Invitation to Connect Email to Organizations in WE Directory
Access Privileges
Status of the e-mail: 105 revisions. Brief and concise, but testimonials, uniqueness of WiserEarth and other details designed to attract the organizations has been entirely removed. Recommend re-inclusion of this information. (sternklar)
I agree. Let's leave what we have now intact and create another version along those lines. I've created the space just below the one we have now (note: added WE Editors as part of WE Team as mentioned in WE's About Us). Feel free to get creative! (bowo)
Thanks Kerry, thanks Bowo. I like the idea of 2 versions that we can compare and test. This is easy to do as we can take 2 random samples of 250 organizations. The email which has the greatest response rate is the one we choose. (Camilla)
Since "... a redesign of organization profiles" is also in the works, it seems to me that the emails go out after the re-design so that organizations who do respond will only have to do one update this year! I also thought that a semi-annual email to organizations asking them to review the information on WiserEarth might help keep the database more current. Perhaps in the future it could also be spread out monthly so that it become an ongoing event without the large crunch. (jp)
The Goal: To create an up to date global directory of organizations working toward social justice and environnmental restoration - essentially a map of the social justice and environmental movement. One which, when connected, can act more effectively against the issues facing our world.
The Background: Work on WiserEarth began in late 2004. Natural Capital Institute brought on a team of researchers to begin building a database of nonprofit organizations. Over 2 years, a global team of researchers and volunteers from all over the world collected publicly available data and added it to the database.
The Task: Out of the 110,000+ organizations in the WE directory, many are still unaware that they are listed on WiserEarth. Many org representatives still do not have a personal profile on the site. WE doesn't have the capacity to keep all these pages updated. We need each organization to maintain their own page. We need to inspire representatives of the organization with a compelling message that demonstrates the value to the community and themselves of maintaining their own org profile pages.
To WiserEarth editors,
This email below is a draft of what could be sent to these organizations. It would be translated into several different versions and eventually sent out to all the organizations via the email address listed in the directory (if one is available).
WE (the WiserEarth Community) need your help to make it the best it can be! Please feel free to add your edits (to the page with your initials and what changed) or suggestions (in the comment box below).
Thanks, everyone!
Kerry (sternklar), Camilla (Camilla)
1st version (concise, to the point )
Subject:
Please Check Listing for [Org Name] on WiserEarth.org
Message body:
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Read this in: Español, Français --- Dear [Contact Name] (or if not available) Dear Friends at [Org Name],
Your organization is listed on WiserEarth.org, the largest free and editable directory of environmental and social justice organizations
in the world. Over 550,000 people -- representing 3.7 million page views -- visit the site each year.
This helps your organization generate greater visibility among more
than 13,000 foundations and 20,000 WiserEarth members. It also enables you to
connect to thousands of others working on the issues you care about. We invite you to check the information on your organization's listing
to make sure it is correct (see below). If you already have an
individual user account on WiserEarth, sign in and start editing. If
not, you can make changes using a guest account for the next 30 days only. No need to sign in, just follow this link to edit. If you have time, we still encourage you to set up your own individual user account
so that you can benefit from alerts telling you when your
organization's listing is updated or commented upon. If you have any other
questions, go to our FAQs. With thanks for the work you do. The WiserEarth team, Angus, Arash, Bowo, Camilla, Honore, Melinda, Peggy, Rehan, and WiserEarth Editors We would like to send an email to your organization on
an annual basis, inviting you to update your organization profile.
Please click here if you do not want to receive any such emails in the future. If you are not the appropriate person within your
organization to be receiving this message, please pass it on. If you're
not affiliated with this organization at all, please email us at
support@wiserearth.org
] We would like to send an email to your organization on an annual basis, inviting you to update your organization profile. Please click here if you do not want to receive any such emails in the future. |
2nd version (catchier, more inviting, lengthier)
Subject:
An Invitation from the WiserEarth Community
Message body:
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Read this in Español, Français
Dear [Contact Name] or if not available, Dear Friends at [Org Name],
A member of the community noticed the good work your organization is doing and added it to the WiserEarth.org directory, the largest free and editable directory of environmental and social justice organizations in the world.
We invite you to check the information on your organization's listing to make sure it is current and correct. By doing so, you will help to increase your organization's visibility to partners, donors and volunteers. Over 550,000 people -- representing 3.7 million page views -- visit WiserEarth each year; many seek information and connections with organizations like yours.
Updating your organization's information is easy. Registered WiserEarth users can simply sign in and start editing. Newcomers are provided with guest access for the next month. You can review and edit your organization's listing here. If you need help with editing, we have compiled tips to assist you. If you have any other questions, go to our FAQs.
We also encourage you to take a few moments to set up a free user account. Afterward, you can elect to receive alerts when your
organization's page is updated, is connected to by other users and organizations or is commented
upon. Additionally, you can expand your influence and promote your work by participating in WiserEarth.
Here's what some organization representatives are saying about WiserEarth: "WiserEarth has gone ahead and created the thing that everyone has been saying we desperately need: the well-organized, elegantly presented all-in-one directory for folks working in the fields of social and environmental justice and advocacy. As the Step It Up team moves forward and thinks about the possibilities of international movement building around climate change, it strikes us that WiserEarth is the perfect ally and resource moving forward." (John Warnow, Step It Up Congress: Cut Carbon 80% by 2050)
WiserEarth is more than just a directory, it is a growing community of people from around the world who are passionate about their work within and beyond their organizations. We are connecting, telling our stories, learning from each other, sharing resources, and collaborating to increase the effectiveness of the work we do in real life.
Feel free to forward this e-mail to staff, members and volunteers, inviting them to join the community by creating their own individual user profile (from here they can connect to your organization's profile). You can also set up a unique online group space for your organization's community allowing them to engage in discussions, post and share resources, and collaborate on projects. All for free.
We look forward to seeing you soon on WiserEarth! The WiserEarth Team,
Angus, Arash, Bowo, Camilla, Honore, Melinda, Peggy, Rehan, and WiserEarth Editors We would like to send an email to your organization on an annual basis, inviting you to update your organization profile. Please click here if you do not want to receive any such emails in the future. If you are not the appropriate person within your organization to be receiving this message, please pass it on. If you're not affiliated with this organization at all, please email us at support@wiserearth.org |
Comments (1 - 20 of 30)
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Thanks Deborah - great suggestions.
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Camilla, I read your comments about Click heres ... and I agree with you but feel like the "Go here" is kinda off as well... can we just do without any directions as to actions and assume that the link is enough to inform the user of what to do; can we assume our audience has acquired that level of fluency...? For that would definitely make the overall read much smoother .... |
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Here is a full edit on Version 2:
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a few edits to version 2; there is a problem with lst sentence in there is lack of accurate reference to verb
i edited first 2 graphs...
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I will provide the translation in french as soon as the english versions are considered as "final".
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And a few edits to version I. I've changed the words 'org profile' to a 'listing'. Hopefully this will avoid confusion with creating a personal profile. I've also added a sentence for people who are already registered in case they don't know whether to sign in or not to edit.
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I also made a few minor edits to version II making the sentences slightly shorter and getting rid of 'Click here' foor links which is generally not really used these days.
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OK fine for the text email then Honore if it's too hard to take a snapshot of every org page. Would it be possible to see what it would look like on this page before we move into the testing phase. Thanks
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I opt for the short one! :) Both are well written, kudos to everyone who worked on it, but the first one caught my eye for succintness and clarity.
I do have to be a party pooper, but I will point out that we're not going to include a snapshot of the org profile page in the email. It would be pretty hard to grab a snapshot of each org page as we're getting the emails ready - we'll likely have to just provide the information in text-form, but maybe we can arrange it so that it looks nicer than just a long list? |
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Just made some rather heavy editing to the second version. It's quite lengthy and info-packed, but hopefully still clear and inviting enough. Thoughts?
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Sounds good to me. Would be awesome if organizations can edit their profile straight from the email (on our next annual email blast perhaps?).
Would love to translate into Bahasa Indonesia if needed, though there's less than 1000 Indonesia-based organizations in the directory. |
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Just an update. The technical team have implemented a 'Guest user' Account which can be used for the purpose of allowing orgs to update their profiles easily without having to log in (which we found put a lot of people off when it was done last time). I think that the availability of the Guest user account should only be for say 1 month rather than allowing orgs to update their profiles any time, in this way they have an incentive to do it quickly. I would suggest sending a follow up email 2 weeks after the first one as a reminder. (which I'll do an initial draft for off this page).
The creation of a direct editing ability via email is a much longer technical process, so my suggestion would be to send out this email sooner rather than later (so that nonprofits start to get their org profiles updated) and let the technical team work on other issues related to improving the site.
I suggest that we send out a test email to 250 organizations each and measure the email that gets the highest results (we can test this looking at which email has the highest click through rate). The one with the highest click through rate would then be sent out to all orgs. What do you think?
We also need to translate these emails into other languages - French and Spanish as a minimum. Would anyone be interested in helping out with this? |
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@Kerry: Good point. I think we can take out the links to testimonials and success stories as they're also linked at the bottom of the About Us page (which is linked in the "What is WiserEarth?" section). Melinda is in charge of collecting testimonials but we should help point her out to potential testimonial materials (in user profiles, from successful groups, from comments, in discussion forums, etc.).
@Bernard: Good point as well in stressing the difference between organizational and personal profiles. Let's think over how we can best put that in words. |
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Hi all
I also support the second version, but seems to me it still lacks a clear invitation to have individual people from the organization to register as WE individual members. Of course WE have to provide a first step of involvment for organizations, but we have to clearly show the interest of having those individual members making the link between the WE community and the organizations. Currently we have still a lot of people who create individual profiles which in fact provide their organizations' details, thus confusing people and orgs. All our communication should make clear that WE need both and distinct organization data and individual community members. So the last point "we also invite you to join the community" should come sooner in the text, and be supported by strong reasons to do so. And make clear that "you" is both individual and collective. I've no concrete proposal out of my hat right now, but will think about it.
Meanwhile, as promised, I've come up with a proposal for a message to WE individual members to make a step forward in their activity. See WiserEarth Suggestions
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Bowo, thanks, it's been a team effort :) Good idea for using the second email in something else if not this. Roger, the subject line sounds much better. I prefer the second version as well, and think it's getting polished.
Boatsie, maybe you could explain your reasoning behind your most recent suggestion? The rewrite sounds concise, but it eliminates a lot of the friendlier tone, which makes the second version sound more like the first version, so I'm not sure I'd recommend changing that.
I have another thought for the second version, which is that the testimonials in the body of the email were actually taken (by me) directly from the Success Stories page on WE. This page has now been linked in a new revision to the email, which makes the quotations a bit redundant.
So I suggest we either remove the link for Success Stories (I'm advocating keeping them in the body text because they're more likely to read them), or figure out a way to vary the testimonials in the email body so it doesn't look like we keep quoting the same couple of people. I personally like those testimonials, but does anyone have others that haven't already been posted on the site?
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a rewrite suggestion for the body of 2nd email ...
Your organization was selected for inclusion in the WiserEarth directory in recognition of your work towards international social justice and sustainability. WE is the largest free global directory of environment and social justice organizations. |
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First of all, thanks Kerry for having a well-thought-out first go at the second version
I like how you divided it into:
The testimonials is particularly a very good idea imo.
To make things more compact however, I would however suggest that we fold the "who can use WE" section into the follow-up explanation for "what is WE" which would be a link to the About Us page (which then links to the FAQs page).
We need to link to the "Step it Up" listing and "Organized Centre for Empowerment and Advocacy" listing, and ensure that they're well edited and connected.
I think we also need to fold the following questions in the "FAQ to orgs in the database" to the Organizations FAQ page:
And then we need to link this FAQ page to the "why keep your org's listing updated".
Last but not least, we may want to add the Organizations Tutorial to the intro, or at the end of the email.
On email subject: Good point Roger. This is key indeed. Let's throw in some more ideas here. So far: Roger: "Listing in WiserEarth Community Directory" Deborah: "Greetings from the WiserEarth Community"
On alternate use for the second version Heather and I were discussing on using both versions for the individual emails to send out as part of the co-editing of the organization directory (see "letters and emails" discussion on WS Sandbox group, where we're prepping things for public launch). And it was quite obvious that the second version is a pretty good template (or can even be used as is) for such email as it's more personal, engaging and sounds more 'human' (less like a mass-email blast). So, if we end up using the first version for the email blast, we still have a very good use for the second version.
On screenshot and hyperlinks I'm not quite sure if this is a good idea because:
Oh, I will edit right away based on my observation above in revision #64 for illustration.
@Ming (rkmlai): Thanks! That would be great! Have you added your name and email as the contact person in those organization listings? Do you happen to have the authority to do so for those organizations? Or did you mean that you'd be very happy to help contact those organizations and connect them more to WiserEarth? If that's the latter is the case, you can start right away using some of the draft emails we have here. Would be interesting to see the responses. |
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if the purpose of this page is to connect irl orgs with their wiserearth page, I am signing up to be the contact person for the following orgs I am connected with (posted here as I dont know where else to 'sign up'): Peace,
21 organizations That This person Is Connected With
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I did some editing to above, and mistakenly edited one of the comments (John Warnow) ... also edited the Goals before realizing that that section was just instructions for us...
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Thank you all for this important effort to improve our database and increase our interconnection with existing organizations.
Great job!