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I am one... a charity evaluator... so I when looking at the plethora of charity evaluation platforms out there I realize that, just like the number of charities doing similar work, there are so many different ways to evaluate how charities are performing.  In the NY Times the other day there was an article entitled, “Putting Charities to the Test”, it looks at the different types of evaluation platforms and what you will find when you go online to research charities.  In Canada, we don’t have nearly the breadth of charity evaluators, but there are a few.  In an effort to provide donors with relevant information to make informed charitable decisions, below is a description of those platforms that look at the Canadian Charitable Sector.  Whatever you are choosing as your way of evaluating charities, it is important to know what the underlying analysis is. Read more »

Guest Blogger: Meghan Somers

According to the Merriam Webster dictionary social media is defined as: Forms of electronic communication (such as Web sites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content.

Popular platforms social media include:

§  Facebook: Currently the largest social network on the internet, built on the concept of friend-to-friend connections. 995+ million monthly active users

§  Twitter: Facilitates real-time personal "status updates" through short broadcasts (up to 140 characters) to other subscribers. 500+ million active users

§  LinkedIn: An online networking community for business people. 161+ million active professional users

§  Pinterest: Users organize and share content they find on the web via virtual pinboards. 10+ million monthly active users

§  Google+: Google’s answer to Facebook, users can share content and connect. 250+ million active users.

§  Blogs: A web site on which an individual or group of users record opinions, information, etc. on a regular basis.

These days social media is being utilized for a variety of innovative campaigns; whether as a way to attract potential customers, garnering attention or brandrecognition. Einstein Bros. Bagels’ used a Facebook campaign as a way to gain fans(friends) of their product. Be my friend, get a free bagel! Was the motto behindtheir fan page. The bagel give away increased Einstein Bros Facebook fan count from a 4,700 to a336,000-plus. Their Facebook wall was plastered with praise from bagels eaters.  Read more »