Nonprofits are in the tricky position of having many stakeholders to reach and limited resources. Using those resources wisely for communications becomes difficult when a typical nonprofit wants to maintain a print presence while adding new technology.
The Minnesota Council on Nonprofits holds a monthly brown bag lunch for communicators and the June get together focused on more advanced web tools–Web 2.0, so to speak. Here are some resources and tidbits I collected at the meeting. My apologies to those in attendance for not giving you each credit for your contributions.
Blogs and blogging
-Just like any publication, set some ground rules for topics, tone and style before launching a blog for your organization. It can be an essay, letter-form or book review. One animal rescue group has a resident cat blog about a rare feline disease and gets emails from around the world from pet owners who appreciate the information.
-A good resource is Debbie Weil’s book “Corporate Blogging,” recommended by Susan Murphy of the Improve Group.
-The number of links within a blog will increase it’s rating in Google and other blog search engines. For nonprofits which are often building community with other local nonprofits, businesses or government agencies, it’s a great opportunity to grow those connections. Email for permission before creating links, according to netiquette.
-Software options include Movable Type and Word Press.
-The Minnesota Council on Foundations web page contains a list of related blogs.
-Another resource is Tech Soup.
