Renaissance Journalism curated this collection of online tools, tutorials and resources to help you navigate the world of online media, with special considerations for nonprofits and community and ethnic media. Whether you’re looking to get started in social media, video, monitoring and metrics, or all of the above, there’s something of value for you on this site.

Why Do Social Media?

Social media tools can help you raise awareness about your organization’s mission and are an easy and inexpensive way to connect with like-minded people online. For example, the Angela Shelton Foundation, an advocacy group for survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse, discovered that its supporters were connecting with each other through social media and even forming their own fundraising groups. Using Facebook, for example, the Nature Conservancy  raised more than $400,000 in 2010; the Campaign for Cancer Prevention raised more than $240,000; and an effort to help survivors of the earthquake in Haiti raised more than $140,000. Read more stories about organizations using Facebook Causes successfully.

Video can be a powerful tool for storytelling, and the costs of getting started are very low. Easy-to-use, affordable cameras and editing programs make video production accessible to nearly everyone. Video can bring your stories to life and help your message reach online audiences. For example, the NRDC Action Fund, an affiliate of The Natural Resources Defense Council, uploaded short videos to YouTube about the dangers of oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The videos have been viewed tens of thousands of times. Another nonprofit, called charity: water, raised $12,000 in one day through advertising on YouTube.

Whatever your level of experience with social media and multimedia may be, it’s critical to understand the impact of your online media strategy to gauge its effectiveness. That’s why we’ve featured a number of online monitoring and metrics tools. One such tool, Google Analytics, is a popular way to measure user engagement with your organization’s website. See these case studies to learn more, for example, how the American Cancer Society used Google Analytics to increase its return on investment on the Web, and how New York Public Radio used it to create content and find new revenue streams.