Weekend Link Roundup (April 24 - 25, 2010)

Our weekly roundup of new and noteworthy posts from and about the nonprofit sector....

Communications/Marketing

Last week, Susan G. Komen for the Cure and fast-food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken unveiled a new cause-marketing campaign, Komen's KFC (Pink) Buckets for the Cure, that nonprofit marketing and communications expert Nancy Schwartz (and others) labeled "a huge...mistake." "Your nonprofit brand is the essence of your organization," writes Schwartz on her Getting Attention blog. "Komen has been trusted as a force for improving women's health....But this deal shows that it can't be trusted as such...."

Network for Good's Katya Andresen discusses the elements of an effective online fundraising campaign in a new video posted to the Chronicle of Philanthropy's Social Philanthropy blog.

Fundraising

Future Fundraising Now blogger Jeff Brooks thinks that fundraisers need to do more than just ask their donors for money. According to Brooks, they also need to thank donors, report back on what donors' gifts have accomplished, ask for things other than money, and in general just try to be nice.

Social Entrepreneurship

Social Entrepreneurship blogger Nathaniel Whittemore explains how he and others managed to plan and execute, in just thirty-two hours, the TEDxVolcano event after the eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano disrupted European air travel and left many of this year's Skoll World Forum attendees stranded in London.

GuideStar president and CEO Bob Ottenhoff discusses the importance of providing microcredit loans rather than grants in the developing world. Writes Ottenhoff: "There is the obvious advantage that a loan means the money is eventually returned and can be recycled to be reused for other borrowers. Sustainability for both the lender and the lendee are achieved. More important, it provides dignity to the borrower...."

Social Media

Nonprofit Board Crisis blogger Mike Burns takes a jab at online contests after receiving (via snail mail) a poster from the Community Reinvestment Fund. The poster "instructed" him to vote every day through May 2 to help CRF win Sam's Club Giving Made Simple campaign. "And therein lies my problem with 'American Idol Philanthropy,'" writes Burns. "A bunch of nonprofits are knocking themselves out, taking time away from mission, to get 'hits.'"

Maybe it's time to cut slackers and slacktivists who "are wasting too much time using technology for fun" a, well, little slack, writes Kristin Ivie on the Social Citizens blog. "Instead of rolling our eyes at kids these days and their online gaming and chatroulette," says Ivie, "[maybe] should we embrace the fact that youth all over the world are becoming well-versed in the tools that can champion a cause...."

Technology

Last but not least, Lucy Bernholz takes a closer look at how different organizations are using technology to change our assumptions about social solutions, adding that "it is not the technology that matters, it is what we do with it."

That's it for now. What did we miss? Drop us a line at rnm@foundationcenter.org. And have a great week!

-- Regina Mahone