The Bamboo Project Blog

Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants is Up

Nancy Schwartz of Getting Attention is hosting this week's Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants. This great collection of posts explores two questions-- how do nonprofit communicators engage audiences who are saturated by marketing messages and images? And how do we compete with for-profits who bring more resources to the table?

Some great stuff for everyone. I particularly enjoyed Michael Gibbons' description of his Buttons of Hope Campaign. A seriously sticky idea and one for nonprofits to check out as a potential fundraiser.

Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants #27 Is Up

Jeff at Donor Power Blog hosts this week's carnival. Check it out.

Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants--Calling All Bloggers!

It's our turn to host the Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants this week, so I need your help.

The Basics

Submit a post on the topic below by 8 p.m. (EST) Friday, December 8. Send your post to npc.carnival@yahoo.com or by going to the Blog Carnival Form.  I'll be selecting 7 of the best entries for the Carnival, which will go online Monday morning.

Topic
Last week, I mentioned that we've started a wiki to give nonprofits a brief introduction to the concepts and tools of Web 2.0 and to provide them with specific examples of how other nonprofits are using these tools to engage in their basic work activities. We're trying to build a library of resources for everyone, so what we're looking for are posts that:

• Provide a simple explanation, tutorial, how-to, tip etc. on using a Web 2.0 tool. Tools include blogs, wikis, RSS, social networking sites, YouTube,  etc. Try to make things as "non-techie" as possible. We're looking for "Web 2.0 for Dummies" here.

AND/OR

• Demonstrate how a nonprofit is using a Web 2.0 tool to accomplish a particular task. Tasks can include marketing, fundraising, advocacy, staff development, etc. Any good concrete examples or case studies that can help nonprofits get a picture of how Web 2.0 stuff can work for them is perfect. If possible, examples of how smaller "mom and pop" nonprofits are doing it would be really great.

That's it. Looking forward to seeing what we come up with.

Michele

Nonprofit Carnival is Up

I'm a day late on posting this, but some good stuff over at the Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants. Thanks to Jeff for hosting it this week.

The Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants is Up!

Nancy Schwartz of Getting Attention is hosting this week's Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants:

This traveling Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants brings you the best blog postings on nonprofit issues. For this week's event, I asked bloggers to advise on how already over-taxed nonprofit communicators can handle the ever-expanding menu of communications channels, especially social networking tools, and what social media have the greatest potential for nonprofits.

I received so many useful responses that I have to break the rule to limit my Carnival to seven post references. I just can't do it -- you'd lose out on too much valuable information and insight.

Some great posts that point to a few key themes when it comes to using the new breed of tools:

• Understand what you're trying to accomplish with social networking tools and find the tool(s) that work best for both your needs and your "voice" as an organization.

• Experiment with the tools and look at what other organizations are doing to get a sense of what works best for your organization. This will also help you keep an eye on what's coming and what you're organization needs to do in order to adapt.

• No matter what tool(s) you use, find and communicate your authentic voice as an organization. People can see through inauthentic work a mile away.

Be sure to check it out and contribute your voice to the conversation.

Michele