These are some links I wanted to share from April 17th. Find me on Delicious for more!
- Silos Culture Inside the Walls of Nonprofits Prevent Effective Social Media Use – Beth Kanter's post about internal silos in nonprofits reminds me of a post and the ensuing conversation that happened in the comments on my blog about a month ago. The idea of a networked organization is fascinating to me and hinges, truly, on organizations taking a networked approach both IN and OUT of the organization's "walls."
- Apps for America Contest – Check out some of these really innovative (and cool!) open source applications for helping make the government more transparent from Sunlight Labs. Would love to hear if there are any you especially think are useful to your work!
- Sharing by the numbers in the USA – Check out this report and the accompanying data figures from USA Today – some spotlights include: 14 million Americans are employed by or volunteer full time in the nonprofit sector; and the Chicago Meals on Wheels program is cutting its budget by 35%.
- Ten campaigning tips for lobbying MPs – "nfpSynergy has a wealth of back-data regarding MPs' opinions of charities and their campaigns, comments from those who work in this area and experience of the sector. This has enabled us to compile a report containing ten tips, which extract the most salient issues to emerge from our research, to help you in your future charity campaigns and lobbying. These top tips are quite literally a starter for ten when looking to elicit a successful campaign and lobbying approach."
- Help seeking behaviour in young adults – NFPSynergy Report – nfSynergy's "newest free report takes an in-depth look at what young people's needs are and how they seek help. The report was commissioned by the Vodafone Foundation and is packed with useful case studies and supporting data. It includes recommendations for local and national not-for-profit organisations who provide support to young adults."
- Share Actions | Social Actions – Check out all of the great Social Actions Change the Web Challenge applications! I'm already using some and looking forward to watching how they continue to evolve and leverage other platforms.
Amy,
Thanks for the ping. I went back over the past year and half and condensed conversations from my blog on this topic. In looking back at the threads from 2006-7, it’s gone to a new level or maturity in terms of the adoption curve of social media within nonprofits. It reminds of the conversations that took place 10-15 years as nonprofit grappled with adopting the use of email marketing, web sites, and the Internet into the workplace. Some of the silo behavior is legacy from years ago.
Amy, Can you share the blog post that Beth’s post reminded you of. I <3 the conversations that are evolving in this space. Thanks & Thanks for sharing such awesome reads!
Beth –
My pleasure! I am completely fascinated with the cultural patterns that are informing (restricting even) the process of social media adoption in nonprofits. We can learn from the past or let it stumble us up again, right?!
What do you think is going to be a necessary step to move away from the silos that is unique to this time/socail media?
Looking forward to seeing you at NTC next weekend!
Thanks, Joe!
I should have included the link originally, so appreciate the prodding 🙂
http://www.amysampleward.org/2009/02/11/moving-away-from-organizations-to-what/
Beth’s piece reminded me of the conversation that took place in the comments in the above post, especially the idea of different process by which organizations start or operate in order to change with the changing times/culture/etc.
Would love to hear your thoughts!
Thanks again