Archive for the ‘Books’ Category

Jan

2012

17

Category:

Books, Capacity

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2 Comments

Does Your Nonprofit Need Legal Counsel About Using Social Media?

Source: amazon.com via Beth on Pinterest

 

 

Over the past couple of years as I’ve guided nonprofits in preparing their social media policies or when I speak,  I get asked questions that are more legal issues than about using social media.   Here’s a sampling:

  • Our organization does advocacy around some policy issues.  How do the rules on lobbying play into our social media strategy?    What if we’re asking people to take action on Facebook, does that constitute lobbying?  What do we need to be do to protect our 501-c3 status?
  • We run a social service agency that provides counselling to people.   What if people ask for referrals or help on our Facebook page?   How do we respond without creating any -potential liability for our organization?
  • One of my employees has asked me to write a recommendation on LinkedIn,  if they were fired – could our organization be sued?
  • What do we need to understand about copyrighted material and our content strategy?
  • Our organization runs a youth programs kids under 18,  what if the kids want to friend the teachers on Facebook? Can we post their photos on Facebook or our Web Site?   What are the legal issues?
  • When should our organization consult a lawyer when we have concerns about our organization’s social media usage?

First, let me clear.  I’m not a lawyer nor do I play on television.   When I get asked this question,  I point people to resources with this disclaimer:  “CYA – Consult Your Attorney!”

Now, I have another great resource to share,   Good Counsel:  Meeting the Legal Needs of Nonprofits by Lesley Rosenthal, the astute General Counsel of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.   It is an thorough guide for the most common legal, governance, and fundraising compliance issues facing nonprofits.     Her writing style is less lawyerly, and well, human.   The book is filled with stories, practical resources, and tools.      The book is written for staff and board members.      While the advice in the book does not replace an attorney,  having this on your reference desk can help you be more efficient your attorney’s time because you’ll come to meetings educated.

The chapter about communications meets legal covers trademark review, third-party rights clearance, consumer regulatory compliance , and general review of communications strategies.     The points related to online tactics include such items as a web site privacy policy, sweepstakes, other privacy considerations such as HIPPA, and social media sites.       Rosenthal educates about these laws and the implications for nonprofits in pretty clear langauage and points out that these laws apply to social media sites.  She also covers the role of counsel if the organization finds itself thrown into a crisis communications situation where there is unflattering media attention or a “twitter storm.”

There is an entire chapter devoted to the limits on nonprofit organizations’ political activities as we know that 501c3 organizations are strictly prohibited from intervening or participating in political campaigns.  However,  what is or what isn’t permissible isn’t always clear.   The chapter shares some examples what is permissible and what isn’t permissible political activities.   It also describes what lobbying is and summarizes what record keeping, registrations, and disclosures are needed.

Each chapter of the book ends with some focus questions and checklist for a work plan.   The questions for this chapter are useful to help you identify specific activities or examples from your organization that you are not sure about and to share them with your legal counsel.

  • What kinds of political activity must a 501c3 organization avoid altogether?
  • What might happen if a 501c3 organization endorses or opposes a political candidate?  Cite a case example.
  • What are some politically related activities are permitted to undertake?
  • What steps can a nonprofit staff take to ensure that their personal political activities are not ascribed to the organization?
  • What is lobbying?
  • How do lobbying rules differ from rules of political campaigns?
  • How much lobbying may a 501c3 do?
  • What disclosure are required?
  • What are our state’s registration requirements for nonprofits lobbying activities?

A check list to work through with your legal counsel:

1.)  Review policies and practices for compliance with the absolute ban on intervening in political campaigns
2.)  Review lobbying activities to ensure it complies with laws (Public policy issues and limited part of organization’s activity)
3.)  Check bylaws for provisions regarding lobbying activity
4.)  Determine compliance with record keeping and registration requirements
5.)  Determine compliance with federal, state, and local reporting requirements and Form 990 disclosures
6.)  Find out whether organization has any significant history of regulatory action
7.)  Find out whether the organization has made a 501 h election
8.) Assess whether planned or desired political activities suggest a change in corporate form, spinoff, or establishment of sub-section 501c4 entity.

While not every activity that bears on politics or government counts as lobbying, the chapter notes that there is a lot of uncertainty in this area and many shades of gray.   Also, the penalties can be severe for 501 (c) (3) organizations that cross the line.     The book emphasizes this point:   If your organization has questions or is unsure,  consult with qualified legal counsel!

The book covers much more than legal issues related to your organization’s communications strategy.  It covers:  contracts, intellectual property, fundraising, financial disclosure, human resources, operations, facilities management, and political activities.   All in all, a useful reference to help you prepare working with your organization’s counsel.

What resources has your organization used to become educated about legal matters, social media, and your nonprofit?

Additional Resources:

Influencing Public Policy in the Digital Age by the Alliance of Justice
Friends, Tweets, and Links:  IRS Treatment of Social Media Activities by 501c3 Organizations
Social Media Policy Resources (includes links to legal issues)

Dec

2011

23

Category:

Books

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6 Comments

Six Books About Skills You Need To Succeed in A Networked World

Photo By h.koppdelaney

Earlier this week,  I wrote a guest post over at  FrogLoop blog about Five Social Media Books, although not everyone liked the post.   I admit that I mostly read non-fiction, but if I only read social media or geeky books that would be too narrow.   It is less about the tools and more about the new mindsets you need to be successful.      There are two excellent books that talk about this in the context of running an organization and addressing social issues – and I plan to review these in more depth next week.   Both by authors with first names of Brian.   Brian Solis’s  The End of Business As Usual and Brian Reich’s Shift and Reset

Here is another list of books how to information about skills that one needs to be successful in a connected world, like transdisciplinarity – that is literacy in and ability to understand concepts across multiple disciplines.    (So that’s why I do a lot of reading outside of my main discipline and think about how the concepts might apply to being an effective networked nonprofit.)

Here are six fantastic books that I read this year that help you gain 21st century skills like learning from failure, reflection, visualization, and more.

 

Brilliant Mistakes by Paul H.J. Schoemaker

If you have ever flown in an airplane, used electricity from a nuclear power plant or taken an antibiotic, you have benefited from a brilliant mistake. Each of these life-changing innovations was the result of many missteps and an occasional brilliant insight that turned a mistake into a surprising portal of discovery.  There are countless books that tell you how to avoid mistakes.  Paul Schoemaker,  founder and executive chairman of Decision Strategies international and research director of Wharton’s Mack Center for technological innovation, shares critical insights on the benefits of making well-chosen mistakes. Based on solid research and insights from more than 100 organizations, he provides a roadmap for using mistakes to accelerate learning for your organization and yourself.    This book is a great read.   If you’re doing social media and you’re trying to be perfect, get over it – you won’t learn how to improve what you’re doing.  This book will help.

Brilliance by Design by Vicki Halsey

I’ve been curating resources on training techniques and capacity building over at scoop.it and discovered this book in the stream.   A lot of work I do around social media is training — good training requires good design – not just content.   This book is filled with great tips on designing engaging learning experiences that help your participants connect, inspire, and engage.   The model balances content, learning design, and participants.   The ideas, tips, and tricks are grounded in adult learning theory, but the book is very practical.

 

Visual Teams:  Graphic Tools for Commitment, Innovation, and High Performance by David Sibbet

I love David Sibbet, Rachel Smith, and everything Grove Consulting does.     I had the pleasure of taking the visual facilitation workshop last fall (my write up is here).   This book builds on David’s first book, on visual meetings – and gets into how you can incorporate visual tools for collaboration – both in real-time, face-to-face settings as well as using online tools.    I’ve been integrating visual learning techniques into workshops for the past couple of years, but Sibbet’s ideas have helped me take them to a new level.

 

Why Success Always Starts with Failure by Tim Harford

I’ve been tracking and reading about failure and adaptive organizations for years and curating resources over at scoop.it.    Tim Harford is one of the best thinkers on the idea of learning from failure and how organizations need to become more adaptive.  The book is well-researched, well-written – and gives you the map for navigating in an increasingly complex world.

Now You See It by Cathy Davidson

Another topic that I’ve been tracking for a few years is information overload, with an emphasis on information coping skills.   I’ve followed Cathy Davidson’s work ever since I stumbled upon her work at  Hastac.   The book is a great read, a refreshing take on how to manage attention deficit and information overload caused by our connected 24/7 always on lifestyles.     She points out that distraction is not the enemy.   Now that we’re on the cusp of a society that has come of age with the Internet and social networks, we need to re-think everything and hone skills to deal with the constant and global scale of connectedness.

 

Developmental Evaluation:  Applying Complexity Concepts to Enhance Innovation and Use by Michael Quinn Patton

Michael Quinn Patton is the godfather of evaluation.   I had the honor to interview him for this blog post back in 2009 -he’s a fantastic storyteller.   If you’re working in social media and wondering why you should even bother to read a book in developmental evaluation, let me explain.   Develpomental evaluation is an approach to monitoring and supporting a program by working in partnership with your audience.    Social media techniques like listening, engaging, and crowdsourcing – are developmental evaluation techniques at their finest.   This book will give you a way to be more intentional about your social media work and improve it.   The chapter on reflective practice is also essential if want to transform your social media metrics intos meaningful wisdom to improve your social media strategy – the chapter offers a process for doing so.

What are some of your favorite books this year for learning how to survive and thrive in a complicated world?

 

 

 

 

 

Dec

2011

05

Category:

Books, Transparency, Visual

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1 Comment

2012 Philanthropy and Social Investment Industry Report Now Available

For the past three years, my colleague Lucy Bernholz has published her annual Philanthropy and Social Investing: Blueprint, an industry forecast about the social economy – private capital used
for public good. Each year it provides an overview of the current landscape, points to major trends, and directs your attention to horizons where you can expect some important breakthroughs in
the coming year. The 2012 blueprint is now available and it is well worth time to read.

Lucy Bernholz is a self-described a philanthropy wonk who has been working in, consulting to, and writing about philanthropy and the social economy since 1990.  She writes the definitive blog on the topic called Philanthropy 2172.  She’s currrently a visiting scholar at Stanford University’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society.

The guide addresses three big themes:

Blueprint 2012 will help donors, investors, and enterprise leaders address three big shifts coming in 2012:

  • Finding your way in the new social economy in which philanthropy and impact investing now operate
  • Considering the implications of the Citizens United decision on philanthropy and social investing
  • Making sense of data as a public good

I’m particularly interested in the third theme because it relates to the book I’m working on with KD Paine using measurement to improve and learn how networked nonprofits do their work and connect with stakeholders.     In the report, Lucy gives us a high level view of the importance of data in the social good sector, saying “Data are the currency of our day.”    While she points out that we’re only at the beginning of learning how to use data for social good purposes, she references some reasons why this is valuable and some examples.

She makes this point on the value:    ”To improve nonprofit work. A treasure trove of mostly untapped data lies within our existing nonprofit organizations and social enterprises. Most organizations are only beginningto understand what data they have and how to use this information to improve their work.”    The book I’m working on KD takes this idea and goes into depth on how to do it, with checklists, stories, and examples.

Every year, Lucy complies an annual list of Philanthropy buzz words and these are included in the report.   My favorite?

Infographics

Lucy explains why this is a buzzword:  ”The age of big data that we’re living in has set loose the age ofinfographics. Infographics include cool interactive maps, Venndiagrams of apparently unrelated events, and trend lines everywhere. Infographics are the ultimate “pictures that say 1000 words.” Like so many buzzy things, infographics are running ontheir own adoption cycle, from the rare and cool to overhyped andoverused. Next in line should be “good, useful and common.”

Debra Askanase wrote a terrific roundup of about advice and tips for creating infographics and pointing some in the nonprofit sector.  The Humane Society and Networked for Good to mark milestones.   Craig Newmark released an infographic about trends in nonprofits and use of social media.     If you’re looking some of the best marketing infographics from the past year, check out this list of 10 from Hubspot.   Want more eye candy?  Check out this infographics library and this curated collection on visualization and awesome infographics.

I appreciate Lucy because she gives a systems view of the ideas and concepts that I’m grappling with to put into practice.    Thanks Lucy!

Sep

2011

28

Category:

Books, Visual

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13 Comments

Visual Meeting Facilitation Workshop with David Sibbet

Visual Meeting Workshop by David Sibbet and Rachel Smith - Based on Sibbet's book Visual Meetings

I’ve been a fan of visual thinking and graphic facilitation for many years – and have used the techniques to take notes for myself.    As a visual learner, mindmapping, drawing, and other techniques to think visually have helped me learn, synthesize lots of data, and see patterns.     I have also attended and facilitated meetings with a graphic recorder, most recently at the Nonprofit Technology Conference, and know the power of how “drawing on the wall” can help spark group insights and learning.

About a year ago,  I came across David Sibbet’s book, “Visual Meetings”  I have known of his work for years, but always thought graphic recording was for “real artists who can draw.’     The book was an inspiration and encouragement for those us whose inner critics have been keeping us away from using the technique in front of other people.     The book offers a wonderful road map for a learning journey to internalize these techniques and I’ve practicing a lot.   I haven’t made it to the top of the ladder where I can  ”draw on the wall”  while facilitating a group, and I have not been able to become fluent in using visual note taking in digital ways – like on a iPad.    That’s why I was probably the first person to register last January for the Visual Meetings Workshop with David Sibbet and Rachel Smith from Grove Consultants that took place this week in San Francisco.

My notes from the workshop follow below and I’ve created with Storify that includes the many resources I discovered that I will be exploring.    I’ve set a new professional goal to improve my graphic recording and visual facilitation skills which requires a discipline of daily practice, starting with small simple steps and working towards more complex ones.    I definitely walked away achieving all the outcomes for the meeting, most importantly being inspired to put this knowledge into practice.

One of the techniques that they used that I loved was to provide a graphic template for your personal learning journey to internalize these skills.   While a one-day workshop can be fantastic, once you go back to your day to day craziness, it is hard to make that leap.     The book offers a rubric of skills, starting with the most simple to the more complex.      The other thing I learned, is that like anything else, to get good at this technique you have to practice until it is second nature.    Rachel Smith, workshop co-facilitator,  drove home this point when she shared with the group that she felt she was not good at drawing people – so she practice drawing people 600 times before using it for an assignment.

The workshop started with a role play of David and Rachel planning the agenda for the workshop, but simulating how you might do this over the Internet and using graphic recording.   Rachel, a virtuoso technologist and artist, used a drawing tablet and Sketchbook pro.  (Here’s an interview with Rachel about the techniques and a blog post the tools. Later in the workshop, they did a duo of graphic recording – with Rachel using the digital tools and Sibbet drawing on paper with markers.

Next was an  icebreaker where we had to draw on a table tent – our names and the answer to this fill in the blank question:  ”I’m at my best when …”    Icebreakers should always reinforce the outcomes in some way or skills being taught – and provide a way for people to get to know each other.   This is especially important if there are small group exercises.

David Sibbet gave an overview of visual meetings and why it is so compelling now.   He used PREZI, a non-linear presentation program. It goes beyond the linearity of powerpoint, but it to use it to present with takes getting to know the program well – and thinking about your storyboard and visuals as three-dimensional tick-tac-toe board.  (I could not track down the PREZI, but in the TEDX video -you’ll hear the main points he made.)     This segment was followed by small group work where we did a peer assist brainstorm on incorporating visual techniques into their next meeting.  We used sticky notes and the mandala template.    David modeled a full group discussion to gather up all the ideas – using a template that used the basic flows of facilitation – attention, energy, information, and operations.

The afternoon was focused on the skill building – drawing – images and letters.   This is covered in the book in great depth, but it was great to have Rachel lead us through the drawing techniques, stroke by stroke.    We ended with a Q/A Session.    Rachel shared a number of techniques and tips on how to embrace digital graphic recording in the iPad.    A couple of insights that inspired me:

  • Graphic facilitation is not about being a good at drawing, but better at listening
  • Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect – be thinking about what’s next
  • Accept corrections like Christmas presents
  • Be the fool in front the audience’s queen and king – don’t be afraid of public mistakes
  • Practice, practice, practice is the key
  • Using technology will always feel a little unnatural – but don’t let that get in your way
  • Graphic facilitating encourages engagement and acknowledge of people in the room – it validates them

I feel inspired to add visual meetings to the curated  list of skills and knowledge for trainers and capacity builders that I’m learning about.

There is a whole community of graphic facilitators and practitioners like Nancy White who are using these techniques with ngos.

Have you experimented or are you using graphic meeting facilitation for your nonprofit?  Share your story below.

 

Sep

2011

05

Category:

Books

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10 Comments

Measuring the Return on Relationships

Note from Beth: A few weeks ago,  I suggested that nonprofits stop using the phrase “ROI” or questions like “What’s the Return?” and ask “What’s the Change?”   I had a quick chat with Claire about this idea and invited her write a guest post to celebrate the launch of her new book, Twitter for Good – which is filled with great insights and practical advice about making Twitter power your nonprofit’s mission.

Starting at 12:00 AM (midnight) on Tuesday, September 6, 2011 Twitter for Good: Change the World, One Tweet at A Time will be available as a FREE  electronic download for 24 hours only.

Measuring the Return on Relationships by Claire Diaz Ortiz (nee Williams)

Last week, I started a discussion on Social Edge entitled, Fundraising, It’s Not Always About the Money (http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/marketing-communication/fundraising-on-twitter). I explained that while researching my new book, Twitter for Good (http://ht.ly/4RirJ), I took a long, hard look at fundraising on social media and came to a new, startling conclusion: it’s not about the money. As I asserted, the real ROI (return on investment) of fundraising on new media is the relationships.

Although I opened the discussion, I didn’t take it far enough, and too many of you came away with the same, burning question:  How can we measure the ROI of relationships?

Measuring the ROI of a marketing campaign can be time-consuming, but it’s always straightforward. Measuring the ROI of a fundraising campaign is equally simple. We spent $1,200 to send out 500 pieces of mail in our direct mail campaign and we netted $4,500 in donations. Done. We spent $50,000 to host our annual fundraiser and we received $200,000 in donations. Understood.

But relationships? How can you possibly measure the intangible?

What was the value of my first meeting with the lovely Beth Kanter a few years ago at the old Twitter offices, where we chatted for far too long about the highs and lows of adoption (and, a little bit about nonprofits and social media)?

Who knows. But I’ve written some guest posts, so I guess she doesn’t hate me.

What is the value of the strong connection I’ve built with Amanda Rose (http://www.twitter.com/amanda) from Twestival (almost exclusively virtual save the frantic annual “we’re in the same place let’s have lunch!” phone call) over the years?

Don’t ask me. But she gave me a book endorsement.

What is the value of Amy Neumann’s (http://www.twitter.com/charityideas) ongoing, selfless offers to provide support on anything non-profit related on Twitter?

Got me. As far as I know she’s never made a donation to the non-profit I started (http://www.hoperuns.org), but I’m sure she’s told some folks about it.

When trying to promote our cause to the world, we yearn for relationships. And to some extent, we all have relationships like this, relationships that we are cultivating or have cultivated or hope to cultivate. We know we need them, we know we should spend time with them, but we’re not entirely clear on how much, or why, especially when it comes to fundraising.

Or are we?

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that we can quantify these relationships (to some extent). Yes, we can break down the real ROI of fundraising on social media.

And here’s how.

If you know me, you know I’m fan of uber simple acronyms and word games that help people remember and implement what I’m teaching. Heck I did create the pathetically obvious T.W.E.E.T model (Target, Write, Engage, Excel, Track) (http://clairediazortiz.com/how-to-use-twitter/) for excelling on Twitter, didn’t I?

And now I’m going to do it again.

How to Measure the ROI of Fundraising on Social Media:

Fundraising on social media is about relationships, and we can measure the ROI of those relationships by breaking down the return on investment into three parts.

Return on Investment = Reach, Outcome, Influence

  • Reach: A relationship you develop becomes more important the larger the reach is. If Susie P has 9 friends on Facebook, and Susie Q has 900, Susie P is probably your better bet. But remember, reach isn’t always about numbers. See Influence to better understand.
  • Outcome: Any relationship that yields tangible benefits is working.  Did a three-hour dinner in London with an international aid worker bring you one quality application (the aid worker’s Facebook friend, no less) for an outstanding position at your non-profit you’ve been trying to fill? Did you have a blast at the dinner to boot? Even better.
  • Influence: Is a person popular, or do they actually have sway in your given area of interest? In one example I share in Twitter for Good, Scott Stratten’s @unmarketing (http://twitter.com/unmarketing) Twitter following (then about 40K) clicked more times on the bit.ly link he sent out of him singing than Ashton Kutcher’s million followers did. Why? Perhaps Ashton’s followers are more interested in watching Ashton sing. Likewise, if @ClaireD (http://twitter.com/claired) were to tweet about sports, no one would bat an eyelash. Targeted reach is what you’re after.

Specific case studies back up these three points. Born2Fly (http://born2fly.org/) is an organization dedicated to banishing sex trafficking, and Diana Scimone of Born2Fly’s excellent guest post (http://www.bethkanter.org/twitterthon/) here on Beth’s blog (which was reproduced in Twitter for Good (http://ht.ly/4RirJ) tells the story of learning from a fundraising campaign that didn’t meet expectations. Her take-away? Build relationships with bloggers to better promote the next fundraiser. REACH.

Fireside International (http://www.firesidepictures.com/wordpress/), a non-profit media company in Haiti, needed English language learning materials for a new school they were building. They reach out to Rosetta Stone, and scored $18,000 worth of materials. Query a hundred individuals or companies, and one hit may just come through. OUTCOME.

Global Citizen Year (http://www.globalcitizenyear.org), another organization featured in my book, is another. The key support they received from Nick Kristof convinced them of the power of Twitter to build relationships in order to garner support. INFLUENCE.

Measuring these specific points will bring you an ROI with all the shiny numbers you’ve been hoping for.

Ultimately, the success of fundraising on social media highlights what we have always known: to fundraise effectively (in the virtual or the brick-and-mortar world), you need relationships.  Be smart about building them, cultivating them, and maximizing them.

Measure them as well. It doesn’t make you mean, it makes you smart.

Claire Diaz Ortiz (nee Williams) leads social innovation at Twitter and wrote Twitter for Good: Change the World One Tweet at a Time (http://ht.ly/4RirJ)

Want more from Claire Diaz Ortiz?

Follow @ClaireD (www.twitter.com/claired), read her blog at ClaireDiazOrtiz.com, or download the first chapter of Twitter for Good for free here (http://clairediazortiz.com/free-chapter-twitter-for-good/).

 

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