Is your nonprofit ready for it’s .xxx domain?
I should hope not! According to new article from the folks at AdAge the internet domain chiefs over at ICANN have approved a new domain name for adult sites. The domain is .xxx. Makes sense right? Porn at a porn domain. However the news is also kinda scary.
“Currently open to trademark owners is a pre-registration process that allows trademark owners to signal their interest in defensive registration of a trademark by filling out a pre-registration form at located at http://domains.icmregistry.com. The defensive registration carries with it a one-time fee (the amount has not yet been announced but is estimated to be between $200 and $300) but will last the life of the .xxx registry. Those who attempt to access a defensively registered .xxx site will see a message saying that the name has been reserved from registration under the ICM Registry IP protection program.”
So what does that all mean? It means you should go and register and put your nonprofit name and brand into the system. That way people can register your domain name as a new .xxx property and squat on it. Not that alot of people will be searching or typing your nonprofit name in with .xxx at the end. But better safe than sorry! At least that was MY sex education. : )
What does Mobile look like for Nonprofits?
There is no debate on what the future of nonprofits in the mobile space looks like. It’s a must have. Although many nonprofits are resistant to the idea of doing anything in the mobile due to issues of cost, time and resources the future is staring them in the face. Currently there are over 5 billion devices worldwide and growing. According to the BBC in 2010 “In many regions, penetration exceeds 100%, where there is more than one connection per person in the country. Ben Wood, mobile phone analyst at CCS Insight said the mobile phone may be “the most prolific consumer device on the planet”.” What that means for nonprofits is that there are more than three times as many phones as personal computers.
So what are you going to do about this? Do you need an iphone app or Android App? The short answer is no. Not unless you have a compelling or marketable concept. So what do you need to do?
- Make sure your web site has a mobile component. How does it show up on when people look at it on a smart phone or other mobile device?
- Make sure your web site has the proper search engine optimization. Mobile searches will continue to grow and you want to make sure you show up.
- If you decide to make an app, avoid the iphone vs droid debate. Instead design your app in a web layer like HTML5 for maximum usage.
- Start with something easy that your supporters already like. The nonprofit Best Friends Animal Society turned their great print magazine into a magazine for the iPad2. (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/best-friends-magazine-hd/id418888506?mt=8)
So what apps are out there made by nonprofits? Lets a take a look at five of the interesting ones that I found. And big thanks to all the folks on Twitter who helped me find these.
1) name: Hike. supporting the American Hiking Society
link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hike-gps-trail-maps-supporting/id365960694?mt=8
description: Get outside, connect with and inspire your community to enjoy and protect your favorite trails with HIKE GPS app for the iPhone 3G and 3G S, powered by Intermap. Supports American Hiking Society, who has been on the forefront protecting the nation’s trails for more than three decades.
2) name: Consumer Reports Mobile Shopper
description: The new app allows you to scan a barcode of a product you’re interested in or search for it by keyword, and once identified, the app will show you Consumer Reports’ rating for the product, similar products from other manufacturers in the same category, and pricing information for multiple vendors. This way you can determine whether the product is worth your money and you’re getting a good deal by buying in the store or by shopping online.
3) name: National Park Field Guides App
link: http://www.npca.org/parks/app.html
description: The most versatile and interactive mobile field guide app available, NPCA’s new National Park Field Guide provides a complete view of a park wildlife, as well as a comprehensive ecosystem review of 50 national parks. Unlike any other mobile app on the market today, the guide includes bird portraits, call recordings, information about endangered and poisonous species, range maps, and wildlife. Users will also find current news about each park, access and visitor information, and directions to park visitor centers.
- name: Relay For Life App
link: http://ax.itunes.apple.com/us/app/relay-for-life/id396001494?mt=8#
description: The American Cancer Society Relay for Life application is a great tool to track your fundraising progress, and to keep current on all Relay for Life news! This is basically a fundraising app that connects to your online account and help you run your team, raise funds and edit your fundraising page on the go.
- Name: The Paramount Theatre App
link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-paramount-theatre/id335808020?mt=8
description: As Austin TX’s most historic theatre, history happens here nightly, and we’ve made history again by being the first non-profit performing arts theatre in the country with an iPhone app. Features include:
* Purchase tickets to all upcoming shows
* Get box office hours, purchase tickets by phone or shoot us an email
* Use GPS to get directions to the theatre
* Help support the theatre by becoming a member or making a donation
* Stay up-to-date on all Season Subscriber Notes
* Get our special updates regarding new events and availability
So what does the future hold for your nonprofits mobile plan? Is it a site upgrade? Is it a mobile app? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to check out my new book The Future of Nonprofits: Thrive and Innovate in the Digital Age. Www.thefutureofnonprofits.com
A Mobile World: how supporters are using their Smartphones, and why you should care.
A special guest post from our friends at smartonline.com.
So first, the big four in mobile. Our primary goal was to educate nonprofit leaders about the entire mobile channel -not just what many think when they hear ‘mobile’ – Text2Give.
Big 4 #1: Mobile Websites. Nonprofits need to embrace this as a necessary piece of their overall marketing strategy. An early first step is creating mobile optimized landing pages for their most critical calls to action. I chose to highlight the organization Soles4Souls – notice how their site looks on a desktop vs. a mobile device. This example shows clearly how critical it is to select the most important calls to action – or risk losing the mobile visitor. Do you study your site analytics to track how many visitors are connecting via a mobile browser? I’d recommend starting – google analytics has this feature.
Big 4 #2: Next we highlighted SMS – of which a component of this is Text2Give. I felt it was important to differentiate between the two to further educate nonprofits on the importance of not just raising money with mobile -but also delivering programs. A great example of this was the Text4Baby campaign that I highlighted.
Big 4 #3: Mobile applications. There is much discussion these days over whether a nonprofit should venture into the mobile app world. Some thought leaders even go so far as saying there is no need to do so. My answer? It depends: do you have a brand to uphold? Is your target audience using Smartphones – or will they be soon?. In the presentation I highlight the National Parks Conservation Association and how they created their app – not with the explicit intent to get more donations right away – but to grow a new engaged audience who will eventually be cultivated into supporters.
Big 4 #4: Mobile Giving….ahhh yes. You can raise money through mobile, even if you aren’t the American Red Cross. While they paved the way for showing us how powerful mobile giving and mobile fundraising can be – I highlighted how important it is to begin with the basics before Text2Give. Look first at how your web donation page looks on a Smartphone – it’s time to ask WHY you should make it mobile optimized – and soon!
The second part of our presentation focused specifically on Smartphone usage. With sales continuing to skyrocket, user adoption could be as high as 50% of all mobile phones by the end of 2011 (this according to most experts). When you look at some of the latest sales and usage statistics, like ComScore’s recent market share report – it’s probable this could happen sooner.
My associate Anusha shared with the group the highlights from our Whitepaper. We asked consumers how, when on their Smartphones vs. desktops, do they a) open emails? b)engage with websites? c.) Use applications? We found the results compelling – and hope you find it helpful in setting a strategy for incorporating mobile into your organizations’ marketing, communications and fundraising plans.
Tonia Zampieri is Director of Marketing at Smart Online, Inc – a company that provides cross-Smartphone app solutions to the nonprofit sector. She holds an MA in Nonprofit Service, Leadership and Management and created one of the first nonprofit related mobile applications Tap-n-Give, previously available for download on iTunes. You can follow her on Twitter at @iheartcharity
Online Games and Nonprofits – Lessons Learned
Today we have a sweet guest post from Jenny Nicholson who is the creator of a game called SPENT. She works for the folks at McKinney (http://mckinney.com) and her client was Urban Ministries of Durham (http://umdurham.org)
The Game: http://playspent.org
Social Media & Non-Profits: Five Lessons from SPENT
Before I tell you what we learned from making and launching SPENT, a few words about what the heck it is: SPENT is an interactive game that challenges you to see if you can make it through a month as an American living below the poverty level. See for yourself at http://playspent.org.
These lessons can be applied to a non-profit’s social media strategy, whether you’re making something as development-intensive as SPENT or just trying to figure out how to maintain your organization’s Facebook page.
BE HUMAN.
Social media is powerful because it’s personal. If you’re going to join the space, you have to make it clear there’s a human being on your end of the conversation. In this space, highly polished statements come off as inauthentic. SPENT was successful because we didn’t shy away from some of the tougher truths about homelessness and poverty – we made it as real and honest as we could and people responded to that.
KNOW WHO’S TALKING.
Tracking conversations online is a big part of success in the social media space. With so much noise, people aren’t going to come looking for you. The most successful non-profits keep a close eye on the social media space, so they know exactly who is talking about the issue, what they’re saying and how it relates to the organization.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION.
When you find people talking about your organization or issues relevant to your cause, jump in. After the launch of SPENT, we put in a lot of time on Twitter and blogs, having conversations with people about the game and their responses to it. In doing so, we got valuable feedback about the site and created powerful advocates for what we were trying to do.
SET EXPECTATIONS.
Be clear from the start what you hope to achieve from your social media efforts and keep that focus in mind as you build your presence. We built SPENT with the understanding that it was an awareness-building tool rather than a fundraising effort. As it became more successful, it was easy to start asking ourselves, “Why aren’t we making tons of money?” Knowing our definition of success from the beginning kept us from trying to turn the experience into something it wasn’t.
ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT.
With that said, if you want money, don’t be afraid to ask. But make it specific and actionable. We initially launched SPENT with a standard “DONATE” button. Several weeks after the launch, we changed the call to action to a more specific request: DONATE $5. The increase in donations was immediate and significant. People are willing to help, but you have to make it easy.
BONUS! LEAD WITH PASSION
If we had tried to build SPENT with an uncommitted team, it would have been a failure. Same thing goes for an organization’s Facebook page, Twitter account, or any other social media presence. It takes a lot of time and commitment to make social media efforts pay off. Too often, initial enthusiasm fades quickly and the project withers and dies. Find the person in your organization who is most passionate about any given social media effort and trust that person to make it a success. Their passion will shine through and give your organization the honest, human voice it needs.
Welcome! I help Nonpofits and people for a living. I do that with Lights.Camera.Help and as a Consultant. I am a published Author, Teacher, Speaker, Blogger, Network Weaver, and Social Media Scientist. How can I help you? 