To follow more of the things I find online, you can follow @amysampleward on Twitter (which is just a blog and resource feed), or find me on Delicious (for all kinds of bookmarks).

• Attention Data Nerds: Nonprofits Miss Out on the Power of LinkedIn: Learn How to Tap It | Beth’s Blog – Geri Stengel has a great guest post on Beth's blog. "Whether connected or cold calling, you can build long-term, valuable relationships using LinkedIn. Find out how easy it is. LinkedIn isn’t some stodgy place where people post their resumes. It’s a no- to low-cost database that is a rich source of information about potential major donors, board members, employees, and strategic allies." Would love to hear what you're doing on LinkedIn and how your organization has or has not found LinkedIn valuable!
• Blackbaud and Convio Now One Company – "Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLKB) today announced that it has completed its acquisition of Convio, Inc., a leading provider of on-demand constituent engagement solutions. Under the terms of the merger agreement, Blackbaud paid an aggregate purchase price of approximately $325 million. Blackbaud financed the deal through a combination of cash and borrowings from its credit facility. “This is an exciting day for the Blackbaud and Convio teams. Together, we can build better solutions for nonprofits, and that’s what drives us,” said Marc Chardon, Blackbaud’s chief executive officer. “Convio’s strengths in online and social marketing, and subscription and cloud-based offerings complement ours, and will accelerate our ability to deliver more to the nonprofit sector.”"
• Charities May Soon Get a Way to Seek Bigger Text Gifts – Prospecting – The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas – "Donors who give through mobile text messages could soon have the options of giving a larger donation and setting up repeat text gifts, say the leaders of two of the organizations that oversee text giving in the U.S. and Canada. Jim Manis, chief executive of the Mobile Giving Foundation, and Bernard Lord, chairman of the Mobile Giving Foundation Canada, said in an interview that they are working with some cellular service providers to allow $20 donations—double the current $10 limit—and recurring donations, though they gave no timeline on when those features would be available."
• Get more donors with free fundraising lessons and ideas – I love this new free series from Causevox – get a video a week filled with great information and actionable tips to help improve your fundraising right away. I don't even primarily focus on fundraising and I'm finding it really valuable!
• The A/B Test: Inside the Technology That’s Changing the Rules of Business | Epicenter | Wired.com – This is a terrific case study in the power of a/b testing on your websites – be it organization site, microsite, campaign pages, or even fundraising pages – to question everything and find what really works. Every time I do testing, I see the same thing that they note here: my instincts are wrong. We over-think things and the best way to stop is by testing!

Gem #1 – Put fundraising in your mission.

In this book, Larry starts at the beginning (that’s even how he describes it!) with the mission of the organization. You have to figure this out first! Your board has to know the mission, and keep it in mind in their role forming the strategic vision of the organization. Fundraising should have a clear role in helping you meet that mission. If it is something separate, your doomed. Larry very rightly points out: If you position fundraising as separate from meeting your mission, donors won’t see why their donations are creating the impact they are interest in.

Gem #2 – Work from the inside out.

This is a great concept and one I often see organization willing to internalize, but not for fundraising. I am often asked by organizations about how they can get their staff to adopt a new tool or platform. You have to start inside the organization. Treat your colleagues like the most important community segment. That means you give them direct training and support, show them how it helps the organization and their own work, etc. When the external community sees your staff using a community platform, a knowledge management resource, or another shared online space it says to them that the organization actually cares and is invested in both collaboration and the resource itself. And that is the best tone you can set! So why would it be any different with fundraising!

Gem #3 – I have an extra copy for you!

That’s right! Larry was kind enough to send me an extra copy that I could give away to a lucky commenter. Please share in the comments below either what your current struggle is or your latest lesson learned with fundraising for your organization. All comments will be entered to win and I’ll draw a name at random this Friday, May 11th, at 5 pm EST.

Looking forward to hearing what you’re working on!

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Normally, I stay away from assumptions: We all know the saying about what assuming does to you and me! When it comes to managing or building communities, online or on the ground, the work can seem overwhelming and sometimes even never-ending.

Wherever you are, and whatever the kind of community you are wrangling, there are some general lessons that I recommend.  These five assumptions always help me remember the role and responsibilities a successful community manager needs to best serve and engage a community. I hope you’ll share your lessons, too!

1. You don’t [really] know your community members.

I don’t say this to offend you, but just as a good reminder. When you are drafting messages, calls to action, or even just conducting day-to-day customer service type communications, assuming that you don’t know the community at large or the individual you are speaking to directly will help prevent you from overstepping boundaries or making statements that can instiguate that, “you don’t know me!” feeling on the other end. I won’t say that we’ve all experienced this – see what I did there? – but I know that I have and have heard direct feedback from people when I’ve made this mistake.

All that you can really assume are the things that aren’t assumptions; give your community the chance to tell you their preferences and interests, and track what you can (from email opens and clicks, to actions taken) to be sure you are responding to the facts whenever possible.

2. You know more about the tools.

There are mind-boggling reports and stats our there that show just how much time many of us are spending [wasting?] on social media platforms like Facebook each day. That said, it is best to assume that your community isn’t hip to every trick you’ve found for Facebook, Twitter, and any other site you may use. This is especially true if you have a separate community platform connected to your website or operated specifically for your community online.

Assuming you know the most about these tools means you have the opportunity and responsibility to share your knowledge and help the community be as savvy as you! When you post a call to action for people to share a message, be sure to include reference to how they can do so; or if you are asking people to create content themselves, be sure to provide instructions and examples to help them respond to your call.

3. You know more about the cause.

Just like the assumption about the tools, it is incredibly valuable to maintain the position that you (read: your organization, if not you personally, smartypants) know more, have more access to information about, and are more closely following news related to your cause and work than the community. When you are sharing news or calls to action, be sure to provide relevant context and history or links to where people can learn more.

Many of your community members may be following things closely with you, but, per assumption #1, you will be able to speak to them directly in the action alerts they’ve signed up for instead of only the general messages you may post elsewhere. If you create a microsite or special landing pages for campaigns, topics in the news, or specific programs, be sure to make links prominent for people to learn more and understand the why and how behind the actions.

4. You have more time than your community.

This is a big one. It may seem like so much fun to round up friends and record a video about why you are all so passionate about a cause, then edit it with catchy backgound music and effects, and post it on YouTube. Assume you are the only person in the community with the time and energy to do it, though. If creating content is an essential part of your campaign, make sure you provide options for someone that wants to give you, for example, 30 seconds, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, or 30 minutes. That may mean it is a quick text-based response, a photo, a very short video, or a good sized video, respectively.

Creating options and recognizing that community members have varying amounts of time to spend on your cause will help people self-select the option that they prefer – back to #1, track it so you can suggest similar options in the future! – and they can feel that you appreciate their participation even if they don’t have the time to make a video for you.

5. People are coming from a good place.

Trolls are real, it’s true. But operating and communicating as if every commenter is a troll will shut down conversation very quickly. Even if someone posts something negative or critical, assume they are coming from a good place, agree with and support your mission and view of a better world, and are voicing a concern that may be felt by others; take a breath and then reread their comment without taking it personally.

These kinds of comments are an opportunity to show your amazing, and patient, customer service abilities! Thank her for speaking up and sharing her comment/question/concern, point them in the right direction for more information and resources, and offer to speak with her directly offline (or at least off the comment thread) about the topic.

Doing this in public, whether on your Facebook page or on your own blog, will show to others that you are open to engaging with people who may disagree, that you have resources and information on the topic of contention, and that you are even willing to be available personally. That’s a much better tone to set.

Well, those are my five; but I have no doubt there are many more lessons and assumptions out there. Would love to hear what more you’d add to the list!

[Photo credit: aflier Flickr]

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Over on the NetSquared platform right now we are in the midst of the 2010 FACT Social Justice Challenge. NetSquared supports the community at the intersection of technology and social impact in a few ways, including open innovation competitions. We are very invested in sharing our experiences and learning as we go, including opportunities to put thoughts together formally like the whitepaper on collaboration we published last year.  I serve as the Community Development Manager for TechSoup Global’s CDI (Community-Driven Innovation) program, which includes managing community and content strategy for NetSquared.org.  In this role, and through opportunities to spur innovation and collaboration in local communities, with government groups, and with other nonprofits, I’ve learned a lot – and am excited to share 5 tips I’ve found to be valuable in creating successful competitions.

Tip #1: Set the stage

The more information you can provide before you open your competition up for submissions, the better! This doesn’t mean you need to be promoting the competition as much as it means you have ample resources already on your website, blog, group, or wherever you’re hosting the challenge, so that people looking to learn more can do so without emailing you! Things to consider include:

• About: Landing page that provides important dates, basic overview of the concept and purpose, and mentions prizes, partners and so on.
• FAQ: page with as many questions and answers as possible; when you’re creating this page, get a friend or family member (preferably someone not intimately aware of your work) to review the landing page and what you have on the FAQ to provide you with more ideas or questions to cover.
• How to Participate: this page should be written specifically for the target audience and provide as much information as possible about who should and how to participate. Remember to also provide opportunities for people to promote or support your competition like links to your social media outlets and ready-to-use messages.

Tip #2: Pay attention

Are people having trouble participating? Are people talking about the competition (negatively or positively)? Are people participating or not? Does it seem to be reaching the community you hoped?

These are just a few of the questions to consider in real time. Listening and paying attention will help you adjust quickly – whether it’s adding more information on the FAQ page, understanding difficult aspects of participation and finding ways to improve them, or simply understanding what those outside your organization think of your efforts.

Tip #3: Operate in public

The idea of “operating in public” is a concept I recommend often, especially when talking about community building and community “management.” The idea is that to build trust, reinforce dedication, and show authentic engagement, you need to operate in public using the same tools that your community has access to. Here are a few ways to do this, for example:

• Respond to questions and comments publicly whenever possible
• If members ask a question on Twitter, respond on Twitter, and so on
• If members have access to a community blog, use the same space for your announcements
• Be honest and public about changes or modifications to the site, programs, or services before the changes are made

Tip #4: Be prepared to change

You can never get everything right, no matter how hard you try. Expect that you’ll find bugs or problems, or even things that aren’t bad but just ways to be even better, only after you’ve invited your community in. And then expect that they will be the ones to point out the issues and things to change. Take the finger-pointing as opportunities to fix things in real time! If people are consistently having trouble finding the FAQ page, for example, look for additional places to post the link (maybe you have it in the footer but you could try listing it at the top of the page, too).  Ensure that you have staff capacity ready to jump in and fix things as they emerge – it’ll show that you’re listening and paying attention, as well as dedicated to making the user experience as positive as possible.

Tip #5: Keep things in perspective

I grew up being reminded that even if I ran as fast as I could and got first place in a track meet, that someone else, maybe at another school or in another city, was faster than me. It may sound harsh and negative, but it wasn’t. It was keeping things in perspective that I can always get better. That all of us can always get better.

So, whether things are going really well, or not as well as you had hoped: remember that you have the opportunity to improve next time! No matter what you do, someone will complain. And no matter how poorly you think things are going, there will be someone who says thank you. You won’t position yourself or your organization very well for growth if you don’t stay positive and keep things in perspective. We’re all learning as we go!

Seeing it in action:

For an example of all 5 of these tips in action, I posted on the NetSquared Community Blog earlier this week with a list of some of the feedback (mostly bad) that we had received from users taking part in the Community Vote phase of the FACT Challenge. I provided responses or explanation, as well as notes about how we had used the feedback to improve the voting process right away. We saw a marked decrease in the number of emails after publishing on the blog because we provided a way for users to see responses to their questions before writing us, and showed that we really were listening and in it together with the community.

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What do you think?

Has your organization run a competition online or offline? What tips would you share from your experience? Have you found any of the tips above to be helpful in your work? We’d love to hear your examples!

[Photo Credit: Flickr tableatny]

This coming Thursday is the next NFPTweetup, taking place at JustGiving‘s new offices.  As part of a blog series leading up to the event, I was asked to share some thoughts on the event, especially for those coming along for the first time that may not know what to expect.  As I started to collect my thoughts, though, I realized that my impressions and recommendations were really applicable to any tweetup or offline gathering of online networks.

I’m sure that you’ll have more to add—and I hope you will—but, here’s my list of key tips for making the most of tweetups!

Tip #1: Share Great Stories

You aren’t bound to 140 character updates any more, so let your storytelling flow! NFPTweetups and other events where online networks come together offline are unique opportunities and hear from practioners and colleagues and get the “real story.” There’s time and space to sit down and learn more about how others are doing what they do: the success stories and the not-so-successful stories. Lesson: Listen!

Tip #2: Ask Hard Questions

Whether it’s Twitter or email or a social network, people often find it difficult to ask hard questions online because it could be seen as overly negative or critical, maybe the shared glossary of terms don’t match up and the question is misunderstood, or there’s details that one side or the other don’t have access to.  That’s not the case when you get to meet up face to face.  This is a great chance to ask hard questions (when someone’s telling a success or not-so-successful story, ask for more details, ask why/how/what/when) and know that you will be able to be understood as will the answer.  Especially with the NFPTweetup, these events are intended to be educational and valuable.  Lesson: Ask!

Tip #3: Meet Real People

We all work hard to present ourselves online the way we want to be seen, either for our job/professional careers or to keep a line between personal life and work.  Only knowing someone by their avatar or their username may make it difficult to share stories and ask hard questions, online. But, now you’re offline and can enjoy the presence of lots of other real people (note: we assume you’re a real person, too!).  So, make friends! Find out what you have common (hobbies, music, travel) and what drives people to do the work they do (personal stories, passions, skills).  It’s okay to be human, and it will actually strengthen the network when the offline event is over and people move back to the online connections. Lesson: Socialize!

Tip #4: Stay Present

I know it can be tempting to tweet, blog, and video every moment of the event. But, remember why you’ve come together. You are here to tell stories, ask questions and meet/make friends. Most events, like NFPTweetup, will have set up a live stream and nominated people to tweet and share in real time for those who couldn’t attend in person. The reason that those roles are selected and covered ahead of time is to free up all the other participants to stay present. Say thank you and enjoy the freedom!  Lesson: Participate!

What are your tips for making the most of a tweetup? Have you attended the NFPTweetup before – will you be there this time? Look forward to connecting with you!

What’s an RSS & an RSS Reader?

If you’re wondering what RSS means and how an RSS Rreader works, the wonderful team at Common Craft has a video just for you:

My RSS Reader in Practice

I use Google Reader.  There are lots of options out there, browser based tools (like Google Reader), desktop applications, etc.  I use Google Reader because it works for me and that’s really all it comes down to (since a reader is a reader is a reader, well, mostly).

The key to using an RSS Reader isn’t necessarily in the reader you choose, it’s how you wrangle all those feeds!

3 Keys to Wrangling Feeds

#1.  Folders are your Friends

Your feeds aren’t gone, they’re just grouped with their friends!

We use folders for everything: email, server documents, file cabinents, etc., and your RSS Reader should be no exception.  Folders let you group feeds by the topics that make sense to you.  Don’t be afraid to be too specific, because being to vague just means all the feeds are in one folder!

I am not the ultimate example of folder usage, but I’m still happy to share.  Here’s a screen shot of my Google Reader.  You can see the folders (well, half of them as I’d need to scroll down for the rest) on the left side.

(It’s harder to see than I would have preferred.)  My folders include:

• Applications: Blogs from applications like Twitter, Google, YouTube, and Facebook
• Delicious: Feeds from Delicious tags like NPTech, Net2ThinkTank, and my name
• Friends & Family: The blogs of my parents and friends, obviously
• Fun: I highly recommend starting a folder for and subscribing to feeds from websites and blogs that have nothing to do with your work but add a laugh to your day!
• Fundraising: This is where the segmenting of nonprofit-related feeds begins
• Individual Blogs:  People who span content-specific folders or that I identify by who they are and not their field or organization
• Jobs: Feeds from Idealist and other jobs searches to stay on top of the new positions in the industry to circulate to friends, colleagues, and readers
• Journalism:  This is a folder for citizen journalism and traditional news outlets using social media
• London- Individual Blogs:  Similar to the Individual Blogs folder above but specific to contacts from/around London
• Marketing:  Industry news and consultant blogs about marketing and social media
• Media:  Industry news and consultant blogs about media (social media, multimedia, digital media, etc.)
• Media Law: News and updates about legal cases and issues related to social media and Internet use
• Mobile: People, projects, consultants and more working specifically in mobile development
• My Blog:  Search and alert feeds based on my name, my blog, etc.
• Net2 Team:  The blogs and delicious feeds from colleagues at NetSquared to stay on top of what everyone is reading and thinking about
• News:  Technology, social media and general news feeds
• NPLeaders:  Blogs about nonprofit leadership
• NPNews:  Blogs and industry aggregators about nonprofit sector news
• NPTech:  Blogs from individuals and groups (like NTEN) focused on nonprofit technology
• Organizations:  Blogs from organizations that I’ve helped, I’m watching, I’m interested in, or are good examples
• Other: Things I just couldn’t categorize or didn’t want to start a folder for (limited to only a handful of feeds)
• Philanthropy:  Blogs and industry leaders covering philanthropy issues, trends, etc.
• PR:  Like the media and marketing folders, general Public Relations consultants and groups
• Research:  Feeds from firms like Forrester and others
• Social Change:  Blogs and aggregators like Social Actions and others focused on helping individuals make change
• Tech: Technology-specific feeds, beyond nonprofit usage or social media
• Webinars: Feeds from organizations providing webinars to circulate with friends, colleagues and readers

#2. The Art of Skimming

Skim milk isn’t for everyone but we can all handle a lesson in skim reading.

This blog post was spurred mostly by an exchange on Twitter with a friend:

citizensheep: Been putting off wading through Google Reader. Must be done though, so here goes…
amyrsward: @citizensheep good luck with that! guessing your reader is like mine…four digit unread
citizensheep: @amyrsward Yes, it is! And I’m not very good at skimming (getting better though). Any tips?!

Skim reading doesn’t mean you aren’t reading.  You just prioritize what you read.  Most RSS Readers show you content in a way that make this easier.

• Try reading the post title and then just the first few points (things in bold or section headers)
• Scroll through the post quickly and see if videos or links pop out
• Look for lists or pull-out content (might be able to just read those instead of the whole post)

It takes practice, but you’ll be happy with the result when you can cut down the time it takes to wade through all the posts!

#3. Let Go of Status

We’ve all learned, I hope, that status isn’t everything in life—you really just need the substance.

The greatest part of using the RSS Reader is that it isn’t like email with a delete button.  Once you’ve read something, it is marked as read, but it isn’t gone!  You can search in your reader for content, feeds, specific posts, etc.  How does this help you?

I prioritize my folders.  Ones that usually have less material that I want to share than others will have less of a chance to catch my eye.  For example (and to be honest), I don’t find as many posts that I read completely or share with others from the PR or Marketing folders.  When I open them, I read the titles and skim for important sub-topics or lists but if the first 5 or so don’t get me to stop and read (and there are 30 more unread posts in that folder), then I’ll just hit ‘Mark all as Read.’  And I don’t feel bad about it or that I “missed” content.  Why?

If I’m working on a presentation or a specific blog post, I can search in my reader for the topic I’m looking for an it will include those posts that I marked as read without actually reading.  So, if something I need really was there, I still get to find it!  I might have dropped the status of the posts to ‘read’ but I didn’t lose the substance.

What are your tips and tricks for wrangling RSS?