Nonprofit organizations have long been labeled Luddites when it comes to adopting new technology.

But a forthcoming study by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research shows nonprofit groups are actually well ahead of businesses in their use of social-media tools such as Twitter, Facebook, and blogs.

The soon-to-be-released study found that 89 percent of nonprofit organizations are using some form of social media, reports the Herald News in Fall River, Mass. Fifty-seven percent reported that they use blogs.

“Social media is an important part of the marketing strategy for U.S. charities and nonprofits. They are outpacing businesses and even academic institutions in their familiarity, use and monitoring activity,” Nora Ganim Barnes told the newspaper. “These organizations have found a new and exciting way to win the hearts, and maybe the dollars, of...

Nonprofit organizations that have group pages and fan pages on Facebook will probably want to take note of a forthcoming change that will make it easier for them to publicize their profiles.

Beginning this Saturday at 12:01 a.m., people who use Facebook will be able to create customized Web addresses on the site.

Currently, the addresses on Facebook are long strings of numbers that are difficult to publicize.

For example, the Chronicle‘s Facebook group page has a URL that looks like this: http://www.facebook.com/username/#/group.php?gid=13218705713 .

Beginning Saturday, that address can be customized to make it easier to share.

That long string will now look something like this: facebook.com/chronicleofphilanthropy.

Facebook has a long list of rules that apply to the switch.

Perhaps the most important rule: once you choose a name, you cannot change it.

We invite...

The popular online game Second Life has been home to efforts by some nonprofit groups to raise the profile of their causes — and to seek donations.

Although it remains a mystery to most charities, Second Life has nonetheless become enough of an awareness tool to garner the attention of Jon Stewart, the host of The Daily Show.

How can your organization use this game?

Allison Fine, the host of the Chronicle‘s Social Good podcast, offers some ideas in her latest episode, explaining how virtual worlds like Second Life can help organizations raise money and promote their causes

The podcast also features interviews with Connie Yowell, director of education at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and Barry Joseph, director of the online leadership program for Global Kids. Both guests have extensive experience in using Second Life in their work.

With many of the nation’s most prominent daily newspapers in financial peril, many observers are pointing to foundations as a potential savior for the newspaper industry.

But would foundation ownership of newspapers really save the craft of journalism? Would foundations provide the creative environment and risk-taking agenda that many believe is necessary to make newspapers more competitive in a multimedia world?

Michael Kinsley, a Washington Post columnist and veteran magazine editor, isn’t so sure.

Mr. Kinsley writes that the Harper’s Foundation, which ran Harper’s Magazine during his tenure as editor, didn’t do much to inspire creativity. In fact, it was more conservative in its approach to journalism than many large newspaper companies.

“The board of directors was composed of civic idealists of the highest order, all donating their time to preserve this important national in...

Many nonprofit leaders recognize the potential of online social-networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to help build more meaningful relationships with donors, volunteers, and supporters.

But in many cases, they are not sure how to take advantage of these networks — or even how to establish a presence.

The Chronicle on Tuesday gathered several marketing and social-media experts for a live online discussion to help nonprofit leaders get a better handle on those tools.

The discussion featured Danielle Brigida, the National Wildlife Federation’s social-media outreach coordinator; Nancy E. Schwartz, a marketing consultant; and Felicia Carr, director of online communications at the National Parks Conservation Association.

The speakers mentioned more than a dozen resources that can help nonprofit groups. Here they are:

• The Pew Internet and American Life Project offers...

Hundreds of writers have blogs that discuss nonprofit causes and attempt to stimulate discussion about how to best create social good.

But which of these blogs are considered the most influential in promoting change and generating discussion and debate?

Until today, there was no effort to objectively answer that question.

Geoff Livingston, a marketer in Washington; programmer Shannon Whitley; and writer Beth Kanter today unveiled the List of Change, a ranking of blogs about nonprofit causes based on their relative influence.

The list uses measures such as a blog’s status on the Web site Technorati, on Google PageRank, and the number of links it receives on Yahoo to generate its score for each blog.

Writers can include their blogs on the list by submitting their Web site URL to the list’s creators.

“It will provide a single point of aggregation for change blogs, allowing new ...

Some of the nation’s most prominent brands exist, in part, because they have spent billions to advertise their names and products.

Nonprofit groups, however, are not among the big spenders in the advertising world.

And that is selling their missions short, Dan Pallotta writes on Free the Nonprofits, a blog on Harvard Business Publishing’s Web site

“Charity goes without this function with respect to the mass market; in part because of a reactionary disdain for anything that smacks of commercialism, but mostly because of public pressure to maximize short-term program spending without regard for building scale or long-term problem-solving,” Mr. Pallotta writes. “Donors consider paid advertising wasteful.”

Collectively, American companies, nonprofit groups, and other entities spend about $730-billion on marketing and advertising, writes Mr. Pallotta, the author of Uncharitable: How ...

Sean Stannard-Stockton, a wealth adviser in California, has developed a large and loyal following of readers for his blog, Tactical Philanthropy.

The blog focuses on what Mr. Stannard-Stockton calls “the second great wave of philanthropy”, which he believes will lead to new approaches to solving social problems.

“The philanthropists of the 21st century will be smaller in size, but much larger in numbers than the philanthropists of the last century,” he writes. “From researching what organizations to give to, to demanding accountability from the nonprofits they support, to utilizing sophisticated giving methods, the new donors want to make sure their giving is having the most impact it can.”

What does this really mean? And is the nonprofit world really going through a sea change?

You will have a chance to ask Mr. Stannard-Stockton those and other questions during a live, online...

The philanthropy world doesn’t yet know what Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Ted Turner, Warren Buffett, and other top donors discussed during their secret meeting this month in New York.

But that isn’t stopping speculation about what this famous group of philanthropists decided.

According to a Chronicle report, the wealthy philanthropists gathered to trade ideas about how to raise the level of philanthropy in the world.

If you were advising this group, what would you tell them about how they could raise the level of philanthropy during these trying economic times? What can they, and others, be doing to help solve some of the world’s most pressing problems?

Click on the comments link below this post to share your thoughts.

It’s official: The nonprofit world is officially a more popular topic on Twitter than swine flu.

Thousands of users of the social-networking Web site Twitter are posting Tweets today under a tag called #charitytuesday. Tags are used to help Twitter users mark messages so other people can quickly find information about specific topics.

The #charitytuesday tag was created as a way to help nonprofit groups to spread the word about their causes on Twitter and to help charities better understand how to use the site, writes John Carnell on the British blog TechnicaVita.

Mr. Carnell writes that many charities have been slow to embrace Twitter, though he hopes the #charitytuesday tag will help hasten the site’s use.

Given the amount of activity surrounding the tag today, he might be right.

In Twitter’s list of the most popular topics on the site, #charitytuesday ranked No. 2 this...