August 2012

AskIdealware: How Many Survey Respondents Should I Have?

By Laura Quinn, August 31, 2012

How much is enough? Laura Quinn addresses the most common question from new survey makers.

 Have more questions about creating online surveys? Learn more about the tools available in the Idealware article A Few Good Online Survey Tools, and pick up a few tips and best practices in How To Make an Awesome Survey, on the Idealware blog.

Data Visualization and Infographics: Using Data to Tell Your Story

By Anonymous, August 29, 2012

In this guest blog post, Amadie Hart (http://www.hartstrategicmarketing.com/) takes an in-depth look at the difference between "data visualization" and "infographics", and includes a few good examples of tools to help you create both.

Cause-focused nonprofits have a wealth of data that they can use to make their case to potential supporters, the media and policymakers. As the web increasingly becomes the hub of nonprofit communication and marketing efforts, the need exists to present that data in a way that matches up with how people consume information online. Instead of lengthy reports or white papers, nonprofits are turning to data visualization and infographics to engage, communicate and persuade potential donors and advocates. 

Data visualizations and infographics are tools to make difficult concepts understandable and easy to grasp. They help provide context, but also tell a story or make a case, and give supporters the power to share this information on blogs and social networks. The visual nature of today’s most popular social networks – most notably Facebook’s Timeline and Pinterest – means that these types of information are more prominently displayed, easily shared and readily noticed than text-based updates. For an example of some excellent nonprofit infographics, check out Beth Kanter’s Nonprofit Infographics pinboard on Pinterest.
 
Many people use the terms “infographic” and “data visualization” interchangeably. While there is much debate over the distinctions, there are a few key differences between the two concepts. Data visualizations take complex sets of data and display them in a graphical interface – for example, in a chart or on a map – which allows the user to gain deeper insight into patterns and trends. Infographics use data visualizations in concert with text and other tactics to tell a story, make a point or communicate a concept. 
 
For example, Feeding America has a great deal of data on food insecurity rates across the U.S. In 2011, they used this data to create an interactive “Map the Meal Gap” presentation that allows users to see and interact with county-level food insecurity data. This is an excellent example of data visualization, and the organization has used it for advocacy and awareness purposes.
 
World Wildlife Fund, on the other hand, has created a series of infographics to help tell the story of what is happening in the Coral Triangle region of Southeast Asia. These graphic assets help raise awareness about the threats to a region that is not familiar to a large subset of the U.S. population.
 
The following are some data visualization and infographic-creation tools that will help you create compelling presentations of the wealth of data you have at your fingertips.
 

Data Visualization Tools

Infogr.am – This is a free web-based data visualization tool that allows users to upload data files to create interactive charts and tables that you can embed on a blog or web page. The site is extremely easy to use, with Facebook and Twitter sign in and a simple user interface that gives you the ability to create a variety of professional-looking line, bar and pie charts. In addition, the tool provides five standard templates for displaying your charts in an infographic format. The tool is still in beta, so there are still some bugs that need to be worked out, and because the charts are interactive, you need to link back to the infogr.am site to embed them and are not able to download static images to use in PowerPoint or other offline presentations.
 
Tableau Public – Tableau is desktop-based data visualization software used by many large companies and media properties to create sophisticated visual representations of large datasets. They have now released Tableau Public, a free web-based tool that allows users to create and share interactive charts. The catch is that there is no ability to create private visualizations – all data that you upload to the Tableau Public site is publicly accessible to anyone on the web, and anyone can download the workbook (and underlying data) that you are displaying. The site has active forums, and is full of helpful information for people trying to get a handle on data visualization best practices.
 

Infographic Creation Tools

Easel.ly – Organizations that want an attractive infographic, but don’t have the budget to hire a design professional can turn to this free HTML5-based web app to create a sophisticated-looking graphics. You can start with one of 15 pre-existing themes or create your own from scratch. The tool has a good selection of customization options without being overwhelming, including 24 background choices, 10 categories of objects/icons to use and 19 font choices. There are some limitations to the tool – you can’t create custom charts (but you can drop in static chart images), you can’t change the color of objects in the graphic (but can change opacity) – but it is extremely intuitive and user-friendly. You can play around with the tool without registering, but registration is easy and fast if you would like to save your creations. You can mark your creations public or private and either view them online or download the graphic as a jpeg or PNG for use in presentations.
 
Venngage – This is a subscription-based online infographic creation tool that provides users with the ability to create and publish a variety of different infographics. The site currently offers five templates to use as a starting point, or you can create your own from a blank page. While there are a number of options for customization, there are fewer backgrounds than Easel.ly. Venngage does provide the ability to choose from a variety of chart types, and you can upload data as a CSV to create charts. The finished product can be embedded on a blog or website, downloaded as an image, or accessible online. The company provides a variety of pricing plans, along with a 14-day free trial for new users.
 

A Few Last Thoughts

The coolest data visualizations or the prettiest infographics are of no use when they’re not thought through beforehand. In order to create an effective, shareable content piece, you need to understand first what story you want to tell and how the design of the infographic will support. Once you have that in mind, you can go ahead and try your hand at the tools, but be sure to follow best practices for infographic design and keep it simple and easy to understand.

New Article: Do You Need a New Broadcast Email Tool?

By Kyle Andrei, August 27, 2012

 If you don't already have a broadcast email tool, you certainly need one. But what if you already have one? How can you tell if it's not the right tool for your organization? In this new Idealware article, Soha El Borno explores 10 Reasons To Change Your Broadcast Email Tool.

Kyle's Adventures in Copyright Law, or: Yes, Your Work Belongs To You

By Kyle Andrei, August 24, 2012

 Recently, in the Idealware Creating Great Graphics For the Web seminar, we were asked if the photos (or videos, blogs, other published materials) created by libraries or other government-run/funded organizations belonged to the organization or were automatically public-domain. And honestly, we didn't know - typically we talk about government-created work as a great resource for copyright-free images.

I suppose a little background is necessary. For those of you who don't read U.S Copyright Law for fun and games (e.g. 99.9% of us), government works cannot be copyrighted, which makes them public domain (Title 17 of the U.S. Code, for those of you playing at home). This is normally a good thing for nonprofits, because it provides a steady source of recent photos and videos as stock images, which we can use for free in publications, websites, presentations - you name it. But is it really such a great thing if your organization's work is public domain? This participant was pretty worried, and so was I - I didn't have an answer for her!

A couple minutes of searching had my answer though. A "work of the U.S. government" only applies to the work of the federal government, not state or local governments (Compendium II: Copyright Office Practices, if you're checking my work). So, our participant's question was answered, I came off sounding smart, and we all learned something.

Friend-to-friend fundraising works- so why aren't you doing it?

By Andrea Berry, August 22, 2012

I’m a pretty passionate advocate of nonprofits trying Friend-to-Friend or Social Fundraising techniques for their organizations. Having come out of the health fundraising world, I’ve seen the power of having supporters fundraising on your behalf. Mobilizing an army of passionate advocates for your organization can tap into thousands of dollars in unseen funds and link your organization to hundreds--if not thousands--of new supporters.

So why does this technique seem to be the domain of heath organizations alone?   

Is it the fear of the work of putting on a massive event like a Walk-a-thon or Dance-off? With the entry into the online marketplace of social fundraising tools like FirstGiving, Causes, Razoo and Blackbaud’s Friends Asking Friends, you don’t even need to associate your campaign with the a-thon event to see major success. So that’s not an excuse. 

Is it lack of confidence in your supporters? Do you think it would be a lot of effort for little excitement? I promise you, if Idealware can do a Friend-to-Friend Campaign, so can your organization. Really--do you think your cause is less sexy than helping other nonprofits improve their technology capacity?

Is it lack of knowledge about how to motivate your supporters? Remember, this is a fundraising technique. I know you all tell your boards “you can all raise money for our organization,” so why are your most fervent supporters less qualified or less motivated? In fact, throwing in a little bit of fun--like contests for the person or team who raises the most money or contacts the most people, raffles for anyone fundraising, a kick-off party for training, or an e-mail leader board--can go a long way. If I can make this fun, so can you. 

We used to offer a seminar on “Getting Started with Distributed Fundraising,” but no one ever took the class. Thinking it was due to a terrible name, we changed the title and tried again. Enter “Turning Your Supporters Into Fundraisers,” but still no takers. Feeling very strongly that nonprofits should know about this approach, we decided to offer the session for free, and it had the lowest registration rate for any of the 11 free seminars we've offered in 2011.

So what is going on? Why don’t you care? Because honestly, you should. This method works. I promise. 

 

New Article: A Few Good Tools for Ticketed Events

By Chris Bernard, August 20, 2012

 Do you run a theater, performance hall, or otherwise need to be able to sell tickets for events with assigned seating? Idealware's newest article, A Few Good Tools for Ticketed Events, runs through a few of the most popular solutions for selling and taking tickets and tracking your patrons, from basic low-cost solutions that integrate wuth your constituent database, to high-end, full-featured systems that are powerful databases in their own right.

AskIdealware: How do I use social media to define my brand?

By Andrea Berry, August 17, 2012

 What do your Facebook and Twitter posts say about your organization? In this video, Andrea Berry talks through how to define and control your brand on social media.

Want to learn more about how social media can help your organization's brand? Check out our recorded seminar, Branding Through Social Media.

Calling all CMS consultants: directory now open until September 7th!

By Andrea Berry, August 16, 2012

The flurry of automatic “I’m away on vacation” responses should have been our first hint that sales for our CMS consultant directory might be slow during July. Message received loud and clear: the beach, hot dogs, summer vacation and the Olympics all have slightly more draw than our report update process. Who knew?

We initially closed the Idealware CMS Consultant Directory on July 31 with about 15 listings, but to best serve our nonprofit readers, we want to give them as many options as we can to choose from. So—cue the drum roll, please—we’re pleased to announce the re-opening of the Idealware Content Management Systems Consultant Directory for a limited time only. We will accept directory listings and ads until September 7, the Friday after Labor Day, to give people time to submit their listings when they get back from their August vacations.  

Listings start as low as $45, with the hope that we will have a strong representation from independent consultants as well as larger firms. Thousands of individuals considering their CMS options will thumb through the directory—will you be represented? We hope so.  

So while you’re building castles at the beach, or during the seventh-inning stretch, take out your smartphone, tablet or laptop and purchase a directory listing. You’ll be advertising your great services and supporting Idealware—plus you can count it as “work” time, and we won’t tell anyone that it only took two minutes.

One Global Development Organization Welcomes Pinterest

By Andrew Gleason, August 15, 2012

In the midst of a very exciting project looking at how global development organizations are using mobile technology for fundraising and outreach, I recently spoke with Heifer International’s Rich Cason, Director of Internet Marketing, who provided a wealth of information regarding his organization’s mobile strategy—including a unique connection to Pinterest.   

For those of you unfamiliar with Heifer, it’s an international development organization based in Little Rock, Arkansas, that provides livestock and training to disadvantaged families throughout the world in an effort to end poverty and hunger. Heifer is most well-known for its fundamental approach, “Passing on the Gift,” in which supporters choose from a selection of livestock they would like to purchase and donate to people in need.

Pinterest is a virtual pinboard that allows users to share pictures found across the web. Interestingly, when we asked Rich about his organization’s efforts for engagement and outreach, he mentioned how it’s helped increase the number of visitors to the Heifer website. Heifer’s primary focus of providing livestock and training to needy families lends itself well to Pinterest’s audience. 

“Heifer has some incredible digital assets that depict the work that’s going on,” Rich said, and the setting makes for strong visual imagery. 

He said Pinterest is really becoming a lead generator into e-commerce. Six months from now the hype could subside, but it challenges Heifer to think about its mobile strategy and position. 

“It’s a site we’re interested in because there’s an opportunity for a lot of growth,” he said.      

 

New Article: How Crowdsourcing Can Help Your Nonprofit

By Chris Bernard, August 13, 2012

 From Kickstarter to Kiva and beyond, it seems all anyone is talking about today is crowdsourcing - but what is it? In this new article by freelance writer Soha El Borno, we take a look at the different goals of crowdsourcing, and at a few of the tools and platforms to pool and use the resources of your community. Read How Crowdsourcing Can Help Your Nonprofit.