Introduction
Digital Storytelling
Holly Ross, Executive Director, NTEN  Storytelling is the most powerful means we have of connecting with our donors, volunteers, and other stakeholders. It's how we make the unimaginable problems we address real, specific – and solvable. It's how we connect our work to not just the minds, but the hearts of our communities.
Digital storytelling can help us do all this in profoundly new ways, and while it used to be very expensive to use these tools, that's just not the case anymore. In an era when your mobile phone can double as a digital camera, and becomes a triple threat when it records video, every nonprofit can use online tools to tell amazing stories. In this issue, we highlight some of the very many ways you can use digital tools for storytelling - from pictures to video to blogs to visual design. We hope you'll find inspiration in the articles here – and that you'll share your work with us as well. Also, since data visualizations have emerged as a great way to tell your story, you should check out our 3-part webinar series, "Becoming a Data-Driven Nonprofit". Not only is it free (thanks to the generous support of Google), but we'll spend an entire session on tools and tactics for creating great visualizations. Best,
Holly HOW-TO
Create, Manage and Evolve Your Nonprofit Blog
By Roger Burks, Co-Founder, Pictographers  For the most part, nonprofit organizations' online communications suffer from an identity crisis: they have no identity. They have no personality. They are the same exact words and sentiments that fill reports and brochures buried in dusty drawers, often transcribed verbatim onto websites — and your readers know it.
A blog is an opportunity not only to change static into dynamic, but also discover and share voices from your organization. But what do you need to create, manage, and evolve a nonprofit blog that will both engage your supporters and attract storytellers from within — and possibly outside — your organization? CONTINUE READING > FEATURE
Visual Storytelling for Nonprofits
By Christy Wiles, Marketing Manager, PhotoPhilanthropy  A single photograph has the power to shift public policy, alter the course of wars, and engage civil society. Photographs and videos create options for supporters to share your message with their networks, exponentially building your audience. With a successful photo-essay or multimedia piece, organizations can attract partners, appeal to donors and grantmakers, influence policymakers, and perhaps most importantly, drive a movement.
Visual material that communicates the core message of an organization and encourages its audience to engage emotionally with the subject can have a monumental impact on advocacy and organizational success – not only in getting the word out, but in securing funding. Here's how the Bhopal Medical Appeal and the World Wildlife Fund did just that. CONTINUE READING > FEATURE
Microsites in Action: Telling Your Nonprofit's Story
By Carla Chadwick, Creative Director, Sankynet  Let's face it: nonprofit websites often suffer from multiple personality disorder.
There's the "program" side that wants to tell you all the amazing ways your programs help save homeless pets, feed the hungry, find cures, protect our children, or empower women. There's the "events" side that must sell tickets. And don't forget the "communications" side, whose press releases and news items help raise awareness. While often a complicated web of messaging, it's a necessary evil when many departments must relay information using a single corporate website. So how can we tell the real story – expose the true heart of an organization – when our messaging is only one part of a huge multi-dimensional website? CONTINUE READING > Partner Sponsor
 FEATURE
WordPress vs Drupal... Fight!
By Michelle Murrain, Drupal Developer  WordPress started out with a focus on ease of use for bloggers and content creators, and secondarily providing a platform for developers to build plug-ins and such. WordPress was born as a blogging tool, primarily, and has expanded outside of that realm, to encompass different kinds of content management use cases.
Drupal started out primarily as a web content development platform, with a strength in community features. A focus on ease of use didn't come about until Drupal 7. As a user and developer of WordPress since 1.x something, and a developer and user of Drupal since 4.7, I figured that with the release of Drupal 7, this would be a great time to do a comparison of the two. CONTINUE READING > FEATURE
Crowdsourcing Campaign Videos: Let Your Members Be the Messengers
By Danny De Bonis, Director, Political Media, IB5K  Every campaign is bedeviled with certain challenges – namely, how to spice up an email program, tell compelling stories, show the human side of your organization, and build strong emotional connections between your audience and your issue. Online video is a tool that can help solve many of these challenges, and when executed well, also gets attention from media and decisions-makers.
One key ingredient to making an effective video is authenticity. People can smell when things are staged and actors are used. It distracts viewers and discredits your message. The most direct way to achieve authenticity is to use real people. CONTINUE READING > FEATURE
Can Stories Be Data?
By Beth Kanter, Beth's Blog  Your numerical data can tell stories, but can stories be data that leads to continuous improvement? Do only numbers matter?
There are lots of debates in the amazing world of measurement and learning: - The only valid data is quantitative data.
- Real time analysis is not useful because it is drive-by analysis.
- Make data-driven decisions only, don't trust your gut ever.
- Only measure impact, not process.
I've come to the conclusion that it isn't an either/or, but a both/and. CONTINUE READING > Things We Like A monthly roundup of our favorite nonprofit tech resources and other goodies. Read more posts on our blog. - Didn't get enough visual storytelling? Big Duck's Rebecca Hume wrote up a nice introduction, and SocialBrite's JD Lasica offers a tutorial in 10 easy steps.
- We've also got some more great resources on our blog – on how to tell stories with maps, video, even paid advertising!
- If you like your stories in bite-size, infinitely repeating packages, GIF.tv will keep you occupied for seconds at a time. Lots of seconds. It's like Halloween candy for your soul!
- At a loss for what to do with QR codes? Wikipedia came up with a great idea, one we encourage you to steal. With all of the free QR code generators out there, you can link to all sorts of resources on your web site. Just watch out for hijackers. #OccupyGooglePlaces
- Researchers have used Twitter data to suggest "... that our moods are driven in part by a shared underlying biological rhythm that transcends culture and environment." Know what else will drive your mood – upward, in this case? "Darth Vader by Monet, 1875".
- And if you're looking for a Halloween costume for your pet...
- Idealware just released their latest "Nonprofit Social Media Decision Guide". Dare we say it's awesome? We do. You can also learn about it in person at a webinar series starting November 1st.
- You can't make your message go viral, right? Right?
- You don't have to like him, but it's hard not to appreciate the impact Steve Jobs made on the world. By now, you've surely heard his thoughts on death as "life's change agent". But we like to remember him as this young man introducing the original Macintosh. Thanks Steve.
- To leave you on a happier note, check out this spellbinding set of time lapse videos. Digital storytelling potential a-plenty there.
| OCTOBER 2011
2012 NTC REGISTRATION
Registration for the 2012 Nonprofit Technology Conference opens on November 1st! Join more than 1,600 of your peers in San Francisco, April 3-5. With a wide mix of social events, seminars, trainings, and resources, the 2012 NTC will help you put technology to work to further your cause. NTEN Members get the best rate. You generally save more on registration fees than it costs to become a Member, so be sure to join NTEN before you register. START GETTING EXCITED >
DON'T LET CONGRESS HURT AMERICAN CHARITIES
As I'm sure you know, Quipi, the focus in Washington of late has been on deficit reduction. Unfortunately, a powerful group of Senators wants to raise revenues by reducing key tax benefits for donating to charities. At a time when government services are being cut across the country, it doesn't make sense to make it harder for nonprofits to do their jobs. We need you to join us, along with our friends at Care2 and Network for Good, in asking the Senate and the President not to hurt charities by reducing tax deductions on donations. SIGN THE PETITION >
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About NTEN
The Nonprofit Technology Network helps nonprofits use technology strategically and confidently to create the change they want to see in the world. LEARN MORE > NTEN
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