Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Web 2.0 - "Cultivate, Educate and Motivate"

I spent two days at the New York Nonprofit DMA listening to what's new in direct marketing and took every opportunity to here what organizations were doing in the world of Web 2.0.

The good news is that there are several organizations really jumping in with both feet and using the tools well despite the fact that their success appears difficult to measure and the financial support is minimal to date.

The bad news, is that much of the focus seemed to be on how much money is being raised using these new tools. If new revenue was the key measure of success in month one, or even year one of any direct mail program would half of these people still have jobs and be hear talking direct mail?

Back to the good news, I did make note of a great phrase I heard -- I believe the credit goes to the ASPCA -- "Cultivate, Educate and Motivate". Notice, there was no mention of, "ask to donate". Then again, I suspect if you can do all three of these things well raising money will be no problem!

Web 2.0 is a great platform to cultivate, educate and motivate. Building relationships with empowered people who share your views could turn into "boots on the ground" supporters that could have a huge impact on your organizations ability to raise money, gain public support if/when the next natural disaster hits at home or abroad.

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