John Kenyon - Nonprofit Technology Educator & Strategist

Text and Mobile Basics for Nonprofits: Do's and Don'ts

My colleague Sarah R Moore reminded our students at our recent session on Storytelling Through Social Media - "Remember when email grew to be essential  and many nonprofits wished they had been collecting email addresses all along? This is the same with mobile numbers and texting. Even if you're not texting yet, you want to start collecting mobile numbers now."

Now is the time for all nonprofits to have mobile and texting on their radar. Smart-phone sales have outstripped PC sales and the number of visitors accessing websites from mobile devices is growing every week. The first step is to start including them in communications and technology plans.

There are a variety of interactions people can have with a nonprofit via mobile devices. They can donate, be directed to a web page via QR code, or receive and share information via text.

For donating via text, donations are still limited to $5 or $10, though that is supposed to be changing in the not too distant future. Unless you have the media reach of the recent disasters in Haiti or Japan - or you have access to large numbers of potential donors at a concert or sporting event - this is likely not worth pursuing for most nonprofits. By developing a mobile version of your website that includes the ability to donate you can accept any level of gift, just as you can on your website - but it does require an investment in programming. It is also possible to develop applications (apps) for mobile devices, but there needs to be a clear strategy and reason behind it as this too requires resources to develop.

You've likely seen QR codes in advertisements or other print materials. You can scan the code with your smartphone and it will take you to a website where you can learn more about the person/product/service/etc. The Nonprofit Technology Network has used them on conference badges where the code is linked to attendees profiles. One student at a recent workshop shared that she scanned a QR code on a restaurant menu to get nutritional information and she got sent a coupon for use towards that meal! Unfortunately another student reported being called after scanning a QR code - not a good practice.

Texting is where most nonprofits can start without a large investment. Texting can take several forms, such as occasional text messages to alert folks about events or actions or sharing of information, i.e., texting "BANANA" to a certain code could send back the nutritional information.

Here are some basic DOs and DON'Ts:

1. Include TEXT in Communication Preferences

DO:
Have a communication preference field in your database. Your constituents should have a choice to communicate with you via postal mail, email, phone or text. Track that choice and communicate with them via their preferred channel.

DON"T:
Collect the information and then ignore it.

 
2. Start Collecting Mobile Numbers

DO:
Ask folks for their mobile number and if they would like to receive texts from you. Always indicate how they can STOP the texts (usually by texting STOP to a specific code).

DON'T:
Start texting without asking or without warning

 

3. Start Texting Intelligently

DO:
Start with something small and specific, like an event. You might consider sending a text for Save the Date, one for Registration Open, one for Last Day for Early Bird rate, and maybe one with a link to directions the day before. Or for a protest, maybe one announcing it and one with details.

DON"T:
Start randomly texting - have a purpose, measure activity, learn, try again.
Text registration reminders to folks who already registered - it's annoying and you look uncoordinated. 

 

4. Track Text & Mobile Activity

DO:
Ask folks you text how they like what you text, if they would like other information, if they prefer a different frequency of contact, etc. Use that information to craft future texts campaigns. Try again, track, learn, try again. Repeat.

Through your website analytics program, track how many folks are visiting your site via mobile. Dig down to see what pages most of them access, to get a clue about which pages to incude on a mobile site, which is usually much smaller and more text-based than your full website.

DON"T:
Put effort into mobile or texting without tracking impact.

 

Here are some resources for further reading:

mobileactive.org, includes an "mDirectory" for tools and case studies.

mobilemediatoolkit.org - tips on how to create, share and deliver media to mobile

Mobile: The Next Frontier of Fundraising - socialbrite

Five Best Apps To Send Group Text Messages On The Cheap - lifehacker

 

 

Improve Nonprofits’ Understanding of Google Tools - Share Your Story

You can help the community better understand how to use Google Apps, Google Analytics, Google Adwords/Grants, Google Checkout, Google Earth, Google Maps, and YouTube to advance their work by sharing your stories and experiences with these tools. Nonprofit users’ stories will inform Google on the best topics and examples to incorporate into their trainings for each module.

To participate send your contact information, including email/phone number, web address, and the Google tools your agency uses to npstories@gmail.com. We'll be collecting stories through the end of the year.

I'm working with Compasspoint and Google to build training modules that include case studies and strategies as well as information about the tools. More details on Compasspoint's website: http://www.compasspoint.org/gtools

 

 

Ten Nonprofit Technology "Commandments"

This article was first written in 2003 for NTEN. It has had slight revisions to improve clarity, but even after all these years, the ten ideas remain.

  The choices you make about technology can make or break your organization. The time for making guesses about your technology choices is over. There are two different paths our sector - and your organization specifically - can choose. One leads to effective technology use, the other does not. Let’s look at what actions organizations can take to use technology effectively. It actually has much more to do with your data than with technology tools.

For nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations, the most important asset in fulfilling their missions, besides their people, is their information. Data is important because organizations use it in everything they do from making a phone call or writing a letter to requesting funding. As the volume of available data grows, locating useful information becomes increasingly difficult. The advantage is going to those organizations who can collect, organize, process and act on that useful information. Working with large volumes of information intelligently requires technology tools. The increasing volume and importance of information makes Information Technology essential to helping good causes succeed.


What is ”using technology effectively”?

Technology is not an end in itself. Simply having a database, a network and a technology budget does not mean you are using technology effectively. Truly effective use of technology means something different for every organization – only you can say what it means for your organization. The activities detailed below make up a good part of the road to effective use of technology. On the road you will examine what you do, how and even why. You will identify and correct your mistakes and build on your successes.

This is a complex issue, so get help from an expert if there is not one in your organization. There is no substitute for a person who knows how technology tools are being used in nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations. Make sure you have a nonprofit-focused technologist included in all discussions about your data and tools. When someone understands what you want to accomplish and how you plan to accomplish it, they can then suggest tools to help you act faster or more effectively. In technology staff and consultants, our community has a wonderful resource to help them benefit from tools that use technology – take advantage of that.

Here are 10 things that organizations need to make effective use of technology tools. 

-> Which ones you are already doing and which need improvement?

 

After people, Data is your Most Important Resource

Act accordingly in planning and allocating resources. For most organizations, staff salaries are the largest budget item. Is Data the second largest? Too infrequently.

Your Results Depend on your Investment in Data

Dedicate staff time to collecting, maintaining and understanding it. Spend money on finding the right tools for you. The minimum spent on technology tools will get you the minimum impact.

Define and Know your Data Needs and Uses

Define the data that your organization needs to fulfill its mission. Know where to get the data and specifically which pieces of data are important to you.

Seek out Data and Keep it Flowing

Actively seek out data that could help you succeed – include data on clients, funders, members, donors and employees. Make a concerted, ongoing effort to keep data flowing into your organization and to maintaining that data.

Define your Needs in Detail BEFORE tool selection

Define and create the best system you can to hold and manipulate your data. DO NOT grab the first tool or software that looks good. Measure twice and cut once goes double – no triple - for technology. If you have tools, regularly review new options.

Honestly Look at your Information Systems

Take an honest, detailed look at how your systems do – and do not – work. Look at human systems, data systems and communication systems. It is difficult for you to be objective about your organization’s problems, so get an independent opinion - and listen to it.

Maintain Commitment of Board and Staff

Get agreement from staff, management and the board to make an ongoing commitment of resources to improve operations.

Have an Ongoing Conversation about Data

Have an ongoing discussion in the organization about the best ways to use your data, and what you can learn from it. This can be between the ED and the Program manager, or it could be a six-member committee of staff from throughout the organization.

Keep in Touch with other Organizations

Keep in regular contact with other organizations and the nonprofit technology community in order to keep up to date with tools and solutions. There is no substitute for advice from experience. Seek out organizations of a similar size and mission and share challenges. Don’t continue working in isolation or ignorance.

Knowledge Eases Fear, Gather/Share Knowledge

Identify and confront techno-phobia in all its forms. No matter if it’s the ED, the development director or the administrative assistant – you need everyone pulling in the same direction, not at opposite ends. If you are that person, remember that the cure for fear is knowledge – seek it out.

Since data is essential to the life and success of every nonprofit organization, and the best way to manage data is with tools that use technology, then information technology should be the second most important thing to every organization - and funder.

7 Social Media Resources & Tools for 2011

Here are seven tools that I think they are worth a look for nonprofits. These range from social media policy and advice to video distribution to managing your social media presence to charting your social graph.

 

Social Media Policy Database - Social Media Governance
http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php

More than 160 searchable Social Media policies

 

Article, Case Studies and Advice on Using Social Media - Social Media Examiner
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/

A free online magazine designed to help you discover how to best use social media tools to find supporters, increase contributions and generate more brand awareness.

 

Free Video Syndication & Analytics Tools - TubeMogul
http://www.tubemogul.com/

Update multiple video and social networking sites from one place. Analytics tools shows who views what and where videos are being viewed.

 
Understand Your Online Social Capital - Peer Index
http://www.peerindex.net/

View vital stats, audience vs. authority compared with others, a topic fingerprint and more.

 

Check Username Availability Across Social Networking Sites - Namechk
www.namechk.com

Check across dozens of popular Social Networking sites for your desired username or vanity url.

 

Twitter email alerts - Twilert
http://www.twilert.com/

Get email updates of whe your organization, brand or any keyword is mentioned on Twitter.

 

Search Twitter Profiles & Compare Users - Followerwonk
http://followerwonk.com/

This tool helps you search Twitter profiles, so you can find people who work on specific issues or in specific topic areas. Also compare users by followers, tweets, etc.

-

Some of these tools I use, some I heard about at the recent Nonprofit Technology Conference. Thanks to Farra Trompeter at BigDuck for many of these – get the slides from her session here: http://slidesha.re/11NTCbrand .

Google For Nonprofits - New Single Application

I attended the Google for Nonprofits event in Washington DC on March 18th at the Google Offices.

There were three nonprofits who talked about how they used Google tools and some announcements about current and forthcoming features of their tools. Google staff from the Google Earth, YouTube, Google Mobile and the nonprofit program also spoke.

The big news - that Google now has a single application for nonprofit organizations to fill out to get approved for Google Grants, YouTube nonprofit status and other offerings. Not only is there now just one application, but Google has pledged to review all apps and provide a decision within thirty days. Having heard from organizations about waiting months to hear about their application, this is great news. If you have applied for a Google Grant in the past and would like to participate in the YouTube partner program, you will need to apply again.

Beyond the adword grants, this includes letting nonprofits use enterprise level versions of Google Apps - Docs, Gmail and premium geo-features (using Google Maps and Google Earth). This also includes YouTube, which provides branded channels, the features of including overlays (links) and annotations in videos as well as having the Google checkout button on the page to facilitate donations. The program also includes promotion - being featured on the Google nonprofits home page.

For more information and the application, go to www.google.com/nonprofits

Causes Gift Cards

I have been to connected to Causes on Facebook for a long time, donating to friends causes and for the last two years doing Birthday Wishes through them. I've been a fan of gift cards for quite a while, I like giving something that the recipient can choose how to use. I recently received a gift card from Causes and had a great experience around using it.

Available in $25 and $50 amounts, much like an iTunes gift card, you scratch off a covering to reveal a number that you then redeem via the website. They allow the recipient to choose from over 1.5 million nonprofits.

What really impressed me positively was the whole experience surrounding using the card. The easy to use and well constucted web site was the beginnning of the great experience. The redemption page is uncluttered and has links to help if you have problems with your card. Once I entered my number and signed in via Facebook, I was taken to the donation page, which really impressed me.

On the left side of the page is a place to search nonprofits by name or by category. What I thought was cool was that I could also browse projects by those that were cloe to their goal, my friends projects, most urgent (campaigns ending soon) and those recently updated.

Here you see a screenshot of my friends projects. As we know, people are more likely to give to a cause their friends recommend than they hear about from a stranger. I enjoyed browsing through my friends causes and reading about the projects they support. It not only gave me a bit of new insight as to what was important to my friends but introduced me to several nonprofits I had not heard of before, setting me up to be a bit more likely to give to them in the future.

I have friends who recieve services from a nonprofit in Sonoma County called Food for Thought, so I searched for it and it came up immediately. I was able to choose to have my donation go there and then asked if I wanted to share it on Facebook, which I did.

A few days later I recevied an email from Causes asking about my experience and about the ease of use of the website.

I thought this was an excellent example of having a conversation with users and getting their feedback to improve your site, which I recommend for all nonprofits.

The Networked Nonprofit Consultant

On January 12th I will be presenting on the topic "Social Media for Consultants" to the Nonprofit Consultants Network at the Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Management in San Rafael, CA (if you are a consultant to nonprofits in the SF Bay Area I strongly encourage you to check it out - CVNL's Peer Affinity Groups).

As a huge fan of Beth Kanter and Allison Fine's The Networked Nonprofit book, it has been interesting to look through that lens and see how it applies to consultants. Consultants usually don't fundraise for themselves and they are are not trying to engage supporters in the way most nonprofits do. In my experience, as a consultant I focus on keeping my skills up to date, networking, finding prospects/clients and managing my reputation. I think that is true for most consultants.

So how do The Networked Nonprofit principles translate for consultants? Some of the things that resonated with me from the book are:

Sharing Ideas - prospective clients and colleagues need to know what I am thinking about, working on and what types of advice I give to have confidence in hiring/recommending me. The old model of consulting seemed to be to not give anything away without compensation, but I think it is important to give people a taste of my skills and knowledge for free.  Social media allows me to easily share tips and thoughts, both my own and those of others I admire (like Beth , Allison and many others).

Relationship Building as Core Responsibility - Everyone I come into contact with online is a potential referrer if not client or colleague. An important component of building relationships is acknowledging, appreciating and thanking people who mention me, quote me, thank me or give me props. It takes 15 seconds to say "Thank You!" I also try to be sure to share/retweet what others post if I think it is of value to those that follow me.

The Right Metrics - Just as tracking online metrics is important to a nonprofit, it is important for me as a consultant to track which channels and content work best for me. Looking back on my website stats for 2010, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are in the top ten of sites referring traffic. This also means seeing what Facebook posts get the most comments/likes and what tweets get retweeted the most.

Some of the other concepts they discuss also have relevance for consultants online presence, like "Listen First, Engage Second", "Content has a Social Life" and "Small Pilots - Learn, Reiterate".

Though consultants may have different aims online, may of the same excellent practices and habits that are effective for nonprofits work equally well for consultants.

 

Ten Principles for Nonprofit Technology Professionals

In 2011 I would like see the nonprofit technology community move toward speaking in some form of more unified voice.

In 2008 I led a discussion through an NTEN Affinity Group to craft a code of conduct that nonprofit technology providers could agree on - see the results below. At the 2011 Nonprofit Technology Conference I will facilitate a discussion about what might be done to find common ground among nptech providers. 

Are these principles that nonprofit technology staff, consultants and vendors can all agree on?

NonProfit Technology Professional’s Principles/Code of Conduct

We, as technology professionals serving nonprofit organizations, pledge to:

1.     Do No Intentional Harm to Data or Devices Containing Data 

2.     Appreciate, Respect and Adapt Our Approaches
        Appropriately to an Organization’s Culture,
        Mission, Context and Resources 

3.     Focus On Solutions Appropriate in Both the Short and
        Long Term to an Organization’s Culture, Mission,
        Context and Resources

4.     Explain/Demonstrate Technology Strategies and Tools
        Using Clear, Non-Technical Language

5.     Understand and Communicate the Applicable Excellent
        Practices, Legal and Technical Requirements
        Related to Our Work

6.     Engage in Continuous Learning Practices to
        Maintain Our Skills and Knowledge

7.     Regularly Participate In and Share Our
        Knowledge With Our Community

8.     Maintain Ethical Practices and Declare Any
        Conflicts of Interest

9.     Provide Recommendations and Not Directives,
        Communicating the Reasoning Behind those
        Recommendations, Ensuring the Decision is
        Always the Clients

10.   If We Charge for Our Services, to be Transparent
        About Product Pricing and/or Project Costs

 

flickr photo: Adam Foster

NPD10 Live Blog: Next Generation Organizations

(Audio recording available after 8/31)

Panel with Marla Cornelius, Compasspoint; Julie Davidson-Gomez, Exhale; James Lin, Glide Foundation; Olivia Araiza, Justice Matters; Miho Kim, Data Center.

Compasspoint did a report on next generation orgs: Next Generation Organizations by Marla Cornelius and Tim Wolfred (coming in September). Covering a variety of characteristics of next generation organizations: Impact Driven. Finance & Business Savvy; Continuous Learning; Shared Leadership; Wired for Policy Advocacy; Ambiguity of Work-Life Boundaries; Constituents as Thought Partners; Board as Value Add; Multicultural & Culturally Competent.

Initial thoughts/ aspirational components of these dimensions
(Audio recording available after 8/31)

Using storytelling to reframe how we think about impact and results. Being solution agnostic - try everything until it works. Break down the silos between programs, finance, etc. Using failure and learning to improve and innovate.  Power is diffused, power is shared, everyone is tapped for solutions. Keeping connected to advocacy and policy work that relates to your work. People do, touch, learn things in their life that adds alue to their work, hence the need for good work life balance. Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE) - who cares what the time sheet says, get work done in a good way that keeps the larger picture in mind.

Discard that scarcity/ charity mindset - you are more than an org, you are part of a larger system. Engage with the network of orgs/people in your focus area as thought partners to find solutions. (Transparency and Openness- see Networked Nonprofit). With boards we try to limit their sphere of influence, we can use them as thought partners in solutions. Boards should derive their priorities from the organizational needs - what impact are they having on your org?. For cultural competency, recognize forms of power, privilege and disadvantage attached to social/cultural categories - does the org seek to counter that kind of oppression.

Points from stories from the panelists:

Julie: Talked about previously avoiding board membership, now a board member, thanks to a board recruitment model that courted her over 3 years. Now learned that governance is just a small part of what she does as a board member. Enjoys haring professional gifts around process and leadership.

James:

Multiculturalism - they really don't use that term. It is really about bringing the whole person into the room,  engaging their whole story. traditional model is to keep peoples stories out of the office. Requires engaging with self-knowledge. learning to tell your own story, where your story and the orgs story connects..

Example from Glide: building is open, no buzzers no locks no "do you have an appointment?". Can be chaotic but is an opportunity for connection.  Security is charged with holding the space open but to be there if there is a situation.  Had security staff attend domestic violence program. Same triggers that start domestic or street violence trigger bad bosses, asshole colleagues, etc.  Helped people find internal physical signs of stress when someone pushes your buttons. Rather than reacting, I can respond if I recognize when I am triggered. Security staff learned from the model, learned to handle his triggers. If you can't recognize/handle your own triggers you can't handle other peoples stories that are bound to trigger you.

Olivia:

They are about how to change a school from the inside out - change the lives of children from families of color, create social justice. Very open space at their office, living room atmosphere. Involves rainstorming, it's about every member of staff in every stage of their lives, being responsive to their needs. More creative staff is engendered when you embrace peoples lives and accommodate staff's lives.

Miho:

Shared leadership. Org model is group of circles focused on focused on capacity building, program, administration. They had a leadership decapitation. Co-directors left with all of their work, including grant files. Staff was polarized. Looked at how staff interacted with each other. Traditional model was not working, opportunity to create/shape new leadership model. not traditional management structure. Centered on Coordinating council vs. traditional hierarchy. Takes power from founder, major donors, state, etc. and gives it to the staff. Did an exercise about what did/did not work, major disagreements that they hashed out. Found principles they could agree on. First reaction was to create a policy document. Instead they created a "quilt" with different panels, on their wall, reminds them of the fundamental principles that they are working from. Have a tool that reframes mistakes as learning before moving to HR discipline. They have pay equity - everyone gets paid the same. How does pay equity promote/ cultivate the value that you express to the world. There are other elements that they use to mitigate the issues of pay equity. It's about working on things as a process. Shared leadership is actually more structure than less.

Panelist reactions:

James: These new ways of thinking are exciting but intimidating. SOunds great but sounds impossible at the same time. Inspiring but fear inducing.

Miho: Not only the personal is political but the spiritual is political. This journey of change made her look into herself, what are things she is ashamed of, strengths, but once you are authentic, your bond is deeper.

Marla: Thinking about how to incorporate these ideas and stories into her life and be aware of her own limits/paradigms, traditional ways of thinking.

Most Popular Websites & Why Nonprofits Should Care

It's important for nonprofits to know which websites on the internet have the most traffic. It helps them understand where people are online so they can be sure they are participating on the most popular sites.

I am a fan of Alexa.com^®, the web information company that ranks websites with the most traffic by country and by category as well as providing data on audiences. While the data you collect on your stakeholders online behavior, through website, email and other analytics is the most important, the data about activity on the greater web helps steer your online strategy.

As sites decline in popularity (as MySpace^® seems to be doing, though it still has a lot of traffic) nonprofits may want to think about putting less effort into those channels. This of course depends on your website traffic statistics - if MySpace^® continues to be one of the top 20 referrers of traffic to your site you likely want to maintain your presence there. If not, you may want to reduce the resources you expend on maintaining a presence on that channel. I recommend you check out this ranking once a quarter, just to see what sites are rising/falling in popularity.

For example, Twitter has moved from #9 to #7 in the past month. YouTube is now the #2 search engine on the internet after Google and visitors average almost 20 minutes when they visit. Are you on YouTube? Getting familiar with Twitter? You likely should consider it.

Besides statistics by country, you can look at the statistics by category. Under the heading "Society" there are listings for Activism, Philanthropy, LGBT, Issues and more. Under Philanthropy, the top 6 sites are:

1. Care2.com

2. The Animal Rescue Site

3. Caring Bridge

4. The Hunger Site

5. Food and Agriculture Organization

6. Idealist

As of August, 2010, here are the top 20 sites with the most traffic in the United States. The links take you to the detail page on the Alexa.com site:

1.  Google

2.  Facebook

3.  Yahoo! 

4.  YouTube

5.  Amazon.com

6.  Wikipedia

7.  Twitter

8.  Craigslist.org

9.  eBay

10.  Windows Live

11.  Blogger.com

12.  MSN

13.  Myspace

14.  Go

15.  Bing

16.  AOL

17.  LinkedIn

18.  CNN Interactive

19.  ESPN

20  WordPress.com

LBSNs (Location Based Social Networks): Foursquare

Foursquare  

Foursquare is an up & coming social media tool that is just starting to be understood and used by nonprofits. While it's not something you likely need to figure out today, it is a good idea to be familiar with it and have it on your social media radar. At the bottom of this post I list nonprofit specific articles about foursquare.

Foursquare, like other social media tools, comes with its own unique paradigm and language, so requires some explanation up front. Think social networking tool meets location-based game meets travelogue.

With foursquare you sign up for the service and then as you visit places - parks, stores, restaurants, nonprofits, etc. - you "check in" to that place, either directly on the web or through a mobile device. There are different badges you get based on various criteria including number of visits, number of other members signed in and more. If you have the most visits to a certain location, you become the "mayor" of that place and are listed as such on the website. Businesses and organizations can use the service to provide virtual "coupons", i.e., "check-in" to our coffee shop get a free bakery product or become the mayor and get 10% off your purchase. 

I like being able to see if friends have visited places so I can ask their opinion about them or have them ask me. The badges and mayorships create a bit of a competition for bragging rights. It also serves as a kind of travelogue as I can go back and see where I checked in when. I have been using it since March and have 16 badges, am mayor of 16 places and have 36 friends I am connected with. 

I am more careful who I friend on foursquare and only connect with trusted friends, not acquaintances, as I am revealing where I am (though you have the option not to share your check-in with anyone). Lately I have seen an uptick in the number of friend requests, so thought it was time to write a post about it.

Launched in March of 2009, Foursquare in June banked $20 million in funding to grow its operations and user base. Article on eweek.

So who is using foursquare, Gowalla, Brightkite and other services of their kind? Nearly 80 percent of location-based social network users are males, and 70 percent are between the ages of 19 and 35. recent research from Forrester found.

The report from Forrester in July said this "Location-based social networks (LBSNs), such as foursquare and Brightkite, offer interactive marketers the promise of right-time, right-place marketing by connecting people and nearby points of sale with geotargeted media. The market is quite nascent, with only a few million consumers using geolocation apps monthly. Marketers need to know what audiences can be reached with these services, which companies — if any — are ready for prime time, and whether LBSNs align with business objectives. Forrester recommends that bold, male-targeted marketers start testing but that most marketers should wait until they can get a bigger bang for their buck, when adoption rates increase and established players emerge from the fray."

Forrester Report (full report $499)

According to a techcrunch article here are the stats as of July 7, 2010 on Foursqaure vs. Gowalla:

• As of today, Foursquare has just over 1.9 Million users. Gowalla has around 340,000.At its current pace, Foursquare will surpass 2 Million users within a week.
• Foursquare is adding almost 10x as many new users per day as Gowalla and, despite a significantly larger base, has a daily percentage growth rate that is 75% higher than Gowalla’s.
• Currently, Foursquare has about 5.6 Million venues and Gowalla has 1.4 Million venues.
• 1 in 3 venues on Foursquare have been checked into only once or never. That number is 1 in 4 on Gowalla.
• The most popular venue name is “Home,” followed by national fast food chains like “McDonald’s” and “Burger King”
• On Foursquare, men outnumber women almost 2-to-1. Exact gender breakouts are not available for Gowalla, but the most popular first names suggest a similar distribution.

There are some interesting ideas and discussions starting to perculate from nonprofit thinkers. Check out the following for their posts and links to other examples of use:

Beth Kanter - Foursquare

Beth Kanter - Foursquare 2

Danielle Brigida on Location Based Apps by Frank Berry

Danielle Brigida on Location-Based Networks Podcast with Allison Fine

Heather Mansfield - How to Add Your NPO to Foursquare

Allyson Kapin of Care2

Peter Panepento

Bonus suggestion: CauseWorld

Beth Kanter - CauseWorld

Beth Kanter - Causeworld on iPhone

Online Collaboration Tools Worth a Look for Nonprofits: Etherpad, Yammer, Present.ly and more

Online tools for collaboration are nothing new, but they have matured over the last few years with added features and more real time updating. I think they should be part of every nonprofit organization's toolbox to facilitate communication and collaboration.

EtherPad
(Note: the online component of this service was purchased by Google and the servers shut down. Google incorporated some of the features in their "rebuilt more real time" Google Docs launched in spring 2010. See below for alternatives.)

I did a webinar/ commuinty brainstorming session in December '09 with NTEN and the awesome Johanna Bates about low-cost and free IT solutions (Download the PDF - 618KB). At NTEN's recommendation, we included this free tool as part of the webinar and as a way to capture both the tools we knew about and the tools that the attendees shared with us.

It works like Google Docs in that many people can collaborate online to build a document, but has some unique features:

• Contributors don't need to register/be invited to join in
• There is a chat window seperate from the main doc window, so the two aren't mixed together
• There are several options for exporting the document
• Coolest feature (I think): A "time slider" that let's you scroll back in time to see exactly how the document was constructed

If you are looking to collaborate with a team of geographically distributed team, you may want to give this tool a try.

Since the servers on etherpad.com were shut down, on Google's page they list some alternative online services based on Etherpad "(not affiliated with Google, use at your own risk)".

• Sync.in
  
• PiratePad
• TypeWith.me

Also check out the EtherPad Foundation where you can download an offline version or follow links to other online version.

See also this article from 2009 by David Pierce: "5 Great Alternatives to Google Docs You Should Consider" .

Yammer & Present.ly

Yammer and Present.ly are tools that can provide a great way for people in organizations to keep informed about what people in other departments are doing. They provides opportunities for people to exchange ideas and stay up to date that normally could take hours in a full staff meeting. For a few orgs it is beginning to replace email as a primary mode of internal communication.

They are called micro-blogging tools and they work somewhat like an internal Twitter. People can post updates on what they are doing, resources (documents, presentations, notes, photos, etc.) and others can respond and comment. You can also create groups and there are apps for people to connect to it from their mobile devices. It can be a great way to manage and maintain a record of activity within an organization.

In their article "Making the Silo Break", Changing Out World shared "According to a study cited in the Economist, corporate workers spend between six and ten hours per week hunting for information that they could otherwise communicate to one another seamlessly in the Facebook/Twitter-like sphere of Yammer."

Related Articles:

Randy Tyler: Using Present.ly for Nonprofits

Randy Tyler: Using Yammer for Nonprofits

TechWall: Present.ly vs. Yammer

CNET: Present.ly vs Yammer

Other tools to consider for collaboration:

Here are some suggestions (from the NTEN Discussion list) for "an integrated solution so that all of (y)our members (with different email domains) can collaborate on projects, share documents, track progress with project management elements, and communicate and connect with each other in a facebook-like way". Some of these are "enterprise level" tools, meaning you usually need a server, that in general may not be appropriate for small- and medium-sized (under $2 million budget) nonprofits .

Jive SBS

Cubetree

Ning

Google Wave

Google Applications 

Lotus Live

Wikispaces.com

Timejar.com

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Facebook Birthday Wish Fundraising Results

Thanks again to Nelson L, David K, Judith S-D, Leyna B, Judy H, Michael S, Gambill C, Joe Baker, Julie B and Joe Horacek-Lee for helping me use my birthday to raise money for a great cause. I raised $635 thanks to them (oddly enough I raised $653 last year for GSA Network, must be something about those numbers!).

I wish Causes would give me more information on exactly who clicked on my birthday wish link when so I could track which of my posts was most effective in driving traffic and donations.

Facebook Birthday Wish: Visual Aid

Last year I took my first foray into fundraising with a Facebook Birthday Wish, raising $650 thanks to generous support from my colleagues, friends and family. This year I have the goal of raising $900 for an organization I have been a fan of for a long time - Visual Aid.

Visual Aid encourages artists with life-threatening illnesses like HIV/AIDS and Breast Cancer to continue their creative work. This small organization does big things including providing opportunities for artists to connect with their community, providing art supplies, career resources and educational outreach.

As many of my readers know, in my travels I usually try to fit in a visit to an art museum, be it the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh or the National Portrait Gallery in London (pictured) among many.

As an art lover and an amateur photographer I know the power art can have to nurture both the soul of the artist as well as our own.

The founder of Visual Aid and photographs from their current exhibition are featured in the new documentary "We We Here: Stories from the AIDS Years in San Francisco".

Please join me before next Thursday in supporting this wonderful organization, either through my Facebook Birthday Wish page or directly through the Visual Aid site.

Thank you in advance for helping continue the creative work of those who might otherwise be silenced by illness.

Upcoming SF Bay Area Social Media Trainings

Join me in person for these Social Media session:

Social Media 101: Telling Your Story
(w/ Sarah Moore)

Compasspoint's NONPROFIT DAY
August 31, 2010 - San Francisco, CA

Click here for information and registration

Social Media 201
Part 1: What Works? Strategies & Case Studies
Part 2: Creating a Plan for Social Media

CVNL

September 7, 2010 - San Rafael, CA

Click here for information and registration