Tips for Blogs for Nonprofit Organizations

Do you have a blog for your organization?

Be sure you mention what organization the blog is for and provide a link to the website for the organization. Also, make sure there is a link to the blog on your organization's website.

Nonprofit Blogtipping - March 2007

I decided to try this new idea with blogtipping as suggested by Kivi. I am a little late in posting, but I still wanted to post my entry for this month.

1. ASPCA Blog

What I like:

• Lots of interesting facts about animals
• Mentions new content/news in the blog
• Use of labels/categories

Tip: For news alert entries - link to the webpage and not hyperlink articles. It makes these entries confusing. Keep the format the same though, but without the links. If you do end up keeping the links to the articles, make sure they work.

2. SOS News and Views

What I like:

• Writeup of events/programs
• Pictures on entries
• Advertisement of events/programs

Tip: Remove the pictures on the top to avoid scrolling to read the blog. If the pictures are kept, limit it to 3 or make them smaller so it only takes up one row.

3. First Book Blog

What I like:

• Mention books connected to holidays and timely events
• Different staff members write blog entries
• Use of images for blog posts

Tip: Try to come up with posts that will encourage readers to post comments. For example, ask questions.

SixDegrees.org and Online Fundraising - Recap of DC Net Tuesday

Last week I attended my first DC Net2 meetup. There were about 40 people who came to the meetup.

Katya Andersen of Network for Good gave a presentation about SixDegrees.org and online fundraising.

SixDegrees.org

Kevin Bacon purchased SixDegrees.org. He wanted to do something charitable with the website and he contacted Network for Good.

In January 2007, SixDegrees.org was launched. People can setup charity badges through SixDegrees.org to fundraise for causes/organizations they care about. There can be up to 5 charities listed on a badge and the organizations chosen must be listed in Guidestar.

Right now there is a contest on SixDegrees.org, which is being held through March 31st. The six badges with the most number of donations will receive a matching grant of up to $10,000.

Facts

• 15% gave to charities because of celebrities, 76% gave to charities because they were influenced by friends and family
• People stop giving to organizations because of how they were treated by the nonprofit
• 3,000 people have sixdegrees badges, 12% of badges have at least 1 donation
• 20% donate through Network for Good because they can be anonymous
  

Lessons Learned

• what attracts is celebrities, what motivates is personal
• contests are good
• give people tools to fundraise where they are online
• social networks are complex, one widget does not serve all

Other Information

• Chipin is a good fundraising widget because the destination is a thermometer and you don't have to be a nonprofit to use this
• Network for Good recently held a pilot version of the badges. Beth Kanter won that competition. Her campaign was a success and it showed that you needed to do something offline to help with online fundraising.
• It was suggested at the meetup that there should be mentors to help others with charity badges and serve as a resource.

Want more Information?

Check out Katya's blog at Katya's Nonprofit Marketing Blog.

Two others who attended the meetup wrote blog entries. Usha of Beaconfire Consulting wrote a great entry at sixdegrees.org at Net Tuesday meetup. Matt of EchoDitto wrote an entry at Useful Widgets.

Tagging in the Nonprofit Sector

After reading the recent entries on tagging on Beth's Blog , I started thinking more about nptech and tags being used in the nonprofit sector.

The nptech tag is by far the most popular tag being used in the nonprofit sector. It has grown so much over the 2 years. Another popular nonprofit related tag is net2, which is for NetSquared.

In addition to nptech and net2, there are other nonprofit related tags used.

The following tags I started using and others have began using as well:

• npblog
• npflickr
• npsl (nonprofit second life)
• npblogexchange
• nptag (nonprofit tagging)
• npyoutube
• npmashup
  

The tags below are used by a few people and suggested in the NPTagvocates Affinity Group:

• NPEnviro
• NPWorkDev
• NPSocialJustice
• NPol
• NPArts
• NPHealth
• NPYouth
• NPEdu
• NPDisasterRelief
• NPlegal
  

About a year ago, Jillaine began using tags. Her tags include the following:

• nonprofit_communications
• nonprofit_publication
• nonprofit_management
• npo_consultants
• nptech_advocacy

Heather of Aspiration has recently started using tags. She wrote an entry about the tags she uses at Tagging for Nonprofit Operations at her tags are found here. Listed below are tags she uses:

• npoaccounting
• npoboards
• npocommunications
• npoeducation
• npofinance
• npofundraising
• npohr
• npoleadership
• npolegal
• npooperations
• nporesearch
• nporiskmanagement
• npostartup
• npotraining

Pam of Nonprofit Eye recently wrote about the tags she is using at TAG YOU'RE IT: NON-PROFIT TAG SYSTEMS . Listed below are some of the tags she uses:

• NonProfit2.0
• NonprofitCompensation
• NonProfitCompliance
• NonProfitEthics
• NonProfitManagement
• NonProfitResearch
• NonProfitResources
• NonprofitSalary
• NonprofitStartup
• NPAccounting
• NPBlog
• NPBranding
• NPFinancialManagement
• NPLegislation
• NPMarketing
• NPResearch
• NPResource
  

Trends I am seeing:

• Tags are starting with either np, nonprofit, npo, or nonprofit_
• nptech is the most popular tag being used
• Common topics for tags include education, communications, legal, research, accounting

Since there are no rules for tagging, I suggest using whatever tags you want to organize your information. If you want your tags (or items being tagged) to be seen in the nonprofit sector, use nptech.

What other tags are being used across the nonprofit sector? Have I missed anything?

Thoughts about nptech tag - January 2007

I've written a few entries before about my thoughts about the nptech tag and how I use it. However, it has been awhile since I have posted this information.

The nptech tag started as an experiment around January 2005, which is when I began using the tag and began writing this blog.

Here is a list of the blog entries I wrote about the nptech tag in the first 6 months:

• nptech tag (Jan 2005)
• nptech tag experiment (Feb 2005)
• What I realized this week about the nptech tag experiment (Feb 2005)
• Participating in the nptech tag experiment (July 2005)

Looking back at my earlier postings, I see the nptech tag as a way I became involved in nonprofit technology and learning more about the field. Through my participation in the nptech tag, my involvement in nonprofit technology grew and led to new things.

What are my thoughts about the nptech tag in early 2007?

Since NetSquared started and the tag Net2 is used, I have been trying to figure out what the difference is between the two tags. Everything tagged net2 could easily be tagged nptech. However, not everything nptech could be tagged net2.

Alot has changed over the two years. The goal was to figure out what other tags people were using besides nptech. Eventually this was going to be a taxonomy. This is what I thought -

"I can see this experiment lead to a virtual library about nonprofit technology. Imagine a place where you can find news resources, pictures, and other media about nonprofit technology. That is what I hope to see. "

However, I don't think this is the direction the nptech tag is going in, which is fine since this was started as an experiment. I also don't think people are using other tags when tagging items with nptech. I know when I first started I went tag crazy and came up with maybe 10 tags for each bookmark. Now I just want to share the bookmark as fast as I can and just tag it with nptech.

I imagine others are doing this too. You find a resource to share with others in nonprofit technology/nonprofit sector and you tag it with nptech since many users use the tag.

I still think nptech needs to be promoted more, especially at nonprofits. I also wish there could be a way to find out who the users are.

Answers to Questions (from Beth's Blog)

1) How are you using the NpTech Tag?
I currently tag my bookmarks on del.icio.us using nptech.

2) Do you subscribe to the feed to find resources?
I used to, but unsubscribed because I decided I wasn't interested in the links. However, this might change in the near future and I might subscribe again.

3) Do you read the summaries?
I read them and sometimes click on the links.

4) Do you tag items with the NpTech as a form of promotion or outreach?
not really, I used nptech when I first started the nonprofit blog exchange to promote it