When reading the invite from Britt for this Net2ThinkTank, I was reminded of a recent comment that I made on Beth's Blog about Twitter. Many people don't realize that Twitter isn't just for broadcasting little bits of information, it's also great for finding new stuff too. A nonprofit organization may not be ready to Twitter their latest news and events, but they can still use Twitter to find individuals who have an interest in their own cause or mission. My favorite Twitter search tool is Terraminds Twitter Search because it's responsive and allows you to subscribe to search results with RSS.

nonprofit    charity    philanthropy    donate   

I apologize for the last minute offer but I’d like to invite anyone who has been involved with web design or web site communications for nonprofits to join in a discussion about nonprofit web design for my podcast that I will be publishing shortly.  I had planned for three participants to join a “forum” discussion on the topic via a Skype conference call. One person has cancelled at the last minute and I’d like to have more people contribute.  A few questions that I have presented to the other participants so far are:

1) What are some considerations that organizations promoting social change should keep in mind when designing their public website?

Wired posted a great story today on how podcasting is affecting local public radio affiliates during this year’s fund drive.  It’s titled: Podcasting Roils NPR Fund Raising.  Local stations are concerned that listeners will tune out and start downloading nationally syndicated programs during the week or two of fund drives

I think they are probably right and I think: Good!  Don’t get me wrong, I love NPR programming and I want to see my local station continue to thrive (even though I probably now get 90 % of my audio entertainment from other podcasts).  My point is, if the fund drives are causing people to stop listening to terrestrial radio and start subscribing to the RSS feeds, then maybe the local stations need to rethink the strategy of their local fund drives.  Maybe there’s a better way that they can solicit funds AND use the technology that people are adopting?! 

Tonight I posted the following entry on the podcastpickle forum, and I feel like it's important enough to cross-post here.  The podcastpickle is an active community of podcast producers and listeners.  There's been a recent discussion about the role of nonprofits in podcasting and this was my response:

 I’m excited to hear more people chime in about the importance of giving nonprofits a voice in the podcasting world.  I’ve talked to a lot of you before and I think we all see eye-to-eye on what podcasting has to offer in the way that nonprofit organizations communicate with (and recruit new) constituents.

I've been thinking about beginning to more aggressively email people and organizations that I find on the web who I think might be interested in my podcast.  The conceived email would just include a short introduction and invitation to check out the show.

I'm sensitive about the unsolicited emails that I receive and this has me thinking, what is spam?  If I take the time to find people that I think might be interested in something that I am doing, and send an email to the person, should that exclude me from junk mail category?  What if I personalize each email?  What if I don't and just bcc every address?   If  the email is readily available on the web, does that mean that the person is open to receive  solicitations?

I just got done with a short promo/psa that I'll be sharing with some other podcasters during the holiday season:

 http://www.501c3cast.com/mp3s/501c3castHolidayPromo.mp3

In it I encourage people to consider making honor gifts instead of purchasing gifts for loved ones.  I'd love to see nonprofits reach out like this with short 1 minute blurbs about what they are doing or how the public can get involved.  It's easy to do and can be distributed quickly.  The file is just about 1 MB which can even be emailed if needed!

I created my first case study here on Net2 last night. It's just a short description of my podcast and a little about why/how I produce the show. I really enjoyed the process of having to think of a concise way to sum up what is often a very organic and changing project for me. I'm looking forward to finding other topics that would make good case studies.

I'm excited to see that people are beginning to contribute content to the Net2 site. It really is starting to shape into the vision that the people with TechSoup/CompuMentor had in mind! Britt Bravo, the Community Builder of NetSquared, is doing an awesome job! She is encouraging and excited to find new content to share with others. She's a great example of the axiom that the success of a team project is built upon the accomplishments of individuals.