NTEN

Watch Out for Amy Sample Ward with a Hammer

Holly — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:41:21 +0000

There are four weeks left in our quest to raise $10,000 to send 50 nonprofits to the 2012 Nonprofit Technology Conference in San Francisco this April. We're over a quarter of the way there!

At NTEN headquarters, we're doing everything WE can think of to raise that money. All I can say is, it's a good thing we've got you to help out! Our bake sale was crumb-y (get it?), mining for bitcoin took too long, and we struck out at our bowl-a-thon.

This week, the membership team raids some piggy banks (an homage to the Office Space printer beating). We picked up a couple of bucks, but it's not enough. Please show your support by making a donation today

Tell Your Nonprofit's Story More Effectively (with the Help of a Few Masters)

Brett — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:03:29 +0000

Danny Alpert

Executive Producer

See3 Communications

There are no rules for effective storytelling, but there are things to think about that will help you when you choose to tell your stories. Here are a few, with the help of masters of storytelling.

Storytelling is as old as humanity. So why the obsession? Why now? Is it that now we all have the power to tell stories? That the traditional media gatekeepers are no longer so powerful and the consumer is now also the producer of stories? Is it that we all think we can control our own narratives? Is it that by telling or sharing stories we choose, we build an external identity, as we would like to be seen?

An important question that is rarely asked is: Do we all have something worthwhile to tell — really?

Stories worth telling are ones where the “what” and “why” of your story is thought through. Storytelling is an art.

There are no rules, but there are things to think about that will help you when you choose to tell your stories. Here are a few, with the help of masters of storytelling:

Ten Things Your Nonprofit Needs to Know About Video

Brett — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:07:31 +0000

You know bad video when you see it, right? We're exposed to so much video these days, many viewers simply don't have the patience to watch it anymore. (Unless it features somebody's cute cat.)

As nonprofits, we already have a tough time competing for viewers' limited attention against companies willing to spend millions on – often terrible* – video, so we need to make sure we get it right.

To help with that, we've enlisted Andy Goodman, author of Why Bad Ads Happen to Good Causes, and Steve Stockman, author of How to Shoot Video that Doesn't Suck, to present "Why Bad Video Happens to Good Causes: Ten Things Your Nonprofit Needs to Know to Make Video Work for You".

> Learn more and register today!

This webinar is about re-thinking your approach to video – how to think about your audience, and how you can produce video that doesn’t suck. To get you there, we'll discuss 10 critical elements of effective video including how and why audiences watch video—and why they don’t. How to do video that entertains AND affects your audience’s behavior, why story is the key to video success, and how to know – really know – if your video is any good.

Oh, and if you already have a great video, be sure to submit it to 6th Annual DoGooder Nonprofit Video Contest. You could be featured on the front page of YouTube! And that ain't bad.

* What is Go Daddy's target audience, anyway? Frat boys? Voyeurs?

How To Track Everyone Who's Anyone To You: Is A Single Database Right for Your Org?

Annaliese — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:08:51 +0000

[Editor's note: The following is an excerpt of an article in the December 2011 issue of NTEN:Change. Read the complete issue of NTEN's new quarterly journal for nonprofit leaders by subscribing to the journal for free!]

By Laura Quinn, Idealware

Since most organizations don’t track just one type of constituent, the idea of a single database for all of them—donors, volunteers, clients, email subscribers, advocates and everyone else—is something of a holy grail. The ability to easily see how all your constituents interact with your organization, and with each other, makes for an attractive, ideal vision of what a database should be.

In reality, a single constituent database usually means some sort of compromise. If your nonprofit tracks a wide variety of constituents but doesn’t need very deep functionality in any particular area, it’s feasible. But if you need to keep tabs on more complex data—like tracking stock gifts from donors, matching volunteers with volunteer opportunities based on interests and availability, and the case notes, histories and outcomes of the mental health services provided to clients—you’re not likely to find a single system to fill all your needs.

If there’s not much overlap between particular constituent groups (for example, your clients aren’t likely to be donors, and your donors aren’t likely to become clients), there may not be enough of an upside to a single database to make it worth your while. For many organizations, multiple systems can be a better fit.

But how do you determine which is the right solution for your nonprofit? We’ve designed a short exercise to help you decide.

Know Your Audience
The first step is to identify all the constituents you deal with on a day-to-day basis. These are the people you need to track. It’s likely you’ll have not just donors and clients, but volunteers, alumni, event attendees, partners, press contacts and other groups. Include them all.

In reality, a single database means some compromise.

Then, choose the constituent group that’s most important for your organization to track—we’ll call them your “Critical Constituent.” For most organizations, this will probably be either donors or clients. (If you have two or three key constituents, you can repeat the exercise for each, but choose one to start with.)

For each of the other constituent groups you identified, determine:

Their relationship to your Critical Constituent—how likely are people in one group to be in the other? Might they move between them?
The complexity of the data you need to track for them in addition to what you’re already tracking for Critical Constituents—the basics, like name, address and contact information, is probably the same for both, but there’s likely to be additional information.

Using donors as the Critical Constituent for our example, let’s compare them to volunteers as the other constituent group. Are volunteers likely to become donors, or vice versa? Might a volunteer also be a donor? Neither scenario is unusual for many organizations, so we could call these two constituents highly related. As we consider other constituent groups—press contacts, for example, or legislators—we’re likely to find far less overlap.

Next, let’s consider the complexity of the data we’ll need to track for volunteers that we don’t already track for donors. This might include the types of projects they’d like to help with, when they’re available, and their history volunteering with the organization. Because there are more than a few additional fields, this falls somewhere between medium- and high-complexity, depending on the specifics.

Once you’ve defined how complex and related each constituent is, plot your constituent groups on a chart for a look at your overall constituent picture.

You can read the complete article, including examples of mapping your constituent graphs, in the December Issue of NTEN:Change when you subscribe for free.

Keeping Them Coming Back for More: Your Communications Arcs

Brett — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:59:09 +0000

Kivi Leroux Miller

President

Nonprofit Marketing Guide.com

Story arcs are what keep you coming back to your favorite TV shows: you care what happens next. What does this have to do with nonprofit marketing? Everything!

If you have a favorite TV show, you are familiar with the concept of the story arc: what happens last week influences what happens this week, and that influences what happens next week. We can look back at the end of the season and summarize several different story arcs within one show.

Smaller one-time events will happen in each episode, but a few larger story arcs continue from episode to episode. It's what keeps you coming back, and what makes you catch up on the webisodes or DVR recordings before coming back to the show live.

Soap operas are perhaps the ultimate users (and abusers) of the arc, but you see them in dramas and comedies too. So what does this have to do with nonprofit marketing? Everything!

What if you could create a story arc over a series of weeks, or even months, that kept your supporters hooked? What if they just HAD to open your email newsletter to see what happened next?

Social Networking IRL (In Real Life) at the NTC

Mimi — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:12:35 +0000

2012 NTC Feature

It’s already February, and the 2012 Nonprofit Technology Conference is only two months away! One of the best parts of the conference is the opportunity to connect with other nonprofit technology professionals, so you can share your experiences and knowledge.

We want to make sure you make the most of the social and networking events at the 2012 NTC, so this week we’re filling you in on the NTC Connect Track and other opportunities to connect with the NTC Community.

NTC Connect Track

To make it easier for you connect at the NTC, we’ve introduced a new event track comprised completely of Birds of a Feather sessions: meetings of like-minded folk about a specific interest or topic. These session will focus on social networking without a formal agenda, presentation, or takeaways. Think of them as a chance to sit around and chat with your favorite nptechies.

>> Learn more about the NTC Connect Track!

Discussion Tables Lunch

Tuesday, April 3, 12pm

To get conversation started on the first day of the conference, we’re inviting you to take part in our Discussion Tables Lunch. Tables at this lunch will feature a theme to bring together like-minded people for conversation and learning. Themes will include region, organization size, and job type.

Keep your eyes open for a list of topics on the myNTC agenda!

NTC Social

NTC attendees love to meet up to socialize and share over a meal or coffee. To make it easier for you to find like-minded folks for your social events, we’re inviting you to tell us what meet-ups you would like to see. Based on the interest we see, we’ll plan and schedule social events – and add them to the NTC Agenda. We will schedule events and outings that have sufficient interest and a volunteer leader, so fill out the NTC Social survey and give us your 2 cents.

>> Submit your ideas for small group dinners, coffee meet-ups, outings around San Francisco, and nightlife excursions here!

Ignite

If you think Powerpoint presentations have to be slow and serious, think again. NTC Ignite is back for another evening of fast-paced presentations that are both entertaining and educational. The NTC Community would love to learn about your passion or fascination. There’s only one catch: you're limited to twenty slides which advance automatically every 15 seconds, for a total of five minutes of presentation time. The format keeps you on your toes, and your audience engaged.

>> What are you passionate about or fascinated by? Submit your ignite sessions here!

Looking for information on pre-conference events, ride and room shares, and other social networking opportunities at the 2012 NTC? You can find more information and news here.

NTEN's Technology Leadership Academy Returns for 2012

Brett — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:43:00 +0000

We're excited to announce that the Technology Leadership Academy is returning in 2012. Even better, thanks to the generous support of Google and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, we're able to offer the Academy at no charge to qualifying organizations.

The Academy gets at the very heart of what NTEN does. We believe that with improved tech leadership, nonprofits like yours will provide more and better programs, inspire more communities, and involve more volunteers to share their time.

> Apply by February 24th!

With improved tech leadership, our sector will be stronger, more responsive, and create more impact than ever before.

That's what the Academy is all about. You'll learn from top nonprofit leaders like Kivi Leroux-Miller, Laura Quinn, and Dahna Goldstein. By the end of the course, your organization will be prepared to use technology – in every department – to deliver impact, not just efficiency.

> Learn more and apply today!

We hope that you'll apply.

Member Round Up: We've got dancing babies!

Amanda — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:41:23 +0000

This week, our members are releasing new fundraising tools, hosting workshops, and even awarding grants. While we’re encouraged by some statistics our members released regarding nonprofits and technology, we’re also thrilled that anyone could like us this much:

Thank you so much for all your help in the NTEN Champions Fundraising Campaign, Corey Pudhorosky!

Have more news to share? Drop us a line or include your links in the comments!

Charity Dynamics released statistics that made everyone here at NTEN excited! A survey of their clients indicates that nonprofits are going to focus on social media and mobile strategies in 2012. We can’t wait to see, hear, and learn from all the innovative ways nonprofits implement their plans.

On February 9th, Health Equity Initiative is offering a workshop for nonprofits. If you’re interested in new media and health care, you may want to register for their workshop: Evaluating Outcomes of New Media-based Public Health and Health Communication Programs!

The CTK Foundation is asking you to nominate a “Hero with a Heart,” and give them a chance to win $5,000 – a simple thanks for the hard work that they do. Nominate your hero with a heart today!

I mentioned a few weeks back that Causes was releasing new fundraising tools for their platform. Well, the details of those applications are now available – and include integration with Facebook’s Timeline!

Microsoft announced the winners of the Imagine Cup Grants program, a three-year, $3 million competitive grant program for student technology and social entrepreneurs. Teams in Croatia, Ecuador, Jordan, and the United States were awarded $75,000, software, cloud computing services, solution provider support, and access to other Microsoft resources.

Anything we missed? Share your links in the comments!

Why You Need a Mobile-Enhanced Email Template

Brett — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:57:13 +0000

Brett Meyer

Communications Director

NTEN

Nearly 90 million Americans use their phone to read email. If you don't improve your email template, you may be ignored by a large part of your audience.

If you've been been putting off accepting the growing reality that people read the messages your organization sends on mobile devices, stop right now. Just stop it.

ComScore reports that nearly 90 million Americans use their phone to read email – and that number grew by 28% over the past year. Mobile is no longer something we need to worry about at some point in the future. To ensure that we're getting our messages out effectively, we need to address it right now.

Fortunately, it's pretty easy to get started.

Communications Styles: How to Get Your Message Out (When People Aren't Listening Properly)

Brett — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:19:56 +0000

Karl Hedstrom

IT Director

NTEN

While communications styles may clash, we still need to find ways to work together. Knowing what your own style is may help.

We all have different communication styles. Often, they clash. It's an issue we all deal with in our workplace to some extent. Yes, even at nonprofits.

I recently attended a workshop during the EDUCAUSE Institute New IT Managers Program, where we took one of the myriad of tests that help determine your primary communication style. For this particular test, explained in much more detail here, the different styles were:

Thinker (Structure, logic, organization, problem solving)
Feeler (Expression, human interaction, projecting feelings)
Intuitor (Imagination, theory, envisioning, speculation)
Sensor (Doing, competing, getting results)