Interview with Karen Taggart, Care2


Submitted by admin on Sun, 09/30/2007 - 20:40.

Care2Karen Taggart, Director of Nonprofit Services at Care2, brings to the table almost ten years of experience in nonprofit direct marketing (mail, telemarketing, and online). Prior to working at Care2, Karen was an Account Executive at Adams Hussey & Associates, working with such clients as NARAL Pro-Choice America, The Wilderness Society, Whitman-Walker Clinic, Defenders of Wildlife and Project HOPE. Her particular areas of interest include online/offline database integration, members relationship marketing (creating optimum donor experiences) and data modeling, targeting and segmentation. She can be reached at karen@earth.care2.com.

 

 

How can advocates best serve the ‘public interest’ in the new media environment?
One way is to make sure that the value of electronic communications is valued by Congress and other elected officials. It is important that we work with Congress to develop systems to help them evaluate electronic communications at the same level as any other form of constituent advocacy. I also think Net Neutrality is key... making sure that we can all access the same information, no matter what type of internet service we can afford.

 

Traditional media outlets have met a lot of criticism due to the lack of ownership of these properties by women/minorities.  Will the same argument apply to ownership of new media companies?
I think one of the best parts about new media is that you don't have to own a company or have a lot of money to take advantage of it. Many prominent bloggers have come out of nowhere and built their empires without significant financial investment... so, while we are not yet to the point where new media has completely taken down the barriers to access media, it has significantly lowered them. So, I don't think it's necessarily a question of who owns the media companies, but who controls the information. And in the world of new media, these two are not always the same (at least yet!).
 
 
In other countries, mobile devices are commonly used for political and informational campaigns, so why aren’t Americans using mobile technology for much beyond entertainment? What needs to change?
In terms of fundraising, the first thing that must change is the processing fees carriers are charging - as much as 50% per action! Until that is changed, text messaging on mobile devices will not likely become a major force in collecting donor contributions. Each year, the number of Americans texting increases drastically, and the types of people using mobile technology expands. I really think the only thing holding back text as a major tool is access to the technology... which is expanding each day. So, in terms of using mobile devises to organize, I don't think anything major has to change... it's just a matter of time.
 
 
As more nonprofits transition to their .org identity, must the overall roles of nonprofits evolve as well? How?
New Media is having a huge impact on the structure of nonprofits and how they structure their communications, field and marketing divisions. In the past, there was a clear distinction between supporters who were media, activists and donors and it was easy to keep separate the different types of communications each group needed. Now, as communication has become more and more of a two-way street thanks to the internet and new media, these lines are not always so clear. An organization's public image is directly related to its fundraising which is linked hand-in-hand with its programs and activism. Many organizations are in the midst of struggling with questions like: What department should manage the web site? Who should be responsible for email messaging? Should we fundraise to our online activists? What do we do with our multiple databases?
While this is crazy time for communications and nonprofits, its also a great opportunity to rethink how all of these pieces can better fit together to make stronger organizations.

 

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