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Networked Capacity Building
- 1. Tales from the Trenches: Nonprofit Technology Networked Capacity Building Beth Kanter Author, Blogger, Trainer SalesForce Foundation November 2012
- 2. Thank You For Helping Keo Savon I’m donating my author royalties to the Sharing Foundation’s Education Program to send her to college!
- 3. Nonprofit Executive Director (and Techie): 1980
- 4. I Discovered Internet and Online Networks: 1992 My nonprofit tech work begins ….
- 5. NpTech, Social Media, and Learning: 2004 # NPTECH Tag
- 6. Cambodia, NP Social Media, and Networked Learning: 2004-2009 Engaging Content in Scholar 2.0 many places Crowdsourcing network Sharing Conversations Fundraising Learning and content creation
- 7. Beth Kanter: Master Trainer, Blogger, Author
- 8. The Single Most Important Lesson As A Capacity Builder
- 9. Photo by Steve Goodman 2007
- 10. 2012
- 11. 2012
- 17. The Second Most Important Lesson: Don’t Start With The Tools
- 18. Social Change is Increasingly Network-Centric
- 19. A Network Mindset: A Leadership Style • Openness, transparency, decentralized decision-making, and collective action. • Listening and cultivating organizational and professional networks to achieve impact • Leadership through active participation. • Sharing control of decision-making • Blending networking with strategy for results • Data-Informed culture
- 20. Blends Network Strategy With Communications Strategy
- 21. Feeding A Network of Networks
- 22. A Bridge Between Network of Networks
- 23. The Third Most Important Lesson: Network Learning Is Richer and Efficient, Don’t Get Lost As Much
- 24. If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” Inspiration
- 25. Where to focus … CRAWL WALK RUN FLY Linking Social with Ladder of Network Building Communications Results and Engagement Strategy Networks Many Free Agents work for Development Content Strategy you Pilot: Focus one Culture Change program or channel Best Practices Multi-Channel Engagement, with measurement Content, and Measurement Measurement and Incremental Capacity learning in all above Reflection and Continuous Improvement
- 26. The Fourth Most Important Lesson: Baby Steps Themes Categories Indicators INTERNAL CULTURE Networked Mindset Institutional Support Communications Strategy CAPACITY Hours Expertise Practices Channels Differ for MEASUREMENT Analysis Tools Crawl, Walk, Adjustment Run, Fly EXTERNAL LISTENING Brand Monitoring Relationship Mapping Influencer Research ENGAGEMENT Ladder of Engagement Responsiveness CONTENT Integration Social Optimization NETWORK Networking and Networking Building Collaboration with Partners Social Fundraising
- 30. Social Media Nonprofit ROI Poetry Slam 2009
- 31. Used Design-Thinking To Develop Book
- 32. The Five Stages of Measurement Acceptance in the Nonprofit Sector Data Delight Informed Confusion Fear Denial
- 33. Denial I don’t have the time to measure.
- 34. Fear What if my strategy or program doesn’t show success?
- 35. Confusion I know I should measure our social media and network, but not sure what or how?
- 36. Hey check out Delight these cool charts and graphics!
- 37. Data Informed Successful networks and social media start with measurement
- 38. Data-Informed Culture: It starts from the top! Do Something.org
- 40. Tear down those silos and walls around data …
- 41. More time think about that the data, then collect it
- 43. Video
- 45. Why did it fail? What did we learn? What insights can use next time around? DoSomething.Org’s Fail Fest
- 46. Becoming A Networked Nonprofit: Maturity of Practice Model – Data Informed Crawl Walk Run Fly Lacks consistent data Data collection Data from multiple Org Wide KPIs collection consistent but not sources shared No reporting or Data not linked to System and structure for Organizational synthesis results, could be wrong data collection Dashboard with data different views, sharing Decisions based on gut Rarely makes decisions Discussed at staff Data visualization, to improve meetings, decisions reporting, formal made using it reflection process
- 47. Becoming Data-Informed Is Easier With Baby Steps
- 48. Identify Success
- 49. Make Sense of Your Data
- 50. A story about the nonprofit version of SF and taking baby steps …..
- 51. Board Member of 2000 the Sharing Free Foundation Agent 1.0
- 52. The Infrastructure was crappy …. Database looked like that….. 2001 Web site looked like this ….
- 54. Web Forms Paypal Access 2003 Spreadsheet Aerobics
- 55. Board members who were afraid of their computers and the Internet…..
- 56. Leveraged my professional network for my cause … 2005
- 57. Raised over $250,000 online
- 58. Okay, I’ll be honest … Honestly, the money helped motivate an investment in technology….. Hardware: 10% Software: 20% Humanware: 70%
- 59. • Upgrade crappy web site • Invest $5K in Cloud for Good for migration from Access to SF • Invest $2,500 to get tech support • Can access and report on their donors and campaigns and manage key tasks • Cloud makes it easier for volunteers • Considered other options but went with SF b/c reputation, free license, webinars, and consultants
- 60. Thank you! www.bethkanter.org www.facebook.com/beth.kanter.blog @kanter on Twitter www.measurenetworkednonprofit.org
Notas del editor
- Networked Nonprofits: What Social GoodLeaders Need to Know to SucceedThis is going to be interactive, you will get a chance to react to the ideas with your peers.
- Meet KeoSavon. It is important to me that the book has a social change mission so I am donating my royalities to send her to college in Cambodia through supporting the Sharing Foundation program for education. It will make difference in her life.She is a civil engineering major and is 2nd in her class. I met her this summer when I visited Cambodia. She lives in the orphanage that my daughter came from in Cambodia – and KeoSavon also calls me “mom.” She told me she wants to go to graduate school in the US – MIT or Stanford. I told her that I would have to sell a lot of books!
- Started in Tech 1992 Front row seatModem/MicrowaveArtsWireLearning/sharing
- I was lucky to have a front row seat at the beginning of the nonprofit tech field back in 1992 – when nonprofits were first exploring how the Internet could be used for activist and mission-driven work. I confess to being an early adopter – someone who overpaid for technology tools that didn’t work and still do that today.My first job in this area was with an online network called Arts Wire where I learned new technologies as they came out – like email, HTML, and created and lead trainings, provided online support.
- Here’s a little bit about me – blogger, author, trainer.Worked in the nonprofit sector for over 33 years. I am lucky to have been working in the field of technology for social good since 1992 when I started working for an online network of artists to help them get onto the Internet. When I applied for the job, I told them I didn’t know the difference between modem and microwave, but that I could learn quickly and transfer that knowledge to others. So, for the last 20 years that is what I have been had as my job, working nonprofits all over the world to help them learn how to use technology and Internet for their social change work. I’m a master trainer so I get to travel around the work and work with changemakers on how to use the tools for social change or mission driven work. Most recently, have designed and delivered curriculum for nonprofits to become networked nonprofit – Middle East, Africa, India, etc. There are wicked problems in the world -- I’m passionate about social change and strongly believe that two of the skills that nonprofits need to embrace to solve them.
- I was lucky to have a front row seat at the beginning of the nonprofit tech field back in 1992 – when nonprofits were first exploring how the Internet could be used for activist and mission-driven work. I confess to being an early adopter – someone who overpaid for technology tools that didn’t work and still do that today.My first job in this area was with an online network called Arts Wire where I learned new technologies as they came out – like email, HTML, and created and lead trainings, provided online support. I was reflecting back to those days and I realized that part of my work included content curation, although at the time I didn’t call it that.
- My kids were adopted from Cambodia and I took them to visit their homeland last month – and there is now pervasive broadband wifi and even 3 g in the on smart phones that can be access in rural areas CHEAPLY
- I originally got started blogging in 2002 because I had adopted two beautiful kids from Cambodia – early on combined my love of Cambodia with experimenting with social fundraising – raised money on my blog and took first place in America’s Giving Challenge to support the Sharing Foundation’s education programs – and to send LengSopharath to college. My kids got to meet her finally her face-to-face and communicating with her through Facebook …
- Also through Facebook, I’ve kept connected to the bloggers, like Mongkol who we met in Phnom Phnom. We decided to take a taxi from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap – a five hour drive – the road was good, but still the safety standards are not what they are in the US – and the drivers go fast. So I had mongkol write a sign in Khmer that read …
- We made safely to Siem Reap and the Temples – and even climbed up to the Tre Rup and got this photo with the monk … … .. Had a glorius time
- But we had to drive back to Phnom Penh. This time, the taxi had seat belts in the back of the card, but thee road often looked this … Our driver didn’t understand much english, and was talking on his cell phone a lot of the time!
- I distracted myself by looking at Facebook with my 3G connection! So I posted this status update …
- Becoming Networked Nonprofits: What Nonprofit Leaders Need to Know to Succeed in Age of Connectedness
- As you can see networks are a part of our every day and social change is be becoming network-centric.Nonprofits need to do – connect with their networks to create on the ground change. …Collaboration, coordination, and working in networks are becoming the new normal, as leaders across sectors work to move the needle on today’s most pressing problems. Individuals and organizationsare taking increasing advantage of technology’s ability to facilitate and expand their impact through connection, coordination, and collaboration. Using data to understand what is working or not.
- How do we manage this change?It means leading with a network mindset – a leadership styleOpenness, transparency, decentralized decision-making, and collective action. Listening and cultivating organizational and professional networks to achieve impact Leadership through active participation. Sharing control of decision-makingBlending networking with strategy for resultsData-Informed culture
- Bruce Lesley is one of a growing number of nonprofit executive directors and senior leaders that are blending their networking with organizational communications strategy – from CEO to CNO. He’s the CEO of First Focus First Focus is working to change the dialogue around children’s issues by taking a cross-cutting and broad based approach to federal policy making. In all of our work, we seek to raise awareness regarding public policies impacting children and ensure that related programs have the resources necessary to help them grow up in a healthy and nurturing environment.He curates on Twitter – tracking articles and trends about children’s issues, making sense of them, and sharing the best with his network of individuals and aligned partners …
- He’s feeding a network of networks .. Partners at the state level also working on children’s issues – who curate from Bruce’s feed to share with their networks – for social good outcomes like getting kids health care insurance ..
- But this is not a networked silo --- he is a bridge between networks of networks in other issues – Network mindset ..
- Becoming Networked Nonprofits: What Nonprofit Leaders Need to Know to Succeed in Age of Connectedness
- Change with NGOs doesn’t happenovernight … leaders lead but you have to bring your organization along.If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
- Framework to guide my coaching and peer learning design over the yearsThere are different stages of development for networked nonprofits. The Crawl StageCrawlers are not using social media consistently or measurement processes; they also lack a robust communications strategy. Crawlers can be small or large nonprofits that have all the basics in place, but they either lack a social culture or resist transforming from a command-and-control style to a more networked mindset. These nonprofits need to develop a strategy. Even with a communications strategy in place, some organizations may face challenges to adopting a networked way of working. If so, they should start with a discussion of the organizational issues, followed by codifying the rules in a social media policy. They should also anticipate learning and benefiting from inspiring stories from peers.The Walk StageNonprofits in this stage are using several social media channels consistently, but may not be strategic or fully embracing best practices—maybe they don’t engage with users, or they only share content and messaging produced by their own organization. These nonprofits need to create a social media strategy to support short- and long-term objectives, such policy change or increasing public engagement on an issue. Walkers internalize listening, and use the data they collect to improve engagement and some content best practices.These organizations implement small, low-risk projects that collect stories, learning, and metrics to help leadership better understand the value, benefits, and costs. Walkers should focus on one or two social media tools, going deep on tactics and generating tangible results and learning. They must identify low-cost ways to build capacity internally, such as integrating social media responsibilities into existing staff jobs. Capacity is built with support from leadership and a social media policy formalizes the value and vision.The Run StageRunners use more than two social media channels as part of an integrated strategy, identifying key result areas and metrics that drive everything they do. They have a formal ladder of engagement that illustrates how supporters move from just hearing about your organization to actively engaging, volunteering, or donating to your organization. This is used to guide strategy and measurement. They visualize their networks and measure relationships. These organizations practice basic measurement religiously and use data to make decisions about social media best practices.In these organizations, a single department does not guard social media, and staff are comfortable working transparently and with people outside the organization. The board is also using social media as part of its governance role.To build internal capacity, runners invest in a community manager whose job it is to build relationships with people on social media or emerging platforms. These organizations know how to create great content, and use an editorial calendar to coordinate and curate content across channels. They are routinely tracking the performance of their content strategy and adjust based on measurement.The Fly StageThese organizations have institutionalized everything in the running stage. Flyers embrace failure and success alike, and learn from both. Flyers are part of a vibrant network of people and organizations all focused on social change. They use sophisticated measurement techniques, tools, and processes.http://www.flickr.com/photos/oreoqueen/3235090633/in/faves-cambodia4kidsorg/http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonathandesign/7031920221/in/faves-cambodia4kidsorg/http://www.flickr.com/photos/bdfbrasil/2416260064/sizes/m/in/faves-cambodia4kidsorg/http://www.flickr.com/photos/levymh/6891554365/in/faves-cambodia4kidsorg/
- Nonprofits are often slow to change and it helps having a framework that lays out the practices in baby steps .. And the book has a detailed approach to “Crawl, Walk, Run, Fly” -- which lays out the steps for incremental change and is very detailed , of course, about measurement and learningIt has a lot of practical information and tips – but I’d like to share with you one idea from the book – and that’s about becoming data informed, but first I have to tell you about my own measurement story.
- I used think that measurement was the equivalent of Darth Vadar running after me with a radioactive light sabre
- In 2009, I decided to create a panel at the SXSW called “Nonprofit, ROI, Social Media Poetry Slam” – and asked leading NGOs to share their measurement stories but in poetic form. Poetry Slams needs expert judges, so I discovered a social media measurement expert, KD Paine, who gave the advice. I decided to live outside of my “comfort zone” and collaborate on a book on measurement and learning ….. And pulled together a group of 60 grantees from the Packard Foundation who tested the frameworks and contributed to the stories …
- The book covers basic measurement techniques and frameworks like how to measure engagement, relationships, influence, define success, social fundraising, as well as some of the more difficult networked nonprofit strategies like networks, transparency, and crowdsourcing.It has a lot of practical information and tips – but I’d like to share with you one idea from the book – and that’s about becoming data informed, but first I have to tell you about my own measurement story.
- One of the reasons why I wanted to co-author this book with the goddess of measurement is that the nonprofit sector has some challenges in embracing measurement …. We wanted to create a handbook that help nonprofits get past these challenges .. .and approach measurement like many of you do – being data informed.
- Denial – I don’t have the time or it is too early to measure – I need to get comfortable
- What if my brilliant idea or plan didn’t work?What lies beneath? Not being to learn from failure
- Not sure where to begin … this is happens around learning how to measure along the ladder of engagement, measuring conversions ..
- This guy loves data so much, he lost his head …. Just generating charts and graphs but not making meaning from it
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/theimagegroup/369893824/Reach data-informed
- There’s another important organizational skill - data-informed this describes agile, responsive, and intelligent nonprofitsthat are better able to succeed in a rapidly changing environment and can fuel networks of networks. DoSomething.org has a big hairy social change goal: To harnesses teenage energy and unleash it on causes teens care about by launching a national campaign per week. The call to action is always something that has a real impact and does not require money, an adult, or a car. Their measurable goal is to get 5 million active teen members engaged in social change campaigns by 2015. Their use of social media, mobile, and data all strategically selected and use to reach that goal.They are a networked nonprofit with a data informed culture – and it started at the top with their board and advisors ..Reid Hoffman and DjPatil – “A Data Scientist” – have advised the CEO – Nancy Lublin – not only what infrastructure is needed to collect and make sense of data, but how she as the leader can’t rely on hunches – decisions – have to be informed by data.
- They have two data scientists on staff .. Their job is to work in partnership with program staff to use data to improve decision-making
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/mkrigsman/3428179614/DoSomething has two data analyst positions on staff .. And they aren’t sitting in the corner playing with their spreadsheetsWhile a big part of their job is to become the stewards of the dashboard, they work with staff – so that making sense of data Is not an adhoc process, but one of continous improvement of the programs. The data analysts work collaboratively with staff to help them apply and understand their data.
- One of their organizational mantra is “Spend More Time Thinking About The Data, Less On Collecting ItThis is an example of their dashboard. It is very visual, but it isn’t just data and charts – they make insight out of the numbers and apply it to improving their program. Their mantra – “collect less data, think about it more”(Translator: not going to cover all this content if we run out of time)Pregnancy Text” Campaign featured on their quarterly dashboard. This clever sex education campaign is an updated version of the teen pregnancy education program where young people carried eggs around and pretend they are babies. It was a text campaign where teens opted in to receive texts on their mobile phones from the “baby.” Once they joined (and they could share it with their friends). they received regular annoying text messages at all hours from the “baby” that poops, cries, and needs their immediate attention.The team at DoSomething.org uses data to base the program design, key performance indicators and a hypothesis to be tested. They looked at survey data from the National Campaign: nearly 9 in 10 (87%) young people surveyed also say that it would be much easier for teens to delay sexual activity and avoid teen pregnancy if they were able to have more open, honest conversations about these topics with their parents and/or friends. So, success of this campaign would be mean that participants talk with their family or friends about the issue and delay sexual activity.The basic design had those who signed up challenge their friends to take care of a text baby either by (1) going to DoSomething website and selecting 5 friends to challenge or (2) after receiving a text from DoSomething (sent to DoSomething’s 300k mobile subscribers) would opt to challenge friends after reading a quick stat on US teen pregnancy. Participants that accepted the challenge would then start receiving texts the following morning from the text-baby. After completing the challenge user were prompted to send it to their own friends.DoSomething.org also followed up with 5k of the users with a text-based survey to measure impact.Once defining success and identifying the right data collect, here’s some of the insights they gleaned according to Nancy Lublin, CEO of DoSomething and Jeffrey Bladt:SMS as a platform: They are monitoring engagement per communication channel and it has revealed SMS to be 30xs more powerful for getting their users to take action as compared to emailChallenging 5 friends: we’ve tested various group sizes for SMS experience and have found the a group of 6 (1 alpha inviting friends) leads to the highest overall engagementResearch Based Messaging: The general messaging for the campaign was based on survey findings that found (1) big scare tactics (e.g. getting pregnant = not going to college) we not as effective as highlighting who being a teen parent changes daily life (e.g can’t go to the movies because baby sitter cancelled); (2) a CDC report that found: “The impact of strong pregnancy prevention messages directed to teenagers has been credited with the [recent] teen birth rates decline.A/B Testing: They pre-tested different messages and frequency of sending the messages to smaller test groups of teens to optimize the number of messages the baby would send during the day, as well as the content. They ended up doubling the frequency and rewording several interactions as well as building in a response system (so the baby would respond if teen texted an unsolicited response). The insights from these tests pushed up engagement and likelihood of forwarding at the end.Impact: They did a survey to measure this. 1 in 2 teens said that taking the Pregnancy Text made it more likely that they would talk about the issue of teen pregnancy with their family and friends.As you can see from the above insights, DoSomething just not gather and analyze topline data:101,444 people took part in the campaign with 100,000 text-babies delivered171,000 unsolicited incoming messages, or 1 every 20 seconds for the duration of the campaign. During the initial launch period (first 2 weeks), a new text message was received every 10 seconds.For every 1 direct sign-up, DoSomething gained 2.3 additional sign-ups from forward to a friend functionality. The viral coefficient was between 0.60 and 0.70 for the campaign.1 in 4 (24%) of teens could not finish a day with their text-baby (texted a stop word to the baby)DoSomething.org uses its data to continuously improve programs, develop content, and shape campaign strategies. So DoSomething.org wants its staff to spend more of its brainpower thinking about the data, rather than collecting it. To ensure that this happens, DoSomething.org’s Data Analyst Bob Filbin’s job is more than programming formulas in Excel spreadsheets. Says Filbin, “One of the biggest barriers in nonprofits is finding the time to collect data, the time to analyze, and the time to act on it. Unless someone is put in charge of data, and it’s a key part of their job description, accelerating along the path towards empowered data-informed culture is going to be hard, if not impossible.”
- Here’s another example. It is a campaign to help avoid animals in shelters being killed because they haven’t been adopted.They found in their research that shelters didn’t share photographs or good ones on social networks. So, they are recruiting youth to be “fur photographers” to photograph the animals and share on Facebook.
- http://gawker.com/5950941/kathie-lee-dropped-a-puppy-on-his-head-on-live-tv-todayhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQzo_3yIc8MDuring the launch of the program on national TV – the Today Show, Kathie Lee dropped the puppy on his head.Several bloggers picked it up and it got a lot of attention
- Back in the office, the data scientists were looking at the data in real time to figure out what was driving people to their landing page and getting them to sign up.
- Fail Fest And Pink Boas: Don’t Be Afraid To FailDoSomething.org doesn’t use its data to pat itself on the back or make the staff feel good. Lublin notes that they’re not afraid of failure. They hold regular “Fail Fest” meetings, where each person on staff has to present a campaign or program failure. They share three things they learned about themselves and three things the organization learned. To remove the stigma from failure, Lublin says, “We have to wear pink boas when we present.” http://www.flickr.com/photos/ruminatrix/2734602916/in/faves-cambodia4kidsorg/
- The “Crawl, Walk, Run, Fly” Maturity of Social Media practice framework is in Beth’s next book, Measuring the Networked Nonprofit. We used to help us design the program, determine process outcomes, and help us evaluate our progress.Explain modelPhotos: Runhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/clover_1/2647983567/Flyhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/micahtaylor/5018789937/
- Becoming Data-Informed: Change Is Easy With Baby StepsChanging an organization’s culture to a more data-informed approach must begin with baby steps. While it does not have to be difficult to orchestrate, it does need to start from the top. Unless senior management can agree on the definitions of success and how they will be measured, you can waste a tremendous amount of time accumulating data but not using it. In Chapter 4, we describe the basic steps of any measurement program and discuss how to set up a measurement pilot program. Chapter 5 discusses how to identify the value of success. Getting started on the path to becoming a data-informed nonprofit is a matter of having some important internal conversations. It is not just about having new inspiration about measurement or working with new tools; it means thinking differently about the organization and how it works.Begin at the End: Discuss and Identify ResultsIf your organization doesn’t know exactly what you’re going to measure, you can’t become data-informed. Unless you have a discussion upfront of what success looks like, you’ll end up collecting data, but it won’t help you make decisions. You will waste your time. So begin at the end by carefully identifying desired outcomes. Don’t be afraid of a bit of healthy disagreement. The best measurement programs are borne of—and benefit from—lively conversations about what really matters to the organization and who can “claim credit” for what. You need to keep your “mission” hat on and keep the conversation focused on the ultimate goals of the organization. Just keep repeating, it’s not about “credit”—it’s about achieving the mission. You will also want to manage expectations: What is realistic to expect given your current investment in social media, or compared to peer organizations? What do short-term, medium, and longer-term results look like?You might need to bring in an outside consultant to facilitate a meeting to help get consensus on what you want to measure or clarity on results. Or you may need to bring in a measurement expert to help you clarify what you want to measure and why. This doesn’t have to be expensive. For example, as we discuss in Chapter 8, the Analytics Exchange helped the American Leadership Forum by supplying an analytics volunteer to help create a framework and system for gathering data. Become a Curator of MetricsIf you are the person responsible for implementing social media for your organization, either part time or as your whole job, you need to become what John Lovett defines as a “Curator of Metrics” in his book Social Media Metrics Secrets.This is someone, like Carie Lewis from the Humane Society whom we introduced you to do in Chapter 1, who knows the difference between different types of metrics and ensures that her organization is using data in an intelligent way. A curator of metrics knows how to help guide their organization into choosing the right metrics, and knows how to report insights in a way that connects them to organizational goals.Use Experiments To Make The Case To EvolveOne way to evolve into a data-informed organization is through implementing a series of social media measurement experiments, as described below and in Chapter 4. Each one needs to have solid metrics, and should be designed to provide results that will help you make the case to evolve. Keep the end in mind when agreeing on how experiments will be structured, run, and measured. The experiments should not be willy-nilly, but help you develop and test your strategies and tactics – and lead the way to best practices. Take a Baby Step: My First Data Collection ProjectTo get started, select a project, event, small campaign, or program that is a high priority on your organization’s work plan for the year, that incorporates social media, and that you can apply a couple of good metrics to. Be mindful of other organizational deadlines that may divert energy and focus from this important first baby step. You might find it difficult to set aside quality time to focus on it. Don’t try to measure every objective or collect all potential relevant data. Make it easy to manage. You should also have a very clear idea about what you want to learn. Keep in mind that you are going to take your report and use it to make the case for a more comprehensive measurement program. It’s important to make sure that anyone who is going to use the data, or sit in a meeting and review the data, buys into your metrics. That could be the Executive Director, a program manager, the board of trustees, or other people in your department. If there are many different decision makers you may need to do a formal survey to make sure that everyone ends up on the same page. Sara Thomas, who handles social media for the Ocean Conservancy, says, “It was really useful to bring in my entire department on the effort rather than working solo on the project. This helped with buy-in.”Learn from Your ResultsOnce you collect your data, analyze it and understand how it can help inform decisions. Make sure you educate through examples. Show how adding a data-informed approach to your social media or all media or programs can avoid ineffective campaigns and increase audience satisfaction.More importantly, you don’t just need to develop discipline around collecting data, what you want is the discipline to look at what you’ve collected and generate insights. That requires reflection, not just counting.Doing a measurement pilot will help create the discipline of stepping back from whirlwind of social media tactical implementation, but also wrestle with larger questions about how social media fits into an organization’s overall efforts. Which vehicles and channels gain us the most traction? How should we adjust our workload internally to reflect those results? How are our social media activities helping us meet our overall strategic goals? How are our efforts using social media supporting our programs?Reflecting does not have to be a private activity. It can be done in connected, transparent ways. The organization’s blog or website can be a place to share lessons learned with readers, and ask them for their feedback and suggestions as well. The result: a powerful way to learn and improve over time.ConclusionTo start the shift to a data-informed culture, you must begin with small incremental steps with the full support of leadership. It’s important to think big, looking at key results, but since many outcomes deal with long-term changes, you can’t get there overnight, nor can your organization transform its culture overnight. Keep the steps small and manageable. As your organization’s culture begins to shift, then when you present reports on social media activities, you get better questions from your executive director or board. You don’t get asked how many fans do we have or what does that mean? You get questions that help you Kanter, Beth. (October, 2011) Are You A Curator of Metrics? [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.bethkanter.org/curator-metrics/Thomas, Sara, private conference call peer learning group with David and Lucile Packard grantees with Beth Kanter, September, 2011
- Becoming Networked Nonprofits: What Nonprofit Leaders Need to Know to Succeed in Age of Connectedness
- That’s a photo of me in 2000 with my son Harry, shortly after he was adopted from Cambodia. Back then, I was a Free Agent 1.0. Free agents are people who are passionate about your nonprofit, but not your traditional volunteer or a staff member.I felt strongly that it was important to give back to the country that gave us our beautiful children. So, I gave a small donation to “The Sharing Foundation” – a small nonprofit with a mission to help children in Cambodia through projects in the village of Roteang and running a state of the art orphanage there – where my children lived. The organization was founded by a retired pediatrician, Dr. Nancy Hendrie, and all the volunteers/board members were part of her network.I really wanted to do more than give a donation. Back then, I had been working in the nonprofit tech sector for 20 years and I noticed they didn’t have a web site – I knew a little HTML – and offer to do their web site.
- Here it is … embarrassing now – but they were thrilled because I kept the content up to date!
- My first “online fundraiser” was offline/online hybrid. I had helped create a parents of adopted children’s support network and were using a yahoo group to talk– and I was hearing a lot of requests for materials to teach the kids about their culture. They didn’t reallyexist. So, I worked with the Sharing Foundation on creating cultural kits – we purchase items in Cambodia – like unpainted monkey masks or supported a sewing school project where the girls made geckos. They were hand carried back in a suitcase and I assembled these kits that I offered on the web site as a perk for a $35 membership donation. Each couple of months I added a different cultural kit. Over the years, I raised about $15 -20 K ,000 for the organization. But it has huge amount of work – I was the order and fulfillment department, customer service department, and marketer. But I had built this wonderful network of adoptive parents who were introduced to the organization and its work. And we were able to use our web site to reach people beyond what we could do offline at craft fairs.
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolibraryarchive/4078416459/in/faves-cambodia4kidsorg/http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2010/04/spreadsheet.htmlMeasurement should inform specific decisions and/or actions.Do not measure everything, but do measure what is most important to your goals.The data you gather should help you learn
- Okay, I’ll be honest. The prize money helped me really convince the board …We had a great discussion about how much impact we could have in Cambodia with that money – which later helped us craft some of our messaging We didn’t have a lot of capacity – all volunteers – including me. We didn’t have the best infrastructure – a crappy web site, our database sucked, and not capacity or resources.We did a few things in our favor: Passion – everyone on the board/volunteers really, really, cared about the causeGreat Stories – and content – photosWillingness to experiment and learnIn looking back, here’s a few things we did to build our capacity before and during the contest …..
- http://bit.ly/network-leadership