nonprofit – Page 4 – The Healthy Non-Profit

Dear board volunteer . . . A few questions first.

May 16, 2013 erik Board development, Board governance, leadership, nonprofit, volunteers

DonorDreams blog is honored to be hosting the May 2013 Nonprofit Blog Carnival. The theme this month is “Dear board volunteer . . .” and the idea is “If you could write an anonymous letter to a nonprofit board about something they do that drives you crazy, what would that letter look like and what suggested solutions would you include?” If you are a blogger and would like more information on how to participate and submit a post for consideration, please click here to learn more.

I wanted to expand the Nonprofit Blog Carnival concept in May. So, I reached out to real non-profit people and asked them to also write an anonymous letter to their board volunteers. These folks are executive directors, fundraising professionals, board members, donors, community volunteers, consultants and front line staff. I promised everyone anonymity in exchange for their submissions.

We will celebrate May’s Nonprofit Blog Carnival on Wednesday, May 29, 2013. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this real look at real issues that our community deals with on a daily basis.

Here is today’s letter:

Dear Board Members,

The Board Development Committee has presented three potential board members for your consideration at the next meeting. Each of the candidates lives/works within our service area and brings particular experience/expertise to the board. Each of them has been recommended by one or more of you. But before the vote is taken, I would like you to consider the questions I believe need to be asked of potential board members and should be asked periodically of all board members.

1. Why do you want to be on our board? Looks good on your resume’? Want to ‘give back’ to the community? Know someone who needs our services? Used our services? All of these are good reasons but, I really want you to turn your initial reason into an informed commitment. Be honest with yourself and with us about the level of your interest and your commitment.

2. Are you willing to ASK? Let’s be honest—are your willing to use your contacts for the good of the organization? ASK your friends, family, and business partners to share their time, energy and money to benefit this organization just as you do? If you are shy about ASKing…..will you share the info so that others can make the contacts?

3. Can you take the HEAT? Board members are ultimately responsible for the stability and success of the organization. Will you devote the time necessary to hiring and evaluating a qualified Director? Will you be involved in and responsible for all financial policies/decisions and evaluate how well the organization is meeting the service needs of the community? And, if trouble should come, are you prepared to stand by and speak up on behalf of the organization?

4. Are you prepared to JUST DO IT? Decide what you can do –serve on a committee—attend meetings—participate in the discussion—contribute to fundraising and friendraising. And if and when you decide you cannot fulfill a particular commitment let the board president know as soon as possible.

We depend on you to do what you say you are going to do.

Sincerely,
Your number one fan and biggest supporter

If you have some advice for the author of our anonymous letter, please share it in the comment box at the bottom of this post in a respectful manner. If you want to submit an anonymous letter for consideration this month, please email it to me at the address in your signature block below. If you are a blogger looking to participate in this month’s Nonprofit Blog Carnival and want to learn more, then please click here.

Here’s to your health!

Erik Anderson
Founder & President, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC
www.thehealthynonprofit.com
erik@thehealthynonprofit.com
http://twitter.com/#!/eanderson847
http://www.facebook.com/eanderson847
http://www.linkedin.com/in/erikanderson847

Creating a Social Media Policy for Your Nonprofit

January 28, 2013 erik Mondays with Marissa, nonprofit, technology

We live in an age where information can be shared in less than a blink of an eye. Social media has made it possible to share photos, videos, and updates from anywhere. While this can be an exciting time and social networking can be fun, it is important to make sure there are guidelines in place for your nonprofit when it comes to participation in social media. Today we are going to take a look at questions to ask yourself when forming your social media policy for your organization.

There are two parts to forming a social media policy:

Managing your organization’s social media presence
Guidelines for employees’ personal use of social media and its reflection on your agency

When it comes to writing the first part of your social media policy, keep in mind the following questions:

Who on your staff is allowed to update social networks on behalf of your organization? Is it just one person? Is it a team of people? What skills should the person/people responsible for social media updates have?
In which social networks should your organization participate? Every network might not be right for your organization. Take some time to do some research and find out which networks are the most important in which to be involved. If your agency is already established on certain social media sites already reflect on if the community is active on this site and if it is worth maintaining. If in your agency doesn’t participate in a site is important to claim a log in on the network to so that no one else claims your organization’s voice on that network.
What type of updates are allowed? Nonprofit information can be highly sensitive. Deciding what information can and cannot be shared is critical. This includes deciding who can be included in photos and videos.
When can information be shared? Beyond what information can be shared, when it can be shared is also important to think about as well. For example, when can you announce an upcoming special event? Or announce a staff change?
What email should be used to set up accounts? You may want to consider creating a social@yourorganziation.org type email address to use by staff when creating new social media profiles for your organizations. This will maintain consistency even if the staff responsible for updating the network changes.
Do updates need to be approved before posting? If so, creating a content calendar might be helpful to help plan out updates to get approved.

When creating a social media personal use policy for your organizations staff, keep these questions in mind:

If an employee is listed as working for your organization anywhere online are there certain things about your organization that this employee can or cannot say? It is important for the employee to understand that they are a reflection on the organization and if they are caught saying certain things will there be consequences?
Are your employees allowed to use their own personal social media profiles on behalf of the organization and interact with supporters? If so, are there guidelines?
Can employees share photos from events or from within the office on their personal social media sites? If so, are there any restrictions?

These are just a few questions to keep in mind when forming a social media policy. As you can imagine it can be quite a project to undertake, but once you have one in place, your nonprofit’s social media presence can thrive under the guidelines you put in place. It is important to note that policies like this might have to be approved by a Board of Directors or overseen by an attorney. Also as a disclaimer, I am not an attorney, so please just take my questions as suggestions and a starting point when forming a social media policy. If you are looking for examples of social media policies, you can check out this site.

Have you put together a social media policy for your organization? What were some best practices you can share with DonorDreams readers? We’d love to hear from you in the comment section below!

Answers to yesterday’s fundraising pop quiz questions

November 2, 2012 erik Board development, Fundraising, leadership, nonprofit

This is my second post of the day. The first one was the traditional “O.D. Fridays at DonorDreams blog” where we focus on an organizational development concept generated by John Greco’s blog “johnponders ~ about life at work, mostly”. Today, we talked about non-profit competition. I hope you got a chance to read it because we took off in some interesting and unexpected directions.

This second post is simply a follow-up to yesterday’s post titled “Do you understand your resource development roles and responsibilities“. There were pop quiz questions in yesterday’s post, and I promised you the answers today.

The following are answers to yesterday’s poll questions along with brief explanations:

Question #1: “Who officially signs grant agreements?” Two-thirds of respondents answered this question correctly when they said it is the board president who signs grant agreements. While it is true that overall board approval may be necessary to execute some agreements, the actual signature comes from the board president. The reason it shouldn’t be the executive director is: 1) this is a contract committing your agency to doing something and 2) think of it as a system of “checks-and-balances” that guarantee staff can’t commit the organization to things without the board agreeing to it.
Question #2: “Who is the most effective at building relationships and providing stewardship with donors?” Thank goodness we have 100% consensus that the answer to this question is “The Full Board”. Personal stewardship visits by board members with your agency’s top donors is effective in promoting donor loyalty especially if those board volunteers are talking about how the donor’s charitable contribution made a difference. However, please note that staff play a major role in this process, too. They support board members in making these visits. This sometimes means providing materials and stories. It also means managing the process and reminding board members when it is time to pick-up the phone. It also might mean going along for a ride and visiting the donor together.
Question #3: “Who is responsible for raising the operating budget?” Again, we achieved 100% consensus around the correct answer that it is “The Entire Board” who is responsible for raising the money and ensuring the budget is achieved. Again, there is a BIG BUT here . . . the board hires staff to assist and support their efforts. So, any executive director or fundraising professional who thinks that falling short on fundraising goals won’t get them in trouble is delusional.

How do you keep your non-profit board from becoming “unaligned” when it comes to clarity around board-staff roles & responsibilities in the area of fundraising? Do you use certain tools (e.g. an annual board re-commitment pledge, etc)? Can you share those ideas and tools with your fellow readers? Are there particular strategies that you use (e.g. resource development planning process, etc)?

Please scroll down to the comment section and share your thoughts, tools, and approaches with your fellow non-profit professionals. We can all learn from each other.

Here’s to your health!

How Nonprofits Can Maximize LinkedIn to Grow Their Community

September 24, 2012 erik Mondays with Marissa, nonprofit, technology

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always thought that LinkedIn was the grownup Facebook. When it first started, I didn’t think much of it, but over the years, LinkedIn has become a powerful networking tool, not only for job-searchers, but for everyone in a professional community. Today let’s take a look at a few things that you can do to maximize your and your organization’s presence on LinkedIn.

Complete Your Profile
When starting out on LinkedIn, completing your organization’s profile is important. This is because the heart of LinkedIn is connecting people. The more information it has about you, the better it can serve as a networking resource for you and

your organization. Take some time to think about 10 to 15 keywords that you think would best describe your agency and their mission. Using the right keywords will attract the right people to your page.

Not only is an organization profile important, but it is important that everyone connected to your organization has complete profile as well. Make sure employees, volunteers and board members take the time to fill their profiles completely. There is a “Volunteer and Causes” section that can be added to personal profiles where supporters can list your organization.

Companies as Donors
If you are looking to find a company to sponsor an event or make a donation, LinkedIn would be a great place to start. Many companies will list in their profiles if they give to charitable causes or not. If you cannot find info on their profile, see who is connected to that company and reach out to people in your network.

Follow People
I am not an advocate for stalking, except for in the case of LinkedIn. The more connections you have, the better your network, so follow people you know and people you don’t know. Having a connection can help you along the way, when it comes to

gaining volunteers, finding new donors, hiring a new employee, or finding a new board member.

Group Hug
One of the most dynamic sections to LinkedIn is their groups. There are groups focused on just about everything. Join as many as you can or have your organization start one tailored to discussions about your mission. People expect to start conversations in LinkedIn and groups can be a great way to create new connections.

Keep People Up to Date
LinkedIn is just like every other social media site; as in it works best when you update it frequently. So share news and blog updates with your community there too. Also, LinkedIn does a good job of of aggregating news that is important to you. It is a great place to find new articles to share with your followers as well.

Find Your Next Board Member
LinkedIn just released a new, exciting tool for nonprofits called LinkedIn Board Connect. This allows nonprofit organizations to use LinkedIn to find people who might be a good fit to be the next member of your board. For more information on this new service, take a look at LinkedIn’s announcement. Also, they are having a webinar on Wednesday, October 10, 2012 to explain what Board Connect can do. I suggest joining in to see if this is a tool that would be beneficial to your organization.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: finding the right social network for your organization is key to your social media success. LinkedIn can be a powerful tool to find people and grow your community. How does your organization use LinkedIn? What are some of the things that work best on this social network for you? I’d love to talk about it in comments!

Is Reddit an Online Community for your Nonprofit?

September 10, 2012 erik Mondays with Marissa, nonprofit, technology

It seems as though a new social network is pops up every day. Finding the right one for your nonprofit can be critical to reaching to the right community for your mission.

We’ve talked about how your social media strategy starts with your website. After you’ve spent some time to establish your site, sharing your content is the next step. Let’s take a look at Reddit and how it might be the place for your organization.

What is Reddit?
Reddit is known as “the front page of the internet”. It lists links in order of popularity for users. Users can then upvote or downvote the link moving it up or down the page for the rest of the viewers. Users can also comment on the link. Reddit is known as a place for discussion and reading the comments can sometimes give a person more information than the link originally posted.

What makes Reddit a little different than just a list of links, is the fact that they allow users to create their own communities known as subreddits. Subreddits are lists of links that are associated with a certain topic. Topics range from TVshows to political parties to geographic locations.

How can my nonprofit use Reddit?
Reddit is a great place to share content from your organization’s website. By posting links to your site in the appropriate subreddits you might be able to expose your work to a different community and gain more support for your mission. The key here is to post in multiple subreddits to see which place ends up being the right place for you. When posting make sure to read the rules posted on side bar on the right side of the page. Different subreddits have different rules.

You can start and moderate your own subreddit. If your organization needs to inform people about your mission, reddit is a great place to do so. Not only could you post content from your site, but you can link to news articles related to your mission to generate discussion.

The Reddit community is also known for being able to raise money for charities in a short amount of time. Remember that story Erik shared about a bus monitor who was bullied? The fundraising efforts behind that story happened on Reddit. Reddit was also a major tool used by Stephen Colbert to raise money for Donors Choose. Reddit users are responsible for a lot of good. There is even redditdonate.com where redditors can donate, and subreddit moderators and nonprofit organizations can create campaigns.

The Reddit community also participates in meetups and days of service. If you can get your organization involved in one of those that could me a number of new volunteers for your agency.

The internet is a big place. Finding the right spot for your organization might take some time, but once you find it you’ll be set. Maybe Reddit is the place for you.

Are you an organization that has used Reddit in the past or are currently active reddit users? What works best with this community? I’d love to talk about it more in comments!

Effective non-profit professionals KNOW what is inside their circle of influence

June 29, 2012 DonorDreams leadership, nonprofit, organizational development

Welcome to O.D. Fridays at DonorDreams blog. Every Friday for the foreseeable future we will be looking more closely at a recent post from John Greco’s blog called “johnponders ~ about life at work, mostly” and applying his organizational development messages to the non-profit community.

Today, we’re focusing on a post that John titled “X the Concerns“. In that post, he talks about a person’s circle of concern versus their circle of influence. More importantly, he speaks to the impact of focusing on things outside of your circle of influence and the consequences that come with that behavior.

“When we focus on things that we really can’t do anything about, we are actually expending valuable time and energy that could have been used to work on those things that are inside your circle of influence, those concerns that you really could do something about.”

I see executive directors and fundraising professionals get paralyzed by this all the time. Non-profit organizations are so under-resourced, and everyone is wearing too many hats. So, when you don’t have a clear understanding of what is inside your circle of influence and what isn’t, then things seems to get worse.

Here is a short list of things I’ve seen many of my non-profit friends worrying about recently:

Will the economy double dip?
How much of a cut in city funding will we have to take?
Will Mr. & Mrs. John Donor renew their contribution this year?
Will the State of Illinois pays its bills this month or will my accounts receivable line grow a little larger?

If you go through the exercise that John suggests in his post “X the Concerns,” some of you might put all of these things outside of your circle of influence. After all, you have no control over whether or not a donor writes a check to you this year. You can’t control the dysfunctional and broke State of Illinois. City staff and council members are going to do what they are going to do when it comes to allocation of funding.

Right?

Well, I say “not so fast!”

The difference that I see between very high functioning non-profit professionals and people who struggle with working in this sector is that the high functioning individuals KNOW what they have influence over, and they focus on it like a laser.

Take the example of Mr. & Mrs. John Donor. It is true that you cannot make someone donate to your organization; however, it is a mistake to put this outside of your circle of influence. Doing so dramatically increases the odds that you won’t secure that contribution. However, placing this donor inside of your circle of influence means investing time and resources in cultivation and stewardship activities. In the end, you can’t force them to sign that pledge form, but you are able to greatly increase your odds by not leaving things like that to chance.

Great leaders have this instinctive ability to KNOW what is inside their circle of influence even when at first blush it seems to be outside.

So, what should you do if you lack that instinct? Does that mean you are ill-suited to be a non-profit executive director or fundraising professional?

Maybe?

If you are smart and figure out how to overcome this obstacle, then you are well on your way towards being an effective leader who doesn’t get paralyzed by things that you can’t control and who doesn’t succumb to fatalistic impulses that undermine your efforts.

Those who I’ve seen “figure it out” have done so by embracing collaboration. They engage a wider group of people in answering the question “What is inside our circle of influence?” and “What should we do?” I’ve also seen these individuals invest in executive coaching services to help find perspective and question their instincts.

Again, if you haven’t read John’s post “X the Concerns,” then click over and do it now. Go through the exercise. Afterward, take a step back and re-evaluate by asking: “Are there things that I initially put outside of my circle of influence that might belong inside? If so, what should I do about that?”

Are you paralyzed about things that you have no control over? What do you do to get unstuck? How do you KNOW that everything you place outside of your circle of influence really belongs there? Please share some of your thoughts in the comment box below because we can all learn from each other.

Here’s to your health!

Strike three . . . You’re OUT! Because you swung for the non-profit fences.

May 18, 2012 DonorDreams leadership, nonprofit, organizational development

Today, we’re focusing on a post that John titled “My Last At Bat“. In that post, he talks about his last Little League game as a child. As a baseball fan, I immediately fell in love with this blog post. As a fan of the non-profit sector and organizational development, my mind has been spinning for almost a week about how many different ways John’s post applies to non-profit agencies.

I don’t want to give anything away (you really need to go read his post for yourself), but the story is about how John approached his last Little League game with an understanding of what he was “good at doing” and tried to play within his capabilities. His friend took a very different approach and got very different results.

Looking back over the last 15 years, I’ve seen this dynamic play out in many different ways. Here are a few examples:

A non-profit board needs to fill an executive director vacancy. Rather than looking at competencies, skill sets and past experiences, the search committee gets WOWed by a charming big personality. Or they hire the internal candidate who has been a great front line program staffer, but doesn’t have any past experience with fundraising, board development, or financial management.
An executive director needs to hire a development director to provide thoughtful leadership and direction to the agency’s comprehensive resource development program. Rather than identifying what competencies, skill sets and past experiences are necessary for this person to excel and succeed, they interview a hodgepodge of fundraising people including direct mail professionals, grant writers, special event coordinators, and marketing people. Again, they end up hiring a special event person and ask them to do something that they don’t have a track record of doing.
The board development committee needs to recruit a new class of board volunteers. Rather than complete a gap analysis to determine what skill sets and experiences incoming board volunteers need in order to help move the agency forward, the committee puts together a list of “friends” who they know will likely say YES if asked. In the end, the wrong people are sitting around the table. They are all well-intentioned, but the boardroom feels dysfunctional and engagement is lacking.

Why do so many of us in the non-profit sector ask people to do things that are outside of their immediate capabilities?

I know that you can hit a single, but I need you to hit a home run today!

The silly thing is that stringing together a few singles puts a few runs on the scoreboard in the same way that hitting a home run will do. Translated into “non-profit speak” . . . asking people (employees and volunteers) to do what they do well will advance your cause as much or more than asking them to do something that they haven’t done before.

Here are just a few suggestions to get our conversation going:

Don’t ask a volunteer who hasn’t done any fundraising to join your board.
Don’t hire an executive director who hasn’t been an executive director before.
Don’t ask a volunteer solicitor to ask a donor for a significant contribution unless they’ve also given significantly.
Don’t hire a special event person to write grants unless they’ve been successful at doing it somewhere else.

I am sure that some of you are bristling at these suggestions and have good examples of when you might want to do one of these things. Please know that these suggestions are not meant to be “absolutes”. However, if you plan on asking someone to do something that they don’t have much experience doing, then you must adjust your expectations. You need to expect failure at first. You need to view it as a “project” and invest in training and professional development, accordingly.

Do you ask your employees and volunteers to “play within their abilities”? Or are you someone who is always encouraging them to hit home runs for your agency? How do you guarantee that you’re hiring and recruiting the right people for the right jobs? What would you add to the list I started a few paragraphs ago around Do’s and Don’ts? How have you managed your employees’ and volunteers’ disappointment when they fail to hit the home run that you asked them to hit?

If you haven’t done so yet, please go read John Greco’s post “My Last At Bat“. When you’re done, circle back to this post and share your comments, thoughts and answers to some of the questions I’ve posed using the comment box below. Let’s learn from each other.

Here’s to your health!

Planning can be scary so don’t do it alone . . . invite your donors to help!

March 13, 2012 DonorDreams Donor-centered fundraising, nonprofit, organizational development, Planning

There are those of us who like to make plans in the dark and by ourselves. I suspect some people like to do it that way because the act of planning is revolutionary and involves tackling the scary monster that most people recognize as “CHANGE“.

And doesn’t change involve “death”?

Ahhhh, I bet that got your attention. I suspect many of you are scratching your head over that logical leap, but is it really that big of a leap? Consider the following quote from Anatole France that I found online at BrainyQuote:

“All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.”

So, if planning equals change and change equals death, then through mathematical transitive properties . . . planning also equals death.

I know some of you are there with me on this ethereal point and others of you are still shaking your head. Regardless, let’s all agree that planning equals change, and both planning and change are scary propositions for some people. Keeping this in mind, let’s circle back to the question begging to be asked:

Who should you invite to the planning table?

While some people are very cautious and want to control the process and outcomes, I don’t subscribe to that paradigm. I am a firm believer that those people who are involved in planning are the people who you most need to roll up their sleeves once the planning process concludes.

So, if you like to be the Lone Ranger and have time to single-handedly implement (and fund) your nonprofit organization’s strategic plan (or marketing plan or resource development plan or any other kind of plan), then I encourage you to lock yourself in a closet and start writing that plan. However, if you want others to roll up their sleeves and open their wallets, then the answer to this question is that you need to find ways to involve all stakeholders including: board, staff, clients, volunteers, community supporters, donors, collaborative partners, etc.

This does not mean throwing caution to the wind and working in total transparency for the entire world to watch, worry and fret over. After all, there are times when revolutionary ideas are aired and debated during the planning process. For example, imagine how uncomfortable it might be for an organization to examine the merits of totally changing its mission in front of an audience of donors who have fallen in love with and funded the current mission.

Does this mean donors should be cut out of the planning process? Nope! However, getting the right donors involved does require great thought and care. Asking a trusted donor and friend of the agency to serve on the planning committee means creating ground rules and setting expectations upfront.

Does this mean donors should be ignored until the plan is ready to be unveiled? Definitely NOT! While focus groups and surveys are great ways to secure donors’ feelings and opinions during the planning process assessment phase, it needs to be done thoughtfully. Asking donors to share their thoughts means giving consideration to what they actually have to say regardless of whether or not you agree with it.

Are there risks? Yes, of course, there are, but you can do this!

Don’t take my word for it. I found this great Do-It-Yourself resource guide on strategic planning for those of you who prefer a more traditional planning model. Click here to read more about “Step One: Who Should Be Involved?”

If you didn’t like the first quote about change from Anatole France, then try this BrainyQuote from Robert Gallagher on for size:

“Change is inevitable – except from a vending machine.”

What have been your experieneces with involving donors in strategic planning (or any planning for that matter)? Did you experience difficulties? If so, how did you handle it? If you haven’t included donors in any of your planning processes, then what is holding you back and what needs to happen to help you feel better about doing so?

Here’s to your health!

How Can SOPA/PIPA Affect Non-Profits?

January 16, 2012 DonorDreams Fundraising, Mondays with Marissa, nonprofit, technology

The Final Frontier . . . The Information Superhighway . . . The World Wide Web . . . The Place Where Cute Cat Videos Reside.

Call it what you will, but the Internet as you know it might change drastically after Tuesday, January 24, 2012. On this date, the Protect IP Act (PIPA) goes up for vote in the Senate. If it passes, censorship will have a permanent home on the Internet. PIPA is the Senate bill of the more publicized SOPA bill that was in the House, both have to do with censoring the Internet.

What are PIPA and SOPA? What does this have to do with the non-profit world?

Well, let’s take a closer look.

The main idea behind both PIPA and SOPA is to stop online piracy and ensure that content creators get benefits (mainly monetary) for their work. While this sounds pretty fair, it’s the enforcement of the bill that upon further inspection has people concerned. A recent TechCrunch article does a nice job explaining the issue:

“The big problem with SOPA is in the way it is supposed to be enforced, namely by blocking domain-name system (DNS) servers of copyright-infringing websites. But DNS servers are a basic technical component of the Internet (they translate site names like techcrunch.com into numerical IP addresses computers can understand better). Once you start messing with DNS, all sorts of unintended problems arise.

Blocking DNS without a full adversarial hearing in a courtroom raises the potential for censoring speech and other lawful activities. It is also the same method China uses to block “offending” content from China’s Internet.”

Furthermore, Ars Technica explains that passage of PIPA encourages online companies to act independently of the court system.

“The PROTECT IP Act goes even further than forcing these intermediaries to take action after a court order; it actively encourages them to take unilateral action without any sort of court order at all.”

So what does this have to do with the non-profit world?

Since there is currently no definition of what an “intellectual property right infringement” might be, your site could get cited under SOPA or PIPA because of links you’ve included in your online newsletter or stories on your website. If your agency gets cited, donors and supporters who might be trying to find you online via Google or other search engines wouldn’t be able to see you in their search results.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but wouldn’t this have a tremendous impact on what you’re trying to accomplish with your online presence?

This post on nonprofitmarketing360.com provides more clarity on why ALL non-profits should care:

“Ostensibly, nonprofits do not present anything that would seem to threaten these conglomerates, but, under SOPA’s current terms, nonprofits will not get a day in public court if they are deemed of trafficking in any such material. Even if they did, what nonprofit has a cabal of lawyers and lobbyists to counter the plaintiff’s accusations?”

Moreover, the effect of PIPA and SOPA goes beyond just impacting search results. It can wreak havoc with your ePhilanthropy efforts. Check out this quote from an article by Computer World:

“Basically, Sec. 103 will give the owner of any intellectual property the right to pursue private action against websites that they deem are infringing their rights. Under SOPA, IP rights holders will be able to ask payment providers such as MasterCard and PayPal to shut off services to allegedly infringing sites. They would also be able to ask Internet advertising networks to stop providing ads to the websites.”

So not only would the passage of these two bills affect your visibility on the internet, but donations taken via your website could be shut down as well if you are found to be in copyright infringement. Here’s a helpful infographic for more information.

In a nutshell, both PIPA and SOPA would cut off a resource many of us use everyday to communicate, research, and learn.

Can you imagine doing research for a grant and not having access to the information you need? Or what if your Twitter account gets taken down because you linked to a YouTube video? The landscape of the Internet will never look the same if these bills pass.

In response to a signed petition, the White House has recently come out against many of the main tenants of PIPA and SOPA, but this doesn’t mean the need for you to take action has passed.

This Wednesday, January 18, 2012 there will be a hearing on SOPA in the House of Representatives. In response, many popular sites such as Google, Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo, Amazon, AOL, LinkedIn, PayPal, and WordPress will be participating in a blackout to draw attention to the issue of Internet censorship.

If you want to get involved in the process, you can contact your Congressperson at opencongress.org.

The media has neglected to cover PIPA/SOPA effectively. I hope that this post shines some light on how the issue of censoring the Internet could impact your everyday Internet life and the life of your non-profit organization. These two bills are just the start of trying to define the relationship between the government and the Internet. Even if they do not pass, there will be others that try. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject in the comments below.

Category: nonprofit

Dear board volunteer . . . A few questions first.

Top Ten Mondays with Marissa Posts – Part Two

Answers to yesterday’s fundraising pop quiz questions

Effective non-profit professionals KNOW what is inside their circle of influence

Strike three . . . You’re OUT! Because you swung for the non-profit fences.

Planning can be scary so don’t do it alone . . . invite your donors to help!

How Can SOPA/PIPA Affect Non-Profits?