We have heard many times over that traditional communication strategies aren't enough in the changing world of online applications.  Nonprofits are facing the challenges of engaging, communicating, and fundraising in new ways every day.  But, where are foundations with social media adoption?

Come on in. The Water's Fine. Web 2.0 technology and its emerging impact on foundation communications, this (September 2008) report from Brotherton Strategies, prepared for The Communications Network with support from The California Endowment, The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, explores the opportunities and challenges facing foundations when it comes to communicating and participating in social media.

About the report

One of the biggest barriers to adoption, for any organization whether it is for-profit or not, is the feat of losing control (over the message, the information, the conversation, etc.).  David Brotherton and Cynthia Scheiderer, the report's authors, address this issue head on.  Here's an excerpt showing how one example, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation's online forum, was able to let go of control:

As times change, there are numerous foundations starting to experiment with this interactive way of communicating. When the W. K. Kellogg Foundation established an online forum, ―What Helps Vulnerable Children Succeed,‖ it opened the doors to all those interested in discussing this trategic priority. Any member of the public could simply register and comment in the forum. Rather than leading with their own assumptions and beliefs about the needs of vulnerable children, the foundation framed an online conversation with three questions: What makes children vulnerable? What could make vulnerable children successful? What‘s working now, or what‘s possible?  The foundation opened its site to encourage user-contributed feedback, moderated the comments that arrived and adopted a policy of removing only posts that were inflammatory or inappropriate.

Kellogg Director of Public Affairs Dianne Price acknowledged the risks inherent to this approach. Inevitably, perspectives that the foundation disagreed with would be surfaced on their Web site‘s forum. "That was the point," Price explained. "If we didn‘t hear those other opinions, this experiment would have failed. We were looking to generate new ideas and hear from many points of view."

Come on in. covers tips and strategies forfoundations moving ahead with social media, as well as identifies key question areas for the field as we go forward.  Those questions include the areas of:

• Control and transparency
• Generational digital divide
• Influence
• Alignment
• Evaluation and measurement
• Individual giving
•  Grantee network building
• Communicating with the general public

One of my favorite parts of reports like this one, is the terrific index of resource links that informed the research and serve as great articles on their own.  The resources and the case study examples in Come on in. make it an even more important resource.

You can download the report on Brotherton Strategies' website here.

Do you work in a foundation employing social media tools - what have been the success stories?  Do you work in a nonprofit organization that has engaged with a foundation via social media - what was your experience?