I was running around working during the NetSquared Conference, so I didn't have a chance to take part in many of the sessions, including the Project Sprint portion of the conference, when people self-organized into interest groups around a project.

One of the projects I would have liked to have organized would have been people who wanted to create a workshop, FAQ sheet or some kind of tool, to help nonprofits and NGOs overcome their fear of blogging.The three fears I hear the most from nonprofits that are considering blogging are:

1. Our audience will write nasty comments

2. Our staff will write nasty posts and air our dirty laundry

3. We can't afford to pay a staff member to blog.

I LOVE blogs.  That doesn't mean I think all nonprofits should have one, but I think more should have them then do, and as I wrote back in March, there are AT LEAST 10 Ways that Nonprofits Can Use Blogs.  

Back in the 80s, Susan Jeffers' wrote a book called, Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, which outlined Five Truths about Fear. The jist of all of "The Truths" is that as long as people change and grow and do new things, they will feel fear, and that the only way to get rid of the fear of doing something, is to do it.

That's kinda how I feel about nonprofits and NGOs who are afraid to try out a blogs.  Blogs (and other social web tools) are new.  They have new rules, and in some cases, no rules at all.  The "blogosphere" is developing and changing and will be different today than it will be 6 months from now, or 2 years from now, but if your nonprofit could use a blog in one of the 10 Ways listed above, why not give it a shot?  If it tanks, just take it down.

I've been trying to deal with my own fear of driving as of late, and I got this great book called Drive Without Fear by Norman Klein.  The whole book is like a Zen koan.  He talks a lot about steering and how important it is to, "look ahead where you want to go."

"If your eyes look in the wrong place, your brain will receive the wrong message from your eyes. Consequently you could steer incorrectly or brake at the wrong time and cause an accident."

If you work for a nonprofit or NGO that is trying to making a decision about whether or not your organization should use a blog, look ahead where you want to go: will the clients you want to serve, the donors you want to cultivate, or the constituents you want to influence be reading blogs, or using other social web tools, in 6 months, 12 months or 2 years?

If you're not sure, why not ask your supporters what they think with a survey, or search online for blog reader demographics like this 2006 blogads survey of political blog readers.

I hope you'll all post your Project Sprints, and if you are interested in working with me to help nonprofits and NGOs feel the fear and blog anyway, lemme know.