With limited dollars, nonprofits are very reluctant to spend funds on technology. However, nonprofit organizations can reap benefits by embracing and adopting social web strategies. To survive, nonprofits must interact with people inside and outside the organization, including their members, constituents, or stakeholders, to further their mission.
There are many social web tools that make it easy for nonprofits to collaborate, share information, and mobilize support. A nonprofit’s existence depends heavily on building relationships with corporate sponsors, philanthropic funders, and public and private sectors.
By using social web tools, messages regarding a nonprofit’s mission and goals can span the web with neck-breaking speed, transforming standard methods typically used to shore up support and donations. If nonprofits are not engaging in online conversation and understanding public impressions, they are leaving it up to others to answer questions and provide information about them that may not be entirely accurate. Nonprofits need to speak about their mission passionately and accurately and drive community efforts using social web as the distribution channel.
Social web strategies for nonprofits involve listening, cultivating, and participating in the continuous dialog among members and nonmembers about issues relevant to the mission. Nonprofit organizations can no longer rely only on monetary donations from already fatigued donors. They must seek innovative ways of
- recruiting enablers for their cause
- connecting with people who need their humanitarian services or expertise
- connecting with potential, younger donors.
Participation and community are the drivers that characterize the social media. Nonprofits can use existing social web tools that don’t incur upfront expenses. For example, members can share information through collaboration tools (e.g. Wikipedia) and social bookmarking (Digg, Del.icio.us, search tag clouds). Social networking can be achieved through online communities (Facebook, LinkedIn), microblogs (Twitter, Jaiku), virtual communities, or videoblogging.
Here’s how nonprofits can measure success of their social web strategies:
LISTENING
Gaining insights from listening to members and constituents. Success is measured by having gained insight. The benefit is that they can reduce or eliminate the cost of conducting surveys or establishing focus groups.
TALKING
Using conversations with existing or prospective members to convey
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