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If you haven’t tried out Otter.ai yet head over to TechSoup right now and get it! Seriously, It will change your life forever. There are so many different ways you can use this amazing tool in your workflow. I know you’re excited already but don’t stop reading yet! The rest of this post walks through Otter at-a-glance and how you can put it to work at your nonprofit. 

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Welcome to September!

I’ve been reviewing the last year and did you know that together we had more than 10,000 event registrations? This remarkable achievement is because of your commitment to hosting monthly events building the digital marketing and tech capacity of grassroots nonprofits. THANK YOU!

NetSquared's fiscal year begins July 1, so every summer I look back at the previous year of the community's activity to identify trends and lessons learned. This time I'll be looking at FY19, which covers July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019.

NetSquared is TechSoup’s global network of volunteer-led nonprofit technology meetups. We're the answer to the question “where can I get support to use technology effectively at my nonprofit?” Event attendees build their networks and learn practical digital skills to support their programs, marketing and fundraising.

NetSquared by the Numbers

Here's all the numbers for July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019.

• ​# of events: 1,154 (vs 1,119 previous year) ⬆️3%
• # of RSVPs: 10,279 (vs 11,529 previous year) ⬇️️11%
• # of active groups: 125 (vs 120 previous year) ⬆️14%
• # of countries with active group: 41 (vs 34 previous year) ⬆️4%
• # of meetup.com members: 68,154 (vs 58,212 previous year) ⬆️17%
• # of new groups created: 48 (vs 30 previous year) ⬆️60%

Many of us put our groups on pause for the summer, but now's the perfect time to plan for the fall. September and October are the busiest months on Meetup, so posting a strong trio of events is the best way to grow your local community.

Here's a possible schedule for your group:

September: Social Media Strategy — social media is the most popular topic five years in a row!

October: Google Analytics: Measuring What Matters — tracking conversions is vital for fundraising success.

November: Giving Tuesday: Year-End Fundraising Campaigns — leverage the energy of the global #GivingTuesday campaign, which is on December 3, 2019.

June has wrapped and with it TechSoup's fiscal year for 2019. Here's the latest numbers from the NetSquared community:

• 839 RSVPs
• 86 events
• 45 active groups

Find your local NetSquared #Tech4Good meetup or start your own group (it's super fun!)

Before you became a NetSquared organizer, you had some sort of vision for your group. You want to accomplish something with your community. You want to have events on topics you care about. 

NetSquared is committed to accessibility, so almost all our events are free. But food and drink can be a big lure (pizza is magic!), and in some countries it’s the expectation that events provide refreshments. Unfortunately it can be challenging to pay for food and drinks at evening Meetups. So, how do you get a sponsor for your group?

Create Value Consistently, Then Charge For It

In my four years of running events with the SFTech4Good Meetup, I grew the community (from 2,000 to nearly 5,000 members) in two ways: 

1. Consistently creating high-quality events (we did about 9 or 10 a year, or nearly one a month, with a summer break).
2. Sending out a monthly email newsletter with information about tech for good events, resources, and jobs – even those that we weren’t producing, but which were relevant to a tech for good audience.

What do those have in common? Creating value, repeatedly, over time.

Once you have a thriving community, and especially once you have a good size email list, you can charge for that value by identifying organizations with a problem you can solve. 

By Katharine Bierce

To volunteer to be a NetSquared leader, you don’t need to have a PhD in technology for international development. You also don’t need to be a saint. You can get something out of the experience, and it’s easy to get started. I volunteered with the SFTech4Good Meetup (formerly SFNetSquared) for four years, and even if you only run meetups for a year or two, it can still help you significantly advance your career!