nptech

Volunteering is fun. I volunteer with the library technology courses - most of them with seniors. For Christmas, I'll be volunteering with Family Services to deliver Christmas hampers - also to seniors. - Nathalie, Dreamer of FF

Do it! www.serve.gov for volunteer opportunities in your area. Also, I would recommend thinking about HOW you volunteer. When I was younger I used to do park clean ups and things like that. Now I tend to do more skilled based volunteering - I sit on the board of a nonprofit and do consulting for nonprofits on areas where I have expertise. - Jason

I was thinking more in line with public libraries here in Los Angeles. I submitted something online but I haven't heard back from them. I should maybe just GO to a library and find out more info there. - Derrick

Also, if anybody has expertise in technology / social media and wants to present at the conferece submit a proposal. I'll be reviewing everything we get in from those categories. There will be 5,000k + nonprofit attendees - so it's good exposure. Also, it's in NEW YORK CITY! - Jason

Derrick, sometimes nonprofits aren't the best at accepting volunteers (i.e. if you submitted something online they should get back to you!), but keep on trying! - Jason

Do the conference cover expenses for presenters? What about honorariums? MPOW has minimal cash to send me places to present. - ♫Geek in the 410♫

Maurice, looking at the presenter agreement/information, it doesn't look like that's the case - looks as if presenters are responsible for costs. Which means I'm unlikely to submit, much as I'd like to. I struggle enough with paying for conferences in librarianship. - ÉllbeeÇee

Unfortunately, no. There is discounted registration fee for presenters though. I have always felt we should offer more to presenters, but not everyone is on board yet. Last year we had Marnie Webb from TechSoup and Holly Ross from NTEN and Laura Norvig from ETR Associates do a really great social media session for us. - Jason

Hey, Jason, I already contacted Holly and she wants to do something again this year so let's talk before the submission deadline. We're thinking a series of hands-on sessions: 1) Listening with RSS Readers 2) Storytelling with blogs 3) Generating Buzz with Twitter 4) Recruiting volunteers and supporters with Facebook. Maybe CCI could do 3 and 4 and Holly and I could do 1 and 2. EDIT:... more... - Laura Norvig

"When I make a choice, will I give money to Catholic Relief Services who is following me or CARE who is not? DUH?" - E-Advocate Network

And when I said I will post it in the nonprofit tech group for discussion: "you so rock!! would love to get feedback!" - E-Advocate Network

I think her point is very valid. I can think of various reasons why some NGOs don't follow people back. Perhaps some are new to Twitter and don't know how to use a third-party client to manage a large list of people they follow, so they may only follow orgs they are interested in. Perhaps some are understaffed and don't have anyone to engage and follow people back (I suppose they could... more... - Laura Norvig

I am hoping lists might change this quite a bit. "Budget" is my thought. Then I realized that is not an excuse to tell an activist who is Tweeting away for their cause for free - but is not followed by the NPOs and NGOs who have paid staff running their Twitter accounts. She is vocal, so I am wondering if others feel the same. I am wondering if followers feel unappreciated too. - E-Advocate Network

(Full Disclosure: I am a tad disgruntled.) The people who determine what content goes out are not the same people who post the content in a lot of situations. Many of the larger, more established orgs say "hey - you young person. do the twitter thing that CNN keeps talking about and make sure people know when we do a press release/blog post/web action/fundraiser. So the intern sends out the tweets. Too many NP's are still doing one way (web 1.0) conversations. And they like it that way. - Suzannah

(still ranting) we cant talk about np tech and not address the silent underlying giant: there are major age gap issues in np's. & they have conflicting nptech ideas. the feminist community does for sure. its the intern who knows about tech, & the exec isnt interested in learning. But the exec is terrified of the intern "speaking for the organization" - even if it is 140 characters or less. they can be super protective of "the message." the whole web2.0-two-way-conversation thing still needs advocating. - Suzannah

Thanks Suzannah. A generation gap makes sense. In this case, the activist just wanted the "thank you" of a follow, it was not even a matter of conversation. Perhaps the generation gap may see this as a pandora's box - temptation to "off-message" or personal conversation? - E-Advocate Network

Exactly what I meant! Look at the daily workflow of the auto post. somewhere there is an exec meeting about an action/fundraiser/press release. The press/media person translates this to a blog post and hands it to the web person to post. the intern gets the concept of auto tweeting, so she sets that up. web person is the one who executes previously mandated "message," she wasnt even at the meeting where the message was crafted. HERE's the real question: why didnt the exec think she belonged there? - Suzannah

That is a good point: If your social media coordinator is also a public "spokes person" via the internet, they should be in that meeting. The last person invited to an exec meeting will be an intern. It is looking like social media coordinators (and the qualified Millenials often taking the positions) need to be fully intergrated. - E-Advocate Network

just a mini note: you are going to find the "on-message" obsession more with the membership orgs (ACLU, NARAL, NOW, SEIU) than the ones where the org doesnt have memberships/affiliates. Each member org can tell you of "that one time" when some one who was a chapter leader or $20 member made a comment about the org in question and it was broadcasted as the entire org's "position" on the... more... - Suzannah

i just saw your post - 'social media coordinator'? tee hee. the instances you are thinking of - the non retweeters - dont have one - that is the problem. they have the people who are in charge of message and the 'web person' they give it to to post. still in the mind frame of the web as a broadcast medium - another form of the newsletters they have been doing for years - not as a two way conversation. - Suzannah

btw: THANKS for letting me rant. :) this is a rockin concept and I love you for discussing it!! - Suzannah

Thank you for the discussion! Its the first time I have seen a dedicated activist complain on Twitter who is not in the nonprofit field- a key voice to me atleast. They are the ones who turn a nonprofit into a movement. That is how social change works. Woke me up! - E-Advocate Network

It's an awesome complaint for them to make! They bring up the issue that was stirring in the last election - people actually DO want to be part of the discussion. they dont just want to consume news and donate to the yea or the nay. basics of marketing. people do more/give more/act more, if the movement belongs to them, if they are invested in the movement. it's also the price of... more... - Suzannah

It's time to pull the plug on MySpace - Sarah Levels Up

I think that conclusion is based on stereotype Sarah- MySpace leads by 14% in family density. Parents using social media is rare majority and find on social media. LinkedIn had 20% with children in the home. It would be a huge loss to nonprofits that focus on families. - E-Advocate Network

If you think TechCruch's synopsis of MySpace catering to "people of color," it is wrong. It only leads in hispanic women making up to $100,000.000 per year. This demographic migrates to Facebook after 50 years old. - E-Advocate Network

Where it falls behid is graduate degrees, yet it stronly leads in female majority. I think what we are seeing is women choosing motherhood over graduate school. It also had the same percentage of middle class users, yet falls behind by 8% total in the higher upper classes. - E-Advocate Network

sorry, it was an off-the-cuff remark. I know MySpace still has users, I just can't stand the site personally. - Sarah Levels Up

That is your taste, strongly not others. Out of all social sites (especially Twitter) MySpace has the smallest level of passer by users, the largest percentage of dedicated users and "addicts" It is a dedicated, vibrant community for those who use it. - E-Advocate Network

This is a Causes design failure because it is not working on a social change paradigm - it is working on an internal, gated app paradigm - E-Advocate Network