Social media has become one of the preeminent marketing tools for nonprofits looking to engage with donors and raise awareness about their cause as well as companies and social enterprises looking to incorporate a charitable component into their businesses.

It allows organizations to reach a large and diverse audience quickly and inexpensively. It can also be a way for organizations to connect with potential donors on a more personal level by sharing stories and updates about their work and community impact.

Philanthropy on social media helps those in need of donations to connect with a broader audience and raise awareness about their situation. And social media enables even more assistance, going beyond financial support to provide a way to mobilize volunteers and supporters.

However, it’s important to remember that social media can be a crowded and noisy space, and it can be difficult for nonprofits to stand out. Organizations need to develop a clear and consistent message. Companies and individuals can create powerful opportunities for charitable donations and acts of service by engaging with their audience in sincere and meaningful ways.

The effects of social media on philanthropy

The growth of social media has significantly impacted philanthropy for communities and those in need worldwide. Consider the effect of China’s “99 Giving Day,” which was the product of goodwill organizations and social media crowdfunding. Every September, Chinese companies donate millions to charity; their contributions are matched by the Chinese Internet company Tencent. Through this combination of social media marketing and philanthropy, millions have been raised for those needing medical treatment.

These viral social media campaigns have made it easier to learn about charitable causes, connecting philanthropists with organizations that align with their values. Social media campaigns have also enabled donors to share their philanthropic activities with their social networks, inspiring others to give. Remember the viral ALS Bucket Challenge in 2014? That social media campaign produced massive results for ALS research, netting more than $115 million and producing a life-changing new ALS drug.

The explosive growth of social media has also led to some challenges for philanthropy. Due to the large volume of social media posts and viral campaigns, it can be difficult for organizations to stand out in a crowded and noisy online space. It also presents a problem when measuring the impact of social media efforts on charitable giving. Additionally, the proliferation of online fundraising platforms has made it more difficult for donors to determine which organizations are reputable and which ones may not be using their contributions effectively.

Strategies to stand out from the crowd

For those seeking to bring social media into their philanthropic efforts, here are five strategies that can help organizations stand out from the crowd.

1. Develop a clear and consistent message: It’s crucial for nonprofit and social good organizations to have a clear and consistent message that reflects their mission and goals. Distinct messaging will help differentiate the organization from others and make it easier for potential donors to understand the mission statement and values.
2. Engage with your audience: Social media is a two-way conversation, so engaging actively with your audience is essential. Organizations and individuals should respond to comments and questions, share updates and stories about their work, and solicit feedback and ideas.
3. Use visually appealing content: Social media is a visual medium, so it’s important to use visually appealing content to capture your audience’s attention. This might include photos, videos, infographics, or other types of media that help to tell your organization’s story. Last year Project Angel Food partnered with the television network KTLA to create a successful telethon, raising over $1.1 million in an effort to combat food insecurity.
4. Use hashtags and tagging: Hashtags and tagging can increase the reach of your content and make it easier for people to discover your organization on social media. Use relevant hashtags and tag other organizations, influencers and individuals who may be interested in your work.
5. Partner with influencers: Influencer marketing can be an effective way to reach a larger audience on social media. Consider partnering with influencers who align with your mission and values and who have a large and engaged following. In 2019, I partnered with MIT for its Pi Day 24-Hour Challenge. We donated $15,000 to support the efforts of teams worldwide, all creating innovative new solutions for global problems.

By using social media effectively, organizations and philanthropists can connect with thousands of worthy charitable causes worldwide, bringing aid to millions of people (and animals) in need. The awe-inspiring power of bringing people together to assist one another is one of the most significant technological innovations of the century. Let’s use it to do some good.

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If you’re working on behalf of a nonprofit, foundation, NGO, university or cause organization, you know that you don’t move the needle unless you have a marketing plan in place that propels people to take action on your organization’s behalf. And today a big part of your marketing toolset involves social media.

Because most people participate in at least one social media platform, nonprofits now have an easier and less expensive way to target and reach your stakeholders and constituents.

But before you jump in, make sure you have a concrete plan on how to get the message across to your target audience. If you’re planning to jump-start your social media presence for your organization, here are 15 tips you might find useful.

Set goals

1Before you start tweeting or Facebooking away, you need to identify your goals. What are you trying to achieve, and how do you measure success? If you’re trying to increase your organization’s engagement rate on Instagram, say, you should first set out a goal that’s specific (50 IG interactions), realistic (is it really possible?) and timely (in a month?). Once you establish a goal, you should track how you’re doing and adjust your processes to improve your results.  

Know your audience

2One of the most important steps in boosting your social media presence is knowing your audience. If you know who they are, you would know what their interests are and what type of content you need to share to reel them into your social media pages and your website. You’ll be better positioned to effectively engage them if you know what their proclivities are.

Know the platforms

3Knowing the audience gives you an idea what social media networks they spend time on. If, for example, your audience members are the “visual” types, you’re going to be more effective in engaging them through Pinterest or Instagram.

Photo courtesy of rawpixels.com via Pexels

Be consistent with your content

4Post content regularly to build your social media presence. You don’t need to devote a full-time staffer to this, but your updates should be regular and not sporadic. Also, make sure your content is consistent with the services you offer so that your audience won’t get confused with what your organization is offering. Your social media team members need to be on message with your nonprofit’s mission and goals.

Create targeted content

5By “targeted content,” we mean posts that your target audience would find interesting. As the saying goes: content reigns supreme. That holds true with social media marketing as well. Make sure you’re not regurgitating boilerplate mission statements — you need to find human stories that represent what your organization is trying to achieve!

Repurpose top content

6Yes, recycling or repurposing content is not a bad idea — especially if the content garners a lot of attention the first time you posted it. If a blog or a video gets a lot of attention from one social media platform, you can use it to get more mileage in another platform that is not doing as well.

Make sure it’s not all about you

7As long as you stay consistent with your updates, you can increase your social media engagement if you share external posts that your audience might find useful or interesting. In other words, it shouldn’t be all about you. Post about your sector or interesting things happening in your world, not just about official organization business.

Influencing via influencers

8“Influencers” are experts or public figures who have large social media followings. Wooing them to promote your services would help in making your cause, fundraising appeal or big event known to a wider audience. Does anyone on your team know any figures with large followings? Ask them!

Photo courtesy of picjumbo.com via Pexels

Engage your audience regularly

9Take time to reply to queries or solicit suggestions posted by the public to your Facebook page or other social media comment sections. Your followers should know that you spend time there and care about what they have to say.

Create a social media calendar

10There are lots of tools on the Internet that will help you manage your social media accounts more easily. (See Socialbrite’s Tools section.) This will also help in making sure you post updates on a regular basis.

Connect with other marketers

11Building relationships with other social media marketers can help foster a virtuous circle. This also makes it easier for you to get more ideas on how you can boost your social media presence.

Put more effort on visuals

12People are visual animals, which means that more people will likely check out your content if it looks great. So make sure to put more effort on the images you’re posting to attract your target audience.

Use hashtags

13Hashtags are a useful tool to make your content easier to find. This will also help with your branding. Did you now that Socialbrite has a free downloadable flyer on the subject?: 45 hashtags for social change (PDF).

Join communities

14Joining communities that are in the same niche as yours will make it easier for people to find your content, as communities usually allow their members to share posts on community walls. Also, you’ll be able to get the latest trends and news in communities.

Measure the results

15Last but crucially: Constantly check to see if you’re on track to achieving your goals. Are your efforts paying off or are they falling short? Only by measuring can you adjust course to be more in sync with what your audience wants and needs. The number of followers, likes, shares, comments, clicks and/or leads should be able to tell you if you’re achieving your goals or not.

There’s no denying social media is now a part of the modern landscape. Whether you work at or with a nonprofit, foundation, university, NGO or social enterprise, you should take advantage of this fact and use the free tools available to you. Over time, if used properly, social media can help advance your organization’s mission, and that’s the bottom line, isn’t it?

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Content strategy basics for optimizing your volunteers’ contributions

Guest post by Robert Rosenthal
Vice President, Communications & Marketing, VolunteerMatch

From designing volunteer opportunities, to recruiting new volunteers, to creating risk management policies, to screening volunteers, to recognizing great supporters, there are a lot of elements to successfully engaging volunteers with your organization. Not all of these elements easily translate to the social media realm.

However, there are two key areas of volunteer engagement – recruitment and recognition – that are such great matches for social media that it’s worth a second look no matter how your organization is structured.

Your big question is, why should you engage volunteers via social media? And another thing: How can you harness your content to work for you while doing so? Here’s my rationale for bringing together your social media and volunteer engagement strategies, and a few simple ideas for making it all work.

Volunteer engagement and social media

A lot has been made about the estimated value of a Facebook like to an organization’s donor program, but what if I told you that our research shows that a volunteer you recruit today at VolunteerMatch.org will, on average, eventually provide more than $3,000 in equivalent social value for your organization?

On top of this, volunteers also donate … a lot!  Not only do two-thirds of volunteers also give money to organizations, they give an average of ten times as much money as non-volunteers.

Donations, which are transactional in nature, often lack the relational buy-in to your mission to which volunteers have already committed. Volunteers often work side by side with your team. And because they already donate their time – the most precious thing they have – there is no group of supporters more primed to help you in other ways than volunteers.

While not every volunteer will want to share their interests on social media, connect with your cause, inspire others to get involved, or follow your news, many volunteers will.

Here a few tips for using content to engage volunteers via social media:

• Get the basics right first. Make sure your Web pages support volunteer engagement. Your website is still the heart of your digital strategy, so make sure volunteering is present in your navigation, on a page of its own.
• Listen. Be engaged in what supporters and prospective supporters care about.
• Update your messaging. How do you talk to prospective volunteers? Do you have established calls to action, graphics and keywords? Make sure you extend your brand to accommodate volunteer engagement needs.
• Leverage stories. The best way to engage anyone is by tapping their emotions, and storytelling is still the best way to do this. Gather stories of impact and craft them to fit on the social media platforms you choose.
• Optimize your presence. You don’t have to be on every social media platform under the sun. Choose social media platforms that have a large base of supporters for your organization, and that fit well with your content needs.
• Think like a collector/curator. Don’t just broadcast your own messaging – by sharing other people’s and organizations’ content, you’ll show your supporters that you play well with others, and will build a reputation for being a trusted go-to resource for knowledge in the space.
• Create sharable content. People love videos and pictures. Create content that people will want to share with their friends and family members. Test what works well with your community and do more of that.

What success looks like

Finally, how will you know it’s working? When measuring volunteer engagement via social media, try to answer these kinds of questions, which are readily available via analytics:

• Am I effectively tapping the most vocal supporters of our volunteer program for other roles?
• How many of our Facebook fans volunteered with us last month?
• What are our most effective methods for promoting our volunteer opportunities via social media?
• Which types of volunteer-related social media content are most likely to inspire followers to act?
• Which social platforms are the best places to tell our volunteers’ stories?

If these questions look familiar, they should be! These are simply adaptations of common measurement-related questions that nonprofits often ask about their social media performance overall. Now that you can see how to apply them to volunteer engagement, you’re well on the road to making volunteering, and your volunteers, a bigger part of your social media activities.

What’s working for your organization? Share your social media and volunteer engagement success stories in the comments below.

Robert Rosenthal raises awareness about VolunteerMatch as head of their public relations, marketing, social media, membership communications, and public thought-leadership activities.

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Gain insight from your key supporters to ignite sharing activity

Target audience: Nonprofits, cause organizations, foundations, NGOs, social enterprises, businesses, marketers.

Technology has blessed your community with more sharing power than ever before. The ability to retweet, like and pin with increased ease is what helped launch the slactivist movement.

Even though sharing has gotten easier, getting people to share still feels like pulling teeth.

So how do you get people to share your content? Here are five mind-shifts to remember:

Start with your database

1The people who are most likely to share your content are in your donor database and email list. Before you waste time trying to target specific audiences on Facebook (which you can easily do), make sure you’ve worked your database first. They are better spokespeople for your cause than you are.

Become one of them

2If you’re thinking on some level (even subconsciously) that your job is to get people to do something, stop it. You can’t make people do anything – especially if they don’t trust you.

What you can do is find the people who are already talking about your cause, and join their conversations. Quite naturally, on their own terms, they’ll accept you as one of their own.

Respect the blogger

3Don’t hire an amateur do a mass copy-and-paste blogger outreach campaign. Instead, create a strategy that truly motivates them to share your campaign with their audience.

Keep in mind that bloggers are in it for the long haul like you are. When the campaign is over, don’t disappear. Continue to demonstrate your sincere interest in their blog with comments and retweets.

Think about how you share

4Think about the last time you shared a video on YouTube. How did you share it? Did you email it, tweet it or post it on Facebook?

More importantly, why did you share it? Was it funny? Did it make you angry?

You can better understand the research about viral content if you look at what motivates your own sharing.

Huddle up with your 1 percent

Photo by arizonarepublic (Creative Commons)

5If you haven’t already, begin to identify your champions. Create a private venue using a Facebook Group so that you can deepen your connection with these folks. When it’s time to launch a tightly defined fundraising effort, they’ll be ready to go.

What makes your community share?

The post How to get people to share your content appeared first on Socialbrite.

App puts social actions in the palm of your hand

Guest post by Glenn Vander Laan
Co-founder, Crowdshout

Target audience: Nonprofits, cause organizations, foundations, NGOs, social enterprises, educators, activists, general public.

The idea for Crowdshout hit my business partners and me back in November 2011, a few months following the Arab Spring and during the Occupy Wall Street protests. We realized that despite all of the tools and technology out there to support advocacy, something was missing. The advent of social media and the smartphone was helping to change the world right in front of us, but it was clear to us that all of the puzzle pieces were yet to fall into place to fully enable and empower groups of people.

Social media is providing real-time visibility to the social, political and consumer issues that affect us as individuals and as a society. The rapid dissemination of information has changed the game for governments and corporations in both positive and negative ways.

While social media has been embraced as a large part of an overall communication strategy, it can also be used as a powerful weapon by people in reaction to unpopular plans and policies. Institutions must now consider how to react to public opinion — from a Change.org petition, Facebook campaign or a viral video on YouTube.  In addition to this, the portability and capability provided by smartphones to access social media have allowed groups of individuals to communicate and organize very quickly and effectively in support of causes.

What was missing?

As we looked around at the advocacy landscape, it was clear that while a few high-profile causes have had a tremendous amount of visibility and success, the majority of worthy, important causes do not generate enough attention and action to reach their goals. Perhaps what’s even more important to consider is that the attention and support they do generate does not lead to any specific actions that could make a difference. This has been the main complaint that many have raised regarding what’s referred to as “slactivism” or “clicktivism” — that the actions are too insignificant or detached to have any lasting value.

While Change.org, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and blogs are viable platforms to disseminate information and raise awareness, they do little to assist in shaping a strategy and directing behavior to effect change over time.

Thus, the need for a new generation of digital advocacy tools that contain built-in action and that can be used to help build and drive an ongoing campaign.

Social action at your fingertips

Crowdshout redefines social activism for the mobile age. We built Crowdshout as a mobile application to put social action in people’s hands so you can stay involved and connected to the causes you care about. By leveraging the power of the smartphone, we use location and calendar-based information to drive coordinated actions designed to make a difference.

On the Crowdshout platform each cause is configured with a set of action tools to help promote the cause.  Action tools include sending email messages, tweeting on Twitter, posting to your Facebook wall, making phone calls, and reading the latest news items about the cause. We also have plans to incorporate more than a dozen unique action tools into the platform to drive targeted group behavior in support of causes.

Our goal was to make it very simple for cause participants to take a series of actions. We leverage a concept we call “micro actions,” a number of small tasks taken by individuals that get magnified through group participation. When you join a cause, the tools for that cause are configured into the notification system of your phone to remind you to perform the actions at a specified time. The tools are predefined email templates, filled out phone scripts completed, suggested Tweets and Facebook posts, and individuals are asked to take action at specific times over the course of the cause campaign. The timing aspect is important because one of the unique capabilities of the Crowdshout platform is coordinating actions by many people at the same time for maximum impact.

Think about creating a “tweet storm” on Twitter, or initiating a phone campaign blitz to light up the telephone switchboards of U.S. senators or representatives.

Crowdshout is offered in two ways. First, as an open platform we invite individuals to join and create causes and action plans, and invite your friends or other Crowdshout users to help you in taking actions to make a difference. If you are an organization or a group and would prefer a “branded” experience, Crowdshout is also offered as a service. The Crowdshout app can be rebranded to fit the look and feel of your organization while leveraging all of the Crowdshout tools and infrastructure to provide a specific branded experience for your supporters. You can check us out at crowdshout.com, download the Android app on Google Play or look us up during SXSW Interactive starting Friday.

What do you think? Would you use Crowdshout?

Related

• 10 top tools for cause & advocacy campaigns (Socialbrite)

• Resources for social advocates (Socialbrite)

• Social Advocacy Toolkit (Socialbrite)

• E-campaign resources (Socialbrite)

• Social fundraising tools for nonprofits & causes (Socialbrite)

• Advocate Interactive: Blending nonprofit advocacy with for-profit tactics (Socialbrite)

• Growing nonprofits and social movements with NationBuilder (Socialbrite)

• Empowered.org: Out to grow grassroots movements (Socialbrite)

• Causes reinvents itself as a campaign center (Socialbrite)

The post Crowdshout: Social advocacy made simple appeared first on Socialbrite.

SuperGuide to events for nonprofits & social good organizations

Here’s our roundup of conferences in the nonprofit and social change sectors coming up in 2013. This has become an annual tradition here at Socialbrite, and we hope you’ll bookmark this page and return to it throughout the year — we’ll be updating it throughout 2013 as more conference details firm up.

We’ll be reporting on many of these events and invite you to share your coverage or observations on Socialbrite, or let us know and we’ll tweet it or Facebook it. Throughout the year we’ll publish monthly calendars on the first of the month.

If you know of other must-attend events, please add them by posting in the comments below. Note that on Monday we’ll be publishing a calendar of 2013 conferences in social media, tech, mobile and marketing on our sister site, Socialmedia.biz.

Update: Here’s Socialmedia.biz’s 2013 conferences: Social media, tech, mobile & marketing.

Conference	Date	Place
January
NMX: New Media Expo	Jan. 6-8	Las Vegas
New Media Expo, often called Blogworld, is the first and only tradeshow, conference and media event dedicated to promoting the dynamic industry of blogging and new media. If you are currently blogging, vlogging, podcasting, producing some other form of new media content, thinking about joining the exciting industry of new media or just want to know what this whole blogging phenomena is all about then you need to be at New Media Expo.
TransportationCamp	Jan. 12	Washington, DC
TransportationCamp is an unconference series about transportation and technology. Meet the thinkers and doers, and get ready to talk and learn about improving mobility, information design methods, bike share systems and more.
WordCamp	Various	Worldwide
WordCamps are informal, community-organized events that are put together by WordPress users like you (note: They’re generally not free). Everyone from casual users to core developers participate, share ideas and get to know each other. The year’s first WordCamp takes place in Victoria, British Columbia, on Jan. 12. See the main Word Camp site for a full schedule of events.
Food + Justice = Democracy	Jan. 18	Chicago
This national meeting is a call to action for activists, urban farmers, food system workers, immigrant rights advocates and anyone seeking to explore community-driven solutions to promote food equity through the lens of race, class and gender.
Intersection Event	Jan. 19	Mtn. View, Calif.
What would happen if you put some of the most innovative, ground-breaking thought leaders from the business world in a room with some of the most creative and influential social change agents of our time for one day? The Intersection Event will forge an “intersection” of ideas and commentary between leading innovators from academia, entrepreneurship, technology and entertainment.
PodCamp Halifax	Jan. 20	Halifax, Nova Scotia
A PodCamp is a free BarCamp-style community unconference for new media enthusiasts and professionals including bloggers, podcasters, YouTube producers, social networkers and anyone curious about new media. See the main PodCamp site for a full schedule of events, including Toronto and Cincinnati.
World Economic Forum	Jan. 23-27	Davos-Klosters, Switzerland
For more than 40 years, Davos has provided an unrivalled platform for leaders from all walks of life to shape the global, regional, industry and business agendas at the beginning of the year. The 2013 program includes The Global Agenda: How to get the global economy back on to a path of stable growth and higher employment, How to address persistent vulnerabilities within the international financial system, How to increase global, national and industry resilience to major systemic and catastrophic risks, and more.
She’s Geeky	Jan. 25-27	Mountain View, Calif.
She’s Geeky convenes to inspire women for the future, creating a space to connect women from diverse STEM (sci-tech) communities. They promote activities and organizations in regions around the country, inviting participants to meet in an unconference setting where the agenda is created live at the event.
EmMeCon: Emerging Media	Jan. 28-31	San Francisco
The Emerging Media Conference welcomes attendees with an opportunity to view and experience the latest in technology advances and upcoming product roll-outs. Included in this unique program are demonstrations, presentations and discussions led by some of the most connected and recognized experts in the industry.
February
Washington Nonprofit Conference	Feb. 7-8	Washington, DC
The Washington Nonprofit Conference is an annual two-day event where more than 800 fundraising and marketing professional in the nonprofit and commercial sectors gather to exchange innovative marketing and fundraising ideas, generate insightful solutions and think creatively. The conference hopes to offer a platform for improving public awareness and receptivity to direct and interactive market-driven philanthropy.
Social Enterprise	Feb. 9-10	Boston
This year’s theme at the Social Enterprise conference at Harvard is Create. Connect. Commit. The gathering’s organizers hope to catalyze a forum to create, to enable individuals and organizations to connect and to inspire one another to commit.
Marin Nonprofit Forum	Feb. 14	San Rafael, Calif.
The Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership in Marin brings together experts and practitioners for learning and reflection by convening the bi-annual Marin Nonprofit Conference and issue-based Forums. This year’s Nonprofit Forum will identify what we have in common and how we can tell that story in a way that builds partnerships with donors and clients.
Media That Matters	Feb. 15	Washington, DC
Media That Matters (not to be confused with the long-running Media That Matters in B.C.) is an annual conference presented by the Center for Social Media at American University. It’s designed for established and aspiring filmmakers, nonprofit communications leaders, funders and students who want to learn and share cutting-edge practices to make their media matter.
Strategic Co-Funding: A Grantmaker Convening	Feb. 21	Washington, DC
Grantmakers for Effective Organizations brings together a group of 150 grantmakers to explore different approaches to strategic co-funding. This daylong convening will offer participants opportunities to deepen their knowledge and advance their practice around key areas such as building trust; developing joint strategies, goals and common processes and more.
Wisdom 2.0	Feb. 21-24	San Francisco
Join Twitter co-founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone, Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, author Marianne Williamson and others at Wisdom 2.0, and explore the great challenge of our age: to not only live connected to one another through technology, but to do so in ways that are beneficial to our own well-being, effective in our work and useful to the world. This conference brings together people from the worlds of tech, business, spirituality, wellness and more.
ACM: Computer Supported Cooperative Work	Feb. 23-27	San Antonio, Texas
CSCW is the premier venue for presenting research in the design and use of technologies that affect groups, organizations, communities and networks. Bringing together top researchers and practitioners from academia and industry in the area of social computing, CSCW 2013 will build on this strong history with venues including papers, workshops, panels, a Doctoral Colloquium and more.
TED	Feb. 25-Mar 1	Long Beach, Calif.
The best moments at TED have often come from unexpected places. But this year, the organizers are pushing that to a new level, staging a global talent search to bring together the most remarkable lineup in TED’s history. This year’s theme: The Young. The Wise. The Undiscovered.
TEDActive	Feb.25-Mar 1	Palm Springs, Calif.
TEDActive is a curated community of 700 curious and energetic leaders who share an immersive week of TEDTalks (mainly through video links) and surprising experiences designed to inspire conversation, exchange and immediate action around ideas worth spreading. TEDActive provides a journey through critical conversation, joyful exchange and deep thought.
Nonprofit Communication Workshop	Feb. 28	Bentonville, Ark.
The Center for Nonprofit Communication at Drury University presents a one-day conference for nonprofit organizations, The Nonprofit Communication Workshop, that will provide nonprofit professionals with strategies for improving communication and creating stronger connections with donors, volunteers, businesses and the community.
March
Front End of Innovation EMEA	March 4-6	Copenhagen
This is the first and only event to solve industry challenges in real time. Front End of Innovation EMEA provides new ways to deliver value through innovation by connecting through content. This is the one event for best-in-class presentations from multi-national leaders.
Mission-Driven Management Summit	March 5-6	Washington, DC
The Mission-Driven Management Summit is the only event of its kind in North America that features case studies from Hall of Fame social and public sector organizations that successfully use the Balanced Scorecard method to achieve results. This event is designed for managers and executives of all levels interested in building and sustaining a high-performance organization.
DANSIC13	March 7	Copenhagen
DANSIC13 is the biggest conference focused on social innovation. The conference will bring together over 300 dedicated and motivated students, social entrepreneurs and managers for a day focusing on how social innovation can create a sustainable society where business and the common good go hand in hand. page translation
Social Media for Nonprofits	March 7	New York
Join 5,000 peers at the world’s premier series dedicated to social media for social good. All sessions are designed to provide attendees with concrete insights and takeaways, showcasing best practices, pitfalls to avoid and free, helpful resources for nonprofits and causes.
SXSW	March 8-17	Austin, Texas
South by Southwest offer the unique convergence of original music, independent films and emerging technologies. Fostering creative and professional growth alike, SXSW is the premier destination for discovery. Join cool geeks and techies, indie filmmakers or up-and-coming musical acts.
SOCAP Soul	March 9	Boston
Social Capital Markets plants a flag at MIT for a one-day gathering of social entrepreneurs and change agents.
Corporate Contributions	March 10-13	New Orleans
The Annual Conference on Corporate Contributions is the premier conference in the U.S. for professionals in corporate citizenship, corporate social responsibility, community relations and volunteerism, assembling well-known speakers, authors, practitioners and educators.
eCampaigning Forum	March 13-14	Oxford, UK
The eCampaigning Forum is a groundbreaking event and community for campaigning and digital campaigning leaders and to connect, share experience and learn together.
Grants Managers Network	March 18-20	St. Petersburg, Fla.
At the Grants Managers Network Annual Conference gain valuable new ideas, tools and resources at interactive, hands-on learning sessions designed to support those new to the field as well as seasoned professionals. This conference will equip you to solve the most pressing challenges facing our industry today. Don’t miss this opportunity to explore bold ideas that can position you and your organization for success.
Left Forum	March 18-20	New York
Left Forum convenes the largest annual conference of a broad spectrum of left and progressive intellectuals, activists, academics, organizations and the public. Participants come together to engage a wide range of critical perspectives on the world, to discuss differences, commonalities, and alternatives to current challenges and to share ideas for understanding and transforming the world.
Cause Conference	March 19-20	San Diego
The Cause Conference brings together both for-profit and nonprofit professionals at the largest cause partnership event on the West Coast. This year’s conference focuses on the intersection of purpose and profit and how creating meaningful partnerships leads to sustainable value.
Social Enterprise Exchange	March 21	Glasgow, UK
Social Enterprise is a dynamic way of doing business that can transform communities and drive lasting social change. This conference will give you the opportunity to network, interact and learn from high-caliber speakers in a topical and thought-provoking program as well as meet, trade and do business with 150 exhibitors.
BlissDom	March 21-23	Dallas
BlissDom is for women who find and express their bliss by publishing online. Speakers and panels will feature the best blogging, public relations and social media pros who’ll be on hand to mentor new and old friends. At this ninth conference, speakers and panels featuring the best blogging, public relations and social media pros will be gathering to mentor new and old friends alike.
April
Innogive: Innovative Giving Conference	April 2	San Francisco
The path to successful mobile fundraising starts with successful donor cultivation of mobile engagement, resulting in successful fundraising campaigns. Innogive will be holding its fourth annual conference for innovative use of mobile tech by nonprofits.
National Conference for Media Reform	April 5-7	Denver
Organized by FreePress.net, the National Conference for Media Reform is dedicated to changing the media and building a better democracy.
Clinton Global Initiative University	April 5-7	St. Louis
This fifth annual gathering will bring together students and national youth organizations to create and implement Commitments to Action across five focus areas: Education, Environment & Climate Change, Peace & Human Rights, Poverty Alleviation and Public Health. The CGI U meeting will include plenary sessions, working sessions and other special events that provide participants (who must apply by Jan. 30) with a wide variety of knowledge-sharing and networking opportunities.
AFP International Conference on Fundraising	April 7-9	San Diego
For the past half-century, the AFP International Conference on Fundraising has helped fundraising professionals around the world face a variety of challenges. This year, the goal is to engage and re-energize the fundraising industry, create balance, focus on critical priorities and simplify complexities.
Investing In Women	April 10–12	Detroit
This conference brings together hundreds of leaders in women’s philanthropy, including grantmakers, donors, industry experts and activists. Investing in Women will explore the latest models in collaboration, in giving and in making an impact. Hear from organizations who are making lasting systems change in the U.S. and around the world, and learn how to measure the impact of your work and tell the story to increase engagement.
Skoll World Forum	April 10-12	Oxford, UK
Since 2004, the Skoll Foundation and its partners at the Skoll Centre at Oxford University have convened this invitational event, which hosts more than 800 delegates from over 65 countries for three remarkable days of sharing, learning and inspiration. Delegates represent the best and brightest thinkers and practitioners from the social, academic, finance, private and policy sectors.
NTC: Nonprofit Technology Conference	April 11-13	Minneapolis, Minn.
This three-day gathering brings together nonprofit professionals from around the world to collaborate, innovate and maximize effectiveness. With a wide mix of social events, seminars, trainings and resources, NTEN’s Nonprofit Technology Conference will help you put technology to work to further your cause.
Global Health and Innovation	April 13-14	New Haven, Conn.
Last year Unite for Sight’s Global Health and Innovation Conference devoted a full session of speakers to Social Change and Impact and addressed issues regarding changing the world for the better. Here is the speakers’ lineup for this spring, including speakers at the forefront of philanthropy and social entrepreneurshp.
Global Philanthropy Forum	April 15-17	Redwood City, Calif.
A project of the World Affairs Council of Northern California, the Global Philanthropy Forum aims to build a community of donors and social investors committed to international causes and to inform, enable and enhance the strategic nature of their work. The gathering is intended for individuals who have made a significant commitment to international philanthropy, donors who have established family foundations and executives of corporate, private or public foundations based in the U.S. and overseas.
Sustainatopia	April 16-22	Miami
With 60 individual events in film, art, music, eco-fashion, food, design, parties and two major impact investing conferences, Sustainatopia is one of the biggest sustainability and impact investing events in the hemisphere.
Sankalp Unconvention Summit	April 17-18	Mumbai, India
The Sankalp Forum is a holistic ecosystem designed to catalyze impact investments into sustainable and scalable social enterprises globally. The annual Sankalp Unconvention Summit is one of Asia’s largest collaborative platforms to bring together social enterprises, impact investors, policy makers, academicians and other market makers. The summit will bring the entire network together to discuss emerging trends and to recognize the best social enterprise models through the Sankalp Awards.
Global Engagement Summit	April 17-21	Evanston, Ill.
The Global Engagement Summit builds the capacity of the next generation of change-makers. By identifying talented, young individuals, providing skills training and connecting driven students with innovative thought leaders, GES empowers them to produce responsible and sustainable solutions to shared global problems. In addition to tangible outcomes, resources and opportunities, GES also strives to provide a forum for discussing critical issues and evaluating why we want to “do good well.”
Global CSR Summit	April 19-20	Philippines
The Global CSR Summit & Awards 2013 celebrates its 5th successive year at the beautiful city of Davao on Boracay Island in the Philippines. Organized by the Pinnacle Group International, the summit on corporate social responsibility has been at the forefront of the sustainability debate, introducing cutting-edge ideas and issues to the Asian business community.
Corporate Citizenship	April 21-23	Boston
Successful corporate citizenship is all about managing many interests – the community, workplace, marketplace, investors and others – in a way that contributes to the bottom line. How to make this work for your company is the focus of this year’s Corporate Citizenship Conference.
Social Venture Network Spring	April 25-28	San Diego
Social Venture Network connects, supports and inspires business leaders and social entrepreneurs in expanding practices that build a just and sustainable economy.
Ignite Phoenix	April 26	Scottsdale, Ariz.
Ignite Phoenix is an information exchange, fostering and inspiring Phoenix and global communities to share, experience and enjoy different topics from the creative and subjective, to inspirational, technical and philosophical. Presentations will educate, exhilarate, motivate and move you, and you’ll look at your world in a whole new light.
Connections	April 29-30	Calgary, Canada
Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organization’s conference will bring together leaders from the nonprofit sector, the corporate community, government and other funders and community leaders to dialogue about the significant changes that will impact the sector and its ability to meet community needs in the future.
May
Business4Better (B4B)	May 1-2	Anaheim, Calif.
Business4Better (B4B) will bring together midsize business, large corporations and nonprofits to define mutually beneficial partnerships. The B4B conference, expo and movement encourages a level of engagement that will inspire businesses to action, connect them with like-minded nonprofit organizations and create better-than-ever partnerships that are redefining social purpose and transforming business impact on societal causes.
Digital Leap	May 2	Toronto
At the Digital Leap 2013 conference, learn digital marketing strategy and techniques from the experts, find out about incredible digital marketing opportunities for your charity, give your digital presence a boost for better results and many more.
99U	May 2–3	New York
The goal of the 99U Conference is to shift the focus from idea generation to idea execution. To accomplish this, we bring together some of the world’s most productive creative visionaries and leading researchers to share pragmatic insights on how ideas are brought to life.
Front End of Innovation	May 6-8	Boston
Front End of Innovation brings together the best of the best in innovation, R&D, product development, commercialization, marketing and strategy from leading Fortune 1000 companies to be enlightened and inspired.
501(c)onference	May 10	New York
The second annual 501(c)onference is a full-day conference for professionals and leaders in the nonprofit sector. This conference is designed to bring nonprofit professionals together to connect people, resources and good ideas so we can imagine, design and build a stronger future together.
Connecting Up Australia	May 15-17	Sydney
With the theme of navigating not-for-profits in the new world, Connecting Up Australia will guide not-for-profits through new tools and ideas in the world of technology, social media and digital marketing to help them continue to innovate. The conference is an opportunity for not-for-profits to learn from inspiring international and local speakers, to engage and share with other delegates and walk away with new insights to prepare their organization for the new world and take their not-for-profit to the next level.
Social Enterprise Alliance	May 19-22	Minneapolis, Minn.
Social Enterprise Alliance aims for social enterprise to reach its full potential as a force for positive social change, in service to the common good. To achieve this purpose, they provide social enterprises with the tools and resources they need to succeed and work on building an optimal environment.
Social Media for Nonprofits	May 20	Boston
In this conference series, these sessions are designed to provide attendees with concrete insights and takeaways, showcasing best practices, pitfalls to avoid and free, helpful resources for nonprofits and causes.
Impact Investing in Action	May 20-23	Washington, DC
Impact Investing in Action is a new kind of conference designed to support the flow of capital to early-stage companies creating change in the world. IIA’13 was launched to connect entrepreneurs with impact investors. Come meet outstanding, investment-ready companies using the market the solve social problems, learn about new investment vehicles to make it easier than ever to invest, and build relationships with some of the most inspiring and dynamic change makers you will ever meet.
Center for Effective Philanthropy	May 21-22	Detroit
The Center for Effective Philanthropy’s national conference, with the theme Pursuing Results: Effective Foundation Practice, will provide philanthropic leaders with resources to maximize their effectiveness. Leaders of foundations working in Detroit will share their views on what has and hasn’t worked in their efforts to help one of the most challenged cities in America and will explore critical issues ranging from impact investing to nonprofit performance measurement and the unique challenges of being a foundation CEO.
Alliance for Community Media	May 29	San Francisco
The Alliance for Community Media is where progressive media makers come together to learn and collaborate. This year’s theme is “Collaborate.” The conference focus will support the growth of business opportunities for community media centers.
Cause Marketing Forum	May 29-30	Chicago
Cause Marketing Forum was founded in 2002 with the goal of increasing the number of successful company/cause alliances by providing business and nonprofit executives with the practical information and connections they need to succeed.
Global Action Forum	TBD	Los Angeles
The Global Action Forum was conceived to redirect the traditional fundraising approach to philanthropy toward fearlessly building bottom-up campaigns emotionally connecting and creating communities that over time morph into movements for generations to come.
June
The Learning Conference	June 3-4	Miami
The Learning Conference will bring together more than 200 leaders in philanthropy for cutting-edge conversations that will showcase diverse perspectives, strategies and solutions to help navigate the challenges and opportunities associated with making learning a priority.
EmMeCon: Emerging Media Conference	June 3-6	Seattle
The Emerging Media Conference welcomes attendees with an opportunity to view and experience the latest in technology advances and upcoming product roll-outs. Included in this program are demonstrations, presentations and discussions led by some of the most connected and recognized experts in the industry.
Sustainable Brands	June 3-6	San Diego
Sustainable Brands is an international community of learning and action focused on understanding and leveraging the role of brands in shaping a flourishing future. The gathering is ground zero for sustainability, brand and innovation professionals who come together from around the world to be inspired, engaged and equipped to succeed by building the better brands of tomorrow, while building a network of like-minded colleagues who can help.
NMC Summer Conference	June 4-7	South Carolina
The NMC Summer Conference is a one-of-a-kind event, attracting an audience of hundreds of highly skilled professionals interested in the integration of emerging technologies into teaching, learning and creative inquiry.
Fundraising Day	June 5	Toronto
The Association of Fundraising Professionals is the professional association for individuals responsible for generating philanthropic support for a wide variety of charitable organizations. In thie annual event, the association advances philanthropy in society by enabling people and organizations to practice effective and ethical fundraising.
NCTech4Good	June 6-7	Chapel Hill, N.C.
This conference is designed to serve nonprofit professionals, volunteers and consultants, as well as small business owners. The conference focuses on technologies in areas such as fundraising, social media and communication and advocacy tools, offering both pre-selected presentations and workshops and spontaneous sessions.
Personal Democracy Forum	June 6-7	New York
Personal Democracy Forum is the world’s leading conference exploring and analyzing technology’s impact on politics and government. Join hundreds of individuals interested in how technology is changing politics, governance and society.
Social Change Institute	June 6-10	Hollyhock, B.C
At the Social Change Institute, you’ll gain insight into the latest movement and organizing strategies, online tools, campaigns and leadership practices while immersed in the stunning natural setting of Canada’s leading educational retreat center: Hollyhock. This is your chance to break away from the daily pressures of work and life. To think big, focus your intensions, sharpen your skills and make life-long connections.
North by Northeast	June 10-16	Toronto
Now in its 19th year, North by Northeast has become the Canadian festival destination for emerging artists and major-label headliners, for music filmmakers and for digital interactive innovators bridging the gap between technology and the arts. Seen as the most anticipated summer music event in Canada, NXNE Music, NXNE Film and NXNE Interactive are an essential gathering for artists, industry and fans.
Social Media for Nonprofits	June 13	Mountain View, Calif.
In this conference series, these sessions are designed to provide attendees with concrete insights and takeaways, showcasing best practices, pitfalls to avoid and free, helpful resources for nonprofits and causes.
Tällberg Forum	June 13-15	Stockholm
The Tällberg Forum is an arena for reflection, conversations and the search for creative solutions, integrating both nature and the arts, where people feel free to step outside of their professional identity, to share doubts and new ideas and to search for ways forward outside of established frameworks. It acts to stimulate the conversation on, and design solutions to, the problems of our times in order to foster new thinking and solutions.
Symposium on Scaling Social Impact	June 17	New York
Social Impact Exchange’s Symposium on Scaling Social Impact will bring together nonprofit leaders, funders, professional service providers and academics to explore the state of scaling in the nonprofit sector. The symposium is a wonderful opportunity for those interested in advancing the field of social impact to network with other like-minded professionals and build knowledge and increase skills for this important work.
National Conference on Volunteering and Service	June 19-22	Washington, DC
This National Conference on Volunteering and Service provides attendees an opportunity to learn, connect and be inspired through a wide range of exciting and informative plenary sessions, workshops, immersion learnings, special events, service projects, exhibits, specialized tracks and more.
Allied Media	June 20-23	Detroit
The Allied Media Conference cultivates strategies for a more just and creative world. We come together to share tools and tactics for transforming our communities through media-based organizing.
Netroots Nation	June 20-23	San Jose
Netroots Nation amplifies progressive voices by providing an online and in-person campus for exchanging ideas and learning how to be more effective in using technology to influence the public debate. At the annual convention, participants strengthen the community, inspire action and serve as an incubator for ideas that challenge the status quo and ultimately affect change in the public sphere.
Indie Web Camp	June 22-23	Portland, Ore.
Indie Web Camp is a regular gathering of web creators building and sharing open Web technologies to advance the state of the independent Web and empower users to own their own identities and content on the Web. Participants get together for a weekend to talk about what has been done in the field, what still needs to be done and then spend a day hacking and creating.
Aspen Ideas Festival	June 26-July 2	Aspen, Colo.
The Aspen Ideas Festival will gather some of the most interesting thinkers and leaders from around the U.S. and abroad to discuss their work, the issues that inspire them and their ideas. Presented by the Aspen Institute and The Atlantic, the festival is dedicated to dialogue and exchange and in its commitment to bringing ideas to the public at large.
July
International Development Design Summit	July 1-31	Zambia
The International Development Design Summit is an intense, hands-on design experience that brings together people from all over the world and all walks of life to create technologies and enterprises that improve the lives of people living in poverty.
Partnering for Global Impact	Lugano, Switzerland
The annual Partnering for Global Impact (PGI) conference encourages participants to share knowledge, engage with issues, explore investment opportunities and partner with one another. The event is designed to enable participants to learn about and pursue investment opportunities with both a social and a financial return.
Project SEARCH	July 15-19	Austin, Texas
Project SEARCH is dedicated to providing education and training to young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities through an innovative workforce and career development model that benefits the individual,workplace and community.
Community Leadership Summit	July 20-21	Portland, Ore.
The Community Leadership Summit is the meeting place for community managers and leaders from all around the world. The event pulls together the leading minds in community management, relations and online collaboration to discuss, debate and continue to refine the art of building an effective and capable community.
OSCON	July 22-26	Portland, Ore.
OSCON is the gathering place for the entire open source community. It’s where all the pieces of the open platform come together. Unlike other conferences that focus entirely on one language or part of the stack, OSCON deals with the open source ecosystem in its entirety, exactly as you approach it in your work.
Bridge to Integrated Marketing & Fundraising	July 31-Aug. 2	Washington, DC
The Bridge conference brings together some of the biggest buyers, sellers and users of fundraising and direct marketing products and services. The three-day event features nationally and internationally renowned speakers and cutting-edge educational programming.
August
ASAE Annual Meeting & Exposition	Aug. 3-6	Atlanta
Learn and grow. Challenge and inspire. Lead and succeed. The possibilities are endless. At ASAE, you’ll engage with thought-provoking speakers, experience innovative session formats, enjoy world-class networking events and much more.
International Democratic Education	Aug. 4-8	Boulder, Colo.
IDEC is a conference that brings together practitioners, organizers, academics, youths and educators for an international exchange on the transformation of communities, schools and learning to ensure that all young people can engage meaningfully in their education and gain the tools to build a just, sustainable, democratic world.
SXSW V2V	Aug. 11-14	Las Vegas
SXSW V2V is the newest addition to the SXSW series of events. It’s an extension and reimagining of the SXSW experience with an emphasis on the creative spark that drives entrepreneurial innovation. This four-day event brings the startup and venture capital communities together with the creative industries that have helped to make SXSW so special. V2V serves innovators and entrepreneurs from across all the industries at the core of SXSW as they learn the skills, make the connections and find the inspiration to take their ideas and talents to the next level.
September
SOCAP	Sept. 3-6	San Francisco
The venerable Social Capital Markets gathering for social entrepreneurs and change agents will return to SF’s Fort Mason Center.
Nonprofit Management Institute	Sept. 10-11	Stanford, Calif.
The Nonprofit Management Institute is conducted by leaders in the field of social change: academics known for their work at Stanford and at other renowned universities and well-known practitioners who will share their insights and experiences from successes in the field.
Web of Change	Sept. 18-22	San Antonio, Texas
Web of Change is a series of conferences that connects the foremost thinkers and doers in the growing community of social change and technology from across North America.
Social Venture Institute	Sept. 18-22	Cortes Island, BC
Join business leaders and social entrepreneurs at the Social Venture Institute for an intensive, interactive inquiry into how to face the day-to-day challenges of running a socially conscious enterprise. Take advantage of this opportunity to fine tune business strategies, learn best practices for solving problems and build long lasting relationships with business peers and mentors.
IdeaFestival	Sept. 24-27	Louisville, Ky.
IdeaFestival is a celebration for the intellectually curious. It’s an eclectic network of global thinkers and one-of-a-kind innovators bound together by an intense curiosity about what is impacting and shaping the future of the arts, business, technology, design, science, philosophy and education.
ArtezInterAction	Sept. 26	Toronto
Whether you’re a seasoned fundraising veteran or new to fundraising, ArtezInterAction has something for everyone. This one-day conference is designed for fundraisers looking to accelerate their online activities.
Blackbaud Conference for Nonprofits	Sept. 29-Oct. 2	National Harbor, Md.
Join this conference to experience everything you love about the Blackbaud Conference — three days of educational content dedicated to your specific needs and opportunities to network and interact with your peers and industry experts.
Retail Sustainability Conference	Sept. 30-Oct. 3	Orlando, Fla.
This event brings together executives from all major retail and consumer product segments along with relevant solution providers to address the key issues of sustainability and environmental compliance for retail.
October
CONNECT	Oct. 1-3	Albuquerque, N.M.
At CONNECT, go deep into topics relevant to your philanthropy. Connect with peers and learn collaboratively in daylong seminars suited to your needs.
Social Enterprise World Forum	Oct. 2-4	Calgary, Canada
Social Enterprise World Forum will be a gathering of over 1,000 Canadian and international participants involved in the social enterprise movement. Participants will share experiences, stories and learn from an international body of knowledge and experience. This event is a unique opportunity to catalyze the social enterprise sector by furthering the creation of a supportive environment for success.
Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing	Oct. 2-5	Minneapolis, Minn.
At the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, the theme will be “Thing Big, Drive Forward.” The conference provides rich professional development sessions wherever you are in your career: from students just starting out to mid-career technologist to senior technical women.
Salsa Community	Oct. 9-10	Washington, DC
At Salsa, expect new activities like networking – you’ll have more opportunities to network with Salsa staff, Salsa partners and your fellow do-gooders in the community. They’ll offer “Birds of a Pepper” roundtables and add more opportunities to share your stories with one another in sessions and dedicated networking time and on-site certification testing and tutoring.
Social Media for Nonprofits	Oct. 13	Austin, Texas
In this conference series, these sessions are designed to provide attendees with concrete insights and takeaways, showcasing best practices, pitfalls to avoid and free, helpful resources for nonprofits and causes.
Poverty Alleviation Un-Conference	Oct. 13-18	Ixtapa, Mexico
The Poverty Alleviation Un-Conference by Opportunity Collaboration is a four-day problem-solving, strategic retreat for nonprofit leaders, for-profit social entrepreneurs, grant-makers and social investors engaged in economic justice enterprises. This gathering leverages resources, shares innovations, enlists allies, builds coalitions and creates force multipliers.
GigaOM Mobilize	Oct. 16-17	San Francisco
GigaOM’s Mobilize conference will explore the next frontier for connected devices. The world’s leading mobile thinkers and doers will be on hand to examine the wealth of opportunities spurred by the skyrocketing expansion of devices and apps.
Bioneers Conference	Oct. 18-20	San Rafael, Calif.
Explore the forefront of positive change in deeply inspiring keynote talks, panels, workshops and intensives. Network with dynamic change-makers, experience Moving Image Festival screenings and networking receptions and discover powerful opportunities and strategies for creating positive change in your work, life and community. No details have been announced for the 2013 conference.
TechNow	Oct. 24	Pittsburgh
TechNow is the Pittsburgh region’s premier one-day conference devoted to new and important trends and opportunities in technology for nonprofits.
PopTech	Oct. 24-26	Camden, Maine
An eclectic mix of thought leaders and visionaries will convene in Maine for its 17th annual gathering. A celebration for the intellectually engaged, PopTech is a chance to meet the people who are inventing our future and an opportunity to partake in stimulating presentations, exhilarating performances and life-changing conversations.
November
BSR	Nov. 5-8	San Francisco
BSR works with its global network of more than 250 member companies to develop sustainable business strategies and solutions through consulting, research and cross-sector collaboration.
BoardSource Leadership Forum	Nov. 7-8	Los Angeles
BoardSource Leadership Forum is the only national conference focused on the impact of nonprofit boards and the role they play in advancing the public good. Develop your governance skills and practices, discover solutions to your leadership challenges and increase your understanding of the key trends and issues impacting nonprofits.
Global Social Business Summit	Nov. 7-9	Vienna
The Global Social Business Summit provides a platform to establish connections with like-minded individuals through a range of opportunities for networking. This annual summit gathers worldwide social business pioneers from all kind of backgrounds — corporate, political, academic, civil societal — to share their expertise and to exchange groundbreaking ideas.
National Arts Marketing Project Conference	Nov. 8-11	Portland, Ore.
At the National Arts Marketing Project (NAMP) Conference , you’ll learn the marketing strategies that your organization needs to revolutionize the way communities engage with your organization, and explore the interactive tools and forward-thinking strategies needed to create a sense of community around your work.
December
Big Ideas Fest	Dec. 4-7	Half Moon Bay, Calif.
Big Ideas Fest is a unique three-day immersion into collaboration and design with a focus on modeling cutting-edge thinking in K-20 education.Rapid-fire speakers provide the inspiration to think differently, and Action Collabs lead the charge to create and act differently. No date set yet for the 2013 event.

Other conferences and events

We can’t possibly list every conference in the world, but if you know of other nonprofit or social good gatherings that should be included here (or if you see anything amiss), please share in the comments below.

Here are some conferences that we couldn’t find any information for in the new year:

• RootsCamp, an unconference devoted to organizers and volunteers

• Innovate / Activate at UC Berkeley, an event about intellectual property and activism

• Transparency Camp: An unconference that convenes a tribe of open government advocates in Washington, DC.

• Government Web and New Media Conference

• Games for Change Festival

• AFP TechKnow Conference

• International Green Awards in Dubai

• National Educational Telecommunications Association Conference

• Cause Placement

• SXSW Eco provided solutions for a sustainable world in October 2012 in Austin, Texas.

• The Feast

• RECHARGE! Power Up Your Capacity

• ARNOVA: Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action

• Nonprofit Software Development Summit

• Doing Good Better by Dallas Social Venture Partners

Here’s our calendar of 2012 nonprofit and social change conferences.

The post Calendar of 2013 nonprofit & social change conferences appeared first on Socialbrite.

Listen, implement & measure to keep up with your users’ needs

Target audience: Nonprofits, cause organizations, foundations, NGOs, social enterprises, metrics specialists, educators.

Guest post by Ritu Sharma
Social Media for Nonprofits

Like many of the nonprofits Social Media for Nonprofits works with, we were excited by the recent release of Beth’s new book, Measuring the Networked Nonprofit: Using Data to Change the World.

In line with the book’s focus on turning data into knowledge through powerful, insightful measurement and analytics of social media efforts, we wanted to share three simple tips and resources that nonprofits can put to work.

All of these platforms have been profiled at our recent Social Media for Nonprofits conferences, which is about to produce its final U..S program of the year in Seattle on Monday, before we head to New Delhi in December, and then back to New York City, Silicon Valley, Vancouver, plus most other major U.S. markets in 2013.

And now, for those tips and tools:

Get to know your audience

1Want to know what makes your online audience tick? Then check out Simply Measured. In particular, their free reports give you your social audience’s pulse on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google+, and other platforms. There’s a gold mine of intelligence presented in their 8-10 insightful, colorful analysis tools. Learn who your followers are, what issues they care about, which posts are firing up your base, and what types of content are gaining steam and going viral.

Make your website shine

2How can you make your web footprint work for you and complement your social strategy? Nonprofits get free access to Google Analytics, a robust tool that tracks what turns your audience on or off when they land on your site. This tool highlights the behaviors that are most important to understand, including where your audience came from, what content they looked at, how long they stuck around, where you lost them, and to what extent your readers engaged with your content.

Monitor social conversations

3Discover a social treasure of other cause-driven folks like you connecting with like-minded professionals, sharing content, and tracking followers by analyzing your nonprofit’s social media presence. Keep an eye on all your social conversations, wherever they take place, with Sprout Social (think HootSuite on steroids).

Nonprofits can save 50 percent on this low-cost tool, which gives you the ability to engage with your base, strategically search for better followers, identify posts that get superb traction, and of courser, schedule your posts in advance. Note: Pre-scheduling posts should only be used for Twitter and LinkedIn posts, but Facebook de-prioritizes posts scheduled via third party platforms, so that’s a no-no. Thankfully, you can now pre-schedule posts on Facebook directly.

We hope you decide to take advantage of these powerful tools, and that you join us at any of the upcoming Social Media for Nonprofits conferences around the world for more insights, tips, and tools. Come see great speakers like everyone’s favorite, Beth Kanter, plus Guy Kawasaki and senior leaders from leading social networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+, plus nonprofit executives from National Geographic, American Red Cross, Greenpeace, Kiva.org, Story of Stuff, DonorsChoose, and charity:water. To ensure broad accessibility, we keep conference registration fees down to about $100, including breakfast, lunch, and access to the full-day program. Scholarships are available for smaller nonprofits.

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A few small changes that get more from online efforts

Guest Blog by Ritu Sharma
Social Media for Nonprofits

Of the $317 billion donated to nonprofits by individuals, currently about 15% is transacted online, but it’s growing at a whopping 35-55% a year. With Facebook now boasting over 1 billion active users and the “value” of a Like now said to be $217 per year for a nonprofit, social media is clearly playing an increasingly important role in helping causes secure the support they need to maximize impact.

We all wish we could raise more money online, but there are a select few tried and true ways for making that happen without investing tons of time or money, both of which are in short supply at just about every nonprofit.

Whether you’re raising money through your website, Facebook, and/or a social fundraising platform, there are three simple things you can play with to optimize your online fundraising efforts. A special thanks goes out to the 100+ presenters who shared these actionable tips with the 3,500+ nonprofits who have attended our Social Media for Nonprofits conferences throughout the country. (Here’s what’s coming up: Austin on Tuesday, Seattle on Nov. 5 and New Delhi on Dec. 5.)

The top 3 tips for online fundraising our presenters have identified are:

Make your donate button shine

1When the online fundraising service Network for Good changed its donate button’s color from gray to red, donations immediately went up by 30%. Sometimes, it’s just that easy. So run a little experiment and systematically change your button’s font, color, and size, then track the results to see what combination gets you the best results.

Default levels are key

2It’s usually important to give potential online donors default donation levels (i.e., $25, $50, $100, $250, and other/fill in the blank) to guide their generosity. But just like with the other tips, embrace data vs. gut; take the time to play around with these levels and see what gets the most dollars rolling in. Every once in a while, deleting these completely can work, although that’s very much the exception to the rule. If you don’t have any levels, integrate them into your efforts ASAP! Also, be sure to plug a monthly sustainer program to generate revenue you can count on throughout the year.

Map donations to impact

3Sally Struthers had at least one thing right: Giving changes lives. But the key is helping potential supporters understand the incremental impact their contribution will have on your efforts. As Kay Sprinkel Grace says, “People don’t give to you, they give through you.” So help make their gift concrete. For instance, a $100 donation may feed 50 children in a particular war torn region, a mere $50 purchases life-saving medication for 60 pregnant women in Africa, etc. Every default donation level must have a specific impact associated with it, but toy around with how you operationalize your impact to gauge what moves people to dig a bit deeper.

We hope you decide to take advantage of these simple yet powerful tips and that you’ll join us at any of the upcoming Social Media for Nonprofits conferences around the world for more insights, tips, and tools. Use the discount code “Socialbrite” to get $20 off your registration rate!

Follow us on Facebook or Twitter for details. Come see great speakers and senior leaders from leading social networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+, plus nonprofit executives from National Geographic, American Red Cross, Greenpeace, Kiva.org, Story of Stuff, DonorsChoose, and charity:water. To ensure broad accessibility, we keep conference registration fees down to about $100, including breakfast, lunch, and access to the full-day program. Scholarships are always available for smaller nonprofits.

The post 3 top tips for nonprofits’ online fundraising appeared first on Socialbrite.

Tried & true techniques — plus a conference discount code

Target audience: Nonprofits, cause organizations, foundations, NGOs, social enterprises.

Guest post by Ritu Sharma
Social Media for Nonprofits

As Social Media for Nonprofits, the country’s only conference series devoted to social media for social good, plans its Oct. 5 return to the nation’s capital, we thought it would be helpful to share three of the simplest, most practical tips some of our 100+ presenters (including Socialbrite’s JD Lasica and John Haydon) have shared with the 3,500+ nonprofits we’ve educated and empowered to date.

Optimal times for email and social media posts

1With email, the guiding rule is that you don’t want to be unread message number 38 of 62 when someone gets back to work from the weekend, so the best time to blast your list is mid-morning or mid-afternoon Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.  On the other hand, with social media, your Facebook posts and tweets should be timed to catch people in their downtime. 8:45am when they’re on their way into work, 12:30pm when they’re checking their iPhone eating a burrito, 5:30pm on the bus ride home, and according to research, the single best time to post during the week is 9:30-11pm, after the kids go to sleep.  Of course you should experiment with your own unique base and see what works, plus bear in mind what time zone(s) they’re in and try out on weekends.

Ask questions to stoke a conversation

2Simply put, if your tweet or Facebook post ends in a question mark vs. a period, you can expect about five times the amount of likes/comments/shares, retweets, etc. Why?  Well, social media isn’t about monologue — it’s about dialogue.  So instead of just making a statement, ask a question and invite your audience into a conversation!

Become a content curator

3Imagine going to a cocktail party and winding up chatting with someone who only talks about themselves, their work, and their needs. Time for an imaginary call or text to provide cover while you excuse yourself, right?  The same is true with social media. As Kay Sprinkel Grace noted, “People don’t give to you, they give through you.” Your audience may care about your organization a bit, but what they really care about is the kids, cause or animals you serve, and the impact you have in the world. So try and balance your posts by ensuring that at least half of them don’t just talk about your needs and updates but rather about the issue you represent. Establish yourself as a thought leader and the followers and dollars will follow.

At Social Media for Nonprofits, we like to say we’re not doing our job if our conferences just leave our attendees inspired. Our job is to inspire them to action.  The real question is, after a one-day event, what can you do differently tomorrow that makes you more effective and more efficient at advancing your cause?  Hopefully these three simple tips are something you can put to work immediately to drive better results online.

We hope you can join us in DC on Oct. 5 to see top speakers from Facebook, LinkedIn, Change.org, Salsa, CARE, Blackbaud, and Constant Contact, or that you can make it to San Francisco on Oct. 11, Austin on Oct. 23, Seattle on Nov. 5, or later on in New Delhi, NYC, Silicon Valley, Vancouver, LA, and Chicago.

Follow us on Facebook or Twitter to stay tuned. Tickets cost $95 for nonprofits with budgets under $500K, including access to the full-day program, breakfast and lunch.  Larger nonprofits, consultants, and for-profits can save $20 off the normal registration fee with the “Socialbrite” discount code. Thanks to the generous support of our sponsors, there are a limited number of scholarships available for small nonprofits not otherwise able to attend.

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Second series of global conferences coming to 11 cities this year

Guest post by Ritu Sharma
Executive Director, Social Media for Nonprofits

Facebook now boasts over 901 million active members, making it equivalent to the world’s third largest country. But how exactly can nonprofits use it and other platforms to raise money, grow their base of supporters, change policy, and recruit volunteers and board members?

After answering this question at eight of nine sold-out conferences and earning a 92% approval rating from over 2,500 nonprofit representatives in our first conference series, we realized that there are a lot more community leaders out there still wrestling with this question, and we’re here to help.

To meet this huge need, we’re doubling our audience and impact, with plans to tour 12 cities across three countries in our second series, enabling us to reach over 5,000 nonprofits in person. See below for dates or visit http://SM4NP.org.

We’ll continue to maintain our strong focus on sharing practical, actionable insights rather than vague concepts and theory, and do our best to keep the conferences accessible: Tickets cost just $95 – $175 and include access to the full-day programs, plus breakfast and lunch.

Check out our new website featuring a video of Guy Kawasaki’s SF keynote, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter to stay tuned. Here’s our schedule of upcoming events:

Toronto – June 26 (Tuesday). Save $20 with this discount code: SM4NP.

Silicon Valley, CA – July 26

Los Angeles – Aug. 14

Boston – Aug. 28

San Francisco – Sept. TBA

Chicago – Sept. 19

Washington, D.C. – Oct. TBA

Austin, Texas – Oct. 23

Seattle – Nov. 1

New York City – Nov. TBA

New Delhi, India – Dec. TBA

Vancouver – March 2013 TBA

We’d like to thank Microsoft for their continued support as our National Presenting Sponsor, as well as our esteemed Global Partners: NTEN, Idealist, VolunteerMatch, Network for Good, TechSoup Global, Foundation Center, Socialbrite, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Guidestar, Social Edge, Case Foundation, and the Classy Awards.

Hope to see you at one of our upcoming conferences and thanks to each and every one of you for the great work you do in the community!

The post Social media for nonprofits conference series expands appeared first on Socialbrite.