Profiles of Nonprofit Weblogs

Nonprofits are using Weblogs -- Web sites that are very easy to update and often serve as interpreters of information available elsewhere on the Web -- in interesting ways. The medium is now gaining in popularity as more Internet users find out how they help build connections across the Web and filter vast amounts of content in ways that help them find relevant information.

Learn what drove four organizations to blog, and find out about the challenges and benefits they face.

For more information about blogs and nonprofits, read "An Introduction to Weblogs," ,Weblogs: The Promise for Nonprofit Organizations,",and Weblogs and the Nonprofit Sector .

Vermont Nonprofit CommunIT

A collection of tools, resources, observations, and best practices for Vermont's nonprofit community

Creation date:

February 2004

Organization:

CyberSkills/Vermont

Weblog creator:

Sonny Cloward

TechSoup: What prompted your organization to begin a blog?

Sonny Cloward: Last fall I became an accidental blog-o-phile. It all started when I began to surf links on techie blogs I kept coming across. I soon realized that there was this vast community of connected people taking about and sharing information that was invaluable to me (and my clients). Once I realized the potential of blogs to disseminate fresh content and the simplicity of posting content, I knew this was a great application to keep the nonprofits I work with informed about technology and communication issues that concern them.

TS: What do you see as necessary for an organization wishing to start a blog?

SC: Figuring out if and how this avenue of communication will add value to your constituents or clients and help you achieve your mission and organizational goals. Just because blogs are the lasted e-fad doesn't necessarily mean that your nonprofit would benefit from one. As with any communication endeavor, it needs to fit into an overall communication strategy (with your current Web site, e-newsletters, message boards, e-mail discussion groups, collaboration sites/wikis, etc).

TS: What are the benefits of your weblog?

SC: In general, blogs are simple to use and easy to update. Therefore they keep content fresh and relevant. Blogs can provide both well organized information and good narrative (stories that engage readers). It is my hope that users of my site will share their own information and stories using the comment section (hence the "CommunIT" part of the name). Blogs can be syndicated and distribute content so that information can come directly to "consumers" rather than requiring folks to come back to the site to find information.

Additionally, as an NPO service provider, I think it's important to model the potential uses of technology. I not only post information on my blog, but describe how I am using the blog to keep content updated (using RSS/JavaScript feeds for example).

TS: What are the main challenges in the production of your weblog?

SC: Consistent and timely postings, relevant content, driving people to the site, the balance between engaging people with narrative and keeping information concise and "browsable."

TS: What do you see as the future of the weblog for either your organization or the nonprofit sector?

SC: If nonprofits collaborate and share information for the mutual benefit of their constituents, weblogs provide a very accessible vehicle to distribute information across the Internet. For example, if our local United Way posted information on its blog and each of its 33 member organizations had a "feed" on its homepage from the United Way, the social impact of the information would penetrate much further into the community.

The Civisphere

The goal is to create a resource and community nexus for NGO workers facilitating the sharing of knowledge and experience

Creation date:

January 2004

Organization:

The Citizen Lab

Weblog representative:

Graeme

TechSoup: What prompted your organization to begin a weblog?

Graeme: The Civiblog was created after hosting a blog for an MSF (Doctors Without Borders) logistician at http://kandahar.citizenlab.org. His feedback was that he found the ability to share and relate his experiences in Kandahar quite therapeutic. We decided to begin a project to build a community of NGO bloggers to create and share resources and experiences between one another.

An important distinction of this project is that it is being created for the people who work in civil society, not for the organizations in civil society (although, the benefits of happier, more well-resourced workers should filter up). More about the Civiblog .

TS: What do you see as necessary for an organization wishing to start a weblog?

G: A clear goal for the weblog is necessary. The questions of how and why is this different from a regular Web site must be asked.

TS: What are the benefits of your weblog?

G: Weblogs allow us to easily create and maintain an online community. The ability to allow anyone -- regardless of technical knowledge -- to share experience from the field is invaluable.

TS: What are the main challenges in the production of your weblog?

G: Its quite early in the project, but finding useful resources for NGO workers has proven to be quite difficult.

TS: What do you see as the future of the weblog for either your organization or the nonprofit sector?

G: Weblogs are one of many tools for the dissemination of information. Like all media, they should be treated as a means rather than an end. Weblogs will continue to play a role in community development for our organization into the future as they provide some of the easiest means for publishing rich information.

Andy Carvin's Waste of Bandwidth

Personal musings about the Internet, culture, travel, and politics.

Creation date:

October 1994

Organization:

EDC Center for Media & Community

Weblog creator:

Andy Carvin

TechSoup: What prompted your organization to begin a weblog?

Andy Carvin: In October 1994 I published my first Web site, EdWeb, which focused on the role of the Web in education. I wanted site visitors to be able to find out information about me, so I created a personal site, Andy Carvin's Waste of Bandwidth, which I used to update colleagues a couple times a month what I was up to, personally and professionally. Updates were posted in reverse chronological order, like a modern blog, though back then tools like Blogger and Movable Type didn't exist, so I updated the page by hand-coding the HTML whenever I felt inspired. As far as I can tell, it was one of the first personal blogs set up on the Internet, five years before the term "blog" was invented. In October 1995, it was profiled in Rolling Stone magazine along with Justin Hall's Links from Underground .

Unfortunately, I don't have the original Web site archived, but Archive.org does have aa snapshot of it from 1997 , which shows the design I started using back in 1994.

Originally, the site was located on a server in my office at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, since it didn't have a Web site yet; Its URL was "http://198.187.60.80/andy.html" since I didn't know how to buy a domain name yet.

For several years, the site moved around from host to host until I bought the address EdWebproject.org a few years ago. Last year, I got sick of hand-coding my personal page, so I started using Blogger to manage it. Eventually, I switched to Movable Type , which I still use today. That's been a major boon for me, since it's simplified the blogging process; I've posed hundreds of blogs ever since.

TS: What do you see as necessary for an organization wishing to start a weblog?

AC: First, they need to have a reason for doing it. If you don't have any questions you want to ask, or any answers you'd like to give, then it's pretty hard to get started. The best blogs are published by people who have a story to tell, a need to debate, and in some cases, a need to be observed by others. But a good blog needs good content; a blog that's merely a checklist of the day's activities can be really boring.

Second, it helps if you have an audience that's looking for something you can provide. Otherwise, you may find yourself blogging to yourself.

Third, it helps to get to know other blogs: learn about the different styles, personalities, subjects, missions, etc. Don't be afraid to emulate another blogger's style -- imitation is the sincerest form of flattery -- as long as you can give it your own flair and your own insights.

TS: What are the benefits of your weblog?

AC: Depends on whom you ask. I try to use my blog in several ways. I'm interested in travel blogging and event blogging. For example, I used my blog to cover protests at the Democratic National Convention in Boston, and attempts by Tunisian delegates to block a human rights activist speak at the WSIS prepcom meeting in Tunisia last June. I'm active in several online forums, and it's an easy way for people to follow me during my travels. I also use it to explore different blog tools -- like RSS feeds, multimedia blogging (use of audio, video and photos in conjunction with text), mobile blogging, and geomaps -- to encourage educators and people in the nonprofit center to give them a whirl for themselves and see how they can be used creatively. My blog also gives me a place to talk about the role of citizens and civil society to be content publishers in their own right -- an issue that's very important to me as the Internet grows more commercial and mass media less independent.

TS: What are the main challenges in the production of your weblog?

AC: Time. After a long day at work, sometimes you just don't feel like talking. But if a blog is part of your mission and integrated into your work day, that becomes a lot easier. Even if that's the case, though, you'll still need to pace yourself; Too many bloggers start by posting 30 entries a day, then burn out after a few months. Blogging is a marathon, not a sprint. Also, there's the issue of quality control; as a personal blog, my site occasionally will have a slip of the keyboard, but most blog readers tolerate that. But higher quality is expected from blogs associated with organizations rather than individuals.

TS: What do you see as the future of the weblog for either your organization or the nonprofit sector?

AC: I have high hopes for blogging in civil society, particularly for groups involved in human rights, civil rights, government accountability, etc. Community-based organizations can use blogging as a tool for advocating social change, documenting corruption, promoting grassroots campaigns, giving citizens a local voice. As blogging tools improve, so, too, will the possibilities.

You may want to check out this entry on my site , which talks about tools for inspiring best practices in civil society blogging.

Convenant Partners; Policy Steering Committee Notes

Notices and updates for covenant partners; minutes from meetings and other information from the policy steering committee

Creation dates:

2003 and 2004

Organization name:

Community Neighborhood Renaissance Partnership, Inc.

Weblog representative:

Rosa Morgan

TechSoup: What prompted your organization to begin a weblog?

Rosa Morgan: The first one was a way to extend beyond the space we were allocated on our main Web site. The blog format was automatically archived, which suited the purpose of posting meeting minutes, most current first.

TS: What do you see as necessary for an organization wishing to start a weblog?

RM: Fortunately, most blogs are low-tech, so one can get started easily. I think the organization must have a purpose for starting a blog, not just because it thinks it should, and the folks starting it should be willing to keep it current and realize what a time commitment this could be.

TS: What are the benefits of your weblog?

RM: Easy way to keep current quickly, low cost, no Web building skills really necessary, archiving feature useful to organize information.

TS: What are the main challenges in the production of your weblog?

RM: Keeping it current and ensuring the content is accurate.

TS: What do you see as the future of the weblog for either your organization or the nonprofit sector?

RM: We will continue to use our blog and may expand to others in the future. For example, we ran a one-week summer camp this year preceded by a year-long planning process. I used a specially designed blog to post all the minutes from the planning meetings; put up a time line and a task list; and circulated the URL to all interested in the project -- not limited to those working directly on the planning. Now the site has been removed, having served its purpose. This was much better than sending out meeting minutes as attachments in e-mail!