Five Reasons Why Nonprofits Need Social Media in 2010

As widespread as social media is, there are still a lot of organizations who are avoiding it, including nonprofits.

Those organizations are missing an important tool in their fundraising toolbox. Most nonprofits have their reasons for not using it, like “our members don’t use it,” “we don’t have the time,” or “it’s too hard.”

Except, they do, you will, and it’s not.

How important is it? Watch the video at the bottom of the screen to see what’s happening with social media these days. And it’s only going to get bigger. Here are five reasons you need to start using social media as part of your fundraising efforts in 2010.

1. Your current members are using social media. According to Facebook, their fastest growing demographic is 35 and over. Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics, says it’s actually females, age 55 – 65. would wager a large majority of your members, donors, and volunteers fit in either group.

1. Your future members are using social media. How are you going to attract new members by sending a mailing to your existing mailing list? You’re not. You need to go where the people are, and they’re on places like Facebook and other social networking sites. If you want to notify potential new members about what you’re doing, this is one of the best ways to reach them. Watch the video below for an idea of how big this has gotten.

1. It’s cheaper than direct mail. I used to sell direct mail, and I can tell you that while it’s a great, effective way to target your ideal donors, it still costs money. There’s printing, assembly, and postage, and the fancier everything is, the higher the cost. On the other hand, social media has a much bigger, easier, and less expensive reach for a fraction of the cost. You can reach more people more often than you can with direct mail.

1. You can communicate frequently. In fact, it’s encouraged. There are a lot of things going on in your office that your members want to know about, whether it’s the latest legislation that affects your constituency, the grant you were just awarded, and the envelope stuffing party you’re holding. If you’re communicating only through a newsletter, you’re missing a lot of opportunities to talk to your fans.

1. Errors are easily fixed. How many times have you printed the annual fundraising letter and found a mistake? It doesn’t matter with a blog post. If you make a typo or mistake, you can always fix it. Even after it’s published, you can easily go back and fix an error. If it’s an important error, just send out notices to your blog readers through your usual social media channels.

Next time, we’ll talk about how nonprofits can start using social media.

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