April 12, 2011

Program Services Delivery Starting To Go Mobile

Do You Need To Be Everywhere?

Picking The Best Social Network

TechnoBuzz Job Posting

 Twitter for NPTJobs

By Sam Fanburg

Realizing that it took far too long for medical clinics to receive lab tests in Bangladesh, Nadim Mahmud, co-founder of Medic Mobile, decided to create a network where lab results could be distributed with relative ease.

"In Bangladesh and many other developing countries, it is a common scenario to see a huge shortage of health care workers leaving the health clinics under resourced," said Mahmud. "We wondered how we could utilize the mobile technology boom in making this process more efficient."

Bridging the gap between developing nations and nonprofits, mobile technology has taken a foothold in the way outside organizations can make a positive difference in the lives of people at the ground level. During latest of the New York University Heyman Center's, Philanthropy 3.0 Speaking Series, technological innovators along with nonprofit consultants got together to discuss how advancement in mobile technology allows a way for nonprofit organizations to connect with potential donors and constituents like never before.

In the case of Medic Mobile, by creating ad hoc committees that distributed mobile cell phones to volunteers, test results were effectively communicated via text messages giving those infected a better chance in battling their disease. Mahmud offered four postulations in establishing a successful mobile technology program with the ability to change behavior:

There's Facebook, Second Life, Myspace, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter and now Jumo. There are many smaller social networking platforms. When it comes to deploying assets, where to be in cycberspace is a tough decision.

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in Baltimore is going through the evaluation process. CRS is one of Facebook's 500 million active users, and also tweets on Twitter and posts videos to YouTube. CRS has a Myspace profile with 3,288 "friends," although it is not seeing a lot of activity there and managers are trying to decide what to do with it. Deleting it is a serious option.

"We, like many other nonprofits, struggle to accurately measure the financial ROI (return on investment) of our efforts," said Laura Durington, online community manager at the CRS. "We look at Facebook Insights, Google Analytics and we look at source code reports in our online fundraising program. But, it only gives us part of the picture. Still, I would argue, although it's more of a hunch, that we are getting something important out of these efforts."

According to an Idealware study, "The Nonprofit Social Media Decision Guide," CRS isn't the only organization considering cutting back on Myspace. The Portland, Maine nonprofit technology group surveyed 460 nonprofit employees, held six telephone focus groups, and a case study collection in which 273 staff members provided details of which social media channels they are using and who they are targeting.

Social network websites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are the latest devices for philanthropy to share information and reach a wider audience. But using these websites without a plan can cause major problems for a nonprofit, according to Andrea Berry, director of partnerships and learning for Idealware, a nonprofit technology organization in Portland, Maine.

Nonprofits shouldn't dive into social media websites unless they have a plan and set of goals to accomplish. But, often there are organizational leaders who believe they need to be on a social media website just because it is expected. 
"Ideally it should be creating better opportunities to engage and listen to their community. Unfortunately, a fair number of groups are doing it because everyone else is doing it and they feel like thy have to," said Ash Sheppard, project strategist for NPower Seattle, a nonprofit technology consulting firm.

Berry suggests that to make nonprofits using social media not waste their time, they should create a social media strategy to increase the understanding of the general public of their mission and be able to use sites like Facebook as a tool, otherwise they will be wasting time and manpower. "If there's no parameters its hard to figure out what the return on your investment is," Berry said.

For a nonprofit manager to decide which social media sites are best, Berry recommends going back to your organization's goals. "Each different site is useful for different things," she said. "Find tools that will make the most sense for your organization."