Strategic Online Communications for Nonprofits

Nonprofit Innovations

CNBC recently published a report on some innovative smartphone apps developed by nonprofits to enable consumers to use their buying power to support socially responsible companies.

What follows is an excerpt of the article by Cadie Thompson:

Advocacy organizations are mounting a mobile marketing push to promote more responsible shopping with apps that give consumers the scoop on how a corporation’s policies and actions align with the shopper’s own views on issues like sustainability and human rights. The apps encourage consumers to only buy products and shop at retailers that share the same moral pillars as the shopper.

“Smartphones are changing the way people are living their lives. They (apps) influence spending decisions and this is the next evolution of that,” Scott Ellison, mobile retail analyst for IDC, said. “Make an app easy, intuitive and fun and people will begin to change their behavior.”

Tapping into the App World for Change

The Human Rights Campaign launched their Buying for Equality app last Tuesday. The app rates companies using its 2010 Corporate Equality Index, an annual report that scores companies on a scale from 1 to 100 based on how well their policies support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Such policies include anti-discrimination protections, domestic partner benefits and diversity training.

Corporations in the app are color-coded based on their score either green, yellow or red. Green (score: 80-100) means the company supports the cause, yellow (score: 46-79) represents companies working towards supporting the cause and red (score: 0-45) indicating the company has not taken many steps to supporting the cause.

Although the app was initiated to help its core supporters — a loyal group of consumers whose buying power was projected to be about $712 billion in 2008, according to the marketing firm Whiteck-Combs Communications — HRC sees the app becoming a tool for any shopper looking to be more conscious. The app has gained over 4,000 users in its first week, Eric Bloem, the deputy director for the Workplace Project for HRC.

Read full article

Source:  www.cnbc.com

Donors love to ask the question, “What is your cost per beneficiary?“  It’s a great way for them to compare potential grantees working within the same field, and can be a good proxy of an organization’s efficiency.

Now nonprofit organizations can reach more people and decrease their cost per beneficiary thanks to online communities.  Here’s how:

1. Create an online support group. This can be a tremendously powerful tool for organizations that work with populations who are stigmatized, in danger, or dealing with addictions.  It offers built-in confidentiality (participants can select any screen names), safety (no need to leave home), and support from peers who are facing similar issues.

The organization can moderate discussions and screen for abuses, but by and large this strategy requires little time investment from the sponsoring agency as the value is found in interaction with people with shared experiences.  Online support groups have been effective for reaching:

• Victims of domestic violence
• People diagnosed with potentially terminal illness like cancer or HIV
• Smokers seeking to quit
• People with certain types of mental illness

An online support group would usually be custom-built, and hosted within the organization’s website.  It should be built to include an administrative function (someone who can delete or block inappropriate comments, offer advice, and monitor traffic and trending topics), and if necessary, password-protected areas for users.  A great way to launch an online support group is to simply move existing support groups online, and offer some initial incentives for beneficiaries to participate.  From then on it will likely take wings and grow on its own.

2. Move peer education networks online. Peer education is a powerful strategy for behavior change.  As more youth interact with their peers online, traditional interpersonal communication strategies must follow suit. As they do, the cost per beneficiary can drop tremendously.  Peer educators can use their Facebook or MySpace accounts to share their thoughts about key topics with peers, email and SMS text messaging to have confidential conversations, and YouTube to share creative and motivational messages.  The cost of these tools is next to nothing– and they can reach many more youth than traditional door-to-door or face-to-face models. The impact on behavior may even be similar to traditional models, because youth are now so comfortable interacting in these ways.

3. Build interactive online forums for discussion. If your organization’s work relates to civil rights, political issues or advocacy, interactive online forums are a great way to get people involved with your cause and motivated toward action. You could develop a dedicated discussion forum, or simply create dynamic content (allow the public to contribute to your blog or citizen news sections) and encourage people to comment on what they read. By getting people involved with your issues through genuine two-way (or multi-directional) communication, they are more likely to become loyal activists or followers– measures valued by your donors.

In short there are many tools nonprofits can use to build community online, and by doing so decrease the ratio of staff to beneficiaries and cost per beneficiary.  Most beneficiaries are seeking community anyway, not just advice from professionals.

Community is what keeps people coming back– it builds loyalty, creates a sense of belonging, reinforces positive social norms, and ultimately helps create lasting impact on the lives of beneficiaries.

Posted by Elizabeth Beachy, Upleaf Co-Founder

We speak so much about “nonprofits” and all the great work done by the sector, but few of us pause to reflect on the nature of the term we’re using– and how it might even be undermining our work!

I was reminded of this in a recent meeting with the Executive Director of the Albuquerque Community Foundation, Randy Royster, who corrected my use of the term “nonprofit” and urged me to replace it with “social profit”.

But of course!!!  I had never even stopped to think about it.  How can we call the tireless, dedicated work of this sector “nonprofit” when so many people ultimately benefit from it?

In many other countries this same sector is referred to as “organizaciones sin fines de lucro” or “organisations sans but lucratif” (literally “organizations without lucrative goals/ends”) which somehow seems to do a bit more justice to the nature of the work by setting it apart from the many who seek to profit financially from their work.

By contrast “nonprofit” simply sounds like no one benefits.

After working for years with international social profit organizations outside the U.S. I had never even heard of the “nonprofit” vs “social profit” debate.

I did a google search of “social profit” and found an excellent article by Claire Gaudiani in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, that does justice to the issue.  She outlines the implications of such a name change for the sector, as well as for the “social investors” who support it.

I also saw that several organizations have adopted the term, but unfortunately those are few and far between– most of the sector continues to use “nonprofit”.

Great food for thought.  Let’s start making the transition to “social profit” and give our sector a boost!

Posted by Elizabeth Beachy, Upleaf Co-Founder