Just a few months back, when I posted a new article on Nolo's website
called, "Fundraising
(or Friendraising) Through Social Networks," the prevailing
sentiment seemed to be that no one knew how spending your time to establish a presence for your nonprofit within the social networking world was going to make any
money -- but felt that they should probably do so anyway.
After all, with 350 million users then on Facebook -- which number has
since gone up to 500 million -- being left out of the conversation
seemed like a bad idea.
Now, more and more reasons to join up with this, as well as other social networking sites, seem to be emerging. For example, JPMorgan Chase just announced 200 charities that will each receive a portion of a $5 million grant -- chosen solely based on votes by Facebook users.
In another example, Beth Kanter, author of The Networked Nonprofit, offered in her blog today a couple of anecdotes about nonprofits that have parlayed their social networking contacts into new foundation grants and board members.
I suspect more stories are yet to come. In the meantime, getting started is one of the easier things you'll ever have face in the realm of new technology -- with the added benefit that you'll get to see all your friends' baby pictures.
Now, more and more reasons to join up with this, as well as other social networking sites, seem to be emerging. For example, JPMorgan Chase just announced 200 charities that will each receive a portion of a $5 million grant -- chosen solely based on votes by Facebook users.
In another example, Beth Kanter, author of The Networked Nonprofit, offered in her blog today a couple of anecdotes about nonprofits that have parlayed their social networking contacts into new foundation grants and board members.
I suspect more stories are yet to come. In the meantime, getting started is one of the easier things you'll ever have face in the realm of new technology -- with the added benefit that you'll get to see all your friends' baby pictures.
