What can a secure social media platform mean for your nonprofit?

Last week I talked about how social media platforms could help us work together in new ways, but it will also have an impact on how and what we know about each other. Social media provides us a new way to get to know and understand our colleagues, collaborators, clients, and supporters.

It had been widely reported that social network users have surpassed email users. People are using social media to share information about their activities, interests, likes, and dislikes. Is the Social Sector listening? Are we sharing? What can we do with this information? Mark Benioff talked about a social divide beginning between businesses that are social and those that are not. He even predicts that the next Arab Spring will be a “Corporate Spring” where heads of companies will be taken down because they are not listening enough to their employees and their customers.

What should the social sector do differently now that we have a new way to get to know each other, listen, and learn? What does this mean for fundraising? Marketing and communication? Volunteer recruitment and management? Evaluation and data collection?

I don’t think any of us can foresee all of the answers to these questions yet, but I want to urge us to begin to Get Social about how we can move the social sector to the forefront of the social revolution. Where to begin? Start the conversation by adding your comments to this blog about ways you think social media and the cloud can help advance your mission.

What does the social revolution mean for the social sector?

Last week I left readers with a question to ponder: What does the social revolution mean for the Social Sector?

I’m sure as we all pondered this question, immense possibilities emerged. Though much of the Salesforce conference I recently attended was aimed at the 97% of the audience that was from the corporate sector, the theme of the DreamForce 2011 conference, Let’s Get Social, crossed the boundaries of sectors.

Here is one key message I was able to translate.

Social media platforms and the cloud are creating new ways to collaborate and share information. For example, Salesforce’s application Chatter, released in June 2010 combines the best of Facebook and Twitter but is secure for an organization. It allows staff to collaborate/chat about projects, share documents, stream video, and perhaps most intriguing, invite non-Salesforce users into Chatter groups to collaborate while keeping all your organization’s data private. Platforms like this could enable us to easily:

• Follow the activities that are happening at each organization related to a collaborative group or project we are a part of through real-time news feeds involving only those in our coalition or collaborative group.


• Get feedback from a group immediately about an idea or course of action.


• Have one place where collaborative documents, videos, etc. live that can be accessed by anyone in a group.
  

What could a secure social media platform for your organization mean for grassroots activism? Advocacy? Board governance? Case management and client referrals?

Stay tuned for next week’s posting as I continue to ponder these questions.

Freya Bradford, Consultant, NorthSky Nonprofit Network

Ah, the world of databases....

Can't live with them, can't live without them. But we all know that our ability to effectively manage the constellation of constituents: clients, donors, volunteers, and staff that comprise our nonprofit's universe, is at the mercy of the database we've chosen and our skills in using it.

This month we have the opportunity to learn more about selecting databases and one in particular, Salesforce. Technology consultant, Andy Wolber, will be leading two webinars on March 10 as part of the NorthSky Professional Development series: www.northskynonprofitnetwork.org

Salesforce is a database we have experience with at NorthSky, having launched it here last fall. It's growing in popularity with nonprofits throughout the country; it's very robust, handling an array of organizational needs -- from marketing and sales, to project management and evaluation. While we don't engage in fundraising here, its fundraising capabilities also appear strong. We've only begun to dig into all of its capabilities but we are excited about the possibilities of having an integrated technology approach that links our website, email marketing and evaluation system together. We'll be launching our new website this Spring so watch for that.

Join us on March 10 to learn more about databases including Salesforce. Anyone else using Salesforce? Anything to share?