Amy Sample Ward

NOVEMBER 30, 2010

As you may have heard , Jumo is now open in beta. What is Jumo? As Mashable reports, “Jumo was designed to let users find, follow and support the causes important to them, and with 3,500 organizations on board at launch, would-be philanthropists should be able to find and follow something of interest upon joining. (For comparison’s sake — Apple’s Ping had 2,000 artists two months out of the gate.)&# I’ve been playing around with the new social platform this morning and wanted to shar

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NetWits

NOVEMBER 10, 2010

So, you have a social media plan…right? Hopefully your nonprofit is pretty far down the social media strategy rabbit hole at this point. While it’s easy setup a Twitter account and start tweeting, it’s much more difficult to tie that activity back to outcomes. That’s why it’s important to begin your foray into social media with a strong strategy.

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Nonprofit Tech for Good

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

Organization: Big Cat Rescue. Organization Size: 125 exotic cats, 9 paid staff, 107 volunteers, 80,000 supporters. Name: Carol Baskin. Title: CEO. Website: BigCatRescue.org. Blog: BigCatRescue.org?/Blog. Facebook: facebook.com/BigCatRescue. Twitter: twitter.com/BigCatRescue. YouTube: youtube.com/BigCatRescue. Posterous: BigCatRescue.posterous.com. 1.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

NOVEMBER 28, 2010

In April of this year, I left twitter. I had good reason to leave twitter. And, after a few months, I didn’t miss it. And, frankly I still don’t miss it. But I had a bit of an epiphany lately that you social media mavens out there will very much appreciate. I figured it was worth writing on this blog about. I joined Twitter in the beginning, because my colleagues were.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 30, 2010

I announced in this blog last month that judges in Guatemala had found two former police officers guilty in the 1984 forced disappearance of Guatemalan student and union leader Edgar Fernando García. Expert testimony by Benetech statistical consultant Daniel Guzmán provided critical evidence in the conviction of the former Guatemalan National Police officers Abraham Lancerio Gómez and Héctor Roderico Ramírez.

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Amy Sample Ward

NOVEMBER 19, 2010

Earlier this year, Ning announced that it would be dropping 40% of it’s staff and dropping the free service which came as a shock to much of the community, including author of the Ning for Dummies book Manny Hernandez and spurring many forums and blogs to create lists of Ning alternatives that were still free. The announcement and additional information (including that educators could continue using the platform for free ) came in April and the changes took effect in July.

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NetWits

NOVEMBER 11, 2010

Would you be happy with a return of.30 cents per email address when asking your supporter based for money through an email appeal? With 10,000 people in your email list you’d make $3,000.00 in revenue from one mailing. Subtract the money it cost you to send the email and you’re looking at a pretty good RIO. I bet you’d go for that, right? I think most non-profits would.

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Nonprofit Tech for Good

NOVEMBER 30, 2010

Jumo.com , the new social network for causes and nonprofits created by Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes went live this morning. They have launched with a small number of nonprofits, but you can easily add your organization in just a couple of clicks (if you are a 501(c)(3) as defined by the IRS). It is worth noting that anyone can “Add an Organization&# to Jumo, so this is one of those increasing common situations where nonprofits don’t really have a choice of whether they want to pa

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

A couple of tidbits on the environment today: A post on Read Write Web entitled “Cloud Computing good for the environment. Really?&#. Another in the series of “The Story of Stuff&# on Electronics. Tags: Technology Zen environment.

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Speaker: Joe Sharpe and James Carlson

Payroll optimization can be one of the most time-consuming and complex factors of small business management. Yet, organizations that crack the code on streamlining employee compensation often discover innovative avenues for growth. With the right strategies in place, outsourcing and streamlining payroll processes can result in substantial time and resource savings.

Foundation

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 7, 2010

A Guest Beneblog by Teresa Throckmorton, Benetech's CFO Walking into the Santa Clara Convention Center last night looked very much like so many other black tie events – but that’s where the similarity ended. I just attended the 2010 Tech Awards Gala Even. Awards were presented in five areas: Environment, Economic Development, Education, Equality and Health.

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NCE Social Media

NOVEMBER 30, 2010

The Pew Internet Life Project has release a new study related to location-based check in services such as Gowalla , Foursquare and [link] It found that adults are 8 times less likely to use a location-based check-in application. Overall, 4% of Americans use location-based check-in tools. What does that mean to you? It probably means that you should really consider who your target audience really is, and if they are using smartphones prior to embarking on a full fledged location-based program.

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Amy Sample Ward

NOVEMBER 19, 2010

Earlier this summer, I had the huge privilege to visit Romania and help with the Local Philanthropy Workshop. It was so much fun and it was an amazing experience to work with people like Chris Worman and meet with so many local nonprofit and community changemakers. The social impact landscape in Romania is complex and exciting – you can see struggle and hope, fear and enthusiasm mixed in every conversation and every presentation.

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NetWits

NOVEMBER 16, 2010

Where’d I get 47%? According to All Facebook Jeff Widman of BrandGlue did some A/B testing. He discovered… We ran an A/B test just four weeks ago to guesstimate the efficacy of a landing tab. We drove visitors to the fan page of a major brand using ads. Those ad-driven visitors converted to fans at a rate of approximately 47% WITH a landing tab.

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Speaker: Tim Sarrantonio, Director of Corporate Brand

Is your organization ready to build a recurring giving program that not only sustains but also propels your mission forward? 🚀 In this new webinar with industry visionary Tim Sarrantonio, we’ll guide you through the critical steps to establishing and scaling a successful recurring giving program. Whether you’re starting fresh or enhancing an existing program, this session will provide the strategies you need to deepen donor relationships and secure long-term support!

Giving

Nonprofit Tech for Good

NOVEMBER 9, 2010

Last year’s list of nonprofit holiday gift programs has been getting a lot traffic over the last two weeks thanks to Google searches. In addition to all those wonderful programs, I wrote up 11 more for 2010. Please use your purchasing power wisely and with compassion this holiday season by giving gifts that benefit nonprofits and make the world a better place.

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Wild Apricot

NOVEMBER 2, 2010

Ventureneer and Caliber gathered data from 891 nonprofits to learn what's working and what's not, and to develop “best practices” for social media marketing. The results are detailed in a 44-page report, "Nonprofits and Social Media: It Ain't Optional," that's free to download and CC-licensed to share.( read more ). Tags: association marketing Best practices case studies Marketing nonprofit non-profit Non-profit technology nptech online community research social media Social networking.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

A Guest Beneblog by Anita Gohdes, Jeff Klingner, Megan Price and Patrick Ball The recent release of almost 400,000 secret US military files on the war in Iraq through Wikileaks has attracted wide media coverage. These documents, officially known as the significant acts database (SIGACTS), add new insights to the ongoing debate on how many casualties have occurred in Iraq since the beginning of the war.

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NCE Social Media

NOVEMBER 19, 2010

I was fortunate enough to serve on a committee of AFP International that brought together some social media gurus to hash out guidelines that nonprofit organizations can use to craft their own social media policies. These guidelines focus on social media from a fundraiser’s point of view but they are easy to tweak to your own needs and a great starting point if you are starting from scratch.

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Speaker: Andrew Olsen, CFRE - EVP, Fundraising Solutions at DickersonBakker | Kat Landa, CFRE, CSD - SVP, Talent Solutions at DickersonBakker

Across the nonprofit sector, organizations invest heavily in donor retention efforts, yet the struggle of cultivating lasting relationships remains. While attracting new donors is crucial, the lack of repeat donors poses significant financial risks. Through a comprehensive analysis of industry data, experts argue that there is a direct correlation between donor burnout, donor retention, and the talent retention crisis.

Donor

Amy Sample Ward

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

Today I had the pleasure of presenting a webinar to clients of the Washington Access Fund. Participants on the call come from many backgrounds and situations and are now embarking on new businesses, services and consulting. The webinar was designed to offer an overview of the basics, best practices and examples of successful social media integration.

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NetWits

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

As we move into the last month of the year, let’s take a quick look at how you can improve your email newsletters and appeals in 2011. Consider the following email pitfalls. Which of these is your Nonprofit guilty of committing? You don’t track the results of your emails. How will you know what your audience respond to and what they dislike?

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Nonprofit Tech for Good

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

Over the last few years I have been experimenting with the frequency of posting Status Updates on Facebook on the Nonprofit Organizations Facebook Page. From posting twice a day to only twice weekly, I have tested all levels of frequency in posting until finally settling on posting 4-6 Status Updates a week. At that rate “Unlikes&# have minimal and the total number of “Likes&# has grown at a steady rate.

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Wild Apricot

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

Busy as this season is for nonprofit folks, with year-end fundraising campaigns and family events for the holidays, still there’s no better time to sneak in a bit of professional development to get you ready for a bright New Year! ( read more ). Tags: nonprofit non-profit Non-profit technology nptech webinar.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 9, 2010

At the STS meeting in Kyoto, I had the pleasure of meeting France Córdova, the president of Purdue University. I took my first full pattern recognition course at Purdue long ago and far away (my brother Bill is a Boilermaker/Purdue alum, too). France mentioned some cool education technology that had been developed at Purdue, called Signals - Stoplights for student success.

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NCE Social Media

NOVEMBER 2, 2010

Here’s a great “How To&# on how to post a Facebook status update on the walls of other Facebook pages as a nonprofit administrator. Blog Post from Nonprofit Tech 2.0 on Facebook Blogging. Tags: Facebook facebook tagging @.

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Amy Sample Ward

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

Over the last few of years I’ve had a the opportunity to work with a team of intelligent and thoughtful colleagues, speak at conferences, and collaborate with other facilitators and community builders. During this time, I’ve help create community maps and strategic plans with my own team and with many other groups. More and more often, I get asked at conferences or on the blog for more information about how to create a community map or content plan.

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NetWits

NOVEMBER 24, 2010

Most people will tell you that learning how to effectively monitor (or listen to) what’s being said on the web is the beginning of social media success. You may agree with this or not, but I think it’s safe to say that the skill of listening online is one that all nonprofits should learn – it’s essential for anyone who wants to harness the power of the social web in their online strategy.

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