Numbers are nice. But connecting with people is better – and more important.

I think if we can start our work with the mindset of “What behaviour do we want to create that people will want and need?” rather than “How do we do this thing that we’ve always done, but do it better digitally?”, we could more easily be creating these analog interactions in a digital world.

- Nic Hodges, “Uneven Distribution”

If your mindset is to do the same old thing in a new medium, you are selling your organisation short. It’s time to flip your thinking.

• Don’t just make people read your stories. Listen to your supporters stories.
• Don’t just wait for people to come to you for help. Proactively seek out opportunities for you to help people.
• Don’t just create communications. Create community.

Rather than isolating people, the use of social media and other online technologies increases how well-connected people feel to each other and to the causes they love.

- Kivi’s Nonprofit Communications Blog, “2010 Predictions: Number 1 is I’ll Keep Referring You to Beth”

How are you using social media to learn more about your supporters as people, and the stories they have to tell? How are you building a better community?

TweetsGiving celebrations are kicking off next week – are you ready?

I just found out tonight that Sydney will also be holding a gratitude party – joining Melbourne and Canberra.

In terms of Canberra, our event is planned for December 1, to be held at The Front, Lyneham, after work. All CTUB, SMC Canberra and NetTuesday Canberra people and their friends are warmly invited to attend.

If you can’t attend the event, there’s plenty of other ways to get involved. During TweetsGiving there will be many opportunities on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and blogs to express your gratitude.

Below are just a few List building ideas for non-profits:

1. Your organisation’s chapters and campaigns. If your organisation is federated, with multiple state- or city-based chapters, group these together in one list with any campaign-specific accounts. This will help you and your followers keep track of what is happening across all organisation accounts at a glance. No more hunting through the timeline or Twitter search for the latest news!
2. Related international organisations and campaigns. As above, keeping track of what’s happening will keep you and your organisation connected globally.
3. Organisations that are somewhat related to your organisation. If you work for an animal welfare organisation, you could follow organisations relating to animal therapy. Organisations focussed on poverty abroad could follow organisations that deal with issues relating to poverty, like health or microfinance, both abroad and in your own country.
4. Celebrities, politicians and others with a high profile. Whether you know they are supporters of your cause or not, keeping track of high-profile people could help you easily recognise and act on tweets that relate to your cause.
5. Media. As with celebrities, keep track of what journalists and bloggers are tweeting about. You never know when an opportunity to discuss your organisation could pop up.
6. Volunteers. What better way to keep volunteers engaged than to know what’s going on in their life and keep in contact? You may want to keep this list private.
7. Retweeters and people who have contacted you. As above, this can help you keep track of those people who are influenced by your organisation. An added bonus of this is you can work out just how many of your followers are actively engaged with you online. For example, if you have 1000 total followers, and 300 people in this list, you could gauge that your influence is quite high. Nurture these relationships, as these people – your most important Twitter assets – are reacting to and passing on your messages.

   Now, these lists could take some time to set up and maintain, but I see them as an essential part of non-profits’ social media activities.

   What lists will you be setting up? I’d love to hear your thoughts.