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It’s a free newsletter filled with ideas, strategies, and resources of interest to people who work in the field of philanthropy. At Putnam Community Investment Consulting, we believe it’s important for colleagues to share useful information and resources. We’re all trying to make the world a better place, and by sharing information with foundations, nonprofits, and one another, we can succeed.

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About Putnam Community Investment Consulting
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Putnam Community Investment Consulting is a leading philanthropy and nonprofit consulting firm. We work in partnership with philanthropic foundations and nonprofit organizations to assess community needs, develop effective programs, align organizational strategies, and evaluate impact. Read more about us.

Contact info

Kris Putnam-Walkerly, MSW
Putnam Community
Investment Consulting, Inc.
Midwest Office
(Cleveland area)
30628 Detroit Road, No. 222
Westlake, OH 44145

West Coast Office
(San Francisco area)
One Embarcadero Center, Ste 500
San Francisco, CA 94111

Toll-Free Tel/Fax: 800.598.2102
kputnam@putnamcic.com

Copyright © 2010 by Kristen Putnam-Walkerly. All rights reserved.

Permission is granted to publish this article electronically in free-only publications, like a website or ezine (print requires individual permission) as long as the copyright information and credit is included without any modifications. All links must be active.

Issue 13 • August 2010

20 Social Media Resources for Nonprofits

Dear Colleagues,

Social media is the wave of the future, and many nonprofits are leading the way. Yet, many more nonprofits are grappling with how to effectively and safely use social media amidst increasing demands for services, budget cuts, and staff reductions.  I recently gave a keynote speech on “Using Social Media to Enhance Nonprofit Learning,” where I shared the following resources to help nonprofits use social media – such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn -- to advance their causes and improve their efforts. Since you work with nonprofits, I’m passing these along to you in hopes that they help you and your colleagues to create change and improve communities.

If you know of other tips, tools or techniques to help nonprofits and foundations use social media, please leave a comment on our blog! 

Kris Putnam-Walkerly, MSW
President
Putnam Community Investment Consulting Inc.

20 Social Media Resources for Nonprofits

“How To” Guides for Using Social Media

• Twitter Jumpstart – The Complete Guide for Small Non-Profits – Everything you need to know about using Twitter for your nonprofit, by John Haydon
• Case Foundation Social Media Tutorials – The Case Foundation and its talented staff live and breathe social media, and their website is a wealth of resources. These tutorials include the basics, effective blogging, and using Twitter, Facebook and YouTube
• The Nonprofit Social Media Decision Guide – This guide walks  you through a step-by-step process to decide what social media channels make sense for your organization, and it includes a consultant directory if you want to hire someone to help you implement your strategy.
• Social Media Strategy 101 – A very detailed slide show about developing and implementing your social media strategy
• Nonprofits on Facebook – This is a Facebook page designed to help nonprofits “harness the power of Facebook and bring positive change to the world”
• YouTube: A Step by Step Guide for Nonprofits - This is a 26 minute video tutorial by Marc Osten
• The Networked Nonprofit – A new book by Alison Fine and Beth Kanter that “shows nonprofits a new way of operating in our increasingly connected world: a networked approach enabled by social technologies”.

Blogs to Follow to Learn More About Social Media and Nonprofits

• Beth’s Blog – Beth Kanter delivers great blog posts every day, and is one of the leading experts on nonprofit use of social media
• John Haydon – Lots of useful and fun tips, strategies and ideas about using social media for your nonprofit.
• Mashable – “The top source for news in social and digital media, technology and web culture,” there is a ton to learn about social media from this site alone.
• Case Foundation – As described above, the Case Foundation is an innovator in social media, including sponsoring and then evaluating the America’s Giving Challenge.
• Open Road Advisors/Larry Blumenthal – Larry previously worked at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, helping them to implement their social media strategy, and his blog is designed to help foundations and nonprofits effectively use social media. One of my favorite posts is “Tips on Connecting With Foundations Via Social Media“
• Nonprofit Tech 2.0:  A Social Media Guide for Nonprofits - Includes some practical posts, such as “10 Blog Content Ideas for Nonprofits"

Finding Nonprofits and Foundations That Use Social Media

• GlassPockets – The Foundation Center has created a website that lists social media channels used by foundations, including Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, YouTube. It is continuously updated by foundations that want to be transparent about their grantmaking.
• 130 Foundations That Tweet – I created this list about a year ago.  There are many more foundations on Twitter now besides this original group of 130, but this is a good list to get you started.
• Case Foundation’s List of  Funders That Tweet – You can follow this list for more foundations on Twitter
• 50 Young Nonprofit Influencers You Should Be Following On Twitter - From Rosetta Thurman

Social Media Policy

• 10 Must Haves For Your Social Media Policy – Useful tips from Mashable
• Creating A Social Media Policy For Your Nonprofit - From Wild Apricot, this post includes many links for other social media policy resources
• Air Force Blog Response – I first saw this on Beth Kanter’s blog, and I admit my first reaction was to roll my eyes. Then I actually read this and thought it was brilliant!  A clear, simple approach to responding to blog posts that empowers the individual to make smart choices.

Research on Nonprofit Use of Social Media

• Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report – The  Nonprofit Technology Network published this in 2010, and it includes interesting findings about how nonprofits are using social media.

Do you know of other resources to help nonprofits and foundations use social media?  Please share them by leaving a comment on our blog!

Putnam Community Investment Consulting is a national consulting and evaluation firm that helps philanthropic foundations, nonprofits, government agencies, and universities to research, develop, launch, and evaluate new programs, services, and initiatives. Visit our website to learn how we can help you!