Web Director Kate Sands Adams considers the IRC online strategies surrounding the earthquake in Haiti last winter to be among its biggest successes.  The IRC was able to raise an extraordinary amount of money in a short time as well as contribute to increased media coverage of the disaster.

Furthermore, the IRC raised $10,000 on the Facebook Causes application.  This is especially impressive because, according to the Washington Post, fewer than 50 of the approximately 179,000 groups using Causes have been able to raise this amount. The organization also has frequent smaller scale success like when New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof retweeted an IRC tweet, which exponentially expanded the tweet’s reach.

Do not be fooled into thinking these successes are due to luck or public concern during disasters alone.  The IRC’s successful fundraising and advocacy are the result of strategic planning and careful analysis of past online trends.

According to Adams, the organization used to keep a relatively low profile in all aspects of its work.  However, in 2006, the IRC underwent a major rebranding campaign to raise its visibility.  Adams says that external communications have been ramping up ever since and the web has become especially important as a marketing tool to reach new audiences.  Although the IRC has a solid core of long-term supporters, the organization knows the importance of reaching new people.

Ruth Fertig, Online Community Builder at the IRC, adds that cultivating new audiences is a primary goal of the social media strategy as well.  The IRC hopes to turn people who follow the organization on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube into activists, donors, volunteers and sometimes even employees.

Another important goal is to raise unrestricted funds, which the organization can allocate wherever they are most needed.  According to Adams, this type of funding is crucial for sustaining the IRC’s ongoing work as well as responding quickly and effectively during emergencies.

In order to achieve its goals, the IRC has made a priority of tracking its successes. In evaluating advocacy campaigns, the IRC looks at how different types of content drive users to sign petitions or write to leaders.  In terms of fundraising, the IRC monitors criteria like the number of individual online donors, donation amounts and repeat donations.  On the social media platforms, a successful post or tweet is one that many users share or one that sparks conversation via comments or wall posts on Facebook.  Here, a challenge is to pinpoint exactly what it is about a particular post or tweet that makes it go viral.

As a result of tracking trends, Adams, Fertig and the other members of the web team at the IRC have amassed a collection of best practices for engaging potential activists and donors.  Fertig emphasized that forming best practices is key.  It saves her time and allows her to do her job better

Adams has found an important practice is to react quickly to website analytics data. During their efforts surrounding the earthquake in Haiti, the IRC found that it was extremely effective to rapidly post new content, photos and video from the ground.  It allowed them to communicate the urgency of the situation and inspire people to help.

The IRC has found that maximizing use of multimedia in general is very effective.  Analysis of IRC website traffic shows that most people tend to click on pictures and video and will stay on a page longer if it utilizes multimedia.

Another lesson is to listen to users and let their needs drive content.  Fertig describes social media platforms as “places for a two way conversation.”  As the IRC’s Online Community Builder, she spends a large portion of her time listening to and monitoring what the IRC’s online community is saying in addition to putting out their own content. She adds that asking questions on social media platforms is a great way to engage people and spark conversations.

Fertig also reaches out to bloggers and generally encourages others to be the IRC’s “megaphone.”  She has found that messages are more effective in the community if “they take the cause upon themselves.”  In response to the many requests for support they receive from individuals hoping to hold awareness or fundraising events, the IRC recently launched iRESCUE.  This “Do-It-Yourself Fundraising” site gives people the resources they need to spread the word to family and friends.

Similarly, through its research, the IRC has found that people are moved by individual stories as well as what is happening on the ground.  The IRC’s Blog, Voices from the Field, was created to give the IRC’s field staff a place to write about their experiences and share their pictures and videos.  Adams says that it is the place where her colleagues in the field “take center stage.”

However, because staff in the field are busy with a variety of lifesaving tasks, they have less capacity to contribute content, photos or video to the blog.  To address the challenge, the team now has four information officers around the world who work closely with field staff and the external communications team to share that important perspective from the ground.

In addition to listening to their audience, Adams finds it important for the IRC to “talk to them in a language they understand.”  Although most of the IRC online community is well informed about a variety of issues, web content producers must use everyday vocabulary and refrain from being overly technical.

The IRC’s web strategy can set an example for other international nonprofits seeking to enter the Web 2.0 world.  Learning from best practices and listening to target audiences can help a small team reach big goals.

Chris Hughes is one of them. A former coordinator of Barak Obama’s social network platform very popular during the presidential race, Hughes left his Facebook position as spokesman to launch Jumo.

The project is in its developing stage, but it promises to be a social platform focusing on creating networks around social causes. The few details that are public about the new startup is that it will be a non-for-profit, although is not clear which would be its founding sources.

Jumo is not the first project focusing in the intersection of technology and development, but Hughes’ experience and prestige with online activism, might give Jumo an advantage before other competitors, like the idealist.

Idealist has proved to be a very effective social platform in which people and organizations can exchange ideas about how to improve the world. The site has around 250,000 registered users, and has proved to be one of the best tools to find jobs or volunteering opportunities in the non for profit world.

For me Idealist is one of the best designed, most functional platforms focusing in connecting people base on their specific interest in how to make the world a better place to live. Other two that are really good, but not awesome are Citizen Effect and Open Ideo.

The idealist is more effective because its networks effects: they have way more people accessing their platform than their competitors. A bigger community is involved in the Idealist in one way and this gives legitimacy to the platform. If other direct competitors haven’t been able to challenge Idealist, does Jumo has any chance to survive, or to become the #1 platform focusing in social good?

It is my opinion that Jumo has a tough challenge. Facebook itself can easily evolve and add the kind of features that non-for-profit focused networks offer and on top of that is already entering a market with top-notch competitors. But maybe, Hughes thinks that these kind of networks can coexist and his goal is just to offer another tool for those idealist interested in making social good.

Here are a few quick links on how NGO’s and nonprofits can utilize social media to engage constituent audiences. Nothing too profound but good to browse through in case there’s an item or two that captures the imagination.

• 10 Things Every Nonprofit Should Know About Social Media and Online Communications (via frogloop)
  

  From grassroots advocacy staffers to Hill staffers and PR folks, the same questions arose… what are the top social media tools to use to spread an organizations message and how does an organization effectively use online communications tools.

• Five Simple Ways Nonprofits Can Measure Social Media ROI (via NonProfitOrgs)
  

  Recent studies have revealed that the vast majority of nonprofits do not know how to measure ROI (Return on Investment) from utilizing social media. Below are 5 simple, low-cost ways nonprofits can measure ROI with a minimal time investment of only a couple of hours a month.

• Social Good (via Portfolio.com)
  

  Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and blogging are helping nonprofits get the word out about their causes in ways they never could before. And many initiatives are bringing in valuable cash donations and helping companies find much-needed support among younger people.

• 13 Prominent Social Media Activities Implemented By the Top 200 Non Profits (via Infinity Technologies)
  

  So what are some of the best practices and uses of social media as displayed by the top 200 US NGO’s.