Last year there were 6818 requests for shelter from domestic violence victims that went unmet by domestic violence service organizations on a single day in 2012.    SafeNight, a mobile app, wants to change that allowing domestic violence service organizations to crowdsource funding for hotel rooms when there is an urgent need and no available shelter space.    Developed by Caravan Studios, a project developed by TechSoup's Marnie Webb and funded by Microsoft and others, the app is currently … [Read more...]

Save the Children's Ettoré Rossetti, Director of Digital Marketing & Social Media for Save the Children USA, emailed me an infographic on the impact of the Syria crisis on children.  As you can see, the design is a bit edgy - and its part of new multi-channel campaign that hopes to activate activists and ignite conversations.  Of course, the infographic alone is not enough - it's part of a multi-channel campaign.   What is interesting about this campaign is how they have integrated the … [Read more...]

I'm a list maker!  I keep to do lists, mega to do lists, grocery shopping lists, lists of restaurants and movies, and you get the picture.     There is something zen about making a list - it clears my mind and it is very satisfying to cross things off your list or it saves times because you have a place to start.   And, lists are easy to create.   But who knew that they could be useful as part of your content strategy or for content curation?    So, here's my list about making lists. List of … [Read more...]

Note From Beth: The cartoon above is from my book, "Measuring the Networked Nonprofit," and was alluding to what I call the "Cute Animal Theory" that content performs better when you have a cute animal, a dog, a cat, or even a squirrel. The genre of cat videos has grown so much that the Walker Art Center initiated the Internet Cat Video Festival, curated by a "cat video curator."   This summer, it sparked news headlines worldwide, attracted a crowd of 10,000 people—some in costumes, others with … [Read more...]

According to a recent survey by OTX, 43% of respondents say they have shared content on social media sites because it is funny.   And the reasons are not a mystery -- people remember how you make them feel and making them chuckle, giggle, and laugh reduces stress and makes people feel good.   There are tips for using humor successfully and methods for creating funny content as well as how to avoid a big fail .   Nonprofit technology professionals know how to converts laughs to donations and … [Read more...]