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Thank you for attending the webinar, we hope you enjoyed it.  Here is a recording of the webinar. Below you’ll find information for a 20% discount code for our premium webinars “Promote Your Cause & Raise Money with QR Codes”.

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I wrote this blog post, below, a while back to share my opinion on why nonprofits need to be leveraging social media at least a little bit.Every organization has different objectives, priorities and resources available but it’s becoming more and more apparent that organizations cannot afford to ignore social media .  And just this week  the Pew Internet (Pew Research Center Internet and American Life Project) presented slides  ”The New Environment for Advocates & NGOs” And the Nonprofit Quarterly did a nice job summarizing the information.  It looks like we can’t ignore the data anymore and need to leverage social media.

Written for those of us who haven’t started leveraging social media, yet!

By Kurt Steiner, founder of CharityHowTo.com

Let’s face it, some of us haven’t really delved deeply into social media. Some of us reading this post can actually recall when our communication was  mostly in person, via telephone, or  letters. Things are different and changing rapidly.

There is a global transformation of communication taking place, is your nonprofit participating?  A few facts, the world’s global population is 6. 7 billion people, there are currently 900 Million Facebook users. Some percentage of the world’s population is either too young or too old to participate, and some percentage don’t have access to  technology (unfortunately).  So 900 Million Facebook users  is not an  indication that Facebook is  emerging,  it already  has emerged, and it’s growing rapidly.  And not only does it highlight Facebook’s phenomenal growth, but it represents a fundamental shift in human behavior through social networks, not just Facebook. Sometimes, some of us forget that as we continue to grow older, more and more young people enter the global social network and they expect to connect and communicate via social media, it’s a normal part of life experience, not a new trend.
Okay so were all familiar with Google,  and  we use Google, or some other search engine, and we  are comfortable with how it works, it’s a natural part of our human behavior. However, we may not be aware of a fundamental shift in online human behavior taking place now. Facebook is now getting more activity (time spent on Facebook, searches, page views) than Google. People are taking recommendations about causes, products, and anything and everything from their friends or their network of friends, rather than a Google search result.  Furthermore, only 6% of consumers say they believe a marketer’s claim.  Conversely, 90% of consumers trust recommendations from acquaintances. Young adults are emerging on the world’s networked platform and are engaging in life, sharing, community, purchasing things, and yes…philanthropy.

So we agree that a fundamental behavior shift has already taken place. But is it moving  beyond friends and family communicating, into action, activism, and donations? Lately, I’ve been watching major broadcast news coverage about social media and the conversation is shifting from how people use social media individually to how businesses and organizations are leveraging social media to their benefit.  I’ve even heard  strong statements suggesting that if a brand, business, or organization dose not actively participate in social media activities they will fail.  Perhaps the previous, statement is inflated, or perhaps not. Regardless, organizations and businesses are seeing trackable results by leveraging technology and social media. And for those organizations who have not delved  in to social media, they need to do it, and now! And if you don’t feel like leaping into the ocean of social media, at least dip your toe in the water, and do it now!

Cheers,

Kurt

Tell Your Nonprofit Story with the New Facebook Timeline

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During our Facebook webinar a participant asked about a social networking policy and if any were available. Another participant, Meredith from Goodwill Industries of Houston, had coincidentally just finished working on their social networking policy and generously provided it so others could take advantage of it as well.  Feel free to use the social networking policy below for your nonprofit. Neither Goodwill industries of Houston or CharityHowTo.com are providing  legal consultation regarding this document or vouch for its accuracy.

If you find the information below helpful please “like” the Facebook page of Goodwill industries of Houston.

Social Networking Policy

[Your nonprofit name] (“your nonprofit name”) understands that some employees participate in social networking sites (e.g. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn) and chat rooms, and create and maintain personal websites, including blogs.  XYZ Nonprofit respects employees’ online social networking and personal Internet use.  However, your online presence can affect XYZ Nonprofit as your words, images, posts, and comments can reflect or be attributed to XYZ Nonprofit.  As a Team Member, you should be mindful to use electronic media, even on your own personal time, responsibly and respectfully to others.  Because employees’ online comments and postings can impact XYZ Nonprofit and/or the way employees are spending their time at work, XYZ Nonprofit has adopted the following guidelines that employees must observe when participating in social networking sites and/or engaging in other forms of Internet use on and off duty.  It shall be considered a breach of acceptable Team Member conduct to post on any public or private website or other forum, including but not limited to discussion lists, newsgroups, listservs, blogs, information sharing sites, social media sites, social or business networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, or MySpace, chat rooms, telephone based group communications such as Twitter, or any other electronic or print communication format, any of the following:

(1)  Anything that may harm the goodwill or reputation of XYZ Nonprofit or any disparaging information about XYZ Nonprofit.

(2)  Any disparaging, discriminatory or harassing information concerning any customer, employee, vendor or other person associated with XYZ Nonprofit. XYZ nonprofit’s policies prohibiting harassment apply online as well as offline.

(3)  Any confidential information, trade secrets, or intellectual property of XYZ Nonprofit obtained during your employment, including information relating to finances, research, development, marketing, customers, operational methods, plans and policies.

(4)  Any private information relating a customer, employee or vendor of XYZ Nonprofit.

In compliance with applicable regulations of the Federal Trade Commission, employees endorsing XYZ nonprofit’s products or services must disclose their employment relationship with XYZ nonprofit and must ensure that endorsements do not contain representations that are deceptive or cannot be substantiated.  If you are speaking about job-related content or about XYZ Nonprofit you must either clearly identify yourself as a XYZ Nonprofit employee, or speak in the first person and use a disclaimer to make it clear that the views expressed belong solely to you.  In addition, the following statement must be used, “The opinions expressed on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent the views of XYZ Nonprofit.”

This Policy applies regardless of where or when employees post or communicate information online.  It applies to posting and online activity at work, home or other location and while on duty and off duty.  XYZ Nonprofit reserves the right to monitor and access any information or data that is created or stored using XYZ Nonprofit’s technology, equipment or electronic systems, including without limitation, e-mails, internet usage, hard drives and other stored, transmitted or received information.  Employees should have no expectation of privacy in any information or data (i) placed on any XYZ Nonprofit computer or computer-related system or (ii) viewed, created, sent, received or stored on any XYZ Nonprofit computer or computer-related system, including, without limitation, electronic communications or internet usage.

Employees who violate XYZ Nonprofit ‘s Social Networking Policy will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.