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COF Presentation: Leading the Networked Foundation
This document summarizes a workshop led by Beth Kanter on leading foundations and nonprofits in a networked world. Kanter discusses the importance of adopting a network mindset and using social networks and online strategies to further social change goals. She outlines levels of maturity for networked organizations from crawling to flying. Kanter also emphasizes the importance of becoming a data-informed organization and using metrics to improve strategies and measure impact over time. The workshop provided strategies for foundations to better connect with stakeholders online, engage partners and influencers, and integrate social media and networks into their overall operations.
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COF Presentation: Leading the Networked Foundation
- 1. Leading the NetworkedFoundation Beth Kanter Author, Trainer, and Blogger September 9, 2012 Knight Digital Media Center Workshop
- 2.
- 3. Learning Objectives Network Mindset Maturity of Practice One action step
- 4. Is Your FoundationUsing Online Social Networks for Social Change? Stand, Keep Standing … Photo by net_efekt
- 5. Stay standing ifyour foundation is using these social channels (and network strategies) and getting measurable, tangible results?
- 6.
- 8. Network of NetworkedFunders Peer Group Session
- 14. Walking is likeclimbing a mountain
- 15. Non-embryonic stem cellresearch for Parkinson’s
- 16. The connectedness ofliving in a networked, mobile world is part of our every day lives. These technologies are having a profound impact on the way foundations and nonprofits communicate with stakeholders, and deliver programs. It is also changing the way leaders lead nonprofits. Remember: Disruption can be both our friend and our foe …..
- 17. Social Change isIncreasingly Network-Centric
- 18. Share Pair: Overthe past few years, how has connectedness impacted the way your foundation delivers programs, communicates with stakeholders, or does it work?
- 19. Change from theInside Out NGO Modified illustration by David Armano The Micro-Sociology of Networks With apologies to David Armano for hacking his visual! Source: The Micro-Sociology of Networks
- 20. What Networked LooksLike Staff With apologies to David Armano for hacking his visual! Source: The Micro-Sociology of Networks
- 21. A Network Mindset:A Leadership Style • Openness, transparency, decentralized decision-making, and collective action. • Listening and cultivating organizational and professional networks to achieve the impact • Leadership through active participation. • Sharing control of decision-making • Communicating through a network model, rather than a broadcast model
- 22. Leading With ANetwork Mindset: Shift From Push To Pull SF Goodwill's CEO, Debbie Alvarez- Rodriguez
- 23. Leading With ANetwork Mindset
- 24. Leading With ANetwork Mindset
- 25. Share Pair: Howare you leading with a “Network Mindset”? What are the benefits? What are the challenges?
- 26. Understand, Feed, andTune Your Networks
- 27. The Networked CEO Open and accessible to the world and building relationships Making interests, hobbies, passions visible creates authenticity
- 28. One CEO Tweet= 1,000 by Staff 28
- 29. Your Professional Network:Redundant Connections InMap (http://inmaps.linkedinlabs.com/) Source: Meg Garlinghouse, LInkedIn
- 30. Be the Brokerin the Structural Hole InMap (http://inmaps.linkedinlabs.com/) Source: Meg Garlinghouse, LInkedIn
- 31. Blending Network StrategyWith Communications Strategy From CEO to CNO Tweets links related to organization’s mission and work as a bipartisan advocacy organization dedicated to making children and families a priority in federal policy and budget decisions.
- 32. SEEK SENSE SHARE Identified key blogs and Summarizes article in a Engages with aligned Twitter users in each issue tweet partners area Writes for Huffington Post Tweets best of best Scans and reads every morning and picks out best
- 35. Filling Structural HolesIn Community’s Network
- 36. Share Pair: Whatstruck you about the “Networked CEO” or linking networks and social strategy? What have you thought about before?
- 37. If you can’tfly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” Inspiration
- 40.
- 44. Becoming A NetworkedNonprofit: Maturity of Practice Model: Overview Crawl Walk Run Fly Time Investment Link Social to Integrated Integrated Communications Content Strategy Multiple Channels Objective Culture Change Social Media Engage Network Building Policy Influencers, Partners, Staff, and Board Basics Small Pilots for Best Practices in Reflection, Insights and Tactics Continually Practice Tangible Results Improve Results From “Measuring the Networked Nonprofit” http://bit.ly/measure-networknp
- 45. CRAWL Where Is Your Foundation WALK If you are crawling, what does it look like? What do you need to get to the next level? If you are walking, what does it look like? What do you need to get to the next level? If you are running, what does it look like? What do you need to get to the next level? If you are flying, what does it look like? How can you keep flying? RUN FLY
- 46. Detailed Indicators, Metrics,and Practices Themes Categories Indicators INTERNAL CULTURE Networked Mindset Institutional Support Communications Strategy CAPACITY Hours Best Expertise Practices and Channels MEASUREMENT Analysis Metrics Differ Tools for Crawl, Adjustment EXTERNAL LISTENING Brand Monitoring Walk, Run, Relationship Mapping Fly Influencer Research ENGAGEMENT Ladder of Engagement Responsiveness CONTENT Integration Social Optimization NETWORK Networking and Networking Building Collaboration with Partners Social Fundraising IMPACT METRICS Reach Engagement Influence Thought Leadership Results (Activity, Behavior Change, Financial)
- 47. Creating A DataInformed Culture: The Five Stages of Measurement Acceptance Data Delight Informed Confusion Fear Denial
- 48. Denial I don’t have the time to measure. It’s an art, not a science – so why bother
- 49. Fear What if my strategy or program doesn’t show success?
- 50. Confusion I know I should measuring our social media and network, but not sure what or how?
- 51. Hey check out Delight these cool charts and graphics!
- 52. Data Informed Successful networks and social media start with measurement
- 53. Where is yourorganization? Data Delight Informed Confusion Fear Denial
- 54.
- 55. What does adata informed culture look like in a nonprofit?
- 56. It starts fromthe top!
- 57. More time thinkabout that the data, then collect it
- 58. Tear down thosesilos
- 59. Why did itfail? What did we learn? What insights can use next time around? DoSomething.Org’s Fail Fest
- 60. Becoming A NetworkedNonprofit: Maturity of Practice Model - Measurement Crawl Walk Run Fly Lacks consistent data Data collection Data from multiple Org Wide KPIs collection consistent but not sources shared No reporting or Data not linked to System and structure for Organizational synthesis results, could be wrong data collection Dashboard with data different views, sharing Decisions based on gut Rarely makes decisions Discussed at staff Data visualization, to improve meetings, decisions reporting, formal made using it reflection process
- 61. Becoming Data-Informed: ChangeIs Easy With Baby Steps • Begin at the end – discuss and identify results • Curator of metrics • Use experiments to help you evolve • Get started with a small data collection project that is high priority in your organization • Learn from your results
- 62. Share Pair: Whatis one idea that you can put into practice?
- 63.
Editor's Notes
- #2 Leading the Networked FoundationPhoto Source:http://technicallybaltimore.com/news/using-linkedin-data-dave-troy-of-410-labs-maps-connections-among-baltimore-professionals-visualization/A visualization put together by 410 Labs’ Dave Troy displays the interconnectedness — or, as Troy argues, lack thereof — among Baltimore-area nonprofits.
- #3 I’ve been working in nonprofits for over 33 years and since 1992 nonprofit tech and training – front row seat at the creation of a field-Blogging for ten years now on Beth’s Blog-Visiting Scholar at David and Lucile Packard Foundation – work w/grantees and they’ve graciously supported my research – and two books-Most of my practice is designing/facilitating peer learning and capacity building to become networked nonprofits – particularly clusters of grantees here in the US and internationally through my work with Packard grantees and State Department
- #4 Agenda for today’s session –We’re going to look at definition of a leading w/network mindset, examples of foundation/nonprofit ceos and how they’re doing it, and discuss the ideaI’m going to share a “maturity of practice” framework for networked nonprofits and have you do a little self-assessment of where your foundation isMy indicator of success – leave this session with one idea that you can implement to start leading with a network mindset – and improve your org’s current practice.
- #6 -ask those still standing to share some insights-Okay, so we see that most everyone is using the tools – but fewer of you feel like you’re getting measurable tangible results-With social media channels going more mainstream and more and more options to available to us – there is a “more is better” thinking. I think it is important to pick a few and do them well– and will talk about that a little later.You might think my ordering of these tools was strangeI wanted to see who was experimenting with some of the newer toolsAnd m
- #7 As part of my work at the Packard Foundation as visiting scholar, I co-authored a book called the Networked Nonprofit – about how all this connectedness is changing the way that nonprofits do their work – from the inside out. I’ve had the opportunity to teach workshops to ngos all over the world, most recently in the Middle East as part of a state department Civil Society 2.0.
- #8 SHABAKAT youth integrate information and communication technologies in the day-to-day lives of their communities to positively transform our families, education, businesses, environment and community. Rami Al-Karmi will share a few words.Founder and CEO of Shabakat, Al Ordon (JordanNet) and is serving as the E-Mediat Strategic Adviser for the Jordan In-Country Team shared some lessons about working as networked ngo. His organization’s name, Shabakat, translates into the word “network.”Shabakat Al Ordon trains young people in technical, professional and facilitation skills who then go out and create programs to train people in their communities. Rami shared how his organization works in a transparent way, open sourcing its program materials and processes. They also work many different partners to spread the program so that his organization isn’t doing everything. They’ve simplified and focused on what they do best.
- #9 http://www.bethkanter.org/emediat-day2/ounder and CEO of Shabakat, Al Ordon (JordanNet) and is serving as the E-Mediat Strategic Adviser for the Jordan In-Country Team shared some lessons about working as networked ngo. His organization’s name, Shabakat, translates into the word “network.”Shabakat Al Ordon trains young people in technical, professional and facilitation skills who then go out and create programs to train people in their communities. Rami shared how his organization works in a transparent way, open sourcing its program materials and processes. They also work many different partners to spread the program so that his organization isn’t doing everything. They’ve simplified and focused on what they do best.
- #15 http://www.flickr.com/photos/soyignatius/5544750526/sizes/l/in/photostream/The Parkinson’s Association is doing just that. They have organized a fundraiser called “Summit4Stemcell.” The goal is to fund non-embryonic stem cell research that will result in a treatment for Parkinson’s while inspiring people with the disease to move beyond their physical limitations. A group of 17 passionate mountain climbers is raising money for this project by climbing Mt. Kiilimanjaro (19,340 ft high!) in September.You might be wondering why I’m writing about this? It’s personal.My cousin, Rebecca Kanter (a millennial) is one of the climbers. She is doing the climb in honor of my Dad who is suffers from Parkinsonism – there is no cure. You can treat the symptoms and my Dad is working very hard on doing physical therapy which has allowed him to walk, with a walker. Having been a competitive swimmer and surfer, he knows the discipline of working hard for a goal. It was not unlike how he has worked hard as a doctor and in the Navy during WW2.Here’s why Rebecca is taking on this challenge Uncle Earl has Parkinsonism, and was in the hospital for his health-related issues. His family has since brought him home, but as my father described to me, they’re having to make adjustments to the house to accomodate my uncle’s physical challenges. Listening to the NPR report, especially the voices of the people (who I would later learn were Ken and Brad) taking on this enormous undertaking of sumitting Kilimanjaro while dealing with Parkinson’s, made me think about my Uncle Earl, the challenges he is facing in his life, and the opportunities — like summiting a mountain — that are no longer available to him. I was overwhelmed by the inspiration to do something.
- #16 http://www.flickr.com/photos/soyignatius/5544750526/sizes/l/in/photostream/The Parkinson’s Association is doing just that. They have organized a fundraiser called “Summit4Stemcell.” The goal is to fund non-embryonic stem cell research that will result in a treatment for Parkinson’s while inspiring people with the disease to move beyond their physical limitations. A group of 17 passionate mountain climbers is raising money for this project by climbing Mt. Kiilimanjaro (19,340 ft high!) in September.You might be wondering why I’m writing about this? It’s personal.My cousin, Rebecca Kanter (a millennial) is one of the climbers. She is doing the climb in honor of my Dad who is suffers from Parkinsonism – there is no cure. You can treat the symptoms and my Dad is working very hard on doing physical therapy which has allowed him to walk, with a walker. Having been a competitive swimmer and surfer, he knows the discipline of working hard for a goal. It was not unlike how he has worked hard as a doctor and in the Navy during WW2.Here’s why Rebecca is taking on this challenge Uncle Earl has Parkinsonism, and was in the hospital for his health-related issues. His family has since brought him home, but as my father described to me, they’re having to make adjustments to the house to accomodate my uncle’s physical challenges. Listening to the NPR report, especially the voices of the people (who I would later learn were Ken and Brad) taking on this enormous undertaking of sumitting Kilimanjaro while dealing with Parkinson’s, made me think about my Uncle Earl, the challenges he is facing in his life, and the opportunities — like summiting a mountain — that are no longer available to him. I was overwhelmed by the inspiration to do something.
- #18 The leading edge of social change is increasingly network-centric. Collaboration, coordination, and working in networks are becoming the new normal, as leaders across sectors work to move the needle on today’s most pressing problems. Individuals and groups are taking increasing advantage of technology’s ability to facilitate and expand their impact through connection, coordination, and collaboration. What does this look like in action? Grassroots mobilization has achieved a step change in speed and power, as witnessed by the Twitter-enabled Arab Spring, the KONY 2012 campaign that put a long-invisible crisis in Africa on the public radar, and the swift backlash against the Susan G. Komen Foundation for withdrawing support from Planned Parenthood. Collective knowledge production on sites like Wikipedia, Galaxy Zoo, Instructables, or the Polymath Project continues to grow and is redefining how we access expertise. We can also see the power of networks playing out in field-level collaboratives such as Strive and RE-AMP, where large groups of organizations are aligning their strategies to enable individual efforts to add up to systemic change.
- #21 The transition from working like this to this – doesn’t happen over night, can’t flip a switch
- #22 To work with a network mindset means embracing an emerging leadership style that is characterized by greater openness, transparency, decentralized decision-making, and collective action. It means operating with an awareness of the networks you are embedded in, and listening to and cultivating these networks to achieve the impact you care about. It means exercising leadership through active participation. It means sharing by default. It means communicating through a network model, rather than a broadcast model—finding where the conversations are happening and taking part.Individuals leading with a network mindset are prioritizing activities that are often associated with facilitative or collaborative leadership. They’re seeking opportunities to distribute, rather than centralize, responsibility and authority. They’re convening diverse stakeholders, reaching out and engaging new participants in dialogues and projects, and generating coordination, cooperation and collaboration. They’re also working with an attentiveness to the nature of networks by creating and protecting spaces that build social capital (connectedness, trust, reciprocity), by brokering connections, especially across difference and nurturing self-organization, and by genuinely participating in networks and thereby leading by doing.More concretely, leading with a network mindset might, for a funder, mean:Developing an ecosystem awareness by mapping funding flows or relationships in order to better understand an issue area.Openly asking important questions, like the Packard Foundation did when they hosted their public Nitrogen Wiki for generating input to a new program strategy.Hosting town halls for listening to stakeholders—online and in-person—like Marguerite Casey Foundation has been doing with its Equal Voice campaign.Making and strengthening connections among other funders and stakeholders in an issue area.Pooling funds like the Hewlett, Packard, and McKnight Foundations have done to launch ClimateWorks.Listening to and participating in the blogosphere and Twitter stream related to an issue area, like program staff at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation are working to do as part of their Web 2.0 Philanthropy initiative.
- #23 I recently heard Debbie Alvarez –Rodriguez from Goodwill SF give a talk about leading with a network mindset ….She’s the CEO - and was talking about how see is often up late at night. And back a year or so ago, her org was going through layoffs ..Tough times – so she up late, checking her email ..She received an email from some employees requesting to be part of the decision-making. She thought, “I better call my board chair because he calls me.”As they were talking, she realized, “They could have put it on Facebook.” This could have created a public relations nightmare (It’s happened in the orchestra world when the Detroit Symphony musicians went on strike and used social media to air their concerns. Instead, these Goodwill employees went to their CEO.This lead them to really examine how to effect culture change. As Debbie says, it wasn’t about just using the tools and platforms like Facebook and Twitter – even for herself as the CEO or her organization. That it required a shift from “pushing to engaging.”
- #24 One of the things they did early was to take an inventory of their team members’ skills to discover who was good at the various required skills writing, photography, and video as well as social media savvy. At SF Goodwill they created a Blog Squad to kick things off.Once established, this became one of many platforms for them to engage their community and share control.
- #25 So, it is not really about using the tools – it is organizational mindshift that begins with the leadership …..
- #27 Let’s look at some of the first steps of this change …The first step is to understand, feed, and tune your networksNetworks consist of people and organizationsYou have your professional network – and your organization has a network – there are connected.
- #28 But, it isn’t just a spectator sport, it’s a contact sport – you have to be presence and engage ..This is the hard part … especially for CEOs of a certain age – this shift ..
- #31 Structural hole is a space between clusters or nodes in your networkBy connecting these clusters or for individuals “closing triangles” you are the brokerThis create more opportunity for new ideas, innovation, scaling, and linking your network to your social media strategy gives the potential for more impact..
- #32 Bruce Lesley is one of a growing number of nonprofit executive directors and senior leaders that use Twitter. And, he isn’t tweeting about what he ate for breakfast or one of his personal passions, basketball. He uses Twitter to curate information related to his organization’s mission and work as a bipartisan advocacy organization dedicated to making children and families a priority in federal policy and budget decisions. He also uses content curation for sources for his guest blogging. His use of Twitter (and his organization’s use of Twitter and all communications channels for that matter) serve this intent:First Focus is working to change the dialogue around children’s issues by taking a cross-cutting and broad based approach to federal policy making. In all of our work, we seek to raise awareness regarding public policies impacting children and ensure that related programs have the resources necessary to help them grow up in a healthy and nurturing environment.If you take a look at Bruce Lesley’s Twitter stream, you will see that he is curating information on public policies impacting children. Bruce does his own curating, using Google Reader and FlipBoard. Any individual or nonprofit organization can curate information using these tools. They can make it strategic by linking the information to their mission. But what is the secret sauce to doing it well?
- #34 Note: This is not only the big outcomes, but also the evidence of peer learning work. ]You all have been doing amazing work since we last got together and your growing skills and networks really paid off recently with regard to the Supreme Court’s decision on the ACA. In her blog, Beth highlighted this day as one of those opportunities to balance strategic communications with the spontaneity of social media. You all jumped on this historic event and demonstrated your social media smarts, including:Being flexible and keeping it simple;Using multiple channels and shaping content for each channel;Leveraging the organic sharing properties of Facebook;Having a broad narrative in mind in advance (win, lose or something in between);Getting your social media ambassadors and “super-users” to help spread your message;Curating content from trusted sources; andFocusing on the story after the immediate announcement and providing analysis.There was a huge amount of activity across our network on decision day and it really was a great demonstration of putting into action what we have been learning as a peer community.
- #36 Let’s look at this from the view point of filling structural holes in your community .. As part of your Fdn strategy ..This is an aggregate LinkedIn map for people who work in the nonprofit and philanthropy sector in Baltimore ..It’s a hack of LinkedIn inmaps… but image this visual as the baseline – to help guide your strategy … what structural holes to close …
- #38 If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
- #39 Let me tell you the story of one community foundation – going from crawling to walking ….This their new web site – they were not always out there connectingThey were not presence on social networksThere was resistance, particularly to the idea that all staff should be using the toolsFirst steps:Part of their strategy, they benchmarked all the nonprofit FB pages in their county – found that 80% were there- average 200 fans. This group was a key group they needed to reach and were missing out. If they could develop further develop their integrated content strategy and include FB with content for their audience they could expand their reach and also connect.
- #41 http://measure-netnon.wikispaces.com/file/view/CFSCC_SocialMediaPolicy_08%2017%2011.pdfThey needed a policy – so they could get everyone on staff to participate – first to make the work flow efficient – and to leverage networks and get out of the silo of communications department.This was easy … -Road shows with department-Addressing concerns – like privacy – Chuckie Cheese story – privacy workshops …
- #42 They focused on developing a robust engagement and content strategy – that was integrated with other channels, all to support objectives in communications strategy and outcomes – and used measurement. They started with one channel – FB …
- #43 With content/engagement strategy and social media policy, now more staff are participating both online/offline – bridging the two. Out there connecting in the community and on FB.
- #45 The “Crawl, Walk, Run, Fly” Maturity of Social Media practice framework is in Beth’s next book, Measuring the Networked Nonprofit. We used to help us design the program, determine process outcomes, and help us evaluate our progress.Explain modelPhotos: Runhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/clover_1/2647983567/Flyhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/micahtaylor/5018789937/
- #47 We customized the model to the FFL program and added detailed indicators and metrics. Keep in mind, in real life, the model is messy. So, this is simply a guide to help you self assess where you are and how to get to the next level on different practices. The metrics are a guide and based on broader benchmarks from nonprofits. The best practices are a checklist of tasks. As we explain the model, please share your reactions and questions in the chat. This is a living assessment, so we will be refine and customize as we test our assumptions.
- #51 http://www.flickr.com/photos/firecloak/6774418629/sizes/l/in/photostream/
- #52 http://www.flickr.com/photos/hockeyshooter/4132732687/
- #53 http://www.flickr.com/photos/theimagegroup/369893824/
- #55 A data-informed culture, something very different from a data-driven culture. The term “data-driven” has been used to describe organizations that rely solely on cold hard data to make decisions. Being data-driven sounds great—in theory. But, because it doesn’t acknowledge the importance of basing decisions on multiple information sourcesThe phrase “data-informed” is a far more useful label. Data-informed describes agile, responsive, and intelligent businesses that are better able to succeed in a rapidly changing environment.Data-informed cultures are not slaves to their data. Mario Morino uses the phrase “information-based introspection” to refer to using and applying data in context to excel.Multiple sources for decision-making are critical. “Data is an important part of the story, but not all of it. Nonprofits have to balance an overreliance on passion or belief in one's mission with over-fetishisation of data and analysis.”
- #56 DoSomething.org is a fully functioning data-informed culture. Founded by Andrew Shue and Michael Sanchez, DoSomething.org’s mission is to convince young people that community service is as popular, cool, and, most importantly, normal, as watching TV or playing sports. Their idea was that if community service could become ingrained in young people, then they wouldn't think twice about helping others or volunteering. Back in 1993, Shue approached Aaron Spelling, the executive producer of “Melrose Place,” and asked for 30 seconds of airtime during the show to tell the world about DoSomething.org. Spelling agreed and DoSomething.org was officially launched!DoSomething.org, a mid-sized nonprofit with about 40 staff members including a fulltime data analysts, focuses on social change makers under 25 years of age and delivers most of its programs through the web, mobile messaging, and/or through social networks. They don’t collect data for data’s sake. They use their data to shape programs and drive social change, making decisions based on a balance of data and experience.
- #57 It Starts at the TopCreating a data-informed culture comes down to leadership. At DoSomething.org it starts with the board, which is dominated by leaders in the tech field, including Reid Hoffman, co-founder of Linked-In, and Raj Kapoor, co-founder of Snapfish. Reid has famously said, “The future of the web is data.” Lublin purposefully developed a data-informed culture, building her team with staff members who share her passion, like CTO George Weiner. Weiner manages the Internet, computer, and online communication strategy for DoSomething.org. He says, “One of the biggest challenges to nonprofits becoming more data-informed is the HiPPO in the room that no one wants to talk about. ‘HiPPO’ stands for ‘Highest Paid Person in the Organization,’ and it’s usually your CEO. The HiPPO has to buy into data-informed decisions otherwise it doesn’t happen.” Don’t Just Count, Understand WhyThe DoSomething.org staff mine their program data for actionable insights that they share with Lublin at regular meetings. “I think one of the reasons our organizational culture has evolved is that our nonprofit is 90% funded by corporate sponsorships,” explains Lublin. “They look at us as a media purchase. As a result, we’ve always collected key performance metrics. Not just traffic, but engagement metrics, and, of course, actions taken. But we don’t just count, we try to understand why.”Lublin has brought in leading thinkers from the corporate sector to mentor her and her staff on how to think about their data. She says, “I was fortunate to spend some time with John Lilly from Mozilla. He encouraged us to have a more open philosophy for sharing and analyzing our data. If we’re transparent about sharing our dashboards, it generates feedback and discussion from our stakeholders that leads to improvement.”
- #58 Spend More Time Thinking About The Data, Less On Collecting ItDoSomething.org uses its data to continuously improve programs, develop content, and shape campaign strategies. So DoSomething.org wants its staff to spend more of its brainpower thinking about the data, rather than collecting it. To ensure that this happens, DoSomething.org’s Data Analyst Bob Filbin’s job is more than programming formulas in Excel spreadsheets. Says Filbin, “One of the biggest barriers in nonprofits is finding the time to collect data, the time to analyze, and the time to act on it. Unless someone is put in charge of data, and it’s a key part of their job description, accelerating along the path towards empowered data-informed culture is going to be hard, if not impossible.”
- #59 http://www.flickr.com/photos/mkrigsman/3428179614/Tear Down Those SilosLublin says that it is important not to silo your data analysts. “You can’t treat them like accountants that sit quietly in the background and assign categories to expenses. I’ve made sure that our data analyst shares an office and works interactively with staff.” He is responsible for making sure that departmental and overall organizational goals are aligned, and that social media data are seamlessly integrated into achieving key organizational results. Filbin says, “My goal is to make sure that every person and department has access to the data they need in order to create actionable changes in their work. Each person has an automated dashboard that has different levels of detail and relates to organizational results.”
- #60 Fail Fest And Pink Boas: Don’t Be Afraid To FailDoSomething.org doesn’t use its data to pat itself on the back or make the staff feel good. Lublin notes that they’re not afraid of failure. They hold regular “Fail Fest” meetings, where each person on staff has to present a campaign or program failure. They share three things they learned about themselves and three things the organization learned. To remove the stigma from failure, Lublin says, “We have to wear pink boas when we present.” http://www.flickr.com/photos/ruminatrix/2734602916/in/faves-cambodia4kidsorg/
- #61 The “Crawl, Walk, Run, Fly” Maturity of Social Media practice framework is in Beth’s next book, Measuring the Networked Nonprofit. We used to help us design the program, determine process outcomes, and help us evaluate our progress.Explain modelPhotos: Runhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/clover_1/2647983567/Flyhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/micahtaylor/5018789937/
- #62 Becoming Data-Informed: Change Is Easy With Baby StepsChanging an organization’s culture to a more data-informed approach must begin with baby steps. While it does not have to be difficult to orchestrate, it does need to start from the top. Unless senior management can agree on the definitions of success and how they will be measured, you can waste a tremendous amount of time accumulating data but not using it. In Chapter 4, we describe the basic steps of any measurement program and discuss how to set up a measurement pilot program. Chapter 5 discusses how to identify the value of success. Getting started on the path to becoming a data-informed nonprofit is a matter of having some important internal conversations. It is not just about having new inspiration about measurement or working with new tools; it means thinking differently about the organization and how it works.Begin at the End: Discuss and Identify ResultsIf your organization doesn’t know exactly what you’re going to measure, you can’t become data-informed. Unless you have a discussion upfront of what success looks like, you’ll end up collecting data, but it won’t help you make decisions. You will waste your time. So begin at the end by carefully identifying desired outcomes. Don’t be afraid of a bit of healthy disagreement. The best measurement programs are borne of—and benefit from—lively conversations about what really matters to the organization and who can “claim credit” for what. You need to keep your “mission” hat on and keep the conversation focused on the ultimate goals of the organization. Just keep repeating, it’s not about “credit”—it’s about achieving the mission. You will also want to manage expectations: What is realistic to expect given your current investment in social media, or compared to peer organizations? What do short-term, medium, and longer-term results look like?You might need to bring in an outside consultant to facilitate a meeting to help get consensus on what you want to measure or clarity on results. Or you may need to bring in a measurement expert to help you clarify what you want to measure and why. This doesn’t have to be expensive. For example, as we discuss in Chapter 8, the Analytics Exchange helped the American Leadership Forum by supplying an analytics volunteer to help create a framework and system for gathering data. Become a Curator of MetricsIf you are the person responsible for implementing social media for your organization, either part time or as your whole job, you need to become what John Lovett defines as a “Curator of Metrics” in his book Social Media Metrics Secrets.This is someone, like Carie Lewis from the Humane Society whom we introduced you to do in Chapter 1, who knows the difference between different types of metrics and ensures that her organization is using data in an intelligent way. A curator of metrics knows how to help guide their organization into choosing the right metrics, and knows how to report insights in a way that connects them to organizational goals.Use Experiments To Make The Case To EvolveOne way to evolve into a data-informed organization is through implementing a series of social media measurement experiments, as described below and in Chapter 4. Each one needs to have solid metrics, and should be designed to provide results that will help you make the case to evolve. Keep the end in mind when agreeing on how experiments will be structured, run, and measured. The experiments should not be willy-nilly, but help you develop and test your strategies and tactics – and lead the way to best practices. Take a Baby Step: My First Data Collection ProjectTo get started, select a project, event, small campaign, or program that is a high priority on your organization’s work plan for the year, that incorporates social media, and that you can apply a couple of good metrics to. Be mindful of other organizational deadlines that may divert energy and focus from this important first baby step. You might find it difficult to set aside quality time to focus on it. Don’t try to measure every objective or collect all potential relevant data. Make it easy to manage. You should also have a very clear idea about what you want to learn. Keep in mind that you are going to take your report and use it to make the case for a more comprehensive measurement program. It’s important to make sure that anyone who is going to use the data, or sit in a meeting and review the data, buys into your metrics. That could be the Executive Director, a program manager, the board of trustees, or other people in your department. If there are many different decision makers you may need to do a formal survey to make sure that everyone ends up on the same page. Sara Thomas, who handles social media for the Ocean Conservancy, says, “It was really useful to bring in my entire department on the effort rather than working solo on the project. This helped with buy-in.”Learn from Your ResultsOnce you collect your data, analyze it and understand how it can help inform decisions. Make sure you educate through examples. Show how adding a data-informed approach to your social media or all media or programs can avoid ineffective campaigns and increase audience satisfaction.More importantly, you don’t just need to develop discipline around collecting data, what you want is the discipline to look at what you’ve collected and generate insights. That requires reflection, not just counting.Doing a measurement pilot will help create the discipline of stepping back from whirlwind of social media tactical implementation, but also wrestle with larger questions about how social media fits into an organization’s overall efforts. Which vehicles and channels gain us the most traction? How should we adjust our workload internally to reflect those results? How are our social media activities helping us meet our overall strategic goals? How are our efforts using social media supporting our programs?Reflecting does not have to be a private activity. It can be done in connected, transparent ways. The organization’s blog or website can be a place to share lessons learned with readers, and ask them for their feedback and suggestions as well. The result: a powerful way to learn and improve over time.ConclusionTo start the shift to a data-informed culture, you must begin with small incremental steps with the full support of leadership. It’s important to think big, looking at key results, but since many outcomes deal with long-term changes, you can’t get there overnight, nor can your organization transform its culture overnight. Keep the steps small and manageable. As your organization’s culture begins to shift, then when you present reports on social media activities, you get better questions from your executive director or board. You don’t get asked how many fans do we have or what does that mean? You get questions that help you Kanter, Beth. (October, 2011) Are You A Curator of Metrics? [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.bethkanter.org/curator-metrics/Thomas, Sara, private conference call peer learning group with David and Lucile Packard grantees with Beth Kanter, September, 2011
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