How Can You Connect Offline Communities with Those Online?

by Kivi Leroux Miller on June 29, 2010

in NCGives,Nonprofit Communications,Online Marketing

Here’s a new question from Melinda Pearce at NCGives (read about our partnership here):

How do you connect online and offline communities? from Kivi Leroux Miller on Vimeo.

At the NC Tech4Good conference last week, we learned that North Carolina is second only to Texas for the total number of people living in rural communities, and 20% of rural North Carolinians have no access to broadband, even if they were willing to pay for it. And of course, even if broadband is available, many people can’t afford it and some simply don’t go online much.

That leaves statewide nonprofit organizations like NCGives, which wants to connect with all North Carolinians, in a bind. Online marketing is an easy, affordable way to connect with people across the state, but it also leaves many people out of the conversation.

What are some creative ways to integrate people who are offline into conversations that are happening largely online? Share your ideas here by leaving a comment.

Rebekah

We have a lot of donors who are either low-income or are older and therefore aren't online. So we keep up a robust print newsletter schedule to complement our online activities. One thing I would like to do more of is incorporate comments from our blog and Facebook into our print newsletter. We also do a lot of phone calling about our events (we're a community organizing group), so that at least encourages conversation between the volunteer who is calling and the member they're talking to.