I’m doing a presentation on weblogs for non-profit organizations tomorrow morning at MAP for Non-profits, invited by longtime colleagues Sheldon Mains and Rick Birmingham. It’s part of their monthly Nonprofit Tech Talk gathering.
Ward Bell from The Grant Connection posted a note to their email discussion list re: what he hopes to get out of the session. Here’s an excerpt:
“… a better understanding of the business case for using current blog tools. Not the reason for creating a personal journal, but why should a small business or a non-profit organization consider a blog as part of its communications strategy? Frankly, i think blogs have a long way to go before they are really beneficial. Organizations with good content management systems can do a better job of communicating than one can do using current blog tools. Syndication is a cool component of many blogs, but is it really worth anything?”
I guess I’d better have my wits about me. 
Last week Sheldon asked me for examples of what an organization might blog about. I wrote: “The things that appear in an organization’s weblog are not any different than what typically might appear in a newsletter, print or email. For example, here are some recent links to different blog items from the Putting Family First weblog and the Citizens League weblog:
Changes to another part of the website
Highlighting a financial contribution
Pointing to/commenting on an item in the media
A personal story/reflection that relates to an organizational value/belief
Correction to a story in the monthly print edition
Feature on a member of the community relevant to the organization
Ones I’d like to see more of: featuring an employee & featuring a client/customer/member. Here’s one example from a for-profit company. Here’s another.
