nten – Amy Sample Ward https://amysampleward.org Tue, 03 Dec 2013 05:19:48 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://amysampleward.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/cropped-ASW-Purple-Wall-32x32.png nten – Amy Sample Ward https://amysampleward.org 32 32 Celebrate Giving Tuesday with NTEN and @Kanter https://amysampleward.org/2013/11/26/celebrate-giving-tuesday-with-nten-and-kanter/ Wed, 27 Nov 2013 02:17:49 +0000 https://amysampleward.org/?p=3220 Continue readingCelebrate Giving Tuesday with NTEN and @Kanter]]> Giving Tuesday is a movement to create a national day of giving to kick off the giving season added to the calendar on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday. The second annual GivingTuesday is on December 3rd and you’re invited to join the celebration with NTEN!

Want to participate? Here are three easy ways you can be part of the giving season kick-off:

Donate to the 2013 NTEN Challenge

We are so excited to celebrate the strength of this community, now 50,000 people stong! The 2013 NTEN Challenge will raise $50,000 to support expanded programs and continued accessibility for a diverse set of organizations in 2014. We have over 30 community champions help us celebrate – check out their fundraising pages and donate today!

Join Beth Kanter on Giving Tuesday to talk about collective philanthropy

I’m joining Beth on Tuesday, December 3rd, at 9 am Pacific for a special online video chat to talk about #GivingTuesday and collective philanthropy; I hope you’ll join us! Learn more about why Beth is supporting Giving Tuesday and RSVP to join the online chat on her blog.

Sign your organization up for Giving Tuesday

To be an official partner, you must be a registered non-profit [a 501(c)3 in the United States] with a specific #GivingTuesday initiative, or a for-profit business, school, religious or community group who commit to spearhead a project that will benefit at least one registered charity or non-profit. Families and individuals are encouraged to be generous in whatever ways matter to them, whether that means volunteering at a local charity or donating to a favorite cause. Learn more and sign up on the Giving Tuesday website.

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If a Metric Changes on a Spreadsheet and No One Notices, Does it Show Impact? https://amysampleward.org/2013/09/20/if-a-metric-changes-on-a-spreadsheet-and-no-one-notices-does-it-show-impact/ Fri, 20 Sep 2013 16:00:23 +0000 https://amysampleward.org/?p=3218 Continue readingIf a Metric Changes on a Spreadsheet and No One Notices, Does it Show Impact?]]> This post originally appeared on the NTEN blog – you can also read the full post and join the conversation on the NTEN.org website.

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I love data as much as the next person. Give me an interactive map, a pivot table, even a plain old pie chart and I’m happy. But, there’s more to being data-informed and more to what we should demand of our data, right? When it comes to focusing on the right data, I like to ask myself these two questions.

Is data helpful if you aren’t using it?

We collect a lot of data. People join or renew as members (when did they join, how many times have they renewed, what dues level did they pay, where are they based, who are they…), people get our messages (on which channels, do they open or click, do they share the message, who are they and when did they engage…), people do things with us (webinars, tech clubs, online groups, offline groups, conferences…) and all of those things have their own data sets.

You get my point; before we even start to layer on information from the wider sector or filters to subdivide topics and categories, we have A LOT of information to work with. But, does it matter if we don’t work with it? If we don’t set goals and then create regular opportunities to review the data, does it matter that we capture it?

We can’t forget that to be data-informed as an organization and as decision-makers, we have to actually be informed by that data (see what I did there?). Establishing regular meetings or processes for metrics review helps position us to learn from the data we’re collecting and be better positioned to identify opportunities to improve.

Is data helpful if you can’t change it?

Why are you measuring or tracking something that you can’t (or don’t want to) impact? A common example of this that I hear often is with volunteer engagement. An organization has, for example, 20 volunteers, and they want to track the hours contributed, the impact on programs, and so forth. And the highest level metric that they lead with is that they have 20 volunteers, and they have 20 every year. But what they fail to explain is that they only have 20 volunteer roles. Unless you are going to open up the volunteer opportunities, I question whether reporting that you have 20 volunteers, at least as your lead metric, is helpful at all.

When looking at all of your various metrics, be sure that you are measuring things you want to impact and that you are focused on the data points you can and will change.

These are the reminders I find helpful but I’d love to hear from you! When your boss or your board or your intern ask you what you’re tracking and why – how do you talk about data?

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2012 Nonprofit Technology Conference https://amysampleward.org/2012/04/04/2012-nonprofit-technology-conference/ Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:30:20 +0000 https://amysampleward.org/?p=2995 Continue reading2012 Nonprofit Technology Conference]]> Date: April 4, 2012

Location: San Francisco, CA

Topic: Designing Online Engagement to Collaborate with Your Community

Description: You can design online engagement to unleash your evangelists. In this workshop, we’ll focus on all aspects of designing high-value, engaging, and participatory content that creates a partnership with your fans. A true evangelist is moved to create, is a seamless co-creator with your organization, and motivated spreader of content. Successful organizations intentionally design and construct multiple online channels that enable access for all fans and develop paths for relationship reciprocity and trust, fostering true evangelists.

In this session, we will discuss how co-creation unleashes online evangelists and strengthens cause centric communities, and help you to do that as well. Specifically, we will reveal the latest research about designing online engagement, highlight the connection between the theory of relationship ties and online evangelism, and offer examples of organizations with successful co-creation strategies. Towards the end of this workshop, we’ll work together to design a co-creation strategy to engage and motivate your online community and evangelists.

Related Links:

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5 Assumptions Every Community Manager Should Make Daily https://amysampleward.org/2012/03/27/5-assumptions-every-community-manager-should-make-daily/ https://amysampleward.org/2012/03/27/5-assumptions-every-community-manager-should-make-daily/#comments Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:54:36 +0000 https://amysampleward.org/?p=2954 Continue reading5 Assumptions Every Community Manager Should Make Daily]]> This post is cross-published from NTEN. Read the post and join the conversation on the NTEN blog.

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Normally, I stay away from assumptions: We all know the saying about what assuming does to you and me! When it comes to managing or building communities, online or on the ground, the work can seem overwhelming and sometimes even never-ending.

Wherever you are, and whatever the kind of community you are wrangling, there are some general lessons that I recommend.  These five assumptions always help me remember the role and responsibilities a successful community manager needs to best serve and engage a community. I hope you’ll share your lessons, too!

1. You don’t [really] know your community members.

I don’t say this to offend you, but just as a good reminder. When you are drafting messages, calls to action, or even just conducting day-to-day customer service type communications, assuming that you don’t know the community at large or the individual you are speaking to directly will help prevent you from overstepping boundaries or making statements that can instiguate that, “you don’t know me!” feeling on the other end. I won’t say that we’ve all experienced this – see what I did there? – but I know that I have and have heard direct feedback from people when I’ve made this mistake.

All that you can really assume are the things that aren’t assumptions; give your community the chance to tell you their preferences and interests, and track what you can (from email opens and clicks, to actions taken) to be sure you are responding to the facts whenever possible.

2. You know more about the tools.

There are mind-boggling reports and stats our there that show just how much time many of us are spending [wasting?] on social media platforms like Facebook each day. That said, it is best to assume that your community isn’t hip to every trick you’ve found for Facebook, Twitter, and any other site you may use. This is especially true if you have a separate community platform connected to your website or operated specifically for your community online.

Assuming you know the most about these tools means you have the opportunity and responsibility to share your knowledge and help the community be as savvy as you! When you post a call to action for people to share a message, be sure to include reference to how they can do so; or if you are asking people to create content themselves, be sure to provide instructions and examples to help them respond to your call.

3. You know more about the cause.

Just like the assumption about the tools, it is incredibly valuable to maintain the position that you (read: your organization, if not you personally, smartypants) know more, have more access to information about, and are more closely following news related to your cause and work than the community. When you are sharing news or calls to action, be sure to provide relevant context and history or links to where people can learn more.

Many of your community members may be following things closely with you, but, per assumption #1, you will be able to speak to them directly in the action alerts they’ve signed up for instead of only the general messages you may post elsewhere. If you create a microsite or special landing pages for campaigns, topics in the news, or specific programs, be sure to make links prominent for people to learn more and understand the why and how behind the actions.

4. You have more time than your community.

This is a big one. It may seem like so much fun to round up friends and record a video about why you are all so passionate about a cause, then edit it with catchy backgound music and effects, and post it on YouTube. Assume you are the only person in the community with the time and energy to do it, though. If creating content is an essential part of your campaign, make sure you provide options for someone that wants to give you, for example, 30 seconds, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, or 30 minutes. That may mean it is a quick text-based response, a photo, a very short video, or a good sized video, respectively.

Creating options and recognizing that community members have varying amounts of time to spend on your cause will help people self-select the option that they prefer – back to #1, track it so you can suggest similar options in the future! – and they can feel that you appreciate their participation even if they don’t have the time to make a video for you.

5. People are coming from a good place.

Trolls are real, it’s true. But operating and communicating as if every commenter is a troll will shut down conversation very quickly. Even if someone posts something negative or critical, assume they are coming from a good place, agree with and support your mission and view of a better world, and are voicing a concern that may be felt by others; take a breath and then reread their comment without taking it personally.

These kinds of comments are an opportunity to show your amazing, and patient, customer service abilities! Thank her for speaking up and sharing her comment/question/concern, point them in the right direction for more information and resources, and offer to speak with her directly offline (or at least off the comment thread) about the topic.

Doing this in public, whether on your Facebook page or on your own blog, will show to others that you are open to engaging with people who may disagree, that you have resources and information on the topic of contention, and that you are even willing to be available personally. That’s a much better tone to set.

Well, those are my five; but I have no doubt there are many more lessons and assumptions out there. Would love to hear what more you’d add to the list!

[Photo credit: aflier Flickr]

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NTEN 2012 Community Series: Austin https://amysampleward.org/2012/03/09/nten-2012-community-series-austin/ Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:00:44 +0000 https://amysampleward.org/?p=2988 Continue readingNTEN 2012 Community Series: Austin]]> Date: March 9, 2012

Location: Austin, TX

Topic: Strong Connections: Linking Strategy, Goals and Metrics

Description: When it comes to social media, email marketing, or even online engagement in general, we often have a feeling when things are going well or when they aren’t. Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, or something else, you don’t have to be satisfied with a feeling: use your organization’s strategic plan to identify real goals and then track the data to show your impact.

Related Links:

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Let’s Connect at 2012 SXSW https://amysampleward.org/2012/02/24/lets-connect-at-2012-sxsw/ https://amysampleward.org/2012/02/24/lets-connect-at-2012-sxsw/#comments Fri, 24 Feb 2012 15:22:32 +0000 https://amysampleward.org/?p=2868 Continue readingLet’s Connect at 2012 SXSW]]> As the Membership Director at NTEN, and as a speaker at this year’s SXSW Interactive, I hope to be able to connect with all of you that may be coming to Austin for the festival or based in the Austin area. I’ll be joined by NTEN’s Community Manager, Sarah Janczak, too. We hope you’ll introduce yourself, say hello, and even sit and chat with us a bit about what you’re working on. Where will we be? We hope we’re easy to find: we will be using the Beacon Lounge as our go-to, chill-out, home-base spot throughout the conference. We may even have some fun in store for you!

Connect with NTEN

Sarah and I, in typical NTEN fashion, will be sure to bring some NTEN swag and are hoping to connect with as many of you as possible! The Beacon Lounge will be our home-base, and here are some of the fun things they have planned to make it your home-base, too:

Daily Events in the Lounge include:

  • Breakfast from 9-11: Get your morning buzz on with coffee and food sponsored by The Colorado Health Foundation
  • Lunch from 12-2: Refuel your stomach and mind with lunch brought to you by Convio.  Fork over your lunch money to a local Austin organization and Convio will match your donation!
  • Happy Hour from 3-6: Get your afternoon buzz on with snacks, beer, and live music to benefit Sweet Relief Musicians Fundsponsored by Salsa

Daily Musings in the Lounge include:

  • Photo Gallery from PhotoPhilanthropy – browse art that drives action for social change
  • Sketchnotes by Mike Rhode
  • Play Hard, Do Good T-Shirts from Goodthreads with art by Mike Rhode – snag yours with a donation to Sweet Relief Musicians Fund

In addition, they’ll have special events on a daily basis including a book reading from “Story Wars” by Jonah Sachs and meet-ups from the good folks at Salsa, the Colorado Health Foundation, PhotoPhilanthropy, Convio, Legacy, and us (NTEN).

Check out the detailed schedule of events and follow @thebeaconsxsw for updates.

NTEN Meetup in the Beacon Lounge

Mark your calendars for Monday, March 12th, at 11 am for the NTEN meetup in the Lounge. We will share more details before SXSW, but for now we will give you a hint: anyone who loves Twitter so much they’ve thought of writing a sonet, or so wowed by Google+ they want to write an ode may be at an advantage! And, yes, there will be prizes.

NTEN Community Series: Austin

If you’re going to be in Austin for SXSW or are a local nonprofit organization, we hope you’ll also participate in the first of our Community Series events for 2012, taking place in Austin on March 9th. Get the full details and reserve your spot today!

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Great reads from around the web on January 24th https://amysampleward.org/2012/01/24/great-reads-from-around-the-web-on-january-24th/ Wed, 25 Jan 2012 02:00:06 +0000 https://amysampleward.org/?p=2779 I come across so many great conversations, ideas, and resources all over the web every day. Here are some of the most interesting things I've found recently (as of January 24th). You can join the conversations in the comments, or click through to the original posts to find what others are saying.

Continue readingGreat reads from around the web on January 24th]]>
I come across so many great conversations, ideas, and resources all over the web every day. Here are some of the most interesting things I’ve found recently (as of January 24th). You can join the conversations in the comments, or click through to the original posts to find what others are saying.

To follow more of the things I find online, you can follow @amysampleward on Twitter (which is just a blog and resource feed), or find me on Delicious (for all kinds of bookmarks).

  • Eric Lanke: Stop Calling It Strategic Planning – "So I'm working my way through Humanize, and like most everyone else, I'm really enjoying it. This will probably be the first of several posts describing the thoughts it provokes for how I am and should be running my association. But dare I start with the endlessly controversial subject of strategic planning? I've heard Jamie Notter (and others) decry this staple of association board meetings as a tool whose time has come and gone, but it wasn't until I read the treatment of it in Humanize that I really understood what he was talking about. And it's convinced me of one undisputable fact. I need to stop calling what my association does strategic planning."
  • 2011 NTEN Champions Fundraising Campaign by the Numbers | NTEN – "The funny thing about being the Nonprofit Technology Network is that it can be really hard to practice what we preach. You may recall that the NTEN community recently helped us raise over $15,000 to host more local events throughout 2012. We learned so much while running that campaign, but we also made lots of mis-steps along the way. One of the things we wished for as we navigated the campaign: benchmarks. Besides average gift amount, what might we expect?"
  • New Research Proves the Business Case for Product Giving : PitchEngine : Get the Word Out™ – "New research from Indiana University concludes that businesses can do well by doing good through product philanthropy.  Donating products to charities helps corporate bottom lines, reduces waste in landfills, and provides relief for people in need. With a record number of Americans living in poverty today, product donations allow people to use their limited resources to pay for food, health care, prescription drugs, utilities and other vital needs. The study, released today by Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA), provides the first detailed examination of the return on investment for donating merchandise as opposed to liquidating or destroying it."
  • Is email going out with 2011? | craigconnects – "I took a look at a few articles and studies, and according to ComScore's 2010 Digital Year in Review, email use dropped 59% among Internet users ages 12 to 17 in 2010. Users ages 18 to 54 have reportedly turned away from email, as well — many are instead communicating through social-networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. An increase in email use, however, was visible in the 55+ age group, who used web-email 15% more in 2010 than in 2009. The report also went into detail on what sites people spent their time on: it illustrated that time spent on webmail sites declined while social networking sites increased considerably." Would love to hear what your experience and perception of email use is! For me, I see the way I use email and treat email changing, but the importance and irreplaceability (is that a word?) of it staying the same. You?
  • Multiple Constituent Groups, One Database: Case Studies | Idealware – A great collection of three case studies from very different organizations, including Fight Colorectal Cancer, Sarah's, and Earthjustice. How are you managing your data?
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Measuring Impact: Feature Article from the Latest Issue of NTEN:Change https://amysampleward.org/2011/12/22/measuring-impact-feature-article-from-the-latest-issue-of-ntenchange/ Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:38:37 +0000 https://amysampleward.org/?p=2773 Continue readingMeasuring Impact: Feature Article from the Latest Issue of NTEN:Change]]> [Note: The following is an excerpt of an article in the December 2011 issue of NTEN:Change. Read the complete article, “From Outcomes to Impact,” by subscribing to the journal for free!]

By Julie Macalik, with Greenlights for Nonprofit Success

The first step in starting to measure your impact is to identify the major outcomes that you want to examine. In order to be successful in this step you will need full management support and a dedicated key project lead for your team. This person will take the helm on laying out tasks in a sequence, informing other staff of their roles and assignments, and providing assistance to people as they complete their parts of the evaluation.

The standard nonprofit data points come from fundraising, communications, programs, and finance so consider these sources when gathering your team.

The standard nonprofit data points come from fundraising, communications, programs, and finance so consider these sources when gathering your team. For example, a representative from the fundraising department can make sure you consider when your funders’ reporting cycles are so that you are producing outcome measurement results at a time that aligns with their requests for information about your programs. Also, those most directly affected should provide meaningful participation, so don’t forget about your front-line staff directly involved in providing services.

Next you will want to select the outcomes that you want to examine and prioritize them. For each outcome, specify what observable measures, or indicators, will suggest that you’re achieving that key outcome for impact. After you have made your selection you can then identify what information is needed to show these indicators.

There are many types of technology and other management tools available to assist in this process, and now is the time to take stock of your technology and the tools you are going to use to track your data. Decide how information can be efficiently and realistically gathered utilizing the different methods that are best for your organization including:

  • Surveys – Consider what features you will need. If you’re just looking to get your feet wet with a quick survey, one of the many free or low cost online tools will do the trick. In fact, a more sophisticated survey package could be considerably more difficult to use. On the other hand, if you’re looking for survey software to support rigorous research, the more advanced packages are more likely to have the features you need.
  • Interviews and focus groups – The desired outcome of this type of method is to solicit data without any influence or bias. This also allows you to develop a relationship with clients or other key stakeholders and get a full range and depth of information. One benefit of focus groups is the ability for participants to feed off each other’s energy and bounce ideas off one another. Consider using an outside facilitator to help develop questions and protocol and to help identify themes from your data.
  • Documentation Review – Looking at internal records including applications, forms, procedures, and finances allows you to get an impression of how programs operate without interruption and identify new methods of collection.
  • Databases – Nonprofits can use these tools to track data in real time and report on results. Internally they can assist in managing performance at the departmental or affiliate-level using dashboards and benchmark progress over time.

After the data is collected, organize the information into similar categories (i.e. concerns, suggestions, strengths, etc.). From here you can identify patterns and themes to help you categorize and analyze data according to the indicators for each outcome.

Continue reading this article, which includes more resources and tips, when you subscribe to NTEN:Change for free!

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Community-Driven Social Impact: Presentation, Case Studies, and Workshop https://amysampleward.org/2011/03/22/community-driven-social-impact-presentation-case-studies-and-workshop/ https://amysampleward.org/2011/03/22/community-driven-social-impact-presentation-case-studies-and-workshop/#comments Tue, 22 Mar 2011 17:35:34 +0000 https://amysampleward.org/?p=2340 Continue readingCommunity-Driven Social Impact: Presentation, Case Studies, and Workshop]]> Last week was the 2011 Nonprofit Technology Conference and not only did I have the pleasure of presenting a couple sessions, it was also my first NTC as a staffer, as I joined NTEN earlier this month. I had a really wonderful time, and the Community-Driven Social Impact session was terrific! The room was packed with enthusiastic participants and this post is designed to be shared with others who couldn’t attend in person, as well as to all those who did and asked to have resources to share with their networks.

Presentation

Let’s start at the beginning: what is “community-driven social impact” anyway? All of the words probably have different meanings to each of us, but as a term, I mean programming, services, media events or campaigns that emerge from the needs, actions and involvement of the community. CDSI is not something that you thought up inside your organization, even if you thought it up with your community in mind or at heart. It means honestly that the ideas, shape and even strategy came from the community and you as the organization are the ones to support it or nurture it.

But, like many strategies or best practices, it still isn’t right for every organization. First, CDSI requires the right culture; unless your organization, board and staff are going to honor and support an idea that emerges from the community, there isn’t any point in trying to use CDSI strategies. Instead, the community will feel cheated or lied to.  It also requires capacity/staff to make connections and support the community. If there isn’t any capacity to “hear” the ideas, especially since they aren’t usually given directly, then even a well-intentioned organization won’t have what it needs to make the programs or events the community wants. Often times the community’s ideas or needs are shared in ways that require translation, of sorts—someone that can bridge the community and organization, listening to the conversations and identifying the opportunities for the organization.

What’s the foundation of CDSI? You can see CDSI in many things, and most clearly in grassroots organizing or any non-organization led action. The needs and goals of the larger community are listened to by someone or a group of people and they create opportunities for action, service, and change.  But, that doesn’t mean there isn’t real opportunity for organizations to act that part. Especially with the increased use of social media tools to help community building activity around causes or specific organizations.

So, what is that opportunity? Think of it like this:  In “Community-driven Social Impact,” the driving is up to the community; but you can act as the vehicle and event the map for those “drivers.”  Using CDSI strategies and leveraging social media, you can harness the power of the network towards your mission.

Strategy

What are those strategies? Well, you’ll find that much of the work that involves your community, whether it’s building up the community, working on engagement, listening, evaluation, or anything else, involves strategy that goes in a circle. Not exactly as simply as the goldfish, but one that after a few steps feeds back to the beginning. From listening, to creating to evaluating and then back to the listening again so that you can modify and then evaluate, and so on.

The first step: Who’s your community? What are they like: what are the demographics, the data, the stories? Where are they: which platforms or tools do they use and when do they use them? What kind of action and interaction already happens, and what actions or interaction are they looking to find? Whether it seems important in the moment or not, it’s really valuable to make a list or chart or picture, whatever you want, of all the information you have about your community. The more you list and share, the more you’ll start to see patterns or clear paths emerge.

The next step is finding the sweet spot. To do that, you first identify what your community wants to do – what it is coming together around, whether it’s an event, an action, or a movement.  Next, identify what you want to do, what your organizational goals are.  Those two “wants to do” will overlap and that gray area is the sweet spot. It’s important to remember that not everything your organization wants to do or achieve, matches up with with your community wants to do, and vice versa. The key is that that’s okay!  Maybe you provide services, and your community doesn’t want to be providing those services, but they are happy you are doing so. And maybe the community wants to endorse a specific candidate, and your organization doesn’t. But both the community and your organization want to see certain laws passed, things improved, programs created or groups supported.  That’s the sweet spot where you can count on focusing CDSI energy.

After you know who your community is and what they want to do, you probably already identified which tools they’re using. You can compare the tools they are using with the goals in the sweet spot to see if any will help reach those goals or if there are more appropriate tools to start using.  Don’t ever go for a new, shiny, cool social media platform or tool simply because you’ve heard others talking about. Know where your community is and what tools they want to use, and use those. At least if you plan on interacting with them!

Lastly, you’ll want to identify what roles are needed.  Just like throwing a party you need to have someone making food, someone pouring drinks and someone else showing people where the bathroom is.  Just because your network is excited for the party and wants to come, it does not mean that the party can just happen. Someone has to host, someone has to clean up. If your organization has the capacity to do that, there’s a great chance a good party can happen – especially if you’re willing to leave the punch and party games to the community and the natural leaders that emerge, allowing for ownership of the party’s outcome to be shared with the guests, and not just your organization.

Best Practice

That’s a pretty simple four steps for being strategic in CDSI. But what are some best practices? This is an excerpt from a blog post I wrote quite a while ago that compares the roles of gardeners and landscapers in the context of community building. The idea is that as an over all best practice, you want to strive to operate in a way that supports the natural directions of the community, without trying to shape that growth. Here are 3 ways you can operate as a gardener: no short cuts, know your community, and strive to be replaced.

The Gardener creates an ecosystem open to change, available to new groups, and full of fresh opportunities to emerge naturally.  The approach is focused on organic collaboration and growth for the entire community.  The gardener is simply there to help, cultivate, and clear the weeds if/when they poke up.

No Short Cuts

Not taking short cuts means to lead by example:  interact with the community the way you want other organizations and the community members to do.  It’s like the golden rule for community engagement.  I like this picture for this point because often mother ducks will bring up the rear, supporting the ducklings and swimming along side them, instead of shooting ahead and expecting them to keep up.

Another way to not take short cutes is to operate in public.  This means don’t build it in secret and then “launch” it  – regardless of whether it’s an online space, a program or a campaign. If it is really something that is coming from the community, you can’t just take the idea and run; you’ll want to co-create it from idea to implementation.

Lastly, not taking short cutes means asking for feedback and participation from the start. As I said earlier, often the ideas you have come from conversations or learning about the community and not from a specific recommendation (though you may get some of those, too!). So, you’ll want to share what you’re learning and thinking in  real time back to the community so you can find out if you’re right on, or way off the path.

Know Your Community

Knowing your community. Part of doing this well is letting your community know itself. That means don’t take credit where it isn’t yours, highlight the leaders and contributors in the community, and making connections across the network.

Knowing your community also means knowing your role in the ecosystem. It’s important, as I mentioned earlier in the strategy steps, to identify what your role or roles are as the organization and stick to them. Once you start spreading out, you squeeze out room for others to grow and develop or even to explore what’s possible.

Knowing your community also means you help it grow. Sometimes that means making mistakes. Hopefully they are tiny and harmless, and that you’re there to learn alongside the community.  But, it’s just to say that you are in it just like the community is, and not everything we try in life works smoothly. Instead, design for growth and sustainability from the start with lots of room for feedback, evaluation and iterations to continue developing and redeveloping.

Strive to Be Replaced

Striving to be replaced can be a tough one for most everyone. It isn’t exactly in our nature but it is key to the ethos of a community builder. One way to work on supporting your community to not need you managing the program, platform, or whatever else is to encourage interaction without you. This touches back on letting the community know itself. If you’re making connections and supporting conversations across the network, you’re helping the community create strong ties that will not require your time and energy to maintain.

Striving to be replaced also means rewarding and spotlighting leaders. Positive reinforcement is one of the best leadership development practices you can build into your work across the board, whether it’s online or offline, on your facebook page, newsletter, annual fundraiser or neighborhood events.

Lastly, the only way you can really operate in a way that prepares your community to take over for you is to share your toolbox. This is a lot like operating in public but that you are sharing the tools you use and the strategies you use. You can model behavior all you want but if no one can tell what tools you are using to be so successful, there’s no way they can jump in and help man the ship.

Case Studies

Events: NetSquared Camps

Community Driven Social Impact strategies for events – let’s look at the NetSquared Camps pilot. NetSquared had for a few years held a global conference in donated space in Silicon Valley and invited members of the community from around the world to come together offline to learn and share and build.  It was great; the community loved it. Well, they loved the chance to get together offline and build things together, learn from each other and so on. They didn’t love when the government wouldn’t give them a visa to visit the states, or when the costs for international travel around the whole world were too expensive. So, we started listening and asking questions to learn more about what they really liked and what they didn’t need from the old model. And in collaboration with our NetSquared Local organizers, we created and launched the Camps pilot which allows Local organizers to opt-in, receive support and a bit of funding, and get all of our resources and branding to hold regional events that create the same opportunities for convening and collaborating as the global conference did, but without the high costs for travel and logistics.

Campaigns: 350.org

350.Org is a terrific example of a CDSI campaign. When it emerged from the community, it wasn’t an organization at all but a group of people uniting under the call for 350PPM actions and legislation. Using 350 they rallied supporters around the world and it eventually became clear that longer-term “organizational” management could mean more integrated and impacting work from the community.

Media: Connectipedia.org

An example of CDSI media is connectipedia. This resource for funders, organizations and government agencies in the Pacific Northwest was created by the Meyer Memorial Trust in response to the need to capture, share, and retain knowledge from program officers and nonprofit staff that retired their experiences and knowledge with them when they retired from work.

Workshop

Now for the Social by Social game! I created this game in collaboration with my Social by Social co-authors, David Wilcox and Andy Gibson. We’ve modified it and created various versions, depending on whether it was to be played within one organization or with a group (like at the NTC), in just 45 minutes or over a longer period, and so on. This is the abbreviated version and I’m happy to work with you if you’d like to explore other iterations of the game that you can use with your organization.

Step 1

Be sure everyone has a playing surface:

We are going to start in the top left of your grid. You’re going to have about 5-10 minutes for this section so don’t feel rushed. Write down anything and everything you can about your community. As people start to finish at your table, start sharing what you wrote with each other as you’ll probably start to think of more things to add!

Step 2

Great! Now, let’s work on finding the sweet spot! Use the upper right corner of your handout to start identifying the goals shared by you and your community. Again, I’ll ask that you share these with each other as you start to finish.

Step 3

This next part is where it gets fun. I’m handing out cards to each table and you’ll need to share around. These are just to get you thinking so if there is a tool you want to use, you’ll see there are blank cards too.  The numbers represent the level of capacity needed to use the tool, and for the use in this game, I’m going to ask that you use 10 or less so that it’s realistic. Again, feel free to discuss at the table both if you have questions about the tools and which ones you’re choosing.

Step 4

The last section of the grid is for roles. I’m passing out another set of cards to help get you thinking about the roles you may need but note there are always options for other ideas.

Now, I hope that going through that exercise helps you create a framework for talking about projects and ideas, and reinforces that you can in fact discuss social media and technology tools in a strategic way – so long as you put the community and your goals first! We (those in our organizations passionate about technology) also, often, don’t have a way into conversations with people in other departments or with organizational leadership; this process can help you ensure that you can start those conversations by putting the goals and community that everyone in the organization is working towards and with at the forefront of your appeal.

Thanks again to everyone who participated at the NTC! If you’d like to use the game, just let me know and I can help you adapt it for your group!

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