The Non-Profit Times: The Soles4Souls Blog

Blogging From The Top

Ask a techie whether your nonprofit should be blogging and the answer might be, "What are you waiting for?" Ask a nonprofit CEO and the answer could be closer to, "Who's got time?" or "What's the ROI?"

If return on investment (ROI) is the sole measure of success for an endeavor, then a blog might not be for you. However, some nonprofits are turning to blogs to help craft their messages and encourage more active participation with their organizations.

Soles4Souls, a Nashville, Tenn.-based charity that collects and distributes shoes to people who need them, has had a blog since the organization started three years ago. "It's really our means of community," said CEO Wayne Elsey.

Though Soles4Souls gets plenty of media attention, a blog is "our way of being on the 6 o'clock news every day," Elsey said, whether it's reporting about a large donation of shoes received, or a need for donations in response to a disaster. "We get shoes, we give them away. Whether it's a disaster that just happened, whether in Tennessee or overseas, like in Katrina, we just communicate where the need is and where the distribution networks are."While Soles4Souls could update the blog daily, Elsey said it's usually updated three or four times a week. "We really make an effort to do it once a week," he said.

Soles4Souls plans to unveil a redesigned Web site this spring, which will include an expanded blog section where supporters can post their own entries, videos and experiences. The blog will have more of a sense of community, he said, with encouragement to get people plugged in, including more video.

"Honestly, I think it's the way of the future," Elsey said.

Elsey estimates about three or four hours a week is spent either writing for the blog or coming up with ideas for the blog. A blog post could be anything from news about a significant donation, strategic alliance or distribution arrangement. "It's a good way to give credit to people too," Elsey said, such as a 50,000-shoe donation last year from Red Wing Shoes. He recalled one post that was a thank you letter from a man in New Jersey who was the recipient of a donation and later got a job.

Elsey meets for 30 to 60 minutes a week with his publicist to brainstorm ideas for blog posts. When the organization first started a blog, he described it as a funnel "a mile wide and an inch deep." But now the focus is on three areas that it wants to communicate: donations, alliances and distribution.

"The hardest challenge is to tie me down and extract all the information from me," he said. "It's not beneath me, it's an integrate part of our communications mechanism."

Soles4Souls gets about 500,000 hits to its Web site each month, with about 250,000 unique visitors, Elsey said, but did not have statistics immediately available for the blog. Having an updated blog also increases the likelihood of being listed in an Internet search while users also can subscribe directly, by email or RSS feed.