Communication Tools
These communication tools can help your organization communicate better with its audience. Here we provide some links to tools for Electronic Newletters, Wikis, Blogs, Surveys, and RSS Feeds.
• Electronic Newsletters
So you’re looking for a way to send out email in bulk. Maybe you want to send fancy eNewsletters, or maybe just text action alerts. Perhaps you’re hoping for a tool that can send emails to tens of thousands of people, or perhaps just a few hundred. Maybe you need something that can integrate with your offline database, customize the content for large donors, send emails to tailored segments of your list, or allow custom eNewsletter templates. Regardless of your precise needs, you no doubt are hoping for a tool that is reliable, affordable, and easy to use.
Email Newsletters and Electronic Mailing Lists (http://www.blackhillsradio.com/email_tools.htm)
Nothing to Say? Tell Stories! (http://www.malwarwick.com/learning-resources/e-newsletters/october-2006-1.html#1_Nothing_to_say_Tell_stories)
Examples of Tools (http://www2.dcn.org/dcn/about/projects/dlit/communication-tools/electronic-newsletters/example-s-of-tool)
• Wikis
A wiki is a collaborative/workflow website that can be jointly edited and linked either by login permission or public access, in which case “members of the community can add value to the website by sharing information and experiences, and this can create community feeling”
An Introduction to Wikis (http://nptechbestpractices.pbworks.com/w/page/5845913/Wikis)
Non Profits Share Their Wiki Success Stories (http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/webbuilding/archives/page9341.cfm)
• Blogs
There are now more than 20 million blogs. Several thousands new ones launched every day.
Should Your Nonprofit Blog? (http://www.donorpowerblog.com/donor_power_blog/2006/01/should_your_non.html)
Tips on starting a nonprofit blog (http://havefundogood.blogspot.com/2007/01/5-tips-to-start-nonprofit-blog.html)
Examples of blogs:
Blogger, (http://www.blogger.com/home)
TypePad, (http://www.typepad.com/)
Blogware, (http://home.blogware.com/)
WordPress, (http://wordpress.org/)
Moveable Type, (http://www.movabletype.org)
Expression Engine, (http://expressionengine.com/)
LiveJournal, (http://www.livejournal.com/)
Textpattern (http://textpattern.com/)
• Surveys
Many nonprofits have survey and reporting needs.
Running online surveys and polls
Examples of Survey Tools
Survey Gizmo (http://www.surveygizmo.com/)SurveyGizmo is a creative platform for your marketing, lead generation and research projects. Create surveys, landing pages, polls, quizzes, contact forms, ticketing queues and mobile marketing campaigns. Allows for 250 responses per month and a “personal” version for $19/month. These omit some desirable features, like skip logic.
Survey Monkey (http://www.surveymonkey.com/pricing/?ut_source=sem)SurveyMonkey has a single purpose: to enable anyone to create professional online surveys quickly and easily. It has a free and an inexpensive version ($19.95/month for up to 1,000 responses)
About Survey Monkey (http://www.digital-web.com/articles/survey_monkey/)
Creating an online survey with Survey Monkey (http://www.stcuk.org/newsletters/February2006/survey_monkey_review.htm)
• RSS Newsfeeds
Being a nonprofit is tough and trying to maintain your presence on the Web, well, that is hard too. Consider using RSS Feeds to help get your organization's message out there for your audience.
How to Create RSS Feeds for Your Organization (http://marshallk.com/how-to-create-rss-feeds-for-your-organization)
Nonprofits Should Take Advantage of RSS (http://www.wildapricot.com/blogs/newsblog/2007/04/25/non-profits-should-take-advantage-of-rss)
Make Your Nonprofit More Effective with RSS Feeds (http://www.socialsignal.com/nonprofit-RSS)
Examples of RSS newsfeeds
(Note for users of DCN SimpleSites: all Simple Sites can automatically generate feeds of news and events. Also, any DCN Organizational Calendar will generate an RSS feed if you add "/asRSS" to the end of the URL)
Google Reader (http://support.google.com/reader/answer/113517)
FeedDemon (www.feeddemon.com) (http://netnewswireapp.com/mac) also for iPhone, iPad and Mac.
AmphetaDesk -- (Mac/Win/Linux)
And, FeedForAll -- (Mac) -- An RSS Feed creation tool
