Strategic Online Communication for Nonprofits

Nonprofit Innovations

Web-based technologies are revolutionizing the way nonprofits do business.  We can now communicate instantaneously with beneficiaries through content management systems and social media.  We can manage stakeholder relations more efficiently with CRM tools; access new tools and best practices through listservs; and even raise money online.

But until recently one of the greatest weaknesses of our sector had not yet been addressed by technology in any comprehensive way: Impact Evaluation.

Some technologies (Salesforce and others) have helped nonprofits streamline process evaluation measures and track progress against key benchmarks.  But few tools that address the three key components of project evaluation (performance measures, outcome measures and impact evaluation) have made their way into the mainstream nonprofit circuit.

A recent study funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and implemented by FSG Social Impact Advisors entitled Breakthroughs in Shared Measurement and Social Impact, reviewed several interesting technology initiatives with evaluation implications for the entire nonprofit sector.

Often donors fund specific projects, request a report from the grantee, and the process of tracking social change stops there.  According to the report, “The most fundamental concern is that this focus on individual grants and isolated nonprofit initiatives undercuts the sector’s ability to solve complex social problems.”

The study looks at three types of platforms that have recently been developed to address that concern:

1. Shared Measurement Platforms – allow organizations to choose from a set of measures within their fields and use web-based tools to inexpensively collect, analyze and report on their performance or outcomes;
2. Comparative Performance Systems – require all participants within a field to report on the same measures using identical definitions and methodologies;
3. Adaptive Learning Systems – engage a large number of organizations working on different aspects of a single complex issue in an ongoing, facilitated process that establishes comparative performance metrics. These systems also help coordinate efforts and enable participants to learn from each other.

Each type of system has its advantages and is more adapted to small nonprofits, donors, or community stakeholders respectively.  But all of these systems have the capacity to transform the nonprofit sector because they pool data to better understand the big picture. Each system helps collectively share field-specific lessons learned, and allows donors to reward programs with good results.  They also help allign goals among different organizations and create a collaborative approach to problem solving that enriches the work of every participant.

The great news is that some of these systems are now available for nonprofits to adopt, or for entire communities to tailor to their needs.  One of them, Pulse, will even become available through the Salesforce.com AppExchange near the end of 2009.

The following list includes some of the systems featured in the report:

• The Cultural Data Project (www.culturaldata.org)
• Success Measures Data System (www.successmeasures.org)

• Strive (www.strivetogether.org)
• IRIS (www.iris-standards.org)
• MERIT from NPOKI (www.npoki.org)

To learn more about the various web-based evaluation systems and their benefits, please read the full report:

Breakthroughs in Shared Measurement and Social Impact

Posted by Elizabeth Beachy, Upleaf Co-Founder

Sure, having a celebrity founder and spokesman helps, but many celebrities have foundations that don’t enjoy anywhere near the same popularity as the Livestrong Foundation.

Why has the foundation been so successful?  In part because they’re doing everything right with regard to their online presence:

• A dynamic, interactive, attention-grabbing website, with a “We Believe” declaration so inspiring it reaches to the depths of your soul.
  • A “donate now” message that grabs your attention.  You can’t miss it—marked with the trademark yellow bracelet.
  • Once you click on “donate now” the first message you see reassures you that your money will be spent wisely (78% of all donations go directly to grants and programs).
  • The site offers multiple ways to make a donation, with something that appeals to everyone: “in memory”, “wedding donations”, “workplace giving”, “events support”, “download a song from iTunes” and more.  They’ve thought of every way you might want to give and made it easy for you.
  • For those who prefer to make a purchase and receive something in return, there’s a link with products to choose from that make both a fashion statement and a values statement.
  • The site is easy to navigate and tells you everything you need to know, in simple language.
  • In plain view you can access their services and see testimonies and photos of people they’ve helped—which again reassures you that your donations really make a difference.

• A strategic partnership with Nike through sale of their products, which brings visibility to their cause and drives new traffic
• A strong social media presence, with over half a million fans of their Facebook page, 200,000+ members of their Facebook cause, and even 60,000+ fans of their Spanish-language Facebook page.  Livestrong also has 30,000+ followers on Twitter.  That’s a lot of daily exposure.
• Innovative media coverage, most recently through the Tour de France “chalkbot” that enabled people around the world to have their text messages chalked on the pavement during the competition.

Their web presence is a bit fragmented, with several different sites drawing in different traffic (just under 80,000 unique monthly visitors to Livestrong.org and 650,000+ monthly visitors to Livestrong.com, 60+ different Facebook pages or causes) but the bottom line is that they are using every major online tool to get their message out.

And it’s working.  Livestrong raises over $30 million a year, with a large portion of their revenue coming from small donations from individual donors.  That’s strategic online communication with undisputable results.

The Cone Nonprofit Power Brand 100 report recently published by Cone and Intangible Business, analyzes the top 100 nonprofit brands in the U.S.  The most powerful brands were selected based on a combination of overall revenue and brand image, the latter determined by a consumer survey.

While most of us won’t be found among the top 100, the analysis is useful for every nonprofit:  Does your brand image correspond to your mission and institutional objectives?  Is your online presence enhancing your brand image?  Does the general public have mainly positive, negative or indifferent associations with your organization?

To get a feel for how the public perceives your brand, there are a few low-cost steps you can take: 1) conduct a random informal survey at a place your constituents might frequent; 2) do extensive Internet searches of both blogs and news to see where your organization is coming up, who is talking about you and what they are saying; and 3) send out a quick survey to your email list and ask your stakeholders for some honest feedback.

Whether you need to do some serious work to strengthen your brand or simply maintain your current image, the report offers 10 excellent tips on how to enhance your brand power:

1.  Engage fresh constituencies. Segment your communications and activities to appeal to people beyond your traditional constituents, and use sub-brands to tailor your message to new groups.

2.  Adopt new currencies. Expand the scope of sponsorships, volunteer opportunities, merchandise, or other in-kind products and services so that you can continue to engage constituents even as giving power decreases.

3.  Modernize fundraising. Donor behavior is shifting, and younger demographics are increasingly involved in giving online.  Tap into these potential donors, and streamline your fundraising efforts with new tools.

4.  Deliver crisp communications. Clearly state what you do in either your name or a prominent tagline.  This significantly enhances brand recognition.

5.  Establish (and adhere to) brand guidelines. Protect your brand’s equity by establishing clear guidelines for consistent use by staff, volunteers, media partners, and other entities.  All institutional communication (online, print, audiovisual) must adhere to these guidelines.

6.  Build brand stewards. Your employees, volunteers, and board members are all extensions of your brand.  As such you should encourage and empower them to clearly express (in both words and actions) the organization’s mission and values.

7.  Develop quick reflexes. Be fluid, give people an opportunity to engage with your brand around current events or new trends.

8.  Build corporate partnerships. Identify companies who share your values and have appealing relationships and resources, then recruit them to serve as catalysts to broaden your mission and as stewards to your brand.

9.  Create dialogue with brand ambassadors. Participate in social media venues to not only increase visibility, but to connect with a broad base of supporters and engage in a dialogue to let them know you are an active member of their community. Listen to and participate in the conversations where they are happening, don’t just push information.

10.  Issue a rallying cry. Shift your approach from that of a recipient of funds to a driver of engagement, inspiration and action. Move from a focus on giving discrete donations to joining together in pursuit of a bigger purpose, and help evolve your contributors’ perceptions of their role as donors to that of a community of supporters.  Mobilize your constituents around a common cause, which can energize your brand and strengthen loyalty.

Download full report