I know, I know, its been 4 days since I spoke at Net2 Houston www.netsquared.org--Thank you so much for the opportunity!! Since then, it's apparent that we need some help understanding the value current donors have to really help npo's.

My schpeel was very simple:

1. Businesses, REALLY support your non-proft by placing an "Our Cause/My Cause" page on your site in the navigation bar, complete with why you support them, how they've impacted your life and any content the cause has (readily available) to distribute. And: New Idea--Add the Causes FEED to your Company RSS reader.

Care2's nonprofit online marketing blog, frogloop, recently released a dual post on social networking worthy of a read from even the most staunch social networking gurus. Both the ROI Calculator and The Long, Long Tail of Facebook Causes articles will help you determine whether marketing on social networking makes sense for you.

The first one, an ROI Calculator, will help you calculate an estimate of cost and return on investment for the recruitment and fundraising efforts of your staff in social networking sites like Facebook or MySpace. It works sort of like an online mortgage calculator.

Just enter the starting assumptions like cost per hour of staff/volunteers, social network "friends" recruited per week, and the average response rate for outreach or advocacy mailings, and the tool calculates results automatically. This is a fantastic way to help you determine whether or not developing a presence on social networking sites is worth your hard earned dollars and precious time.