Virtual Community-Building for Nonprofit Organizations

What does “virtual community” mean? And what does virtual community-building mean for nonprofits in the business of building actual communities?

In 1993, Howard Rheingold coined the term when he described a "computerized counterculture" of meaningful relationships formed among people whose only or primary interaction was online. In his book The Virtual Community, he observed, "The fact that we need computer networks to recapture the sense of cooperative spirit that so many people seemed to lose when we gained all this technology is a painful irony."

Today, when online consumers chat and post product reviews, their interaction is considered a form of virtual community. By fostering an environment where customers can exchange ideas with one another, e-tailers hope to increase loyalty-- and loyal customers return to buy more products. Are these principles relevant for non-profit websites? If loyalty is increased, will participation and support increase? How can online community complement our organization’s work in the “real” community? Before we consider these questions, let’s create a working definition for the term, "virtual community."

“Virtual Community” Is An Interactive Space that:

1. Has a distinctive focus: a successful virtual community has a clear purpose that meets members’ needs.
2. Integrates content and communication: content is dynamic and engages members.
3. Incorporates member-generated content: the compelling feature of virtual community is the potential for members to contribute their ideas.
4. Provides access to competing vendors and publishers: a high quality site provides diverse resources to members.
   
   From Net Gain: Expanding Markets Through Virtual Communities by John Hagel III and Arthur Armstrong

Kinds Of virtual communities:

Some communities are open to anyone, others screen levels of access with password-protected areas, so confidential information is available only to those with access.

Marketspace communities:

designed as a marketing and advertising tool to extend information dissemination and exchange to include the broader public.

Extranet communities:

designed to strengthen relationships with others in the field, partners, funders/grantees or customers; access is limited to members through password protected

Intranet communities:

designed to facilitate knowledge sharing within an organization.

Is Virtual Community Right For Your Organization?

Successful organizations, as well as online communities, must have a clear purpose that meets members’ needs. The Drucker Foundation’s Self Assessment Tool suggests that we ask ourselves key questions to clarify what services our organization will deliver, to whom and how: What is our business? Who is our customer? What does the customer value? These questions can also help us think about whether and why building virtual community-building will advance our mission.

What is our business? The mission drives the nonprofit organization. Who is our customer? Who is the primary customer: the person who directly receives our services, whose life is changed through our work? Who are supporting customers, internal and external people whose needs are fulfilled by our organization? They are volunteers, partners, sponsors, donors, or family members of primary customers. What does the customer value? What benefits do these varied customers derive from associating with our organization?

Now we might ask: What is our cyber-business? What is our cyber-mission? How does the mission for the online part of our operation compare or complement the services we provide offline? Who is our cyber-customer? Who are primary and supporting customers online? Do we have new global customers whose only contact with the organization is online? What do these cyber-customers value?

Are answers to the second set of questions different than the first? For some organizations, the secondary customer “offline” may become the primary customer online. By determining what they value, we can decide what information and exchange would make our site relevant to their lives.

For example, an organization that serves as its primary customers children with disabilities, may decide that parents and family members are the primary cyber-customers. The online mission might be to provide schedules, newsletters, parenting tips and links to other online resources. This organization might develop virtual community with chat rooms for parents. It could be an intranet community, open to parents of children in the same classroom, or a public threaded discussion open any parents of young children with developmental disabilities. Parents may value being able to better help their children, get the support they need from other parents, coordinate with the teacher—without having to attend a meeting. In this example the global cyber-customers might be parents and family members who access public discussions because they need information and support, but live in rural areas or places where local services are unavailable.

Access by primary cyber-customers is a critical factor, so the organization might consider options such as offering workshops for parents in how to participate in the virtual community, cooperating with libraries or other places where parents without computers can obtain access, distributing donated equipment or arranging with an internet service provider for discounted services.

Questions, answers and the resulting plan of action would be thoroughly different if the organization saw virtual community-building as a means for board development, best practices exchange among staff at different sites, or as a way to obtain feedback from far-flung members on the upcoming conference agenda. Like any effective strategy, virtual community-building starts with having a clear goal in mind, and works best when the method matches the objectives.

Virtual Community: Ways To Foster Interaction In And With Your Organization

Threaded discussion or bulletin board:

• Asynchronous: maximum flexibility, participation doesn’t require real-time coordination.
• Encourages dialogue since participants post opinions and react to others’ comments.

• Linear format encourages continuity of comments on topic. Can be moderated by experts or volunteers, or both.

  Example: SeniorNet Discussion Boards

Chat room:

• Synchronous, real-time communication.
• Can be used for live forum, Q & A with guest speaker, or for online meeting.

• Requires facilitator to accomplish agenda and maintain topic integrity.

  Example: About.Com Nonprofit Chatrooms

Polling:

• Quick, informal read on opinions.
• Way to gather input on decisions.

Active Calendar:

• Organize internal projects or teams.
• Publicize events or meetings.
• Build awareness of organization's activities.
• Increase participation.

Email and listservs:

• Easy exchange of information and ideas, can be moderated or not
• Follow up, reminders of on and offline events
• Draw attention to new content on the website/virtual community

Use Free Software To Experiment With Virtual Community-Building:

Polling:

• Zoomerang offers customizable survey templates and a fee service is available for those who need more detailed analysis of survey results.

Chat, Bulletin Boards and Active Calendars:

• Yahoo Groups allow fully customizable open or closed groups to work through email lists, shared access to files, databases and calendars, as well as chat rooms.
• Vistocorp's free accounts allow you to share calendars, files and bookmarks. You can also manage joint projects and track tasks. Visto even works with wireless access.

Checklist For The Nonprofit Virtual-Community Organizer

Identify a purpose, create a focus

• How can virtual community advance the organization's mission?
• How can virtual community complement, extend services offered?
• How can virtual community increase participation in educational efforts or decision-making processes?

Identify target customers

• Primary?
• Secondary?
• Global?

Invite existing and attract new members

• Use email, fliers or publications to draw attention to community offerings

Promote participation

• Build on common bond or experience
• Aggregate resources relevant to members
  • Internally generated information: timely information on events or programs
  • Externally generated information: Links to other online resources
• Increase access and skills of target customers

Create coalitions and strategic partnerships

• Who else is reaching/trying to reach your cyber customers?
• Can you join efforts with other nonprofits who provide complementary services?
• What businesses might want to advertise on or sponsor your site?