Beth Kanter, a thought leader in the world of nonprofit blogging, recently shared some useful criteria to help nonprofits decide whether to blog or not. While I agree with most of them, I think that two (yes, if you want to enable many voices; no, if things must be vetted by a central authority) could, if interpreted narrowly, inhibit some nonprofits from blogging. It's a “business-lunch blog” -- a There is at least one model that doesn't meet all of her criteria, but would, I think, be a great approach for many nonprofits. I call it that because the tone and

If Marshall and Nancy's posts inspire you to investigate blogging, don't miss Idealware.org's great report, Getting Started With Blogging Software . Like Seth Mazow, I recommend Typepad , which I use to publish this blog. nonprofit_blogs Two of my favorite bloggers recently published posts that, together, provide a great overview of the importance and potential of web-based communications for 501c3s. These articles would be good to share with an executive director or team that is beginning to explore how to use the web to build relationships with donors, volunteers,

quot; Behind the Scenes in the Blogosphere: Advice from Established Bloggers " contains useful information, and I recommend it if your nonprofit has a blog or is considering one. However, in terms of using the report to drive decisions about business or nonprofit blogging, keep the second half of the study's title in mind: the ideas in this paper are based on the "self-reports" and opinions of bloggers who responded to an open call in May 2006 to participate. A University of Massachusetts marketing professor has published an interesting report based on a survey of bloggers. "

The popular Lifehacker productivity blog asked its readers to help Elyse , who works "for an earnest, mission-driven, do-good non-profit organization that, despite the high quality of our project work, has little time or expertise to devote to details such as aesthetics, formatting, and design" and who is looking for "tried and true design tips to easily spruce up a document and make it more eye-appealing." quot; I've long been a fan of designer Chuck Green, who created these wonderful Word templates -- for everything from reports to ads to brochures to certificates

Essentials would be just as helpful to nontechies in nonprofits who want to learn how to interact with external audiences through social bookmarking, RSS, blogs, podcasts, and more. nonprofit_blogs Tags: BLOGGING COMMUNICATIONS COOL TOOLS MARKETING RSS WE Via Steve Rubel, here's a succinct, free 30-page guide from PR firm Shift Communications on how to use the Web for public relations. Written for PR specialists, PR 2.0

Hmmm, among other things, this suggests that a free service such as Zookoda , which allows bloggers to send a weekly branded newsletter with digests of blog posts, would be more effective than RSS at building relationships with readers. Any nonprofit interested in effective online communication should check out the executive summary of a fascinating study -- by the highly regarded Nielsen Norman group -- on e-mail newsletters , how to make them user friendly, and their value compared to web sites and RSS (also known as web feeds or news feeds). A couple of excerpts:

Thanks to Michael Gilbert's Nonprofit Online News , I learned about the latest publication of prolific marketing writer Seth Godin : his nonprofit edition of Flipping the Funnel (free PDF download) shows how nonprofits can gain new supporters by asking current supporters to use free Web tools such as blogs , Flickr , del.icio.us , and his own Squidoo . (As As Seth says, "A Squidoo page contains links—links to products for sale, to reviews, to pictures, to videos, to RSS feeds, and to blogs. A Squidoo page, which is called a lens, is one person’s take on one topic.")

Tags: BLOGGING COMMUNICATIONS FUNDRAISING MARKETING NEWSLETTERS PHILANTHROPY PSAs TV WE Kyle Paxman was supposed to get married today, but when she discovered six weeks ago that her fiance was cheating on her, she called off the wedding. Stuck with a contract for a 180-guest event at a nice hotel, she turned the day into a fundraising benefit for CARE USA and the Vermont Children's Aid Society.

I hope to do the same thing with this blog -- to share information and tips from time to time that will help people accomplish their social-change goals more effectively. In fact, much of the advice here will be pretty basic, as I find that even many brilliant leaders in the social sector know little about RSS , blogs as communications tools for nonprofits , or all that Google can do for them! (Watch This is a resource for ordinary people doing extraordinary things -- social entrepreneurs and nonprofit staff and volunteers, i.e., those who work hard every day to make positive

When visiting Benetech's web site, I was delighted to discover that the homepage features a link to the latest post in Fruchterman's blog, Beneblog . Beneblog is an example of what I have called a business-lunch blog . He also comments on current events that are related to the mission and work of the organization. nonprofits, nota bene : A business-lunch blog is a practical strategy for many social sector organizations. One of the 25 MacArthur Fellows announced yesterday was James Fruchterman, social entrepreneur and founder of Benetech, a nonprofit that creates " new technology solutions that serve humanity and empower people to improve their lives ."