How Wired is your Nonprofit?

Following are questions that nonprofit organizations should use to figure out how well they are doing in meeting the demands of their supporters. These questions are excerpted from Allison Fine’s new book, Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age
(Jossey-Bass).

· Reputation Management: Do other people and organizations trust you and your organization? How do you know? How can you increase and strengthen that trust?
· Outreach: Are you reaching out to new people and organizations to learn with and from them? Do you approach networking as an opportunity to push your "brand," and/or to strengthen a connection with others?
· Recognition/ support: Do you support and celebrate your alumni and other ambassadors to other groups and communities?
· Community Building: What information are you sharing with the world? Are there other kinds of information that you could share?
· Outreach: Are your Web site and other communication vehicles inviting to strangers? Can anyone looking at your information figure out who you are? Which individuals are critical?
· Search Engine Friendly: Do your communication vehicles (e.g. Web site, brochures, plans, proposals, reports) use words that people understand, or language that says that your organization is made up of really smart people?
· Community Building: Do you think of questions from outsiders as time-suckers that need to be answered, or as the beginning of a conversation?
· Community Building/ Outreach: Do you ever introduce people for no other reason than the fact that they should know one another? Does that include introducing collegial organizations to potential partners/ alliances/ funders? What do you expect in return for these introductions?
· Sharing: Do your supporters (board members, donors, volunteers, members, friends, etc.) ever talk to one another about your organization (cause, charity, mission) without your prompting?
· Sharing: Can you help your volunteers start their own conversations, have their own meetings, and develop strategies to support your efforts?
· Recognition: Do you celebrate achievements by other organizations in your network?
· Collaboration: Do your participants (board members, volunteers, clients, collegial organizations) watch you make plans or help you to make them?

Share your ideas and comments.



Cheers!
Dave