Are You Following Your Funders on Social Media?

If not, you're not alone. The Center for Effective Philanthropy conducted a survey recently and discovered that only 16% of grantees surveyed report using social media created by funders or their staff. 

Why is that? The nonprofit sector has a reputation—fairly or unfairly—for being late to adopt new technologies and forms of communication. But it's not that foundations aren't on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and the rest, and it's not that the nonprofits aren't—everyone's there, they're just not talking to each other. On CEP's blog, Elizabeth Christopherson of the Rita Allen Foundation compares the situation to an informal meeting planned by a foundation where nonprofit leaders can meet one another and talk with the funder, but nobody shows up. So if you're a nonprofit leader and you don't know why it's important to follow foundations on Twitter and elsewhere, think of it this way: you're missing a chance to meet a prospective funder! 

Users of Foundation Directory Online Professional can find funders' social media feeds right on their grantmaker profiles. The Social Media tab includes live feeds of the foundations' Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Vimeo, Flickr, and blogs. And even if you don't subscribe at the Professional level, you can still find links to all those feeds in the Online Communication field on the main profile tab.

So as an FDO user, you already have all the tools you need to seek out and connect with your current and prospective funders. 

Comments

[Agile Development]

Thanks, glad you felt like the webinar resonated and I agree about the other foundations you mentioned doing great work. Looking forward to continuing the conversation.

[Apps for iPad]

If you can only see the negative aspects of social-media, you're not doing it right.