Resource Roundup 8/29

Action Email Archive(FairSay)
Amazing, huge repository of examples of emails sent by nonprofits to call their constituents to take an action.

Streamlining Best Practices for Non-Profits (Center for Mind Body Medicine)
Overview of how CMBM is using a number of different software packages to streamline their back office functions.

11 Tips for Using Online Video to Raise Money (See3)
Quick but useful tips on how to raise money using online videos

AdWords-Style Widget Recommends Related Ways to Take Action (Social Actions)
Social Actions has released an interesting widget - you can put it on your blog or website, and it will recommend related ways to take action based on matching keywords to social action platforms.

A social internet (ONE/Northwest)
A nice overview of a number of different social networking and social media sites, with some thoughts as to how nonprofits could use them.

Selling Social Media to Your Organization (NTEN)
NTEN's recent newsletter has a couple of articles that might be of help if you need to convince your internal stakeholders to try out some Web 2.0 tactics - Preparing to Sell Your Case to Organizational Stakeholders and Ten Common Objections to Social Media Adoption

Prioritizing Websites vs. Email vs. Online Outreach

Colin Delaney of ePolitics and I did a workshop focusing on Online Communications on a Shoestring at the Craigslist Nonprofit Boot Camp last weekend. It was a good time, and it seemed to go well. I liked the structure we used, which divided up the world of online communications into three parts:

• Website (as a home base)
• Email Communication (to talk to your friends)
• Online Outreach (to reach new friends)

But how should a nonprofit balance those components? It will of course vary based on an organization's mission and goals, but is it possible to come up with a rule of thumb? Should a nonprofit focus a third of their energy and money per year on each component? While I have no specific evidence, a rule of thirds resonates with me.

A website tends to be a bit more of a front-loaded investment, but thinking about it as a yearly expense can help to prioritize. For instance, if you have $30,000 worth of time and money to spend on all your online communications, investing $10,000 in upgrading and maintaining your website makes sense to me.

And then another $10,000 in crafting a solid email communications strategy and putting out solid communications? That seems right, or even low - if there's one area that should get more focus than the rest, I'd say it's probably here.

And then lastly, online outreach - so everything from search engine optimization to viral movies or petitions to social networking. This gets the vast volume of the buzz from the nonprofit technology community, and there's no question it should be part of the mix, but I don't know whether it should get more than a third of your online communications energy. The size and mission of the organization might come into play here - a larger organization that's targeting internet-savvy audiences might find that it's worthwhile to invest much more energy in this area, while just maintaining a website and email communications status quo. But a smaller organization might get better return on focusing first on creating a strong website and email infrastructure, before investing in finding new online friends (after all, it's a good website and email strategy that will help keep your friends, after you find them).

What do you think?

Resource Roundup 8/20

Free SharePoint Webinar (CMS Watch)
The excellent folks at CMS Watch provide a "high-level critical view of SharePoint, with candid, independent advice for both business and technology leaders" via a FREE online seminar on August 28th.

Microsites and Landing Pages at the Bridge Conference (Beaconfire)
An interesting look at the use of "microsites" - small websites geared towards a particular campaign, and when they might make sense

Recommended Online Video Hosting Services (ONE/Northwest)
Quick but useful guide to some good places to put video online to allow others to see it

Oxfam America's Cross Channel Communication (Chief Marketer)
Brief, interesting look at how Oxfam America integrates their online and offline communication

The Return on NTEN's Blogging Investment (NTEN)
NTEN talks about the amount of time they put into blogging, and the qualitative returns they seem from it

Alfresco as a SharePoint alternative (CMS Watch)
A thumbnail overview (by the always impartial and wise CMS Watch) of how the free and open source Alfresco could work when you're considering Sharepoint

Email Options: Life After Eudora 6.1 (ANR Communication Services)
An overview of the alternatives to Eudora for those considering whether they should continue to renew their license.

Humane Social Marketing (Netsquared)
Carie Lewis, Internet Marketing Manager at the Humane Society, talks about how they raise funds, awareness, and activity through social networks.

Do Your Stakeholders Think You're a Spammer? (Nonprofit Online News)
A nice look at the issues around probably legal but ethically murky ways to build your email list

4 Tools for measuring your website (Forum One Tech Blog)
Thumbnail summaries of four different tools that can help you gauge the success of your website with search engines and RSS readers

New article: A Few Good Methods for Processing Credit Cards

Okay, I'm back from vacation and ready to.. blog some stuff! First off, we have a new article up: A Few Good Methods for Processing Credit Cards.

We've done a lot of articles in the world of payment processing, but this one is a broad look at all of the options, from lockboxes and swipe options through to online methods and point of sale systems. There's a huge amount to know in this realm... as I discovered as I struggled with how the heck to structure the article.