We have the Impact Awards, a monthly award for nonprofits of any size that are utilizing the MySpace tools to the best of their abilities. We collect nominees and MySpace users get to choose the winner, and the winner gets a $10,000 award.
And we have a volunteer match section, where people can get involved with organizations. And we have a dedicated team that works with nonprofits to get them to utilize the tools to the best of their abilities.
Nonprofit Technology News: Why is the nonprofit sector important to MySpace?
Brenner: We created Impact because there was a major demand amongst our users to do good in the world. There were so many nonprofits and individuals that wanted to get involved with cause-related activities, that were already on MySpace, we thought it would make sense with the demand to have a central location and a team that connected the two. And obviously there's the corporate social responsibility ethic to it, but MySpace is all about user-generated (content) and the community is so large -- the community wanted it and demanded it. So we responded.
I think that translates into how nonprofits can use MySpace. It's a very fluid world. Nonprofits can use it as an extension of their organization’s brand and identity. They can try things out and the users can either respond positively or negatively, but they can easily just change it.
In the old world nonprofits had to send out pamphlets or go door-to-door. This way they can have a strategy just for their MySpace community, and try things out, and it can become viral if they utilize best practices that we provide.
Nonprofit Technology News: Can you talk more about "best practices"?
Brenner: We send out a packet, for free, to any organization that wants it. It's everything from making sure that their page has fresh information, that it's updated frequently. That they utilize video for events, PSAs, and humor. And using a bulletin, so they can send out information to all the friends they have to spread the word, spread the gospel, so that more people will come back to their page. We tell people they should advertise their MySpace page in their offline marketing, because there are so many people that utilize MySpace, and those people are more inclined to check out a MySpace page than an outside Web site. If you include in your marketing you'll have a lot more people coming to your MySpace page and, ideally, participating in your programs.
Nonprofit Technology News: What are the biggest challenges for nonprofits in using MySpace?
Brenner: A lot of it is simply getting out of the old thinking that you have to send out pamphlets and that all the donors have to be big-dollar donors. Also thinking that once you put something online that it happens automatically. You do get a lot more bang for your buck when you do things in the MySpace world, but you have to have a strategy behind it. That strategy can just include an intern updating your page every day, maybe changing some things around. And that has to be part of a grander strategy.
There are some organizations that solely work on MySpace, but there are other organizations that have had success offline that want to bring their success online. But they have to do some campaigning -- there's a lot of value in using social networking, but there has to be a strategy behind it.
What we're trying to do is democratizing philanthropy. Donations are coming in smaller amounts, but in mass quantities. People -- especially younger people -- are willing to give, but they can't afford the big dollar amounts. Online you can give $2, and you can feel good about it. And we suggest that organizations let people know -- if they give $2, what will that go toward? If it's going to buy a jug of water in Uganda, that gives people a sense of where their money is going.
Nonprofit Technology News: What's your biggest success story so far?
Brenner: We've done very well with the Burrito Project. They were the first winner of the Impact Awards. The organization was trying to give burritos to homeless people. That spun off, because of the way they utilized MySpace and got attention, franchises around the country and also in other countries -- and other organizations, like the Falafel Project. That's been very exciting.
We also have, within Impact, sections like "Rock for Darfur," blending all the strengths, like working with outside nonprofits while using MySpace’s music community and blending it together for a cause.
Nonprofit Technology News: What's your overall view of the state of nonprofits and the social networking space?
Brenner: It's growing, and the more organizations get involved in using the social networking world, the better. The more tools that are available to nonprofits and charities, the better. We tell organizations there's no reason, if you're on one (site), there's no reason not to have a page on another. The more you can get out there, the better.
I think that the core of MySpace is more about self-expression, where other sites are more about utility. So a MySpace page can be more of an extension of an organization's brand and identity. There's a very high level of customization on a MySpace page that's not necessarily available on others. So they can implement all of their tools and assets all in one section.
Nonprofit Technology News: Is there a chance that they'll spread themselves too thin if they do that?
Brenner: It does come down to what resource the nonprofit has. We talk about that in best practices -- that if they don't have time to update their MySpace page regularly, they’re not going to get the most bang for their buck. So if they're only going to have one major social networking area, we think it should be MySpace, because we're the largest and have the most tools.
Nonprofit Technology News: MySpace and other social networks tend to skew to younger people. Is that changing at all, and does it have an impact on your work with nonprofits?
Brenner: We certainly are youth-oriented, but we have 110 million users worldwide, and they're not all young people. There are people of all ages on MySpace, and 85 percent of users are over 18. They're in college or in their 20s or early 30s, and they're starting to make money and get involved. These are the people often running these organizations.
Nonprofit Technology News: What's one piece of advice you give a nonprofit that wants to get started on MySpace, if you only have a minute to talk with them?
Brenner: To upload as much content as possible onto their page and to spread the word that they have a MySpace page. Because once you tell people you have your MySpace page up, people will start to come to it. And then I'll give them my card and tell them to call me.
Lee Brenner is the Director of IMPACT (Public Affairs) & Executive Producer of Political Programming for MySpace. The IMPACT channel is MySpace's hub for social and civic engagement, designed to empower MySpace users to make a difference in the world and to allow politicians, non-profits, and civic organizations to connect with MySpace's global audience. As his first project with MySpace, Lee spearheaded the company's partnership with MTV and assisted in the production of the ground-breaking series of MySpace/MTV Presidential Dialogues. Prior to joining MySpace, Lee was Senior Editorial Producer of CNN's "Late Edition w/ Wolf Blitzer." Lee also produced "American Morning" and "NewsNight w/ Aaron Brown" during his tenure at CNN. Lee received a B.A. in International Relations from Tufts University and completed his Masters in International and Public Affairs (MIPA) at the University of Hong Kong. 