I worked at a no-kill animal shelter for four years that had very little funding because all money went to taking care of the animals. They had a website that had tons of people visiting each day, but it wasn’t equipped with enough information people wanted, like what animals were available for adoption because this was constantly changing.

Blog software tools such as how easy it is to use pictures would allow for pictures of the animals to be posted every day. Commenting could be used for feedback as to which animals people were interested in adopting or any questions they might have. The shelter has special events almost every week that are hard to advertise because of cost so blogging would allow for events to be posted and easily updated. A blog site would allow for this organization to have a cheap, efficient, and easy-to-use website that would help both the company and the client.

The animal shelter I worked at would greatly benefit from blogging and there are so many other non-profit organizations that would as well, but they probably just aren’t aware of how resourceful and easy it is to use this form of online technology.

Using a blog to keep interest up during the “off-season” of an event could be beneficial to keeping your volunteers and supporters interested. If you could post special offers once in a while and also just keep them informed about what is going on in your organization, you could perhaps have a higher retention percentage, as well as having everyone informed of what is going on.

Using the comment capability would encourage feedback from the community, which is sometimes hard to get. If those reading the blogs have questions, they can easily post a question and then look back for an answer. Often, people forget about calling or misspell an e-mail address and never receive the answers to their questions, which might keep them from participating.

I am definitely interested in more ways to implement blogging in the nonprofit sector!

Like you say, blog software is easy to use. Communications and Public Relations departments can use this software without having to really learn anything technical about the Internet. (On a side note, I recently began blogging on Wordpress software and have been amazed at the low level of skill required) I think this will really come in handy in the terms of crisis communications and also in directly controlling the content of the site.

On the topic of non-profit companies, I think this type of software would be very beneficial. Many non-profits, like you say, have very basic websites. When I see a basic website, I often perceive it lack credibility. This stops me from believing in the message the website is trying to convey and will probably keep me from visiting the site again. Blog software templates look professional. Companies that may have very little money available to allocate towards their web site can use the blog software to make their site’s give off a professional appearance, but for very little money.

I like this idea of using blogs for non-profit agencies because it’s cheap, which we all know is a necessity in this field! Having an area for you to add pictures, handouts and plans for next year’s events is essential. Being able to set up categories and sections on the site is beneficial for a larger agency as well because they probably have several events and wrap-ups going on at the same time. Having a section for people to comment and post feedback is always good for a company so they can learn where they need improvement. I like that you can ask questions and also turn on and off the comments. Recapping information from an event and explaining your ideas and plans for the next event is important. This seems like the perfect way to cover all areas.

You set up the information and steps very well. If someone was looking to use this software, your post and access to each link would definitely help them out.

Josh, thanks for sharing your knowledge and expertise.