Via Non-Profit Marketing Blog, are a couple links to Frogloop, a blog whose goal is to “catalyzing expertise in nonprofit online communication.”

I haven’t gotten a chance to really look at the site, but Katya at Non-Profit Marketing blog linked to an interesting piece on using social networking sites like Facebook to fundraise. The short story is, it is too early in the process to tell if it will be effective. But the guys at Frogloop do a super job analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the practice. They also offer tips on how to position your organization to be most successful.

To top it all off they even provide a Return on Investment calculator to figure out if it is worth tasking an employee or volunteer to work on developing fundraising efforts on social networks.

I plugged in a few different numbers and as near as I can figure it, you pretty much already have to have a powerful fundraising machine at your disposal (think Sierra Club) to make social networking worth the investment. It seems the type of thing that will complement efforts by providing people with an alternative way to give and encourage others to do the same. It doesn’t appear that social network fundraising is going to provide leverage for small organization to raise big money unless the cause is already poised to take off.

I would be really interested to learn if someone (perhaps the good people at Frogloop) have created a similar calculator for direct mail, phone appeals and the other tools fund raisers use. I assume the tools are out there, I just haven’t seen them.

On the other hand, ignorance might be bliss. I might discover I would save money if I stopped asking for it. Though as Andrew Taylor pointed out back in May, some times fund raising events aren’t about making money.

For some reason the past two weeks have been chock full of site specific performances in my city. I don’t know if this is a trend or a coincidence. I thought I would make mention of them in the hope that others might find inspiration in them. Considering one event sold out an extended run very quickly, I would imagine it earned a mention on butts in the seas.

Said event, which I was unable to get tickets for, took over a house that was set to be torn down for a performance of “The Living Tarot.” The dance company repainted all the rooms to create an interpretation of different Tarot cards. When the audience arrived, small groups were given a tarot reading (with a very limited deck, of course) and were lead through the house in the order that their reading dictated. Company members were stationed in each room to perform the essence of that particular card.

The project was quite intriguing and I am sorry I was not quick enough with my credit card to secure tickets. This isn’t the type of thing one sees often considering the dance group not only found someone willing to let them take over the house before it was torn down but also convinced businesses nearby to let the audience park in their lots.

The second performance I saw this past Friday in the rotunda at city hall. Since Friday was a state holiday, the group was able to set up their performance during the day and leave it up for a show on Saturday evening. The rotunda was set up with stages reminiscent of the old traveling carnival attractions (i.e. painted canvas hawking the strong man). I’m told the original intent was to have people walk around from station to station as the performances rotated but somehow most of the action ended up at the center stage and the audience mostly sat. I am not quite sure what caused the plan to be changed.

The performances were a mixed bag in terms of quality and some of the segues between pieces didn’t quite work. On the whole, it was interesting. Even with the focus of the event being on the center stage, the setting and the social dynamics enabled them to use the space and interact with the audience to a degree that a proscenium stage would have allowed.

The final event I wanted to mention wasn’t site specific per se, but it was in an unorthodox location. On Saturday I attended a fundraiser for a dance company at the furniture store cum bar, restaurant and theatre I wrote about earlier this year. It was the first time I had been to the facility, (first time I have ever been valet parked at a furniture store, too), and I have to say the juxtaposition works despite what I feel was some healthy skepticism on my part.

As impressed as I was by the architecture, I also appreciated the design of the event. Admission was $20 General, $100 VIP with various rewards, $250 for even better perqs, including dinner. While $20 didn’t get you all the benefits, you could wander through various rooms including the restaurant and watch the entertainment in each location. The way the entertainment was programmed, most everyone would gravitate toward the bar and the theater. There was plenty of room for those who did wander into the restaurant section that they could stand apart from the diners without disturbing them but still enjoy the performances.

I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but I thought it was cleverly done to make those who paid $20 feel as if they got more for their money by allowing them access everywhere while also insuring that those who paid $250 were not in a situation where they felt their experience was diluted by throngs hovering at their elbows.

I have a feeling that great dynamic was just dumb luck but I am going to ask the artistic director running the fund raiser if it were planned. It seems like a winning atmosphere to cultivate, especially given that I was coaxed into parting with a little more money that evening.