Printer-friendly versionEmail

Steve talks Facebook with about 20 attendees

On Tuesday night, September 30th, Teaming for Technology hosted the third monthly meeting of the Colorado Nonprofit Technology and Communications group. The theme of the night: Social Networking and Nonprofits. Should your organization be up on an online social networking site? Probably. Can you use online social networking to successfully fundraise? Probably not.

“A few of us knew that successful groups like this existed in San Fran and DC, so we decided to start it here in Colorado,” said Corey Snipes when asked how the CNTC group got started. He went on to describe how the CNTC group was formed to be a “sales-free, non-biased forum in which to share best practices.”

Steve on MySpace:
"digital cesspool"

CNTC invited two local social networking experts, Steve Kessler (Denver Dataman) and Justin Perkins (Care2), to share their expertise while leading the group discussion Tuesday night.

Steve started the session by explaining that consumers are now used to receiving information when and where they want it. This “pull mentality” means that nonprofits can no longer solely rely on traditional promotional vehicles to “push” information at consumers. A page or group on a social network site is just one more way to distribute your organization’s information.

Justin explains both how to lose money with online social networking and where to get awesome roasted nuts

Justin Perkins focused on the fundraising aspects of social networking. He shared that “social networking is very interesting and creative, but it has yet to provide a positive return” for fundraising at nonprofit organizations. Most successful online fundraisers are still conducted through email. Justin also cautioned the group to remember that social networking is just one more tool for your nonprofit organization. “It’s not the silver bullet,” he said. He concluded by sharing two fundraising studies that his organization has conducted involving My Space and Facebook. He also shared the link to their Social Network Calculator.

Mike, from RMAD, is paying attention

If you’d like information on the the next CNTC event or would like to be included on the mailing list for future CNTC group sessions, please visit the CNTC website or email Corey Snipes.