Nonprofits and associations have to make the most out of the meager resources they have at hand. Rarely do they have the wherewithal to hire consultants or new people to take on such things as social media. Those new responsibilities usually fall to someone already overloaded or to volunteers. In either case, the result is often a steep learning curve and more than a little frustration and stress.
For example, my sister works for a major humanitarian charity and their social media work is being handled by a junior staff member who is learning as they go. But where do you learn this stuff as you go?
One option for nonprofits is Think Tank. Their mission is to help those in associations and nonprofits learn how to leverage social media for success. Their knowledge base features step-by-step guides, on demand Q&A, monthly virtual learning sessions and peer-to-peer discussions.
You can watch a quick introduction and overview of what Think Tank can do for you in a quick video here.
The founders describe Think Tank as an experiment for nonprofit and association learning in social media. Full access for Think Tank workshops and resources will cost you $25 a month. That’s not that steep when you consider what social media training can cost you. And as they point out at Think Tank, that training is often not specific to nonprofits and associations which are unique in their requirements and resource limitations.
Aside from the fact that you are learning from and with your professional peers at Think Tank, there is also the convenience of being able to learn when you want to. Rather than having to spend a day in training and using up time you don’t have, this site allows you to learn mostly at your own pace, when it suits you.
Using the learning resources at Think Tank, you can train not only those employees you have, but also your volunteers. Volunteers are vital to any association or nonprofit, but training and supporting them can take up a lot of time you simply don’t have. Using this kind of online training means they too can learn at their own pace when it’s convenient. Having social savvy volunteers means you have more depth and more reach in social media and that certainly can’t hurt.
If you’re an association or nonprofit diving into social media, take a dip in the Think Tank first and you won’t end up all wet.