Getting information about your cause or organisation to your audience has simultaneously never been easier and harder! As difficult as that is to comprehend, take a moment to consider the online world. We have access to all of the worlds information at our fingertips and tens of thousands of wonderful, life changing organisations keen to tell us about it. But that is also the problem, with so many great community organisations out there it is hard to make your NGO heard amongst the crowd.
Most organisations have been on Facebook and Twitter for years and there is the same problem of so many organisations competing for attention. Is there a new way to stand out? Paper.li, a new online content curation service might just have the solution. The tool enables organisations to quickly and easily compile a newspaper of news and views that your audience will want to read. Whether you want a weekly round up or daily updates the service provides everything you need. Oh, did I mention that it is free to use!
Take a quick look at how WaterAid are using it here.
This is what Joe Downie of the Digital Team at WaterAid had to say about their newspaper on the site…
By ‘publishing’ a weekly Paper.li we can share via social media the latest stories from our sector. In this way we establish some degree of ownership over water and sanitation issues. By having the added control that the Pro version offers, we can more effectively control and curate what we publish – for example, putting a WaterAid story into the ‘headline’ slot.
We’ve found that ‘regular is good’ on social media. The weekly round-up of content from the sector in our Paper.li is a really good way of summing up what’s been going on during the previous 7 days, including any notable achievements or events involving WaterAid. It keeps us in people’s minds.
You can read the rest of the interview here.
It might even turn out to be another valuable tool in your online fundraising arsenal. Jay Frost, CEO of FundraisingInfo, thinks social media such as paper.li is a uniquely powerful ray to reach anyone in the world and secure donations for your cause…
Social media has enormous potential for fundraising! Charitable organisations can now access the entire planet.
They find potential contributors, sponsors, donors often by reaching out to those who have given to other charities, or come to an event, or whose names are on a list they have purchased. But that is limited, because they only have a certain number of names available.
The great thing about social media is that it’s not bound by geography or any other limitations.
Anyone, anywhere, of any demographic, can be welcomed to do two things:
- carry on the mission by spreading the word
- ask other people for money. Those who are already giving can be empowered to solicit donations from others
People in charities are very excited about social media, but with a combination of exhilaration and desperation. They can’t see how to take on more activity with limited resources, and also there are people who say we have to do things how we’ve always done them. The nonprofit world is in transition right now.
Oh yeah, did we mention that FundsforNGOs now has its very own daily newspaper on paper.li too? We love it and we hope you do too. It’s a really quite brilliant way to get a snapshot of all the latest funds from around the world in an easily digestible format. Did we mention that they have superb customer service too? They helped us out straight away over Twitter and we couldn’t have asked for more. It is updated every 24 hours and you can make sure you and you’re organisation with the newest fundraising opportunities by subscribing. Take a look and let us know what you think, we’d love to hear your feedback. You can visit our new daily online newspaper here.
Will you set-up a daily online newspaper for your organisation? Let us know what you think in the comments.
