Book giveaway: Win the book to grasp the power of metrics!

If you’re like most nonprofit professionals, you’ll eventually admit that you could do a better job of measuring.

The good news is that you’re not alone. Most nonprofits (and in fact most for-profits) are struggling with the challenge of measuring relationships, which is essentially what social media is all about.

To help you keep your eyes on the prize, Beth Kanter and Katie Paine sell the benefits of measurement in their new book, Measuring the Networked Nonprofit.

Win a free copy of ‘Measuring the Networked Nonprofit’

Want a free copy? Leave a comment below about what measurement has done for your organization. Co-author Beth Kanter will be randomly select a commenter to receive a free copy of “Measuring the Networked Nonprofit.” Feel free to share this post on Twitter, too!

Chapter 4 outlines 12 reasons that measurement is powerful:

1. It helps you get to where you’re going. Because social media is essentially about relationships, continuous feedback is required to improve them.
2. It stimulates new ideas on what to do next. Analyzing data is not just data dumping. It’s discovery!
3. It gives you credibility. You’ll need this to get support for your awesome ideas.
4. It helps you discover what tools and tactics work best for your particular goals.
5. It saves you time. If you know that you’re not getting results from a particular approach, you’ll stop doing it.
6. It increases the likelihood of success through informed planning.
7. It helps you raise more money. If you know why potential donors abandoned transactions, you’ll fix it. If you know which messages turn one-time donors into repeat donors, you’ll use them.
8. It helps you work smarter. Unicorns and rainbows just don’t cut it anymore.
9. It fuels your passion. We all could use more of this, right?
10. It generates excitement. Ditto.
11. It helps you change the world.
12. The last thing I’ll say about Measuring the Networked Nonprofit is that it will help you begin to improve – starting from where you are right now.

Don’t forget to leave a comment below to win a copy of the book!

Update: Our comments service, LiveFyre, has been up and down all day because of a power outage at Amazon AWS. If you don’t see comments below, please check back.

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• Metrics tips & best practices (Socialbrite)

The post 12 ways measuring can empower your nonprofit appeared first on Socialbrite.

You may have heard that Allison Fine and Beth Kanter have co-authored a book called The Networked Nonprofit. At the Nonprofit Technology Conference, they signed printed copies of the first chapter, “Introducing Networked Nonprofits.”

In short, networked nonprofits are defined not by websites and software but by the networked culture that they fully embrace.

The first chapter of the book underscores several qualities that Networked Nonprofits share:

1. Transparent – During a presentation in Atlanta, Beth and Allison used a sponge (the fry-cook ocean kind, not the kitchen) to illustrate transparency:
   • A sponge clings to rock no matter how many times it’s battered by waves. Your organization is firmly grounded in its cultural identity, organizational goals and mission.
   • A sponges filter out nutrients as waves pass through it. Your organization grows by making it easy for “outsiders to get in and insiders to get out.”
2. Value Networks – You value the connections your nonprofit has online and offline. And you nurture key relationships that spread the “good word” through the network.
3. Comfort With Tools – Your nonprofit is comfortable using blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other tools that facilitate two-way conversation.
4. Networked Ecosystem – You’re not trying to do it all. Your nonprofit knows that it’s “part of a much larger ecosystem or organizations and individuals that are all incredible resources for their efforts.”
5. Courageous – You’re not afraid to lose control of your message, your logo, or your message. You know that the wisdom and passion of your supporters can have an infinitely greater impact than you and your staff.
6. Trusting – You trust your supporters to make good decisions on behalf of your organization. Your organization focuses on giving them the tools they need instead of enforcing copyright laws.
7. Athletic – Social media is not a set of tools to be used only by your IT or marketing folks. Your organization understands the power that Facebook and Twitter have in the lives of your supporters because you use the tools yourself. It’s a contact sport.

Note: Beth Kanter is a partner in Socialbrite. You can pre-order The Networked Nonprofit on Amazon.

How networked is your organization? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Cross-posted from JohnHaydon.com.

The post 7 critical qualities of a networked nonprofit appeared first on Socialbrite.