The Nonprofit Blog Exchange

This week I’ll be participating in the pilot effort of the Nonprofit Blog Exchange. It’s a project for anyone who works for or with mission-based organizations.

The goals of the project are to:

• promote cross-awareness and cooperation among nonprofit/ngos with diverse missions and to
• encourage nonprofit bloggers to visit other non-profit blogs.

Nonprofit organizations are using blogs in new ways and they are increasing in popularity. Read more about the blog exchange: http://nonprofitblogexchange.blogspot.com/

If you aren’t really clear on what exactly a blog is, wikipedia has a good definition. It explains that “Blogs range in scope from individual diaries to arms of political campaigns, media programs, and corporations. They range in scale from the writings of one occasional author, to the collaboration of a large community of writers.” You can read the full definition here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

The blog I’ve been assigned to exchange with in the Nonprofit Blog Exchange comes from Moving Ideas.org – The electronic policy network to connect you to the progressive community.

I like the fact that they have a page About The Blog which explains why they do the blog, why it’s called “Ideopolis”, and who contributes to the blog. This page explains that “The nature of the blog allows us to continuously highlight facts, events, legislation, opinion and commentary.” I actually would have liked to have learned more about the backgrounds of each of the contributors.

I think that blogs are an ideal place to share diverse ideas and perspectives. The Moving Ideas blog does that very well and offers numerous links to articles from mainstream media like The Washington Post, less known publications, and other blogs. It also provides a space for representatives of their member organizations to engage in dialogue. Thanks to The Nonprofit Blog Exchange, I’ve discovered a new nonprofit blog – one that offers an excellent example of how nonprofits can use blogs to share timely and thought-provoking ideas. Visit the Moving Ideas Blog here:

http://www.movingideas.org/minblog/