Archive for July, 2010

Online giving increased last year despite the economic downturn, according to a recently published report by relationship management software company Convio. Donors are still opening up their wallets to give to non-profits, but it is becoming more competitive and gifts are becoming smaller according to the report. How does your organization get a slice of the pie? We have long advocated the idea of “Small Yes Theory”. This system of relationship building is created by asking potential donors to complete small actions and by doing so they are building a stronger relationship with your organization. With each action the stakes and investment grows. The sequence could be as simple as asking a user to join you on Facebook. Then asking for an opinion on your latest blog. Progressing to a petition signing request and finishing with an appeal to donate to the cause. Read More…

As a political activist, it can be very disheartening to see what qualifies as ‘political debate’ in our country. The rise of highly partisan news organization, the personalization of the attacks in politics and the continued use of false facts make it very hard to be optimistic about where we are going as a country. Up in New Hampshire, a group of concerned citizens joined together with the vision of creating a web site, or actually, an online community, where the partisanship would be turned down and the facts turned way up. Nathan Havey, Common Sense’s Political Director, and other members of the Common Sense team have been working with the team at Live Free Or Die Alliance to make their remarkable vision a reality. The Alliance is having great success elevating the debate in the Granite State through three primary means. First, the core website continues to see its traffic grow. Once there, the interaction really grows through the Townhall which was built with help from our friends at NING, and also through the Facebook page which now has just under 3,000 fans – many of which are active on a daily basis, discussing and debating the issues facing the state. So hats off to Mr. Montrone and everyone at LFDA, with the eyes of the nation slowly turning towards New Hampshire and the Republican Presidential Race for 2012, they will discover a remarkable organization, using new media and new technologies to drive ‘political debate’ in the right direction.

Facebook went from 200 million users to 500 million on a blink of an eye. And now, it’s aiming for 1 billion users with the most interesting thing being, no one doubts they will get there. In our experiences, people are really starting to use Facebook as ‘the web’ connecting through friends via walls and messaging, and getting their news from the groups they care about through the pages and feeds. We actually have seen some major non-profits be losing traditional web site traffic as their Facebook page traffic grows with some groups Facebook traffic approaching parity to their web site traffic. If this trend continues, the importance of growing and building your Facebook presence and then focusing on activating that presence will continue to be critically important.

One of our most interesting clients is the Marion Institute which is involved in a series of remarkable projects literally all around the world. Each fall, in New Bedford, Mass, they hold an amazing conference called “Connecting For Change” and this year, Greg Mortensen, of “Three Cups Of Tea” fame is one of the speakers. If you register right now, you can save 50% of registration during the early bird sign-up period. More information and all the forms are here.

Social Media Director Cody Damon sat on a panel of local experts last night at the first annual Social Media Day (invented by Mashable), hosted by Boston Tweetup. The event brought together social media leaders from across the spectrum from government to dating. Cody focused his message on the importantance of non-profits to align their social media strategy around their organizational priorities. The event was broadcasted live worldwide on Mashable, but you can catch the recap below (special thanks to Steve Garfield for the video).