Old Kid in a New Town: Nonprofit Kindness Struggling in a Digital World

#nonprofits #digitaltools #socialmedia

Two months ago, I decided to volunteer at a local food bank. When I was in junior high and high school, I was involved with organized, church-based community service projects like the Catholic HEART Workcamp, and in more casual ways, like passing out sandwiches to the homeless with a youth group. I remember how those experiences made me feel as a teen, and I decided it would be nice for my two tween stepchildren to get involved, too. Times have changed, and I figured signing us up for some shifts at a local food bank would be easy.

Nope, not at all. The website was glitchy, and the volunteer scheduling was definitely not user friendly from my phone. Once I learned that they didn’t have available hours for my whole family, I moved to a local homeless shelter, where I had a little better luck. The website was easier to navigate, and there was more information available for prospective volunteers, but after receiving a call back from the volunteer coordinator a few days later, I learned how much detail was still missing—including a social media presence. The website featured the nifty icons linking to their social media accounts, yes, but their Facebook account was inaccessible to someone without an account, their Instagram account "is unavailable," and their Twitter account was last updated three months ago.

But I get it. They’re doing what they can with what they have; their focus and resources are better spent on their mission.

1. Competing Priorities

Operating a nonprofit is not easy. They face the same day-to-day challenges as for-profit business—IT issues, payroll, health benefits, for example—but with the added pressures of dependency on donors. In short, they must do more with less. Moreover, they have an arduous dual focus: cultivating connections with the community they serve while also invoking empathy from the volunteers and contributors who support their cause.

Reaching multiple audiences without isolating others, especially when both audiences are vital to the organization, is no easy feat. As an example, one study focused on immigrants’ rights sponsored by National Geographic in 2021 entailed respondents criticizing National Geographic and its history of exploited minorities in their stories by removing agency. Nonprofits face this difficult dichotomy: they must appeal to a wide audience (“not just white liberals”) for support, without co-opting stories and asking them to “cry so that a nonprofit could get money” (Lowe).

Credit: https://blog.walls.io/guest-posts/social-media-strategy-nonprofits/

2. A Chasm of Financial Disparity

Unfortunately, while nonprofits are less successful at creating an effective online presence than businesses, they also have more of a need for it. For-profit businesses use social media platforms primarily for marketing and brand engagement, but nonprofit organizations have additional priorities. They are dependent on volunteer engagement, action, advocacy, and crowdsourcing, and they do not present an online identity as successfully as businesses do (Namisango et al., 2018).

Making matters worse, there is an income inequality, not only between businesses and nonprofits, but between larger, prolific nonprofits and smaller, niche organizations. There is a widening chasm of disparity, which leads to a comparative lack of resources, recruitment, and retainment. And it’s unlikely that stakeholders in businesses need to be convinced of the importance social media, while nonprofits need to spend some of their dwindling resources “proving” this online advocacy even makes a difference (Guo et al., 2020).

3. Navigating the Platforms

What is even more stressful is that there is no "one-size-fits-all" solution. Nonprofits have to coordinate their online presence through multiple platforms, conforming their material and content to the strengths of the platform. One study focused on the hashtag "#Downsyndrome" on both Instagram and Twitter found that there were wildly different reactions to the same hashtag (Bernardi et al., 2022). Twitter fostered aggressive, polarizing, religious debate, while Instagram appeared more positive but also more condescending. Twitters limited character space makes it susceptible to vitriol, while Instagram's focus on multimedis makes it more about aesthetics than content.

Source: https://insights.theberkeleygroup.org/a-nonprofit-guide-to-social-media-fec998606045

4. A Fight for Support

And then there's the difficulty of support. Studies show that many nonprofits do actually understand the potential (and need) for social media use, but they lack the understanding and resources to leverage it (Deschamps et al., 2014). They know how imperative it is to stay engaged with the public, the community they serve, and their clients, but they lack training and staffing to know how to proficiently use it. A social media presence goes beyond simply posting content; it requires a complex awareness of a deeper use, and a proficiency many organizations simply do not have the resources for.

Which doesn't even cover the support of internal leadership. Without their support and backing, the organization's mindset around the digital tools needed to stay afloat in a digital age isn't set up for success (Goldkind et al., 2015). For-profit companies have entire teams devoted to social media and branding, but the nonprofit realm needs to weather the challenges of cost, policies, and relevance. Communicators at a nonprofit organization have to maintain social media accounts and learn how to use complex digital tools to assist them, while also having prove the importance of those accounts and tools to leadership.

Source: https://verticalresponse.com/blog/non-profits-investing-more-time-money-social-media/

5. Conveying the Mission

The struggle isn't over once the resources and support are there. Then comes the dilemma of what to post. Mitchell et al. propose the best method is to focus on who, what, how, and how well (2021). This is a simple, effective way of storytelling, presenting who's telling the story, encouraging a connection with the reader; what key themes and elements they want to convey in the content, providing insight into the organization's focus; how to present the story in terms of structure, with humor or as a classic "rags to riches" style, for example; and how well they can appeal to a diverse range of an audience while guaranteeing retention.

It's a difficult truth to accept, but it’s harder and harder for nonprofits to be successful in their mission to spread kindness in however way they’re dedicated on spreading it. What is inspiring, though, is the presence of outlets that are willing to assist—people and organizations ready to help nonprofits help others. There are numerous podcasts, like Joan Garry’s “Nonprofits are Messy,” providing insight into a myriad of unique nonprofit issues. Organizations like the Taproot Foundation specialize in connecting nonprofits with business professionals ready to provide pro bono services, including HR and IT. Agencies like Slam Media Lab offer services specifically designed for nonprofits, demonstrating their historical successes through World Wildlife Fund’s use of microdonations via emojis, and the video content Always used in its #LikeAGirl campaign.

Credit: https://www.youtube.com/@MOSAICBC

During our lunch shift at the homeless shelter, my family and I saw the impact the organization has on the city. We saw how well-run, organized, efficient, and friendly the staff were when it came to taking care of the community their mission is built around. They were welcoming and excited to have us. While my heart went out to the homeless we were serving, it also went out to the organization itself, a nonprofit focused on helping others be successful while not always having the tools and resources to be as successful themselves.

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Resources:

Bernardi, C. L., & Alhamdan, N. (2022). Social media analytics for nonprofit marketing: #Downsyndrome on Twitter and Instagram. Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing, 27(4), 1–12. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1002/nvsm.1739

Deschamps, R., & McNutt, K. (2014). Third sector and social media. Canadian Journal of Nonprofit & Social Economy Research / Revue Canadienne de Recherche Sur Les OSBL et l’économie Sociale, 5(2), 29-46. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.22230/cjnser.2014v5n2a165

Goldkind, L. (2015). Social media and social service: Are nonprofits plugged in to the digital age? Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance, 39(4), 380–396. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1080/23303131.2015.1053585

Guo, C., & Saxton, G. D. (2020). The quest for attention: Nonprofit advocacy in a social media age. Stanford University Press.

Lowe, S. E. (2021). Rushed decisions: Ethical considerations for digital storytelling practitioners. Health Promotion Practice, 22(2, Suppl), 44S–49S. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1177/15248399211044714

Mitchell, S., & Clark, M. (2021). Telling a different story: How nonprofit organizations reveal strategic purpose through storytelling. Psychology & Marketing, 38(1), 142–158. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1002/mar.21429

Namisango, F., & Kang, K. (2018, August 16-18). Social media, organisation-community relationships and co-creation: A case of nonprofit organizations [Conference session]. Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), New Orleans, LA, USA. https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2018/SocialComputing/Presentations/6