Unified Studies - Portland Social Media, Web Design, and Web development

Non-profits, social media, and cause marketing.

Wow...here is a pretty comprehensive breakdown of a social media campaign, run by Scott Henderson of MediaSauce for Share Our Strength. The best part is the post-op he does, identifying where mistakes might have been made...no campaign is perfect.

Cause Marketing or Cause Me to Puke Marketing

Any non-profit looking to jump into the cause marketing pool, should read and learn. From Beth Kanter's excellent blog.

Hiring a Community Manager - time for a time-share?

The "Left The Box" blog has a post today on hiring a Community Manager...outlining the great reasons why a social media campaign needs a community manager at the helm.

Really, every organization that depends on community needs one...and what organization doesn't depend on community in some way? A few years back, the utility of the web had evolved to the point that the notion that you could get away with not having a website for your organization was considered foolish and short-sighted. The role of a community manager who can monitor your organization's on-line presence, respond appropriately to problems or challenges, and develop and execute a strategy around engaging that community (whether it's brand marketing, fundraising, sales, reputation management) is one that soon will be considered absolutely essential.

I think many organizations (thinking non-profits here) figure that with budget constraints and this economy, how could you possibly add staff at this time?

There are of course many studies done on the ROI of social media, that make a convincing argument for taking the plunge...but I also wonder if there might not be a "time-share" approach that could be used for budget sensitive organizations? Much like most orgs do not have accountants on staff, but hire one as needed, or for quarterly review, etc., perhaps a 3 or 4 organizations, maybe with similar local constituencies, could form a collective in a way to get some Community Management help. What if the local history museums of Astoria, Bend, Tillamook and Yakima, Wa.,  all "went in" on a Community Management strategy...crafted for each of course, but, as they are of similar structure, scope and audience, could share tools, strategies and implementation costs, with each supporting a quarter of the budget?

Of course, the next step is...who puts that collective together...more on that next!

Here's the whole article on Left The Box, well worth a read:

Hiring a Community Manager

http://tinyurl.com/b4j97x

Social Media resources for Nonprofits

Here are some excellent recent posts that may be useful to nonprofits looking for both ideas and inspiration. All four of these blogs are also, in general, fantastic resources for social media trends and advice.

When Characters Count: Advice for Charities on Making the Most of Twitter
http://philanthropy.com/free/articles/v21/i09/09001401.htm

Burk’s Blog » Blog Archive » Can the Arts Survive the Economic Crisis?
http://www.cygresearch.com/burksblog/?p=190

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media: How Your Nonprofit Can Reach Babyboomers with Social Media
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2009/02/how-your-nonprofit-can-reach-babyboomers-with-social-media.html

HOW TO: Give Back With Social MicroFunding in 2009
http://mashable.com/2009/01/01/social-microfunding/

Real Estate Transfer Fee - Unified Studies

Unified Studies has just designed, built and launched a new site for a coalition of organizations dedicated to supporting affordable housing in Oregon, including the Real Estate Professionals Building Community (REPBC), which is a group that actively supports affordable housing and home-ownership initiatives by working toward the enactment of a real estate transfer fee in the state of Oregon. Here is how a transfer fee works: When someone sells a house, they are assessed a one-time small fee. The money collected can then be used to address the housing needs of working families that rely on low wage jobs, seniors, and people with disabilities that rely on fixed incomes, and potential first time home buyers that need a little help to make ownership a reality.

The site is called Increasing Housing Opportunity in Oregon.

Be sure to check out the nice little flash slideshow explaining the RETF (Real Estate Transfer Fee).

The Neighborhood Partnership Fund

Today, we (Unified Studies) launched the new website for The Neighborhood Partnership Fund.

NPF's mission:
NPF’s innovative leadership and resources support the creation of affordable homes, healthy communities, and economic opportunities for low-income Oregonians.

Long time, no post.

Well, it's been quite a long time, a month, since my last post. Just lots going on. We are "soft launching" the new gDiapers site soon. I directed and edited a video for them as well, that will be featured on the new home page. The co-founder and CEO of gDiapers, Jason Graham-Nye, has also been writing a blog about the thrills and spills of starting a socially responsible business, called gDiapers, the early years. They made a big splash a the Green Festival last week in San Francisco, and their products will be on the shelf any day now. Great client, and...hey, podcasts are in, right? I think a socially responsible business podcast seems like a good next move.

Our great client, Youth Take Action, have been invited to present at the Learn and Serve Conference in Washington D.C. at the end of this month. They will be showing off the web site we designed and built for them. One new feature will be integrating soon, is a map of all their community partners...a student can type in their address, and it shows all the closest partners that they could do community service with...that's at Maps and that will be live in the Partners sections any day now. It is, obviously, a Google Maps API mash-up.

Also doing an update for the MyPortland Online site. I managed the design and development when I was Director of New Media at Metropolitan Group...and they continue to hire me (and Unified Studies) to work on the site.

Lots of other stuff coming down the pike...The Neighborhood Parnership Fund site launched next week, and working on several other launches over the next several weeks...I'll save that for another post.

The Voce Nation: Why Non-profits Should Blog

The Voce Nation: Why Non-profits Should Blog.

The first website I ever designed and built was for a non-profit...The Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA). Since then, the majority of the websites I have designed, built, or managed as a freelancer, in my tenure as Director of New Media at Metropolitan Group, and now as principal of Unified Studies, are for non-profits.

Just about every one has the same concern at some point, and that can be boiled down to "most bang for the buck".

Whitney Smith, the CEO of Girls for a Change, a DC non-profit, has a guest post on The Voce Nation, where she outlines the impact that having a blog has had on her non-profit.

She says "Since we have learned about the basics of blogging and how to apply it to have a major impact on the strategic goals of our organization I have become a fervent believer and promoter of blogging to the non-profit sector."

This frame of mind is something that I have been trying to instill in non-profit clients for 10 years....over time, your on-line strategies can provide the most cost effective outreach possible. If you are a non-profit who doesn't have an on-line strategy written right into your business plan...it's time to step up to the plate. If you don't, because you consider yourself or your organization to be "non-technical"....well, with the tools available today...that is no longer a valid excuse!