Beth Kanter is one of the few people who has taken the idea of mission, combined it with blog and other new media tools, and then started teaching non-profits on how to take these tools and use them to reach their goals . Those goals can be as simple as raising awareness, to using new media, blogs, wiki’s, and video to help raise funds for a cause. With the focus on helping non-profits, Beth has worked very hard to teach groups to best leverage the new media systems that are in the blogosphere. The approach that she uses is part social networking and part “getting the message out.” There are many good causes out there, but by leveraging the social aspects of new media, connections, relationships , and new media systems, she has demonstrated the ability to leverage those systems to raise awareness and money for the causes that she serves.

Beth started blogging in 2003, and since then has risen to be in the top blogs, and 29th on the list of the 50 most influential women bloggers . In an interview with IT Conversations , Beth talks about her approach to teaching people how to use social media to support the goals of a specific cause, which helps set the tone and idea of what she strongly believes in. Moreover, the approaches to fund raising, social media, blogging and new media, that she talks about are also the approaches that she uses. By demonstrating how her approaches work by having real data to back up her assertions, she immediately obtains credibility for what she is talking about on her blog. The ability to combine both facts “here is what I did,” with “here is how you do this too” is what helps her achieve her expertise and credibility in the blogosphere.

By teaching non-profits that it is ok to start off small, with an approachable goal, say raising 400 dollars for a specific issue, and then using contact lists, e-mail, wiki’s, and blog entries highlighting the idea that there is a fund raiser going on, that the new media can help align people with the same goals. The idea of teaching small projects for discreet goals is part of the success that she is able to show to the groups she works with. Rather than taking on a huge monumental project, the “start small, get a quick win” approach also appeals to non-profits who are cash strapped, and need money for a specific project. The “project approach” also helps teach the non-profit the viability of fund raising using social media, and with incremental small wins, as confidence grows, and the social networks they use grow, the more likely a non-profit is to use the process over again. If you are raising money for Toys for Tots, then you can use new media to help drive the campaign , by providing information, getting people to talk about the project, the benefits, how the money will be used, and what people can gain from donating . Being able to tie into enlightened self-interest of the people who will donate will help drive the campaign, and help get the group to the stated goal.

Beth is also not afraid to experiment with different kinds of technology to see how well they will work, or how they can be leveraged to provide for a community or cause. In 2006, she used Second Life to broadcast a show as an experiment in using virtual reality and the gaming platform to deliver a message . Colleges, companies, and other groups have used virtual worlds to help establish a presence in the virtual world that co-exists with their presence in the physical world. These virtual presences have been successfully used the use of virtual worlds and physical worlds to help build community or provide an environment for groups, causes, and systems.

A slide show of her approach and how she uses new media is summed up in her story of supporting Cambodian orphans and families in improving their lives . The most dynamic example of her ability to leverage her social network to accomplish a specific goal is the story of how she was able to raise 90,000 dollars for Cambodian Orphans by leveraging her social network to keep her on top of the fund raising effort . The ability to gather people on a global basis for a specific cause is the major strength in Beth’s approach to using and then teaching what works and what does not work with new media.

What makes Beth successful is:

1. Her passion about the causes that she takes on, Creative Commons and the Cambodian people
2. Her willingness to help others achieve their goals when it comes to using new media to accomplish a task
3. Her ability to write and speak on the subjects that matter to her
4. Her ability to mobilize a group of people using social media to accomplish a specific task or goal (like raising money for a cause)
5. The use of her voice to help drive social change and reach out to other generations like Gen Y

By leveraging her voice, her causes, and her willingness to experiment, Beth Kanter has become one of the more influential bloggers in the world. By having a specific mission or goal, the things that she talks about, her willingness to teach and take on causes has helped provide countless hours of expertise to non-profits that might not have otherwise been able to raise money for a cause. The uniqueness to Beth’s approach centers on how she uses her social network to accomplish social change . By supporting groups like Creative Commons that promotes the ability to license information according to the developers wishes, or supporting causes that have a direct relationship to people, like supporting Cambodian Orphans her approaches are all tested by her. She has gone out, tested, and tried each of the approaches that she advocates, with examples of how to accomplish a specific task . It is her willingness to experiment with new tools and techniques and then report on those experiments that has helped deepen and define her relationships with others in the social media space.

tags: beth kanter, social, media, fund, raising, social, networker, median, bio, write up, interesting, personality, thanks