Thursday, September 22, 2011

Why Twitter, Why Now? | Impatient Optimists

Why Twitter, Why Now? | Impatient Optimists: Font Size Print September 21, 2011
Why Twitter, Why Now?
Melinda French Gates

As the head of a foundation focused on what I consider to be some of the world’s most pressing issues—health, education, and poverty—I’m constantly aware of the urgency underlying our work. There is not a moment to waste when millions of people’s lives and futures are at stake.

This impatience is why I’m happy to be joining Twitter officially today as @melindagates. After all, what’s more impatient than a tweet?

Why Twitter, Why Now? | Impatient Optimists

Why Twitter, Why Now? | Impatient Optimists: Font Size Print September 21, 2011
Why Twitter, Why Now?
Melinda French Gates

As the head of a foundation focused on what I consider to be some of the world’s most pressing issues—health, education, and poverty—I’m constantly aware of the urgency underlying our work. There is not a moment to waste when millions of people’s lives and futures are at stake.

This impatience is why I’m happy to be joining Twitter officially today as @melindagates. After all, what’s more impatient than a tweet?

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Data Philanthropy is Good for Business - Forbes

Data Philanthropy is Good for Business - Forbes: Data philanthropy could make a real difference, and it makes good business sense as well. To get there, we need to work together to develop a viable approach that contributes both to public good and business continuity, while also protecting both individual privacy and corporate competitiveness. Global Pulse will be talking about big data for the public good at the O’Reilly Strata Summit in New York (being held today and tomorrow). The time has come for companies to recognize the importance of using their data to help the United Nations understand what is happening to the world’s citizens — their customers.

Proportion of giving done online nearly doubles in three years - Third Sector

Proportion of giving done online nearly doubles in three years - Third Sector: Online giving has grown

Research suggests younger people who would not otherwise donate to charity are doing so because of new technology
The proportion of voluntary income that charities receive online has increased from 2 per cent to 3.7 per cent over the past three years, according to new research by the consultancy nfpSynergy.

The research is contained in the second edition of the report Passion, Persistence and Partnership: the secrets of earning more online, which was commissioned by MissionFish UK and eBay for Charity, the two charitable arms of the auction website eBay, and the Institute of Fundraising. It will be launched on Monday.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

U. of Wisconsin Donor Offers $1 for Each New Twitter Follower

Wired Campus - The Chronicle of Higher Education: But the University of Wisconsin at Madison may be the first college to get a donation for increasing its follower count. Through October 3, an alumnus will donate $1 for each new Twitter follower or Facebook “like,” up to $50,000.

After four days, the university has raised almost $8,000 dollars with the project, called the Bucky Challenge. The money will be used for student scholarships.

Geoff Livingston: Classic DC Nonprofit Strength Meets Social in Mega Giving Day

Geoff Livingston: Classic DC Nonprofit Strength Meets Social in Mega Giving Day: What happens when you take classic nonprofit strengths and match them with the nimbleness of social technology, all to benefit a city's nonprofits? You get Give to the Max Day: Greater Washington, a giving day for the metropolitan DC region on November 9. The event hopes to raise millions of dollars in donations and create new relationships between digitally savvy donors and nonprofits.

The Charity Social 100 Index | Voluntary Sector Network | Guardian Professional

The Charity Social 100 Index | Voluntary Sector Network | Guardian Professional: Voluntary sector blog banner

The Charity Social 100 Index

Charities need to develop more effective social strategies for a cash-strapped age

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Anne McCrossan and Steve Bridger
Guardian Professional, Monday 19 September 2011 04.30 EDT
Article history

Abacus
The index examines how charities in the UK are using social media. Photograph: Wolfram Schroll/ Wolfram Schroll/zefa/Corbis

The Charity Social 100 Index is the result of six months of study looking at how charities in the UK are using social media. We looked at 300 charities, and the results reflect 100 of those.

Charities have been assessed on their strength of income, strength of brand and social performance across social networks including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube, and general social media behaviour. This covered things like responsiveness and how charities demonstrate social leadership and engagement as part of their corporate communications style.

The Charity Social 100 Index | Voluntary Sector Network | Guardian Professional

The Charity Social 100 Index | Voluntary Sector Network | Guardian Professional: Voluntary sector blog banner

The Charity Social 100 Index

Charities need to develop more effective social strategies for a cash-strapped age

reddit this
Comments (2)

Anne McCrossan and Steve Bridger
Guardian Professional, Monday 19 September 2011 04.30 EDT
Article history

Abacus
The index examines how charities in the UK are using social media. Photograph: Wolfram Schroll/ Wolfram Schroll/zefa/Corbis

The Charity Social 100 Index is the result of six months of study looking at how charities in the UK are using social media. We looked at 300 charities, and the results reflect 100 of those.

Charities have been assessed on their strength of income, strength of brand and social performance across social networks including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube, and general social media behaviour. This covered things like responsiveness and how charities demonstrate social leadership and engagement as part of their corporate communications style.

Americans and Text Messaging.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Americans and Text Messaging.pdf (application/pdf Object)
Americans and text messaging
31% of text message users prefer texting to voice calls, and young adults stand out in their use of text messaging

Monday, September 19, 2011

Doyle McManus: Technology that protects protesters - latimes.com

Doyle McManus: Technology that protects protesters - latimes.com: This was a problem we could do something about," said Verclas, who runs a New York-based nonprofit organization called MobileActive.org. She won a grant from the State Department and produced a cellphone application called In the Clear

A Social Revolution: How New Media is Changing Nonprofits

A Social Revolution: How New Media is Changing Nonprofits: Twenty years ago, email was a new phenomenon that revolutionized the way we communicate, but today even email is sometimes considered archaic: Canadians are world leaders in the use of social media with 79% of Canadians saying they use social media with half of them visiting sites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube daily.

Just as electronic communication altered how we interact with the world, so the use of social and digital media is changing how most nonprofit organizations communicate with their constituencies, and even creating shifts in how the organizations work. We talked with several Canadian nonprofit organizations to understand the impact of social media on how they operate and communicate.

Non-Profit Theater and Technology | Gwydion Suilebhan

Non-Profit Theater and Technology | Gwydion Suilebhan: Raise your hands if you are in any way responsible for helping to run a non-profit theater. Keep them up if you emphasize the first of those two words over the second — non-profit rather than theater — when you think about the nature of your work.

Most of us, I suspect, prefer to focus on the fact that we make art and share it with the world, rather than the fact that we run non-profits. But we do, and we face all of the challenges any non-profit faces, from raising money to serving our constituencies to supporting our staff members as much as we can.