Help! Is new media worth investing in?
Howard Lake | 29 August 2007 | Blogs
I’m chairing the Institute of Fundraising’s New Media Conference on September 26th for the second time, and also jointly hosting the pre-lunch debate with Ariel Spigelman of nfpSynergy.
The topic is "Is new media worth investing in?" Of course, we all shout a resounding yes. But do we secretly mean something else…? Do we mean we can’t avoid having to invest in it? To keep up with the Jones’, because it’s a sign of the times, because using the Internet at work has made our jobs more interesting, because we’re paid a salary to.
I’m playing devil’s advocate but at the same time I’ve got some serious concerns about how, what and why charities may be investing in new media. And a lot of them are born out by research… as I’ll try to show on the day. I’m worried charities aren’t finding new audiences online, I’m freaked that most of them by their own admission can’t measure the effectiveness of their web presence or separate online voluntary income from other sources. I feel many are more into gadgetry than goals, and content than communication. And I’m most perturbed by the fact that most of the top dogs within charities haven’t a clue what’s going on in their web teams, because the whole activity is unaccountable, or unaccounted for, and because they don’t understand IT and lump digital with it.
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Help!!!! I wouldn’t be so het up if there wasn’t a reasonable body of research (nfpSynergy, CAF, iConcertina, e-Consultancy, WCIT…) demonstrating how charities (the many rather than the few) are missing so many boats when it comes to really exploiting new channels to market. The charities I have worked with or work with now are finding or a short way along the right path so it’s a little too early to use their return on investment, or engagement.
So will someone out there pleease tell me your reasons why new media really is worth investing in? And can you back your argument? You don’t need to have hard data, qualitative measures are great. And if I have your permission, I’ll gladly use your example to infuse the audience with fresh hope and vision.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.