November 12, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
Social-networking sites have not proven to be effective ways for charities to attract new supporters, yet groups are pushing ahead with them anyway, a new survey finds.
The survey asked more than 250 charities with budgets between $1-million and $5-million about their use of online social technologies, such as Facebook and Twitter.
Produced by the online journal Philanthropy Action, the study found that 85 percent of groups said they had attracted fewer than 25 volunteers or did not know how many they had recruited. Seventy-four percent said they had raised less than $100 or did not know how much they had received as a result of their social-networking efforts.
Even though few of the groups reported much success with social-media tools, they expected to devote more time to them in the future. Seventy-three percent said they intended to use social-networking sites more often.
But Timothy Ogden, editor-in-chief of Philanthropy Action, cautioned medium-size charities, in particular, against getting caught up in the rush to embrace social media. Those groups have less time to experiment than big groups, but they have more money to spend on traditional forms of fund raising than do small charities.
“Unless you are very, very good at social networking, your results from that are going to be less than they are from your traditional areas of expertise,” he said.
The survey, “Social Networking in Mid-Sized Nonprofits: What’s the Use?,” is available on the Philanthropy Action Web site. Go to: http://www.philanthropyaction.com.
