Does your organization have a community? Or just a mailing list?

A mailing list alone is not a community, it’s a random list of people who may, or may not, be socially connected

Justin recently wrote an interesting article for Get Active about online communities. Here's an excerpt:

Social networking, online communities, “Web 2.0,” organizing, the social web: How can they help your organization harness social networks for organizational growth and maximum impact?

Strip away all of the latest buzzwords and terminology, set aside all of the communication-enabling technologies, and remember that what drives the online world is still just old-fashioned human behavior.

Read the full article and tell us what you think.

What Should Nonprofits Track?

By Michael Stein, writer and Internet strategist

On the subject of website analytics, I wrote an article in 2003 for The Nonprofit Quarterly entitled "Analyzing Web Site Traffic: Transforming Information into Learning and Action." In a series of telephone interviews with nonprofit staff from various parts of the country, I asked what they were learning from their visitor traffic. I hoped to uncover a set of “best practices” from their opinions and experiences that might be useful to other nonprofits using the Internet. I discuss the web metrics of several nonprofits: American Lung Association, Children Now, Family Violence Prevention Fund, and Natural Resource Defense Council.

The complete article is here: http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/section/426.html

Here's an excerpt on the subject of "What should nonprofits track?

Click to read more ...

The Increasing Value of Volunteer Time

Updated on Thursday, June 29, 2006 at 08:10PM by Justin Perkins

Recent research from Independent Sector shows that the value of volunteer time has consistantly increased over time; however, the percentage of the population that volunteered and the total number of volunteer hours that Americans gave declined between 1989 and 2000.

Researchers estimated that the dollar value of volunteer time in the United States was $18.04 per hour in 2005...

Click to read more ...

But We're Not Spam! ...Right?

David Atlas, a blogger on MediaPost's E-mail Insider, recently wrote an entry about that little button that every e-mail marketer should fear: "report as spam." His post, "Complaining About Complaints: Part I," brings up some subtleties about customers who click (or want to click) the dreaded button. It's not like a phone call or a letter, which take time and consideration--the customer may report an e-mail as spam due to a transient mood, machine-click and skew statistics by sending their complaint multiple times, or, as one reply brought up, forget that this action will block all e-mails from this address (even ones they may want). There can also be problems from the opposite end of the spectrum--people who really do think the e-mail is spam, but are worried that clicking any links will just encourage the sender. Add to this the difficulties of calculating the percent of total e-mails that generate complaints, the absence of information that tells you if the complaint is vehement or just disinterested, and even the  possibility of sabotage from competitors (OK, maybe not so much of a concern for non-profits), it's pretty hard to respond effectively to complaints. So what is a concerned non-profit to do? Stay tuned for part II, where Atlas will talk about systems for managing complaints that address these issues, and share your thoughts here!

NetSquared DC: The Electoral Use and Viral Potential of SMS

Source: DevelopmentSeed.org

A diverse group of people interested in technology and social change gathered Tuesday night for the NetSquared DC meeting, which is held regularly on the third Tuesday of every month. NetSquared DC, organized by Michael Silberman of Echo Ditto, has quickly become the largest NetSquared Meetup in the country, with 95 members, since its launch in March. The meeting featured invited speaker Ian Schuler, ICT Project Manager of the National Democratic Institute (NDI).

Ian spoke about short message service (SMS) and more specifically about NDI's use of SMS to monitor voter turnout and election results for the referendum for Montenegrin independence held May 21, 2006.

After Ian's talk, several individuals shared valuable reflections about the NetSquared Conference held a few weeks ago in California.

Click to read more ...

Email Zeitgeist?

According to the Email Diva and their own advertising, Email Analyst is basically the only useful tool on the market for monitoring email activity. Using Email Analyst, organizations that use email marketing can "monitor competitive email offers, see which offers were the most effective in driving traffic to the offer page, monitor affiliate email networks, and find and research new 3rd party lists." It includes an enormous, searchable database of emails (according to their website, nearly 1,000,000 from as far back as 2003). For a quick overview of Email Analyst you can read the E-mail Diva's thoughts, and although there isn't a vast amount of information about the company that makes Email Analyst, Email Data Source,  you can check out this article from AmericanVentureMagazine.com.  If you're interested, take a look at Email Data Source's website and contact them for a free demonstration.

Are there any testimonials out there about using Email Analyst in the non-profit world? Does it sound like something that your organization could use?

Update on Friday, June 23, 2006 at 10:02AM by Lesley M.

Email Analyst may be a little pricey for non-profits ($20K/year!) because it's mostly geared towards commercial email marketers, but the folks at Email Data Source say they're willing to work with non-profits for special solutions that won't break the bank including a significant price break, low-cost custom reports, or a referral to an agency with access to the system.

What Do You Get When You Cross IAF with NOI?

Saul Alinsky

Our friend Michael Silberman over at Echo Ditto made some excellent observations about what technology means for good old fashioned organizing in a recent Echo Ditto blog post. This is a line of thought I traverse frequently having been inspired by Saul Alinsky, the father of community organizing, and organizing models such as asset-based community development. While many organizing models were developed before the Internet became mainstream, I agree with Michael that good on-the-ground organizing principles apply when doing online work. Still, I have an unsubstantiated hunch that the community of "old school" organizers, perhaps represented by an organization such as The Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), hasn't cross-pollinated much with the new generation of online organizers that might be found at The New Organizing Institute (NOI). Seems to me that there's a big opportunity to innovate at the intersection of these realms. Any thoughts?