What is your charities name and Mission?
Women’s Resource Centre. @WhyWomen We’re an umbrella organisation for women’s organisations and projects that work with women. We support women’s organisations to be more effective and sustainable. We provide training, resources and support to women's organisations and we campaign and lobby on key issues for the sector.

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
We’ve been using Twitter for about a year, and it was the brilliant idea of our Head of Communications, Leah Williams. Leah was inspired by a CharityComms presentation given by Rachel Beer.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
So much! It’s been great finding other women’s organisations on Twitter, keeping up to date with what they’re doing, putting them in touch with each other, and raising awareness of the great work they do. We’ve also made touch with lots of lovely supporters and people who are interested in women’s organisations – there are lots of them out there, and now they’re following us!

Has there been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
In general, people have been very generous with their time and support. We’ve been encouraging women’s organisations to join Twitter, and people have been very nice, saying hello to them and helping them out. We’ve also had people offering donations to our members or volunteering their time and support.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Nothing major really. Perhaps just adjusting the working day to incorporate Twitter and other social media – people really do expect quick responses and a regular presence. Being involved in such an ‘open’ medium, where people feel very empowered to contact you, support you and challenge you, is fantastic, but it can feel quite an exposed position for charities that aren’t used to working in that way.

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
It’s quite a serious one, but important: Twitter can take up a lot of time (if not all your time) if you let it. To make sure your tweeting is having the maximum impact for your charity, go back to your strategic aims and think about how Twitter (and social media in general) can help you to meet those aims. Twitter isn’t just a shiny new toy – it can really help you to achieve your aims.

For example, at WRC one of our aims is to network women’s organisations to help them work better together and support each other – Twitter is a natural tool for this. We also use it to let people know about the important work done by women’s organisations across the country. So… although Twitter can also be a lot of fun, I’d say that charities should keep a firm eye on what they’re trying to achieve, otherwise it will eat up your life!

What is your charities name and Mission?
We are Guide Dogs UK (The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association) founded in 1934 to deliver mobility and access services that meet the needs and aspirations of blind and partially-sighted people in the United Kingdom.

The guide dogs service receives no government funding and relies totally on voluntary donations.

We have been providing guide dogs to blind and partially-sighted people for over 75 years; there are around 4,500 guide dog partnerships in the UK. We also fund major research projects aimed at enabling blind and partially-sighted people to make the best use of any remaining vision they may have.

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
We started using Twitter this year as @GuideDogsUkPups (in Spring) and @GuideDogsUK (in late Autumn) to reach out to new supporters. That followed establishing a more organised presence on Facebook as well. We want to engage with our supporters, fundraisers, volunteers and with others interested in helping Guide Dogs.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
It’s good to chat with our supporters. See what they’ve got to tell us and be able to answer their questions in almost real time. We are hoping more people will be able to learn about the ways we can help them and equally more will be able to support us in the ways that suit them best.

Have there been incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
We’ve had a very strong reaction to a recent attack on a guide dog in London with supporters expressing their concerns, extending words of support and offering donations across all social networks including Twitter.

We’re delighted to be able to report that the guide dog has made a full recovery.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Well, getting our message out to all our supporters has been challenging, but we're getting there with 587 @GuideDogsUKPups and 287 @GuideDogsUK followers and growing!

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
Make sure you respond to all messages posted to you on your feed. Make sure you re-tweet worthy tweets by both your supporters and peers. And stay tuned in.

What is your charities name and Mission?
Commit 2B Fit® @commit2bFit is dedicated to preventing childhood obesity and promoting overall wellness. 

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
We’ve been using Twitter for about 6 months; it was my idea. 

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
It is intriguing to me – interesting how it all works.

Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
A few followers have helped spread the word about our organization / mission.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Figuring out the most effective and efficient way to use Twitter.  It’s very time consuming – and not sure we are maximizing the benefits.

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
I would recommend getting someone who truly understands Twitter and how to use to “Tweet” for your organization.

What is your charities name and Mission?
We’re Valley Public Radio @KVPR, a public radio station serving Central California, USA. Our mission is to serve expanding audiences through quality communication services that are informative, innovative, educational and stimulating. Programming is expected to expand the listener's awareness of his/her world, and to present that which the listener may not know exists.

How long have you been using Twitter and whose idea was it?

We began using Twitter at the beginning of 2009 – February, I think. Our first posts were by our Membership Manager, who is still the principal user of the KVPR Twitter account.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
We’ve enjoyed meeting a lot of followers, many of whom we didn’t realize were such regular listeners to our radio broadcast. For the most part, our followers on Twitter are not station members, and it’s been very enjoyable to meet what is, for us, a new audience.

Has there been an incident of a follower(s) doing something wonderful for you?
We’ve had followers help to promote concerts, programming and ticket giveaways by using their networks to re-tweet our information. We also had a local video blogger offer to feature one of our local program hosts on her video blog.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Our biggest Twitter challenge has been finding enough time to cultivate and build relationships with our Twitter followers. We operate on a small staff (10 full-time employees) and each already wears multiple hats. We’re committed to expanding our social media skill set, though!

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
Twitter is a wonderful tool for connecting with your supporters. The trick for Valley Public Radio has been finding out what sort of conversation works best for our organization, then finding the people in the Twitterverse who are interested in that conversation. Most of the time – they’ll let YOU know who they are, so listen carefully.

What is your non-profits name and Mission?
I founded www.zero-credit.co.uk in June 2009 as a not for profit project - I am about to start exploring a more formal organisational structure towards possible charitable status in the longer term.  The mission is to eradicte the stigma of debt and to promote credit free living.

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
I have been using twitter since the end of June 2009 - I kind of knew I'd have to take that step at some point but it was learning that only days earlier an American had already taken my ideal username: @zerocredit (and I had done loads of research into the domain etc) which prompted me to take the plunge ASAP

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
the empowerment of access to information.  I was in social research for 10 years before the last 10 which I have spent in teaching - it has given me back a currency of topicality which I thought would take far longer to achieve.  

Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
loads - I have met some very supportive and influencial people without whom I should not have been able to disseminate so much information - from RTs, recommendations and advice to practical support with now redesigning my CMS (watch this space)

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Time!  I work part time as a teacher because i need to pay my way.  I was holding off at going the funding applications route - I've financed and resourced everything I've done to date single handed - but the project has become bigger than I can manage under current arrangements so I am fortunate to have some offers of co-working to move it forward - again these contacts have all come about through Twitter, which is great because I had envisaged the project's being a predominantly online and virtual resource.

The other is, of course, the tragedy that whichever name you choose, if it's associated with debt folk assume you are a scoundrel!  I still get the odd block and "that doesn't affect me - I'm solvent".  Shame because these folk are THE most likely to suffer from stigma and use the wrong kinds of advice should they have difficulties - but I'll keep at it!

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
supportive people are NFPtweetup, RobmDyson, Freshties excellent examples of different approaches to NFP
social media campaigns:  bullyinguk and pixel project

stop listing for #charitytuesday and #followfriday - go for a more personal approach with a reason

What is your charities name and Mission?

YoungMinds

YoungMinds is the UK’s leading charity committed to improving the emotional well being and mental health of children and young people and empowering their parents and carers.

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?

My first tweet was on the 1st April 2009,  and it was my idea.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?

Meeting so many supportive people, and finding new opportunities to promote our work

Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?

Yes @7wondersin7days is raising money for us and 6 other charities – visiting the 7 wonders of the world in 7 days

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?

Get involved the more you tweet, the more you get from twitter.

What is your charities name and Mission?

West Sussex Mediation Service @mediation1

“This Service commits itself to seek the resolution of actual or potential conflict in the community
between individuals, groups or organisations through a process of mediation, in order that opposing
positions may be reconciled”.

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?

Since February 2009 – how time flies!.  It was my idea.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?

Reaching out to like minded people across the globe. Gaining so much information to help the Charity.

Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?

Nothing grand but some small kind gestures of support and ideas.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?

Not getting too hooked and spending too much time tweeting!

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?

Get involved - you have to a presence. So much info and ideas circulating on Twitter that you won’t find elsewhere in such quick time.

What is your charities name and Mission?

What is your name?

How long have you been using Twitter and whose idea was it?

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?

Has there been an incident of followers doing something wonderful for you?

What has been your biggest challenge to date?

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?

What is your charity’s name and mission?

Why do you use Facebook and which services do you use?

We established a Facebook Group page for The Stroke Association in 2007, which we changed to a Page in early 2009. It began very much as an experiment – we hoped to reach a wider audience of younger stroke survivors and the families of older stroke survivors, and potential fundraisers.

The idea was that, although our main website is an extremely useful source of information about stroke with its own chat forum, it is also a static web page and relies on people coming to it. We wanted to turn this around and take The Stroke Association to the people.

Facebook had millions of members in the UK and was the obvious place to start. We also experimented with MySpace and Bebo, but it was Facebook that has proved really successful for us.

We now have a steadily growing membership which is currently over 3,500 (our previous Group page reached 5000). We’ve used as many Facebook services as we can – we list our fundraising events under Events, we post photos and videos and encourage our members to do the same, and we use both the Wall and the Discussions tab to answer people’s questions about stroke.

Despite stroke being the UK’s third biggest killer and the largest cause of severe adult disability, stroke remains a much misunderstood condition and we consider it a vital part of our work to pass on information and advice wherever people find us, including on Facebook.

We also use the Wall to post weekly updates to our members and, with people being able to post comments and show their support for a particular update, this is an excellent way to gauge interest in our campaigns, news, fundraising events and other activities. It’s always exciting to post an update and see the supportive response!

Have Facebook supporters done something wonderful for you?

Many of our members have taken part in our fundraising events and we are always hugely grateful to them – their support is essential in funding the work we do, from pioneering stroke research to campaigning for better stroke care to our Life After Stroke Services for stroke survivors and their carers.

In addition, our members’ feedback on campaigns and their willingness to take part in surveys has been invaluable. But the most wonderful thing that we have found about our Facebook page is actually not what our members have done for us, but what they do for each other.

Our page is simply a venue for them to get involved and offer personal advice and support to other people in similar situations – this has created a very real sense of community that we at The Stroke Association are very proud to be part of.

Do you consider Facebook an important part of your work online?

We believe that Facebook is a hugely important part of our online presence. It allows us to have a much more intimate, personal and equal relationship with our supporters, and demonstrates who we are and what we do as a charity perfectly.

In addition, with many stroke survivors unable or unwilling to leave their homes due to disability, the online community that has formed on our Facebook Page is proving vital in breaking down this isolation and the resulting depression.

Have you encountered any problems using Facebook?

Do you have any tips for other charities?

We believe it’s very important to have an informal, personal tone of voice on Facebook. Facebook users are there to meet their friends and socialise, so rather than having a formal “voice of the charity”, try to fit in with this tone in order to engage your members.

Anyone at The Stroke Association who posts a message to our members on Facebook always writes as themselves and signs off with their name so that people know there are personalities behind our Page.

Allow members to offer their own support and advice to others and don’t be too concerned about the lack of control or the possibility of negative posts. We only remove posts that are commercial in nature or abusive (and we’ve had very few of those).

If someone posts about a bad experience, this can be a great opportunity to demonstrate that you are there to help out and turn a bad experience into a good one.

What is your charities name and Mission?

We're Meningitis Research Foundation, we're active in the UK and Ireland working towards a world free from meningitis and septicaemia. To achieve this we fund research into new methods of prevention, detection and treatment of the diseases. Until vaccines exist for all forms of the disease we are working hard to raise awareness of the symptoms of the diseases among the general public and health professionals. We also work closely with individuals and families who have been affected by these terrible diseases.

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?

We started using twitter back in January, it was a natural progression for us after establishing a really successful presence on facebook Engaging with our supporters through social media has been something I've been pushing forward for the last 2 years. A few quick searches showed that there were loads of discussions going on already about meningitis and many of our supporters were already using twitter, it was a logical decision for us to make sure we were where they were.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?

It's been great to be able to reach out to more people with questions or concerns about the disease, 5 years ago we had to rely on them finding us and ringing our helpline, now we can be proactive and reach out to people. We've been able to offer support to people whilst their child is ill in hospital, answering their questions for them when they need answers most.

Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?

Each year we run a big awareness campaign, this year it was great to see so many of our followers spreading the word for us, not only were our awareness messages retweeted countless times, our supporters added in their own stories and we also managed to generate interest from the press picking up on our stories.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?

Initially it took a while for others to see the benefits of twitter, as with any new initiative it took a few months to gather momentum. After an initial period where we added supporters & contacts we knew were on twitter we went through a period where we weren't really growing much, which added to the scepticism but after we found our way and worked out the right tone & content we started to grow at a steady rate. It's now really nice to see the number of retweets & hits on our site we get when a post a link.

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?

Make sure you use a service like bit.ly that allows you to track and measure the impact your tweets are having it helps persuade others in your organisation you're not just wasting time.

Also don't be afraid to be informal and chatty, try to mix up your corporate messages with a few fun posts.

What is your charities name and Mission

Why do you use Facebook and which services do you use?

Have Facebook supporters done something wonderful for you?

Do you consider Facebook an important part of your work online?

Have you encountered any problems using Facebook?

Have do you have any tips for other charities?

Funnily enough, my best tip would be one I stole from John Carnell of Technicavita and Bullying UK which is to identify the difference between 'signal' and 'noise'. Give your audience content they can interact with to establish a constructive dialog.

Also, be consistent in your 'uptime'.  Many organisations see social media as a back-burner communications tool and that is steadily changing, but I feel that if you commit to regularly keeping activity on your page going, people will stay and engage in what they will perceive to be a dynamic information source.

What is your charities name and Mission

Why do you use Facebook and which services do you use?

Have Facebook supporters done something wonderful for you?

Do you consider Facebook an important part of your work online?

Have you encountered any problems using Facebook?

Do you have any tips for other charities?

What is your charities name and Mission

We are Action for Children, committed to helping the most vulnerable children and young people in the UK break through injustice, deprivation and inequality, so they can achieve their full potential.

Why do you use Facebook and which services do you use?

We use Facebook to reach out to all of our supporters, letting them know what Events we have on, linking them to research, news stories and uploading photos to show them what we get up to! We have about 1,600 fans which has increased by an astonishing 1,400 in just 2 months which we're over the moon about!

We take full advantage of the photos, links and video capability of status updates. It makes them much more fun and interesting to read on people's news feeds!

Have Facebook supporters done something wonderful for you?

They follow us, comment, send in photos and generally make it a very friendly forum for us to communicate in!

Do you consider Facebook an important part of your work online?

Absolutely, its the most commonly used Social Media website - not everyone wants to join Twitterverse, so it's a way of communicating simple messages that appear in supporters feeds whenever they come online! It's also a constant space that although is always updated, shows everything that we have done, including with our 3 year Neglect Appeal that we recently launched. We have some really important messages to deliver about child neglect, so knowing they are always there and visible on our Fan page is brilliant.

Have you encountered any problems using Facebook?

We'd love to develop our own Tabs and design features, but do not have anyone html / coding minded, so we're quite restricted in what we can do with it at the moment, but hoping that will all change very soon!

Have do you have any tips for other charities?

Facebook is a very difference audience to Twitter. Content needs to be longer lasting, interesting, and something that you would be interested in seeing in your own personal News Feed when you signed in. Encourage photo uploads as much as possible, those are the kinds of things that people like seeing. Also, respond to any questions or queries, that's what you're on there for - but remember you don't ALWAYS have to respond! It's a place for supporters to have their own conversations about the charity as well.

What is your charities name and Mission

FibroAction. Our mission is to raise awareness of the chronic pain condition Fibromyalgia Syndrome, partly through making accurate, up-to-date information more readily accessible.

FibroAction Facebook Group

Why do you use Facebook and which services do you use?

A lot of Fibromyalgia Syndrome (Fibro) sufferers use the internet and social media to interact with other people and learn about the condition. Facebook is useful for raising awareness of both the condition and our work. We can also help answer questions and provide information for sufferers and their friends or family. I’ve started up a couple of Facebook groups and we post links and answer question on those, and on other Fibro groups. We’ve also posted events and sometimes message group members if there is something in particular we want to publicise or ask for help with.

Have Facebook supporters done something wonderful for you?

We’ve had quite a few people volunteer to help us through Facebook which is pretty wonderful!

Do you consider Facebook an important part of your work online?

It’s certainly useful and I hope we help some people through using it.

Have you encountered any problems using Facebook?

I haven’t worked out how to get a UK registered charity listed on Facebook so we could benefit from Causes.

Have do you have any tips for other charities?

Facebook groups need to be monitored – you can’t just set them up and leave them. They need updating, discussions need encouraging and you need to ensure that discussions on your charity’s group are compatible with your charity’s ethos, e.g. as we’re very much about accurate & up-to-date information, we have to careful that the groups aren’t used to promote “quack” cures.

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Facebook Charity Interview questions

What is your charities name and Mission?

We are Diabetes UK, the largest organisation in the UK working for people with diabetes, funding research, campaigning and helping people live with the condition.
Our mission is to improve the lives of people with diabetes and work towards a future without diabetes.

Why do you use Facebook and which services do you use?

Being an incredibly popular site, it just made sense to establish ourselves on Facebook. We started off with a Diabetes UK group a few years ago, but most of our activity is now on a Diabetes UK fan page, where we have about 9,000 fans.

Having a Diabetes UK fanpage encourages dialogue between fellow supporters and we’ve seen a real community emerge from this.

We also post events such as fundraising activities, upload our latest videos and use the notes feature and wall to keep supporters up to date on our activities – and value the many “likes” and comments (positive or negative) that are left.

We’ve recently created a page for our young supporters, as this age group has different interests and activities so we wanted our Facebook activities to reflect this http://www.facebook.com/DiabetesUKMyLife

We’ve also worked with other teams/offices in the organisation to help them get set up on Facebook. There are currently groups for Diabetes UK Scotland, Diabetes UK Wales and Balance Magazine. These can be found through the search function on Facebook.

Have Facebook supporters done something wonderful for you?

We recently launched a Facebook status donation campaign to raise awareness about our new Get Serious campaign underlining the seriousness of diabetes.

Due to the incredible take-up from our supporters, we were able to broadcast our messages to over 150,000 people on Facebook.

Do you consider Facebook an important part of your work online?

Absolutely. Our Facebook page is incredibly active and our fans help us spread the word about campaigns and key issues. It’s also a great resource in terms of finding out what people affected by diabetes are concerned about.

In fact, we recently developed a viral video in response to all the comments left on our social networks, particularly Facebook, about children with type 1 diabetes being bullied at schools due to misconceptions about the condition (www.diabetes.org.uk/record). The video has now been viewed over 65,000 times!

Have you encountered any problems using Facebook?

While we employ a soft-touch when it comes to moderation and let people voice their opinions, we did find it challenging in the past to keep track of all the posts and conversations happening on our page.

We’ve now implemented a moderator schedule which spans different areas of the organisation and they report back any questions left on our wall that fellow fans haven’t been able to answer or any issues that come to light. It’s made the whole moderation process much more manageable, while involving other areas of the charity in online activities.

Have do you have any tips for other charities?

Let your supporters talk to each other – you don’t have to step into every conversation! And don’t censor. We only remove abusive posts or posts promoting commercial activities. It’s important that people can voice their opinions, positive or negative, and you can really learn a lot from just listening to what people have to say.

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Facebook Charity Interview questions

What is your charities name and Mission
Traumatic Brain Injury Resource - BrainLine.org | Preventing, Treating and Living with TBI

• Fan page
• Group

Why do you use Facebook and which services do you use?
Facebook gives us access to a prebuilt site with a very large and active audience. We use a combination of a business page, a group and a personal profile to gain maximum exposure.

Have Facebook supporters done something wonderful for you?
Everyday the create new content, the publish stories and let us know about great resources we don't have the time to find or may have missed.

Do you consider Facebook an important part of your work online?
Absolutely.

Have you encountered any problems using Facebook?
Privacy issues are a potential problem for our target audience. People who may have cognitive issues related to their injury posting too much personal information online is one. We do everything we can to foster and promote safe sharing and for people to always be mindful that you don't want to give out personal information to people you don't know well or haven't met in person.

Have do you have any tips for other charities?
Focus on where the audience alreayd exists. Facebook allows a small organization to achieve massive reach through their tools and the social networking capabilities of the site. Work off the communities that already exist and focus efforts on pulling everyone together. Synnergy between efforts online are almost always more productive.

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Facebook Charity Interview questions

To take part simply copy the questions below into an email and send your answers to john@technicavita.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it <!-- document.write( '</' ); document.write( 'span>' ); //--> please include a Highrez logo to be included at the top of your Interview.

Facebook Social Enterprise Interview Questions

What is your Social Enterprises name and Mission

Why do you use Facebook and which services do you use?

Have Facebook supporters done something wonderful for you?

Do you consider Facebook an important part of your work online?

Have you encountered any problems using Facebook?

Have do you have any tips for other Social Enterprises?

I have been asked to start a section to allow Social Enterprises to share their experiences of using Twitter, to take part simply copy the questions below into an email and send your answers to john@technicavita.com please include a Highrez logo to be included at the top of your Interview.

What is your Enterprises name and Mission?

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?

Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?

What has been your biggest challenge to date?

Do you have a Twitter tip for other Social Enterprises?

Feel free to add anything extra you would like to say.

Where Twitter is focused on a more singular goal Facebook is a varied system with lots of services wrapped under the Facebook name be it pages, events, groups or applications there are many ways for charities to use Facebook.

To submit your answers please copy these questions and paste them into an email to john@technicavita.com, please also include ALL the addresses to the Facebook services you use (Pages, Groups, Events). I won't have time to go looking for them for you! A HighRez Logo of your charity branding is also helpful.

Facebook Charity Interview Questions

What is your charities name and Mission

Why do you use Facebook and which services do you use?

Have Facebook supporters done something wonderful for you?

Do you consider Facebook an important part of your work online?

Have you encountered any problems using Facebook?

Have do you have any tips for other charities?

What is your charities name and Mission?
We are Quarriers, one of the largest social care charities in Scotland with over 150 services across Scotland and in the South West of England. We broadly split these services into four areas of work: Adult Disability, Children & Families, Epilepsy and Young Adults.

We give independence to people with a disability and breathing space to families under pressure. We give hope to young people requiring educational support, and housing assistance to the young people who need it most. We give much-needed respite breaks to carers and vital back up to people with epilepsy.

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
We’ve been using Twitter since March 2009. I dabbled with it personally (@marcbowker) and thought I’d introduce it to Quarriers to try and establish an online presence for the charity.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
It’s great being able to see what all your followers are saying/doing at the touch of a button. However, the best thing we’ve found so far has been the sheer amount of useful information that you find out through people’s tweets. Really useful links to blogs and great websites.

Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
Well the biggest thing has to be people voting for us for the Glasgow Twestival (@gtwestival) in which we ended up in third place which was a fantastic result. It really opened up doors for us in the Twitter world and gave us entry to new online networks of people who were local to us.

We were able to attend the Twestival and also put up a raffle prize of our own to one of our events. The whole Twestival thing really raised the awareness of Quarriers and what we do.

More recently, as a charity, we have been supporting the Government petition to save the Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland in it’s current form. If this disappears, there will be a huge funding gap for a lot of non-profit organizations including ourselves.

We’ve used Twitter to share the link to the petition for people to sign, and also linked into the Facebook Cause page. As a result, Quarriers have become the second most successful recruiter to the campaign, again raising awareness of Quarriers to it’s members.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Our initial challenge was gaining followers. We were only around the 100 mark for several months, probably an example of not understanding Twitter to the full! As we’ve neared the end of the Twitter learning curve, our followers have increased massively over the last couple of months to nearer 400 and continues to do so.

This has been down to joining Twitter lists, promoting our online presence in offline materials and joining up the likes of Facebook with Twitter.

Our biggest challenge now is to increase the number of people actively engaging with us through Twitter. We are getting better at this, but it’s a slow process. So much so that we’re working on an engagement strategy to try and increase the number of instances of people tweeting us, re-tweeting our tweets and generally reacting to what we say, good or bad.

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?

The first thing I would say is that Twitter will not be an overnight success for your organization. You will get out of Twitter what you put into it and therefore you have to be prepared to spend a good amount of time on Twitter on a daily basis.

If you go on holiday, make sure there’s somebody to replace you to tweet on your behalf. Don’t consider Twitter as a sole fundraising tool, it’s not. It’s a tool to engage with your followers/supporters. Don’t flood Twitter with your ‘corporate’ messages, but instead be human about what you say. People are much more likely to respond to this.

We’re still learning every day, there’s always something new to discover about Twitter over the horizon!

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
Communicating with our supporters on a very real, one to one non-corporate human basis, and being able to chat with them instantly. We've discovered a whole new online world that just has so much potential for any charity or orgnisation we're really excited about moving forward in!

It's a no nonsense approach to engaging with our supporters but it can be so much fun, sharing pictures, videos, links and discovering new followers! We've shown followers ways that they can support Action for Children through our Tweets, and it works!

It's also a brilliant learning tool, helping nonprofits grow their social media strategies through online articles and tweets, with no costs involved!

Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
@White_Box recently ran a re-tweeting competition to win cash prizes, and we won £100! We have been shortlisted for 4 @GoldenTwits awards thanks to our supporters voting for us to get into the Public Vote category.

We have also had fantastic support from our followers who have tweeted celebrities to encourage them to tweet about our cause, 2 of our supporters managed to campaign @stephenfry to mention our Neglect Appeal which was a truly fantastic day for us!

So many supporters have come out of Twitter telling us what they are up to, what they would like to do, which for us is truly fantastic, as despite the fact we are amongst the UK's largest charity, and one of the largest Children's charity's, we do not currently have a very large supporter base.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
We chose @aslongasittakes as our username as it accurately reflects what Action for Children does, but this has meant people don't always know that it is us, also factoring in our rebrand from NCH in October 2008.

So getting us and our message out to all our supporters has been challenging, but we're getting there with 688 followers, seeing as we did very little promotion or publicity before our rebrand!

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
Make sure you're on your account everyday to see what's happening - even 2 hours is a long time in Twitterworld! Engage and communicate with all your supporters that show interest in commuincating with you! Reply to their comments and queries, retweet and include them in activities!

Before you tweet make sure you read and check what you're about to send into Twitterverse...and then check again!

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charities name and Mission?

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?

Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?

What has been your biggest challenge to date?

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?

Feel free to add anything extra you would like to say.

What is your charities name and Mission?

We are BullyingUK and we were founded to provide help advice and support to Young People and their families when they suffer bullying.

What is your charities name and Mission?
Macmillan Cancer Support

We exist to help improve the lives of people affected by cancer, both those living with cancer and also their families and carers. Our primary focus for 2010 is to reach and improve the lives of everyone living with cancer.

By 2010 we want to be able to reach every single person who is diagnosed with cancer and to be there for them at every stage of their cancer journey, no matter who they are, what part of the country they live in, or what type of cancer they have. We will reach them by helping to make life better, in however large or small a way, through our services.

What is your name?
Sam Phillips

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?

I personally started using Twitter last year in October, but as an organisation we have been signed up since January 09. I signed us up – I was sceptical when setting up my own account, but it didn’t take long before I could see a whole host of positives and was able to understand the wide spread affection for it!

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
Chatting to our supporters. It’s absolutely brilliant to feel you can say thank you directly and instantly. A lot of our supporters sign on to tell us how they have done in a marathon or a trek, some loyally re-tweet all our messages and updates. I think being able to present ourselves as people behind the organisation is the most wonderful thing Twitter has to offer. It gives supporters a way of engaging with us on a level that previously never existed before. It has also been a really great way to make friends with all the other charities, we learn from each other and we support one other by pushing messages out. One great example is @WhizzKidz who keep correcting supporters who get our name wrong – they message us at @Macmillan, but we are actually @Macmillancancer - @Macmillan you will find a clown who loves Meg Ryan!!


Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
Yes! We saw Hugh Jackman on Twitter offering one charity a load of cash if they could demonstrate passion to the cause and so we decided to mobilise our supporters via our social media networks – we sent Hugh a message and asked our supporters to help us contact him. The response was astounding – so many people got involved and Third Sector and PR Week must have seen the Twitter buzz because although we didn’t win the money we were mentioned in their news. It was very exciting to see people rally behind us and get passionate about helping us win the money.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
It’s difficult to know how to help grow your list of followers, obviously interesting tweets help but I think there are some great ideas waiting to happen. I don’t think there are any substantial challenges on Twitter  - I think it’s a very simple tool which allows an intimate level of communication with a bunch of interested ears (hopefully!) I suppose one of the tricky parts is gaining a clear idea of how many people you are reaching.


Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
I would say don’t forget about your account, always respond to those who message you, enjoy sharing – chat to them, ask questions, congratulate. Show some emotion – it’s ok to be yourself representing your charity rather than the voice you imagine your charity might have. No one wants to talk to an automated service. Keep tweets interesting, sometimes a little saucy, use compelling words, calls to action, include links when you can, ask followers questions and make use of any journalists or publications following you. You may well get a much quicker response on Twitter than you would via email.

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charities name and Mission?
The National Canine Cancer Foundation @wearethecure is a nationwide, contribution funded, 501 (c)(3) non-profit corporation dedicated to eliminating Cancer as a major health issue in dogs by funding grants directly to Cancer researchers who are working to save lives, find cures, better treatments and accurate, cost effective diagnostic methods in dealing with canine Cancer.

The purpose of the Foundation’s Research Grant Program is to encourage and provide grant support for basic, pre-clinical and clinical research in high impact and innovative cancer research, which is intended to develop innovative approaches to a cure, treatment, diagnosis or prevention of cancers in dogs. The program fosters collaboration between basic and clinical scientists with the intent of enhancing the transfer of basic research findings to clinical usefulness.

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
I have been using Twitter since February of 2009 and it was my idea to use it.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
I have enjoyed the many connections and interactions I have had with other Twitters.  In fact I have made some strong friendships and strong support for certain Twitters.

Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
We are constantly have many Twitterers RT our news information that we supply via Twitter about dogs, pets and canine cancer research.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
I spent most nights till 4 am personally responding to every one who followed me.  I did this until I was getting about 200 followers a day.  But during this time I developed some very strong relationships.  After that I made sure I at least found a connection with every dog and pet related person or company on Twitter that followed me.  I started in Feb 09 and reach 10,000 followers in about July.  And I did not use any of the methods taunted to get large amounts of follower.

And I was confident because of my hard work that 70% of those followers where dog and pet related people and companies.  And I was also constantly posting updates about information and links relating to dogs, pets and canine cancer research.  And I was seeing 100's of RT per week.  So I felt it was time to try a fund raiser using the method of contacting larger numbers and asking for smaller donations.  So I started a campaign called "The Perfect Tweet"  For a donation of $5 you would post what you thought would be a perfect tweet for certain subject such as "How to write the perfect tweet to tell your kids there is no Santa".  And there were great prizes for the top 10 winners.   So I figured that I had over 10,000 followers who had alot of followers so if I just asked for a donation of $5 I felt 1000's maybe event 10's of 1000 would enter this fun event.  So I launched it.  And I started seeing people RT the information like crazy.  One day I counted 500 RT's.  But not one entered or donated the $5.00.  I was wondering why everyone who RT'd was not also entering the writing contest and donating the $5.00.  I even extended it for another month and I got a total of 15 people who donated and entered the contest.  I thank those people for their support but needless to say I was questioning what I did wrong. Was it too complicated.

Then I tried another simpler method.  I put out a simple tweet that said "How much can ONE Tweet raise for cancer research.  Please just donate $2 at http://www.tweetagainstcancer.com and then please RT"  So I hoped everyone would at least donate $2.00 after all I had over 10,000 followers and 70% were dog and pet lovers.  I did receive about 25 donations of various sizes and for those who donated over $25 I even sent them a T-Shirt that said "I  have #TwitterPower".  And I thank everyone of those who did donate for their generosity.  They all helped but it was only about 25 people.  And I serious thought I would give 10's of 1000's of people donating $2.  And again 100's of people RT'd the message and I thought if they could RT why can't they also donated $2. So I have now come to the conclusion that I do not know how to effectively use Twitter to raise money to fund canine cancer research.  And wonder if Twitter is still effective. After all Twestival raised $250,000 in 6 days. But that was back awhile ago.  And perhaps Twitter has changed.

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
Perhaps my best advice would be not to worry about how many followers you have but to develop a personal relationship with the Twitter that you think you can help and that they can help you.  Make it a win win situation.  That is what I tried to do but I think perhaps my numbers got too big.

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charities name and Mission?
bibic @bibiccharity has a mission to improve the lives of all children and young people with conditions affecting their physical, communication and learning abilities.  Children and young people visit bibic with their family.  Over a period of two days, the bibic therapist consults with the whole family and carries out an assessment resulting in a unique profile of the young person’s strengths and areas of difficulty.

A therapy programme is devised based on the initial assessment and taught to the whole family so that it  can be practised regularly at home within the family life and routines.  The simple exercises are designed to address gaps in the child’s development and to help them achieve their potential, whatever that may be.

The family returns for re-assessment after 4 - 6 months, when the young person’s progress is measured and celebrated, and new goals and exercises set. Whilst bibic cannot perform miracles, we treat each child as the unique individual they are, and by focusing on the positive, we help them to improve and develop, often in ways their parents never thought possible.

bibic works with children who have conditions developmental problems such as: Autistic spectrum disorder, Cerebral palsy, Down’s syndrome, other genetic disorders, Brian injury, Neurological conditions, Co-morbidity… and Specific Learning and Behaviour Difficulties such as:  Attention Deficit Disorders (ADD/ADHD), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD), Pathological Demand Avoidance syndrome (PDA)

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
We have been on Twitter for about a month now, following a suggestion from a family visiting our National Assessment Centre in Somerset.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
The simplicity and immediate response from other charities and supporters.  We have received free design work, marquee hire and gifts in kind purely from contacts within Twitter.

Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
The singer Beverley Knight began to follow bibic a couple of weeks ago, and immediately increased our followers by 20%.  She has frequently mentioned us and spoken about our work. This has directly led to two separate families discovering our service and registering for their children to attend.  The following are two quotes posted to Beverley from one of the families:

#  I looked into the bibic charity site. Thank you for making them known to me. I now have support for me and my two boys. X xx

#  I never would have found them without you x you've changed my life x  thank you so much x

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
There really hasn’t been one.  We received immediate followers and support and apart from having to delete the odd ‘spam’ follower, it has all been good.

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
Stay active.  If you don’t update frequently, followers get bored.  As we have shown, a celebrity can really help as well, providing they are genuine and happy to fly your flag.

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charities name and Mission?
The Hunger Project. @HungerProject

In Africa, Asia and Latin America, The Hunger Project seeks to end hunger and poverty by empowering people to lead lives of self-reliance, meet their own basic needs and build better futures for their children.

The organisation works in more than 20,000 villages across 13 countries of South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, reaching the lives of an estimated 35 million people, primarily through 315,000 trained volunteer leaders.

What is your name?
Lesley Reader

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
Since May 2009.  It was my trustee's idea when looking at cost effective ways of raising our profile.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
Building a base of followers across the world; expanding our knowledge of issues of development, gender equality, empowerment, leadership; getting great feedback on the information we post.  Also getting a sense of what's important to our followers and being in communication with them.

Has there been an incident of followers doing something wonderful for you?
We entered the Charity of the Week competition with Optimist World which Twitter followers helped us win.  Also we're currently recruiting for a new Director and have had several followers that have helped spread the word.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Posting regularly as I only work 2 days a week.  Keeping Tweets within the 140 characters (and still make sense).

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
Use Twitter as an opportunity to be in communication with your 'competitors' - it may be the start of a real partnership. Also, let your followers know about the broad context you're working in and the issues facing the people you work with, rather than seeing it as a way to raise money.

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charities name and Mission?
Gingerbread. @GingerBread

Our vision:
A society in which single parent families are valued and treated equally and fairly.

Our mission:
Gingerbread is the charity which works nationally and locally, for and with single parent families, to improve their lives. We achieve change by championing their voices and needs and providing support services.

How long have you been using Twitter and whose idea was it?
I (Lamya, Membership Development Manager) have been using Twitter since I started at Gingerbread in April 09 and on a personal level, about 6 months before that. Gingerbread knew following our rebrand and re-launch in January 09 that there needed to be a shift in the way we communicated, not only with single parents but with partner organisations and the media in general. However, people were a little unclear as to how to utilise social media technologies effectively and were waiting for someone new to start who could develop it.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
Being able to see how quickly information is disseminated is amazing. You get a real insight into what people really find interesting or affects them as you watch articles or press releases being retweeted. We also pride ourselves on using single parent voices as much as we can in our other communications, and twitter allows us to find more people who are searching for the opportunity to speak out and get involved.  I love how fluid it is. We’re gearing up to start some strong campaigning here and we know that Twitter will be a great way to gain momentum.

Have there been any incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
Not so much for us, but it’s always really touching when followers, particularly single parents, communicate with us and let us know that we’re on the right track. It’s been very difficult to get that feedback before, let alone something so personal. It’s been great to have the support of other charities on twitter too and subsequently to help provide that exposure and support to new charities that follow.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Our biggest challenge is yet to come! 15% of single parents don’t have online access and we’re working on partnering with Government agencies to help enable these parents to get online and reap the benefits. The internet and social media in general, is a great way to curb social isolation and has been a lifeline for many people who suffer loneliness and stigmatisation and we need to open up that option to families living in poverty whilst still ensuring they are tech-savvy enough to stay safe.  Staff at Gingerbread are generally coming round to the idea that it’s pretty useful too!

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
Be clear about your goal for using Twitter. It can take up a fair amount of time, especially in the early stages but is worth it if you have realistic expectations for the outcomes.

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charity's name and mission?
The National Trust @NationalTrust - we're a conservation charity, protecting historic houses, gardens, woods, coast and countryside - and opening them for the public to enjoy.

How long have you been using Twitter and whose idea was it?
We joined in November 2008, and it was one of our content managers on the digital media team who first started it up.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
I love the "instant reward" nature of Twitter. It takes so little time to post a tweet, but then when people start replying, retweeting and clicking on your links it's great. I also love it when our posts trigger conversations or debates - for example, when we ask questions such as where people like best to go on holiday in the UK, and we get loads of responses. Twitter enables the National Trust to show a more human and fun side, and is great for engaging with people.

It's also interesting to learn what kind of information people actually want, and to adapt your messages accordingly. We post a mixture of news stories, links to our own website, links to other websites on topics that relate to our own work and interests, and the odd bit of triviality and fun that doesn't necessarily relate to our own work at all. People love to talk about things that are topical, or completely trivial - and it helps to show that we're human!

Have there been any incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
Lots of little things that give you a warm and fuzzy feeling - I love it when I recommend a place to visit and then people people tell us they've taken up the recommendation and had a great day out. Lots of people share photos with us on Twitter from their National Trust days out, or tell us things like when they've made a recipe we've tweeted for their family and it's gone down a storm at Sunday lunch.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
I haven't really had any major challenges with Twitter - it's a pretty easy to use tool, doesn't take up much time, and most people within the organisation and outside of it have been supportive. Twitter fits well with the National Trust's strategy of deepening engagement with people, so it's been supported from a high level within the organisation, which helps a lot.

However, because Twitter is such an immediate medium of communication where you act quite spontaneously, I do have a fear of tweeting something that's deemed inappropriate or accidentally breaking an embargo. But that's the risk of such a spontaneous medium, and the upside is that Twitter is such a fast-moving place that if you do make a mistake, people generally move on to the next piece of news within a few minutes.

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
It's a two-way conversation - don't just use it to direct messages out, but also respond to people personally and remember to retweet or share other people's information, not just your own. Be topical and relevant to what's going on in the outside world, and track your links using a site like http://bit.ly or your own analytics package (via a campaign code on the end of the URLs), to help measure how many people are clicking on the links you post (and use this to show the value of spending time on Twitter to others in your organisation).

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charities name and Mission?
Our name is Plan UK @planuk and we are an international children’s development agency. We work with children, families and communities in the world’s poorest countries.  We aim to overcome poverty and injustice by encouraging children to claim their rights.

We enable disadvantaged communities to take action together to achieve children’s rights to an education, decent healthcare, clean drinking water and more. We give long-term practical support so communities can improve the lives of their children and themselves. We also campaign to change the way a whole range of adults - from parents to politicians - think and act, because we know their decisions can perpetuate poverty.

We were founded in 1937 and have no religious or political affiliation.

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
We started using Twitter in February 2009 and this was primarily to communicate with and update supporters on the work we do. We wanted to use this tool to let our supporters know of upcoming events, current projects and campaigns and news on how we work to help end child poverty.  In the future it will also be a great tool for us to keep in contact with staff and community volunteers.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
It’s fantastic to have that instant communication with those who support us, build relations and be able to directly acknowledge their ongoing support for the work we do. Also, seeing the commitment some of our supporters show with Retweets and pushing our name further afield is great.

Has there been an incident of followers doing something wonderful for you?
Not one in particular but Retweets are probably the best thing our supporters do to show they are committed and passionate about what we do, whilst informing others of our work to build even more support for us.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Identifying followers who would be interested and want to be activity involved in the campaigns, events or issues we push out.  Secondly, being patient regarding our growth of followers, because it really is a case of quality over quantity.

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
You have to be genuine and let the strength of your campaigns and actions shine through. Being social, listening and taking an interest in others by starting or getting involved in discussions will also help advocate your charity’s cause.

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charities name and Mission?
Yorkshire Cancer Centre Appeal @YCC_Appeal - Taking over from Cookridge Cancer Appeal in 2007 the Yorkshire Cancer Centre Appeal helps to support a Leeds cancer facility by funding research, equipment, cancer care and treatment provided to Yorkshire cancer patients in a new world-class cancer facility based at the St James's Institute of Oncology in Leeds.

Help us raise £10 million by 2010 to make this facility in Leeds a world class force in the fight against cancer. The research that brought about many of today's new and successful cancer treatments started over ten years ago. We're planning for the next ten years, aiming even higher, developing research and treatments to ensure more people survive cancer.

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
Since March 2009. The idea was mine. It came soon after I attended an interesting seminar which talked about online social networking for charities, and being involved with website development and online marketing it was an obvious route to help raise the awareness of the charity.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
The interaction with interesting people, and instantly finding out about new developments with fellow charities and the health care sector.

Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
There are a few instances of helpful followers who have re-tweeted some of our events, and probably gain us a few more followers.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Simply getting used to abbreviating words so they still make sense in 140 characters, and trying to start #definition trends

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
When promoting something on a website and you want to put a link in your twitter conversation to the website, use tinyURL to shorten the link to give you more message room. If you have any people fundraising for your charity and they have a page on Just Giving, it's worth mentioning some of these people and linking to them in twitter, you will find if you follow @JustGiving sometimes they will re-tweet your mention, helping promote your supporters.

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charities name and Mission?
Speaking Up @speakingupnews is an advocacy charity for people with learning disabilities, physical disabilities or mental health problems. Our Mission is Voice I Action I Change – we believe that if you give people a voice, they can use it to take action and create positive change in their lives. We provide a range of advocacy services across the country, and also run innovative and user-led self advocacy projects which give people the skills and confidence they need to find and use their voice.

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
We’ve been using Twitter since February of this year. The idea came from me! I’m Tessa, Speaking Up’s Marketing Officer, and having seen that so many charities were getting into twitter I was really keen to get us involved and tweeting as part of a broader move towards online communications and social media.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
We’ve loved the opportunity to engage with such a fantastic range of organisations and individuals and build up a relationship with them. It’s a fantastic way to introduce people to all of our great projects and to let people know what we’re up to on a really regular basis, keeping people up to date is so much easier with Twitter!

Has there been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
The small things are rather wonderful to me – when I tweeted that we were looking to recruit new volunteers for a project in Peterborough, a number of individuals and organisations re-tweeted it for us and bought the message to a whole new number of volunteers!

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
I think the biggest challenge may still be to come! So far we’ve had great buy-in from the Senior Management Team at Speaking Up, who have been great and really let me explore Twitter (and other social media), but in the next couple of week I’ll be launching a campaign to win over the rest of the staff here! I think Twitter will only really work if we have all of our staff behind it – so my fingers are very much crossed!

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
Get in there! And remember that Twitter is a fantastic tool for building relationships, so don’t be afraid to join in conversations.

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charities name and Mission?
The Children's Trust -The Children's Trust provides care, education, therapy and rehabilitation to children with multiple disabilities and complex health needs many of whom have had a car accident or sudden illness such as meningitis

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
Using Twitter for about 4 months and my idea. Howard Lake from UK Fundraising had influenced me as often talking about the benefits on his Facebook page

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
We love Twitter at The Children's Trust as reached new audiences , increased traffic to our website and opened up great discussions.

Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
So many. We  have someone running 5k tomorrow , marathon in April; offers of rafffle prizes , volunteers for events ; companies promoting some of our Fundraising initiatives on their website and lastly celebrities following us

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
To think of new things to twitter about; to carry on increasing followers at the same rate. We now have 1500 followers

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
#charitytuesday and #followfriday are great way to get new followers - nice to mention other charities too and not just promote your own cause. Don't be afraid to be chatty and lighthearted but of course staying on message too. Important to Tweet regularly and about different things - ie what are the users of your charity up too, case studies and of course promoting events. Train a few people in your organisation to Tweet too !

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charities name and Mission?
CHD-UK. It's mission is to educate and raise awareness as well as promoting the need for testing prior to birth.  Connect parents with adults and parents with other parents, adults with other adults.

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
Since Jan 2009, it was my idea. I started off on Facebook when no one else was using it for raising awareness and I also have a site on MySpace. I think I was one of the first to take advantage. It has taken other charities a lot longer to use these sites.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
Being able to meet Dr's, other congenital heart survivors and getting volunteers.

Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
Offering to help, give me advice when I need it.  Giving me great contacts.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?

Try to get the name CHD-UK out there, getting people to sit up and realise that CHD-UK is what it says it is.  People are all two aware of the big named charities but not so much of the small named charities.  But thanks to Facebook, Twitter and MySpace it is slowly happening.  Some people even chose CHD-UK as their first charity now.  Also, getting people to realise that CHD stands for congenital heart defects and not coronary heart disease - that is quite hard.

I have had trouble trying to raise money for CHD-UK partly because it is not a big name and partly due to the fact of the current credit crisis but it is slowly working ;)

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
Let people know what you are doing, put logos of twitter, facebook with links on your website pages to get them to follow you.  Let people know that the person behind it is real and not just some worker lol

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charities name and Mission?
@fordementia. The mission of for dementia is to improve the quality of life for all people affected by dementia.

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
A few months . It was mine!

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
'Meeting' new people and organisations, developing professional relationships, access to information relevant to the charity and it's work through other channels and getting to go to free events such as NFP Tweetup! And of course starting the #givingwednesday trend with @PeopleLimited.

Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
@NursingTimes published one of our stories on their website and newsletter after a conversation on Twitter!

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Trying to get interested people to follow rather than spammers!

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
For #CharityTuesday and #FollowFriday - always give a reason for the mention so that people are aware of what they actually do. Don't try and put 10 Tweeters in one Tweet as it just defeats the object.

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charity’s name and Mission?

The Museum of Florida Art, Inc.

The Museum of Florida Art offers a venue where:
-  creativity is fostered.
-  appreciation of art is nurtured.
-  all people are welcomed.

The mission of the Museum of Florida Art is to promote and showcase Florida Art and emerging and established Florida Artists through exhibitions and educational and interpretive programming made available to a diverse statewide audience of all ages; to collect and preserve works of art for this purpose; to publish books and other materials concerning the foregoing; and to make such resources available for the public.

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
Since September 11, 2008.  We began seriously using it as a marketing tool as the popularity of Twitter began to increase over the past year.  It was my idea – I had been keeping our Web 2.0 presence up-to-date and really turning more and more to the internet as our advertising budget began to dry up.  A lot of nonprofit arts organizations have had to tighten their belts this year, and using Web marketing has been a great resource for many of us.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
What has been so enjoyable about using Twitter over this period has been the ability to interact with people who had never heard of us or had just never been here, allowing them to see what we have to offer.  We have been able to share TwitPics with them of upcoming exhibits, announce openings and special events, and answer any question they might have about an artist or a show.  It has been a valuable tool in giving us the ability to interact with other Museums and arts organizations as well.  We have been able to chip away at the idea that Museums are elitist organizations which cater only to a certain demographic; and to instill in people that art is for everyone.

Have there been any incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
Followers have been very kind and very complimentary.  They have also recommended us on #FollowFriday, #FollowArt and #MuseumFollow.  They have ReTweeted our conversations and have even done some marketing for us!  Interaction with people who appreciate our mission and our message is about as wonderful as you can get.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Finding the time to keep up with all of our followers and all the tweets that come in.  Also, just finding the time to tweet lately has been very difficult.   I want to be sure to keep our tweets personal, though.

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
Quality about quantity.  You can have 5,000 followers, but if they aren’t reading your tweets, or interacting with you at all, it isn’t doing you any good.  Tweet about something besides yourself once in a while.  If it is all about you all the time, you become boring and nobody pays attention.  Interact with people.  Get to know them.  It isn’t just good for business advice, it is good advice anytime.

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charity's name and Mission?
UniversalGiving™ uses a web-based marketplace to connect individuals to the best possible projects to donate to or volunteer with, all over the world. We use a rigorous QualityModel™ to guarantee the quality of our projects, and we don't take any cut on donations.

What is your charities name and Mission?
Whizz-Kidz - we support disabled children and young people to live active and fun childhoods - through mobility equipment

wheelchair skills training, and through getting involved in our Kidz Board and ambassador groups. Whizz-Kidz is fun, vibrant, and young people are at the heart of what we do - and how we do it. We're all about young disabled people living independent and full lives.

What is your name?
Rob Dyson – the PR Manager.

How long have you been using Twitter and whose idea was it?
Only for about 9 or 10 months, and I’m happy to say it was mine – after being introduced to it during two seminars in the same week; first by the BBC’s Gem Stone at a Media Trust event and then by fundraising and new media consultant Rachel Beer at a CharityComms session.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
I have really enjoyed discovering people that the charity has helped over the years; now tweeting us and sharing their stories with us. It’s been fun chatting to fundraisers too, particularly marathon runners, and egging them on. There’s a real community spirit that comes through – even in 140 characters.

Have there been incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
We’ve had lots of followers tweeting celebrities off their own back – and it’s fantastic to hear them describing us and how we’ve helped - in their own authentic voices. It was particularly wonderful to get back in touch with one mother of a disabled young man we first helped when he was 10 months old. He’s now 19, and mum has shared photos of him with us via twitpic, showing how as he became more independent over the years after receiving our equipment. This is what it’s all about for me!

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Just trying to ‘find our voice’ really. That and working out the best times of the day to tweet to maximise readership and response. We’re now learning to use it more strategically and integrate our tweets with other online activity – perhaps a link to a facebook questionnaire, or asking people to comment on a video or picture on Flickr. It’s about building a presence and brand that’s coherent and not scattergun. This is the challenge.

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
As above really – everyone is using twitter in a bit of a ‘suck it and see’ way, but the key is reiterating your current campaign messages or activity across the spectrum of mediums at your disposal. So elements of your DM campaign (for example) can be seen on your website and on facebook, and then your tweet call to actions are the same again; this is how successful charities – even very small ones like Stop the Traffik – create an impressive buzz around a movement. But it must be genuine engagement – not simply broadcasting – asking questions, listening to the answers.

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charities name and Mission?
Recently, Q13 FOX News anchor, Bill Wixey, was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. He chose to share his diagnosis, treatment and walk with cancer with his viewers.

Well, I am one of those viewers. I could not stand by and let something like this happen with out making a stand.

You see, Bill and Q 13 cares about their viewers. From the latest traffic, weather and breaking news to health topics and making sure we don't get scammed, Q 13 has been a member of OUR family for a long time. Well, what do you do when a "family" member tells you they have cancer?? Sure, you go through all the "emotions" first. Shock. "What?? Bill Wixey?? That really cool dude on Q13???" Disbelief. "No way! He looks so fit, healthy and young. No one with THAT amount of hair can have Hodgkins Lymphoma!!" Grief. "He has a family. His children are the same ages OUR kids are! He's too young." Finally, comes resolve. Resolve to take a stand and fight with Bill, his family, his co-workers and friends.

This is my stand. I have started a team devoted to helping Bill fight the battle and WIN! Take a stand, too. Walk with us on September 26th, 2009 at Greenlake. Tell everyone you know that the LLS is sponsoring a walk to raise funds and awareness for cancer. If you can't walk with us that night, all you have to do is make a donation to our team, who will do ALL the walking for you and for Bill. I want to turn this into one of those "Remember when...." stories. 20 years from now, I want to be able to say, "Remember when Bill Wixey had cancer and beat it?? Now, here he his on TV, STILL making sure we are keeping our Money Safe"

What is your name?
Lori A.

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
I have been using Twitter for a few months because anchors on Q13 News in Seattle kept saying "Follow us on Twitter".  Being the news junkie that I am, I decided to create an account which has turned into two accounts.  One for personal and one for my charity

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
I have enjoyed connecting with local people, like minded individuals, getting news before it airs, learning new things and creating a charity drive.

Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
I am slowly gaining support through Twitter and getting ideas from other non-profit twitters

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
My biggest challenges seem to be finding QUALITY followers.  It seems, for a lot of Twitter users, to be about QUANTITY.  I don't care if I have 10 as opposed to 100, though. 10 people who care about my cause is better than 100 who don't.

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
Use the Find People section to your advantage.  Search for keywords using Twitters search engine here: http://search.twitter.com/  Follow people who have the same ideas, charities and interests.  If a follower meets your criteria- FOLLOW BACK!  It's the drop of water hitting the sea... a ripple effect.

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charity’s name and Mission?
Our charity is called World Vision and our vision is for every child, life in all its fullness.  Our prayer for every heart, the will tomake it so.

World Vision is a Christian relief, development and advocacy [or humanitarian] organisation dedicated to working with children, their families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. Worldwide, World Vision is now the world’s largest privately funded relief, development and advocacy non-governmental organisation (NGO). World Vision supporters sponsor over 3.4 million children worldwide and the organisation operates 1,514 Area Development Programmes.

What is your name?
Ken (Punter, Digital and Publications Manager)

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
We decided to use Twitter specifically for the Challenge 5000 Britons campaign. Whilst we have been active users on Twitter for some time in a personal capacity the Challenge 5000 Twitter feed was set up last week to support the offline PR activities and facilitate active conversations directly with child sponsors and other supporters.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
Twitter is an amazing tool for connecting directly with many of our sponsors and acknowledging their support. We enjoyed sending out a Tweet and immediately getting an instant response from one of our followers. The difference between Twitter and other tools is that it is a real time, human conversation.

Has there been an incident of followers doing something wonderful for you?
For this campaign the main objective was to get as many people talking about the challenge as possible. We know that targeting 5000 Britons to sponsor a child is a big task but by getting as many people to mention the campaign as possible, the more likely we were to hit our target. To this end, Retweets have probably being the best thing followers have done for us, although Twitter users offering to write about the campaign on their blogs have also been very helpful.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
The biggest challenge is trying to get a decent number of followers who remain relevant to the campaign and to World Vision. Finding these people can be difficult but I think we have managed to find a healthy balance between influential and relevant Tweeters.

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
My tip for charities would be to just be yourself. Obviously this can be difficult when you are working under a brand but the successful Twitter users all have a personality.

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charities name and Mission?
Lovebox - a digital wristband to raise awareness and funds for charity via the web.

What is your name?
Michael Murdoch

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
I've been using Twitter for around 9 months.  Lovebox has been using twitter since January 2009.  All co-founders thought it was going to be useful.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
Starting #charitytuesday.  Connecting with other charity enthusiasts and charities themselves.  Finding out there is a whole world of great third sector web ideas.

Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
You yourself have helped loads to make #charitytuesday strong.(Through my work @BullyingUK -John)  Generally followers have given great support.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Getting people to change their profile pics, but we have a cunning plan coming soon!

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
Tweet carefully.  Ask questions, be interesting, don't over sell, set fun competitions, create silly rhymes.

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

We are Bully Free Zone and tweet as @BFZonline. Our Mission is to provide information, support and guidance to children and young people (and their families) affected by bullying and to raise awareness of bullying and ways to prevent and combat it.

We have been using Twitter for little over a month. It is something I had been intending to do as a communications lead for BFZ but hadn’t got round to until recently due to other work commitments. We do not have a dedicated worker for marketing and communications worker due to resource restraints but I tend to spend any free time i do have explore new ways to communicate our work to the world.

Twitter is so easy to use and its has been extremely easy to build up a network of interesting and worthwhile organisations and individuals whose knowledge and experience we can learn from.

Last month i managed to convince @wossy to RT our reminder that it was International Day Against Homophobia just during a difficult period where he was being portrayed as homophobic by the media. He could have chose to ignore it but instead took the opportunity to share the message with his thousands of followers.

The biggest issue for us is having time to tweet. Much of our work consists of supporting young people in person through one to one meetings and group work as well as supporting schools to provide a safe learning environment for vulnerable young people. Finding the time to share with the world details of the excellent and important work we do can be difficult as a result. Twitter however does make it easy to share things quickly so is usually the first port of call for me when i do get time.

Don’t be scared of asking people to retweet messages on your behalf. It may seem cheeky and self-serving but you’ll find that a vast majority of tweeps are only to willing to help. Just make sure you return the favour.

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charities name and Mission?
Everybody Wins! USA. Our mission to build the skills and love of reading among low-income elementary students.

What is your name?
Rich Greif, National Executive Director

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
I have been actively using Twitter for about 6 months. It was my idea as social media has been an effective outreach and awareness-building tool for us.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
I have really enjoyed connecting with people and groups around the world who are equally as passionate about the importance of reading and literacy. Twitter has also been great for promoting the work of our current partners and for developing new relationships.

Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
Yes, many of our followers have been donating products or services to our online summer auction for literacy coming up in late July. It’s a great way for them to give back and at the same we can promote their business. It totally fits our “Everybody Wins” philosophy of how we operate.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Our biggest challenge is always to build awareness for who we are, what we do and why people should support us. There are thousands of important causes out there and we have to work hard everyday to differentiate the value of what we do.

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
Two things come to mind. First, be seen as a resource and champion for your cause, not just your organization. By highlighting literacy-related issues and the great work of other people and organizations, we can build a bigger base of supporters who want to get involved in some way. Second, whether it’s online or offline, you should always be focused on developing high-quality, long-term relationships. To do that on Twitter, you need to actively promote the good work of your followers, retweet good posts and be a good resource on questions and issues that people raise.

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charities name and Mission?
Yorkshire Cancer Research: Our mission is to promote research, principally in Yorkshire, into the causes and cures of cancer and to publish and share the results of this research with the world's scientific community for the benefit of mankind.

What is your name?
Donna Herron

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
For the charity since November 2008, it was a decision made by the fundraising team to have a presence on Twitter, we wanted to be there to communicate with supporters, other charities and follow new & interesting people.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
The ability to start conversations that may not have otherwise happened without the power of Twitter as a social media tool.

Has their been any incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
We have had supporters enquire about events through Twitter, fellow NFP’s offer advice and support on technical issues related to YCR, ask for PR details in response to an event we have tweeted about, thank us for the work we do, tell us about social media conferences – wonderful things can happen all the time on Twitter as a result of forming connections with your followers.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Trying to develop twitter campaigns that are innovative & that people want to get involved in / be a part of.

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
Get using @ replies to join in conversations with people you follow and to direct your messages to specific Twitter users, otherwise you may find yourself just talking to yourself!

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charities name and Mission?
MS Research Training and Education

working as: MS Research @msresearch
MS Research undertakes to find practical solutions to everyday problems encountered by those with MS. Practical solutions for those where drug treatment is no longer effective.

2.What is your name?
Laurence

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
Maybe 2 years ago, Site Point invited me, i created an account and did nothing for a year. Last year I created @msresearh at the same time I became a trustee of the MS Research charity.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
I have seen Stephen Fry's pangolin! Tweetering when racing to be ready fr a Justgiving Webinar and one of the justgiving staff telling me i sounded well prepared! Also, I very much like Stepphen Fry's new techniques and gizmos. I have had very good advice for fundraising from @rachelbeer, @howardlake, @Markyphillips, @jon_bedford, @justgiving and @GrahamRichards

Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
@csbagnall, @ArsenalSarah, @rachelbeer, @howardlake, @Markyphillips and @jon_bedford have given me some support

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Promoting the #coast2coastrun on #justgiving, giving blow by blow account of the run on the blog and the website as these runners did something wonderful and generous for MS Research charity.

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities? Make friends, DM and follow other charities like I do with @yorkshirecancer and @bullyinguk. I RT their tweets. They reciprocate. Use # in your tweets for keywords; you'll soon get #followfriday and #charitytuesday.

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charities name and Mission?
Sussex Wildlife Trust

The aim of the Sussex Wildlife Trust is to conserve the Sussex landscape, wildlife and its habitats, and to use its knowledge and expertise to help the people of Sussex to enjoy, understand and take action to this end.

We aim to achieve this by carrying out work under the following five broad headings:

* Enhancing the desire in people for a healthy, wildlife rich environment
* Leading the conservation agenda for Sussex
* Biodiversity monitoring and recording
* Promoting achievement of biodiversity targets by others
* Delivering progress towards biodiversity targets ourselves

For more details on work of Sussex Wildlife Trust please visit  http://www.sussexwt.org.uk

What is your name?
Richard Cobden, Interpretation Officer

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
Sussex Wildlife Trust (SWT) has been using Twitter since April 2009. It was my idea to explore Twitter as SWT was looking to expand its online presence into social networking sites and Twitter seemed most attractive due to its ability to update people quickly, effectively and efficiently

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
I have really enjoyed the Twitter experience, meeting interesting people, getting a good response to our tweets and the community aspect. Traffic to the Trust’s website ( http://www.sussexwt.org.uk) have increased and fellow Twitters have been helpful with comments and advice.

Has there been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
Many of Sussex Wildlife Trust’s followers have been wonderful with ReTweeting our messages and encouraging others to follow us. However the one incident which sticks in my mind is a follower who after seeing a Badger Watching event discussed in a tweet, attended and messaged back saying we had “helped make his wife’s dream of seeing these beautiful animals in the wild come true”

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
As a small non-profit working in a specific geographical area it has been hard to make sure our message is getting out to the relevant people. Applications which identify people by location are a great asset to locating the right followers.

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
Keep your tweets as interesting and varied as possible and run them as part of a co-ordinated approach with your website, other social networking sites (eg FaceBook http://tinyurl.com/swtfacebook) and off-line activities. Be part of the community, link with other non-profits and retweet whenever you can.

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charities name and Mission?
Our charity is called Jessica's Trust and our mission is to raise awareness of childbed fever, an archaic disease which is infection of the womb in new mothers which can lead to septicaemia and, if not treated early enough, can lead to death.

We would like every parent, every midwife and doctor to know that childbed fever (also called puerperal fever or puerperal sepsis) is still a very real threat to a mother's life and to know how to recognise the symptoms.

What is your name?
Ben Palmer

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
Since February 2009, mainly after reading a blog post on justgiving.com about the benefits of twitter as a communication tool for charities.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
Making many friends, good debate and discussion about the campaign and about childbed fever, interspersed with good fun and conversation.

Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
Too many times to mention. The support and interest in spreading our message is immense, and several celebrity tweeters have helped us out to great effect. Our biggest coup to date, however, must be a #fryretweet which sent our web server into a spin for over 12 hours!

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Our challenge is always to deliver our message to as many people as possible, particularly those who are, or are thinking of being, pregnant.

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
Try not to just broadcast, but engage with your followers, be a 'real' person, and most importantly, enjoy your time.

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charities name and Mission?
Kids Hope United

Our Mission
Protecting children. Strengthening families.
Our Vision
A safe home for every child.

What is your name?
Kate Currin

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
I signed us up for Twitter when I started in my position as communications associate in the beginning of 2009.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
The overwhelming support and sense of community that it builds for us online.

Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
A student at Christian Colleges wrote an article on the 50 good causes to follow on Twitter and included us! That was a nice surprise. And the Alliance for Children & Families used our Twitter account as an example of nonprofits using Twitter at a conference.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
My biggest challenge is finding enough dedicated time to spend on Twitter and to develop strategies for using it as a fundraising tool.

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
Just do it! Be authentic when you join and really let tweetville get a feel of the culture within your nonprofit. Make them feel like they are a part of it!

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charities name and Mission?
Kids First Trust.

What is your charities name and Mission?

What is your name?
Jamie Wyver, NCVO web editor

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
Since February 2009 – decision by NCVO web team. We’re very interested in finding new ways to talk to our members and other voluntary organisations, and Twitter is working well for us.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
Being in direct contact with some of our members. Working in the web team means I don’t often get to meet our members, so it’s really helpful to get direct feedback about the NCVO website and the work we do.

Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
We’re always grateful when people respond to our questions, or ReTweet our messages. Our Twitter followers contributed a number of ideas for our resources on producing multimedia.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Finding followers – and people to follow! There is a helpful list on the econsultancy website (http://econsultancy.com/blog/3267-list-of-uk-charities-on-twitter), but I also visited our members’ websites to see if they mentioned Twitter, and used Twitter and Google searches to find interesting organisations. We try to follow all our member organisations who are Tweeting.

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
Talk to each other, ReTweet each other’s messages, share things, give advice.

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charities name and Mission?
Water Charity http://watercharity.org

We do water, sanitation, and public health projects worldwide

What is your name?
Averill Strasser, COO of Water Charity

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
A few months.  I believe we must be involved everywhere.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
I’ve met many interesting people, and have made several valuable business contacts.

Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
Several people have written blogs and articles about Water Charity.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Twitter is very time consuming, and addictive to boot.

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
You must use several 3^rd party applications to conserve your time and multiply your effectiveness.  Apps like TweetDeck and TweetLater are invaluable.

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charities name and Mission?
I set up charity biker (http://charitybiker.com) to raise money for UNICEF, The Rainbow Trust and The Wildlife Conservation Society.

I'm relatively new to the charity fund-raising world and not as well connected as most people. Therefore I decided to set myself a small and hopefully achievable target. Raising £5,000.
As with most things today to attract people attention you have to do something a bit out of the ordinary so I decided to enroll in the Enduro India program. In January 2010 - after the fund raising is closed and my target is reached - I'll be driving an old Royal Enfield motorbike off-road from the GOA to the deep south of India over the mountains.

I have picked India because most of the money raised for UNICEF and The Wildlife Conservation Society will be used there to help poor children and their families and the natural environment of the region.

What is your name?
Stefano Buliani

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
I have decided to sign up for twitter as it is the most dynamic and quick medium to interact with people and raise awareness to my fund-raising. Furthermore Twitter is the closest thing to face-to-face contact online at the moment which hopefully should help get over the trust-issue I have to face by raising funds purely online. i.e. if you DM me I'll reply, I'm a real person and not just a bot.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
I have met many passionate and dedicated people who have been helping and supporting me with my cause.

Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
Many of my followers have helped me by retweeting my messages about charity biker and some of them went as far as contacting me directly and giving me advice on how to advertise my site.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Trust, you have to prove to people that you are a real person and truly raising funds for charity. It's really difficult when you embark in an adventure like this as an individual without a big name behind you to help push your cause.

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
It is important to keep your account up to date and tell people what you are up to without behaving like a spammer and just tweeting your website/email. It takes a lot of time and dedication but it is very important to build a personal relationship with your follower. Get to know them and make sure they know who you are.

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What is your charities name and Mission?
Weldmar Hospicecare Trust

What is your name?
Chris Davies

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
The Trust started using Twitter in November 08, and it was my idea (I started in post in October 08). Personally, I signed up in May 07, but only really started using Twitter when I joined the Trust.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
Personally – being able to connect with others in similar roles/areas of work – as working for a charity is very new to me, and I am fairly isolated in Dorset. Professionally, being able to make connections with people who hadn’t thought of communicating with a hospice before, or supporting us.

Has there been any incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
Yes, so far three Twittering ‘dogs’ have signed up for our sponsored dog walk – new supporters of the Trust. And there have been offers of help in other ways than donating money – for example, one Twitterer is knitting items for sle at our fete in July.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Finding users of Twitter who are also supporters of Weldmar. A very different demographic to those that normally support us.

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
Just keep at it – keep sending messages out. Yes, use Twitter to promote your events, your news, your calls to action – but also engage with both those that already follow you and those that don’t yet. Answer general questions that people post (not just about your charity/area of work). The more you do this, the more likely you are to start a conversation that will lead to engagement.Do it!

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What is your charities name and Mission?

What is your name?
Steve

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
It was a collective agreement within the organization

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
Meeting new people as well as gaining so much info on different social development issues on profit and non profit world.

Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
Retweeting our messages

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Gaining new followers

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
It takes time to build a constituency. Patience is key

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charity's name and mission?
Kidney Research UK, our mission is to fund life-saving research into kidney disease, to improve the quality of life of those with the kidney disorders and to increase public awareness of kidney health.

What is your name?
Helen

How long have you been using Twitter and whose idea was it?
Since mid April - so not too long although personally since August 07. I thought Twitter was something we needed to embrace, having followed a few passionate charity people on my personal account I found other charities and immediately saw the ways we could use it to promote the Kidney Research UK and our cause.  I've also used it in the previous 2 companies I've worked for, one to spread news articles and the other as customer service.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
That it gives me direct access to people in similar roles within other charities, early days of using it for the charity at the moment.  I think the instant connection is great – on the morning the London Marathon 2010 ballot opened the site was down for the majority of people, I used twitter search to find people that were trying to register and suggested they could always register to run for us!

Have there been incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
I haven’t widely publicised our account to supporters yet as I want to make sure I’m using it in the right way and consistently before spreading the word and upping followers!

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Finding the right mix between making it a charity account but still keeping the personal touch - making it almost a personal account with a cause.

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
Start slow, don’t jump right in and invite supporters to follow you , test the water first, find your way round, find the right way to get your message across.

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions

What is your charity's name and mission?Our mission statement: Teenage Cancer Trust aims to ensure that every young person with cancer and their family receive the best possible care and professional support throughout their cancer journey. We also empower young people through education and advocacy.

What is your name?
Yuki

How long have you been using Twitter and whose idea was it?
I joined the organisation four months ago and one of the first things I did was start up @TeenageCancer -

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
The connections with other people and organisations across time zones and themes. I can be talking to someone about the free educational services we offer schools, whilst reading an @ reply from someone about their success on one of our fundraising treks, to updating our followers on our latest event. I like the momentum of conversations and the emergence of trends. I also like the no frills, no nonsense nature of Twitter, you’ve got to be in it, and on it, and respond to things as they happen.

Have there been incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
Yes! Taking part in our events, fundraising, volunteering, giving us feedback on our activities. We’ve already had a dedicated supporter ask us to reserve them a place in the London Marathon for 2010! People who use twitter to say thanks, or share personal stories, or retweet our messages are invaluable – helping raise awareness of what we do in a simple and genuine way.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Building up dedicated followers who RT and contact us regularly. As well as devising a creative masterplan to blow the socks off the entire Twitter community! Yes, I’m still working on that one!

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
Be current and relevant and most importantly join in with what’s happening at the time! Take stock of your previous tweets, experiment and figure out what works and what doesn't.

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What is your charities name and Mission?
The NSPCC - Our mission is to help end cruelty to children. FULL STOP. What is your name?
Ian MacArthur

How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
We have been on Twitter (as an organisation) for 2 weeks. Its been on the cards a while but we wanted to wait until we were comfortable with the channel and had a safeguarding process in place.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
Seeing how many people are proud to support us and what great things they are doing for us. Many tweet about volunteering for our ChildLine service or taking part in sponsored running events etc.

Has their been an incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
After week one, we only had 80 supporters and a group of dedicated supporters re-tweeted us until we got to 500 supporters by week 2. I'm seriously impressed by that kind of commitment.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Not diving into conversations where there may be issues. Comments can be negative as well as positive and its important to keep a back seat in case it seems intrusive to other users.

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
Be yourselves and let others see the personality of your charity brand - they may find it changes their mind about who they thought you were as an organisation, and long-term ensure you have an objective. Social media is fascinating but without goals it might not be right for you.

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What is your charities name and Mission? Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, Our Mission: To offer greater independence, confidence and security to deaf people by providing dogs trained to alert them to chosen everyday sounds.

What is your name?
Sarah Grier
How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
I’ve been using twitter with a personal profile for a year or so, but began the Hearing Dogs twitter profile in January 2009. We had discussed it internally for a while and only hesitated due to the potential workload required to sustain an interesting and frequently updated feed. With the explosion of interest in twitter (the Stephen Fry effect) we decided to take the plunge.

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
Personally I love the immediacy of twitter, getting updates on news from across the world, following trends and conversations. As a NFP representative using twitter I appreciate the sense of community and the chance to raise our profile with new groups of users.

Have there been incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
Our followers have been great at retweeting our messages and starting conversations which raise our profile. Our biggest PR success so far has been hearing dog Thelma winning The Sun’s Hero Dog award at Dogs Trust Honours in May 2009. The public voted and while we received coverage in The Sun and on our own website and e-newsletter, it was the online communities of twitter and facebook which significantly boosted the number of votes to secure the award.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Striking a balance in the content of tweets. No-one wants to read a feed which is only requests for help or money. We try to have a balance of dog related tweets, deaf/Deaf related tweets and general interest/humour.

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
Keep plugging away. It takes time to build up a network of followers and a network of those you choose to follow. I spend some time each day looking at the links and @replies in others tweets for potential new contacts. We’re a long way from matching the networks of some of the bigger NFPs online such as @bullyingUK and @dogstrust but we’re steadily making progress.

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What is your charity's name and mission?
Dogs Trust. Our mission statement is:  Working towards the day when all dogs can enjoy a happy life, free from the threat of unnecessary destruction.

What is your name?
Alexandra Goldstein

How long have you been using Twitter and whose idea was it?
Personally, since November 2007. I joined Dogs Trust in April 2008 in part to edit the website and otherwise to be a community manager and establish / build a social media presence. I started the Twitter feed straightaway, almost automatically!

What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
I enjoy the open sense of community - you don't have to have 'friends', anyone can follow, and it's a direct, honest and often fruitful conversation with people who care about the cause. We've now rehomed three dogs thanks to either direct links or conversations (not only with us, but with our supporters) on Twitter. We don't want to be the only conversation going on about Dogs Trust - we encourage our supporters to talk to each other, too! - but we're happy to be there to answer questions, have a chat and basically be a human 'voice' of the organisation that anyone can access.

Have there been incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
Many! Rehoming dogs is amazing, of course; the ultimate aim of the charity! Those people have honestly helped save other dog lives by making room for new ones coming in and giving a good life to the ones they took away with them. But there's lots more, like signing up for fundraising events (e.g. the London Marathon), getting in touch to volunteer, offering to help us with online work! Even just retweeting a message or sharing a link with a friend. Our Lets with Pets campaign just launched (www.letswithpets.org.uk) and many followers have passed the link on to community sites, fellow pet owners looking for a home or landlords etc. Just talking to us lets their follower community know we're there. So every positive action that involves us is wonderful in its own way.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?
The initial spreading of the word - especially as Twitter was quite unknown still then and there was some understandable internal scepticism about the reach and value; it's only to be expected, and follower numbers are not the be-all and end-all by any means, but they can help to convince people.

For six months we had about 20 followers! I didn't want to spam everyone, so I was trying to find people out there whom I thought would be genuinely interested in following us. I never used auto-follow or auto-thanking, and in the end I just leapt into the conversation whenever I could. As Twitter's popularity blossomed and we were found and promoted by supporters and charity evangelists like Steve Bridger (@stevebridger), we grew. We continue to build that community slowly and calmly; we want to talk to the people who want to talk to us.

We've also received a lot of support from fellow charities like Bullying UK (@BullyingUK) and Yorkshire Cancer (@YorkshireCancer) to name but a few - maybe they really like our Leeds centre!

Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
The same tip I'd give to anyone, anywhere, for any social media site: be authentic. The online community spots a faker at 20 paces and will give them a pummelling. Rightly so - no-one likes to be patronised. Some 'tips' and 'truths' apply to many, but authenticity is, I think, the only real universal.

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Would your charity / Non-profit like to take part? If so follow this link for instructions: Twitter Charity Interview questions