Northern California Grantmakers

Social Media is a topic rife with themes, tangents and conversations. Here’s a few recent blog posts and articles that caught my attention:

“Arts Groups Use Twitter to Compete for Grant” by Kate Taylor, New York Times Art Beat. A sort of cautionary tale of the pitfalls of social media driven competition funding.

“Philanthropy 2.0: Raise Awareness, Raise $” by Natasha Isajlovic-Terry, Philanthropy Front and Center. A breakdown of some of the new social media fundraising platforms.

“Where Social Media Doesn’t Matter” by Dan Elitzer, Full Contact Philanthropy. As Nonprofits become more savvy at using social media to bring money in, will they use their marketing skills on the delivery side?

“Why We Love Social Media” by Rosetta Thurman, Stanford Social Innovation Review. Exploring the emotional effects of social media and how organizations can use social media to build real trust with potential donors and volunteers.

The Rise of the Professional Social Entrepreneur: This Full Contact Philanthropy blog post by Dan Elizter discusses the “influx of professional, polished entrepreneurs to the sector…”

How to Use Interns and How Interns Should Use You: With a recent New York Times article on the issue, the Forum’s Forum asks readers to chime in on their intern experiences.

Announcing The Smart  Money Award: Sean Stannard-Stockton of Tactical Philanthropy announces an award that celebrates success and the rationale that “we don’t believe we have to lead everything.”

Full Contact Philanthropy blogger David Henderson’s post today on  micro solutions in the social sector offers some salient critiques on this trend in the social sector.

“Failing the success of sweeping interventions, the sector has recently become obsessed with micro solutions to social problems. The wave of micro activity started with the popularity of microcredit, but has recently devolved into a flurry of any philanthropic word pre-fixed with “micro” such as micro-volunteering, micro-donations, micro-philanthropy, and micro-actions.

My macro point here is that the momentary micro dogma of the social sector distracts us from pursuing real solutions that help people.  What matters, of course, is what works, small, medium, large, or super-sized.  The micro-trend was started by microcredit, the first, and only member of the ‘micro’ solution set that resembles a real intervention rather than a gimmick focused more on size than effectiveness.” (emphasis added)

With the recent use of text donations to raise money for victims of the earthquake in Haiti, it’s important to consider how this new giving affects the field.

David continues:

“Over on the Tactical Philanthropy Blog comments section reader Chip McComb sums up the problem with micro giving nicely, in so doing revealing much of what is wrong with micro thinking in general. Chip writes

I fear that as micro giving, and mobile giving becomes more and more prevalent the attitude of those that give, could shift dangerously to think that all giving should be as easy and as pleasing as buying a coke or a big mac, and when it’s not easy or pleasing, it is therefore not worth their time or expense. What a dangerous trap!”

Read the full blog post online.

h/t to Tactical Philanthropy