#INTERVIEW: Michael Hoffman, CEO of See3 Communications, Discusses Why Nonprofits Need to Embrace Video
Michael Hoffman is co-founder and CEO of See3 Communications and a leading authority on online video for nonprofits and online fundraising and outreach strategies. After turns as a political consultant and developer of Internet startups, he founded See3 to bring together his vision of the web and his passion for nonprofit fundraising. The interview was conducted by Don Akchin, a principal of Nonprofit Marketing 360 and a frequent contributor to the MKCREATIVE blog.
MKC: What was the concept of See3 when you founded it?
MICHAEL: See3 was a coming together of my background, which was really on the web side in terms of Internet business and strategy, and that of my partner, Danny Albert, which is video. Danny has been a documentary filmmaker for 20 years. Around 2004-2005, we both saw some trends that we call our ‘your chocolate and my peanut butter moment.’ I was telling Danny about changes on the web and the development of broadband (It’s hard even to remember that only a few years ago, some 90% of people were still using dialup). Broadband was around the corner and Danny asked me, ‘What does that mean? What will broadband do?’ And I immediately answered ‘video.’ When you have broadband web, the web will become a platform for video, just as it is with us talking over Skype now on this interview.
Popularity: 7% | Category Campaigns, Communications, Community, Cross-Post, Facebook, Fundraising, Interview, LinkedIn, Marketing, Marketing Budget, Measurement, MySpace, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Perspectives, Perspectives, Pinterest, Posterous, Scoopit, Social Media, Social Networks, Storytelling, Strategic Marketing, Technology, Tools, Tumblr, Twitter, Twitter, Video, YouTube | | 0 Comments
Written by: Don Akchin
#TECH: RSS Readers To Help Save Time & Sort Out News & Emails
We continued our series on Tumblr yesterday with some guidance to get your nonprofit’s blog out via an RSS feed that allows people to subscribe to your site. When they subscribe, they get automatic updates and summaries of whatever is going on in your blog. The great aspect of setting an RSS feed for your organization’s blog is that you encourage people to subscribe to your feed, then outreach to your supporters is automatic. Moreover, readers can forward a single link to their colleagues and friends to encourage them to subscribe.
But what about the advantages of using Really Simple Syndication as a reader and follower of news in the nonprofit world? With just a bit of setup organization, you will find RSS a fabulous way to get to the information you want coming to you, rather than hunting out for it.
Popularity: 3% | Category Blogs, Communications, Dashboards, Design, Desktop Apps, E-Mail, eNewsletter, How-to, iDevice, Internal Marketing, iPad Apps, iPhone Apps, Marketing, Newspaper Article, Publications, Report, Resource, Reviews, SEO, Site Administration, Social Media, Software Review, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits, Tools | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#INTERVIEW: Jocelyn Harmon, Vice President of Sales, Marketing & Customer Success at Network for Good
Jocelyn Harmon is Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Customer Success at Network for Good. She has been writing Marketing for Nonprofits blog since 2007. The interview was conducted by Don Akchin, a principal of Nonprofit Marketing 360 and a frequent contributor to the MKCREATIVE blog.
MKC: You have said a focus of your blog is helping nonprofits succeed online. When did you latch onto the online piece of marketing?
JOCELYN: I was working at the National Council of Nonprofit Associations, from about 2004 to 2006. Our goal at NCNA was to help nonprofits run better as businesses. My job was to do marketing and raise money for NCNA. I was also tasked with helping our member organizations be better marketers and fundraisers. I started doing a lot of work with a group called NTEN, the Nonprofit Technology Network, and through them I met some really interesting people: Holly Ross from NTEN, Billy Bicket at TechSoup, and of course I met Katya Andresen (Network for Good) at that time. They were talking about how technology was going to revolutionize the way that nonprofits work – from programming to marketing to raising money: everything was going to move online, and nonprofits were going to be left behind if they didn’t hurry up and get on board. I thought, well, this is really cool. The other piece for me is the promise of technology to level the playing field. I’m an African-American woman, I have a strong history in my family of social justice work, so I love the idea of people having access to tools where they can be publishers, where they can have a voice, where they can connect with people potentially all across the world. So I got really passionate about the power of technology to change nonprofits, and how people with access to tools like that could change the world.
Popularity: 3% | Category Blogs, Communications, Community, Cross-Post, Fundraising, iDevice, Interview, iPad Apps, iPad/Tablet, iPhone Apps, Mobile, Nonprofit, Perspectives, Perspectives, Strategic Marketing, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits, Tools, Twitter | | 0 Comments
Written by: Don Akchin
#Interview: Allison Fine, Author & Analyst — Examines Intersection of Social Media & Social Change
Allison Fine researches and writes about the intersection of social media and social change. She is the co-author (with Beth Kanter) of the bestselling book, The Networked Nonprofit: Connecting with Social Media to Drive Change, as well as the award-winning Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age. She hosts a monthly podcast for The Chronicle of Philanthropy called “Social Good.” The interview was conducted by Don Akchin, a principal of Nonprofit Marketing 360 and a frequent contributor to the MKCREATIVE blog.
MKC: You’ve researched and written about social media and how it could impact democracy in the 21st century. Is the Occupy Wall Street movement along the lines of what you were envisioning?
ALLISON: Occupy Wall Street is absolutely part of the same DNA of social protests that we’ve seen for about the last ten years or so. They are widely distributed – meaning there’s no centralized organizing person or organization. They are fueled, but not caused, by social media – the ability to share messages, share photos, share videos, which are very powerful, is part of what’s stirring the pot and helping to organize the events. Occupy Wall Street has some of the drawbacks of this kind of mobilizing as well: the lack of a centralized message and the lack of goals. Whether or not those ultimately stop the momentum for these self-organized efforts locally will be interesting to watch.
Popularity: 4% | Category Blogs, Book Review, Campaigns, Case Study, Cause Marketing, Communications, Community, Cross-Post, Crowdfunding, Development, Direct Mail, Donor Acquisition, Fundraising, Grants, Grants and Funding, Interview, Major Gifts, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Permission Marketing, Perspectives, Perspectives, Resource, Reviews, Social Media, Sponsorship, Strategic Marketing, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits, Tools, Twitter | | 1 Comments
Written by: Don Akchin
#Tech: Don’t Confuse Innovation For Implementation This Year
Sure, often new technology IS better...
Who doesn’t like to toss out some predictions about the upcoming game/meeting/primary/year? The thing is: predictions about nonprofits and technology tend to push the envelope of the latter while ignoring the needs and practices of the former. Sure, the iPhone 5 might include Near Field Communication (NFC) technology allowing its owners to round up purchases to the nearest dollar as micro-donations to their favorite charities. Perhaps indeed cloud-computing services will bring nonprofits’ databases to their staff’s tablets in the field.
But some of the most important work for a nonprofit takes place off the grid and away from the latest thinnest laptop. Which is worth remembering, even as your nonprofit absolutely should be keeping an eye out for the tech innovations that can indeed help your colleagues and community.
Popularity: 2% | Category Blogs, Community, Development, Fundraising, iPad Apps, iPad/Tablet, iPhone Apps, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Nonprofit, Opinion, Public Relations, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits, Tools | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Tech: What Will 2012 Look Like For Social Media?
Welcome to a New Year! As we gear back up we wanted to introduce what other trend watchers are saying about the universe of social media for 2012 – some of which might surprise you.
Two likely developments over the upcoming year according to Lance Ulanoff at Mashable are the implementations of Augmented Reality (also ‘Mobile Augmented Reality’) and the development of the ‘Micro-Payment Economy.’ The former means we will look via our mobile devices (or perhaps glasses) to see not only the objects out there but also any digital information about them. Look at your favorite bistro, for example, and reviews will come up before your eyes as well.
The latter has been developing through much of 2011 as news journals have begun establishing pay walls for content and games are giving themselves away, though the more interesting features must be paid for along the way. Of course, nonprofits have been developing a micro-donation economy for some time already, so hopefully that trend will only expand.
But Lance also believes Facebook is about maxed out in the Anglo-speaking world, and reactions against the ubiquitous cell phone are growing. States, and even the federal government, for example, are starting to implement no-phone policies for moving vehicles. But if augmented reality becomes part of the windshield, then both sets of issues get solved.
Christina Thomas at Technocrati argues, along with many others, that tablets will grow more powerful and grab still larger shares of the computing market. If that’s the case, we will likely see different form factors over the next couple of years as well – though it’s unlikely screens will notably improve in size or strength just yet.
Of course, part of the fun of the new year is to make such predictions in the hope no one hunts your guesses down twelve months later. But we predict that we’ll do our best to keep up with these and other trends – and keep you well informed of them over the coming year.
Popularity: 2% | Category Blogs, Communications, Community, Crowdfunding, Facebook, Fundraising, Hardware Review, iPad Apps, iPhone Apps, Opinion, Reviews, Social Media, Technology, Tools, Twitter | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#HowTo: Be Productive Anywhere on Apple’s Mobile iOS
With the advent of the iPhone and iPad, it’s easier than ever to get things done when out meeting potential donors or organizing fundraisers. Depending on what you need to do, an iPhone or iPad can keep you productive on the commute to and from work or on an airplane etc. That said, we are not condoning working on your iPhone or iPad while driving!
Many organizations use Microsoft’s Office suite for word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. Though it’s rumored they’re working on a version for iPad and iPhone, Microsoft has been notably absent from the AppStore, the marketplace where all applications for Apple’s mobile operating system (iOS) can be purchased. Not to worry: here are some ways to get started creating and sharing immediately with your mobile device. (more…)
Popularity: 3% | Category Apple, Desktop Apps, How-to, iDevice, iPad Apps, iPad/Tablet, iPhone Apps, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Reviews, Software Review, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits, Tools | | 1 Comments
Written by: Scott Caldarelli
#Tech: Net Neutrality Supported in Europe – Not Unsupported in US
The European Parliament voted last week to continue to encourage net neutrality as a means to foster innovation and to encourage the dissemination of information. The resolution states, in part, its ambitions “to ensure that internet service providers do not block, discriminate against, impair or degrade the ability of any person to use a service to access, use, send, post, receive or offer any content, application or service of their choice, irrespective of source or target.” Political support for the measure was bolstered by the Plum Report, funded by such content providers as the BBC, Yahoo!, and Skype.
In the US, on the other hand, the Senate recently blocked a Republican-sponsored bill that would block the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)from blocking service providers who block, or at least slow down, internet traffic. Why is the Senate’s position so much more convoluted than the one presented by the EU?
Popularity: 2% | Category Civics, Communications, Community, National/International, News and Current Affairs, Nonprofit, Opinion, Politics, Site Administration, Technology, Tools, Web and Print | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Interview: Michael Stein, Author, Blogger, & Veteran Nonprofit Technology Strategist
Michael Stein, Senior Account Executive for Donordigital, is a veteran nonprofit technology strategist whose areas of expertise include online fundraising, email messaging, email list growth, blogging, website content, mobile messaging, and social media. With Nick Allen and Mal Warwick, Michael wrote the groundbreaking 1997 book Fundraising on the Internet: Recruiting and Renewing Donors Online.
The interview was conducted by Don Akchin, a principal of Nonprofit Marketing 360 and a frequent contributor to the MKCREATIVEnonprofit blog.
MKC: How did you get into this field?
Michael: About 20 years ago, I was working for an environmental group just as the Internet started to emerge. I got in on the ground floor, building bulletin board systems for Greenpeace activists and others tracking toxic chemical emissions around the U.S. I helped build the pioneering Internet provider called IGC.org that trained nonprofits to use the Internet, which then morphed into the first experiments in online fundraising on the Web for Rainforest Action Network. In the mid-1990s, I hooked up with legendary direct mail fundraisers Mal Warwick and Nick Allen, and we started to think about what the future of fundraising might look like with the evolving Internet. Together we wrote the first book about fundraising online.
Popularity: 9% | Category Advertising, Advice, Blogs, Branding, Campaigns, Communications, Community, Copyrighting, Cross-Post, Database, Development, Donor Acquisition, E-Mail, eNewsletter, Facebook, Facebook, Fundraising, Grants, Grants and Funding, Interview, iPad/Tablet, Major Gifts, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Measurement, Newsletter, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Permission Marketing, Perspectives, Public Relations, Social Media, Storytelling, Technology, Tools, Twitter, Writing | | 0 Comments
Written by: Don Akchin
#Tech: Near-Field Communication (NFC) Could Turn Smartphones Into Donation Engines
Near-Field Technology (NFC) allows short-range communications between an NFC antenna or engineered SIM card and a receiver. The communication is good only up to a couple of feet, which might help make it a secure connection because eavesdroppers need to be next to the users. It is a technology that first appeared in Taiwan in 2007, and is expected to have a major impact in the US by the middle of next year.
From a hardware point of view, the user needs a smartphone with the necessary antenna or SIM card. For most of us, that would mean a phone upgrade, though a few NFC-ready phones are already on the market (click here for a running list of available phones). With the NFC-ready phone, a user could connect his or her bank through the phone to make purchases with a swipe of that phone. And there is where the debate has started.
Popularity: 4% | Category Advertising, Banking & Finance, Civics, Communications, Geo-Location, Hardware Review, iDevice, Marketing, Public Relations, Reviews, Software Review, Technology, Tools | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Development: Action Group ‘Do Something’ Grows Huge Through Small Smartphones
The social-media (r)evolution has proven a wonderful challenge for charities and nonprofits. The technology is cheap (not free), and as millions more get comfortable with it, the opportunity to reach a broad spectrum of supporters grows exponentially. And yet, without careful consideration of the stories your organization wants to tell, and how it wants to target constituencies within the various social-media outlets, the effort can seem maddeningly diffuse.
One organization has returned to the relative simplicity of text messaging with stunning success. Last holiday season a text message was sent to about 500 young people in New York City who had been in contact with “Do Something” but had not been much involved. They were told of a local food drive, and in just minutes some twenty percent joined in the effort. DoSomething.org has not looked back.
Popularity: 3% | Category Communications, Community, Marketing Skills, Newspaper Article, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Social Media, Technology, Tools, Volunteerism | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Tech: The Cloud Can Bring Liberty. The Cloud Can Bring Danger.
O Liberty…! is it well
To leave the gates unguarded?
Thomas Bailey Aldrich
The history of technology is the history of liberty and loss. We gained a stylus and wax and left the need to memorize everything. We gained a smartphone, and forgot how to write legibly. With great freedom comes great responsibility, and the need to make decisions that might protect and develop that freedom for as many as possible.
Which, in its own small way, is what the computing/network cloud is doing for us now. As we approach this Independence-Day Weekend, we wanted to touch on a couple of recent trends on the discussion of cloud computing. First, we must face the fact that those who want to steal from us in the cloud do not have the upper hand, but they do have too much freedom to take what they want.
Popularity: 4% | Category Apple, Communications, Media Review, News and Current Affairs, Newspaper Article, Opinion, Public Media, Technology, Tools, Web and Print | | 3 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Health: Stroke Comeback Center (DC) Allows Those with Aphasia to Communicate Using New Technologies
This month has been Aphasia Awareness Month, a special demarcation we first noted last year on this blog. Aphasia is a condition of neurological disruption, most commonly caused by a stroke or by a head injury, that makes oral and/or written communication difficult. The language center in the brain can not make a smooth or direct connetion to the mouth or to the understanding of letters and words.
The Snyder Center for Aphasia Life Enhancement (SCALE) in northern Baltimore marked the event this year by recognizing the efforts of local businesses to provide aphasia-friendly materials and staff for their customers. At the luncheon, some of the speakers were themselves stroke survivors who lived with aphasia. They delivered heartwarming, uplifting, and eloquent, accounts of their personal experiences and the projects they had accomplished while at SCALE.
They did so largely through a technology called VAST, which combines video and audio cues for a person with aphasia to get her or his ideas out. We spoke with Darlene S. Williamson (MA, CCC-SLP) Founder and Executive Director of The Stroke Comeback Center in Washington DC about this exciting technology.
Popularity: 11% | Category Communications, Community, Health, Healthcare, Interview, iPad Apps, iPad/Tablet, iPhone Apps, Nonprofit, Technology, Tools | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Tech: Does The Smartphone Move Us To A Post-PC, Post-Camera, Post-mp3 player… World?
But does anybody watch music videos any more?
Few things in life are more futile, and such great fun, as predicting the future. From Francis Fukuyama’s The End of History to Harold Camping’s Time Has An End (the web design exhibited here ended, thankfully, about 1997), we invariably misunderstand what will be the next big thing. And when we get it wrong we tend to argue that we were misunderstood. Or the true meaning will be revealed/discovered later.
But throwing caution to the wind can be one of the perks of blog writing, so we thought we’d follow PCWorld‘s Jeff Bertolucci into the abyss, as he argues all the (10) technologies that the smartphone has killed off over the last 5-6 years. I’ll go first: my pocket/academic calendar, still received each September as a quaint reminder of a simpler age, goes straight to the recycling bin. My phone’s multi-sync, multi-repeat, alarm-tweaking calendar keeps track of my mess of a schedule.
You can play along at home, of course: what technologies have you given up over the last few years thanks to your phone-cum-computer? What technologies do you use now that you suspect your phone will be doing before the Cubs with the Series? Before you click for ‘more,’ take a moment to consider…
Popularity: 5% | Category Advice, iPhone Apps, Media Review, Opinion, Software Review, Technology, Thought for the Day, Tools | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
Tech: The Value of an IT Partner for Nonprofit Organizations
My Apple Technology consulting company, scott caldarelli consulting limited, has been supporting MKCREATIVE and its clients for some time now, so it’s a thrill to be able to share some of the lessons I’ve learned and the insights I’ve developed over the last few years, especially when it comes to supporting consultants and community-based organizations.
Specifically, I’m going to be exploring technology — hardware, software, troubleshooting tips, how-tos – over the next months. My focus will be what you can do to maximize your organization’s infrastructure reliability and minimize procurement and maintenance costs.
A bit about myself first. I became interested in computers and in Apple’s Macintosh computers as an audio engineer. At that time, the best recordings were made on analog tape that held 24 tracks, each reel could record about 15 minutes and each reel cost $150-$200. Then I saw someone edit a stereo master track on a computer. He just highlighted what he wanted to go away, hit delete and it was done. I was a convert.
Popularity: 3% | Category Advice, Apple, Communications, Cross-Post, Database, E-Mail, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits, Tools | | Comments Off
Written by: Scott Caldarelli