Best Links: Messaging, Social Media, and Software

• The January Nonprofit Blog Carnival is at IssueLab's Footnotes blog. Luise Barnikel has rounded up a collection of resources revolving around Online Outreach on a Budget. Learn to connect advocacy to fundraising, how to integrate direct mail with free online tools, and the benefits of using Twitter for your nonprofit.

• Do your nonprofit messages fail to connect with your audience? Are they hard to remember? Are they inconsistent? When Nancy Schwartz of Getting Attention! surveyed more than 900 nonprofit leaders, many of them said their messaging suffered from those deficits. Nancy has compiled the responses to her survey and some specific recommendations for how to fix the problems. Don't let your messages languish any longer, read the report now.

• Who isn't confused by the jungle of software out there? Which ones should your nonprofit use? Which will be the most cost effective? What do these terms mean? Idealware specializes in translating geek-speak into language you can understand. Now their Field Guide to Software for Nonprofits uses a machete to cut through the jungle and lead you to software solutions. The Guide is cheap too at $19.95.

• John Haydon is to social media what Idealware is to software. He makes the complicated comprehensible. John's 31 Day Challenge: Optimize Your Blog With Social Media is aimed squarely at nonprofits. Sign up for the Challenge and take your time working through it. You'll be glad and less confused.

• If you believe in the Donor Pyramid, clap you hands! Is this revered fundraising concept dead? Tom Belford contemplates this question in Dead Wrong, and Dead Right, pulling in some great commentators on both sides. Tom carries the theme for several days' worth of blog posts...all fascinating and thought provoking.

• The Chronicle of Philanthropy provides a roundup of giving to Haiti, including comparison with other disasters, the results from the telethon, how small charities are doing, and what the corporate community measures up.

  Katya Andresen explores How Fast Do Donors Lose Interest in Haiti? and provides tips for nonprofits raising funds for that cause. Nancy Schwartz provides invaluable tips for organizations involved in the Haiti effort in her Communicating in the Shadow of Disaster - Practical Tips for Nonprofits

• If you liked Made to Stick, you'll love Dan and Chip Heath's follow-up book, Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard. Besides reading the book, to be released in mid-February, I plan to tune in to the free teleconference with author Dan Heath, sponsored by Network for Good. The Date is February 23. Register here.

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