By Mandi Moshay
Communications Manager
Philanthropy Northwest

Beth Kanter

If you’re active on Twitter and follow anyone that is interested in social media, there’s a good chance you’ve seen the #KanterSEA hashtag flying around. That’s because Beth Kanter, nationally known expert in the field of nonprofit social media, will be coming to Seattle for a series of events, including an exclusive funders briefing hosted by Philanthropy Northwest.

Thanks to event co-sponsor Microsoft, Beth will be coming to our Seattle office (and will be viewable via webinar) to host a frank and lively discussion revealing what she has learned through her work with nonprofits and funders across the country. The conversation will cover:

• What social media can do for your organization and what pitfalls to avoid
• The necessity to redesign how you work when engaging with social media
• How grantmaking organizations can use (or help grantees use) the “Crawl, Walk, Run, Fly” assessment tool in order to understand and measure the nature of the change process as your organization becomes more social media savvy
• Strategies for foundations to support communities of practice and peer learning
• What funders need to know when attempting to build social media and network capacity in their grantees
• How to become data informed rather than data driven

This event is free for Philanthropy Northwest members and $45 for nonmember grantmakers. Click here for more information and to register.

By Mandi Moshay
Communications Manager
Philanthropy Northwest

Philanthropy Northwest is excited to host the founder of Mixtape Communications and co-author of the Social Media Roadmap, Zan McColloch-Lussier for our upcoming Brown Bag Briefing: Social Media for Public Foundations. The briefing takes place on June 19 in our Seattle office and registration is free of charge. In anticipation of this event, we asked Zan to share a little bit about the information he’ll be covering, and some insider info on some of his favorite new tools in the social sphere.

PNW: From your perspective, what is the thing organizations struggle with the most when it comes to social media?

Zan: I think most organizations struggle with using social media to engage people in a really human way. People spend time on social networks so that they can interact with their friends and family, not to receive marketing messages. However foundations and nonprofits have valuable information to share with them and real opportunities to engage people in making the world better, but for years we’ve been taught to do this in a marketing fashion, whereas the culture of social media calls for us to be much more conversational.

PNW: What’s your favorite new social media tool or application?

Zan: Of course the trick answer to this is that my favorite tool is the one that works the best. Recently I have found myself recommending people check out two tools a lot. The first is Storify, which lets you build an interactive story from all sorts of content on the web, including tweets, videos, still images and blog posts. You can then take your Storify and embed it on your website or blog. I think this is a great tool for putting an event in context, like a conference or a news story. Here’s a Storify I did about The Seattle Foundation’s GiveBIG.

The other tool I’m hot on right now is called BufferApp. It lets you easily schedule content for social networks, like Twitter and Facebook. I’m very active on Twitter and post there about six times a day, however the bulk of the content I find to share I discover first thing in the morning. Instead of posting all six tweets within minutes of each other, I hit the Buffer button in my browser and they go out throughout the day. It’s a real time saver.

PNW: How many hours a week does it takes to have an effective media presence?

Zan: The amount of time it takes to have an effective social media presence is directly related to your objectives and goals for social media. Many people and organizations can effectively manage their social streams in an hour a day. But there are so many variables to this.

PNW: What are some of the topics you’ll be discussing at the Brown Bag Briefing?

Zan: The topics we’ll be focusing on at the Brown Bag Briefing are: discovering your audience and what they’re interested in; creating valuable content for sharing on social networks; and scheduling your time on social media. Honing these will help any foundation be more strategic and efficient on social media.

Space for the briefing is limited so register today.

By Suphatra Laviolette
Marguerite Casey Foundation
Administrative Specialist, Communication

By 2011, using social media to communicate was no longer just “for the kids.” Organizations in the public and private sectors were hiring social media strategists and asking people to “like” their page or “friend” them.

The rapid adoption of social media – which are transparent, easy-to-use and immediate – democratized communications, creating a more citizen-centered media landscape. That shift, however, had not reached all citizens – namely, the poor. At Marguerite Casey Foundation, we asked: How can we make social media inclusive, providing poor families with an important tool to communicate not only with each other but with the wider world?

In social media, the foundation saw a unique opportunity to lift the voices and stories of poor families out of the traditional media cycle. Our initial effort to report issues of concern to low-income families and communities was Equal Voice, the foundation’s online weekly newspaper. We then used other social media to bring a wider audience to the Equal Voice stories, an audience that ranged from the foundation’s grantees and their constituents to like-minded foundations and other organizations, the public and policymakers. The combination of excellent reporting and social platforms triggered online debates on poverty and attracted the interest of other journalists and policymakers.

Through an aggressive social media strategy, the Equal Voice presence on Twitter grew by 1,150 percent and 767 percent on Facebook in 12 months. Followers include grantees, low-income families, organizations working on poverty issues, journalists and politicians (Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Washington state Rep. Jim McDermott, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and President Barack Obama, to name a few!).

There’s plenty more to do to bring the voices of the poor to the media forefront, but here’s how we increased those following Equal Voice news by more than tenfold in one year:

1. CLEAR GOALS. We outlined our goals and expectations. Using social media was not about promoting Marguerite Casey Foundation but rather to engage the foundation’s grantees in online communications, influence public opinion on issues affecting low-income families, and grow readership for the foundation’s national newspaper Equal Voice.

2. WEB AUDIT. We ran a web audit of our 250 grantees to see which were using social media, and where. This helped ease us into cyberspace, because grantees already online welcomed us with open arms and, with that endorsement, built our brand and esteem with digital allies down the road.

3. ENGAGING OUR GRANTEES. The audit was instructive. About 70 percent of our grantees are active on social media (an astonishing percentage considering all of them exclusively serve marginalized and poor communities). By “liking” their respective Facebook pages as well as following them on any other social media outlets they participated in, we began the flow of conversation.

4. CONSISTENT ENGAGEMENT, MEANINGFUL CONTENT. We built the grantee online network through constant monitoring of the news landscape, reciprocal and mindful engagement, link sharing of high-quality content, and e-mail messages and personal calls. We used HootSuite to schedule daily tweets, posted content on the weekend, and strictly followed self-imposed rules: Don’t tweet more than once every 20 minutes; don’t post to Facebook more than twice a day; share only the best, most interesting and poignant information relevant to our focus on national poverty.

5. TELL EVERYONE. We told everyone about our adventures in social media: Our Twitter curates news articles trending on poverty – check it out! Did you know all our photos are on Flickr? Before we knew it, people told others about our social media successes and trials.

6. ENGAGE LIKE-MINDED ALLIES. The good will and rapport built with grantees in our newly created digital network began to attract allies and shape our web brand as a resource on poverty. We nurtured the referral relationships and cultivated more. The free services like Mention Map helped us discover new allies, and we engaged them the same way in which we had engaged our grantees.

7. LEARN NEW TRICKS. We consumed information about social media voraciously: all of Clay Shirky’s books and TED talks, Beth Kanter’s blog, NTEN’s 2010 Benchmark Report, Allison Fine’s social media podcast (Fine interviewed us in September 2011, check out the podcast here). We even attended the traveling Social Media for Nonprofits Conference. We reached out to those successful in digital advocacy, like Internet politics veteran Alan Rosenblatt at Center for American Progress. He confided that when Center for American Progress started out in digital advocacy in 2009, the center faced a lot of skepticism: Poor people aren’t online! Organizations working for the poor aren’t online! Today, they have a social media following in the tens of thousands. His story gave us a lot of hope.

Just a second ago, someone tweeted to us, “Thank you for all the good work you do to improve our world. Blessings!” Those messages remind us that even if we’re not face-to-face, we are still reaching real people. That is perhaps the most important lesson we learned this year on how to succeed in social media: Lead with authenticity and goodwill. People are people, not “users” or “fans” or “followers.” In an age that struggles with authenticity and trust – online and off – if you can be open and candid about your identity and intentions, you’ll go a long way. Treat people like people, and they will like you, trust you and, maybe, just maybe, follow you.

By Cheryl Frizzell
Finance and Systems Director
Philanthropy Northwest

What do PATH, Village Theatre, and Philanthropy Northwest have in common? We were among more than 150 nonprofits who participated in the Tech for Good Leadership Summit held last Friday at Microsoft. I am what they call an “accidental techie,” with technology responsibilities falling in my lap because, like a lot of nonprofits, Philanthropy Northwest doesn’t have dedicated IT staff. For a day, I embraced my geekiness and absorbed lots of useful tidbits from enthusiastic keynote speakers and fellow “geek for a day” participants.

The conference, co-hosted by Microsoft and NPower Seattle, combined interactive sessions and networking with information on specific tools to help Washington nonprofits harness the power of technology to increase their impact on our communities.

Akhtar Badshah, senior director of Global Community Affairs at Microsoft, shared compelling stories about how nonprofits all over the world are taking existing technologies and adapting them to advance their mission. Safaricom, a telecommunications company in Kenya, adapted smart card technology to create M-PESA, a mobile banking service in Africa.

Closer to home, Beth Kanter, author of The Networked Nonprofit, gave a shout out to Philanthropy Northwest member Foundation for Early Learning (FFEL) for effective use of social media in a campaign. Their Community Action Project grant was marketed through their blog, Facebook page and Twitter account. Each time a follower posted about the grant, the foundation donated a book to a baby. The campaign spread the word about the grant, and resulted in an overall increase in FFEL’s fans and followers, helping them reach a wider audience with news about their work.

As I speed-dated, my notebook filled with tidbits of advice. Three things I will do right away:

1. Investigate SkyDrive as part of Windows Live. SkyDrive offers 25 GB of free document and photo storage in the cloud.
2. Look at Facebook Insights and Export.ly for help measuring the impact of our social media work.
3. Review our Facebook profile picture. Rotating the profile picture can increase traffic. The Monterey Bay Aquarium has found that the “cute” mammals draw the most traffic – I love the otters!

In the near future, I will:

4. Have a conversation with staff about cloud computing. As an organization, are we comfortable with our data not on our server? Organizational culture is a key component of any cloud computing discussion, per the expert presenters of the day.

As a geek for a day, I’m ready to go again next year. A huge thanks to Microsoft and NPower Seattle for such an inspiring and successful convening.

Photos by Gemma Aronchick/Microsoft.

By Stephanie Garrard
Alaska Contributions Manager
Wells Fargo

Today, attendees at the 2010 Philanthropy Northwest Annual Conference took part in a session on corporate story telling. “Once Upon a Time: Sharing Corporate Giving Stories” was well attended and brought to light many reasons why corporate giving stories are worth telling.

The panel consisted of leaders in corporate giving who shared valuable experiences, such as a comment from self-confessed, recovering reporter Bruce Amundson, president of the Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation, who encouraged “adding the human element” to stories about companies. It’s not the corporation making the news, it’s the people. These are stories about our employees our communities and what matters to them. It’s why we give!

Ultimately, we explored questions related to the conference theme, The Power of Place. How does place shape story, and vice versa? How can it be told, where should it be told and who needs to hear it? Our panel shared ideas and a variety of avenues for delivering stories to employees and communities.

Social media is now common practice; media releases have become yesterday’s news as we tweet, blog and Facebook stories in real time as they happen. Embrace this place: own your story and control it’s telling.

AND, don’t forget Philanthropy Northwest is our partner! They’re always looking for newsworthy information to share in the Corporate E-Bulletin, on their blog, and with media contacts.They have the relationships and avenues to share our giving stories. They want to feature your organization, and share innovative ways we’re all shaping communities and changing lives.

By Richard Woo
CEO
The Russell Family Foundation

Last week at the COF family philanthropy conference in San Diego, I reported briefly on a discussion held as a “book club” conversation among foundation trustees and staff about the Jeff Jarvis book, “What Would Google Do?” In a small breakout group, I learned from Jessamyn Lau, program leader at the Peery Foundation in Palo Alto, CA that they used Twitter in their strategic planning. I was intrigued by this notion of “strategy haiku in 140 characters or less” so Jessamyn and I arranged to speak by phone. Here’s what I learned.

Jessamyn and her colleague at the Peery Foundation randomly experimented with Twitter as a tool for building and maintaining momentum in their organization’s strategic planning process. There are just two people in their office and they faced the internal questions we often ask ourselves in the midst of strategic planning:

Ø      Is this a crazy idea?
Ø      Who am I to make these decisions?
Ø      What is the appropriate role of philanthropy in social change?

As a way of opening up their thinking and the strategic planning process, they started sending out tweets describing the subjects they were dealing with on any given day, the dilemmas they were wrestling with, the readings that were provoking their thoughts, etc. Doing so started to frame the strategic planning for others within their Twitter networks so those other folks could observe, comment, challenge or contribute to the process of the foundation.

Jessamyn found that this online exchange began to build momentum for the planning process which sometimes helped them move through sticky bottlenecks. Distilling their thoughts into brief questions that could be captured in a tweet of 140 characters or less helped to sharpen their focus.

The Peery Foundation simply played with Twitter as a tool to see where it would take them. It helped them to convene impromptu “open source focus groups” that weren’t as easily available to them otherwise. For example, when they shared what reading was informing their thinking, oftentimes others replied with recommendations of additional research or writing that was relevant or provocative.

As Jessamyn asks rhetorically: “How does your own foundation’s character emerge through the social media? You don’t realize that people are getting value from the tweets because they are ‘listening’ to the conversation. I had several people write back saying how much they appreciated the stream of thinking even though they didn’t contribute comments on the actual content.”

You may recall that I closed my blog entry last week on this subject of social media with the question:  “If I’m on Twitter, am I a twit?” I now know from Jessamyn and other adventurous colleagues that the answer is “No.”

By Alaina Smith
Communications Manager
Philanthropy Northwest

I swear, I wasn’t the one Tweeting during Josh Bernoff’s keynote address last week! But, now that it’s over, it seems safe to post a few reflections in the blogosphere.

(Click on the center of any photo to see the caption.)

Over 40 corporate grantmakers and Philanthropy Northwest members gathered last week at the 2009 Corporate Philanthropy Institute. The day’s focus was strengthening the case for corporate philanthropy (especially in a recession). Keynote speaker and social media guru Josh Bernoff provided an overview of how businesses and organizations are using social media to improve their business and engage their communities. (more…)

“Hoping to learn how to take advantage of online communities, blogs, wikis, Facebook and YouTube? [...] These are all elements of a social phenomenon — the groundswell — that has created a permanent, long-lasting shift in the way the world works. Most companies see it as a threat. You can see it as an opportunity.”

Josh Bernoff, co-author, Groundswell

The keynote speaker at our 2009 Corporate Philanthropy Institute is Josh Bernoff, renowned author and researcher on social media and modern business. (He is also “a real rock star,” according to unscientific polls of our corporate members, when asked about his potential as a keynote speaker.)

There are many ways to get to know Josh beyond his traditional bio. He walks the social media walk, so you can read his blog, follow him on Twitter, see YouTube videos of Josh, or read what other people are saying about his work.

Check him out and don’t forget to register for the 2009 Corporate Philanthropy Institute!

Here’s a quick how-to on not one, but TWO easy ways to add your voice to the Philanthropy Northwest Blog.

Leave a Comment…

When you’re looking at posts on the home page, each one has a little box at the bottom with green text in it. The last line of that text will either read “Leave a Comment” or “502-ish Comments”. To add your (incredibly valuable and insightful) comment, click on the aforementioned last line and then…

You’ll be looking at a friendly box that says “Leave a Reply” (Fig. 2). Enter your name, email address and your (incredibly valuable and insightful) comment, press “Submit Comment” and, PRESTO… you have joined the conversation.

Optional: Once you’ve commented on a post, send it on to all your friends and colleagues with a not-so-subtle suggestion that THEY TOO leave a comment, thereby enriching the conversation with their own (incredibly valuable and insightful) voice.

Write a post…

Have something to say? Write a post (usually three-five paragraphs). Send it to info@PhilanthropyNW.org. We can help edit it, pretty it up with photos, or simply publish it in all its perfect glory.

When it’s published, she will be sure to send you the link so you can commence with the blatant comment-trolling described above.

Ready, set… BLOG!

By Carol Lewis
CEO
Philanthropy Northwest

Have you ever wondered why there seems to be such a fuss about blogging and social networking? Or, have you ever asked someone (your teenager, for example) what earthly point there is to Facebook? Well, since you are reading this blog, maybe you are more hip than most and you’ve got this figured out. Either way, consider reading the national bestseller Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernhoff. The subtitle is Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies. The Financial Times called it “entertaining, well-written and mercifully free from tech-y details.” You’ve got to love that review.

I heard both authors today during the keynote address at NPower’s 10th Anniversary Luncheon in downtown Seattle. Here at Philanthropy Northwest, we love NPower because they keep our computer network up and running, and answer all the questions we can’t possibly figure out on our own. What a gift NPower is to the nonprofit community. And, it’s another example of Northwest leadership. Started ten years ago here in Seattle, NPower is now a national resource with offices around the country.

Microsoft served as a presenting sponsor of the NPower event today. We are lucky to have this supportive corporation in our community – check out my interview with Seattle Times philanthropy blogger Kristi Heim on the value of corporate giving. And, congratulations to Greg Vigdor and his team at Washington Health Foundation, who were recognized at today’s lunch for their innovative use of technology in helping Washington state move up the ladder to the 10th healthiest state in the nation.

But back to social networking. My demographic is “over 55 years old.” That means, from a probability perspective, I am not likely to participate in a social networking site. Nonetheless, here I am, writing blog posts, and I’m even signed up with LinkedIn. PRI Makers Network Managing Director Peter Berliner, also in that “over 55″ demographic, went to a class on social networking this month!

In short, we are trying to learn about this. You can, too. You don’t even have to read the book. Just be brave and comment on this post. Responding to my post is like dipping a toe in social media – as the Communications Network would say, Come on in, the water’s fine. Just leave a comment about whether you think social networking is interesting, or might make sense in your life.

So go ahead. Post something.