1

2010 Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report (2nd Annual)

An industry-wide look at the adoption of social networks within the nonprofit sector

NTEN National Technology ConferenceApril 9, 2010

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Survey Sponsors

NTEN.org

CommonKnow.com

ThePort.com

3

Speakers

Common Knowledge

Jeff PatrickPresident, Founder415.543.7600jpatrick@commonknow.com

CommonKnow.com

NTEN

Holly RossExecutive Director415.397.9000holly@nten.org

NTEN.org

ThePort

Suzanne CarawanVP, Mktg & Strategy703.431.2208suzanne.carawan@theport.com

ThePort.comSocialInstitute.org

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Survey Methodology

• Instrument: A 50-question online survey was fielded from February 3 to March 15, 2010, including 1,173 respondents representing nonprofit professionals from small, medium and large nonprofits, and all major segments of the industry

• Margin of error: ±2.86% with 95% confidence

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TERMINOLOGYPart 1

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Terms Used in Presentation

• FTE: Full-time equivalent; one full-time staff employee

• Commercial Social Network: Social networking community built on a commercial platform with an existing audience

• House Social Network: Social networking community built on a nonprofits own web site. Term derived from direct mail house list

• White Label Social Networking Software: A programmable social networking platform and database used to build a house social network.

• Community Size - Commercial Social Network: Number of fans, friends, subscribers or readers

• Community Size - House Social Networks: Number of registered profiles

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BIG THEMESPart 2

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Big Themes from Social Networking Report

• Nonprofits increase use of commercial social networks Facebook and Twitter

– More nonprofits using Facebook for first time– Nonprofits already on Facebook extend their use– Average community size on Facebook is smaller

than in 2009– Twitter usage up significantly from 2009 and

average community size grew dramatically

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Big Themes from Social Networking Report

• Other commercial social networks trend flat or down– LinkedIn, YouTube usage remain steady– Past market leader MySpace drops sharply

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Big Themes from Social Networking Report

• Selected nonprofit sectors have very strong (higher than average) presence on Facebook• International• Environment & Animal Welfare • Arts & Culture

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Big Themes from Social Networking Survey

• Staffing for Social Networks– Budgets and staff devoted to maintaining social

networks are still relatively small– ¼ to ½ staff person most commonly allocated to

maintaining social networks– About half of organizations plan to increase

employee staffing, but less for external resources – Nonprofits with 2+ staff dedicated to commercial

networks report greater value

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Big Themes from Social Networking Survey

• Mixed Picture on Fundraising

– Fundraising reported as second most important role of social networks (after Marketing)

– Fundraising / Development departments are increasingly involved in managing social networks

– While more nonprofits are raising money on Facebook, most (78%) raised $1,000 or less

– Only 3.5% of organizations raised $10,000 or more on Facebook

13

Big Themes from Social Networking Survey

• Mixed Picture on House Social Networks

– 28% drop in nonprofits using house social networks– Groups with house networks say they are valuable– Average house network size is 50% higher than the

average Facebook community size– Fundraising results comparable to commercial social

networks – No one software platform is dominant

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Commercial vs. House Social NetworksQuestion Commercial House

Does your org. have one? 90% 22% (1+ communities)

Primary purpose? Marketing (92%) Marketing (57%)

Staff time (last 12 months)? 1/4 to 1/2 FTE(67%)

1/4 to 1/2 FTE(57%)

Ext. resources budget (last 12 months)?

None (59%)$1-$10,000 (33%)

None (38%)$1 - $10,000 (42%)

# of community members? Average: 2,440* Average: 3,520

How old is your community? 1-24 months (87%)* 1-24 months (62%)

Fundraising revenue (last 12 months)?

Not Fundraising (60%)Fundraising - raised $0 - $10,000 (39%)*

Not Fundraising (68%)Fundraising - Raised $0 - $10,000 (22%)

Revenue from sponsorship, underwriting, advertising (last 12 months)

Not Advertising (99%)*Advertising and raised$0 - $10,000 (1%)

Not Advertising (87%)Advertising and raised$0 - $10,000 (10%)

Why don’t you have one? Lack of expertise (47%)Insufficient budget (32%)

Insufficient budget (46%)Lack of expertise (46%)

*Facebook

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A CLOSER LOOKPart 3

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Commercial Social Networks - Facebook

• Facebook continues to be the most popular commercial social network, with 86% of nonprofits indicating they have a presence on FB. (74% last year)

• Average Facebook community size is 2,440, down

from 5,391 last year

• 86.7% of nonprofits have been on Facebook for less than 2 years (94.4% last year)

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Commercial Social Networks - Twitter

• 60% of Nonprofits are on Twitter, up 38% from 2009

• Average Twitter community size is 1,792, up 627% from last year

• 77% of nonprofits have been on Twitter for less than 1 year (94% last year)

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Staffing / Budget - Commercial Social Networks

• 85% of nonprofits committed at least ¼ FTE to commercial social networking over last 12 months

• About half of nonprofits plan to increase staff commitment over the next 12 months

• Only 4 out of 10 organizations have any budget for external resources for commercial social networks

• Just 8.1% allocated $10K or more budget for external resources over the last 12 months

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Promoting Social Networks

• Organization’s website (83%) and email marketing

(76%) most common outlets used to promote presence on commercial social networks

• Organization events (54%) and Twitter (52%) play a smaller role in promotion

• For house networks, email marketing (77%) and

organization website (75%) are mainly used to promote constituent participation

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Departments Managing Social Networks

• Mostly Communications (27%) and Marketing

(20%) manage commercial social networks

• Fundraising / Development department is increasingly involved (20%)

• Information Technology manages only 3% of communities

• For House Networks, Marketing (57%) and Program

Delivery (49%) have largest management roles

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Fundraising from Social Networks • Fundraising is mostly done on Facebook (40%), but

78% have raised under $1,000

• Fundraising also reported on Twitter (12%), YouTube

(5%), Change.org (3%), MySpace (3%)

• One-third of nonprofits with house social networks are fundraising (up from one-quarter last year)

• One-third of these fundraisers accumulated $10K or more over the last year

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House Social Networks

• 22% of nonprofits have one or more house social networks (31% last year)

• Average community size is 3,520, 50% higher than average Facebook network size

• 17% of nonprofits with house community(s) have two

and 5% have three or more communities

• 93% of nonprofits with house networks have 10,000 members or less

• Three-quarters indicated house networks are valuable

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House Social Network Software

• Ning and Drupal (12% each) are most popular platforms for house social networks, followed by ThePort (8%)

• Custom software is in use by 23% of nonprofits to build house social networks

• Wide variety of other vendors (commercial & open source) were reported by almost half of respondents

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DEEP DIVE ON STATISTICSPart 4

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Face

book

Twitt

er

YouTube

Linke

dInFli

ckr

MySpace

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0% 85.7%

59.7%

48.1%

33.1%

25.3%

14.4%

Nonprofits on Commercial Social Networks

Facebook still leads, but Twitter is gaining fast

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Assoc

iatio

ns

Human

Ser

vice

s

Publ

ic/So

cieta

l Ben

efit

Health

/ Hea

lthca

re

Envi

ronm

ent /

Ani

mal

s

Arts /

Cultu

re

Educ

atio

n

Inte

rnat

iona

l

Relig

ious

/ Sp

iritu

al0.0%

20.0%

40.0%

60.0%

80.0%

100.0%

120.0%

Vertical Segments on Commercial Social Networks

FacebookTwitterYouTubeLinkedIn

International organizations lead in use of Facebook and Twitter

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Mar

ketin

g

Fund

raising

Progr

am D

eliver

y

Mar

ket R

esea

rch

Custo

mer

Sup

port

Other

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%92.0%

45.8%

34.5%

24.3%17.7%

9.3%

Role of Commercial Social Networking Community

Marketing still leads, but Fundraising now second

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15.1%

66.6%

11.2%5.3% 1.9%

Staff Time Allocated to Commercial Social Networks

0¼ to ½¾ to 11 ¼ to 2> 2

Two thirds of nonprofits allocate ¼ to ½ of person

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None Under $10,000 $10,001 - $25,000

$25,001 - $50,000

$50,001 - $100,000

Over $100,0000.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

59.0%

32.8%

4.7%1.6% 1.0% 0.8%

External Resources Allocated to Social Networking

6 of 10 nonprofits don’t use external resources

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Facebook MySpace Twitter Change.org LinkedIn YouTube Flickr0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,5002,440

1,794 1,792

1,334

450 447

122

Average Community Size on Commercial Social Networks

Facebook still leads but Twitter is gaining

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Web

site

Pro

mot

ion

Emai

l Mar

ketin

g

Organ

izat

ion

Even

ts

Twitt

er

Prin

t Adv

ertis

ing

Socia

l Net

wor

ks

PR -

Offlin

e

Blogg

ing

Other

Eve

nts

Direct

Mai

l0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90% 83%76%

54% 52%45%

36%33%

29%26%

22%

Promoting Commercial Social Networks

Website and Email Marketing Used Mostly for Promotion

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Communications

Marketing

Development Fundraising

Other

Executive Management

0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0%

27.3%

20.3%

20.0%

10.5%

7.9%

Dept with Primary Responsibility for Com-mercial Social Networks

Communications most often manages social networks

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Length of Presence on Commercial Social Networks – 2010

 

No Presenc

e

1 - 3 months

3 - 6 months

6 - 12 months

12 - 24 months

2-3 years

Over 3 years

Facebook3.61% 9.7% 15.0% 25.4% 33.1% 11.2% 2.1%

Twitter21.96% 13.9% 15.1% 26.5% 20.0% 2.5% 0.1%

YouTube32.02% 8.1% 9.9% 14.9% 21.5% 11.7% 1.8%

LinkedIn48.30% 9.1% 7.9% 11.1% 17.0% 5.0% 1.6%

Flickr58.38% 4.0% 4.8% 8.6% 14.9% 7.1% 2.2%

MySpace74.14% 1.7% 1.1% 3.2% 8.0% 8.8% 3.2%

Most communities in use 12 – 24 months

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Facebook Twitter YouTube Change.org MySpace LinkedIn0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

40.0%

45.0% 40.4%

12.0%

5.1%3.1% 2.7% 1.9%

Fundraising on Commercial Social Networks

Mostly Facebook is used for fundraising so far

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None 1 2 3 4 5 or more0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%77.8%

16.9%

2.9% 1.2% 0.3% 0.8%

Number of House Social Networks

22% of nonprofits have house social networks

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Other

Market Research

Fundraising

Customer Support

Program Delivery

Marketing

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0%

16.5%

20.0%

27.4%

34.7%

49.1%

56.8%

Role of House Social Network

As with commercial social networks, marketing is primary

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Registe

red

Mem

bers

Site

Visito

rs

User C

onte

nt

Custo

mer

Feed

back

New S

uppo

rters

Conve

rsio

ns

Fund

raisi

ng R

even

ue

Other

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

59.8% 59.1%

46.3% 45.6%

35.9%

28.1%24.6%

7.1%

Metrics to Measure Successof House Social Networks

Fundraising used by ¼ to measure house network success

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13.6%

57.0%

15.8%

8.2%5.4%

Staff Allocated to Working on House Social Networks

0¼ to ½¾ to 11 ¼ to 2> 2

Most allocate only ¼ to ½ person to managing house networks

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63.2%10.0%

5.3%

4.3%

10.0% 7.2%

Number of Members on House Social Networks

0 - 500501 - 10001001 - 15001501 - 20002501 - 10000> 10,000

Almost 2/3 of house networks have under 500 members

40

IT

Programs

Marketing

Development / Fundraising

Communications

10.0%

12.7%

13.9%

13.9%

23.6%

Department Managing House Social Networks

Fundraising now manages social networks as much as Marketing

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1 - 3 months 3 - 6 months 6 - 12 months 12 - 24 months

2-3 years More than 3 years

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

14.7%

8.9%

20.9%

23.6%

11.6%

20.2%

Community DurationHouse Social Networks

Over 20% of house networks used more than 3 years

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67.5%

14.5%

7.1%

7.5%

2.0% 1.6%

Revenue Generation onHouse Social Networks

Not Fundraising$0 - $1,000$1,001 - $10,000$10,001 - $50,000$50,001 - $100,000More than $100,000

Two thirds of house networks are not fundraising

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$0 - $1,000 $1,001 - $10,000 $10,001 - $50,000 $50,001 - $100,000 More than $100,000

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

40.0%

45.0%

44.6%

21.7% 22.9%

6.0% 4.8%

Fundraising Results onHouse Social Networks

Above results for 1/3 of house networks that ARE fundraising

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Other Custom Drupal Ning ThePort0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

40.0%

45.0%

50.0%48.5%

22.5%

12.3% 12.3%

8.4%

House Social Network Software Platform

%

No vendor is dominant, >70% use custom or ‘other’ software

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RESPONDENT PROFILESPart 5

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None 1 to 5 6 to 20 21 to 50 51 to 250 Over 250

5.0%

24.3% 24.4%

13.3%

18.4%

14.5%

Size of Nonprofits Surveyed

Employees

% of Nonprofits

47

Under

$1

million

$1 -$

5 m

illion

$6 -

$50

million

$51

- $25

0 m

illion

Over $2

50 m

illion

0.0%5.0%

10.0%15.0%20.0%25.0%30.0%35.0%40.0%45.0%

40.5%

31.3%

19.6%

5.7%2.9%

Annual Budget

% of Nonprofits

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Organization Types

Human Services – Crime and legal, employment, agriculture and nutrition, housing, public safety, youth and recreation

22.7%

Education – Higher education, K-12 18.8%

Public & Societal Benefit – Civic rights and advocacy, community organizing, philanthropy, science and technology, social sciences and government

16.9%

Health & Healthcare – Mental health, diseases, disorders, and research

14.5%

Environment & Animals – Environmental and animal welfare

7.6%

Arts & Culture – Museums, community theatres, cultural centers and preservation societies

7.2%

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Organization Types

Association - Professional and trade 4.3%

Religious – Religious and spiritual development 3.5%

International - Foreign affairs, international human rights, national security and diplomacy

2.8%

Other – Media, labor union, mutual benefit and for profit businesses

1.8%

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Complete 2010 Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report Available Now

Download at www.nonprofitsocialnetworksurvey.com

Thank you!