The Fun Theory

I thought this was kind of cool, came across it on Twitter (cant remember the person who tweeted it, sorry!). The idea is “dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better.” Here is an example of the fun theory

Twitterboard at 29th IFC

Ah yes…us Fundraisers are really at the cutting edge aren’t we. 

At this years International Fundraising Congress Innophoria Lab’s  introduced a Twitter Billboard during the four-day conference. Well done to all invovled especially Alan Bird and Kristina Fitzpatrick for their work in supporting this new, Twitter-orientated social network. 

Adopt a Word

I came across this on Twitter last week and thought it was just brilliant. The concept is really clever and pretty simple:

The English Language is up for sale. I CAN, the children’s communication charity, supported by Collins, is giving you the chance to exclusively own part of the English language at www.adoptaword.com .

All proceeds go to I CAN and its work to help children who struggle to speak and understand words.

So whether you want to buy ‘gold’ for your girlfriend, ‘pashmina’ for your mum or just a ‘treat’ for yourself, from just £20 the word can be yours to look after for a whole year, to punctuate and place in sentences as you like.

I bought the word vegetarian for my wife for her birthday (and no thats not all I bought her!). You can also buy merchandise like key rings and t-shirts with your adopted word on it and you get an adoption certificate. To date they have raised 33,000 pounds from adopted words.

I just love the link they have made between what they do and their fundraising.  Well Done

Check out the post on SOFII which details the background and objectives of the campaign, thanks to Ken Burnett for highlighting it to me

Charity Water have 1 Million Followers on Twitter

The first charity to have 1 million followers, congrats. Now they want to harness that into 1 million people getting clean water. I really love the work they do and how they demonstrate their impact, you should really check them out.

Great User Generated Content

When you can get user generated content it is great, when its this good its phenomenal. Your supporters are probably some pretty smart and creative people who may just be able to create stuff like this if you just ask them. Dont be afraid of what they are going to produce, I can hear the comms team now…its not to message! Well their perception is the reality so embrace it.  I was shown the clip above by Steve Bridger and it was made by someone who attended a Big Lunch event on their street this year. Its great

Great Impact

I tweeted this the other day, Charity Water every day post a picture of what their work is doing. It is phenomenal Impact, they really get the importance of Impact. Here is the picture that really caaught my attention

 

22 Ways a Blog can Rock Your Social Media Campaign

I did a presentation recently on Blogging and why you should Blog (you can check it out here).

I came across this today and thought it was a great follow on from that. I found it on JohnHaydon.com

1.  Your blog will enable you to deepen relationships with your fans. They find fresh, relevant content that is useful them – and have a place where they feel heard.
2. Your blog is a powerful way to attract new visitors by demonstrating social proof.
3. Your blog will save you money on IT costs because blogs are easy to use and maintain.
4. This ease of maintenance adds to the sustainability of your organization.
5. People using Google will find your non-profit a lot easier if you have a blog. Blogs get much more search engine juice than traditional, static websites.
6. Blogs are much less expensive to host and manage than traditional websites – and most hosting companies feature “1-click” installation of blogging software, like WordPress.
7. Your HR recruiting strategy can be enhanced by having employees regularly blog about why they work there. And by the way, pay isn’t as important as you think.
8. Your key executives will learn to speak in a more human voice through blogging.
9. You, yourself will become a better writer through regular blogging.
10. You can trash your marketing theory in exchange for valuable insight into why donors really give you money.
11. You will employ the Law of Karma to promote your non-profit on the web.
12. You will experience a spike in the number of visits and depth of engagement from your fans.
13. You will even have parties with your blog (with horns and cake), because it actually can be fun and easy!
14. Your blog will be a tool to enhance and develop valuable partnerships with other non-profits.
15. You can increase donor conversion rates with content that is relevant and useful.
16. You get the support of a huge community of thousands of other non-profits.
17. Having a WordPress.Org blog includes access to tons of free (yes, free) software for your blog.
18. You’ll empower your board members to talk about why they love your non-profit. Yes – they can write, can’t they?
19. Instead of waiting for your IT intern to return your call, you’ll communicate urgent news very fast with your blog.
20. Your blog can be a tangible way to value your staff, enhancing retention.
21. A blog will help you refresh and refine your passion – which is the whole point anyhow. Right?
22. You will be able to learn more about social media just by jumping in and starting a blog.

London Twestival Looking for Charity Nominations

This week, charities can nominate themselves to be the charity for Twestival Local in September 2009. The first Global Twestival on February 12th 2009, was a groundbreaking charity fundraiser, uniting Twitter users in 202 cities around the world raising $250k for one charity in 24 hours.

There will be a global charity for Twestival Global next year, but the next Twestival is a Twestival Local.  The organisers want to support something local, something that matters to Londoners.

A charity that understands the power of social media, that can really engage with twitterers and capitalise on the huge awareness is being sought to be the partner in this event.
 
Charity nominations for Twestival London Local are open til 11pm this Sunday 26th July. Nominations can be made here: http://3.ly/HbN and all the info required is there.

This is the way to say thanks

This is great work by Action Aid UK again, they really get it. This is similar to something I saw during the US election (check that post out here).

This may be a bit expensive for your organisation, but adapt it, how about some of your supporters or people who benefit from your service recording a Thanks video, like this Send a Singer post from Crisis.  Simple but effective.

Thanks to Eugene Flynn from 54 degrees for showing us this at Fundraising Ireland

Livestrong on Twitter

A lot of Twitter posts lately!

Thought this was great way to adapt the LiveStrong wristband onto Twitter. Simple click through to add the yellow band to your profile picture. Nice work

Check it out here

Why is Social Media Important to a Brand?

I came across this on the Engaging Brand Blog and thought it was worth re posting (hope thats ok?)

Social media should be part of a brand strategy for 5 main reasons

1. A brand succeeds when it bridges a gap inside the consumers mindset of where they are now and where they want to be….social media can help build that bridge – it can work with the consumers on answering their fears, their questions….lead them from their reality to achieving their visions (being slim, educated, healthy, green, successful etc)
2. Brands need advocates to spread the word – nothing better than social media for recommendations, shareability etc
3. Brands need to communicate at all levels and to all emotions
4. Brands need to listen, not for the sake of it…but too evolve.
5. Brands need to be consistent and constant in their consumers lives. RSS allows that opt in approach from the consumer which stops forcing the brand into the consumer’s life.

Originally posted by Anna Farmery on the Engaging Brand Blog

Check out #iofnc Tweets

Lots of people Tweeting from the Institute of Fundraising Conference. Check some of them out like

1.  http://twitter.com/howardlake
2. http://twitter.com/ThirdSector 
3. http://twitter.com/rachelbeer
4. http://twitter.com/parkeslife
5. http://twitter.com/derekhumphries

Telling Stories

This is a great example of the power of story telling (thanks KP), called 1 in 8 million click below and check it out

Look Beyond the Label

This is a great campaign by Red Cross, take a look. How can you adapt this?

Our Digital Futures

Steve Bridger posted this great presentation on his Twitter page yesterday. It is a presentation he made to the heads of digital of some of the UK’s biggest charities at a Third Sector Forum. You really should take a look at it.