Charitable blogging…

Tom Murphy

A common theme in all the speaking events and workshops I’ve been involved in over the past couple of months is the growing interest in blogging by charitable organisations.

However, along with the interest there’s a lot of confusion. When I went searching for charity-related blogs I assumed there would be a huge number but it was actually quite difficult to find them. Thanks to some kind contributors I now have quite a few links (see below). There are also some blogs specifically focused on how charities and non-profits can use this technology (also below).

Why should charities be interested in blogs? Well there’s loads of reasons:

  • Advocacy: Blogs are the perfect medium for creating platforms where passionate and articulate individuals and organizations can clearly communicate their views on issues and drive the debate.
  • Accountability: When people give to charity, often the most powerful means of keeping them involved is to show them how their donation is being used. Blogs provide the perfect platform for demonstrating the results of fundraising.
  • Show and Tell: Can you think of a more powerful tool for charities that using blogs to showcase the issues they’re facing or trying to solve on a daily basis? Whether it’s aid workers blogging in a foreign country or homeless people sharing accounts of their lives.
  • Every other benefit of blogs: Blogs promise organizations many benefits, and alongside the first three points, they offer charities exactly the same benefits. Whether it’s about conversations, knowledge sharing, search engine optimization etc. blogs can help.

So the question for charities out there is how can we help? I’m in the planning stages of a small project here in Ireland where I’ll be working with Enable Ireland to possibly put together a free blogging workshop for charitable organisations. But I’m sure there’s stuff we can do online, and I’m sure the ever growing PR blog community won’t be found wanting…

Some Charitable Blogging Links