About Ryan Scott
Several years ago, entrepreneur Ryan Scott noticed a growing demand for online tools and technology in the nonprofit world. His solution was to create an online platform that could connect and empower some of the largest forces of change in the name of the world’s most pressing causes. In 2008, Ryan launched Causecast – an innovative social enterprise that delivers tools, technology and services that connect nonprofit organizations, brands, individuals, media networks, and celebrities.
We sat down with Ryan to discuss how organizations can leverage technology to make an impact.
SEA: Now that businesses are shifting to incorporate cause into their DNA, how can mission-focused organizations capitalize on this?
Ryan Scott: You’re right in that there is a fundamental shift in how businesses are conducting themselves – There is now a huge societal pressure in doing business for the common good in addition to the bottom line. But that pressure is still external – companies often want to have the appearance of doing good with as little actual investment as possible. This is what nonprofits and mission-focused organizations can most capitalize on but they must also be incredibly proactive in doing so.
Ostensibly, this is a golden time for nonprofits, which now have more access to business capital and resources than they have ever had before. But they won’t have these resources just handed to them. In order to maximize the opportunities this trend presents, they must be collaborative; they must break the old “open hand” model of fundraising that begins and ends with aggressively asking for donations. They must instead find ways to work with businesses to make their cause not only a positive philanthropic move, but a positive business move for their prospective company partner in new and creative ways. Just because you’re tax exempt does not mean you’re excused from being innovative.
SEA: As simple and basic a question this may be for someone in your field, why is technology important to mission-focused organizations?
Ryan Scott: Quite simply there is no way to keep track of systems as massive as employee engagement or customer engagement without technology. Managing 300k employees or 2 million customers can’t be done any other way. Being cause agnostic as many companies wish to be means that they let their employees volunteer or donate at any of the million+ 501c(3)s. Without databases and automated systems this is simply impossible to execute.
SEA: How should such organizations be using technology to get their stories out?
Ryan Scott: At this point in time, the technologies for telling an authentic and incredibly compelling story are more diverse and effective than they have ever been. Just as importantly, so are the distribution models for these stories. The worst thing an organization can do is to transpose old storytelling methods onto these new technologies.
That is because the ways in which the public consumes media has changed. Tearful pleas for funding and impersonal press releases mean nothing to today’s media consumer. These are dead media and too many organizations are wasting their time on them.
But a beautifully constructed and narrated story produced by an organization has just as much potential to go viral, drawing millions of eyeballs, as a story produced by a major network or publication. The new responsibility of organizations is not to tell their story to their audience, but to make them feel it. You can do that through any multimedia platform you are comfortable on and that tells your story the best, but it must be one that people can readily access and then share with others.
SEA: When it comes to technology where do mission-focused organizations miss the mark?
The technology to this point has largely been ineffective in dealing with campaigns at this scale. Furthermore, network effects can take place to make the entire marketplace more effective.
SEA: Many times the desire is there to have the right technology tools, but it all comes down to dollars and cents. How can mission-focused organizations “make the case” for making significant monetary investments in the right technology platforms?
Ryan Scott: Define your goals. If they are the ‘right’ technology platforms they will pay for themselves
SEA: What about social media? For many organizations it’s just an added hassle and a further time investment that seemingly brings no measurable returns. Why is it important?
We can all agree there is absolutely no reason to produce a story or to educate others about your organization if you don’t intend to distribute it on channels where you’ll reach your audience.
Social media does have its pitfalls, but it gives you instant access to a fresh, potentially sympathetic audience who, if they’ve sought you out online, is already primed to engage in your cause. Your alternative is to pay volunteers to canvass strangers in a neighborhood or paying a PR company to get your word out. The time and money put into targeting your niche audience directly -- That’s a savvy investment.
SEA: Again with social media, what are the absolute must-haves or must-do’s for mission-focused organizations?
Ryan Scott: You must have an online presence that is accessible and shareable. That can be on Facebook, Twitter, on your own site… whatever works for your cause, but supporters need to have a way to spread the word about your organization to their own favored social media sites. Embeddable donation tools and videos go a long way in terms of free promotion – so too do compelling pictures that fans (and for that matter, journalists) can use to talk about your organization.
Join Ryan Scott for a live webinar on "Cause Integration: Leveraging Technology to Make an Impact" on Wednesday April 13th at 1:00pm EDT.
Click here to register.
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