Jessica's Paper Proposal - Social Media and Nonprofits

I will be exploring the use of social and digital media in reaching intended audiences and expanding audience reach. Specifically, I want to examine this under the context of nonprofits, which have used social media tools a great deal in recent years. I will also examine attitudes regarding online giving and social media as a conduit for fundraising. I will attempt to discern, through interviews and surveys with a sample of Denver-based nonprofits, three aspects: a) how the organizations use social and digital media, and what, if any, strategy exists in those efforts; b) how effective those efforts have been in reaching audiences; and c) if any attributable effect on fundraising exists. To do this, I will compare the activities of my sample group to those of nonprofits with effective social media efforts (American Red Cross, Epic Change.) My current thought is that most nonprofits do not employ, or even know how to construct, a social media strategy, and that current efforts are not reaching new audiences but rather “preaching to the choir.” I do think that in limited examples, social media has had a profound effect on fundraising, and as a case study I will be examining Epic Change’s Tweetsgiving campaign.

Incidentally, I'm having kind of a hard time finding articles regarding social media and nonprofits, so if anyone has any articles to share, I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks!