Three developer resources for the inspired-less

Inspiration is hard, and at times seems impossible.

There are times when everything I put together feels great; I have one of those Mozart moments where that first version is the best version and the last version. Then of course there are times when getting something as simple as a donate button or a 125x125 ad to look the way I want it to seems impossible. It’s simple to do, but when it just doesn’t look like something you want to take credit for – inspiration feels completely unattainable.

To reduce these moments of frustration (and the accompanying mouse banging) I made it a point recently to include design blogs and resources into my daily feeds and "reads", and while I’ve yet to put together any awe-inspiring donate buttons, the exposure has done a lot to get ideas boiling. I’d like to share 3 of my new favorite resources.

Webdesigner Depot

Of all the websites I cover, Webdesigner is the one I frequent the most. They’re consistent with getting an interesting post up every day, and they tweet (http://twitter.com/DesignerDepot) several times a day, often linking to designs/photos/images and tutorials I would not have come across unless I was following them.

Beyond being a design blog however, the real hook for me to this site is that everything isn’t just centered on designing, but design.  An example of this can be seen in a recent post titled “Apple vs Microsoft  - A Website Usability Study” [link]. Typically, comparison of these 2 companies puts their respective OS’s against each other (which in turn starts a flame war in the comments section with Apple fanboys and Microsoft users), but instead, this post compared their product websites. Each “pride themselves on producing cutting edge consumer and business products”, but which reflected it better on their website? Which had a better search function? Which showcased their products best? Which flowed best? But most importantly – why and how did they achieve it?

WebDesigner Wall

I often wish I knew everything there is to know about web design. To be like a Superman, tights, cape and all (while sitting at my desk), but instead of super powers, I’d be a super web designer. Back to reality though, there’s just no time.

WebDesigner Wall topics are wide ranging include product reviews, giveaways and job listings, but my favorite thing here are the tutorials, all categorized perfectly in their tag cloud. Topic tags include core elements like SEO, design trends and design processes – all easy to filter through and find on the sidebar. Now when I have 30 minutes to spare, rather than getting lost in Digg, I find performing their quick tutorials hugely helpful. (That is to say, Digg is my kryptonite, and WebDesigner Wall is my Lois Lane.)

Six Revisions

Six Revisions to me is less like a blog, and more like an online magazine.

Like the last two, it has tutorials and freebies, but it offers it in a more robust way. The articles are longer, that is, they’re usually more thorough and the freebies (mostly textures and Photoshop brushes) are displayes and hosted for download on their own site. My favorite thing about Six Revisions is that the topics, while still web design and development focused, are all so randomly relevant. That is, one day it’s an article about improving web development [link], another day about time tracking apps for billing [link], and then the next day they're providing links to shortcut and design cheat sheets [link].

Staying up to date with topics that come up often as a developer has been much easier with since discovering Six Revision. (It also helps that their founder is on Twitter (twitter.com/jggube).)

Nonprofits say YES to social media… and mostly to Facebook

We know there is some dispute over whether or not Facebook is good for fundraising. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.

But there’s no dispute over its popularity. In a recent NTEN survey, almost 1,000 nonprofit professionals answered questions about their organizations’ use of social media. And they said loud and clear that they’re using it.

Some highlights:

• 86% have a presence on commercial social networks in general, and 74% are on Facebook.
• 81% said their primary purpose for having a presence on these networks is marketing.
• 81% allocate at least one-quarter of a full time employee to the networks.
• The average Facebook community size is 1,369 (unless you leave in those big three organizations that skew the average to 5,391).
• The average Twitter following is 291, LinkedIn community is 286, and YouTube is 268. Oh, and MySpace, which comes in at 1,905 members.

Your constituents are on Facebook. Your competitors are on Facebook. And there’s a lot of marketing going on.

So it’s not always a question of the dollars coming in due to Facebook, but how well you are marketing your organization, and engaging new and loyal supporters.

Thanks to this NTEN study, you can measure your organization against industry benchmarks. And, you can prove your success and relevance in social media in other quantifiable ways. Track the numbers of Facebook Fans and their demographics (via improved Insights reporting on Facebook Pages), the number of Followers and @ mentions on Twitter, and the click trends of short URLs in tweets.

With donations dwindling in this tough economy, it’s important to keep supporters engaged, even with brief status updates of “what’s on your mind” and tweets about “what you’re doing.”

Ninety-five percent of nonprofits said they are either maintaining or increasing staffing resources given to social networks over the next year.

Indeed, everybody’s doing it.

Nonprofit Social Network Survey Report:
http://nonprofitsocialnetworksurvey.com

Does social media have to generate donations to be successful?

A recent Washington Post article reported that Facebook Causesamounted to next to nothing in terms of real donations for most charities. According to the article, less than 1% of the people on Facebook who've joined a Cause have ever made a donation and the majority of participating Cause charities have received no donations through the site.

I can't refute the stats but I can easily counter the overall sentiment that assumes Causes is something of a failure simply because it's not generating millions of dollars for millions of charities. I found this observation in the article very telling about the true nature of getting the most out of Causes:

The idea behind Causes was to take advantage of the vast circles of online friends connected through social networks to reach potential donors and volunteers on a more personal level. People will donate money, albeit in small amounts, to help a cause that a close friend or colleague supports, the application's developers say.

"People are much more altruistic if they get social credit for it," said Joe Green, one of the founders of Berkeley, Calif.-based Causes, who said the application has raised $7 million overall. "The social incentive is to show on your profile how many volunteers you've recruited or how much money you've raised."

For all the Causes I've been invited to, the ones that mean the the most to me, the ones I'm likely to join AND donate to are the ones that a good friend in my network sent to me. And we should all be honest, we all have friends in our social networks who would be better referred to as "that girl/guy I went to high school with and haven't seen for more than 15 years and I'll be your friend because we went to the same high school but I know we have nothing but our hometown in common these days" or the "colleague that I vaguely remember from 6 years ago and I should stay in touch with if even on Facebook because in this economy, I might need a reference or help with a job search". With these degrees of friends, it's unlikely that everyone is going to join or give to every Cause that comes their way.

Another angle on this aspect of the Causes design is that charities on Facebook asking constituents to give is simply never going to be as successful friends asking friends to give.

So really, is there any way for a nonprofit to really get something out of Causes? I say yes, definitely! But here's what you need to plan for:

• Set reasonable expectations. Is money the only thing you'll measure? Is there value in word-of-mouth marketing or growing awareness of your brand?

• Is this going to be your field of dreams? If you're only plan is to build it and think they will come, then you're going to be about as unsuccessful as putting a giant Donate button on your home page but never marketing your website. Do you have a plan to let your constituents know that you are on Facebook? Does your website utilize simple tools like a share bar?

• Who's making the ask? Do a little research. Find the influential people in your networks who have a following of friends and who will have a strong interest in your Cause. That dog lover with hundreds of friends who trade status comments about the need for a dog park is more likely to give to your animal cause and ask their friends to give than others rarely mentioning their family pet.

Is Your Org Really About "Social Change"?

I'm only half-joking when I say that every nonprofit should put the term "social change" in the subject line of their online appeals. The term is hot right now. Google returns more than 16 million records for the phrase "social change" and Twitter brings back too many return pages to count. The Obama campaign's call to action has rallied thousands of people to make a difference under the term social change". But, should you get on the bandwagon and reframe your mission with the term "social change"?  Does it work for your organization? 

Social change is defined on Wikipedia as "when behavior pattern changes, in large numbers and is visible and sustained' and "any event or action that affects a group of individuals that have shared values or characteristics." OK, good starting point. Does your organization affect the behaviors of thousands of people? Over a period of time, probably. Your organization's outreach can span across channels with direct mail, magazines, online marketing, and events. Can you tabulate whether people have been affected by your outreach?  Sure, look at the number of donations or constituents you have in your database. Look at how many emails you send out each year and how many people take an action based on your communications. Finally, look at your organization's beneficiaries and programs to gauge how your organization has affected social change. 

To this end, every organization can make the argument that they're about "social change." Should your organization reframe itself and start up on the "we're about social change" nomenclature? Well, first think about it. Look at why constituents sign up for your online newsletter or donate to your group in the first place. They must like you for your existing mission and vision, your current programs and goals, and because of who or how you help. Don't feel the need to change your homepage banner to read "creating social change." Be yourself, but maybe stick that word "change" in your next online appeal. It can't hurt, right?

Using your website to “go green” (and make green)

Let’s face it. The troubled economy is not making it easy for fundraisers this year. And this St. Patrick’s Day we could all use a lucky leprechaun to lead us to the pot of gold.

While the economy is getting most of the news coverage these days, “going green” has had its share of the limelight as well. Here are a few easy ways to build lists and raise money while going green this year.

1. Create online-only constituents and publications
From banks to cable companies, there is a growing trend to get rid of mailed, paper statements and to interact exclusively online. While you shouldn’t entirely do away with offline newsletters and direct mail, there are some constituents who may appreciate receiving online-only communications from your organization – particularly if it is coupled with a “going green” message.

Consider emailing a segment of your list and asking them to help you save money and trees by opting in to online-only communications; include a tell-a-friend feature here as well. (Alternatively, segment recent online donors who have never given offline, and keep them out of offline mailing lists.) Target these constituents differently in the coming months by reinforcing your appreciation of their online-only status. You may be able to send more frequent emails to this group as well, since you are not balancing online and offline calendars.

A more drastic but not unheard of measure is to take a regular publication out of print, and create an online-only version in its place. Proceed with caution, but since you can learn much more about your donors through their clicks – and since a reader is more likely to forward to a friend than they are to drop off a few hard copies with friends and family – the right analytics and segmentation could make an online-only version even more profitable.

2. Be less “printer-friendly”
Ever received an email that includes in the signature a request to “consider the environment before printing this email”? In a few easy steps, you can add a similar message near printer-friendly links on your website and in email stationery.

3. Offer seasonal ecards
Use holidays like St. Patrick’s Day, Mother’s and Father’s Day, Thanksgiving, and Valentine’s Day as timely reasons to publicize your organization through e-cards. Free e-cards help grow your house file, and allow the sender to give an eco-friendly online greeting to a loved one. Tribute e-cards raise funds by allowing the sender to make a donation in someone’s name rather than purchasing a tangible present. Both varieties can help build lists and raise money, without any need for paper.

Going green and making green don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Offering more unique opportunities for online communication will help save trees and money, and may also be seen as an effort toward responsible spending of donor dollars.

Go green, and you might just find that pot of gold after all.