Geeking For Good

In the interest of practising what I preach, I'd like to share with you a project I've implemented at work involving Foursquare. RSPCA Australia has a scheme called Choose Wisely:

Choose Wisely businesses serve humanely produced eggs, chicken or pork (or all three) at a Gold, Silver or Bronze level, depending on whether they use them in all or some of their products.

As the participating businesses are restaurants and cafes, I thought it was a perfect way we could experiment with location-based services. If you're in Australia, you can search for "rspca choose wisely" in Foursquare and find the nearest businesses near you that participate. I've put in a request with Foursquare to see if we can have a special badge for venue check-ins, but I haven't heard back yet. So - community feedback time - what do you think?

When adding online and social media into the traditional communications and marketing mix, it’s easy to be swept up in the technology. Because online can provide us with so many metrics, it’s easy to forget you’re dealing with people, not numbers on a spreadsheet or fancy graphs in an analytics package.

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?

Reading Trendwatching.com's Top 10 Consumer Trends for 2010 got me thinking about how nonprofits could potentially be taking advantage of these  this year. The trend of Embedded Generosity, where  "consumers will continue to respond well to products and services which have a charitable component" is a trend that many nonprofit marketing departments are already aware and taking advantage of in aligning their brands with relevant corporate entities. But what of the other trends? Could your nonprofit take advantage of Mass Mingling and "facilitate real-world meetups from social networks in a way that promotes their brand"? Why not invite your Twitter followers to a tweetup? It's a great way to meet your supporters, and strengthen the relationships you've created online.

I put the call out on Twitter the other night to see if anyone would be interested in an Australian social good podcast, and had some positive feedback, so I’ve been thinking about how such a podcast could be run. Here’s some initial thoughts to get some ideas flowing: Motivation – Why start a social good podcast? I’d like to see the nonprofit technology and social good types sharing ideas with the digital community at large. I’m seeing a trend where the lines between digital and social good are blending for the better – take #manweek and Perfect Gift For A Man as just one example. Audience – Who would listen? Anyone interested in the intersection of social good and digital. Material – What would we talk about? How to use technology and social media to advance social good; the theory, execution and promotion of nonprofit/social good campaigns; discussion of wider digital trends and their potential application in the social good space. Given the material, perhaps a 15-30 minute runtime would be ideal. What do you think? Is this something you would be interested in participating in or listening to? Would you be keen to volunteer your time and expertise to help get this off the ground? Leave your comments and ideas below!

This week saw the wider public gain access to Twitter lists, and the posts have been rolling in about how nonprofits can incorporate Lists into their social media strategy:

• Geeking For Good: How non-profits can take advantage of Twitter Lists
• Amy Sample Ward’s Version of NPTech: Twitter Lists for Nonprofits
• John Haydon: Why Twitter lists are huge for your non-profit or small business [video tutorial]
• Wild Apricot Blog: Twitter Lists 101 (the original post is older than a week, however it’s a great resource and comments have continued well into this week)

In other news, Causes on Myspace is shutting down due to lack of activity (HT @rootwork). Entries are open for AshokaTECH’s “Blog your way to Hyderabad” competition, for those interested in an all-expenses-paid way to get to the event. The winner will be the official blogger, and will be expected to tweet, maintain a live blog, and interview attendees. Earlybird registrations are now open for the 2010 Nonprofit Technology Conference in Atlanta.

Early-bird registrations are now open for the 2010 Nonprofit Technology Conference to be held in Atlanta on April 8-10. I am really keen to go, however, there’s one problem. I need help getting there! The cheapest return flights to Atlanta cost $1970AUD, and the earlybird conference registration is $559USD. As the AUD-USD exchange rate is quite good at the moment (although that could change at any time), I need somewhere between $2500 and $2750AUD to get there and back, before accommodation and food is even considered. So I’ve been sitting here thinking how to make this possible. I know my budget will allow for me to get a ticket either there, or back, but not both. Likewise, if I don’t purchase an earlybird ticket and flights soon, I run the risk of missing out on the conference entirely. Why do I want to go? To me, NTC 2010 presents an opportunity to meet the world’s leading nonprofit techies and social good changemakers. The opportunity to find out from the field’s leading thinkers the best techniques that I can bring back home and apply to my own organisation, and to also share these with the Australian nonprofit community as well. What is a geek girl with a dream, a blog, and a handful of connections to do? The proposal If I can be met halfway, I promise to blog, vlog, phlog and tweet as much humanly possible during the conference. I will also take the time to meet and interview 10 nonprofit technology leaders at the conference, in order to discuss with them their views on where nonprofit technology is heading in the next 10 years – a 2010 Ten for 2020 Visions interview series. If these are not good enough reasons for you, I’m open to any other challenges you have in mind. Can you help me get to NTC 2010? Any money raised above the final 50% cost of my airfare and conference ticket will be donated to two organisations doing work I really admire – half to Social Actions and half to Epic Change. Update 5 November: Jasmin Tragas (@wonderwebby) made the great suggestion of approaching corporate sponsors. Do you know any companies that might be interested? I can be a walking, talking billboard during the conference, for the right company for the right price!