YouTube's Agent for Change

Last week, I had the great pleasure of speaking at the 2.0 nonprofit event in Washington DC, which was hosted by Idealist and the National Human Services Assembly. (NTEN community participant Jon Camfield has some good notes from the event.)

The fine folks at Google were big sponsors of the event, hosting us all at their DC offices on the first day for a tour of Google services and their nonprofit programs. They had lots of staff on hand throughout the program, which is how I met Ramya. She's the new Nonprofits and Activism Manager at YouTube. She'll be working in the YouTube Nonprofit Program.

You can learn more about Ramya on her channel at http://www.youtube.com/agentchange. You can also send your thoughts, opinions, ideas or examples of brilliant uses of YouTube to her at agentchange@youtube.com.

Electronic Advocacy Practices

John McNutt, a researcher at the University of South Carolina, has published an article on e-advocacy, "Promising Practices in Electronic Advocacy". In it, he identifies four basic processes organizations use to support their efforts:

• Gathering and Analyzing Information
• Educating and Developing Awareness
• Organizing and Coordinating Supporters
• Applying Pressure

After noting that research shows electronic advocacy does indeed have an effect, McNutt makes 6 suggestions to nonprofits involved in the arena, including the always key – but too easy to lose sight of – idea that ultimately, e-advocacy is about human relationships, not technology, which is just a set of tools that can help you shape the future.

You can read the full article at Third Sector New England.

Leading a Horse to Water

Lead a horse to waterSeth Godin had a lovely little post the other day that I have been chewing on.  In More Perfect, he frames in a new way of thinking about something I think we all know, but never really accept:

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.  - OR - Concentrate on the thirsty horses.

We all want to grow our networks of donors and activists.  More is better.  But where do you find that more?  I think a lot of our strategies have been focused on finding horses, and convincing them they are thirsty.  All those compelling action alerts we write.  The lists we rent and mail to.  We know that these strategies aren't super likely to find thirsty horses.  But we do them anyway, hoping that we'll convince a few they need a drink.

So here's another argument for the power of social networks.  

Your existing thirsty horses hang out at watering holes, where there are other thirsty horses.  If you can let go of your message, and let your stakeholders do the talking for you - your chances of success go way up.

This, of course, is not to say that your stakeholders in any way resemble horses.  They are all lovely people.  

Technology for Good: NTEN on ABC

Katrin VerclasNTEN's very own Executive Director, Katrin Verclas, filmed a short spot with ABC a few weeks ago addressing how nonprofits are making use of some cool technologies to further their missions.  Check out the Video Clip!

Last Call for Entries for the NTC Video Contest

Go ahead, and put the final touches on your entries for the NTC Video Contest! All submissions are due by midnight on Sunday, March 11.

Do you have videos on YouTube or other video hosting sites that urge people to take action for social change? Submit them now to enter the video contest. Have you been pondering an idea for a short video that will advance a cause you support? Here’s your chance to bring it to a larger audience. Finalist videos will be aired at the Nonprofit Technology Conference and the grand prize winner will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the 2008 NTC in New Orleans! Find out more about the NTC Video Contest and how you can participate.