the groupery blog

Extending Trusted Networks

Last night at the Ambassador in San Francisco, Citizen Effect held its Launch Event.  Previously called 1 Well, Citizen Effect goes way beyond water & sanitation in its collaborative effort to "change the world, one community at a time."  Not only does the organization ask everyday folks to "be the solution," it passes the reins.  Through its member-centric approach, anything Citizen Effect gives up in terms of control is gained times over in key areas that are lost in more traditional frameworks:  members' time, expertise, commitment and (perhaps the most valuable) extended trusted networks.

The super smart approach:
Rather than going directly to financial donors and asking for a check or credit card, the organization "empowers Citizen Philanthropists" to take on this crucial but often daunting "chunk of the business."  Who needs in-house experts when you have a community of experts to fill a phone book ready to volunteer their time?  Additionally, and this is the part I really like, these volunteer fundraising leaders approach their existing network of friends, families, colleagues to secure financial support.  This goes beyond tapping previously untapped resources to securing altogether new resources! 

The analogy that comes to mind is the wrapping paper fundraiser my daughters participated in to raise money for their school.  We live miles from the school and miles from town.  Many of our neighbors do not have school age children and are not thinking about the budget shortfalls the school faces.  So, when these generous neighbors purchase wrapping paper, it is NOT about the wrapping paper, it is NOT about the school's financial woes, it is 100% about supporting neighborhood kids who are going to the effort to raise money for something they care about.  Likewise, when I approach my network of friends and family as a Citizen Philanthropist to help with a childcare center in Dungra Village, I do not need to start from scratch:  finding contacts, developing trust, educating potential donors about the need/value of their contributions, then asking for donations.  In my trusted network (that took me years to build),  I start way ahead of the game. 

By entrusting members to take the lead, Citizen Effect lives what they believe:  the power of the individual to create change.  And, in doing so, the organization enables the passion of any one person to create significant, sustainable change in the lives of many (some of who they know well, some who they will never meet).

 

 

Lynne has over fifteen years of product marketing and management experience, an MBA from Dartmouth (Amos Tuck School), and an AB from Stanford University. Mom of four girls, Lynne has been PTO President, producer of several school plays, is a Lacrosse and basketball mom, is active in Surfrider Foundation, SurfAid International, USA Triathlon, and the Waverly Writers.  

Baby steps in social media for nonprofit organizations

Last evening's Government and Non-Profits 2.0:Social Media-Best Practices event moderated by Alan Silberberg, and including Debra Bowen, Beth Kanter, and Gwyneth Galbraith covered a lot of ground in one hour.  But Lynne and I found the discussion surrounding how to get nonprofits to take baby steps toward social media to be of primary interest.  Beth listed the typical barriers (or excuses if you prefer) provided by nonprofits to avoid participating in social media.  She mentioned that nonprofits just don't have a culture for social media.  Some the top-level baby steps that were discussed included wallowing in the problem, creating a social media policy, and taking small yet comfortable steps toward embracing at least one tool, perhaps Facebook or Twitter for starters.

We have been openly wondering if a more comfortable baby step might exist - one that allows the organization to leverage existing tools and involves their existing community.  The goal would be to create a positive feedback loop, confidence, and a sliver of a social media culture before moving on to more open and uncontrollable pastures.  In other words, create a really nice entryway to your organization's landscape before tearing the fences down.

So what are the existing tools?  Our experience has been they consist of hard copy newsletters, eNewsletters, mailing lists, and maybe a blog.  Despite the fact that email is starting to feel like driving your grandfather's Buick, it's still the lowest common denominator for online communications.  So what if the existing publishing activities practiced by most nonprofits could result in push-pull engagement and participation by the community, rather than just pressing send and watching the Buick drive off into the sunset never to be seen again?  How can we better address the challenges of taking the baby steps, such as publishing in the right format, publishing to the right people, and tracking the impact?

As a concrete example, I'll turn to a recent example blog/eNewsletter created by Beth discussing network weaving.  I receive Beth's blog posts as an email compliments of Feedburner, but this could just as easily be a typical eNewsletter being sent by a nonprofit to their mailing list.  Beth wrote "My question: Is there a network of peers who do network weaving for nonprofits to support external communications?" 

Taking that question to the next level would be allowing the community to respond on the spot and share with the other members right within the context of the email or blog posting.

 
And a step further would be providing the option for people to see some comments from other readers to encourage their response.

 

Further into Beth's blog she writes "For starters, I'm going to ask Holly Ross at NTEN that we have a birds of a feather table at the NTC10 or if I get ambitious I will sign up to lead an affinity group meeting." 

This could be followed up with:

 
A yes response would place the person into a new group that could be leveraged as an immediate communications channel and collaboration point.  Beth's blog entry closes with some questions:

• Are you practicing network weaving skills in your nonprofit or network?
• What are you learning about network weaving?
• What inspires you about network weaving potential?

All of which could be replaced by a short survey in the email.

 

Now every email communication, no matter how formal or informal, could leverage best practices for encouraging participation, feedback, and more contextual dialogue.  Commenting on a blog has a few of the above capabilities, but is reliant on the reader filling in the context and doesn't provide for the option to show the results of what the rest of the community thinks in a nutshell.  For example:

 
The eNewsletter and the aggregation of results, comments, etc. at a single destination web page has an opportunity to provide evidence of a (hopefully) vibrant and caring community of supporters, donors, volunteers, and recipients.  The organization has taken a baby step using publishing-related activities with which they are comfortable and familiar. But after a few of these transactions, allowing for less controlled conversation and dialogue may start to creep into the organizational culture.  Not to mention that the dialogues are great initial content to point at when they do engage with Twitter, Facebook, and other social media channels.

If these tools existed in the way I've described then I'd be using them in this blog posting.  So I'm stuck asking for your comments here:

• Does it make sense to extend a nonprofit's existing publishing tools in this way (assuming it can be done without too much time and pain)?
• Are there any success stories out there where email is being used to bring polls, surveys, and conversation to the forefront in real time?  Maybe inserting a Google Form or other 3rd party survey into an email?
• Does this feel like a baby step that might be a good tool to add into a social media starter toolkit?

Non-Profits and Social Media - An Eruption in the Making

 

Alexandra Samuel, the CEO of Social Signal is onto something with her recent blog post.  

We too at the groupery are seeing great passion amongst volunteer leaders and non profits who today are primarily in synchronous client relationships hungry to take the social interactions into an asynchronous relationship.  They are interested in leveraging, reaching and extending their reach with social media.  They want to embrace these open technologies and often aren't sure where to start, who to have involved or scared that the task will require too much time and money.  It's unclear to many leaders what will really 'come off' the plate?  

Questions that arise are: Is it really secure?  How much time does it take to learn how to use it?  How will we ever be able to keep up with all the comments and feedback, etc.

We are talking with groups and leaders about shifting the conversation.  Spend time as teams to think through how to take an existing task off someone's plate to making space for social media.  Why not?   Consider making it as easy as this five step process:

Step One:  Talk in with volunteer teams about your where your customers live today in social media?

Step Two:  Discuss areas that are time intensive and involve communication, public relations, marketing and business development.

Step Three:  Converse around possible areas you would like to save time or resources from existing tasks or programs?

Step Four:  Consider taking small steps as group to practice internally "walk the talk" in a safe environment that builds everyone's confidence and experience. 

Step Five:  Launch one small social media program that allows you to be responsive to your customers, invite them into conversations and see the benefits of how adapting into this new environment can be fun, social and rewarding.

Hopefully in taking on these five easy steps, groups can see that social media does have its advantages and you can find the resources and time to commit.   We're particularly interested in the answers that NPO's and volunteer leaders arrive at for step one.  Do you believe you can reach and continue to engage your customers via Twitter and Facebook?  Or do your customers really live in eNewsletter land?  Do you have to pull them into conversations from their Inbox?  What's working for you?

Beth's Blog is another great resource for organizations at all stages of adopting social media.

Celebrate Make A Difference Day

 

To celebrate Make A Difference Day on October 24, the groupery will award 6 volunteer groups 4 hours (each) of Leader's Companion service for FREE.    Leader's Companion is one-on-one, hands-on support from an expert at the groupery specifically geared to support your efforts and help your group reach its goals.  Whether your group needs help recruiting volunteers for a particular event, getting members organized with an online directory, setting up effective group email lists, other?  the groupery's in-house experts are here to help!

How to enter to WIN your FREE support:
Simply go to http://bit.ly/PYHgd and let us know how your group would benefit by using the groupery.

Want to learn more?
Please join us on October 9 at 9:00 a.m. pst for a FREE webinar:
Organize your group for Annual Make a Difference Day
In this FREE webinar, you will see first hand what makes the groupery the choice for volunteer groups.  And how your group can make the most of Make a Difference Day.
Register today and please feel free to forward this link to other volunteers you know who might like to join us!  To register click here:  http://bit.ly/13qmM0

Feel free to visit our website @ www.thegroupery.com  to learn how hundreds of leaders from school groups, non-profits, clubs, scouting troops, and religious organizations are making the most of their volunteers' contributions with the groupery. 

Fundraising Tip: Four Criteria for Choosing Your Cause

Guest blogger, Lee Garverick, author of http://www.walkathonguide.com

Most fundraisers already have a larger cause like a school, animal shelter, or another charity.   However if you have the option, be more specific by pinpointing tangible and visible items to be purchased.  That way your community can see the results of their efforts.  Here are four criteria for choosing something within your larger organization:

1. Fundraising participants agree this is a worthwhile need.

2. The organizations leadership agrees this is a priority item for funding.

3. The items are very concrete, and can be purchased, put to use, and then publicized within a few months. This is great if you plan to do a similar fundraiser the following year.

4. There are options for purchasing more or less, or finding partial financing elsewhere, depending upon the amount you end up raising. For example, If you opt for your school library as your cause, you can purchase much needed seating first, then use remaining funds for books. It also works fine to have two causes, such as “site beautification” and “technology center” to give you plenty of wiggle room.

Over the years, your community will see the cumulative effects of their fundraising efforts as the organization spends the funds on a growing collection of visible results.

Flyer Webinar fostered dialogue around communication

Today's webinar discussion around flyers allowed playgroups, mothers club and schools to discuss how they can communicate using technology.  One attendee shared that they are currently using Yahoo groups and are evaluating new web platforms that have more robust features, like flyer creation, archiving and storage. 

Another attendee was inspired to use the flyers to invite their local merchants to attend their upcoming carnival and use the platform to recognize their donors as well.

 

Upcoming webinar on July 29th if you missed today's:  Jump Start Session: Creating Flyers with sign-ups at noon PDT.  Click here to register for the webinar.

Friday is deadline for 2009 PTA "Take Your Family to School" Grant

The National PTA is sponsoring "Take Your Family to School" week in February, 2009. It offers grants of up to $1897 to schools to enable them to have special programs and/or reach more families in the community.

The grant application is due at 5pm Central Standard Time, on Friday, November 7.

Hello World

Welcome to the groupery's new blog!  We look forward to keeping you up to date on company news and to providing best practices regarding using the groupery software.

We also hope we can enrich your understanding of volunteerism in a way that helps keep you motivated and connects you to others in the broader volunteer community, we'll provide resources we think you might enjoy.

Thank you for visiting, and if you have something to say, rest assured we eagerly welcome your comments! For those of you unused to blogs, this is a public environment and this web page can be accessed by anyone, so please keep that in mind if you find yourself particularly passionate about a topic!