Looking for a great way to reward your major donors or dedicated volunteers?
Use Hangouts, Google+’s video conferencing feature, to host a hangout with a
celebrity or major player in your organization. Your supporters will love
the individualized attention of a small hangout that rewards their
commitment.

Tammy Gordon, AARP ‘s director of social communication
and strategy, hopes to kick off their 9/11 day of service with an inspiring
speech from a celebrity ambassador in a hangout. “It will be a great way to
connect with key volunteers,” says Gordon.

The host of the hangout should create a circle for the event’s participants,
such as “9/11 day of service volunteers.”

The AARP team is nervous about using a particular staff member’s personal
account to host a large-scale hangout. This concern is probably shared by
many organizations longing for the launch of group and business pages.

One way to overcome these worries is to have the speaker host the hangout.
If the host is a part of your non-profit’s team, consider the hangout an
opportunity for your volunteers to maintain a human contact at your
organization.
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2. Cater to Your Circles
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Circles are a great way to target key messengers, rather than bombard
non-interested parties. Try organizing circles by unique interests,
geographical location or donation history.

Danielle Brigida , National Wildlife
Federation’s social media outreach chair, organizes her circles by their
interests. Her circles include policy professionals, wildlife enthusiasts
and photographers. She emphasizes that followers can be in multiple circles,
so arrange circles with greater precision.

Carefully curated circles are a great way to crowdsource ideas from your
valued followers. You can ask your volunteers what types of events they
would like to see, or ask your donors for upcoming campaign ideas. Spark
conversations among people with shared interests.

Gordon hopes that business pages will include opt-in circles so followers
can select the type of information to receive. The AARP plans to offer
circles on health, social security, consumer entertainment and politics.
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3. Huddle or Hangout with Your Coworkers
——————————

The Worldreader team jokes that it got a lot
done during its “turbo-hangouts,” says Susan Moody, director of
communications. With an international team that spans continents and time
zones, Worldreader can use Google+’s new option for easy conferencing.

Similarly, AARP’s communications team is planning a hangout this Wednesday
for its first Google+ webinar.

While Google+ is not the first platform to host group video conferencing,
many companies have long paid for the service. Now, impromptu group calls
can simplify and streamline collaborative brainstorming among coworkers.

Huddles are another way teams can stay in touch. Running late for a
presentation? Have a brilliant idea to share during off hours? You can share
updates with a group by name, email address or circle using the group
texting feature of Google+’s iPhone app. Your huddle history is stored in
the app, making it easy to connect with your team.
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4. Unite Volunteers in a Huddle
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If you’re putting on a major event, streamline communications for your
volunteers via huddle. Just add the names of everyone who has signed up to a
circle and let the messaging begin!

This can be especially helpful if you’re organizing highly coordinated or
quickly changing events such as parades, rallies or protests.

Huddles may also be the perfect solution for sharing information with people
on different email servers or mailing lists. The groups have no
administrators, so people can easily add new volunteers to the conversation.
If a volunteer drops out, he can easily remove himself from the list.

While Brigida has participated in some trial huddles among non-profit staff
members, she hasn’t fully explored the potential of the Google+ group
texting platform. However, its speed and ease will hopefully encourage ample
implementation by non-profits.
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Still Not Convinced?
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Still confused about how your organization can maximize its Google+
experience, where group pages are currently *forbidden*? Think of it this
way: People come to social networks to connect with other people. While each
non-profit has a unique voice, it’s really you — the individuals behind the
logo and mission statement — who are the heart and soul of your non-profit.
Even if most of your audience is not the early adopter, tech-loving crew,
Google’s latest brainchild can work wonders for your organization’s internal
operations.

Have you and your non-profit tried Google+? Let us know in the comments
about your experiments and successes.

I did’nt write this article, I am still searching for the person who wrote this, will give credit when i have located the person.