career.

And a great way to reach out to Gen Y. We grew up with watching the proverbial people "like ourselves" do all kinds of strange things on television. We are the generation that made the Real World, a.k.a. the mama of all reality shows, a generational institution and have kept it going for longer than some Millinneals have been alive.

So come on MTV, where is that "alternative spring break" host and party? And hey, NBC/Hulu--I want to be the next "Gates Foundation Apprentice." And I know a lot of people who would compete for the opportunity to spend 1 year setting up the new field office somewhere in a far away land. I even bet we'd get lots of corporate sponsors falling all over themselves to get featured as the "proud sponsor" of whatever task at hand. TV producers-do not fear, there would be drama galore!

When "Not Me" Comes Home, how is giving affected?

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kagan) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 20:18:00 +0000

Something unprecedented is happening in the United States, at least unprecedented for my generation. According to news reports, Americans are saving more of their monthly earnings now than they have for decades.

We are so spooked, it seems we have turned from a country of instantly gratified consumers to careful ants, building up stocks for the rainy day (that has apparently already come). So if people are saving more, does that mean they have more to give? Given the panicked state of most Americans about the economy, will they give even if they can?

Many organizations are certainly feeling the pinch. Odds are if you are an organization that fundraises for anything other than things like feeding people, putting clothes on their backs, performing life-saving medical miracles, you are on your 9th million reforecast of your projected budget for the next few months, with your marketing and finance team secretly bidding on magic crystal balls on Ebay that may give some insight into when things will turn around.

As a fairly frequent donor, I have been using myself as a giving weather-vane (very scientific, I know). And, based on my very large test group and extensive scientific methods, I have developed a theory that goes like this:

Donors are likely to keep giving in difficult economic times as long as they are living in a "this is not happening to me" universe. As soon as their direct personal network is affected, donors are likely to retract giving.

What do I base this on? I have written here before about my giving habits: Give once a month to an organization I care about, on a rotating basis. Even as news of collapsing stock markets, multbillion dollar companies disappearing over night, huge layoffs, was spinning all around me, I did not stop giving. Sure, I got nervous. Cutback on spending. But when my local radio station had its annual membership drive in February, I gave them $60. I was actually spurred to give by the thought that this year they needed my dollars more than ever since some of their prior donors may be even more needed!

And then, last week happened. Two people in my immediate network lost their jobs. Now these are very bright people, great at what they do, and frankly, people I would hire in a minute. "If they can lose their jobs, no one is safe!" is what my mind was thinking.

And then I got an email from another organization I give to here and there. They are in a dire crisis. They need my help. But, well, since no one is safe anymore, should I give them my dollars, or squirrel them away in my bank account? I have not given yet.

I write this not to scare. But because this is what we are up against as a fundraising community this year. Even those steadfast donors we can always "count" may be faltering. Even those who are fine (like me), are worried that they won't be fine tomorrow. And so the case we must make, is that parting with those dollars is worth it. The last thing I would want to do is to regret giving away my money to an organization.

While driving home yesterday, I heard something that has certainly inspired me to continue giving, even when I am uncertain. Peter Singer, the Australian animal rights philosopher, has come out with a new book called The Life You Can Save. Here is the example Mr. Singer gave the host: (paraphrasing):

Say you are going to work in your nice suit and shoes and you see a kid drowning
in a shallow pond. Go in and ruin your shoes. But you would push that thought
right out of your mind and wade right in to save the child.

Well, Mr. Singer's basic argument is, that just because you don't see the kid thrashing around in the pond, doesn't mean you couldn't save a life for the cost of a pair of shoes. And let's face it: even if you were out of a job, wondering how you are going to make your next house payment, on your way to an interview, you would still run in to save the child from drowning, ruined nice shoes and all.

I don't think I'll be spending cash to buy Mr. Singer's book, but I will certainly spend time thinking about how we, as fundraisers, can re-create the "obvious" need for giving this story evokes. And I'll keep on giving.

There is no where left for young people to hide on the internet

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kagan) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:40:00 +0000

Last June, a certain presidential candidate admitted to the New York Times that "I don't e-mail. I've never felt the particular need to e-mail."

Fast forward one election lost and a party recovering from "social media whiplash" and guess we learn that Senator McCain is doing a "Twitterview" with ABC's George Stephanopoulos.

Forget the politics and consider this: the oldest man to ever run for president, who just 8 months ago was "learning to get online", is now going to get interviewed and limit himself to answers that are 140 characters or less.

The first thing I have to wonder is whether he is going to be actually answering the questions or if there is going to be some younger whipper-snapper condensing into Twitter-speak. Can one go from no email to thinking in 140 characters in under a year, after a lifetime of pens and ink?

I certainly think so. And as an industry, this should make us take notice. As a Gen Yer, I have to wonder if there's anywhere left to hide. The fastest growing population on Facebook are 50 somethings. They long ago took over MySpace. I wonder if John McCain knows how to text message? Maybe we can hide out in mobile for a while...

Who knows how the interview will go tomorrow or how many )questions will actually get answered, but if you are as curious as me, you can follow it here at noon eastern tomorrow.

(picture from http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2009/03/twitterview-wit.html)

Networking grows more crucial in economic downturn

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kagan) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:23:00 +0000

When I first graduated from college, I wasn't sure what to do with myself. A friend of mine from Germany, who was about to move back, had an internship at an online news agency focusing on developing world issues. She asked me if I might be interested in this type of thing. Why the heck not, I thought to myself. And poof! I was the new D.C. office intern at this news agency. I did not realize it at the time, but I was harnessing the power of networking.

In the time since, I would say that 50% of my career opportunities have in some way come thru my networks. And I am, what I would call, a network "underutilizer"-I am generally hesitant to use my personal and professional networks for career advancement.

But in difficult economic times, personal relationships are growing increasingly important for not only personal and organizational growth, but for basic survival. The odds are in the networkers favor.

Recently I received the following email with the following subject line from my Alma Mater:

Subject: "Hire a Hoya!"

Part of the body of the email included the following:

"I am writing today to ask for your support of fellow members of the Georgetown community, particularly those who are preparing to embark upon their journey into the professional world outside of Healy Gates. Georgetown's dedication to educating yet another generation of conscientious leaders who make a disproportionate difference in the world makes these young, bright and passionate students eager and willing to take on new challenges and embrace new opportunities. Fellow alumni may also be looking to embark on a new professional endeavor or transition given the economic conditions of today. You have the opportunity to make a significant difference in the lives of both."

The email then went on with helpful suggestions as to how we, the alumni community, could benefit from the eager young minds, just a few months away from graduation:

"Open doors for fellow alumni and students...

Harness the enthusiasm and mind of a current student by hiring a summer intern to take on innovative projects at a fraction of the cost of a full-time employee.
Hire an eager graduating senior into their first position after graduation.
Tap into the expertise of fellow alumni by hiring those who have been building upon their Georgetown education and foundation in a variety of industries.
Share your expertise with students and alumni alike who are excited to connect with you."

In the years since I have graduated college, (and ok, it's not that many), I have been contacted numerous times through email and mail, like all alumni, to participate in local alumni events, donate, network, but never had the request to hire been so direct, and in some ways, so desperate. Basic message: we've got kids graduating college, on-campus recruitment is down, and we've got to get them into jobs! That's what a college education is supposed to get you!

At a recent event I attended, author and consultant Dave Evans, spoke of the "social network funnel" for both product and personal use.

While the funnels may be somewhat different, the key to both from a social networking perspective, according to Dave, was the feedback loop, that has become both instantaneous and real-time in a constantly connected world.

How you present yourself to your networks is key. Dave's suggestion for organization that haven't started on the networking process? Start by listening.

Google yourself (your organization). Subscribe to an RSS reader and put in key words that are relevant to you. If need be, pay for listening intelligence.

Almost anyone I know my age has at some point Google themselves. But how many organizations regularly keep up with what the online and social "network" is saying about them? If listening is the first step, becoming part of the conversation, and even learning to manage it's direction is advanced level super Mario Brothers. Who's got the handle on that? No one I know of. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't actively engage in learning how to.

Dave Evans suggested that there were three key networks currently to focus on from a personal perspective (I am paraphrasing here):

1) LinkedIn: People I know professionally/have seen me "operate" (I would say this is your "narrowest network)

2) Facebook/Myspace: People who've met my kids/wife/partner/know about that night in college...

3) Twitter: People who at some point in the future may be able to answer a question I might have

If these are the three key personal networks, then what are the three key organizational networks to be engaged in. My opinion, the only one that is currently different is #1:

1) YouTube: Show the world what my organization is doing

2) Facebook/Myspace: Tell the world about me and how they can find out more about me

3) Twitter: Update and get Feedback from the world about "what my organization is doing right now. Folks in PR departments, don't panic, TwitterWall lets you post in more than 140 characters.

Special note: the three networks above, are of course, subject to rapid and unexpected change. Just aske the folks at Friendster.

socStardom2: Social Media Marketing with Dave Evans

View more presentations from Mayra Ruiz-mcpherson.

Thanks so much to Mayra Ruiz-McPherson for slides/great evening with Social media minded folk in DC/herding great speakers!

The Economy and Opera: a tragic end or new beginning?

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kagan) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 23:50:00 +0000

As part of my ongoing goal to include posts about pertinent to our colleagues in the arts, this week a story on NPR reported on the increasingly dire straight Opera houses around the country are finding themselves in. Worst his is the close to my home Baltimore Opera, which as it turns out, has had to file for bankruptcy, but even the all-mighty New York Met is having troubles figuring out how it's going to meet its $280 million (yes, you read that right), budget.

Here is the thing about Opera. It is not cheap. Historically, to go to the Opera, you almost by definition had to be a household with "discretionary" income. Tickets to the opening of the season at the Met, as I learned from watching "The Real Housewives Of New York City" apparently run in the thousands of dollars.

In an economic downturn, we generally expect those who don't have much to spend in the first place to cut back, but the rich seem to stay afloat. Not so this time around. Some of the wealthiest individuals have been hit the hardest, what with the Wall Street layoffs, the 50% slide in the market, and a certain Mr. Madoff making the investments of many wealthy Americans disappear faster than a magician ever could. Many of us feel this in our fundraising on a daily basis-those $10,000+ donors are slim pickings, but they were also the season Opera ticket holders.

While some in the story on NPR take an optimistic view that as the economy bounces back so will the Opera-going crowd, it is possible that times will never again be as high for traditional Opera houses.

But a few years back, Opera, the NY Met in particular, starting doing something that might be its saving grace in this crisis.

Check this out tho: a few years ago, the Met started showing limited engagements of live simulcast performances in HD at movie theaters around the country and around the globe. The prices they charge are higher than that of going to a movie-$22 for a showing of Madame Butterfly at my local movie theater-and while some doubt whether this will ever replace revenue generated from "house" shows (in 2008 these broadcasts contributed $1 million of the $270+million Met Budget), they are certainly growing in popularity (the first two movie theaters in my area I checked to find out ticket prices were completely sold out).

I can't find where I read or saw this, but some news report noted that up to 10 million people have already watched an Opera or even Broadway musical in their local movie theater. The Met Website even has a link to their HD livecast schedule on MySpace! And Opera houses around the globe are getting onboard.

The Gen Yer in me is very excited that an industry as "established" and "set in its ways" as the Opera is trying to reach out to new audience and generations, using channels that are appropriate for those audiences. Will the next step be performance staged entirely for movie-theater audiences? Will Opera, like so many other things today, become a global event over a local one? Will the "community" of Opera lovers now be connected digitally? Is it possible that the "Opening" of the season will become an online event? Maybe not, but it's certainly not out of the realm of possibility!

Agility in a time of uncertainty

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kagan) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:47:00 +0000

Regardless of where you stand on DM-it's dying, it's set-up for growth-one thing most of us who delve in the DM world can agree on is that compared to web-based fundraising channels, DM is not particularly agile.

Not all situations call for agility-no matter how many times I monitor telemarketing calls, I am continuously amazed by how much some people love to chat with people calling to ask them for money, but agility can be a huge plus in fundraising efforts, particularly ones that are, what I like to think of as, "time-limited."

This agility can be particularly important for organizations that deal with disaster-relief efforts, but increasingly, many organizations are finding themselves in a situation bordering on "disaster" for the communities they serve and are likely to find themselves contacting donors with "unregularly scheduled" fundraising campaigns.

Let's say your organization has a branch in California. Let's say there are wildfires that destroy, oh, 1,000 homes and displace say, 8,000 people. Compare the time it would take to write copy, set up an email, if you are really technical, make sure it renders properly across all possible platforms and create versions for HTML/ text-only versioning. Even if you are an organization obsessed with the details of executing perfectly rendered emails, in a crisis, an email could easily get out the door in 48 hours.

Now let's try to do the same thing with DM. Creating the copy, let's assume this takes the same amount of time as copy for an email, even though in my experience DM copy tends to go through many more rounds of edits than email (perhaps this reflects a bias in how people gauge relative importance of this copy). Ok, so you've got the copy approved. Now you have to hope you have stock on hand to send an unplanned mailing out to X amount of people. If you don't have stock on hand, well, add on at least a week or two to get your hands on something.

Now some organizations are very well prepared, they have preprinted stock on hand. Others, have to start design from scratch. So you get your copy and materials together, print, lettershop, insert, sort everything, get it to the post office for shipping, and...

Well, here is where you decide-should you mail third of first? With rates going up by $.02 in May for first, third might be the more cost-effective option, but this means your "disaster" mailing doesn't get in homes until at 7-10 days later.

So, best case, first class out scenario, email still has you beat by at least 2 days.

"So what?" you say, the people who are most likely to give me money in this sort of situation don't check their emails anyway cause maybe they don't even have email.

This is certainly the case for many of us. But times are a-changing to tip the scales in favor of capitalizing on the agility allowed for by email campaigns:

According to a new study out from Pew Internet Project, "Contrary to the image of Generation Y as the "Net Generation," Internet users in their 20s do not dominate every aspect of online life. Generation X is the most likely group to bank, shop, and look for health information online. Boomers are just as likely as Generation Y to make travel reservations online. And even Silent Generation Internet users are competitive when it comes to email (although teens might point out that this is proof that email is for old people)."

(from Pew Study referenced above)

My grandmother's retirement building is getting a new computer lab installed in what used to be the winter sun room and residents can sign up for classes. She still loves to read her DM pieces, but maybe she will love reading those stories online as well.

Gen Y: Social Entrepreneurs

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam Kagan) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 01:40:00 +0000

Today's post comes to us from guest blogger Desiree Vargas, co-founder of Give Forward, a really cool organization. "Our goal is to create a movement that encourages everyone to experience the joys of giving and receiving at any level. It doesn't take a million dollar donation to make a difference – by utilizing GiveForward, millions of people donating $1 each, adds up to the equivalent of history's most impressive philanthropic endeavors."

Desiree and I met through my blog and I asked her this Socially Entrepreneuring Gen Yers to share some thoughts with my readers.

Thanks again Desiree! To find out more about Give Forward, visit http://www.giveforward.org/

Hi! I’m Desiree, co-founder of GiveForward.org, a new online fundraising site aimed at getting young people involved in philanthropy. At the ripe old age of 27, I think I’m as old as you can be and still be considered a member of Generation Y.

I used to think that Gen Y didn’t really have its own identity. It was just whatever came after the MTV generation of entitlement and youth revolution. But over the last few years, I’ve come to realize that Gen Y is paving the way towards a unique set of characteristics not seen since the baby boomers. We’re socially and environmentally conscious, driven to action not just rhetoric, we are technologically savvy, confident in our ideas, and reliant on virtual networks of friends and acquaintances all over the world. We require confirmation of facts from trusted sources. We’re idea machines with eyes aimed at a better world.

Before starting GiveForward, I worked at the Kauffman Foundation (the “Foundation of Entrepreneurship” for you NPR followers). My job there was to help colleges and universities expand their entrepreneurship courses outside of the business school. It was honestly thrilling work. We were in untested territory creating e-ship courses for history, foreign language, film, and art students to name a few. But best of all, I got to see first-hand how Gen Y’s were creating businesses.

Many things amazed me about the work…more than will fit in this post. But something that I was really impressed by was how well college students grasped the idea of social entrepreneurship. For most people teaching the concept (i.e. gray-haired professors), social e-ship meant the creation of non-profits or the development of profit-making arms for existing non-profits to sustain themselves. But for many college students, social e-ship meant the start of a business that creates value for society. Business plan after business plan described start-ups that would do good and do well financially. While sometimes too idealistic to be a viable business model, these businesses reflected what I think is a trend unique to our generation.

By no means do I think that Generation Y created the concept of a social venture. If anything, the dotcomer’s and even some of the baby boomers looking to make a difference in their encore careers are the progenitors of this concept. But Generation Y has the opportunity to live their entire career spans expecting to work for companies that treat their employees well, give back to their communities, and create a product or service that brings value to the world. This doesn’t mean that your company has to be using wind technology to solve the energy crisis or single handedly fighting the AIDS epidemic. Your company can simply be providing a good or service without causing unnecessary harm to the environment, offering fair wages both domestically and internationally, contributing to the betterment of your community, and sustaining a financially strong business that creates jobs and protects stakeholders and shareholders, alike.

Some generations think we’re trying to have our cake and eat it, too. But I say, if your keep your moral requisites high of your place of employment, you’ll always do well by doing good.