Technovist

Asking for Money: A Nonprofit Nonnegotiable

The other day I had lunch with two very talented technologists and nonprofiteers that are launching a groundbreaking initiative.  When I say groundbreaking I’m not exaggerating, their project has the potential to change how people value and support nonprofit services.  As a fundraiser I asked a lot of nitpicky questions about prospect lists, potential donors, cash flows, and other infrastructure and funding items.  While some people really enjoy talking about legislative strategy I enjoy discussing funding strategies.

One of these very talented guys remarked that it would be great if people recognized that their initiative will help many nonprofits serve their clients and decide to donate without being asked or at least without a strong solicitation.  And I agree, it would be great but this is so unlikely as to be almost fantasy.  Every nonprofit must have a fundraising plan in place and it must solicit donations and there are no two ways about it.  I’m lucky I actually really, really enjoy asking for money on behalf of causes I believe in.  I’ve made solicitations for $500 and for $3,000,000 and each is a great experience because I know I’m doing something to help a cause make the world a better place.  But I also know that not every one is comfortable asking others to contribute to make a financial. 

With that in mind here are my four tips to make the process easier if you would rather walk over hot coals then ask someone to make a donation:

1. Remember that you are not asking for yourself. When you ask someone to donate to a cause you are asking him or her to help a homeless family, or a sick animal, or a refugee in Africa, or to help a person find relief from disease.  You are not asking them to buy you that new MacBook Air, or send you to a spa, or to pay for a night out.  When you remember what the donation will do and whom it will help the asking becomes much easier.

2. Never apologize for asking.  When a person apologizes for asking someone else to support a cause they believe in it undermine the ask and the cause.  If a charity is so important to you that you would seek out support for its mission don’t apologize for your belief in it, feel good that you’ve identified something that is making a difference in the world.  The person you solicit may have other giving priorities but that doesn’t make your cause any less important and there is certainly no reason to apologize.

3. The word no can’t hurt you. As a fundraiser I’ve heard the word no quite a bit and I promise it hasn’t left any permanent marks.

And most importantly…

4. Your organization must ask for financial support.  Don’t think of this as a if or a maybe, asking for gifts is a must for any nonprofit.  If you don’t want to that’s fine, this is why there are development professionals!  But don’t remove fundraising from your organization’s plan or eventually you won’t have an organization to plan for.  When you remind yourself that making a solicitation is a necessity and not a luxury the process will be a whole lot easier.

And trust me, over time asking for support becomes much easier and soon you too will have some sage advice to share!

The Case Foundation Changes The Face of E-Philanthropy

If you aren’t already a fan of the Case Foundation, you should be.  Founded by Jean and Steve Case in 1997, the Case Foundation is conducting the most interesting and important work around community participation and philanthropy that I’ve come across.  The Case Foundation challenges people to think differently about how to solve local and global problems through collaborative programs that often involve the use of online technology.  While so many professional foundations take a top down approach Case has steadily moved forward with a bottoms-up approach to improving local and global communities.

In December 2007, the Case Foundation partnered with Parade Magazine to launch the America’s Giving Challenge.  Like all good ideas the concept of the challenge is straightforward: award $500,000 to charities whose supporters have attracted the most unique donors to their cause using new e-philanthropy vehicles like the Facebook Causes application and widgets posted on web pages and blogs.  And like everything Case does the program will have a lasting effect well after the challenge concluded.

Although the results are currently unofficial (the final results will be announced on February 21st) an analysis of what appear to be the winning charities in both the Facebook and widget categories are both surprising and instructive:

• The four charities with domestic programs that received the most donations via widgets: The winners in this category had an average of $733,000 in revenue as reported on their most recent IRS 990 filings, however two of the organizations reported under $100,000 of revenue.  The average number of donations received by these charities was 2,781, all of which were processed by Network for Good.

• The four charities with international programs that received the most donations via widgets: Interestingly, three of the top four charities in this category are so new they have not yet released their first 990 filing to Guidestar, the nonprofit information clearinghouse.  The single organization with a released 990 reported revenue of almost $645,000.  The average number of donations received by these charities was 1,695, all of which were processed by GlobalGiving.

• The top three Causes on Facebook: In this category we saw a huge range of revenue reported in the most recent IRS filings from over $1.2 million to just over $20,000.  The top two charities received an almost identical number of donations (4,564 and 4,522 respectively) with the third place charity receiving 1,816 gifts.  All of these three charities focus their programmatic activity outside of the United States.

The above represent quick back of the envelope calculations that are deserving of much deeper analysis but there are certainly a couple of important lessons:

• Online giving lowers the barrier to fundraising for small organizations: The vast majority of highly placed charities in the Challenge are small charities.  In the past these groups would have been unable to fundraise nationally but with the use of widgets and social networking platforms an organization’s geographic reach is limitless.

• Fundraising and social networking can be combined successfully: Facebook provided the Challenge with the two charities with the most donations overall proving that fundraising and social networking can work synergistically to present charities with both grassroots and financial success.

• Small organizations are more nimble: the vast majority of top performing charities in the Challenge are small organizations.  The size of the organization may have allowed them to move quickly to take more advantage of the Challenge.  While this clearly deserves more attention the fact that most large national charities chose not to participate aggressively in the Challenge deserves further study.

Finally, a few suggestions for the Case Foundation when it (hopefully) runs the Challenge again:

• Give organizations a choice in who processes their widget based donations.  GlobalGiving has a nice ability to search for international projects but takes 10% of each donation for processing and to support other elements of its work.  This fee is on the very high side and may explain why the average number of donations to the top charities with international programs is 1,000 less then those domestic-focused charities that had their gifts processed by Network for Good.  Additionally, Network for Good has a great option that allows the donor to increase their gift to pay for the processing fee.

• Consider moving the timing of the Challenge away from the holiday giving cycle to another time when the jump start it provides is much more needed.  Starting the Challenge in late December (when giving is already high) can be difficult for organizations running a coordinated November/December giving campaign and there is traditionally some donor fatigue in January.  Having the challenge in May and June with the potential of gift giving in honor of Mothers Day, Fathers Day, and graduations would give a nice boost to many organizations.

• Move widget technology one step further by partnering with some of the new widget production sites like Sprout or Yourminis. This is a great way for nonprofits to become comfortable with producing their own widgets using increasingly available consumer friendly technology.

Again, congratulations to the Case Foundation for their groundbreaking work.  As a fundraiser and technologist I can't wait to see what they will do next!

Get Best In Class Fundraising With Network for Good

As both a fundraiser and nonprofiteer I have long been a big fan of Network for Good. Network for Good is a comprehensive one-stop portal for nonprofit professionals, donors, and volunteers.  NFG provides services directly to the nonprofit supporter by allowing individuals to donate to over one million charities through its site and to easily search over 36,000 volunteer opportunities.  At the same time NFG provides comprehensive support services to nonprofits in the form of education (check out its excellent Learning Center) and through a series of online fundraising and donor engagement tools.

Not long ago the most recent addition to Network for Good’s set of fundraising tools caught my eye, its new Donor Management Suite, and I had the opportunity to view a demo of the system earlier in the week.  I can’t say enough good things about the Suite and I highly recommend it for any nonprofit in the market for a comprehensive fundraising and supporter engagement suite.  Several features make the Donor Management Suite an excellent choice:

• It’s classy and best in class: NFG made a very smart move by taking three existing best in class tools (Vertical Response for sending emails, DonateNow to process online gifts, and Salesforce.com to manage donor data and campaigns) and combined them into one integrated tool set.  This strategy is not only extremely smart (NFG recognized that it was more efficient to partner with best in class tools rather then sinking in the enormous cost of developing and launching a new platform) but it also provides the most value to the individual nonprofit.  In my experience most tech companies do one or two things very well and a lot of things passably.  By only taking the best elements from other organizations a nonprofit gets all of the best and none of the mediocre products.

• It’s made for the non-techie: Online fundraising and donor engagement software that requires the assistance of an IT person is the foe of most nonprofits.  If a development department has to wait for the office IT person or accidental techie to help before it can fully use its fundraising  software that software is never going to be used well.  However, NFG’s Donor Management Suite is made for the development professional, the kind with no tech background.  That’s not to say that a new user won’t need to be trained on the Suite (training is a vital part of every technology purchase) but no special skills are required to use these tools and they are in fact easier to access and deploy then other fundraising applications.

• You can bet the bank on it: So many online fundraising tools have extra fees either in the form of adding functionality that was billed as standard or to customize the system to meet your organization’s needs.  As a development professional this can make budgeting a nightmare and it can also undermine your credibility with your Executive Director if you promise one thing and have to ask for more resources later on.  The NFG Suite alleviates this problem by having a one time account set-up fee of $299 followed by a single monthly charge starting at $99.95 per month (the monthly charge is based on your organization’s operating budget). 

If your organization is in the market for a comprehensive online fundraising solution carefully explore this option. And as a special offer Network for Good is inviting Technovist readers to participate in one of the weekly Wednesday webinars that demo the Suite.  If you decide to purchase the Suite just mention Technovist and Network for Good will waive the $299 set-up fee! Special thanks to Network for Good for this incredibly generous offer.

Tech Companies Without A Nonprofit Strategy Are Missing Out On Revenue

Technology companies that are not aggressively marketing to nonprofits and foundations are seriously missing the boat, not to mention a fair chunk of revenue.  According to data collected by the National Center for Charitable Statistics:

• 917,560 public charities are currently registered with the United States Internal Revenue Service.
• Over the last 24 months 359,754 public charities filled an IRS 990 form, the standard reporting document charities file with the IRS.  In aggregate these public charities reported $1,286,896,562,718 in revenue and $2,291,516,862,217 in assets.
• An additional 82,990 private foundations filed an IRS 990 form.  In aggregate these private foundations reported $337,364,839,895 in revenue and $586,907,577,985 in assets.
• New York and California are at the top of the heap both for the number of nonprofits housed in each state and for the amount of total assets held by nonprofits located there.

While once considered a technology wasteland nonprofits are quickly seeing the value in acquiring new tech services, especially as they relate to content management systems and Web 2.0 tools that can streamline constituent communication and fundraising.  While nonprofits may have difficulty making a large outlay for hardware self-contained applications that are hosted elsewhere are becoming increasingly popular with nonprofits.

Additionally, in December 2006 The Johns Hopkins Nonprofit Employment Data Project released a groundbreaking nonprofit workplace assessment of employment data collected through the second quarter of 2004 and the results are startling.  The study found that:

• Nonprofits employ 9.4 million people or 7.2% of the United States economy.
• Nonprofits had 4.7 million full time equivalent volunteers - representing 3.9% of the economy.
• Nonprofits paid their employees $321.6 billion in wages each year.

Clearly nonprofits are also in need of traditional back office solutions to assist with finance, payroll, HR, etc.  Tech companies that can provide easy to use and cost effective solutions that are appealing to small offices are of real interest to the sector.

However, nonprofits have different needs from for-profits and a decidedly different decision making style so I don't recommend using a one-size fits all approach when pitching to nonprofits. When formulating a nonprofit pitch strategy keep in mind that these organiations traditionally have very small or nonexistent IT staffs and staff members often serve in multiple roles within the organization. Focus on the value and ease of use of your product along with its money saving features in your pitch, but as always be honest and don't make claims you can't back-up.  Nonprofits are a tight nit group and word travels fast within the community.  A poor experience from one can easily translate to a poor showing across the sector.

What Does the Recession Mean for Online Fundraising and Nonprofit Tech?

You can’t get away from media reports about the coming (or already occurring). Not only is the Fed taking action but polling indicates that the economy is the number one issue for voters in this election cycle. While a prolonged downturn can be trouble for fundraising it doesn’t have to be and in fact I’m betting a recession it will spur an increase in innovative online fundraising and uses of Web 2.0 tech.

Before a downturn hits I recommended using this brief period of calm before the storm to put your online fundraising and engagement house in order. The best way for an NGO to ride out a donor turn is to be prepared for tougher times and make adjustments in advance. It’s far easier to trim a budget when you have choices then when your organization is running a deficient.

5 Steps to Recession Proof Your Online Operation

• Complete A Comprehensive Tech Audit: In this case I’m not just referring to hardware (although this is important) but software as well. Nothing is worse then realizing that the contract with your current online fundraising provider is about to end and that the only solution you have is to re-up the contract because you haven’t investigated any other options. I recommended using TechAtlas to formulate a full technology plan for your organization which will include a full audit of your hardware and software. TechAtlas is an easy to use online tool that walks users through the creation of a technology strategy and the steps necessary to achieve it. I’m a firm believer in that if you don’t have a plan you’ll never know where you are headed.

• Get A Handle on Expenses: This can sound trite but it really is easy to lose track of all of the little expenses that go into keeping an online fundraising and engagement program active. While you hopefully have a sense about how much you are paying to keep your website up and to process online gifts you also need to keep track of designer fees, that Flickr account, and all of the other miscellaneous expenses that crop up. Once you have a handle on these expenses you might find some fat to trim and you will be in a much better position to advocate for your program to your Executive Director or Board.

• Be Creative and Find Alternatives: Finally, tight times can be the push you need to be creative and find less expensive alternatives to the products and services you currently use. In the last two years there has been a huge explosion in the number of less expensive and easy to use content management systems on the market. While it can feel safer to go with the largest provider it may not be the best option for your organization so put your toe in the water and give that new provider a test run.

• Analyze the ROI On Your Existing Resources: I really can't stress enough that there is no reason to stay using a product that is not meeting your needs.  If the tool that you are using to message your constituents creates a product that you are not happy with? Move on.  Is your content management system providing sub-par customer service? Take a look at your contract and see if there is a way to end the relationship.  At the very least get an RFP written up and circulated so you can engage with a provider that better meets your needs when the time is right to move.  Remember, you are the consumer and if your organization is not having its needs met, and you have tried working with the provider to fix any problems, you owe it to your organization to find an alternative.

• Get Advice from Your Compatriots: Often the best cost savings advice comes from other techies, accidental or otherwise, who are out there in the field.  Seek advice online from the members of the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN) and the outstanding community at NetSquared.  Also check to see if there are any Meetups in your area focused on fundraising or nonprofit tech.  Finally,  for a crash course in all things related to nonprofit tech with a strong focus on online fundraising and constituent engagement consider attending NTEN's 2008 conference in New Orleans from March 19-21.  I'll be there as well!
  

Please post any other tips you have in the comments below and feel free to contact me directly for other suggestions.

Politics On Facebook Is Dead. Not.

Mashable ran a rather gloating post today about how its readers predicted the poor performance of the ABC political news application on Facebook.  And while the application is not performing well that’s more a function of timing rather then disinterest in politics by FB users.  I’m betting that after Super Tuesday when we have a clear sense of the candidates use of the application will increase significantly and increase dramatically through Election Day.

My first experience in the world of politics was during my freshman year of college.  The year was 1992 and the United States had just completed 12 years with a Republican president.  Even as a very naive 18 year old something told me it was time for a change and I was drawn to the Democrats Club and over the next 60 days I participated in visibility events (i.e. holding a sign) and phone banking (i.e. calling people during dinner).  The best part of the whole experience was going to the Election Night party in downtown Boston.

Okay, that was the second best part.  The best part was feeling like I made a difference in the Presidential election.  And during the sixty days that I worked on the campaign my campus was active with political debate.  Republican, Democrat, Independent, everyone was talking about the issues and the election. 

And starting in September 2008, 16 years after I worked for the Clinton campaign, I’m sure students at colleges across the country will be talking about the issues again and this time the conversation will also take place on Facebook.  So with all due respect to Mashable I have to disagree, politics will be a big topic of  discussion on FB and the ABC News politics application will be a big part of that conversation.  Just because it’s a bit too early for the conversation to start on Facebook in earnest doesn’t mean it isn’t coming down the pike.  And maybe I’ll be blogging from an ection party this year, I’m feeling the call of the campaign again.   

Meetup Changes The Face of Organizing. Again.

I've been a big fan of Meetup since Scott Heiferman and Matt Meeker first launched the platform in 2002.  As you know from my other blog posts I'm a nonprofit and civic participation geek.  I truly believe that when people come together, either online or off, things change for the better.  And when I see an organization provide a tool that pushes community participation to new levels, like Meetup, I get happy. 

Meetup's contribution to community cohesiveness is apparent both on the local level and on the national front.  Locally it allows people to find others with their same interests easily and it makes a big city like New York feel smaller and more humane (or canine - there are 41 dog related Meetups in NYC). On the national front Meetup has gained recognition for its ability to let everyday people have a larger say in the electoral process.  Because of Meetup you don't need to wait for a candidate to hold a town hall and invite you.  Now you can hold the town hall meeting and invite them.  By providing participation opportunities locally and nationally Meetup does what all community organizing strives to do: give the power to create change in the hands of every person.

Last week Meetup took community organizing to the next level by unveiling the Meetup Alliance platform.  The Alliance allows groups focused on a similar topic to join together under one banner for a common goal, share information, and create change together.  For example, I'm coordinating Malaria No More's Alliance which is focused on ending malaria deaths today.  The power of the Alliance is that it will bring together groups working on global health, children, Africa, family issues, and of course malaria to work on malaria eradication together.   And the Alliance platform doesn't care if your group is housed on Facebook, Meetup, Yahoo, Google or has no online presence at all.  The platform accepts groups from all corners and fits them in so they can share info and work together.

When I attended the Alliance launch in NYC I could tell right away that this was a big change.  The potential of the platform is extraordinary and will be the missing linkage for many community groups looking to connect with other groups over issues as diverse as health care, occupation, politics, technology and yes, dogs.  Take a look at the video below and I'm sure you will feel the same way.

Setting Your Nonprofit Up For Holiday Cheer

Here in New York City we had the first snowfall of the season today.  For about an hour the streets and sidewalks were quite beautiful.  Several hours later everything is starting to melt and get slushy and by tomorrow the snow will just be a bunch of puddles to jump over on the way to work.

For a lot of nonprofits this description is a good metaphor for end of the year fundraising rush: things start out pretty but can turn ugly quickly without some careful planning.  Often nonprofits either bite off more then they can chew or they end up with a late start.  Thankfully there are some great free and low-cost web solutions to make sure your entire holiday stays as cheery as possible.  Here are some of my favorites:

eCards sent through Network for Good: I'll admit up front that I'm a big fan of Network for Good. NFG allows individuals to contribute to any nonprofit with an IRS 501(c)(3) designation using an easy to navigate online giving platform.  For small NGOs that don't have the resources to offer web giving directly asking supporters to give through Network for Good is a great alternative.  Yes, NFG does charge a 4.75% transaction fee but this is inline with industry standards and still a great deal.

What is really nice is that Network For Good allows a person to make a gift in honor of someone and have an eCard sent to the recipient.  ECards make great holiday gifts (seriously, only the grinch wouldn't like a charitable gift made in their name) and using NFG a nonprofit can spread holiday cheer and receive some end of year revenue.  Just add links to your nonprofit's entry on NFG (pre-filled with information from Guidestar) and you'll be set to go.

Custom products from Zazzle.com and Cafepress.com: Back in the dark ages of the last century selling branded items (or 'wearables' as they say in the trade) was an enormous hassle.  A nonprofit either have to order and fulfill merchandise purchases in-house (often an utter nightmare) or they had to contract with a fulfillment service.  Both these options brought quite a bit of expense and aggravation but thanks to the advent of custom on-demand printing this is a thing of the past. 

Both Zazzle and Cafepress allow anyone with some computer experience to establish virtual storefronts that sell custom designed products bearing your nonprofit's logo or pictures.  As an example take a look at Malaria No More's online shops at www.cafrepress.com/malarianomore and www.zazzle.com/malarianomore.  Zazzle is especially great for the holidays since you can create custom greeting cards and postage and you can even include a donation that's built right into the cost of the product (for example each of Malaria No More's holiday cards includes a donation of a life saving bed net).

Tomorrow I'll post about using Ebay, MissionFish, and Facebook to kick  your holiday  fundraising into high gear.  And if you are in NYC get outside and enjoy the snow!

Technovist In The News: Blurry Lines

Many thanks to the incredible columnist Penelope Trunk for including Technovist in a recent column.  Penelope write about Generation X & Y in the workplace in national columns and on her blog Brazen Careerist. I read her writings daily, they really are the resource I've found for navigating the office and all that entails.

Lines blur between non-profit and for-profit workplaces
by Penelope Trunk © 2007 Penelope Trunk, All Rights Reserved

Jobs in the nonprofit sector are growing at a faster rate than jobs in the business sector. But this might not even be the big news. The big news is that the difference between the nonprofit sector and the business sector is shrinking, according to nonprofit veteran Seth Rosen who blogs at technovist.com.

“As the nonprofit sector professionalizes and the most successful for-profits recruit people with a drive to do something that includes a real public benefit, the culture of the sectors will look more alike. In twenty years the difference between nonprofits and for-profits may simply be their IRS classification.”

One of the biggest issues Generation X and Generation Y have is that they want to have impact. Nonprofit giving among Gen X, for example, has become very grassroots, as Gen X wants to be able to see clearly what change they are helping to instigate. And Gen Y has made it clear that working at a company where they don’t understand how they fit is absolutely untenable - they want to make a difference. Everyone wants to know how they make a difference - whether it’s for-profit or not-for-profit.

In the old model of nonprofits, individuals are removed from the bottom line in a way that undermines the meaning of their work. Take Andrew Broderick, for example. He used to do fund-raising for hospitals. For him, the worst part of working at a nonprofit was how far removed the compensation system was from the bottom line. “I could raise $35 million or I could raise $1 dollar and I’d earn the same amount of salary.”

Recently, he switched to a sales position at Royale Printing, a short- to medium-run printing company in Madison, Wis., where his compensation is a combination of salary and commission. He feels more connected to the bigger picture, “If I make $10 million for the company I’d get paid accordingly.”

Nonprofits are responding to defectors like Broderick. “As there is more and more competition for resources there is clearly an awareness of how to be more efficient,” says Russ Finkelstein, associate director of Idealist.org, a job listing service for the nonprofit sector.

For example, Echoing Green is a foundation that gives grants to social entrepreneurs to create groundbreaking change in the nonprofit arena. The idea that these start-ups are accountable for creating measurable results is much more in line with the values of today’s workforce - no matter what sector they come from. And employees of nonprofits manage their careers with the same focus and drive as someone in the business sector.

Jen Cormier works at Make-A-Wish in Boston. She networks with people in her field, she thinks of herself as a marketing specialist, and she plans her path through a few jobs and then graduate school as carefully as anyone going for an MBA. Similarly, in the old model of the business sector, you earned a lot of money and left the doing-good stuff to the nonprofits. Today, though, companies understand the need to make a difference no matter what sector you are in.

“There are a lot of companies that are doing things that are more socially responsible because creating this sort of work atmosphere retains people,” says Finkelstein. Morgan Stanley, for example, gives employees time off to build houses for Habitat for Humanity. Salesforce.com set up a foundation to afford employees paid time to help in their community.

It’s not surprising that the gap between for-profits and nonprofits is blurring because the search for meaningful work is permeating the whole workforce. People at all levels are looking to learn and grow in their work, according to Jennifer Deal, senior researcher for the Center for Creative Leadership and author of Retiring the Generation Gap: How Employees Young and Old Can Find Common Ground. And while nonprofits have typically been the places to feed one’s soul, the business sector has woken up to the fact that one of the best ways to retain young employees is to help them grow.

One of the most shocking turns in today’s workplace is that it used to be that young people went to the Peace Corps to grow. Now people go to big accounting firms because they are leading the way in retaining young workers, by infusing work with meaning. You get a mentor, you get rotating responsibilities, and you get opportunities to volunteer, on company time. A study by Deloitte found that volunteer opportunities attract a stronger candidate pool in the business sector. And Ernst & Young rewards high performers with a Social Responsibility Fellowship.

Cormier says people discouraged her from working in the nonprofit sector as being unrealistic and a poor career choice. “A lot of naysayers told me wait until you get to the real world.” Other people will view socially responsible business with cynicism - firms providing do-gooder opportunities merely to win the war for talent. But you could also look at this as a sort of version of a golden age of capitalism: Finally, companies are giving back to the community in a way that touches employees at their core, and finally nonprofits are being run efficiently in a way that really does get help to the needy, and this, after all, is good for everyone.

Hub It Out With Facebook

Earlier this week Facebook unleashed a series of expanded platform capabilities that provide nonprofits with the perfect hub for all of their social networking activities.  As I’ve written before, while social action focused platforms like Change and Razoo are gaining ground (and I think very highly of both) the vast majority of the social networking activity remains on Facebook and MySpace and as such a nonprofit with stretched resources would do well to place its attention where it will get the most bang for its code. 

With its newest updates Facebook allows nonprofits to create branded pages, something that MySpace has allowed for quite a while.  Previously Facebook allowed nonprofits the ability to create Cause and Group pages and while each have important functionality neither brings home the complete package.  Additionally, neither Goup nor Cause pages allow a nonprofit to add the all important application programs (like Video) that make Facebook the useful tool that it is.

Well that’s all changed now that a nonprofit can create a single branded page.  To paraphrase the guys on Entourage now is the time to hub it out on Facebook.  Think of this page in the same way you would the landing page for your main website, just on a slightly smaller scale.  You’ll want this branded hub page to do four easy things:

• Provide an overview of your organization
• Provide a way for a supporter to contact the nonprofit
• Link to your Cause page
• Showcase your recent work

As with all things on social networking sites you want your supporters to take the message and run with it.  Remember that Web 2.0 isn't about control but about a starting a conversation with your supporters.  The days of brochureware are in the past, thankfully.  As an example of a branded hub check-out the page  main I created for Malaria No More on Facebook.  Facebook registration required to view the page so take this as an opportunity to sign-up today if you haven't already.

Perhaps the best thing about these new pages is the ability to post videos focusing on the work of your organization.  Words and photos are great but there is something about a short video that really makes someone feel a connection with the work of a nonprofit, it's like technovism personified.  I’ll be posting more about video creation (they are surprisingly easy to create) in a future post but take a look at the short video I created for Malaria No More using iMovie, the standard software that comes with any Macintosh computer.  With tools like Facebook and iMovie it's easier then ever to up your game as a technovist and to take your organization to entirely new places.