Oct

12

CharityHappenings.org: the meetup site for the non-profit community

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CharityHappenings.org is an events directory that calls itself “The Official Master Calendar of Non-Profit Events, Galas, and Benefits.” A hefty title to bestow upon oneself, it does seem to live up to the name, if displaying lots of pictures of women in evening gowns is any indication.

[Personal rant: why do people have this need to be part of lush, ridiculously expensive, fashionable parties in order to feel good about donating to causes they supposedly care about? If they really cared, they'd forego the parties and donate all the money from the fashionable food, venue and attire as well. These galas should really be called "Let's party for the poor." End of rant.]

The site says that it offers the non-profit professional community, the philanthropic public and the media with a free, comprehensive and up-to-date calendar of charitable events. On the other end, the site offers event organizers and users a portal to display party pictures enabling charities to publicize the success of past events. And finally, the site offers an extensive directory of venues and suppliers.

You can post your event’s details and photos for free. A listing on the Supplier/Venue directory costs between $100-$225 per year, and ads run from $7500-$20,000 per year.

So break out your party dress, shell out a few thousand bucks on your favorite “look at my generosity” gala event, and maybe your pic will end up on CharityHappenings.org.

Oct

6

10 Ways to Make Your Online Press Room Perform for Your Nonprofit

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To capture a journalist’s attention and answer her questions, a repository of press releases plus some bios and head shots (which comprises the entirety of most nonprofit press rooms), just isn’t enough.

How to ensure you’re providing the timely, meaty information and insight journalists crave, enough to engage and motivate a call or email for a conversation? Every media pro worth her paycheck knows a great online media room means the difference between multiple column inches and a mere mention, if that.

Here’s how to do it:

Online Press Room vs. Media Kit

Online media rooms, and journalists’ expectations of them, have evolved. Many nonprofit organizations now feature “virtual press kits,” but an effective online press room is more than just a media kit.

The last thing you want is for a journalist to hit a wall, and become frustrated or annoyed, when trying to dig into your nonprofit or program online. Here’s the construct to follow to avoid that ugly scenario:

  • A press room is the area on your site expressly for the media, although other audiences may be interested in the content. Most of the content here is on the organizational level, rather than specific to a single program, service, location or event.
  • A media kit is a set of essential, easy-to-use and downloadable information focused on your organization, or a program, product, leader, service or event.

What to Include in Your Online Press Room

Your online press room should provide what you used to include in your hard-copy press kit, and then some:

  1. The absolute latest news. Journalists who’ve come to expect the most up-to-the-minute information from your site will seek out your virtual press kit; it’s a matter of consistently fulfilling expectations.Planned Parenthood makes its latest news accessible by topic and by date:
    http://www.plannedparenthood.org/media/
  2. Downloadable photos and graphics to accompany stories.Think leaders and staff, programs in action, product shots and more. Include several versions of your logo, and provide all downloads in high, medium and low resolution.

    Take a cue from the American Red Cross which provides clear terms of use and specs for its downloadable images:
    http://www.redcross.org/general/0,1082,0_129_,00.html

  3. A directory of your organization’s experts.Make it easy for journalists to get to the expert on the particular subject they are covering. The directory should be searchable by name and topic.

    The National Resources Defense Council does a great job with its Expert Finder:
    http://www.nrdc.org/media/

  4. Succinct backgrounders and fact sheets.Make sure the information in your backgrounders is relevant to the latest news you’re pitching, or responding too. Frequently, backgrounders are too generic to fill journalists’ needs.

    The Non-Profit Housing Corporation of Northern California provides a pithy snapshot on Bay Area affordable housing issues as a download, plus an experts directory and list of hot stories:
    http://www.nonprofithousing.org/about/pressroom/default.aspx

    Here’s a multi-page version from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society:
    http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/attachments/National/br_1182779969.pdf

  5. Up-to-the-minute event calendars and timelines, updated daily if necessary. Make it easy for journalists to get the latest.Nothing is less impressive than an outdated listing. Keep your listing up to date like this one from Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE).
    http://www.sare.org/events/show_events.asp
  6. Guidelines on writing and reporting on your organization’s key topics or issue areas.The UCP’s (formerly United Cerebral Palsy) online press room offers useful interaction and etiquette tips for writing on people with disabilities:
    http://www.ucp.org/ucp_generalsub.cfm/1/9/6573
  7. Audio and/or video clips.Definitely include multimedia if possible, and transcripts for time-starved reporters.

    The Sierra Club’s press room offers audio and video clips of the org’s radio and television ads: http://www.sierraclub.org/pressroom/media/

  8. Awards and RecognitionLet your successes speak for your organization, rather than saying it yourself. ACCION does a good job of this:
    http://bbnc.accion.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Document.Doc?id=34
  9. Recent ClipsClips add credibility, and give the media an idea of what’s already been done (and the gaps they can fill).

    Make sure your clips are up-to-date, unlike those in this online pressroom (from 2005):
    http://www.nonprofithousing.org/about/pressroom/news/default.aspx

  10. News Feed for Automatic Receipt of Press Room UpdatesMake it easy for those who are interested to get press releases and other news hot off the press via an RSS reader.

    The American Cancer Society makes this very easy:
    http://www.cancer.org/docroot/MED/MED_10_RSS.asp

Of course, the more relevant information, the better. Resist flooding the press room with useless content. Above all, avoid going overboard with hype or flash. Hyperbole gets you nowhere.

What to Include in Your Program-Specific (or Product, Location, or Event) Media Kit

Pretty much the same big 10 outlined above, sans awards.

Consider adding any or all of these elements:

  • Milestones
  • History
  • Relevant statistics (impact or change generated)

Most importantly, make sure content is current. These kits need to be updated weekly if not daily.

More Tips for Your Online Press Room

  • Feature a highly-visible link to your press room on your home page, and on every page throughout the site. Include it in your site’s main menu bar.Press kits on current topics or programs should be highlighted on the home page.
  • Include clear contact information for your organization’s primary media contact, and the back- up.
  • Offer brief bios of your organization’s leaders and experts, to provide a context for quotes or coverage.

Online Press Rooms that Work

Review these nonprofits’ online press rooms for ways to strengthen your own:

ACCION
http://www.accion.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?pid=229&srcid=293

American Cancer Society
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/MED/med_0.asp

CivilRights.org
http://www.civilrights.org/press_room/index.html

University of Missouri
http://munews.missouri.edu/

But my best advice for what to include in your nonprofit’s online press room? Ask the journalists you work with most frequently what they want. They’re your customers and it’s all about meeting their needs.
© 2002-2008 Nancy E. Schwartz. All rights reserved.

About the Author
Nancy E. Schwartz helps nonprofits succeed through effective marketing and communications. As President of Nancy Schwartz & Company (www.nancyschwartz.com), Nancy and her team provide marketing planning and implementation services to organizations as varied as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Center for Asian American Media, and Wake County (NC) Health Services.

Subscribe to her free e-newsletter “Getting Attention”, (http://www.nancyschwartz.com/getting_attention.html) and read her blog at http://www.gettingattention.org for more insights, ideas and great tips on attracting the attention your organization deserves.

Sep

9

Review of the amuta 2.0 launch breakfast with Jeff Pulver

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It’s been over a week since we held the launch event for amuta 2.0 in the form of a breakfast in Jerusalem featuring Jeff Pulver and a panel of representatives from non-profits speaking about social media.

Thanks to everyone who schlepped to the event from all over the country and the world. We had people from the Golan, the north, the Negev, and the Tel Aviv area, and of course Jeff who was in Israel from New York. A big thank you also goes to our sponsor, The Jerusalem College of Technology and their representative Dr. Avi Kay who introduced the event, whose generous sponsorship helped make it all happen.

Here’s an overview with links and info from the event:

They blogged and wrote about it:

Photos

We posted photos from the event on the Launch Page . Jeff also uploaded photos to facebook.

Packets

We’re really sorry there weren’t enough packets for everyone. We’ve uploaded some of the packet material to the website so that you can download it. Click here to view the contents of the packet.

Write on the amuta 2.0 blog

Our blog is there for you: not only for reading, but also for you to share your wisdom and experiences with others. We’d love to publish your thoughts and ideas on marketing, managing and growing your non-profit, and every blogger gets to publish a bio at the end of their article with a link back to their site. It’s a great way to help others, AND promote your organization. To submit an article, please send it as a Word document to info@amuta20.com.

More amuta 2.0 goodness!

We’re already got a few great tentative events lined up for the next half a year:

Wednesday October 29th
How-to Hands-on Workshops
Haifa

Sunday, December 7th
Business and Non-profits: Models for Working Together
Tel Aviv

Sunday, January 4th
Peoplehood: Connecting the Jewish People
Location to be announced

Stay updated

To stay updated on future amuta 2.0 events, please sign up for the newsletter by entering your email address in the sidebar of the website.

Thanks again to everyone who came and made the event a success, and we hope to see you soon!

Sep

4

Free e-newsletters for non-profits at Vertical Response

Filed Under E-newsletters | Leave a Comment

I’ve been using Vertical Response for managing my email campaigns and e-newsletters for a few years now. I like their service because it is feature rich, yet not too complicated. Plus, their pricing structure suits someone like me who does not have a set mailing schedule, since they charge per email sent rather than an ongoing monthly fee.

Someone just posted on the Digital Eve Israel list something that I think many non-profits will find useful to know: Vertical Response offers up to 10,000 emails per month for free to non-profits registered with the American 501(c)(3). After 10,000, non-profits must pay but they enjoy a reduced rate.

Email marketing is a great and low cost way to strengthen your non-profit’s position. Free is as low cost as you can get, so why don’t you take this opportunity to create or strengthen your current e-mail marketing strategy for you non-profit?