Many folks are pointing today to the research and report by Eric Mattson and Nora Ganim Barnes, Pd. D. about the use of social media tools by nonprofits. “Blogging for the Hearts and Donors: Largest US Charities Use Social Media” is based on the results of a survey of 76 executives from the list of 200 Top Charities by Forbes. Mattson and Barnes compared the results of the phone survey to the data on social media usage by the Fortune 500, Inc. 500, and college admission departments. Charities across the board are ahead of the business and college groups when it comes to integrating social media tools (including blogs, video, social networking, podcasting, message boards, and wikis)into their marketing, outreach, and fundraising strategies.
You can read about and download the report here.
One of the things that I found most interesting is the low response for familiarity with and usage of wikis. Wikis are a terrific way to collaborate, connect event or training participants before, during and after workshops, and organize collective learning spaces for a department, organization, or community. Is your organization utilizing a wiki to share knowledge or work on projects together?
I was happy to see that “charities are blogging at a higher rate than any group of businesses studied to date.” It is encouraging that organizations are recognizing the power and ease which blogs offer to provide information quickly to donors, supporters, reporters, and the community. Most organizations’ communications staff are the ones maintaining and writing the blogs. Is this the same at your organization? How do people in organizations and outside of organizations view blogs from the executive director/ceo?
Check out the report and poll your own organization to gauge your internal familiarity and usage—you could be surprised!