4th annual Report on Nonprofits and Social Networks

The 4th annual report on nonprofits and social networks is packed with insights into how nonprofits are leveraging social networks as part of their marketing, communications and fundraising strategies. Have a look at the INFOGRAPHIC below then download the full report to learn more about important behaviors and trends.

View the entire infographic.

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Jesus IS Bigger Than Angry Birds

If you’re interested in YouVersion or in what you might need to consider when putting together a mobile app for ministy, watch this seven-minute interview, Jesus IS Bigger Than Angry Birds, by  TechCrunch with YouVersion’s founder, Bobby Gruenewald.

Takeways:

- YouVersion has positioned itself as a “Bible engagement” tool and “interactive” app

- YouVersion measures ‘everything’ including amount of time the app is open

- YouVersion has positioned itself as a cause (they are trying to get people to read the Bible)

- YouVersion thinks that if something is on a mobile device, it’s more a part of your life

- YouVersion thinks there are many more mobile apps in this ‘religious’ mobile space.

Interesting.  What take-aways do you have about how YouVersion is helping people connect with God?

NOTES:

• Since this interview YouVersion has been installed on 50,000,000 mobile devices.
• Meet e4e author Russ Martin and read Russ’s posts on e4e.

Have You Considered God’s Call in eMinistry?

I’m sure you’ve heard the internet compared to the Roman Road of New Testament times.  Also, English might be compared to the Greek of New Testament times (we have an advantage with online translators, too, like Babel Fish). God used this Roman technology and a common language to advance the Gospel. Increasingly, the internet is where people go with their questions about God. (You might want to take two minutes to watch Kimberly’s story to see our model of win-build-send in one young women’s life.)

Of course, all true believers desire to glorify God and love people into His kingdom. (That’s why you’re reading this post, isn’t it?) Have you asked yourself what are you doing now or what could you prayerfully consider learning so you are ministering to more people more effectively using the tech tools available to you? (According to the video, all the people of the world may have access to the internet by 2015.)

• Do you want to find ways to share your faith with your Facebook friends?
• Have you considered starting to blog or tweet, but don’t know where to begin?
• Have you started blogging, but wish you could touch more people with messages of hope and forgiveness?
• Are you using email to connect with your partners, but you need more help to send a group letter with photos and hyperlinks?
• Would you like to answer emails from people from other countries who want to learn about Jesus?
• Would you like to use a hobby to connect with people online and then share your faith with them?
• Are you using technology for MPD and communicating with your donor team?
• Can you spare an hour with someone to help them get up-to-speed with something you’re already doing?
• Would you like to help?   I’d love to hear from you!
• You fill in the blank____________ !

Is this a priority for you?  Would you pray about what you may need to do differently?

How can we help you with eQuipping for eMinistry? You may or may not know how to use the technology or what to even ask to get started, but if you’re interested in exploring new ideas and seeing if God has an opportunity for you, then I hope this blog and the training we offer is of help to you.

CCC staff, so we can better serve you, please subscribe here to receive weekly emails of e4e posts, notifications of training, and more.

Now’s the Time to Print Your MPGA Report

The Ministry Partner Giving Analysis Report

Are you preparing MPD goals for the coming year?  One thing you should do is print your MPGA report before February 7th, even if you won’t look it over right away.  You can see this report any time in the Staff Services area on the Staff Web for a detailed look at your ministry partners (with your actual reimbursement expenses to help you in your planning for next year and also lots of helpful graphs about distribution, frequencies, and more).

Why You Need It Now

I can think of two times when you might want to download a hard copy:

1. any time before taking an extended MPD trip (see below about MPD trips) or
2. after the January 10th paycheck and before February 7th, when the report reflects a complete year.

The MPGA report is a moving window into your current MPD information on our servers for any twelve-month period.  Therefore, between the January 10th and February 10th paychecks is the perfect time to get a copy of your MPGA report.  During this time period your report will have all your data for the previous year.  Why not make it a habit to get your own copy of the report every year in mid-January? (I have all our MPD reports on file in an MPD notebook; I can compare how our account looked this past year to any previous year if we ever needed to.)

How to Find It

You’ll find the report under “shortcuts” in the lower left corner of the Staff Services home page.  Click on “MPGA” to read your report, download it, and/or print it.

What to Do with It

The report is actually a collection of reports.  After you have your MPGA, you might flip through to the second report on frequencies to see if you need to encourage any donors to sign up for EFT.  Also, look through the lost donors report to see if you need to contact anyone.

I mostly use the fourth report every year (the report sorted by percentages).  Because 15 to 20% of our total donors provide 50% of our annual income; I save these names in a group in TntMPD. I also have a group for the additional 10% who provide the remaining 80% of our income.  I recommend doing this because you can’t possibly keep up with several hundred people equally.  (Learn how to create Saved Groups in TntMPD. )

While you’re looking at your MPGA report online, notice the drop-down menu in the green bar across the top of the page.  Click on the drop-down arrow where it says “MPGA” and select the Thirteen Month Report for January 10th.  Download or print this report, too, because this report is a great supplement to the MPGA, especially the summary page, and will give you a good overall look at the previous year. (It’s not so critical when you print the January 10th report because you can retrieve it later, but why not print it now and keep the two reports together?)

NOTES:

• MPD Trips:   (The following link will work if you are signed in to the Staff Web.)  Go to the 8-week plan for MPD trip planning for details about using your MPGA report to prepare for a trip.
• This link should take you to the 13 Month Report.
• Click here for more ideas to use TntMPD.

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4 Things Your Website Needs from Social Media

This is the first in a series of three posts about the great day at Lake Hart we had with our guest, Steve Raquel, on Tuesday. (The link goes to Steve’s official bio, but I’d like to add that he and his wife, Stephanie, are also involved with the Cru metro and FamilyLife ministries in Chicago.  They were involved as students with Cru and invest in several of our staff members.)

Steve graciously spent time consulting with some individuals and also spoke at three sessions.   I’ll be posting three days consecutively for these sessions and hope to send an eMail out next week about how to view the videos.  The sessions were:

• Social Media and Websites
• Using Social Media with Your Donor Team
• Managing Social Media Networks

Because these materials need to be secure (see the third point in the notes), I won’t be posting how to obtain the videos and Power Points here; however, I thought I’d pass along some of my notes.

Social Media and Websites

Do you use social media to make entertainment choices or before purchasing something? (I know I go straight to “reviews” on Amazon.com when I’m considering buying something.) Subtly, our entire way of making decisions and being informed has changed.  Steve pointed out that people will likely go through their social networks to find our CCC websites.  Therefore, our websites need:

1. A community*
2. Content which needs to:
   • change 5 times per month*
   • be concise
   • be of good quality
   • be engaging
   • include user-generated content
   • load fast: in 3 to 4 seconds
3. A social media person to:
   • respond quickly to comments, eMails, and Tweets
   • be aware of Google ranking and “bad press,” responding appropriately
4. Links to other Campus Crusade for Christ websites

You’ll learn more from the video on social media and websites, including:

• An explanation of keywords and how they’re changing
• Why Siri is a game changer
• The importance of the time-of-day for your posts
• And more

Please comment if you attended this session and would like to share your take-aways from Steve.  (Because of Steve’s talk, I’m hoping to encourage our staff bloggers to link to each other’s blogs.)  Come back tomorrow for notes from the MPD session.

Next  >  Last >>

NOTES:

• *Facebook and Twitter feeds help refresh your content and provide a community.
• See photos from our sessions at Lake Hart.
• In a week or so, we’ll have the PowerPoints and videos from the sessions available.  I’ll let you know at that time how you can view them.  These will only be available on a secure site for CCC staff.  If you’re interested in these videos, simply subscribe to e4e and request to receive eMails about training.  You’ll also learn of other future training opportunities.
• Steve’s blog is a good resource for understanding and using social media.
• Steve’s Tweets