Latest Top 10 News on Giving & Social Media

There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. ~Richard Bach

Since I got such good feedback from my listing of the latest in news on Giving and Social Media last week, I thought I would try to continue the trend on a regular (maybe not weekly) basis. So in trying to help you (and me) keep my head straight on all that is going on related to giving and social media, here are my latest top 10 news tidbits on all that is giving and social media. Happy reading!

1. Giving Trends: Giving USA Report Released: 2008 marked the first drop in charitable giving since 1987 and only the second time giving has fallen in 50 years. Despite this and given the worst economic climate since the Great Depression, giving still exceeded $300 billion for the second year in a row and still reached over 2.2% of GDP. For more on the report go to: http://bit.ly/YfaRx and http://www.givingusa.org/.

2. Mobile Giving Applications: New giving applications are getting ready to be released. Apple is considering a new iPhone app called Givabit http://bit.ly/dSNnE). MobileCause is helping to mobilize causes through text donations (http://bit.ly/13XxWR). Additionally, Chance to Give (http://www.chancetogive.org/) has released a mobile application to give to cuases. What more will be in store for us in the coming year?

3. President’s Summer Service Campaign: President Obama launched the “United WE Serve” Summer Service Campaign beginning June 22nd through September 11th, deemed “The National Day of Service and Remembrance.” President Obama launched this to promote service and encourage people to volunteer. With it http://www.serve.gov/ was launched to enable community members to register their service projects. More at http://bit.ly/ZhZU7.

4. Why Nonprofit CEOs Should Use Social Media: This is a great presentation and article about why CEOs in general and nonprofit CEOs should use social media. As business becomes global, so must CEOs reach become more global and more personal – social media allows for both. Check it out at http://bit.ly/k3QH4.

5. Demography & Giving: A recent Chronicle of Philanthropy Prospecting article proposes that shifting demographics can be more of a factor to consider in giving and fundraising than the economic downturn. The article encourages fundraisers to consider the implications of an aging and more diverse population – focusing on new strategies for baby boomers with extended life expectancies, younger givers and trends in giving for minority populations which will become “majority” by 2050. Nonprofits need to respond to these trends and adapt their fundraising strategies accordingly. More at http://bit.ly/16yKpJ.

6. Change & Social Media: While this article is from May, it is a great one from Mashable about ways to change the world through social media. Recommendations include take social actions, twitter with a purpose, choose your cause, host a social media event, and more at: http://bit.ly/NElPE.

7. Giving & Profit: This is one of my favorite articles and discussions that ensued about whether or not online giving sites should charge fees for giving. It is one near and dear to my heart (and our internal discussions as we build OneGiving). Online giving sites are providing a service – this article and the follow up comments explore the pros and cons – weigh in, it is a worthy discussion: http://bit.ly/Y43uk. Another article from the Huffington Post explores whether volunteerism and service can become profitable http://bit.ly/hVsR9. Another article discusses cons of cause marketing http://bit.ly/11TZix. All of these discussions are valuable to initiate the dialogue about the blended line between for profit and nonprofit efforts.

8. Donors & Web 2.0: A recent article on http://www.change.org/ highlights traits of Web 2.0 donors – including how they are younger, give in smaller amounts and ways in which they want to interact. As we move from Web 1.0 to 2.0, it is crucial that online giving sites and nonprofits begin to adapt with the changes or be left behind. In a related article, change.org encourages all nonprofits to keep updating their Guidestar entries to stay up to date with all the Web 2.0 giving sites: http://bit.ly/Ght8h.

9. Global Philanthropy: A recent article explores the implications of proposed new regulations that may impede international nonprofits and aid groups in a crackdown on foreign philanthropy. What will the greater implications be for global giving? Join the discussion: http://bit.ly/huyix.

10. Additional Resources: The List of Change recently released a new ranking of cause related blogs with over 170 listed: http://bit.ly/tvZCK. Pew’s Research on American Life and the Internet released the latest data on different types of internet use. Data says that 20% of users make donations online: http://bit.ly/HgrnA. An online social network for grantwriters: http://grantwriters.ning.com/. A new site creates a community where your online time benefits nonprofits of choice: http://www.jackthedonkey.com/.

You can find me on twitter @pilarstella. Keep the dialogue going!