The number of low-cost or free online resources and tools available to nonprofits today is astounding. Many nonprofit professionals are overwhelmed by the all choices and as mobile media continues to grow, prepare to be mind-boggled by all the new technology options that will be available to your nonprofit in coming years. That said, to be alerted of new...

With more than 225 million registered users worldwide, LinkedIn pages have the potential to be very powerful for nonprofits. The vast majority of nonprofit staff, board members, volunteers, and funders use the site on a regular basis to network and make connections. Thus far most nonprofits have concentrated on using LinkedIn groups to build their brand inside the LinkedIn...

Some nonprofits have thousands, tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of LinkedIn Company Page followers, and yet have not customized their page or posted a single update. LinkedIn Pages launched in 2010 and since then the company has slowly rolled out upgrades and new features. So slow in fact that LinkedIn Pages have fallen under the radar of...

Launched in 2007, YouTube’s Nonprofit Program has gone through multiple changes over the last six years. Initially the program was only offered to qualified U.S. nonprofits and the benefits were limited to premium branding functionality and the ability to add a Google Checkout donate button to nonprofit YouTube channels. Today, however, the program has been expanded to Australia, Canada, Germany, India, Ireland,...

Some of your best learning on social media occurs when you just start clicking around and see what happens. That’s how I discovered three of the four functions below and when I give in-person trainings on Facebook and demonstrate these functions (with the exception of hashtags since the functionality was just launched last week), there are usually quite a...

This blog post officially launches the research stage of writing my second book which will be published and shipped in Spring 2014. A follow-up to Social Media for Social Good: A How-To Guide for Nonprofits, this book will place much more emphasis on using social media and mobile technology for fundraising. That said, I am very curious how social...

There absolutely is a math to social and mobile media. If your nonprofit has a good content strategy in place and understands the power of integrating all your nonprofit’s communications channels (website, email, Facebook, texting, etc.), then as your numbers grow on social networks so will your e-newsletter and mobile lists which in turn significantly increases your fundraising success. It’s...

Over the last two months I have opened more than 200 pieces of nonprofit print materials and 95% of them are in the same format and structure of those that I was writing and publishing  in the late 1990’s. Like press releases, print fundraising appeals and newsletters seem to be taking little account for the rise of social and...

Social Media for Social Good: A How-To Guide for Nonprofits was released in August 2011 and despite the rapid change occurring on the Social and Mobile Web, 90% of the content still rings true. The functionality of the tools discussedhave changed slightly, dimensions have been tweaked, and Google+ Pages, Pinterest and Instagram have since become relevant when launching a successful...

Seemingly less than 1% of nonprofit have upgraded to YouTube’s new One Channel design, but even fewer appear to be utilizing YouTube’s new InVideo Programming option. If you haven’t spent any time recently exploring YouTube’s enhanced tool set, I’d highly recommend that you set aside an hour or two to upgrade to the new design, add InVideo Programming, and...

Google’s strategy of making Google+ the thread that links all Google Products together is working. Google+ can now lay claim to 359 million active monthly users and the title of being the world’s second largest social network. If your nonprofit uses Gmail, Search, YouTube, Maps, etc., then you can’t avoid having a presence on Google+. Currently in Beta, YouTube just...

And yet another reason why your nonprofit can not ignore Google+… the Google Knowledge Graph which now prominently features information about nonprofit organizations on the right-hand side of Google Search results. Data is pulled from multiple sources including Wikipedia, GuideStar and of course Google+ Pages.  As a result, nonprofits must ensure that their Wikipedia Page and GuideStar Profile are current and...

Social media has forever changed how nonprofits and journalists distribute and consume news stories, yet the format of nonprofit press releases has not evolved at all. Almost every communication medium out there has been impacted by the rise of social and mobile media, but not press releases. I think that enterprising nonprofits would be eager to try something new...