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2012 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study: An Analysis of Online Messaging, Fundraising, Advocacy, Social Media and Mobile Metrics for Nonprofit Organizations

In This Issue:

1. Feature: Framework of Factors that Affect Political Support

Why do some issues receive priority attention from political leaders while others receive very little? Political scientist Jeremy Shiffman has developed a framework that offers a response to this question.

2. Spotlight: Evaluating Community Organizing

Catherine Crystal Foster and Justin Louie identify what to consider when evaluating community organizing efforts. They also offer example benchmarks and methods for capturing organizing outcomes.

"When you hear the phrase “program evaluation findings,” are you bored already? Most people—even within the evaluation field—perceive evaluation as dry. The major output of an evaluation is often a weighty report that gets read once (if at all) before it begins its long-term dust-collecting destiny.

This report provides a snapshot of key metrics and benchmarks for nonprofit e-mail communications, online fundraising, and online advocacy.  According to the authors, "Organizations will be able to use this study to begin to understand how to look at and analyze their own online communications data. It will provide context and comparisons for organizations doing their own ongoing reporting."

In 2008 Innovation Network Senior Associates Veena Pankaj and Ehren Reed presented on dashboard usage for evaluation reporting at the annual Americal Evaluation Association. The handout and powerpoint slides cover four basic points:

• What is an evaluation dashboard?
• Why use a dashboard?
• When does an organization use a dashboard?
• How does an organization develop a dashboard?

The Idealware website is a treasure trove of time-saving reviews, tips, and research.  Idealware publishes unbiased reviews of software for nonprofits.  Experts from all over the nonprofit technology community contribute the benefit of their experience through articles and blog posts. If you're trying to compare software packages, this is an excellent place to start--they might have already done the research for you.

This report examines the broader utility of social media for the adoption of health promoting and protective behaviours.

This free online guide captures and organizes good practices for nonprofits and foundations.  Literally thousands of  effectiveness-building tips and resources are available here, searchable by topic. Topics include:

• Advocacy,
• Evaluation,
• Financial management,
• Fundraising,
• Governance,
• Marketing and communications,
• Organizational management,
• Technology, and
• Volunteer management.