2010 Nonprofit Social Network

Benchmark Report (2nd Annual)

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

NTEN Webinar
May 11, 2010

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 Survey Sponsors

NTEN.org

CommonKnow.com

ThePort.com

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 Speakers

NTEN Common Knowledge

Anna Richter Jeff Patrick

Program Manager President, Founder
415.397.9000 415.543.7600
anna@nten.org jpatrick@commonknow.com

NTEN.org CommonKnow.com

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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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 Part 1

TERMINOLOGY

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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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 Part 2

BIG THEMES

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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
•  Education

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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

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 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 Networks
Question
Does your org. have one?
Primary purpose?
Staff time (last 12 months)?
Ext. resources budget (last
12 months)?
# of community members?
How old is your community?
Fundraising revenue (last 12
months)?
Revenue from sponsorship,
underwriting, advertising
(last 12 months)
Why don’t you have one?
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Commercial House
90% 22% (1+ communities)
Marketing (92%) Marketing (57%)
1/4 to 1/2 FTE 1/4 to 1/2 FTE
(67%) (57%)
None (59%) None (38%)
$1-$10,000 (33%) $1 - $10,000 (42%)
Average: 2,440* Average: 3,520
1-24 months (87%)* 1-24 months (62%)
Not Fundraising (60%) Not Fundraising (68%)
Fundraising - raised Fundraising - Raised
$0 - $10,000 (39%)* $0 - $10,000 (22%)
Not Advertising (99%)* Not Advertising (87%)
Advertising and raised Advertising and raised
$0 - $10,000 (1%) $0 - $10,000 (10%)
Lack of expertise (47%) Insufficient budget (46%)
Insufficient budget (32%) Lack of expertise (46%)
*Facebook
 Part 3

A CLOSER LOOK

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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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 Thanks!

QUESTIONS?

24 April 2010
 Appendix

DEEP DIVE ON STATISTICS

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 Nonprofits  on    
Commercial  Social  Networks  
90.0%   85.7%  

80.0%  

70.0%  
59.7%  
60.0%  
48.1%  
50.0%  

40.0%  
33.1%  
30.0%   25.3%  

20.0%   14.4%  

10.0%  

0.0%  

Facebook still leads, but Twitter is gaining fast

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 Vertical Segments on
Commercial Social Networks
120.0%

100.0%

80.0%

60.0%

Facebook
40.0%
Twitter
20.0% YouTube
LinkedIn
0.0%

International organizations lead in use of Facebook and Twitter

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 Role of Commercial
Social Networking Community
100.0%
92.0%
90.0%

80.0%

70.0%

60.0%

50.0% 45.8%

40.0% 34.5%

30.0% 24.3%

20.0% 17.7%

9.3%
10.0%

0.0%
Marketing Fundraising Program Market Customer Other
Delivery Research Support

Marketing still leads, but Fundraising now second

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 Staff Time Allocated to
Commercial Social Networks

1.9%
5.3% 15.1%
11.2%

0
¼ to ½
¾ to 1
1 ¼ to 2
>2

66.6%

Two thirds of nonprofits allocate ¼ to ½ of person

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 External Resources Allocated
to Social Networking
59.0%
60.0%

50.0%

40.0%
32.8%

30.0%

20.0%

10.0% 4.7%
1.6% 1.0% 0.8%
0.0%
None Under $10,000 $10,001 - $25,001 - $50,001 - Over $100,000
$25,000 $50,000 $100,000

6 of 10 nonprofits don’t use external resources

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 Average Community Size on Commercial Social
Networks
2,440
2,500

2,000 1,794 1,792

1,500 1,334

1,000

450 447
500
122

0
Facebook MySpace Twitter Change.org LinkedIn YouTube Flickr

Facebook still leads but Twitter is gaining

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 Promoting Commercial
Social Networks
90% 83%
76%
80%
70%
60% 54% 52%
45%
50%
36%
40% 33%
29%
26%
30% 22%
20%
10%
0%

Website and Email Marketing Used Mostly for Promotion

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 Dept with Primary Responsibility for
Commercial Social Networks

Executive Management 7.9%

Other 10.5%

Development Fundraising 20.0%

Marketing 20.3%

Communications 27.3%

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

Communications most often manages social networks

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 Length of Presence on Commercial Social Networks – 2010

No 1-3 3-6 6 - 12 12 - 24 Over 3

2-3 years
Presence months months months months years

3.61% 9.7% 15.0% 25.4% 33.1% 11.2% 2.1%

Facebook

21.96% 13.9% 15.1% 26.5% 20.0% 2.5% 0.1%

Twitter

32.02% 8.1% 9.9% 14.9% 21.5% 11.7% 1.8%

YouTube

48.30% 9.1% 7.9% 11.1% 17.0% 5.0% 1.6%

LinkedIn

58.38% 4.0% 4.8% 8.6% 14.9% 7.1% 2.2%

Flickr

74.14% 1.7% 1.1% 3.2% 8.0% 8.8% 3.2%

MySpace

Most communities in use 12 – 24 months

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 Fundraising on
Commercial Social Networks

45.0%
40.4%
40.0%

35.0%

30.0%

25.0%

20.0%

15.0% 12.0%

10.0%
5.1%
3.1% 2.7%
5.0% 1.9%

0.0%
Facebook Twitter YouTube Change.org MySpace LinkedIn

Mostly Facebook is used for fundraising so far

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 Number of House Social Networks
77.8%
80.0%

70.0%

60.0%

50.0%

40.0%

30.0%

16.9%
20.0%

10.0%
2.9%
1.2% 0.3% 0.8%
0.0%
None 1 2 3 4 5 or more

22% of nonprofits have house social networks

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 Role of House Social Network

Marketing 56.8%

Program Delivery 49.1%

Customer Support 34.7%

Fundraising 27.4%

Market Research 20.0%

Other 16.5%

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

As with commercial social networks, marketing is primary

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 Metrics to Measure Success
of House Social Networks
59.8% 59.1%
60.0%

46.3% 45.6%
50.0%

40.0% 35.9%

28.1%
30.0% 24.6%

20.0%
7.1%
10.0%

0.0%

Fundraising used by ¼ to measure house network success

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 Staff Allocated to Working on
House Social Networks

5.4%
8.2% 13.6%

15.8%
0
¼ to ½
¾ to 1
1 ¼ to 2

57.0% >2

Most allocate only ¼ to ½ person to managing house networks

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 Number of Members
on House Social Networks

7.2%
10.0%

4.3%

5.3% 0 - 500
501 - 1000

10.0% 63.2% 1001 - 1500

1501 - 2000
2501 - 10000
> 10,000

Almost 2/3 of house networks have under 500 members

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 Department Managing
House Social Networks

23.6%
Communications

13.9%
Development / Fundraising

13.9%
Marketing

12.7%
Programs

10.0%
IT

Fundraising now manages social networks as much as Marketing

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 Community Duration
House Social Networks

25.0% 23.6%

20.9%
20.2%
20.0%

14.7%
15.0%
11.6%

8.9%
10.0%

5.0%

0.0%
1 - 3 months 3 - 6 months 6 - 12 12 - 24 2-3 years More than 3
months months years

Over 20% of house networks used more than 3 years

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 Revenue Generation on
House Social Networks
2.0% 1.6%

7.5%

7.1%
Not Fundraising
$0 - $1,000
$1,001 - $10,000
14.5%
$10,001 - $50,000
$50,001 - $100,000

67.5% More than $100,000

Two thirds of house networks are not fundraising

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 Fundraising Results on
House Social Networks
44.6%
45.0%

40.0%

35.0%

30.0%
22.9%
25.0% 21.7%

20.0%

15.0%

10.0% 6.0%
4.8%
5.0%

0.0%
$0 - $1,000 $1,001 - $10,000 $10,001 - $50,001 - More than
$50,000 $100,000 $100,000

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

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 House Social Network
Software Platform
48.5%
50.0%

45.0%

40.0%

35.0%

30.0%
22.5% %
25.0%

20.0%
12.3% 12.3%
15.0%
8.4%
10.0%

5.0%

0.0%
Other Custom Drupal Ning ThePort

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

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 Part 5

RESPONDENT PROFILES

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 Size of Nonprofits Surveyed
24.3% 24.4%

18.4%

14.5%
13.3%
% of
Nonprofits

5.0%

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

Employees

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 Annual Budget

45.0% 40.5%
40.0%
35.0% 31.3%

30.0%

% of 25.0% 19.6%
Nonprofits 20.0%

15.0%
10.0% 5.7%
2.9%
5.0%
0.0%
Under $1 $1 -$5 million $6 - $50 $51 - $250 Over $250
million million million million

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 Appendix

DETAILS OF SURVEY
RESPONDENTS
49 April 2010
 Organization Types
Human Services – Crime and legal, employment, 22.7%
agriculture and nutrition, housing, public safety, youth and
recreation
Education – Higher education, K-12 18.8%

Public & Societal Benefit – Civic rights and advocacy, 16.9%

community organizing, philanthropy, science and technology,
social sciences and government
Health & Healthcare – Mental health, diseases, disorders, 14.5%
and research
Environment & Animals – Environmental and animal 7.6%
welfare
Arts & Culture – Museums, community theatres, cultural 7.2%
centers and preservation societies

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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, 2.8%

national security and diplomacy
Other – Media, labor union, mutual benefit and for profit 1.8%
businesses

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 Complete 2010 Nonprofit Social Network
Benchmark Report Available Now

Download at www.nonprofitsocialnetworksurvey.com

Thank you!

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