Don Akchin Leads Workshop for Members of Maryland Nonprofits
Don Akchin, a charter member of Nonprofit Marketing 360, led a workshop for members of Maryland Nonprofits on Tuesday, May 14 on “Tell Your Story So People Care (and Give!)”
Everyone ought to know about the great work your organization does, but how do you get their attention – or better yet, their support? You begin by telling your story well. This interactive session will show participants how to convert the mission, vision and accomplishments of their organizations into compelling stories that spark the interest of media and prospective donors. In addition, this class will examine ways to frame stories effectively for different audiences.
For more information about Don, his work with nonprofits, and future workshops, please visit Don Akchin Strategic Communications.
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| Category Communications, Cross-Post, Education: General, Nonprofit, Storytelling | | 0 Comments
Written by: Marco Kathuria
#VIDEO: Ken Sterns’s Book Offers Tough Love To Nonprofit Economy
Ken Sterns has served as CEO of National Public Radio, arguably one of the best-known nonprofits in the country. He supports The American Red Cross, and has served on the boards of a number of charities. So when his book, And Charity for All argues that the nonprofit sector is a huge part of the American economy, yet the least productive sector as well, people listen. And they should.
Mr. Sterns was recently interviewed at The Huffington Post, as he joined a roundtable (‘multiscreen’) discussion that included Alexander Berger at GiveWell; Dr. John Brothers, founder of Quidoo Consulting; and Rigo Sabarino, President and CEO of St. Barnabas Senior Services. The interview begins with him throwing down the gauntlet, wondering if the nonprofit community is even worth preserving.
| Category Advice, Advocacy, Book, Book Review, Civics, Community, Cross-Post, Development, Fundraising, Interview, Marketing, National/International, News and Current Affairs, Nonprofit, Opinion, Politics, Public Media, Public Relations, Publications, Reviews, Storytelling, Strategic Marketing, Video Interview | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#SOCIALMEDIA: It’s OK To Say ‘No’ To Your Social Networks
You know you want to…
We are often extolling the virtues of particular social-networking platforms or encouraging specific strategies to reach out to your audience(s) across these platforms. When moving through the ‘tubes’ of our social networks, it is easy to think that each post we prepare is the most important one ever and that if we don’t get to each post on our nonprofit’s wall we’ll be upsetting a potential volunteer or donor.
The fact is, you won’t upset anyone: followers of social networks can feel just as overwhelmed as the producers of content on social media. What can you do to unwind, and what might happen when you do?
| Category Advice, Blogs, Communications, Cross-Post, Health, Marketing Skills, Public Media, Public Relations, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Storytelling, Technology, Web and Print, Wellness, Writing | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#INTERVIEW: Paul Jolly of Jump Start Growth Helps Us Plan for the 2013 ‘Ask’
Paul Jolly, President of Jump Start Growth, Inc.
This past December, Paul Jolly, President of Jump Start Growth, Inc., talked about the spiritual side of fundraising, and how he works with nonprofits to help them appreciate the motives and desires of big donors. Paul’s company has many years of experience to bring to organizations that are trying to improve their success rates with big donors.
Today we are excited to bring you part two of our interview with Paul. We shift directions just a bit in this conversation to talk about the near future of fundraising. What seems to be the lay-of-the-land for 2013? What technological/communications developments should we keep our eye on? What is developing on the Jump Start Growth website for the new year?
| Category Advocacy, Blogs, Cause Marketing, Communications, Cross-Post, Donor Acquisition, Education: General, Fundraising, Grants and Funding, Interview, Major Gifts, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Nonprofit, Planned Giving, Planned Giving, Public Relations, Storytelling, Video, Video Interview | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#INTERVIEW: Paul Jolly of Jump Start Growth Explores The Spiritual Side Of Donors
The soul of fundraising
Raising money for a nonprofit or charity is tough work. With the focus of the organization on fundraising, it is not surprising that outreach tends to focus on the numbers (the thousands who benefit from the nonprofit’s work, the millions required to keep such work going, the hundreds of people asked to give…). In this first part of our video interview with Paul Jolly, Founder and President of Jump Start Growth Incorporated, we learn that the numbers really should be the last concern of a nonprofit or charity, not the first. For Paul and Jump Start Growth, the first concern is the personal, the spiritual, connection between the donor and the cause she or he wants to support. Where is your organization’s focus?
| Category Cause Marketing, Civics, Communications, Community, Cross-Post, Development, Donor Acquisition, Fundraising, Grants and Funding, Interview, Major Gifts, Marketing, Nonprofit, Planned Giving, Planned Giving, Storytelling, Technology for Nonprofits, Video, Video Interview | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#COMMUNICATION: Is Your Nonprofit Staff Conversing With Both Audience & Each Other?
As social networks and social marketing have matured over the last two or three years, a debate continues as to how effective social media is to inspire action (be it making a purchase, donating to a cause, or risking one’s life in a revolution). But it seems to me that the argument is both older than modern social media (read any Marshall McLuhan lately?) and more complicated than trying to argue cause-and-effect. Social networks offer wonderfully inexpensive means to expand and magnify conversations, but they also create stunning amounts of ‘noise’ that readers have to learn to tune out without getting distracted (no easy task). But how can a nonprofit leverage the powers of social media to inspire action while also striving not to distort the outreach with too much talk?
| Category Blogs, Cause Marketing, Civics, Communications, Community, Crowdfunding, Development, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Nonprofit, Permission Marketing, Public Media, Public Relations, Social Marketing, Social Networks, Storytelling | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#VIDEO: Rob Wu of Causevox Tells Us About Developments In Online Fundraising (Part II)
Earlier this month we posted our first interview with Rob Wu, co-founder of the online fundraising and social-media platform Causevox. We wanted to talk with him because Causevox was rolling out the latest version of its platform in late September. Our conversation proved so interesting that we couldn’t contain it in one post, so today we bring you part two of our conversation with Rob.
In particular, he stresses how nonprofits like OneGirl.org in Australia participated in the development and refinements that brought about version 2.o. And why the rollout of 2.0 has proven to be a surer success than having a single big launch. Let’s take a look.
| Category Advertising, Advice, Cause Marketing, Communications, Community, Crowdfunding, Design, Development, Donor Acquisition, Education: General, Fundraising, Grants and Funding, Interview, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Mobile, Mobile, Nonprofit, Project Management Tools, Public Media, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Storytelling, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits, Video Interview, Web Design, Webinar | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#VIDEO: Rob Wu of Causevox Tells Us About Developments In Online Fundraising (Part I)
Causevox moves to version 2
Rob Wu is co-founder of Causevox, an online social-media and donor-acquisition platform, and he and his team have been working hard over the last number of months moving the online system to 2.0. We had the pleasure of talking with Rob a year or so ago, when Causevox first went live. The focus then was to create a ‘turn key’ website/social-media hub for nonprofits, which allowed them to customize the look and feel of the site to fit their ‘brand’ while also enjoying some advanced features like bulk emailing and email subscription captures.
The success of the platform has been phenomenal, as charities working from Africa and to the southwestern US have gotten connected with Causevox and have raised many tens of thousands of dollars over the last year. But the New-York based staff has not been sitting on its laurels. Let’s hear what Rob has to say in this first interview.
| Category Advocacy, Branding, Case Study, Cause Marketing, Communications, Crowdfunding, Donor Acquisition, Fundraising, Grants and Funding, Interview, Marketing, Nonprofit, Project Management Tools, Public Media, Public Relations, Publications, Resource, Site Administration, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Storytelling, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits, Video, Video Interview | | 1 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#SOCIALMEDIA: Politicians & NonProfits Need Agility With Online Outreach
As the Democratic ‘nominee’ Barack Obama delivered his acceptance speech last night in Charlotte, NC, a record number of tweets on politics were sent out − some 52,756 tweets-per-minute (tpm) being posted as he wound up. By contrast, Mitt Romney inspired 14,289 tpm, which was about half as many as reactions to Michelle Obama’s presentation two nights ago.
But what both parties know well is the fact that they must be ‘agile’ with their social-media outreach. They have to find ways to steer the narrative while many thousands of other voices also have the opportunity to steer that narrative. True, campaigns for the presidency take up far more online space than most any nonprofit, which is precisely why nonprofits can learn something from watching how the campaigns are trying to use social media.
| Category Advice, Cause Marketing, Civics, Communications, Community, Events, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Measurement, National/International, News and Current Affairs, Nonprofit, Permission Marketing, Politics, Public Media, Public Relations, SEO, Social Media, Social Networks, Storytelling, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits, Web and Print, Writing | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#HOWTO: Establish Your Tumblr Account Preferences To Stay Organized
33 million blogs in 8 languages − Where's yours?
We have already presented videos on how to sign on to Tumblr and how to tweak the settings of your new blog − including how to ensure your activity on Tumblr is reflected in your Twitter account and on your Facebook page (though recent developments have limited the interaction between Twitter and Tumblr, alas). We want to continue with more how-tos associated with Tumblr both because we think the platform is an easy and flexible way to communicate with the larger world and because many have reached out with questions and ideas about the series. We appreciate your contacts and questions − thank you!
Today we present a video about Tumblr’s account preferences (to be distinguished from the blog’s settings).
| Category Blogs, Communications, Design, Facebook, How-to, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Measurement, Public Relations, Resource, Reviews, Site Administration, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Software Review, Storytelling, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits, Twitter, Video | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#FUNDRAISING: Paul Jolly Inspires The Big Ask To Raise Big Money
If you ask for less, you'll get less (and work harder on fundraising than on your projects)
We welcome back Paul Jolly, Director of Jump Start Growth, Inc., a nonprofit fundraising and consulting firm in Washington DC. Today, Paul tells about the importance of breaking the sound barrier.
Many good therapists will tell you your achievements are limited only by your attitude. Organizations, as well as individuals, may have a mindset that limits what they can accomplish. Which means they work harder for less.
| Category Advocacy, Cause Marketing, Crowdfunding, Development, Fundraising, Grants and Funding, Major Gifts, Nonprofit, Planned Giving, Public Relations, Storytelling | | 0 Comments
Written by: Paul Jolly
#MARKETING: Can Nonprofits Take Advantage Of Pinterest’s Open Platform?
We talked about Pinterest last week when we discussed the fact that the social-media platform has been opened to the public, who no longer need to wait for an invitation. The incredible growth of the platform, already the fastest growing social network in the brief history of such networks, is likely only to continue over the next few years. The questions for nonprofits and small businesses should focus on how to think about Pinterest as a tool to reach more donors, volunteers, and customers. In order to answer some of those questions − even to ask the right questions − one must appreciate what Pinterest ‘is’ and get a sense of what current users expect of each other and of the sharing that goes on. We’re here to help with just those questions.
| Category Advertising, Advice, Branding, Cause Marketing, Communications, Design, Fundraising, How-to, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Media Review, Nonprofit, Pinterest, Public Media, Public Relations, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Storytelling, Web and Print | | 1 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#NONPROFIT: Some Models Of How Charities Use Tumblr
We’ve sung the praises of Tumblr a number of times on this blog, and today we want to present a few examples and ideas of just how nonprofits are using this free platform as a means to spread the word of their great work. One of the many great things about Tumblr is its simplicity of setup. That said, you don’t want to treat your organization’s efforts simplistically.
First off, you might want to consider Tumblr as your calling card to a larger audience, rather than as a venue for in-depth reports to your committed constituents. Tumblr loves images, quotes, and videos, but few go to their accounts to read long analyses. Your nonprofit definitely should have a place for such detail, but Tumblr might not be that place. How have nonprofits used it?
| Category Blogs, Branding, Campaigns, Cause Marketing, Communications, Crowdfunding, Design, Fundraising, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Media Review, Nonprofit, Public Media, Public Relations, Reviews, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Storytelling, Technology for Nonprofits, Tumblr, Web and Print | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#SOCIALMEDIA: How Young Is Too Old To Have Communications Expertise?
Why don’t you all fade away, and don’t try to dig what we all say
I’m not trying to cause a big sensation, I’m just talkin’ ’bout my generationThe Who, “My Generation,” My Generation (1965)
Well, I’ve already dated myself. But I’m going to press on with this post anyway. Catherine Sloan, a recent graduate from the University of Iowa who already has byline credit with USAToday, posted an opinion blog at NextGenJournal.com with the title “Why Every Social Media Manager Should Be Under 25“. It has caused something of a ruckus − a sensation, if you will − and commentators and flamers have been debating her post for the last 10 days. Now that some of the heat has dissipated, we wanted to see if she cast any light on the generational and communications experiences of Millennials.
| Category Advice, Advocacy, Aging, Blogs, Civics, Communications, Facebook, Facebook, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Media Review, News and Current Affairs, Nonprofit, Opinion, Public Media, Public Relations, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Media, Social Networks, Storytelling, Technology, Twitter, Twitter | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#COMMUNICATIONS: Keep Storytelling In Forefront, Whatever Platforms You Use
Oprah Winfrey likes a book. BOOM! It’s a best-seller and a big movie. Justin Bieber retweets something that catches his eye. POW! It’s trending huge for forty-eight hours! Who wouldn’t want that kind of attention? Well, often nonprofits and charities don’t want that kind of attention. The best/worst case of this kind of virality is the Kony 2012 campaign, which we followed closely earlier this year and don’t have the stomach to repeat.
What nonprofits and charities want is steady growth in awareness, volunteerism, and donations. They don’t need the huge splash (some small splashes don’t hurt!), but they use the same social networks that the Oprahs and the Biebers of the world use. How do they use the same tools to develop dissimilar results.
| Category Advice, Advocacy, Blogs, Cause Marketing, Communications, Facebook, Fundraising, How-to, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Measurement, Newspaper Article, Nonprofit, Permission Marketing, Public Media, Public Relations, Publications, Social Media, Social Networks, Storytelling, Twitter | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#DEVELOPMENT: Social-Networking Is Good, But Conversation-Building Is Better
Difficult to say that social networks have already grown to be mature means of communication. Moreover, some platforms shoot wide and far (vis Facebook for everyone), while others target a specific subset of the social-media community (vis Epernicus for the scientific community). Figuring out how to negotiate those platforms can seem daunting. But we have some advice that might help ease the stress of trying to reach everyone. Don’t try to reach everyone. Well, it’s not quite that simple.
| Category Advice, Advocacy, Blogs, Campaigns, Cause Marketing, Communications, Community, Crowdfunding, Development, Facebook, Facebook, Fundraising, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Measurement, Mobile, Nonprofit, Public Relations, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Storytelling, Twitter | | 1 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#COMMUNICATIONS: In Outreach, Less Can Be More If You Avoid 3 Common Mistakes
You won't be the first, but how to avoid a #Fail?
With the still-growing panoply of social-networking platforms out there, one can easily feel overwhelmed with trying to keep up with all the hottest topics on the coolest sites. To add to the pressure, each new platform has its own subset of skills to master, which requires time and energy you thought you’d spend raising donor support or planning the next volunteer drive. To make matters still worse, you read through the MKCREATIVEmedia blog each week to discover a new social site or software package that might be just the ticket to make your charity a success.
Well, let’s just chill out a bit this Monday (now that the national heatwave has finally been clipped) and follow some sage advice from Brad Smith: avoid three common mistakes, and the outreach can better take care of itself.
| Category Advice, Blogs, Cause Marketing, Communications, Marketing Skills, Measurement, Nonprofit, Public Media, Public Relations, Research, Site Administration, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Storytelling, Web and Print | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#HOWTO: Curate Information To Make Sense Of Your Nonprofit’s Ambitions
‘Content Curation’ is on of the new buzz concepts of the internet. The term refers to the activity of collecting, sharing, and responding to information on the internet in a consistent and focused manner. A ‘curator’ is traditionally defined as “a keeper or custodian of a museum or other collection.” And the new concept follows a similar line, albeit for a website or social-networking account. In a sense, many of us are already doing it, both as individuals and as spokespersons for our nonprofits and charities. If you are updating a Pinterest account or sharing what engages you on Scoop.it!, then you are already a ‘curator’ in some sense. But how can you push that activity to the proverbial next level, and how might curation be a boon for your nonprofit?
| Category Blogs, Cause Marketing, Communications, How-to, Marketing, Measurement, Media Review, Nonprofit, Pinterest, Project Management Tools, Research, Resource, Reviews, Scoopit, Site Administration, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Storytelling, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits, Tumblr | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#COMMUNICATIONS: Break The Sound Barrier To Encourage A Conversation
We welcome back Paul Jolly, Director of Jump Start Growth, Inc., a nonprofit fundraising and consulting firm in Washington DC. Today, Paul tells about the importance of breaking the sound barrier.
Back in 1947, US Air Force pilot Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 rocket/plane. Fighter jets break the barrier with ease nowadays, but it’s not the only sound barrier that must be broken. The sound barrier that a fund raiser hopes to break through is the sound of his or her own voice. More times than I care to remember, I have sat in the living room or office of a donor, hauling newsletters and annual reports out of my briefcase, talking about programs, accomplishments, plans. Blah, blah, blah. I am waiting for a signal from the person across the coffee table or desk, and he or she is waiting for me to stop talking.
| Category Advocacy, Campaigns, Cause Marketing, Communications, Crowdfunding, Development, Fundraising, How-to, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Nonprofit, Permission Marketing, Storytelling, Strategic Marketing | | 0 Comments
Written by: Paul Jolly
#HOWTO: Connect Your Facebook Page & Your WordPress Blog For Seamless Outreach
Click to enlarge
Last week Facebook and WordPress announced a plugin that will link both social-media platforms: posts on your nonprofit’s WP blog will be updated in your nonprofit’s Facebook Timeline, and your blog entries can have ‘Like’ and ‘Recommend’ buttons on them. One of the great things about the WordPress blogging platform is indeed the plugin feature: most are free and open source. And though establishing a WordPress content-management system (CMS) is not the easiest thing to do, installing plugins is a snap as the established site does all the work for you!
So how do WP and Facebook talk to each other?
| Category Advertising, Advice, Blogs, Communications, Dashboards, Facebook, Facebook, Facebook, How-to, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Nonprofit, Public Media, Public Relations, Site Administration, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Storytelling, Technology for Nonprofits, Web Design, Writing | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#COMMUNCATIONS: Blog Loud & Proud & As Often As Content Warrants
A truism/maxim/cliché that has long inspired me whenever I start a new project is, “You can fight without ever winning. But you’ll never win without a fight.” The statement inspires me because it prepares me for the possibility of not succeeding while reminding me that the only failure is not being willing to try.
And blogging definitely started that way: Could I draw readers? Did we have the material necessary to interest people over the long term? What sorts of conversations could MKCREATIVEmedia help to inspire? With so many great blogs out there, wouldn’t it be easier not to jump into the ring?
Well, a bit over two years on, we’d like to share a few things that have learned in the competition and from it too.
| Category Blogs, Cause Marketing, Communications, Community, Cross-Post, How-to, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Site Administration, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Storytelling, Writing | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#COMMUNICATIONS: The Number One Way To Gain Site Or Blog Readership Is…
If your nonprofit or your charity has any online presence at all, you want readers to engage your content, click through the link(s), visit the site, and get involved with money and/or time. If you are a blog writer, you want pretty much the same, though gifts might also/instead mean advertising dollars because so many people come to your site. And, of course, no reason a nonprofit can’t have a blog that carries those ambitions for the blog and the site that hosts it.
The million-dollar question is: “How do I get people to move from scanning the headline to clicking on it and getting engaged?”
| Category Advice, Blogs, Campaigns, Cause Marketing, Communications, Development, E-Mail, eNewsletter, How-to, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Newspaper Article, Permission Marketing, Public Relations, Publications, Storytelling, Strategic Marketing, Writing | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#ADVOCACY: When A Clever Concept Just Misses, It Misses By A Lot
Sometimes being close really means missing by quite a bit
Sometimes a nonprofit’s campaign can include a fine idea that, alas, doesn’t quite get it right. Like a long fly ball to the 385-foot alley of a ball park that falls in to be caught at 382 feet, the charity can be excited at what seems to be about to happen, only to trudge back to the dugout (or in our cases today ‘back to the glitzy communications agencies’) lamenting about what could have been.
Let’s return this Monday to a theme we led off with last Monday on high-concept advocacy plans that did not quite live up to expectations. The good folks at the Showcase of Fundraising Innovation and Inspiration (SOFII) provide us all with food-for-thought when it comes to campaigns that might have looked good in the pristine world of the conference room, but came up just short in the real world. And ‘just short’ can mean real human tragedy where the fight against hunger is concerned.
| Category Advice, Blogs, Campaigns, Case Study, Cause Marketing, Civics, Communications, Community, Crowdfunding, Design, Development, Donor Acquisition, Fundraising, Graphic Design, Health, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Media Review, Nonprofit, Public Media, Public Relations, Publications, Reviews, Social Marketing, Storytelling, Strategic Marketing | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#ADVOCACY: Make Sure Pitch Has Call To Action, Not Just High Concept
What happens when you get corporate assistance to launch a new campaign, or pro bono development from a commercial ad agency? You can get some fabulous ideas and some valuable insights on establishing your brand. You can get your materials into some of the best publication and on some of the most visited sites on the web.
But as some of our colleagues at Sofii.org have discovered, you can also get a good deal of expensive nothing. The commercial backer or ad agency might not be sensitive to the constituents who want to be involved with various types of nonprofits. They might encourage outreach through channels that are quite unlikely to reach the people your charity traditionally reaches. They might give you a fabulous product on the design board (Indeed, I think it’s safe to say that they certainly will give you a fabulous design.) that falls flat in the real world. Let’s look at a couple of examples from Sofii.
| Category Advertising, Advice, Advocacy, Blogs, Campaigns, Case Study, Cause Marketing, Communications, Copyrighting, Crowdfunding, Design, Development, Donor Acquisition, Fundraising, Graphic Design, How-to, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Measurement, Media Review, Newspaper Article, Nonprofit, Public Relations, Publications, Publications Design, Resource, Reviews, Sponsorship, Storytelling, Strategic Marketing, Study, Writing | | 2 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#INTERVIEW: Debra Askanase, Socialbrite.org Strategist, Offers Useful Advice To Nonprofits Using Social Media
Debra Askanase, founder of Community Organizer 2.0, is an “engagement strategist” who consults with nonprofit organizations on digital media. She is also a strategist for Socialbrite. Her background includes a decade of community organizing experience, followed by seven years in community economic development. The interview was conducted by Don Akchin, a principal of Nonprofit Marketing 360 and a frequent contributor to the MKCREATIVE blog.
MKC: How did you get into digital media? Did you reinvent yourself?
DEBRA: Yes, but it also seemed a pretty natural progression. I started off as a relatively traditional community organizer with multi-issue/low-income organizations. I moved into tenant organizing as well, then into economic development. I saw many of the same skills in leadership development that I saw in community and economic development. I worked with low-income immigrant entrepreneurs to start businesses. After doing that for seven years, I became very interested in business, from the perspective of how business can change society. So I went to business school and there seemed to be a confluence at that point. Social media was just gaining traction – this was 2007 and Facebook had just opened up beyond the college crowd – and I made that leap, intuitively, that social media is really community organizing. Here’s an opportunity where I can use my expertise in business strategy that I had been doing for seven years and my understanding of how people come together to change things. And I wanted to bring that interest to nonprofits. My entire experience had been working with nonprofits, so I understood that world from the ground up.
| Category Advice, Blogs, Communications, Community, Cross-Post, Development, Donor Acquisition, Facebook, Facebook, Facebook, Fundraising, Grants, Grants and Funding, Interview, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Measurement, Nonprofit, Social Media, Social Networks, Storytelling, Strategic Marketing, Twitter, Twitter, Writing | | Comments Off
Written by: Don Akchin