The Blogger: your friend

There are numerous blogs run by enthusiasts on almost every topic you can name. Some of these, undoubtedly, touch on the mission of almost any organization, including yours. Others have a tangential or occasional relationship to your mission. You owe it to yourself to become familiar not only with the blogs that relate to your work, but also to the communities around these blogs.

You can discover a lot about what sort of social network might arise around your organization online by examining the blogs that cover similar material. You can also offer the bloggers access to your organization’s unique resources and insights – many will be enthusiastic about the opportunity to interview your staff by phone or through IM or email.

If you are using the 3G platform, you can also offer bloggers a way to put their influence in the community they have built to work creating change in the world. Like anyone else, a blogger can start a unique webpage to raise money for selected programs of your organization. Don’t underestimate the power of blogs to drive attention towards your organization and to raise money for selected causes.

And don’t be shy about reaching out to blogs that relate only tangentially to a particular program. For example, if you are raising money to buy soccer equipment for children in urban schools, don’t just hit up the “do-gooder” blogs related to education. Reach out to the soccer blogs as well.

Blogs provide you with a wonderful way to find new communities of individuals already aligned with your cause. Make allies with your bloggers and you’ll find it rewarding in many ways.