Posts by Kiva Bottero
Raise the Bar: Making a Difference With Chocolate
Hershey’s recently announced its decision to purchase Rainforest Alliance-certified cocoa, a certification that verifies products are produced sustainably based on both human and environmental measures. The sourced chocolate will be used for Hershey’s Bliss products and comes as a reaction to an intense social media campaign run by nonprofit coalition called Raise the Bar, Hershey! …
Spark Change Through Micro-Volunteering
Lack of time is the limiting factor preventing many would-be volunteers from offering their skills to a cause. Yet it seems most people have at least some time to spend online. Micro-volunteering combines those two factors by giving people a way to easily pick up small, online volunteer tasks to do from home in their …
Social Capital Offers Nonprofits a Path to Success
Companies such as Acumen Fund, Good Capital, and Root Capital are part of a growing movement towards providing social capital for grassroots businesses in developing countries in the form of investments, not grants. It’s a form of social venture capital in that they invest in growth companies, but are not focused on the long-term, high …
Seeking Funding: Innovative Funding Sources for Nonprofits
Challenges force innovation. With so many issues in the credit markets thanks to the recession and banks in trouble because of the mortgage crisis, borrowers and lenders have had to seek out new approaches to financing. Nonprofits are caught up in the mess, too. Microfinance, traditionally reserved for entrepreneurs in the developing world, has grown …
Simulating Life: How Google+ Helps Your Nonprofit Build Relationships
Last year, Google released a helpful guide for nonprofits geared towards getting the most out of the holiday season. But looking past the holidays “Google+ for your nonprofit” reveals some of the research they’ve done on social media and nonprofit fundraising. They found that donors want to connect with nonprofits more through social media channels. …
Booksellers Take a Page Out of the Nonprofit Book to Help Literacy
Research proves that children who read for pleasure have better chances in life. Yet cutbacks at schools and libraries have affected children’s access to books, which has opened a huge opportunity for booksellers to do their part as good corporate citizens.
Getting Your Nonprofit Started with a Social Media Strategy
If you’re not tech-savvy or have little bandwidth to do much online other than operate your website and respond to the daily flood of emails, don’t get discouraged by the extra work required to operate your social media sites since tools can automate the posting process. But first things first. You need good quality, useful content, otherwise posting to all the social media sites in the world won’t help you.
Playing Games, Helping Charities
At 10 percent annual growth from 2005 to 2009, the video game industry has expanded at a rate five times that of the economy. As of 2011, 72 percent of American households play video games, according to the Entertainment Software Association. Charities are noticing this trend and have found innovative ways to tap into the …
Nonprofits Show Fundraising Flexibility & Creativity
As nonprofits continue their rebound from a dismal fundraising year in 2009, they’ve learned a few lessons about how to survive and thrive. While established fundraising methods such as grants, events, and direct mail continue, nonprofits are increasingly seeking new ways to get creative and add flexibility to their fundraising approach. Forming Affinity Groups Nonprofits …
Turning Slacktivists into Social Champions
Slacktivist—the derogatory term immediately casts a shadow of low expectations, which like any form of discrimination ends up becoming the dominant form of thinking until the truth rises to the surface. The common thinking is that “social champions” (a term Katya Andresen, chief strategy officer of Network for Good, is using to rebrand slacktivists) will …