Our Approach

If your organization is ready to raise the stakes and embrace a more holistic and innovative digital strategy, but you need support with management, operations and culture change – then STT 2009 may be for you.

There are only 65 slots, and we sold out quickly last year. Register today.

Our agenda features relatively few session titles with specific Web 2.0 tools in them. You won’t find sessions on “Tips to Increase Your Org’s Twitter Following” or “Advanced Facebook Fundraising” – though if you’re interested, you’re likely to walk away with lessons on both. Instead we chose to focus the STT  on helping you build a rock solid online program. In a quickly evolving environment, where both tools and audience change monthly, there are no pat or permanent answers. Success depends on committing to creativity, testing and exploration.

So we structured the 3 days to:

1. Inspire you to think creatively about leveraging Web 2.0 (and Web 1.0) tools for your online program
2. Arm you with methods to constantly learn from your experiments and improve your program
3. Help you create a well-managed and well-funded online program where great ideas and great people can thrive

Day 1: We’ll get your imagination churning with inspiring and concrete examples of organizations that have been successful using digital media and online tools to engage supporters, educate the public, and raise money. Though we never lose sight of the importance of an integrated approach to online campaigning, we’ll take a close look at each of the primary digital channels organizations can use to inspire and engage supporters: website, email, blog, social networks, video, advertising, mobile phones. We’ll discuss their strengths and weaknesses, share examples of success, metrics for measuring success, and (where available) benchmarks and best practices.

Day 2: The second day will focus on developing the "building blocks" for a successful online program. These sessions will provide you with specific methods for tracking results, analyzing them, and adjusting your strategy to reflect those results. You can choose to focus on website analytics, email stats, landing page testing, etc.

During Day2 we have also left 8 spots open for sessions that YOU will choose. We understand that you’ve been doing this for a while, and you’ll be coming to STT09 with specific challenges to tackle and ideas to explore. So before and during the training, we’ll be asking you what you want to go deeper on, and we’ll do everything in our power to make sure there’s someone who really knows her stuff there to teach it. Some sessions we think might be interesting would include: SEO, a video production workshop, diversifying your fundraising strategy, blog and social media monitoring… but you’re in the driver’s seat here.

Day 3: In our final day we’ll focus on creating the “conditions for success” – i.e. a program where staff are empowered and resourced to succeed. Topics will include: staffing models, project management, and budget. In the afternoon, we’ll have our only panel session of the training, called “How to Manifest Money”. The panel will include a funder, talking about how to pitch a foundation on a tech grant; an agency staffer talking about how to get pro bono help for your projects; and an expert in nonprofit management talking about how to get more money for the online program. We will also take some time on this day to focus on developing leadership skills, and to write up a “next steps” plan to ensure that what happens at STT does NOT stay at STT09.

One of the things that STT 2008 participants really raved about was the low trainer-participant ratio (about 9:1). We’ve kept that model this year. You will work closely with one of our senior-level trainers throughout the training. S/he will help you make the most of the training, and connect you with the resources you need to take your online program to the next level.

Between our top-tier trainers, intensive core program, and participant-designed sessions, we believe that STT09 will be a transformative experience. Register today and we’ll see you in Toronto on June 10th.