In regards to AIDS work, AMREF works on three levels to combat the virus in Sub-Saharan Africa, home to 60% of the population living with HIV.  They do this by strengthening efforts to educate, manage and treat HIV/AIDS within the existing medical system.

With so many worthwhile and award-winning projects, AMREF should have some wonderful stories to tell.  Yet, the pictorial, video and written accounts are buried and hidden withing pages of  website text.

The story of  George, one of AMREF’s community health workers, is fantastic.  However, it takes some savvy site navigation to find it.  The same goes for George’s corresponding video- a fantastic piece, yet a hidden gem:

Admittedly, my thoughts about the need to promote the stories within an organization come on the heel of a conversation  regarding The Cluetrain Manifesto.  We were discussing the need to incorporate, as the authors assert, the humanistic qualities into marketing approaches.  One might argue that a health relief organization is as humanistic as an organization can be.

However, I think that true sucess in web 2.0 can be better attained in conversation and story telling.  Let media pieces shine on the site.  Open platforms for people to join the conversation.  As noted in Cluetrain, and a decade in forethought, organizations need to allow for human and true conversation.

With these musings, I offer my hopes for AMREF and organizations worldwide who strive to combat and treat HIV/ AIDS.  More to the point, I offer my thoughts  to those suffering the virus, and those survived by a loved one with AIDS.

A Few Related Resources:

Directory of AIDS Charities and Support groups worldwide

A great prevention fundraising video by Avert.org:

As a graduate student, part-time public affairs intern and a graduate assistant, I  know too well the pangs of guilt associated with precious free time spent on frivolous computer games and applications.  

However, I was not so guilty when recently introduced to Games That Give, a company that matches advertising sponsors to hosted computer games.  A user can simply start an account and choose from one of several games to play.  As ad revenue trickles in from the corporate sponsor, Games That Give donates 70% of the proceeds to the charities they sponsor. 

There is no user cost involved, and a quick game of Tetris or Sudoku can benefit one of 14 charities including the Ronald McDonald House Charities, United Way, Mercy Corps and UNICEF.  Kind of neat.

Launched in July 2009 from San Francisco, Games that Give already has an associated blog and Twitter account  and  received positive reviews.  The Huffington Post  jokingly riffed on the “You Play. We Donate. No Catch.” motto, noting that the catch was the difficulty playing a game over a giant corporate sponsor logo.  Regardless, the company holds fast to their mission of making giving fun, easy, affordable, legitimate, and a part of extant behavior.  Check out Games That Give, and put a positive spin on procrastination.

In an article entitled Politweets: “Embrace the Twitter Side of Government 2.0,” Jack O’Connell, California’s superintendent of public instruction, lists three attributes for Twitter tactical success.  These are: transparency, passion and humanity.   The right blend of tweeted honesty, communicated need and likability make for a supportive online community.

Shel Israel, author of the touted Twitterville and Global Neighborhoods blogger, notes the powerful force of using social media to spread and garner good will.  Giving is subjective, he says.  Could the strategic use of Twitter could mean the difference between donation numbers?

The true reason I mention Mercy Corps, however, is for the nonprofit’s use of  Twitter.  While I sometimes debate the true effectiveness of microblogging when it comes to garnering donations, I think Mercy Corps developed the right blend of 140-character fueled public information and public solicitation, and encouraged retweeting.  Here is an example of the last few tweets:

“Writer @loudmind shares his most memorable meals from the field. (And how it all started w/ Indiana Jones.) http://bit.ly/5XIdcR about 9 hours ago from web

If you can spend $10 on cranberry sauce, can you spend $10 a help feed a family? Put the “giving” back in Thanksgiving: http://bit.ly/QKG4X about 13 hours ago from web

Take a look at what women in CAR and our team around the globe are thankful for. Then add your thanks: http://bit.ly/4oXciH #thanksgiving “

They connect followers to the Mercy Corps blog, encourage donation and foster interaction with the nonprofit. 

Interestingly, Beth Kanter, social media and nonprofit expert and author of “Beth’s Blog”, notes some interesting trends in Twitter solicitations that Mercy Corps appears to  adopt.  In particular, the fostering of “person to person asks.”

She advocates, and I agree, that the strategy behind the posts that can lead to the ultimate goal, donations.  What do you think?

I had the opportunity to work with this Maine-based organization as a project for a nonprofit public relations class, and it is too spectacular not to mention.  Working within the Justinian Hospital system, Konbit Sante strives to sustainably improve health care in northern Haiti.

In a country where poverty, food shortages and poor health care spell fatality, Konbit Sante makes a difference.  They are finding success in their development model, Konbit Sante-creole for “together for health.”

Check out the site, and find out more about the nonprofit’s efforts in one of the world’s poorest countries.

In these chapters, Gillin highlights video and it’s importance.  His sums his advice for creating a successful viral video as AEIOU: Authentic, entertaining, Intimate, offbeat or unusual…with an added “b” for brevity.

Take a look at the newest video from Direct Relief International’s YouTube Channel:

It’s not flashy, wrought in high production value or entertaining for entertainment’s sake.  However, it is indicative of values of the charity.  A Santa Barbara-based organization, Direct Relief International spends 98.9% of it’s funds on community-based projects domestically and worldwide.

This video demonstrates the passion and authenticity of the organization, targeted to those who already have some interest.  Intimate, simple, explanatory videos are the hallmark of Direct Relief International’s YouTube channel.

Here is another example  from Direct Relief’s library:

A simple online interview answering FAQs posted on the nonprofit’s Twitter and Facebook page.  What a great way to connect with followers, answer questions that interest donors and potential donors and combine aspects of social media outreach. 

Some might argue these videos are dry, but I think they are effective for their purpose.  What do you think?

I was recently chatting with a colleague  about “Worldly Nonprofit,” and she suggested I intersperse my posts with creative/new/different ways to donate.  Good  idea…

…Following her excellent advice, I took a slight risk and enabled Social Vibe on sidebar of this blog.  Social Vibe partners with select charities and corporate sponsors to make microdonations for blog visitors.

To donate,  the reader needs to click the Social Vibe widget, then watch and rate a video short.  However, the risks lie in potentially annoying readers and appearing to favor one particular nonprofit organization on a blog that somewhat evaluates nonprofit organizations.

Weighing the options, I opted to try Social Vibe and support Vitamin Angels.  Based in Santa Barbara,  Vitamin Angels mobilizes resources in the private sector to provide vitamin nutrients to children in developing nations.  Of the Social Vibe partnering nonprofits, Vitamin Angels was the most easily researched.

Utilizing 99% of funds on program expenses, Charity Angels is also pursuing sustainable methods of vitamin distribution, key in my eyes.  

So, we’ll give Social Vibe a try.  Check out Vitamin Angels, and click on the widget to donate, if you’d like.  

What do you think of Social Vibe?  Have you had successes or failures with this fundraiser?

Tod Defren, author of PR-Squared , recently mused over the differences between the PR and advertising guys when it comes to new media.  He lingered over the fact that PR practitioners may be better suited to the medium as our role is sustain relationships with our audiences…interesting.

The post got me thinking about new media, particularly blogs, and nonprofit institutions.  When it comes to securing a loyal donor base, a nonprofit organization must establish an ongoing relationship with their audiences.  A blog, while slightly labor intensive, is a tactic to reach out to donors and create an online identity.

Grassroots International, based in Boston, MA, is a perfect example of an organization on the cusp of creating an online identity.  The nonprofit spends 78% of their funds on program expenses and received a 4/4-star rating from charity navigator.  These  funds are mainly used for grants and partnerships with local organizations to sustainably (an issue close to my heart)  bring change, particularly in resource rights.

Grassroots International has some fantastic blog posts attached to the site.  Meaningful, poignant, though sometimes a bit long,  they speak to the nonprofit’s projects and issues of human rights.  Each post has a clear call to action at the end, whether it be “donate,” “voice your opinion,” or “spread the word .”

I see two ways that the blog medium could be more powerful for Grassroots International.  Primarily, the blog should have its own link, and not be buried in the news tab.  Written by many authors, blog readers could choose a post  by category.

If you allow readers a simple and fast way to access the conversation, they should be permitted to join.  Nowhere on the internal  blog posts is there a way to contribute to the postings.  With such progressive and sometimes controversial posts, this blog would be an excellent forum to foster dialogue.

What do you think?  How can blogs be best used in the nonprofit sector?