Create Your Nonprofit Page on Google+

Nonprofit organizations can now create a Google+ page. Here’s a great tutorial on how to do it at Nonprofit Tech 2.0. I highly recommend following this blog for tech and social media guidance focused on the needs of nonprofits.

You already have a Facebook page, right? Are you asking, “Why do this?” You may find additional followers and interact in a different way. While the Google+ page looks similar to Facebook, Google+ organizes contacts a little differently, in “circles,” that keep your groups of people organized into family, friends, acquaintances, etc.  There is the ability to video-chat with up to 10 people at a time. At this point it doesn’t seem to have the same depth as Facebook but the  number of people using Google+ is growing.

Here’s a brief article at The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s site with a few suggestions about options and page examples.

Check out a Google+ vs Facebook comparison article at pcworld.com.

Free e-Book: How To Build a Collaborative Blog

I also write for the blog, 3SharedPaths.com, with two friends who share a passion for personal growth. Together, we wrote an e-Book, How To Build a Collaborative Blog: The Journey of 3 Shared Path, to help others who are interested in sharing the work and creativity of maintaining a blog.

In the book we describe how we came to develop the blog and manage it together.  If creating a blog is something you’re considering but worry about the work involved, check out the tips this book offers. It’s free and we are pleased to share our story and lessons learned.

-Rebecca

Art and Nature are Valuable Community Assets

On a trip to Canada to attend Canon Envirothon I was delighted to experience how a community integrated nature and art in a wonderful way.

The small town of Sackville, New Brunswick has posted the lines of a poem on telephone polls along two streets that lead from downtown to the highway, near Mount Allison University. As you walk along you can also see the Sackville Waterfowl Park. 

Douglas Lochhead, the town’s poet laureate, wrote about the nearby salt marsh. The poem featured on the poles is On The High Marsh Road, which won the prestigious Carlo Betocchi International Poetry Prize. He was the first non-Italian to win the prize.  Sackville not only honored its native son but shared a connection of art and nature with its citizens.

Recent Events

Here are a few of things I’ve been working on that make me feel inspired and refreshed.

LWF Governor's Conservation Acheivement Award recipients with Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne

I am Chair of Louisiana Wildlife Federation’s Awards Committee and together we put on a great Governor’s Conservation Achievement Awards banquet at the LWF Convention in Alexandria, LA in March. You can read about the award recipients here.

 

Live Oak High School FFA students at the Soils and Land Use testing station, Louisiana Envirothon 2011

I also helped with planning and organizing Louisiana Envirothon 2011 and it was a great day. It’s wonderful to be with young people interested in science, agriculture and environmental protection. The winning Louisiana team will go on to compete at Canon Envirothon in New Brunswick, Canada, which is a wonderful opportunity for the students!  Check out the Facebook page here.

-Rebecca

Non-profit Advocacy

So many organizations and their leaders shy away from “advocacy” or don’t realize that to be effective you have to advocate for the people and communities you serve. That means more than just communicating needs and solutions to each other but to funders and elected officials. Advocacy is education and outreach at all levels and we cannot allow ourselves to abdicate this responsibility. Where do decision-makers get their information? Not from silence.

I recently read a blog post, “Nonprofits Must Stand Up and Fight for Themselves, or Perish” by Tom Sheridan that highlights this issue while discussing proposed federal budget cuts. I recommend reading the post and the comments for a reminder about why advocacy is vitally important. Here’s the link.

Non-profit organizations “support programs that do the bulk of the work that most Americans expect from their government — educating children, caring for the sick, and strengthening communities. They form the basis of the American social contract.”  -Tom Sheridan

Who else better understands the problems and has recommendations for policy based in solutions and knowledge than the non-profits that serve those in need?

-Rebecca

Make Sure Your Organization Owns Its Domain

If your organization’s website is managed by a provider, check with them to make sure you are listed as the domain registrant. A small non-profit I worked with recently discovered they were not. They originally set-up their website through a  provider.  Trying to change providers or consider a self-managed program became difficult.

Read this article at In Sync Web Design to learn more. From the article:

“Here is where your business identity is at risk. The “registrant contact” is the person who literally has life and death control over your web site name. If this “contact” is entered wrong, then the life of your business identity is literally in this person’s hands.”  –Amy Kesler, In Sync Web Design

While the article is written for small business owners, the advice applies to small non-profit organizations.

-Rebecca

Founder’s Syndrome

Whether you are starting a new organization or working with an established one, an important issue that all nonprofit organizations need to watch for is Founder’s Syndrome. It refers to a person (or people) who helped start an organization or who helped an organization survive a difficult time and remained to become the central authority and decision-maker. How Founder’s Syndrome hurts is that it doesn’t share governing or allow for new ideas and if something should unexpectedly happen that the founder isn’t available, the organization can be crippled.

It’s a more common problem than you think and it can lead to discouraging new leadership, dysfunctional operation, and hindering growth. If you see stagnation or new board members coming on board then leaving after a short period of time, you should look at whether Founder’s Syndrome is a factor. 

Easy Website Design Options for Nonprofits

Through working on projects for various nonprofits, I’ve worked with several different web design programs they used to create and maintain their webpages. From my own experience I want to point out the easiest to use and cut down on frustration should your nonprofit need to create a webpage or develop a site you want to edit yourselves. Perhaps for a special project?

There are many good reasons to use a web design contractor. But if your nonprofit can’t afford it at this time, check out these options. These sites are supportive of small businesses, too, and that’s their main users.

Energizing Rural Business: Get an Energy Audit

The promotion video for Energizing Rural Business is available and uploaded. You can also check it out at the project’s website.

How to create a Facebook page for a Nonprofit

Were you asked to create a Facebook page for your nonprofit or for one of its programs? Here’s a how-to in five steps:

http://www.hidefweb.com/blog/facebook-101-nonprofits-getting-started-five-easy-steps

If your non-profit doesn’t have a page on Facebook, you’re mising opportunities to reach new people and educate about your issue.