Why Web 2.0 is important to small local nonprofits

There's lots of talk about how nonprofits should be using "Web 2.0" - interactive applications, two-way online communications, user generated content, "social media," etc. - perhaps so much so that it can be bewildering to smaller, grassroots organizations who are just struggling to get the word out locally and are wondering what they need with a World Wide Web.

The key for these organizations to remember is to ask how each of these applications relate to their on-the-ground strategy, and how to tie it in with what they are already doing.

Using video as an example, having a video on YouTube can be wonderful exposure, and you may actually inspire a donation or two from somebody in a different part of the country, but the real reason why you should be producing a video is to update your communications with your existing constituents.

Think of how much more powerful your board members will be in asking their networks for donations when they're always carrying around a DVD with your four minute video in their purses and briefcases. Much more effective than a few wrinkled brochures and far more appealing than your tired old PowerPoint presentation.

And, yes, that video should be posted on a public site, such as YouTube, but not because YouTube alone is going to attract donors to your cause, but because having YouTube host your video for free, and then using their embedding code to place it on your own web site, will both save you on your hosting costs and make your site more interesting and compelling to visitors and potential donors.

Blogging is important, not because it's the new hip trend (and frankly, it ain't that new anymore), but because it gets you in the habit of communicating regularly with your constituency - far more frequently than you ever could with newsletters and appeal letters - and is, again, far more cost effective than paper and postage.

It doesn't matter that your blog can be read around the world; target your message to your community and your key audience. They'll appreciate the immediacy and the transparency of these communications and reward you with more loyalty than ever before.

RSS feeds of your blogs, videos, etc., allow the people who care about your organization and your issues to receive, read, and act upon your communications in the manner that works best for them.

In each of these examples, the idea is not how Web 2.0 and new media can suddenly make a local grassroots nonprofit into a global powerhouse, it's about how these tools can be used to better communicate with, and expand, the base that you already have.

YouTube ups the ante for nonprofits

In the past I've talked about web sites like CharityDocs.org and DoGooder.tv as "YouTubes for nonprofits." Of course, all this time, many nonprofits have also been posting their videos to YouTube as well, although many felt that their clips were being lost among the millions of videos there.

Starting today, YouTube is upping the ante for nonprofits, to encourage them to use their site as means of communicating their mission and message to the general public. YouTube's standard slogan of "Broadcast Yourself" has now officially morphed into "Broadcast Your Cause". In addition to the regular channel features that any YouTube member has access to, nonprofits will now get:

• Premium branding capabilities and increased uploading capacity.
• Designation as a "Nonprofit" on YouTube that clearly identifies organizations as a nonprofit to the YouTube community.
• The ability to embed a Google Checkout donation button on their channel and video pages, allowing people to quickly and securely make a contribution directly from YouTube.
• Rotation of your videos in the "Promoted Videos" areas throughout the site.

More good new: Starting today, nonprofits who offer Google Checkout for Non-Profits as a donation option - whether through YouTube or on their own sites - will receive 100 percent of donated funds, as Google has committed to processing all donations for free through at least the end of 2008.

What? Your organization doesn't even have a video camera? Well, as a special bonus, the first 300 nonprofits to sign up will receive a free video camera.

To sign up for your YouTube Nonprofit account, go to youtube.com/nonprofits and follow the proper links.

Now, my excitement about this news doesn't mean I'm no longer interested in following CharityDocs.org and DoGooder.tv or that these sites are no longer relevant. I believe you should be producing and posting videos in as many venues as you can. These other, specifically nonprofit focussed sites are also tied to production services if you don't have the ability to produce a video in-house or know anybody who can do it for you.

Online video has become a vital communications tool. With today's technology it doesn't take much to get started telling your story in moving images. YouTube makes it easy to post and host your video on their site using their servers and then easily embed it into your web site with no additional server load.

So, what are you waiting for?

(BTW, if you're a small Silicon Valley or Santa Cruz based nonprofit and you'd like to explore some video ideas, drop me a line at ken at goldstein.net.)

"Just the facts, Ma'am"?

Viewers of the old TV program, Dragnet, remember Sgt. Joe Friday repeatedly telling the witnesses he'd question about a crime, "Just the facts, Ma'am." He had no time to get mixed up in the emotional aspects, he just wanted names, numbers, and details.

Many fundraisers also take the Sgt. Friday approach. Whether it's in a foundation grant proposal, or direct mail letter, or a talk at the local Rotary, too many of us get so caught up in our fabulous statistics and data that we forget that we are in an essentially emotional business.

When I teach grant writing classes, I always tell my students, "The data may get the funder interested, but it's the emotional hook that puts the signature on the check."

I am reminded of that this week because of a phenomenon being fueled by YouTube. A video was posted a week or so ago telling the story of a Josh Adkins, a boy with terminal cancer and one final wish: to get into the Guinness Book of World Records for receiving the most get-well cards.

Other YouTube users posted replies and helped spread the Josh Adkins message. One of these videos ended up being featured on the YouTube home page, bringing in over 100,000 views (to this date).

Needless to say, there are now thousands of cards being sent to the address given for young Josh. (Note: The Guinness people no longer certify a record in this category since a British child received more than 200 million cards in the decade since he put out his request. Still, Josh is a real boy, who wants to receive cards, whether or not it earns him a record.)

The creator of the featured video, Tom Guarriello (an online buddy of mine and a great business consultant), has since posted a follow-up video talking about the phenomenon that he unwittingly participated in, and some of the reaction to it.

In this new video he mentions that some of the comments he's received are along the lines of, "Why should we care about this one kid, when so many others are also dying?" Tom very rightly answers about the power of emotional arguments to push logic and reason aside. The image of one sick boy hits us all (okay, most of us) much harder than charts showing the number of childhood cancer victims and survivors.

Which brings us back to what I teach my grant writing students: Put in the data, but don't be afraid to include the emotional hook too.

Yes, brag about how successful your organization is, and how many people you serve, and how it has improved their lives - but then illustrate that with a real client story. Put in that name (first name only, remember confidentiality) and create that image. Funders are human too.

After all, did you get into the nonprofit field for all the nifty spreadsheets and the huge paychecks? Or did you get into the nonprofit field to help people?

"Just the facts?" I don't think so.

Change One Thing

This is a story about about how the Internet brings people closer together. This is an example of why political borders are becoming increasingly insignificant. This is a demonstration of how a web 2.0 community like YouTube can be used to aid an individual or a family without the help of intermediary organizations or governments. Enough of an introduction, let's get on with it.

It begins more than six months ago in Australia, when the daughters of Ben and Amanda (YouTube username "Orbvious") were abducted by their birth father. He has kept them apart from their mother and step-father ever since. They've been running into roadblocks in the Australian legal and family court system, unable to find assistance. Amanda, of course, is wreck over this.

Ben wrote an email to Scottish singer-songwriter (and YouTuber) Peri Urban telling his tale. Peri was inspired to write a song for Ben and Amanda, which he posted on YouTube. This cheered Amanda up considerably.

That's when I stepped in and said, "If one song can cheer her up that much, what would fifty songs do?" And so, with Ben, Amanda, and Peri's permission, I started the "One Tube Group" on YouTube. We got our fifty songs, poems, and well wishers. We also got people from all over the globe to write letters on Ben and Amanda's behalf to the Australian authorities. And, we managed to raise a few dollars for their mounting expenses.

The video below is the latest part of this effort, and represents a great collaboration of the members of the OneTube group. Peri and I co-produced it, I wrote the bit of dialogue at the start, together we solicited clips from about thirty other members, and then Peri did the amazing work of writing and producing a new song and editing the entire thing into a cohesive whole.

Please take a look at the video, and if you are moved to join us, or read more about the situation, please visit us at The OneTube Challenge (on YouTube.com).