MULTIMEDIA
Over the past 15 years, we have spent a great deal of time thinking about how to disseminate content. Now it's time to fundamentally rethink the nature of that content -- considering communication approaches that weren't possible before the advent of the Internet.
That’s the claim Jeff Stanger makes during the course of his conversation with Communications Network contributor Susan Herr. And that is why he has just launched the Center for Digital Information (CDI) which will help the research policy community take advantage of these opportunities. Before creating the Center for Digital Information, Stanger was an award-winning Internet consultant for NetCampaign, a Washington, a web development and strategy firm. Prior to starting NetCampaign, Stanger was Washington Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center.
Total running time is 31:39. To view selected sections, use this guide to forward to the time indicated:
- Site design, search engine optimization, and social media came first. Now comes truly digital content. (1:10-3:38)
- Characteristics of digital content and examples (3:38-9:44)
- Not just data visualization or multimedia – it is fueled by live data and interactivity (9:44-19:30)
- Center for Digital Information focusing on policy research content (19:30-24:29)
- Institutional challenges to taking advantage of these approaches (24:29-27:05)
- Gaining personal “fluency” with digital content (27:05-31:38)
Is PowerPoint guilty of numbing minds, wasting countless hours, and generally degrading communication in our sector (not to mention the wider world)? Or has an innocent software been unfairly accused simply because the people who use it don’t know how?
Members of the Communications Network were invited to sit in judgment on PowerPoint in a special "trial" held recently.
Our jury was asked to decide:
- Whether PowerPoint has changed the way we communicate for the worse.
- Whether PowerPoint by its very nature forces presenters to create bad presentations.
- And finally whether PowerPoint should be banned from use by all doers-of-good.
The Attorney for the Prosecution was Colin Rowan, widely considered the finest legal mind ever to graduate from Tijuana Law School. Rowan brought a personal stake to this case: when he was only 6, Rowan’s father was tragically bored to death by a 350-slide PowerPoint presentation. (In his spare time, Rowan serves as principal of Rowan Communication, an Austin-based consulting firm serving nonprofits and other good causes.)
The Attorney for the Defense was Andy Goodman, who is no stranger to defending unpopular causes. Besides PowerPoint, he has served as counsel to disco music, car alarms, and those Alvin and the Chipmunks movies, including “The Squeakquel”. (In his spare time, Goodman is knitting a cozy for his new iPad.
To view the webinar and see how the jury decided, click here.
There's been a lot of hand-wringing in recent years about the decline of the traditional news media and the threat to our democracy and civil society from a less than fully informed citizenry.
Yet, there also have been some very inventive efforts underway to fill the gaps in current news coverage, and much of this in the form of new nonprofit ventures being supported by foundations and others.
Among the new kinds of news services springing up are those focused on single-interest topics, such as education, health or politics.
In this video, Mary Lou Fulton, communications and media program manager for The California Endowment, discusses how the foundation is making media grants to support more in-depth coverage of health issues and related topics as part of its efforts to improve the health of communities and people who live in them.
During the course of her conversation with Communications Network contributor Susan Herr, Fulton, a former journalist, describes grantmaking approaches that are all grounded in a respect for independent media.
Fulton spent many years working in print and online community media including jobs at the Los Angeles Times, The Bakersfield Californian, AOL, washingtonpost.com and GeoCities. At Media Optimist, she blogs about media ideas with a focus on foundation-funded efforts.
Running time of this episode is 26 minutes. To view selected sections, use this guide to forward to the time indicated below:
- Changing media landscape spells opportunity for grantmakers (1:08-2:48)
- Tell me your zip code, I’ll tell you how long you will live (2:48-4:00)
- Connecting strategy, communications and media grantmaking (4:00-7:47)
- Working with local media, traditional media and media start-ups (7:47-16:08)
- Making the case for media grantmaking (16:08-19:20)
- Types of media grantmaking and “ease of entry” for each (19:20-22:10)
- Sustainability considerations (22:10-24:15)
- Grant budgets for communication departments (24:15-26:05)
- Consistent messaging is the key (26:05-27:06)
Social media isn't something just reserved for a few forward thinking foundations. Instead, it should be a routine component of every foundation's communications efforts. As Teresa Detrich, director of electronic media at the Lumina Foundation for Education. puts it: “I believe that every communicator has to be deeply invested in and have a very strong understanding of social media...you can't do your job any longer if you don’t understand these tools.”
In this conversation with Communications Network contributor Susan Herr, Detrich describes how social media has become more fully integrated into Lumina's work and what the journey to get there has been like. She also describes the principles that have guided her own professional development in social media. The first of those principles: "know no fear."
Teresa directs electronic outreach for the Lumina Foundation for Education and provides leadership in the KnowHow2GO Advertising Council campaign, designed to help students understand the critical steps they need to take to go to college. In 2008, she was honored with five prestigious Web awards, including a Webby, for The Road to College for Latinos . Prior to entering philanthropy, she honed her communication skills through careers in radio, television and business communication.
Running time of this episode is 23 minutes. To view selected sections, use the guide below to forward to the time indicated:
- All engines at Lumina firing toward one stated goal (1:15-6:05)
- Collaboration between program and communications is essential (6:05-8:26)
- What about the care and feeding of the social media beast? (8:26-10:26)
- It’s all about relationships and Big Love (10:26-14:26)
- Want to innovate? Go where innovators go…(14:26-15:04)
- Know no fear (15:04-19:48)
- It helps to be passionate about your work (19:50-21:56)
- Our job is to help management make vision reality (22:08-23:00)
Want to ensure that communications staff is included meetings where your foundation’s broader strategy is set? Start capturing data you can present to demonstrate the essential link between communications and impact.
That’s one of the messages that comes through loud and clear in this conversation with Edith Asibey, author of "Are We There Yet? A Communications Evaluation Guide," published by The Communications Network. Asibey is a Communications Executive at The Atlantic Philanthropies with responsibilities that include advising the foundation's programs on effective communications strategies and a member of the Communications Network Board. She brings to her work extensive domestic and international communications experience with foundations and nonprofits including her tenure as President of Asibey Consulting.
Rather than focusing on how to evaluate, this conversation with Communications Network contributor Susan Herr explores why so many of us simply resisting the imperative to do so.
Running time of this episode is 27 minutes. To view selected sections, use this guide below to forward to the time indicated:
- Pressure to evaluate communications is growing (1:19-3:01)
- Defining the obstacles to evaluation (3:01-4:40)
- Strategy and evaluation go hand in hand (4:40-13:35)
- Overcoming institutional resistance to evaluation (13:35-18:20)
- Overcoming personal resistance to evaluation (18:20-24:53)
- Here’s the pep talk that says, “You can and you must!” (24:53-27:)
If you want to get people to take action you have to appeal to their emotions, and in particular, things they care about. In this video, Doug Hattaway, president and CEO of Hattaway Communications, discusses the difference between what he calls "functional communications" -- the layering on of "who, what and when" kinds of details -- vs. more powerful "aspirational communications" which engage people in issues and causes and get them to respond.
During the course of his conversation with Communications Network contributor Susan Herr, Hattaway also describes some of the emerging scientific research that can be applied to developing emotionally appealing communications campaigns.
Running time of this episode is 23 minutes. To view selected sections, use this guide to forward to the time indicated:
What is aspiration communications and how can it be useful for nonprofits and foundations? (2:22-3:45)
How can the framework driving aspirational communications bridge the divide between program staff and communications? (3:45-9:24)
What are some examples of this approach? (9:24-21:56)
Is aspiration communications more appropriate for some foundations and programs than others? (21:56-23:48)
How essential is data when determining the aspirations of your target audience? (23:48-25:44)
Hattaway Communications has foundations, nonprofits and political groups among its clients. Doug Hattaway was Hillary Clinton’s spokesman during her 2008 presidential run, as well as Al Gore’s spokesman during the 2000 recount. He appears regularly as a public affairs analyst and commentator on CNN, MSNBC and the Fox News Channel.
In this video chat, Phil Buchanan, President of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, and Communications Network Contributor Susan Herr, explore attacks on philanthropy, what is motivating these charges, and why it is important for more of us to challenge broad stereotypes that aren't based on evidence.
In addition to serving as President for the Center for Effective Philanthropy, Buchanan was named to the Nonprofit Times 2007 and 2008 “Power and Influence Top 50” list. He holds an MBA from Harvard University and received his undergraduate degree in Government from Wesleyan University.
Whose Job Is It to Speak Up for Philanthropy? from Communications Network on Vimeo.
Running time of this episode is 29 minutes. To view selected sections, use the guide below to forward to the time indicated:
- Center for Effective Philanthropy - Right Place, Right Time (0:00-1:20)
- "Philanthropy is under attack." Hyperbole? (1:20-7:46)
- Who is attacking from inside the gates? (3:24-5:00)
- What is motivating these attacks? )7:47-12:56)
- How can effectively deliver simultaneous the message that the nonprofit sector is good but that it needs to be better? (13:42-18:38)
- Why should I have to speak to what philanthropy as a whole is doing v. my own organization's efforts? (18:39-22:41)
- Why is it time to start violating "communication commandments?" (22:42-26:07)
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Has this happened to your organization: after experimenting with social media you found that nothing happened at all?
If so, you're not alone. One of the most frequent complaints from organizations grappling with social media tools is that after taking the plunge -- whether Tweeting, blogging, or starting new Facebook pages -- nothing happens.
In this special webinar, produced for the Communications Network by the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN), session leaders Holly Ross, Executive Director of NTEN, and Nancy Schwartz, NTEN board member and blogger (www.gettingattention.org), and Communications Network member, share examples of how other organizations are successfully harnessing the power of social media to build buzz that contributes to their foundations’ reach.
Their presentation covers the nuts and bolts of social media success and the readiness to put them to work for your foundation.
Click here to view the webinar. For a copy of the presentation, click here.
Also, to stay on top of technology news you can use, click here to sign up for NTEN's newsletter.
Before he became president of the Greater New Orleans Foundation President last year, Albert Ruesga was a blogger at White Courtesy Telephone who rarely pulled punches when examining the work of organized philanthropy. In this episode, Communications Network Contributor Susan Herr picks Albert's brain about the stumbling blocks CEO's may have toward social media, and what you can do to reassure them.
Dr. Albert Ruesga joined the Greater New Orleans Foundation in January 2009. He served for seven years as Vice President for Programs and Communications at the Meyer Foundation in Washington, DC. Dr. Ruesga was the founding director of New Ventures in Philanthropy, a national initiative that has helped generate more than $500 million in new philanthropic resources against an investment of $14 million. Prior to serving at New Ventures, he was the Donor Resources Manager at the Boston Foundation.
Running time of this episode is 27 minutes. To view selected sections, use the guide below to forward to the time indicated:
- Albert starts with the dark side of cyberspace (1:47-2:46)
- Really, truly – why does a foundation need social media? (2:47-7:52)
- Are foundation communications more like a funeral march or a party? (9:19-11:51)
- Objections your CEO may have to social media 1(13:30-18:36)
- What expectations we should have? (23:29-26:44)
In the Communications Network's debut of a new video feature -- our diavlog series (dialog+video+blog) -- we explore the question: "Should Foundations speak in human voices?" Susan Herr, president of PhilanthroMedia, and a regular contributor to the Communications Network website, speaks with Michael Margolis, principal of Get Storied, about how the new communications technologies -- notably Twitter -- enable foundations to engage in conversations with audiences, not as institutions, but as individuals. Over the course of their wide-ranging conversation, they also discuss Philanthropy 411's research about which foundations are Twittering, an assessment by social media expert Beth Kanter about the different ways foundations are Twittering, and blogger Sean Stannard-Stockton's (Tactical Philanthropy) assertion that these human-to-human interactions underscore the difference between sharing knowledge and wisdom.
Margolis comes to the conversation not as a new media guru but as a consultant who helps organizations harness their internal stories as key to building brands that reflect the values that underscore their work. His work and writings have been featured in Fast Company, Brandweek, Storytelling Magazine, LA Business Journal, and Silicon Alley Reporter, among others. Margolis is the also the author of the forthcoming Believe Me: Why Your Brand, Vision, and Leadership Need a Bigger Story, to be published in October.
Running time of the diavlog is 28 minutes. To view selected sections, use the guide below to fast forward to the time code indicated:
- Which Foundations are Twittering and Why (1:05-6:12)
- Should Anyone Besides Your CEO Represent the Foundation Brand? (6:12-8:39)
- Existential Crisis: Do We Have to Speak in Human Voices? (8:39-12:00)
- What’s Authenticity Got to Do, Got to Do with It? (15:30-19:21)
- Storytelling: It's Not Just For Outsider Audiences (19:21-28:00)
After viewing the diavlog, feel free to leave a comment. if you have ideas for future topics, email us.