I bet charity:water is listening, too; they are very good at that sort of thing.

I was reminded of this next tweet I ‘collected’ last year. Just small talk; but most relationships start with small talk.

As Anne is fond of saying: it’s about creating target moments, far more than about target audiences.

This is Seth Godin at his disruptive best – speaking at last year’s NextGen:Charity conference on the topic of “Embracing Risk & Failure in Philanthropy”.

Most charities are part of the charity industrial complex, he says.

Ouch.

This is not an opportunity for you to put some “cool internet toppings on your factory-based charity mindset.” The internet is a connection machine, and charity:water, Kiva, Kickstarter… they are getting into the connection business.

Clever ways to interrupt people are fine, but it’s not the future. This is “not about pouring money on top of your traditional system.” This is about your desire to make connections.

Do you care enough to put it out there and have it not work? The changes that we’re looking for are impossible to imagine… until they work.

Listen to Seth for sixteen minutes. It is worth every second.

#ngc11 will take place in NYC on 17th and 18th November.

In my talk I said we had designed our organisations for divisions, rather than for connections. Think about it; not only have we built silos, but we still call them ‘divisions’. I also repeated a line from my post last month:

Loyalty to a charity brand is being slowly augmented by a closer affinity with charity employees.

I’ve observed how it helps to develop the thread between a charity’s values and my own experience of that organisation – as I learn a little more about the individual daily contribution of those charity people I follow on Twitter (and who I might then meet). These ‘weak ties’ become stronger over time – more textured – and many eventually form bridges that connect us. But as Anne McCrossan (with whom I am fortunate enough to collaborate) writes in her post reflecting on this week’s event, charity leaders have been slow to appreciate how this connective tissue can create a compelling point of difference:

Job descriptions remain fixed, corporate reputations struggle with how to accommodate and integrate personal profiles into their own, the scope to build on the kind of affinity that can reshape organisational structure so it’s more fluid is limited. Hopping over the walls of internal departments to contribute to initiatives is often regarded as too provocative and challenging to the status quo.

Zappos – the online shoe and apparel store – expects each employee to “develop and cultivate the brand,” and shy away from any formal written guidelines, since their CEO, Tony Hsieh believes these are “too limiting and not aspirational enough.” We need to convince people that what they are doing has value. Of course some people – like Euan Semple – appreciated all this a long time before I did.

HCL Technologies in India has created the employee passion indicator – an instrument to establish what employees get most excited about. It might be financial reward (for less than half), recognition, advocacy, and so forth. Each employee gets a ‘traffic lights’ report indicating green, orange or red for the ‘fit’ between their own motivational factors and the requirements of their role. This helps them and the company to find the best match.

At Foviance, my friend Richard Sedley had the idea of sharing the business ‘lifestream’ on a blog. Elsewhere, SAY Media use employees’ images of their extra-curricular passions to start a conversation. I love what ihmmedia have done here on their ‘people’ page (thanks to @RobmDyson for this one), and I smiled with Heather Taylor as she shared her excitement at receiving her BBC staff pass.

So far these examples are all from the corporate world (but you get the idea).

Here come charity:water (who else?) to the rescue. They ’big up’ their people (including interns) via a meet the staff category on their blog, and use photos to capture the heartbeat of their young and dynamic organisation – such as when sharing the delight of receiving a poem or a visit from a young fundraiser in the office.

One last one. Now I have no idea whether the stunning new visual identity of the MIT Media Lab carries over into practice, but the intent is breathtaking (you really need to follow that link). Translate this to your charity: passionate and creative people from all kinds of backgrounds coming together, inspiring each other and collaboratively making change. Now imagine that branding extending out to those not on the payroll.

All this goes way beyond ‘employee engagement’; I’m thinking more ‘employee emancipation’.

What do you think?

I’m now about to jump on another train to try and persuade a group of Big Charity Finance Directors that this is something worth focusing on; that there is value in the ‘who’, as well as the ‘what’.

Anyway, here’s my presentation from Monday.

. . . . .

There is an encouraging theme running through the White Paper that backs up what I have heard with my own ears: an honest appraisal of the role of government. That means amplifying what works, helping to get more money to the best ideas, and brokering collaboration between charities and entrepreneurs.

There is a tendency in our sector to blame the givers (whether they are mega-rich, or like you and me) for not being more generous. But are we worthy of the gift just because we are charities? Do we still add value to the gift?

Has anyone questioned whether the way we currently behave towards donors may actually reinforce pre-existing social norms towards giving?

We need to break our obsession with donor transactions and the mechanics of what may have worked adequately well in the past. We should give more attention to the donor – rather than just the donation – and look at giving as an enriching personal experience for the giver, and not simply a one-off or series of transactions.

I think we will see (and need) more hybrid models for giving [...] but giving is a means to an end. It’s what you do with the gift that matters. We mustn’t pretend that deeper pockets or a bigger bucket will bring instant results.

1. You are now pretty good at using digital marketing techniques to push your charity’s own content tactically, but what are you doing to bridge the social divide between digital marketing and something that looks more genuinely like a commitment to meaningfully participate in the networks that are already out there?
2. More charities are finding they can reach more people to talk about what they do. But by the same measure, more people are also discovering they can make a difference without you. So how can you address this using social media when people have less attention than ever?
3. Social media provides a platform for you to earn trust by telling specific and impactful stories that are shared in the moment through online and offline networks to fuel action. The deeper value lies right there. Do you agree?
4. Be prepared and engage your detractors. Not all of them, but where this is merited; Remember, a networked world is not always fun. Is your organisation engaging at this deeper level?
5. The world is changing faster than we can reorganise. How comfortable is your culture with stopping trying to get all its ducks in a row and embracing the messiness of the social web – and does this matter to you?
6. Don’t build thicker walls between career silos. We all ‘communicate’. We all have it within us to be fundraisers. Especially those not on the payroll. Is a new kind of volunteering on the horizon that can recognise and reward good people wherever they are?
7. People mistake the fundraising potential of the web with the sea-change it is bringing to peoples’ expectations of relationships and communication. But charities are still structured for ‘transactions’ rather than for participation – yet less than 1 per cent of time online is spent transacting. How does this fit in with your charity’s operating plan?
8. I am not at all sure that in the future, people will share the same affinity and allegiance to big charity ‘brands’ as my generation has shown with sustained loyalty. Our focus now should be on finding alternatives that tap the power of networks such as ‘crowd-funding’, which not only bring in money, but it also power community. Will this have implications for charities as we know them today?
9. ‘Donors’ can only give of their money. New online tools are offering people the ability to mobilise their social networks around peer-to-peer portfolio lending and other forms of contribution. I can foresee how groups of people will engage around a portfolio of small, tangible, impactful interests rather than direct debits. What could this spell out for the way charities do things?
10. What does your campaign celebrate? Are you setting up a culture that celebrates sharing, collaboration, collective action and trust? Or are you celebrating donations, staff size, media attention and individual credit? What are your metrics?
11. The tools are not useful unless people adopt the social behaviours to go with them. Is there evidence that social media is changing the language and tone of your communications to accelerate the delivery of your mission? How much should communications be geared to incoming communication, as well as measuring column inches? And how might this affect the shape of your communications department?
12. Breakthroughs in giving are now just as likely to evolve from multi-layered gaming technology as from within your fundraising department. If the charity sector is truly innovating – why aren’t we seeing roles being created that couldn’t have existed five or ten years ago? Are you ready to reallocate resources and budgets, and grow people into new roles?
13. How much can we avoid silos? We need to accept that it’s OK to make a noise about the work you do, to use your own networks to reach out and make connections with anyone, anywhere, and uncover people who may be looking for an opportunity and who share the same goals. Just as we must break down silos within charities (and re-organise into smaller units), we must also link arms across ‘sectors’.
14. Do you hang your passion up with your coat every morning? What can charities do to foster passion in their cause socially?
15. What are the barriers? What’s holding you back? Take the initiative. Today. You will get pushed back, but find the guts to do what you need to do. Are you ready to shape the future of your organisation… or is it going to be down to someone else to do it?

What do you think?

The book which Beth co-authored with Allison Fine has deservedly become a bestseller (has your CEO read it yet?). There are many reviews of the book, but among the most thought-provoking commentaries is this write-up by Ethan Zuckerman.

On 22 November, Beth will be speaking at the offices of The Guardian (an event we hope to stream) and again later that day at an event hosted by my friends at JustGiving. This evening event has been very popular (to say the least), but one or two places may become available, so do add yourself to the ‘waiting’ list. You never know.

In other news… I spent a couple of days up in Scotland the week before last (time flies, etc.). I had been invited to speak at the Institute of Fundraising’s Scottish conference in Glasgow, and the following day I jumped on a train to Edinburgh (my first time on that route) to take part in the inaugral BeGoodBeSocial event, which turned out to be a stormer. Check out my old friend Hugh Wallace’s reflections on the evening.

Unfortunately, I had to make a dash for the airport half way through the evening, but not before catching up with wonderful people like Ross McCulloch (@thirdsectorlab) – to whom I salute for being Organiser-in-Chief – Stuart Glen (@stuglen), Martin Keane (@onekindMK), Lauren Currie (@redjotter) and Sarah Drummond (@rufflemuffin) of Snook (@wearesnook), and Marc Bowker (@marcbowker) – all for the first time.

If there’s one thing I was keen for people to take-away from my talk (and it’s a theme I’m continually barking on about these days, so please forgive me if you’ve heard this before), it’s this…

the more we remain in our silos and feel constrained by our job descriptions, the greater the disconnect between us and our supporters

Here’s the deck (more ‘bullets’ than usual; optimised for sharing). Many thanks to all those who have tweeted / faved this already.

View on slideshare.

Picking up on from my last post (We get the return on social media we deserve), I encourage people to duck out of one meeting a week (you know, one of those of little real value)… and instead use that time to ‘be’ a community member.

On that score, it’s well worth making time to listen to Euan Semple doing what he does best at the ‘Do Lectures’ back in mid-September… before the leaves turned and fell.

Many scoff at those of us who love Twitter, and frankly I couldn’t care less. It works for me (at least for the moment). But I recognise that others – particularly decision makers – need to hear more than that. Twelve months ago I wrote a post, which asked, Do you tweet out on a limb? – with some suggestions on how to convince colleagues of the value of Twitter. That particular battle is on-going – although for me, Cory Doctorow nailed it earlier in the year.

The real value of Twitter… is to keep the invisible lines of connection between us alive

These days – above all else it seems – I am asked whether you can be personal (as opposed to private) and professional in social media? While Dawn Foster has written eloquently around this subject on her blog, there is generally a good deal of uncertainty about how to represent the charity brand personally – so yesterday I asked my Twitter friends about their experiences (see the bullet points a bit further down).

It must be said that on the whole, charities are gradually giving their staff more visibility online – none more so than the always refreshing charity:water – who positively celebrate their employees with a blog ‘category’ all of their own. Other organisations prefer to maintain a Twitter ‘list’ of tweeting employees – although even this is by no means a straightforward ask, and more than one person told me (privately) that they had to stop their charity employer from adding them to a staff list, citing their tweets as “too political”, and potentially compromising.

Of the 200+ people I ‘follow’ on Twitter who work for UK charities, I’d say a minority actually name their employer – with a handful carrying the stamp of approval of a Twitter ‘handle’ that is ‘on brand’ – e.g. Colin Butfield (@Colin_WWF), Head of Campaigns at the conservation and sustainable development charity. Also in that category include @onekindMK, @redspesh_oxfam, and Carolyn Miller @MerlinChiefExec.

What I do know is that I much prefer to follow real people than a corporate charity brand. Over time, everyone who wishes to, can participate. These voices may evolve into a charity’s social ‘tone of voice’ – the aggregate of all their staff – and become a vital aspect to their brand.

Back to the question. Steven Buckley (@stevenbuckley), Head of Communications and Brand at Christian Aid, shared the following with me…

[It's] Difficult to say anything that could be perceived as contrary to org policy and hard to let off steam about internal challenges. On balance I think a personal / corporate public profile is a good thing (credibility / opinion etc) but will admit that there are times when I’d like to say something about an issue – ‘chugging’ is just one thing that comes to mind – but I end up staying schtum.

A few people told me they give quite a bit of thought about what they do and don’t tweet about. Some admit to composing a tweet and, then thinking better of it. I’ve consolidated the feedback I received* into this brief list:

• Include a disclaimer in your profile;
• Common sense should always prevail;
• Don’t tweet what you wouldn’t want to see in print – or your mother to read;
• Keep it clean (a few people advised against swearing);
• Try to stay clear of controversial topics – or at the very least refrain from using inflammatory language.
• While your views are your own, bear in mind what you say could reflect negatively on the charity’s reputation
• Take care not to announce a new initiative before the ‘official’ word is out, and if in doubt leave it out, or seek advice (even though embargoes are so last century);
• Do not say anything that may damage relationships with corporate partners, suppliers, and other charities
• Be transparent – if responding to any work-related social media activities always make a disclosure.

I’d say that is a pretty good list. What do you think?

There are a few things I would also recommend charity leaders consider seriously…

• Begin from a position of trust;
• Don’t outsource your charity’s ‘voice’;
• Don’t make social media another silo;
• This is more than just a question of adoption – which is not enough on its own. You want those who ‘get it’ to collaborate with others;
• Build up the digital capability of your organisation – this should be endorsed as an HR objective;
• The digital capability that comes on-stream needs to be rolled into the brand
• Allow staff the freedom to be themselves – at least those who are already comfortable in their own skin;
• Avoid jumping in with both feet; many staff will already be fearful of getting involved. Rather consider carefully how you can signal a gentle suggestion of permission – “We’re cool about you tweeting” sort of thing;
• Recognise that much of the value in Twitter stems from its immediacy and the ability of staff to report and share what they are experiencing right in front of them;
• As a general rule, social media is best done by those closest to the frontline, already talking about your work – i.e. contextual conversations that might lead to an action, rather than something staged;
• Capture good examples of Twitter use that catch your eye, and share. This will help create a humanising effect that will invite staff to be part of an internal community.

That list is longer than what I had first intended. I guess it’s not that simple. But it is imperative; imperative that charities seek to build on the passionate community they (hopefully) have right under their noses: their People. For in the end, it’s all about the people.

Above all, charity leaders should recognise and encourage the ‘currency’ of connection that cements relationships and sparks new collaborations. Indeed, the best way to protect and embed the brand is the distribution of trust and the transfer of skills to the wider organisation. And as the internet for many has become a tool for everyday life, so charities should work to make sure every member of staff feels comfortable using it as part of their role – not least to allow for the free flow of ideas and to encourage innovation that often thrives in the grey spaces between ‘silos’.

Talking of which – I’ve witnessed how Twitter (among other things) can close those spaces between otherwise siloed employees – in a similar way to how Tom Peters describes the benefits of “manipulating the physical space” within organisations.

* Special thanks to @kanter, @AnnieGoss, @seidld, @medavep, @missnpatel, @lucycaldicott, @abougu, @benrmatthews, , @jacquiobeirne, @RobmDyson, @suefidler and others who asked to remain anonymous.

The 8th NFPtweetup will be held on 15th September 2010, and further information on this and previous events is available at www.nfptweetup.org.uk. As always, kudos to beautifulworld and JustGiving for sponsoring and supporting this event.

where key figures in charity communications have teamed up to produce a snapshot of the most significant communications trends of the coming decade.

So, these are my five ‘future practice’ trends:

• The term ‘social media’ will sound just as dated as ‘information superhighway’ does today
• Fragmentary movements of citizens – some global, some local – will mobilise around single-issues, seeking alliances with social change organisations, which they believe can help bring the change they want
• In the web of ‘flow’, charities will catch people ‘in motion’ – when they are ‘goal orientated’ – and will give them the tools to reproduce messages through their own networks
• Websites will become much slimmer, with the focus switching to curation, aggregation… and amplifying the 000’s of ‘small actions’ of others
• Smart organisations will evolve their workforce for a networked economy and will trust a passionate community of employees to build relationships online using different platforms for different objectives

Here’s the deck.

It needs to be said that ‘digital’, and all the new stuff that we call ‘social media’, isn’t really the point; relationships are the point. Same as it ever was.

And yet so much has changed. Charities now need to reach out to people in a way that isn’t just ‘marketing’ and catch people ‘in motion’ – when they are ‘goal-orientated’; meeting people where they are, in real-time (or near real-time), around what is interesting to them. It is no longer a question of simply delivering content to people; it’s about your convening power to help people discover each other to help make the change you both want.

The trouble is, by treating social media as just another ‘channel’, in-house departments are often completely unprepared when people ‘answer back’, and struggle to make the required change in tone and posture. With a few exceptions, our sector does not have a great track record when it comes to distributing trust to staff and many organisations have created a bottleneck as communication is funnelled via a handful of staff. Social media has become just another silo.

We really need a much broader (and deeper) organisational alignment around supporters. I want everyone who works for a charity to be seen more as assets and advocates than as cost streams to be subsidised. This seems to me to be even more sensible as we are challenged to do more with less; charity leaders have a passionate community right under their noses: their own staff.

I agree with Will McInnes who is convinced that eventually…

every member of staff [will] need to have some level of responding power and be empowered to use social media to communicate and build relationships with the people around them.

I think that this is inevitable and irresistible, but is your charity ready to create new roles, re-train, and reallocate resources and budgets?

Do you work for a charity? Do you use Twitter?

I’ll put the question I posed in the title another way:

Do you ‘tweet’ ‘under the radar’… or seek management buy-in before you start?

This is one of the questions we’ll be asking on Thursday (the 24th), when it will be the turn of my friends at Breast Cancer Care to host the fourth NFPtweetup.

When the very first nfptweetup was held in November 2008, you could pretty much squeeze everyone who ticked both the ‘charity’, and ‘Twitter’ boxes into the cosy upstairs room in the Coach and Horses in London’s Soho.

Less than one year later, and you are too many to mention. Many UK charities (or at least many individuals within charities) have adopted Twitter and like me have no doubt been surprised, confounded, and delighted in equal measure.

There are many great examples of Twitter success; I signposted a few good examples in a short and sweet piece I wrote for London Twestival earlier this month. Beth has done better elsewhere.

On Thursday I’ve agreed to facilitate a group break-out session around convincing colleagues of Twitter’s value?

Tweeting charity CEO, Gary Williams of Sound Seekers is in no doubt. He told me (in less than 140 characters)…

[It] has to be about organisational goals. Specifically, it has to be about building a richer conversation with stakeholders, potential supporters.

So, there you have it.

But what if you’re not lucky enough to have someone like Gary as your CEO and want to get internal buy-in? Should you go under the radar of management in order to first build a compelling and coherent business case (rather than a vaguely-defined idea) and make your ‘apology’ afterwards? Or do you prepare a 20-page strategy document – as Neil Williams did to convince civil service colleagues of the value of embracing Twitter. (Neil’s PDF template is well worth downloading by the way).

Now for me personally Twitter is the best thing since sliced bread (with the possible exception of Flickr and meeting my wife). It’s of enormous value to me. I’m with Danah, who I think described Twitter as “a social filter, flushing good stuff to me.” That’s it right there.

Plan or improvise?

But what problem does Twitter solve if you are a charity? And how do you capture the value from the relentless flow from people who would like to connect with you. It’s certainly more than a numbers game. As Joanne Jacobs points out:

Social media influence is best measured by network effects analysis, not popularity.

Takes a bit of time and effort then.

So do you plan or improvise? Can you plan *too much*? Arguably, you cannot nail down a strategy in an environment of such accelerating turbulence. You have to be ready to jump on opportunities (if you’ve left some slack in your budget). Maybe just trust your instinct and use some basic principles as a guide instead.

If you do run up against the buffers trying to convince ‘non-believers’ in your organisation to experiment with Twitter, we can all learn from Katya Andresen’s wise list of tactics to employ (written with social media in mind, not just Twitter)…

1. Change the subject:  If you’re having a debate over the value of social media [or Twitter], you’re having the wrong discussion. The discussion should be about your organisation’s goals – with web 2.0 being the means, not the end (see #2).
2. Make it about what your boss already wants: Don’t position your web 2.0 idea as a social media initiative; frame it as your initiative to support your boss’s goals, in your boss’s language.
3. Make it about the audience: A good way to depersonalise the web 2.0 debate is to make it about your target audience’s preferences rather than a philosophical tug of war between you and said boss.
4. Sign your boss up to listen: Set up Google Alerts and TweetBeep for your boss, so she or he can see that there are already many discussions about your organisation going on online.
5. Set some ground rules:  Set a social media policy for your organisation, so it’s clear how to respond to what you’re hearing – and what types of initiatives have internal support.
6. Start clear and small: If you’re going to start an initiative, make it a small one with clear goals so you know how to measure success.
7. Report, report, report: Share every little bit of progress and give your boss credit for it!

A pretty good list – even if I do balk a little at kowtowing to “your boss” quite so much! I’m hoping we can come up with our own list on Thursday.

I’ll give Neil Williams almost the last word on this. Neil says one of the benefits of having the [20-page] document in his armoury is

To get buy-in, explain Twitter’s importance to non-believers and the uninitiated, and face down accusations of bandwagon-jumping.

After all, microblogging is a low-barrier to entry, low-risk and low-resource channel relative to other corporate communications overheads like a blog or printed newsletter. And the pioneers in corporate use of Twitter by central government… all started as low-profile experiments and grew organically into what they are today.

Anyway, if you’ve registered for Thursday’s event – I’ll see you there. If you haven’t (and it’s already fully booked), you can follow the proceedings online.

Once again, the event is being sponsored by JustGiving (see Jonathan Waddingham’s summary of the nfptweetup story to date) and Beautiful World (who’s co-founder, Rachel Beer came up with the whole idea in the first place).

You had better believe it when I say of all the events I attend regularly… this is my favourite. I get a chance to spend some face-to-face time with some very good ‘online’ friends.

Thanks to Joanna Juber – the charity’s Digital Engagement Manager – for inviting me to speak on a range of topics I will be blogging about over the coming months. Fundamentally, how technological innovation has always necessitated institutional innovation and how charities need to learn to be agile (the technology won’t slow to their pace).

Here’s the link to the presentation on slideshare for those of you picking this up in your feed reader, with the caveat that one or two slides make less sense without the narrative.

On my way back to Somerset on the train, I read that E. L. Doctorow once said writing a novel is like “driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”

It struck me that this is much like the journey we’re all making with social media. Charities need to learn to be agile enough to get into driver’s seat, and brave enough to take the wheel and move out of second gear. It’s going to be an interesting ride. Baggsy be the co-driver.