Nonprofit groups—private-independent schools included—have established their presence on social networking sites to reach out to supporters, but few have attracted more than a few thousand supporters to their networks or been able to raise a large amount of money via the sites, according to a survey of 980 nonprofit officials about their organizations' use of online social networking sites.
The survey, sponsored by Common Knowledge, a San Francisco online fund-raising and marketing consulting agency, and ThePort, a social-media software company in Atlanta, found that nearly three-quarters of nonprofit groups surveyed maintained a presence on Facebook, by far the most popular commercial social networking site.
Nearly 40 percent of those surveyed said that their groups had used Facebook for fund raising, but nearly 30 percent had raised $500 or less using the site in the last 12 months. And only 1.2 percent had received $10,000 or more through Facebook. Revenue received through advertising on social networking sites was "not present in any meaningful way," the report concluded.
YouTube and Twitter were the next most common social networking sites that nonprofits were using after Facebook, with 46.5 percent and 43.2 percent of nonprofit groups, respectively, using those sites. LinkedIn and MySpace were also used at a rate of 32.9 percent and 26.1 percent, respectively.
And if these sites aren't bringing in a lot of donations, it isn't due to a lack of effort. The groups surveyed report that they are dedicating "small but real" amounts of time to the sites. Eighty percent of the respondents reported that their organizations had at least one-quarter of a full-time staff member's hours to social networking, and over 50 percent said that they planned to increase staffing for social-networking projects over the next year.
Still, social networking sites can be quite a useful tool when they are properly managed. Schools that are looking for a great way to connect with alumni and announce events at the school can quickly set up a free account on one of the sites mentioned above and begin searching for current and former students.
