Online collaboration tools and platforms give nonprofits the opportunity for connectivity and collaboration internally as well as with external stakeholders like volunteers and board members. And, that's a good thing. But it can lead to being overwhelmed or what has been dubbed "Collaborative Overload" or "Collaboration Tech Tool Overload." This is the burnout from too many emails, meetings, and collaborative tech tools that limits our organization's ability to get stuff done. The worse part is … [Read more...]
Archives for February 2018
Trainer's Notebook: The Importance of Hands-On Learning
For the past five years, I've been an adjunct professor at Middlebury College in Monterey teaching a graduate course called "Networked International Organizations" for students pursuing an advanced degree in International Development. As part of the class, we look at different examples of networked strategies and digital platforms and tools and how they can be used to advance civil society goals. Going beyond content delivery, I also use a lot of participatory and hands-on learning techniques … [Read more...]
Break Your Mobile Phone Addiction: There's An App for That and More
Having trouble getting that mobile phone out of your hands and checking it when you need to focus on work? There's an app that can help you break your mobile phone addiction and it makes it fun. The app is called Forest that turns putting down your phone into a game. Here's how it works. You open the app, you plant a digital tree and it will thrive for as long as you stay in the app. Once you start tapping other apps, the tree start to die. The longer you get the mobile phone out of your hands … [Read more...]
Breaking through the Noise on Social Media: How to run a Twitter Chat That Spotlights Your Nonprofit’s Impact
Breaking through the Noise on Social Media: How to run a Twitter Chat That Spotlights Your Nonprofit’s Impact - guest post by Neil Parekh Every second, on average, around 6,000 tweets are posted to Twitter. How do you break through the noise on Twitter to highlight your nonprofit’s impact and gain visibility for the good work your organization is doing? Throw a party – with a purpose. No, not a cocktail party…a Twitter party. More specifically, a “Twitter Chat.” In many ways, a Twitter Chat is … [Read more...]
Let's #ReclaimSocial Media for Social Good
Earlier this week, I had the honor of kicking off the first day of a week of workshops for 50 women's right leaders from the United States through a program called "Tech2EmpowerUSA." The goal of the program is to connect these leaders with technology experts to create a connected movement. All week, these women had the opportunity to visit a different technology company and get training on a variety of topics. On Wednesday, they were hosted at Twitter Headquarters for a training. My colleague, … [Read more...]
